Captain John Hart lifted his gun to her chest.
Hally cursed herself for not bringing the Laser Screwdriver with her.
Idiot.
Hart's face split into a smile. "Now, now… I'd hate to have to give you a matching set. Hands up." He twitched the gun up. Her eyes blazed with a scorching glare. The gun cocked loudly against the silence.
There was nothing she could do. Hally raised her right hand slowly, her left arm still strapped across her chest. He hummed in dark amusement and advanced on her. She took a step back but he was quick, his hand wound into her hair and pulled her head back, immobilising her. He tutted slowly as she struggled in his grip. Hart replaced his gun in its holster, pulling her body towards his until his chest was flush against hers. He inhaled deeply, a small frown played on his forehead. He lowered his head to her neck and inhaled again. Her hand pushed at his chest, but he held her firm. He was smelling her?
"What are you?" He growled with insistence, manoeuvring her head so their faces were just inches apart.
Her only response was a furious glare.
A low chuckle rumbled in his throat, he tugged on her hair, forcing her head back until her eyes met the ceiling. A strangled sound of protest ripped up her throat as his fingers ghosted across the band at her neck.
"I haven't seen one of these in a long time." She could hear the interest in his voice. "It's a pretty one. Custom made? Did Jack make it for you?" Hally grunted and shoved her hand into his chest.
"Get off me."
Hart captured her wrist in a tight grip, halting her weak protest. He moved her head, bringing her gaze back to his. "Tell me what you are, beautiful." His mouth was pulled into an assured smirk, his eyes glinting dangerously. He was far too close to her.
Hally's lip curled into a snarl as she bared her teeth at him.
An impatient huff fell from him, as if her lack of cooperation was exhausting. His grip on her shifted, transferring control of her head to his other hand as he ran his palm experimentally across her shoulder. Her body jolted in panic as he found what he'd been feeling for, malicious glee flashed behind his eyes and he pressed his thumb hard into her shoulder.
The sound of her scream echoed through the Hub.
Hart closed his eyes, drinking it in. When his eyes opened, they were full of sick pleasure. "You have such a pretty scream."
The whimper fell from her lips before she'd had the chance to swallow it. Hally could only pray that Jack was on his way. It was dawning on her just how vulnerable she was. She was weak, powerless and barely able to stand, let alone fight him off. Thankfully, his hand left her shoulder and returned to explore the golden band. "Does it come off?"
"No…" She growled out, her teeth clenched tightly together.
"Mmm…" Hart licked his lips, excitement brightening his dark pupils. "Who put it on?"
"It wasn't Jack." Hally spat at him.
Hart laughed and his eyes snapped back up to hers. "Oh darling, someone collared you."
She winced, her upper lip curling in disgust.
"Why?" His eyes flashed with a demand. His hand pressed against her neck, just underneath the Biodampener.
Hally shook her head, her breaths were coming out in pants. "Where are the others?"
He chuckled darkly. "Oh, they're all basically dead, or dying."
Fuck.
Hot irritation surged inside her. Fuck The Master for leaving her so fucking helpless.
Hart's eyes trailed from her face to her neck, where his hand was still pressed. She watched as his pupils constricted, focusing. A soft breath fell from his lips as his gaze flicked back to hers, disbelief flashing across his face. Her forehead pinched in a frown, before a cold chill washed over her. His hand was still at her neck. She could feel her own pulse fluttering against his hand. Her double pulse.
Hally's eyes widened and she struggled against him. His hand tightened unforgivingly in her hair as he pressed his free hand against her chest.
She tried to bat it away. "Don't touch me."
Hart slapped her hand away, pressing his palm over the right side of her chest, followed by the left. He hummed a dark laugh. "Oooh… do you know how much you're worth?" The glint in his eyes sent a bolt of fear through her.
Where the fuck was Jack?
"Here I am, chasing an Arcadian diamond… and you just fall into my lap…" Before Hally could protest, Hart dragged her down the steps into the medical bay. The body of the red Blowfish was still lying on Owen's examination table. With one hand still yanking at her hair, Hart started to pull something from the creature's pocket. Hally tried to pull away from him, but every move she made sent pain throbbing through her shoulder and chest. Sticky warmth was blossoming underneath the dressing. She was definitely bleeding again.
