Time Doesn't Always Run Straight
Adam
Part 2
New chapter! Thank again to everyone for your support, it has been amazing, especially the response to the previous chapter. I would especially like to thank sandysan2013 who I could not respond directly to but came up with some great points.
First the aliens Jestine killed were the 456, obviously being a later point in their timeline than during Children of Earth. This as you can imagine will have ramifications for COE.
The Jack with The Doctor is from after COE but it has been a number of centuries since. While he still hates the 456 he is still disgusted at Jestine's actions but more so at her attitude towards the genocide. Plus he realizes this is why the Doctor was unable to help them during COE, that Jestine is in part responsible for what happened.
Almost at 50 reviews. To whoever does send the 50th review, I'm will write a short story about what Torchwood topic of your choosing. *I do reserve the right to negotiate if I think it would reveal plot points from this story. So please read and let me know what you think.
Jack looks out on his team.
His stomach twists as he watches Ianto and Adam kiss. Jack frowns. Why did the thought of Ianto with Adam make him feel so sad? It was good for Ianto. The poor guy had come to Torchwood so broken after Canary Wharf and Adam had been the one to build him back up. After everything that Ianto had been through he deserved some happiness. But why did Jack feel like Ianto should be having that happiness with him not Adam.
Jack turns away as Ianto and Adam continue to kiss. It had never bothered him before, had it?
Jack shakes his head, he just needed some fresh air, it had been a strange day so far, even by Torchwood standards.
He breathes a sigh of relief when Tosh calls out a Weevil alert. He shouts out he's got it as he rushes out to the garage.
A good old Weevil hunt would get Ianto out of his mind.
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Owen takes the artifact out of a box, scanning device as Ianto walks in.
"Any luck yet?" Ianto asks Owen. Owen struggles to not blush.
"No joy yet. But you should look at the details, Ianto. It's gorgeous." Owen replies as he settles the box down. Ianto walks over and picks up the box. Owen immediately grabs the box to help him.
"Oh, let me get that." Owen smiles at him. Ianto gives a tight smile.
"Have you managed to open it yet?" He asks.
"Uh, no, sorry. I'm not doing very well, am I?" Owen looks sheepish.
Ianto smiles politely as he goes over to his laptop. "It's going to be a long night." He sighs.
"Which is why I brought…" Owen brings out a red and blue container. "…some sandwiches." He slides the red container over to Ianto. "One for you and one for me. Turkey for you, that is your favourite, isn't it?"
Ianto looks at Owen in surprised. "How did you know that?"
Owen won't look at him.
"Um, I'm grabbing some beer. Want one?" Ianto stands up, breaking the awkward silence that had descended upon them.
"What? While we're working?" Owen exclaims.
Ianto turns and looks back at him.
"Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, right. Um, relax, kick back, it's a good idea." Owen stammers as the door closes behind him.
"Er, not for me, thanks!" Owen finally manages to stammer out in the empty room.
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Jestine is waiting outside the tourist center for the team's dinner. A movement out of the corner of her eye makes her turn. She gasps at sight.
It's Time Agent Jack. She runs towards the man, calling out. "Jack?"
"You lied to me!" He accuses her. Before she can answer, footsteps distract her. She turns and comes face to face with Adam.
"What did you see?" He asks her.
She looks wildly around before answering. "Where did you come from?"
"I always wait for dinner to make sure you don't drop it. Remember?" He grabs hold of her arm as he says so.
"Yeah, sorry. Of course." Jestine continues to look around.
"Are you okay? Jestine, what did you see?"
She looks around one last time before heading back to the tourist center. "Nothing." She mutters as she brushes past Adam.
Adam follows Jestine in. "Talk to me. I know you saw something what was it?"
Jestine shakes her head. "It's not real. I need to see Owen." She moves towards the desk.
Adam reaches out and roughly grabs her arm. "Tell me. Tell me and I can tell you whether you should tell Owen or not. You don't want to waste his time do you?"
Jestine gazes at the floor. "I think I should tell Owen. I think it could be connected to Gwen forgetting Rhys."
"Owen told you to tell me anything so I can determine if it's important or not. Remember." Adam snarls.
Jestine blinks. "Sorry. I should tell you. You'll know if it were important."
"Tell me everything." Adam orders. "Where are you?" He places his hands on Jestine temples. She closes her eyes as she recalls.
"I'm at the Time Agency." Jestine whispers.
Flashback
Jestine is sitting at a table, reading some sort of magazine. Suddenly Jack storms in.
