Time Doesn't Always Run Straight
To The Last Man
Part 3
Once again thank you to everyone who is reading, following, favorting and most of all reviewing. You guys are just too amazing. Second last chapter of To The Last Man. Covers them finding out about Tommy having to go back. Some hopefully cute bits about Owen being worried about Jestine. Hopefully you all like it, please let me know.
Disclaimer: Do not own but it is my birthday on Tuesday so if anyone wants to get me a present Torchwood would be good.
"Gwen, you okay?" Jack asks through the comms.
Gwen is walking through a different dark corridor with no flashlight.
"Gwen?" Jack asks again, concerned that Gwen didn't answer first time around.
"I'm fine." Gwen finally answers.
She enters a dark room. Gwen turns on the ceiling light. It flickers as she continues through the room.
She turns to cover her own back as the light continues to flicker.
She reaches the other end of the room and steps into another hallway.
She stops, eyes wide as she sees a man sitting in a chair in the hallway. His elbows are on his knees as if he has been waiting for a long time. A nurse walks past Gwen and heads for the man.
"They're ready for you now." She informs him.
The man gets up as the nurse turns and leaves around the corner.
Gwen turns around to look at the nurse.
The nurse steps backwards and peers back around the corner to look at Gwen. Gwen doesn't notice the nurse looking right at her.
Gwen turns and sees the nurse looking at her.
The nurse hesitantly starts to walk towards Gwen. Gwen assumes she is looking at something else, so turns to see what it is. But there is no one else there, just the lights flickering.
"Hello?" The nurse asks nervously.
Gwen still doesn't realise that the nurse is talking to her so does not reply.
"Hello?" The nurse asks again as she continues to move towards Gwen.
"I see you." The nurse tells Gwen.
Gwen backs away from her.
"Why won't you leave us alone? You shouldn't be here!" The nurse tells Gwen as she continues towards Gwen.
"I don't mean you any harm." Gwen tells her as she moves back, her arms out in front of her.
"You shouldn't be here! You shouldn't be here!" The nurse tells Gwen.
"I don't mean you any harm. Shh!" Gwen tries to calm the nurse as the lights flicker off.
When the light flickers back on the nurse is gone. Only the echoes of her yelling can be heard, distorted through time. Gwen puts her arms down as she realises they are holding back nothing but air. She looks around spooked.
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"Are you sure you are ok?" Jestine asks once again as they play pool.
"I've told you. I'm fine." Tommy replies, shaking his head at Jestine. "Would you just stop worrying and play your shot."
Jestine sticks her tongue out before taking her shot.
"What was it like? Before Torchwood took you." Jestine asks Tommy.
Tommy ponders his answer as he lines up his own shot.
"Not much to tell. Nothing exciting like you." Tommy answers, he doubted he could tell Jestine anything interesting at all.
"I've never had a normal life, I think it would be exciting." Jestine tells him. "Please, tell me something about your life."
"Ok." Tommy mock sighs. "Well before the war I worked on a farm."
"Did you want to go back once you were healed?" Jestine asks him.
"No, I didn't want to but I knew I had to. I had to defend my country."
Jestine nods in understanding. "How about friends?"
"Most of them joined up too." Tommy replies sadly.
Before Jestine can reply her wrist strap goes off. "World ending already?" Jestine jokes but the smile quickly fades. "Yep, right. Ok, we're on our way." Jestine nods before hanging up and look at Tommy.
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"Demolishing the hospital is what triggers the time-shift." Jack tells the team and Tommy once they had assembled in the conference room.
"So, don't demolish it." Owen suggests.
"Too late, it's already started." Jack tells him.
"What happens next?" Gwen asks, looking around the room.
Jestine glances at Tommy as she feels his eyes on her.
"Two different times should never exist simultaneously. You want to be in 1918, or now. Not both." Jack explains.
"So when 1918 becomes fully manifest ..." Tosh starts.
"It's really going to screw us up." Owen summarises in a way only he can.
Jack picks up a sheet of paper to demonstrate.
"Okay ... Linear time." Jack then crumples up the paper into a ball. "Screwed up time." Jack tells them before throwing it to Owen who catches it.
"Imagine your life as a straight line, from birth to death. Now, try drawing that line on the paper without straightening it out." Jack continues.
"It's impossible." Gwen points out.
"That's why we've got to stop it."
"Ianto. Is that box doing anything yet?" Jack asks Ianto who has been playing with the box the whole meeting.
"Still locked." Ianto replies as he tries once again to open it.
Jack nods in acknowledgement before heading out of the room with the rest of the team following him.
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"Okay. We need to find out how fast the time-shift is happening."
"Get some idea when it's going to complete. Jestine, Owen, go to the hospital. We need readings. Cover the place with rift monitors."
"Gwen, go through the files, see if there's anything we missed. Tosh I want you to go back through all the readings we have already and tell me if there is any pattern." Jack orders.
"Ianto, any chance of some of your magic coffee?" Jack smiles as he looks over to his lover.
Ianto returns his smile before heading to the coffee machine.