Hart growled impatiently and forced her body in between the table and him, pressing her back into the cold metal. "Now I can sell them a little Time Lady and just throw in the diamond for good measure." He winked at her. Hally wriggled, trying to get out from his grip.
Hart chuckled lowly. "Oh, please, do keep struggling." His mouth curved into a hungry smirk, looking down between their bodies, his pressed tightly over hers. Hally stopped moving immediately.
"You're disgusting."
The sound of four guns cocking silenced Hart's reply. His eyes narrowed and he turned to take in the four humans. Owen, Toshiko, Ianto and Gwen. All alive. Looking slightly worse for wear, but all with their guns trained on John.
"Okay. Pretty and resilient. Is that even fair?" John chuckled at his own joke, exhaling in frustration. The hand in her hair tightened.
"Maybe you didn't realise. You can beat, shoot, threaten, and even poison us, and we keep coming back stronger every time… now take your hands off her." Gwen's eyes were hard, her aim never wavering from John's head.
Hart didn't move, a small smile played at the corner of his mouth. "Well, I think you ought to know your boss is splayed out on the…"
Jack stepped down behind his team, hands in his pockets as he surveyed the scene.
"…pavement. Now that's impressive. Seriously, you can earn a fortune in the Vegas galaxies with an act like that. Go on, how's it work?"
Jack gave John a hard look. "Take your hands off her."
Hart huffed, shooting her a look. His hand was still tight in her hair. "Maybe she likes it?" To illustrate his point, he gave her hair a playful tug. Hally growled in response, shooting daggers at him.
Jack leant forward on the railing, cocking an eyebrow. "Oh, I don't doubt that she does. But not when it's you. Hands. Off."
Hart and Hally both turned to shoot a look at Jack, his amused, hers irritated and disgruntled. However, Hart hummed and released her hair. She pushed him back from her, he simply smirked in response to her murderous glare.
Hally righted herself, pressing a hand to her shoulder. It was definitely bleeding again. Jack levelled a look of concern at her, checking she was good. Hally nodded quickly.
Hart crossed his arms, watching Jack. "Go on then? Magic trick? Was it mirrors, it's always mirrors."
"I can't die." Jack fixed him with a hard stare.
Hart huffed, rolling his eyes. "Huh. No but, really."
"No, but really, you can't kill me. No matter how many times you try, I can't die. Ever." Something flashed behind Jack's eyes.
"Hey, but what does it cost you? Every time you have to drag yourself back here, how does it feel? All that pain and trauma. Plus, you're reborn into this godforsaken mess. I pity you."
"These people, this planet, all the beauty you could never see. That's what I come back for."
"Well, goody on you." John clicked his tongue.
"What's in the canisters?"
"It's come clean time, Captain." Owen raised his eyebrows.
John scowled, pouting in disobedience.
Hally cocked an eyebrow, Hart evidently wasn't going to offer up the information. "Arcadian diamond."
John rolled his eyes, shooting her a childish stare. "Yeah, all right. That woman I told you about had herself an Arcadian diamond. It's the rarest gem in the Damascene Cluster. Just when I'd got my hands on her, she only generates her own personal Rift storm. God, I hate technological geniuses." He rolled his jaw, raising his eyebrows suggestively at Toshiko.
"You said this was a dying woman's request." She shot back at him.
"Yeah, she was dying. I shot her. Thought my luck had changed when I found it had ended up here." John shrugged. "So, I'm thinking fifty, fifty. Even split, good deal. I'm assuming you're not going to let me sell the Time Lord…" John turned to give Hally an appreciative smile. "Or if anyone fancies an orgy?" His eyebrows arched, eyes trailing from her up to the other team members.
Jack hummed in disapproval, with their guns still trained on Hart the team split. Gwen grabbed the canisters and Jack hauled Hart out of the medical station.
"Owen, do your thing." Jack nodded towards Hally.
"Yep, on it." Owen had already slipped through the railing and was placing various items on a trolley.
Hart chuckled lowly, throwing a wink over his shoulder. "Sorry sweetheart. It's just business."
Hally clicked her tongue against her teeth and called after them. "And you had the audacity to judge my taste, Harkness!"
Jack laughed sarcastically, pulling John away. Owen grabbed Hally a chair and she sat, her hand pressed experimentally against her shoulder and came away red.
Great.