She looks up at him in surprised but quickly reacts to the anger in his eyes. "What's happened?" She asks.
"You know." Jack growls.
Jestine quickly jumps from her seat, gun pointed at Jack. "Stay back." She warns.
"You know where Gray is." He shouts at her.
"I don't know who told you that, but it's not true." She tries to calm him down.
"Don't you lie to me. I know who you are." Jack sneers.
"Well we have been working on missions for over two years. I would hope you know who I am by now." Jestine replies.
"Don't you try that with me." Jack yells. "I've been researching you."
"Oh, now I'm scared." Jestine taunts. "Find anything interesting?"
"You should be." Jack menaces her. "You think I would trust the Time Agency records? No, this information comes from very different sources."
"What sources?" Jestine snaps, sick of Jack's games.
"The sources aren't important." Jack scoffs. "But what they found."
"They found nothing." Jestine informs him, bored. "Now are you done?"
"All of those unofficial journeys." Jack muses. "Almost as if someone were searching for someone."
"Seriously, that's all you've got?" Jestine asks Jack in disbelief. "You have your convert mission, so do I. You know that, everyone knows everyone has their own mission." Jestine turns back to the table.
"That might be so but normally people only have one convert mission. There's one you haven't told us about."
"You don't know that." Jestine challenges Jack.
"But I do. Your travel is very particular. You only travel between two time periods, now and early 21st century. I'll come back to the 21st century." Jack explains. "Now is more interesting."
"If you think bars and brothels are interesting I think you should spend less time investigating me and more time in them." Jestine mocks Jack.
"That's what you pretend to do." Jack counters. "I know what you really do."
"And what is that?" Jestine sneers.
"This." Jack yells as holograms flash up on his vortex manipulator. It shows Jestine along with a man of similar looks to Jack. No sound can be heard but they can see the two first talking violently. Suddenly the man lunges for Jestine. The hologram Jestine ducks and tackles the man, snapping on a pair of handcuffs. She fiddles with some buttons on her vortex manipulator. A white line surrounds the hologram figures before the hologram fades.
"Where is he!" Jack demands again.
Jestine sighs, realising there is no point in lying. "You don't understand. He isn't the brother you let go of. He is dangerous. You can't know." Jestine hisses to Jack.
"Tell me now!" Jack demands.
"Your tantrum isn't going to make me tell you. He is locked away for his and everyone else protection and I'm not going to tell you." Jestine stands firm.
"I thought you might be uncooperative. That's where the 21st century comes in useful." Jack smirks.
Jestine looks at Jack with scepticism but waits for his answer nonetheless.
"Really interesting what information you can get from their government documents." Jack smirks.
"And whatever you got is completely useless. I don't exists in the 21st century." Jestine condescends Jack.
"But you do. I know your secret." Jack smirks.
Jestine pales slightly but refuses to admit defeat. "I don't have any secrets."
Jack laughs. "Neither do I." He then smirks as he pulls out some old-fashion paper files. "These files however indicate otherwise."
"What do they say?" Jestine demands.
"Gray isn't the only person you're hiding." Jack snarls.
Jestine looks at Jack in puzzlement. "I don't know what you are talking about. Either you start talking straight or I'm leaving."
"DNA tests." Jack tells her as he throws the files on the table. "Proof that you aren't as alone as you like to claim."
Jestine's eyes widen as her faces loses all colour. "Jack, how much do you know?" She asks shakily.
"I know everything." He snarls. "Now you tell me where Gray is or this information may just fall into the wrong hands." Jack looms over Jestine.
She doesn't back down. "You shouldn't have shown your hand." Jestine shakes her head before pressing some buttons on her vortex manipulator.
Jack laughs. "You can run as far as you want but you can't escape me."
"I'm not trying to escape you." Jestine answers sadly. "You know too much and that needs to change."
"And what are you going to do about that? I have all the power here." Jack mocks.
Jestine doesn't reply as at the moment the door crashes in. The room is flooded with soldiers, each gun trained at Jack.
"Erase all of his memories of the last 2 years and anything of me." Jestine tells them as Jack looks around in panic.
"You can't do this to me. I know the truth." Jack screams as he is dragged from Jestine.
"That's exactly why it has to happen." Jestine snorts as she fiddles with her vortex manipulator. She disappears amongst a white light. She is gone when it fades.
Present Day
Jestine gasps back to reality. "It's not true. Why am I imaging those sorts of things?" She bursts into tears.
"Don't tell Owen." Adam orders. "He'll just think you're crazy."
"But maybe it would be helpful for Gwen." Jestine protests.