As Jestine grabs her jacket she looks over to Tommy, offering him a small smile before leaving.
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"Need a hand?" Owen asks as Jestine kneels in front of an open case and he puts his down.
"Just a couple more." She replies as she tosses him a reader that he easily catches and moves towards the wall to set it up.
"Listen, Jestine, I've been meaning to say ... uh, just be careful."
Jestine raises an eyebrow at the comment. "What do you mean?"
"Just watch it with Tommy ok. Tosh is worried about you hurting him. But I think you need to be careful you don't get too close for your sake." Owen tells her as he sets up the reader, careful to not meet her eyes.
Jestine snorts. "I'm not going to hurt him."
"No but circumstance just might hurt you both." Owen shakes his head sadly. "Just be prepared to say goodbye."
"I always am." Jestine replies bitterly.
Gwen interrupts any further conversation. "Owen, can you hear me?" Gwen asks over the comms.
"What is it?" Owen asks.
"I need you to go down into the east wing of the hospital, head for the second floor, what used to be the radiology section." Gwen tells him.
Jestine nods to him to signal that she is right with the monitors before he moves off.
"I think that area contains a clue to the time-shift. I read this earlier, but it didn't make any sense." Gwen tells them as she sits at her desk looking through the files.
"In the Torchwood 1918 field report at the hospital, they describe a certain detail of their encounter."
"It reads ... "Through a hole in the external wall, we hear the roar of great engines. Outside is a woman in strange armour, ripping a Union jack, perhaps some future heroine of the Empire." Gwen describes the findings as Owen sits on his haunches thinking.
"I mean, what does it mean? It doesn't sound like us now, I mean – the time-shift has started, but maybe it doesn't complete until – well, years in the future." Gwen tries to be upbeat, tries to think that things aren't going to end badly, at least not today.
Owen gets up and goes to the back of the storage room and looks around.
"Got it!" Owen tells Gwen as he grabs a chair and uses it to climb up the counter and look out a hole in the back on the wall.
"It's, uh, it's some kind of advert. It's, uh, for car insurance. That sound they heard must have been traffic. It's not years in the future ... it's now." Owen exclaims as he looks at the advert.
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"How are you Tosh?" Tommy asks Tosh as he watches her work on her computer. He still marvelled over the computer and the other technological advances that he had seen each time he had been woken up at Torchwood.
"I'm good thanks." Tosh gives him a smile as she continues looking over the readings in hopes for a pattern forming in front of her eyes.
"I just wanted to say that I'm really glad that you and Owen are together. You really deserve to be happy." Tommy smiles at Tosh. He had spent a lot of time with Tosh in the last few days/years and within the first few hours he had been able to conclude that Tosh was in love with Owen.
"How about you? You and Jestine seem to be close." Tosh tries to keep her voice calm. It wasn't that she didn't like Jestine. She just didn't want Jestine to hurt him. He deserved more than being just some toy to her.
"Yeah." Tommy grins. "She's certainly something else."
Tosh internally sighs. "Just be careful ok. She sees and does things differently from the rest of us."
Tommy rests a hand of support on Tosh's shoulder. "I appreciate your concern Tosh but I can look after myself." Tommy sighs. "If either of us were to hurt the other, I think it would be me hurting her." He confesses.
"I don't believe you but promise to be careful." Tosh stands so she can give him a hug.
"If you promise the same." Tommy tells her as he holds her.
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Jestine is busy with the monitors when they start to beep. She walks over to some of them to have a look when the alarms suddenly blare and the lamp lights of the hospital flash.
She looks around for a moment before hurrying out of the room to find Owen.
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Jack is busy working at his desk when the sealed canister lets of wisps of golden rift light, causing it to unlock. Jack drops his pen and removes the papers that are in the canister.
He breaks the Torchwood seal and opens the envelope, removing the papers before starting to read through the handwritten letter.
Ianto enters with two coffees, knowing that Jack would want one and he himself wishing for some time with Jack.
"Instructions?" He asks as he realises that Jack is reading papers from the canister.
"Yeah, for Tommy." Jack tells him as he reads onto the next page.
He stops and lets out a sigh. "And Jestine." He tells Ianto sadly.
Ianto looks at him, concerned about what the consequences might be for them all.
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Owen, Gwen, Tommy, Tosh and Jestine are seated around the conference room as Jack walks in. They notice a letter and circular object in his hands.
"In twelve hours, there'll be a brief moment when both times exist, before the time shift completes, when Tommy can be here now, and in 1918. He needs to be in the hospital, ready to step from one time to another." Jack explains once he has sat down.
"So he'd be right inside the time-shift?" Gwen asks, still trying to get her head around all the details of time travel and time shifts.
"And he can close the fracture that caused it." Jack tells the team.
"And when the fractures closed?" Tommy asks, wanting to know as much information as possible.
"1918 will be back where it belongs." Owen summarises.
"So will I." Tommy adds.
Jack nods, glancing quickly at Jestine, noticing she was once again being unusually quiet.
"For good?" Tommy asks, not sure he is as happy with the thought of going back to where he once was.