Owen's face twitched with a wince and pulled the trolley over to them. "Now, I wouldn't usually ask until the second date, but… I think you might need to take your top off." He sent her a lopsided smile.
Hally hummed softly. They removed the sling together and Owen gently pulled the top over her head, now also stained with blood. She was running out of clothes fast.
He pulled back the dressing and sighed irritably. "Well, the stitches are definitely fucked. Bastard." Owen muttered.
The doctor swiftly and expertly injected painkiller into the wound, re-stitching and re-dressing it. Hally stared forward, but when Owen moved into her line of sight she noticed the dark red patch on his side. She frowned. "You're bleeding?"
Owen chuckled. "Oh, I got shot." He gave her an amused look. "Snap."
She laughed and shook her head. "I warned you not to."
He grinned impishly.
Jack returned, looking to Owen for information. He packed away his equipment. "She'll be fine." He removed his gloves, chucking them in the bin. "Although I can't say the same for your clothing…" He paused, giving her an empathetic smile, before jogging up the steps to join the others.
Jack rummaged in a few of the drawers and with a noise of approval, he pulled out a dark grey hoodie. "We really need to get you some clothes." He smirked down at her.
Hally rolled her eyes, getting to her feet and letting him help her into the hoodie. "Yeah, well, let's deal with your psycho boyfriend first."
"Oh, you're one to talk little lady." Jack zipped up the front, fixing her with an intense stare.
Hally hummed, slipping on the sling. Her eyes widened at him, a glimmer of impudence. "At least I had the decency to marry him."
"I don't think I'm the marrying type." Jack gave her a wink.
Hally smiled, a heavy exhale fell from her lips. She was exhausted. "Told you it was a trap."
"Yes, thank you." Jack clipped, rolling his eyes at her.
They returned to silence. Jack's hand appeared in front of her, offering. She took it and he led her up the stairs and through to his office. The rest of the team were waiting for them, John pouting impatiently.
The canisters had been opened, a small triangular device sat next to a tetrahedron on Jack's desk. It looked like some kind of puzzle.
Jack nodded his head towards it, watching John. "Open it."
"What, not even a please? Don't your manners get brought back to life too?"
"Now!"
John huffed. "This should give us the location of the diamond." John joined the two pieces together, a hologram blinked into life.
"There she is." A smug smirk pulled at John's mouth.
"The woman you murdered."
The hologram turned to John. "You've travelled several galaxies for this. Well done."
"Thank you, gorgeous." Mirth glittered behind John's eyes.
Hally rolled her eyes.
"Except, there is no diamond." The woman in the hologram smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.
John's face dropped. "What?"
"Only this."
The tetrahedron unfolded, engulfing itself and morphing into a circular device. John was shaking his head in disbelief. "No, no, no, no, no, no, there's got to be a diamond. It's all about the diamond."
The circular device levitated off the desk, it rotated slowly until it found its target and then it zoomed towards John, hitting him square in the chest. John grunted with pain as spokes latched into his skin, implanting the device onto him. "What the hell is that!?"
The hologram hummed. "It's an explosive device which will latch on to the DNA of whoever killed me. It'll detonate in ten minutes. It can't be removed without exploding so, don't bother trying. Goodbye, lover."
"No, wait…" John reached towards the hologram.
"See you in hell." The image flickered out of existence.
Gwen looked at Jack, worry evident on her face. "She can't be serious. Ten minutes?"
"Get it off me!" John yelled, turning to Jack with panic written all over his face.
"Actually, nine minutes fifty, forty-nine, forty-eight. Always at the ready." Ianto brought up a stopwatch, looking at it proudly.
"Okay, how big is this explosion likely to be, Jack?" Gwen was looking between the two men.
Jack cocked his head. "That technology, that size? Big."
"So we should really get him out of the city." Owen added. The others nodded.
"Nine minutes thirty-seven." Ianto reminded them.
John looked to Jack, his face cracking. "You've got to help me. Please."
"Why?" Jack cocked an eyebrow coldly.
John lashed out, he punched Jack hard in the face and used the commotion to grab Gwen. He pulled her away from the others. The team fanned out immediately, raising their guns back to Hart.
John retreated, holding Gwen by the neck. "Get back. Back. Back off. Get back."
Gwen tried to struggle, but he had her trapped. "Jack, help me."
John very swiftly pulled out a pair of handcuffs and handcuffed one of his hands to Gwen's.