"Or they will kick you out of Torchwood. You're disposable. Anyone can clean the place. Remember that." Adam sneers.
Jestine nods glumly as Adam saunters towards the hidden passageway.
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Ianto returns with two bottles of beer. "Go on. Live a little." He tells Owen as he passes one over.
"Well, as it's you." He takes the offered bottle. "Thank you."
Ianto smiles as he takes a sip. "Call it a celebration."
"Oh, yeah?" Owen asks as he clinks his bottle with Ianto's.
"Adam and I have been together a whole year today." He grins widely.
"Right, right." Owen mutters in return.
Ianto continues talking as if he had not said anything. "A whole year. My stomach still flips when he touches me. I've never known anything like it. The two of us, we just fit. Do you know what I mean?"
Owen fidgets under Ianto's look. "Um, not sure I do, no."
Ianto gives him a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry. You'll meet the right person one day."
"Yeah. Ianto.." Owen works up his courage.
Ianto turns and looks at Owen with a half-smile on his face. Owen loses his nerve.
"Um… um… Do you really think I look like a rodent."
Ianto smiles while shaking his head. "Come on, we're going to crack this box even if it kills us."
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Jack sighs. It had ended being a false alarm. An elderly women had confused her neighbour's dog barking for a wild animal which the police had immediately passed onto Torchwood.
He is just walking back to the SUV when he catches sight of him. "Gray?" Jack calls out as the image fades. He hears a whispered call from his father to run. Jack immediately obeys without thought as to where or why.
Jack pauses and pants around the corner from the SUV. He had no idea what had just came over him. That was the past, he had to let go. But why was he remembering after all this time.
"You ok Jack?" Adam's voice startles him and Jack turns around to see him standing there.
"Where did you come from?" Jack asks, having a strong feeling of Déjà vu.
"I came with you, remember." Adam reassures him as he grabs his arm. "You worried me when you ran off just then. What happened?"
"Nothing." Jack brushes him off, moving towards the SUV.
"Who's Gray?" Adam causes Jack to stop in his tracks.
"What?" Jack whips around suddenly.
"You called out Gray before you ran." Adam easily lies.
"Nothing." Jack replies as he continues towards the SUV.
"Jack, please. Talk to me. What about the past? Is it your childhood?" Adam pleads with Jack.
Jack stops and Adam walks up and places his hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I've always been here for you Jack. From the very beginning. I'm the one you can confide in, remember?"
"It was meant to be buried. I buried the memory over 150 years ago. Why now?" Jack whispers more to himself than to Adam. Before walking away again.
"Well, maybe it's time. Maybe up until now, your subconscious was protecting you. But you can't block out the past forever." Adam encourages Jack.
"Jack, talk to me, please." Adam won't give up.
"Why?" Jack asks.
"I can help. Trust me. Just tell me what you see. I can help you. "That's why I'm here."
Jack closes his eyes and takes a big breath. He had been keeping the secret for too many years, maybe it was time to tell someone. Adam had always been there for him, had helped him through so much, maybe he would help Jack with this.
"Where are you, Jack?" Adam's voice drifts through Jack's thoughts.
Jack stands on a planet, staring out at the horizon, nothing but sand, sun and heat in front of him.
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Young Jack is standing on a planet, staring out at the horizon, nothing but sand, sun and heat in front of him.
Adam watches both Jacks.
"Boeshane Peninsula. My home in the 51st Century." Adult Jack explains. "We lived under the threat of invasion."
The scene changes. It is no longer the idyllic hill. People are running for the cover of the nearby trees, a look of panic on all of them. Young Jack is holding hands with his younger brother.
"They came without warning. We thought they'd pass over us, like they always did.
Young Jack ducks for cover in the roots of a large tree. He's alone, the others run past him, there is no sign of his brother.
"But they didn't. Not that day." Jack explains, his voice harsh with his heartbreak.
"Who?" Adam asks eagerly.
"The most horrible creatures you could possibly imagine." Jack answers grimly.
People scream as they run past, oblivious to the two men. They watch as Jack's father Franklin, and brother Gray run towards Young Gray.
"Their howls traveled before them." Jack explains.
"Run. Take Gray. Keep him safe!" Jack's father urges him forward.
Back to present
"I searched for Gray for years." Jack absently explains, his mind still reeling from the memory. "I never found the body."
"It wasn't your fault." Adam tries to comfort Jack.
"I let go of his hand! It was the worst day of my life. It's the last thing I want to remember." Jack exclaims before storming back to the SUV.
Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think.