"Yeah. You're the only one who can do this. We brought you from 1918 to now, and when you go back to 1918, your life will be like a thread, stitching time back together again." Jack explains.
"A stitch in time." Tommy quips.
"How?" Gwen asks.
"This is a rift manipulator. It's basically a key. Once you're inside the time-shift, you can close the door behind you." Jack explains as he holds up the circle object he had brought with him.
"And that's it? I'm gone?" Tommy asks sadly. He turns and looks at Jestine. She turns away, unable to face him. No one else speaks.
The door opening breaking the silence, revealing Ianto carrying a large box.
"Tommy, stay with Ianto. Jestine, with me." Jack tells them as he picks up the things and leaves.
This signals the end of the meeting, Tosh, Owen and Gwen all head out, eager to leave the depressing atmosphere that had descended upon the room.
Jestine looks at Tommy for a moment before quickly following Jack out of the room.
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"What happens to him?" Jestine asks Jack as she enters his office.
Jack debates for a second to lie to Jestine but quickly comes to the conclusion that she deserves to know the truth.
"Three weeks after we send Tommy back, he dies." Jack sighs after telling her.
"How?" Jestine demands.
"He's shot by a firing squad." Jack tells her sadly.
Jestine mutters curses in at least three different languages. "What for?"
"In 1918, Tommy was suffering from shell shock. That's why he was in the hospital. When Torchwood took him and froze him, they froze his most recent memories. When he returns to 1918, he'll revert back to who he was. He'll be shell-shocked and so he'll be executed by the British Army for cowardice." Jack explains.
Jestine shakes her head. "They kill him."
"I know." Jack tries to comfort her. "I'm sorry. Lots of soldiers who were shell-shocked recovered enough to be sent back to the Front. But once they were there ... they broke down again."
"Causalities of war." Jestine mutters darkly. "Not strong enough to kill someone so we kill them."
"Yeah, more than three hundred of them."
"And we have to send him back knowing that." Jestine sighs.
"We have to." Jack reinforces, if he had any other choice he would take it but they didn't. It was Tommy or the universe, there just wasn't a choice.
"And of course it's Torchwood for the shit jobs." Jestine mutters.
"I'm sorry but he trusts you. He will do it for you." Jack tries to reassure her, she was needed for this to work.
Jestine gives a bitter laugh. "And how do I repay that trust? Send him to his death."
"To help him save the future." Jack sighs as he shows her a page of the letter. "It has to be you." He tells her as she observes the sketch of herself.
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"We've kept these in the archives. You were wearing them in the hospital when Torchwood took you." Ianto tells Tommy as he opens up the box.
"Good job the moths haven't got into them." Tommy tells him as he has a look at his jacket.
He takes out his pyjama bottoms.
"So I'll be saving the world in some pyjamas? How daft is that?" Tommy tells Ianto.
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"Torchwood 1918 saw you with Tommy in the hospital, telling him what to do. I'm sorry. I can see you and Tommy have gotten close but you have to do it." Jack tells Jestine as she looks at the sketch.
He gives her the letter.
"Does Tommy know what happens to him?" Jestine asks him as she scans the letter.
"No." Jack replies.
"Fuck. What can I say if he asks?" Jestine asks herself more than Jack.
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"Where's Jestine?" Tommy asks as he puts the box down next to the old couch.
"Still in with Jack." Gwen tells him.
"So ... tomorrow morning." Tommy says.
Ianto nods to confirm the answer to the question that was left hanging in the air.
"What time is it now?" Tommy asks, suddenly needing to know how much time he had left.
Gwen fiddles to check her watch as Ianto checks his.
"Ten to nine." Ianto answers.
"So what do we do till then?" Tommy asks them.
The room is silent as the others look at each other, none of them sure of what to suggest.
Tommy scoffs. "You don't know, do you?"
"What would you like to do?" Gwen asks trying to sooth the situation.
"The night before we went over the top, we used to play cards, write letters. Have a drink, if anyone had some." Tommy reminisces a little as he sits down.
"Yeah, well, we could do that." Owen agrees as Ianto turns to get some supplies.
"But you're not coming with me. I'm going on my own." Tommy breaks the mood, leaving an awkward silence to descend upon them.
The silence is broken by Jestine leaving Jack's office and gathering her belonging that were scattered around The Hub. Jack leans against his office doorframe.
"We were just wondering what, um, Tommy should do tonight." Gwen asks Jack.
Jestine looks straight at Tommy. "He's coming with me."
The team all look at Jestine with various levels of surprise.
"He's not our prisoner; he doesn't have to stay here." Jestine looks around the room, her gaze as strong and cold as steel.
"No." Jack replies before turning to Tommy. "If that's what you both want."
They both turn to each other and nod.
"Tomorrow morning, 6:30." Jack orders them.
Jestine nods as she continues to collect her belongings and Tommy hands the box back to Ianto. Jack watches them as they leave, his stomach sinking at the thought of what the next day will bring.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read it. Please let me know what you think, about any of it. Feedback is amazing and fuels me to write more.