Oh fuck.
Hally's eyebrows arched.
Gwen tried to pull at the cuffs to no avail. John tutted. "It's hypersteel, impermeable, deadlock sealed. No way to undo them. Unless you have this key." He held the key up in front of her face, then placed it in his mouth and swallowed it.
Gwen yanked at his arm. "You are unbelievable!"
John smirked in agreement. "And yet you still find me strangely attractive." He hummed and turned back to the rest of them, Hally could see the urgency behind his eyes. He was afraid. "Now you had better find a solution pronto or she'll be blown up with me."
Owen cocked his gun. "Would shooting him stop the DNA trigger?"
"No." Jack barked at him and Owen lowered his gun slightly.
John stared at them all. "So, what are we gonna do now, team? The orgy's still on offer, by the way. Especially now I've got the cuffs out." He gave Toshiko a wink, she scowled at him in response.
"Nine minutes, four seconds." Ianto piped up from behind them.
"That is really not helping the sense of impending doom." Hally muttered under her breath.
Gwen's eyes lit up with an idea. "Tosh, the Rift predictor program, have you perfected yet?"
Toshiko's face creased with confusion. "Pretty much."
John was looking between the two women, he did not look pleased. "What?"
Gwen ignored him. "Anything in the next few minutes?"
Jack cottoned on to what the human was suggesting and shook his head. "Gwen, no way."
John whined. "What's she talking about?"
Gwen levelled with Jack. "If we're in the Rift when that disc explodes, the city will be safe."
Jack's jaw clenched, but Hally could see that he knew she was right.
John shook his head, getting increasingly agitated. "How does that save us?"
Gwen turned her head and fixed him with a hard glare. "It doesn't."
"Eight, thirty-two, thirty-one…" Ianto's voice shook with urgency.
"You're bluffing." John hummed.
"Try me." Gwen sneered.
Tosh got a reading on her Rift device. "The car park where he arrived. The crack in the Rift is still active up there!"
Gwen yanked John up the stairs towards the exit. "Right, that's where we're going."
Ianto and Tosh started to follow. Owen stepped forward, panic rising in his tone. "Somebody better start doing something. Cut his hand off?!"
Tosh shook her head. "That would activate the bomb."
As Gwen dragged John up the stairs, Hally narrowed her eyes. She turned to Owen. "DNA trigger right?"
Owen nodded his eyes wide. Jack's eyebrows arched as he caught on to her train of thought.
"Well, let's confuse the fuck out of it…" Hally rolled up the sleeve of her arm and Owen's eyes brightened in understanding. The three of them rushed back into the medical bay and Owen grabbed a needle. He took three vials of her blood swiftly before mixing them up and drawing them into a syringe.
Jack watched them, keeping an eye on the time. "This had better work."
"Only one way to find out." She raised her eyebrows at him. They bolted out of the hub, Hally was thankful that Owen had only recently given her more of his painkillers. The team had taken the SUV, so Jack hopped into an awaiting convertible red sports car. Owen jumped in on the other side. Hally grumbled irritably, having to open the door and get in the normal way.
Jack sped them back towards the car park where they'd found the body. Owen checked the time.
"2 minutes, Jack!"
"I know!" He yelled back, skidding into the car park entrance. He raced up to the top.
Owen primed the needle. "Pumping him full of Time Lord blood isn't going to do anything weird is it?" He shot Hally a look.
She shrugged. "No idea. And I'm actually only half Time Lord. The point is, my DNA is confusing as fuck." She grinned and grabbed hold of the edge of the car as Jack turned a corner sharply.
Jack huffed. "Do you swear this much around The Doctor?"
"No, obviously not." She scrunched up her face, narrowing her eyes at the back of Jack's head.
The car sped onto the top level, Jack slammed on the brakes and again the two men jumped over the car doors, Jack taking the syringe from Owen. He sprinted towards where Gwen and John stood, just in front of the rift fissure.
"Thirty seconds!" Ianto called.
Jack slammed into John, knocking both him and Gwen to the floor. Jack straddled him and injected the contents of the syringe into his chest.
"Argh! Get off me." John shoved him away.
Jack stared at the disk, still counting down. "It's not working!"
"Fifteen seconds." Ianto's eyes were trained on the stopwatch.
Hally slammed the car door shut and ran over to them. It should have worked.
"Why hasn't it worked?!" Jack was watching the disk, panic flashed over his face.
"I don't know!" Owen shook his head.
"Are you sure it's a DNA trigger?!" Hally watched as the disk continued to tick closer to zero.
"Twelve seconds."
Gwen got to her feet, fixing Jack with a complicated look. "I've got to go, Jack."
Jack and Owen grabbed John and hauled him to his feet. As they did the disc retracted its spokes and fell to the floor.
"Five, four, three…"
"Jack!"
Jack noticed the disc on the floor, he bent down and threw the bomb as hard as he could into the Rift.
"Two, one…."
Jack turned back to them. "Go! Run!"
She felt Jack's hands grab her and push her to the ground as the bomb detonated inside the Rift. A shockwave ripped over the top of them and suddenly everything was dark.
Hally felt a body shift above her, she twisted onto her back and sat up. Jack moved off her, quickly checking the rest of his team were ok.
"What the hell?" John's voice cut through the night.
It was night. Hally frowned, getting shakily to her feet. It had been early afternoon not moments ago.
"Jack, what's going on? Why's it gone dark?" Gwen voiced the question on everyone's lips.
Jack checked his watch, his eyebrows arching. "The rift's reverted to the moment he came through. Everything's jumped back to the beginning of the night."
"Like you were never here." Gwen muttered hatefully at John.
Jack groaned. "Now we've got to avoid ourselves. Great."
Hally exhaled heavily, letting out a pathetic-sounding laugh. "This is the longest day of my life."
Jack hummed in empathetic agreement.
"It's a temporal displacement. Makes your tongue tingle, doesn't it? It's lovely." John smirked, wriggling with delight.
Gwen looked back at Owen. "What was in the syringe?"
Owen nodded his head towards Hally. "Time Lord DNA. It temporarily corrupted his DNA coding, and confused the disc."
John clicked his tongue against his teeth, his eyes darkening as he turned to her. "Oh, kinky. You mean there's a little bit of you in me?" He cocked a suggestive eyebrow.
Hally rolled her eyes. "Yeah, so I wouldn't go getting any blood tests anytime soon. You might find yourself being trafficked." She punctuated her point with a withering glare. John chuckled lowly.
"Touché little Lady."
Gwen took in a long breath of relief. "Thank you..." She looked between Owen and Hally.
"You're welcome." Owen answered for them, Hally gave her a short nod.
Jack stepped forward, squaring up to John. "I want you gone."
Gwen held up her hand, still handcuffed to Hart. "Well, we've got to work out a way to get these off first."
John's face twitched. "Actually…" He dropped his head back and picked the key out from his mouth with his fingers. "Old Artesian trick. Keep it in the lining of the throat. Has a lot of uses."
Gwen stared at John in disbelief as he unlocked the cuffs. "You had that all along?"
"You were my passport to survival. No hard feelings. Well, not in that sense…"
Before he could spout another word, Gwen punched him in the face. John staggered back.
Hally sniggered, watching in delight as John straightened up, his pain evident by the way he sucked on his teeth.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side." Ianto muttered appreciatively.
Jack advanced on John and after a little resistance, John stepped backwards, the rift flaring around him. He inhaled and caught Jack's gaze, just before he disappeared he quirked an eyebrow. "Oh. By the way, I meant to tell you. I found Gray."
Then he was gone.
Gwen looked up at their boss. "Who's Gray?"
Hally watched his face, a mixture of painful emotions were running across it. Then he swallowed and hid them all away as quickly as they'd appeared. "It's nothing. Let's get back to work…"
It really was the longest day of her life.
The team had decided that the best place to avoid themselves for the next 10-12 hours, was at the local pub. Hally had thought that perhaps the bitter sting of alcohol might help keep her awake, but it was only making her mind heavier and fuzzier. Not that she particularly minded. The numbing effect was welcome.
Jack had sat himself next to her. She wasn't sure if it was a protective move or a suspicious one. Probably a mixture. For the third time, Hally felt her eyes dropping closed and she shook herself back awake.
"You look like shit." Jack hummed from her left.
She cocked an eyebrow, taking a long sip of the beer Gwen had insisted she try. She couldn't really taste it all that much. "Yeah, well, I can guarantee I feel worse." Breath fell from her lips in a tired huff. "I just want to go to bed."
"Oh, I suppose the sewer doesn't seem so bad now, huh?" He nudged her gently.
Hally snorted, shaking her head. "No… I suppose not. If you'll have me." She turned her head to look at him.
Jack nodded. "Of course."
"But I'm still not part of your team." Her face dropped into a warning look. She didn't want to give him the jurisdiction to boss her around.
"What are you then?" Jack crossed his arms over his chest.
Hally pouted in thought. "I don't know, I could be your alien consultant." She grinned, eyes twinkling.
Jack chuckled.
The team were chatting happily around them. Apparently, a near-death experience really brought a group together. Hally exhaled softly, she let her head drop onto Jack's shoulder. He shifted, wrapping his arm around her, holding her against him gently.
Gwen stopped what she was saying and watched the gesture, before her wide eyes met Jack's with a pointed look.
Hally huffed out a weak laugh. "Your team don't believe we're just friends…"
Gwen cocked an eyebrow at them, as if their current position proved her point. The rest of the team were listening in, intrigued.
Hally heard Jack hum above her. "Well, I guess you did kiss me that one time."
Her laughter shook her, she poked him in the side of the chest hard. "Oh, yeah, and look how much trouble we got in for that." Hally shifted her head to glare up at him playfully. "Never doing that again."
Jack's face split into a handsome grin. "Oh, I don't know. Still worth it." He shot her a shameless wink. She shook her head, trying to stop her own smile from pulling at her mouth.
"Worth dying over a hundred times for?" She shot back.
"Definitely."
Hally hummed in amusement, shaking her head at his ridiculous smile. The team watched them. Ianto's eyes narrowed as he tried to work them out.
But Jack hadn't finished. "And I guess I did see you naked."
Hally rolled her eyes, letting out a disgruntled puff of air. "Well, you could have not looked. But I suppose I've seen you naked too…" The thought crossed her mind and a coy smile tugged at the side of her mouth.
Jack opened his mouth, then he frowned. "Wait… when?"
Her chuckle vibrated in her chest and she sat up, taking a slow sip of her beer. "Oh you know, the TARDIS has a vast catalogue of television recordings, even as obscure as Satellite Five." Her eyebrows cocked upward in amusement.
Jack stared at her. "You didn't."
"Oh, I did." Her eyes twinkled with mirth. "Where were you hiding that gun?"
Jack's laugh was loud and unapologetic.
Owen looked between them. "Yeah… this isn't helping convince us you're just friends."
Toshiko nodded. "You're definitely flirting."
Hally pouted. "You can flirt with your friends." Then she scrunched up her face. "Plus, as I said, we went travelling with my Dad." She widened her eyes at them, emphasizing the point.
Gwen chuckled lowly, shooting a smirk at Jack. "As if that'd stop him."
The table hummed with laughter.
Jack hummed thoughtfully. "Mmm, well having you on board didn't stop your Mum and Dad though, did it?"
Hally's mouth clicked shut, the comment took a moment to land. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God!"
Jack chuckled darkly and Hally shivered, covering her face with her hand. "That is not an image I needed, Jack."
Jack smirked to himself, evidently very proud of his quip. The team watched them in utter confusion. Hally huffed and shook her head, trying to explain for them. "Time travel… stuff." She winced, wanting the ground to swallow her up. "My parents, we were also travelling with my parents, except they weren't my parents yet. It's complicated." She breathed a laugh.
Gwen shot Jack a look. "He never tells us anything."
Jack pouted, huffing dramatically. "Well, like I said. It's the here and now that's important." His eyes levelled with Gwen's meaningfully.
Hally hummed and looked up at him. "Does that apply to me too?"
His gaze met hers, a flash of comprehension. A short nod.
Ianto looked between the two. "I can pop out to grab you some clothes tomorrow? Unless you're planning on living in Owen's hoodie?" His smile made his eyes twinkle.
Hally chuckled softly. "Clothes would be wonderful, thank you." Then she paused and considered the fact that she'd never really had the chance to fill her own wardrobe with clothes of her choice. The past year The Master had done it for her, and before that, the TARDIS had set her a style and even before then she'd been stuck in Time Lord robes. "Actually… I think I want to come with you." She gave Ianto a thoughtful smile. "No one's ever taken me shopping before." She winked playfully. Ianto chuckled, shrugging with acceptance.
Finally, they were all allowed the leave the pub and head back to their respective homes. Hally yawned as Jack waved goodbye to the others.
"Long day." Jack exhaled, checking his watch.
"Well with time resetting on us twice, I think it's been what? A 50-hour day? So yeah… long indeed." Hally gave him a weak smile.
Jack thought about it. "Huh. Yeah." He offered her his arm, she took it and they walked back to the Hub. Hally grabbed The Master's coat from the mess, mentally promising herself to never let herself be without the screwdriver ever again. She wouldn't let herself be vulnerable like that again.
He led her through to one of the on-call rooms. It was small and simple, just furnished with a bed and a chest of drawers. He brought her one of his T-shirts to sleep in, she accepted it with a muted thanks.
It all felt a little too quiet all of a sudden.
Jack hovered in her doorway. "Go to sleep." His tone was stern but caring.
Heaviness settled across her chest. "I tried earlier. You know when you're so tired but your body won't let you sleep?" She huffed out a laugh. "The whole day feels like a bad dream." She unstrapped her arm from the sling. "I keep expecting to close my eyes, reopen them and I'm back on the Valiant."
Jack considered her. "Maybe you don't want to fall asleep?"
"Hmm?"
"Because you know you'll wake up tomorrow and he'll still be dead."
His words, so level and yet so full of emotion, hit her directly in the centre of her chest.
It stung.
An unavoidable pain.
She cleared her throat, picking up his T-shirt. "Do you mind…?" She sent him a small embarrassed smile, hoping he'd catch her drift.
He chuckled and nodded. "Of course."
Jack helped her undress as he had done on the TARDIS, pulling the T-shirt on gently over her head. It fell just above the middle of her thighs. Hally looked up at him, a curious frown on her face. "You trust them?"
Jack nodded. "Completely."
"What about me?" She batted back quickly.
Jack exhaled slowly. "I trust you too."
"Maybe try saying it without sighing?" Her lip quirked in amusement.
Jack let out a low chuckle. "I trust you. I might not like it. I might keep a close eye on you." He arched an eyebrow. "But I trust that if it comes down to it, I can count on you."
Hally cocked her head to one side, considering his words, unsure whether she liked his answer. She decided to accept it anyway. "You don't tell your team much about yourself."
"No. It would only complicate things."
She narrowed her eyes slightly at him. "You think they wouldn't trust you if they knew everything you'd done?"
Something flashed behind the icy blue, he crossed his arms over his chest, fixing her with a hard stare. "Maybe not. But I mean it, what matters is who I am now. What I do now."
Hally plonked herself down on the edge of her bed. "Yeah… So, I assume we're not going to tell them about The Master?" She gave him a weak, knowing smile.
Jack inhaled and tilted his chin down in a nod. "I think it'd be for the best."
"Mmhmm." The niggling feeling had started to worm its way back into her stomach. Hally chewed on her bottom lip.
Jack shifted. "If you're going to insist on carrying all that guilt with you. You might as well do some good with it." He lifted an eyebrow, before turning and closing the door behind him.
Hally lay back on the bed.
Jack wasn't wrong.
She did still feel guilty for all of it.
She knew what Alina would say.
"Are you responsible for your husband's actions?"
Hally sighed.
No.
But guilt still tugged at her insides. Guilt for all the pain he'd caused.
Jack.
The Doctor.
Martha.
Martha's family.
But then, sitting on top of that festering pool of shame she'd been carrying since she'd given in to The Master on the Valiant, were new heavy bricks of guilt that she was building on top. The knowledge that she was going to bring him back, regardless of all those things.
She had let Jack take her in, she would earn his trust and the trust of his team.
All with the plan to shatter it.
A pained groan vibrated in her throat.
Constant guilt.
But lying there, in the dark, in the tiny bed that was nowhere near as comfortable as the one she'd shared with Koschei on the Valiant, Hally knew that she would stop at nothing to bring him back.
While the heavy swamp of shame was inconvenient, it didn't compare to the gaping hole of grief.
She missed him.
Missed his warmth.
What she wouldn't give to have him wrap his arms around her, hold her gently against him. He would kiss the top of her head and tell her, 'Stop being an idiot.'
She exhaled, long and resolute.
She had a lot of work to do.
Torchwood.
UNIT.
Bring back dead husband.
Keep everything a secret.
Hally huffed into the darkness.
She was going to need help.
