Chapter 37
"So… Switzerland? I didn't know you went international".
"It was fun. We made Ianto ambassador of Wales". Jack beams. "But seriously, we don't just protect Wales from alien threats".
Martha giggles. "And UNIT is international. I thought you knew".
"UNIT…They don't seem to like me very much there. They love the Doctor, but they're no fan of mine. Maybe put in a good word?".
"Why, are you looking for a job?". Martha looks confused.
"Tired of traveling?", Jack asks, kicking me out of his chair. "Or the Doctor kicked you out? Any spots opening?" He smiles.
"More like I kicked myself out". Martha and Jack exchange an intrigued look, I pull up my sleeve, show them the dots tattoo. "Well, past me is still hopping around time and space. I… lent her my spot".
Jack looks at me quietly. I know it's incredibly rude on my side to just show up in Cardiff after so long, and without warning, but I just hoped he could tolerate my presence - and maybe help, but I have to wait for the right moment to ask - and for now, it's far better than what I expected. He's all jokes and banter, and even if I know he's a liar and he hides his feelings just like the Doctor, he honestly seemed, surprisely, pleased to see me.
Martha finishes typing on her laptop and packs it in her bag. "Well, I'd better go. Only a few days and then I'm off abroad".
Jack and I look at her. "Super secret op?".
"Yeah. Super secret. Jack will most likely be able to tell you all about it, though", she jokes.
Jack shrugs. "It's funny because it's true", he winks.
I stand up, following Martha.
"So how have you been? Are things really okay on the Tardis?", she asks softly. "And how is the Doctor?".
"Well, you know him", I tell her. "Sometimes he looks like he's got no problem in the world, sometimes he shows he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders".
"Same old, then", she smiles, zipping her jacket. "And now, are you two…?".
"No, no. No, no. No", wow, Zoe, how many noes was that? "Always a bit complicated".
"Can't imagine why", she jokes, raising her eyebrows at my necklace. "Last time I saw you two, he got a daughter out of an army box. And she sacrificed for him. Next thing I know, he's visiting Agatha Christie. That man is relentless".
Right, the sudden daughter. I never asked details about it. And guess Martha hasn't heard about the sudden wife. "Maybe too much".
"Well I'm glad that Donna is with him. And you, present or past".
"Yeah. Donna is great. Also, we do tend to get into a lot more trouble when she's not around". Martha looks puzzled. "The Doctor and I, we ran into… an old incarnation of the Master recently".
She smiles, softly. "Not to sound offensive, but that's one guy I'd rather not see again".
"I know". I sigh. "Again, it's… complicated".
"Was the Doctor jealous?", she asks, smiling. Ever since she's engaged, her crush on the Doctor vanished so fast it feels like it was never there in the first place.
"Well, angry, yes. Over caring, also. Jealous… I don't know". I groan. "Besides, he's still pining-".
"Pining for Rose, right", she finishes my sentence. "Same old indeed. But tell me about you. How's that former-human-Time-Lord brain of yours adapting? Maybe I will put in a good word at UNIT. That Snowpiercer shit was a handful, and you flew through it brilliantly".
"Thanks, but I'm not really looking for a job. Ugh. I might need help with… research. But it's a long story, I don't want to keep you".
She looks at me quizzingly. "I'm fine, Martha, really! Get out!", I joke.
"Well at some point you'll let me know if you and the Doctor come to the wedding with outer space plus ones, okay?".
"Promise".
I wink and we hug just before the big revolving metal door closes on the entrance of the hub. I trace my steps back to Jack's office, looking around. The place does look gloomy.
I lean on the door frame.
"Gwen and Ianto…", I ask.
"They have homes, you know. I'm the only one who stays here all the time".
"Jack. I'm sorry I didn't call after…" I take a deep breath. "Martha told me about what happened to Owen and Toshiko, a while ago".
"Well it's not like we were chatting all the time before that", he points out.
"Ouch. And deserved too, you're right".
"Woah. So, Time Lords are physically able to apologize. Who knew!", he jokes again, stretching on the office chair.
"Naah, maybe, I guess, I must still have some human left", I reply. "You too".
"And what makes you say that?".
"I met you when you were a regular human being, Jack. It doesn't matter if you lived two hundred years in the meantime, I still think you care about others".
He smiles. "That was a very long time ago. Anyway. How the mighty have fallen. Great Time Lady Zoe, stranded on Earth and no friends to rely upon except for good old Jack Harkness". He stands up.
I smile back. "You gonna let this go at some point…?".
"Never". He pours some more coffee. "What's the point of friends if you don't get to make fun of them?".
I breathe again. "It wasn't that long ago, actually".
"Life of a time traveler, uh? But still, a lot of things have happened between that 1941 and now".
"Not that time. Before. And it was a couple of days ago".
I got his attention.
"The Doctor and I were just… visiting a 51st century colony. While there, we ran into a very young Time Agent. Very… handsome, very talented. His name was… not Jack Harkness".
He flinches, but pretends he's not bothered by it. "Did you seriously think that's my real name?".
I smile.
"That past is gone". He drinks again.
"I know. And I don't want you to revisit it. Just going to mention, you were always on the good guys' side".
"Ha ha. Trying to ruin my reputation, Richards?". He jokes, but I notice a hint of bitterness in his eyes. "You can stay as long as you want, or need. Life of a time traveler…", he repeats, looking down. "…you end up being one of my oldest friends, I guess. I wasn't going to leave you up there looking at postcards".
"The one time I go looking for Martha, and all I find out is she's in Switzerland. So I come here, and you're in bloody Switzerland too. And I had to take a train, to get to Cardiff".
"Oh, you poor thing, traveling at the same speed as humanity".
"Shut up. I know you're dying for coordinates to restart that thing", I nod at his vortex manipulator.
He flashes me a smile. "You don't have them, uh?".
"Nope".
"Thought so. Now tell me, what brings you here? Apart from needing a place to stay, I mean".
I smile. "Well, I…" I take a deep breath. "I guess I just needed to check on you. And really, I'm sorry I didn't - we didn't, not even after Martha told me what happened to your team".
"Damn", he smiles. "I'm almost curious to know what happened on that colony now - come on, it's not just that. You took a train". His icy gaze is soft, but damn this man can read right through people.
"It wasn't just you we met there. So I was wondering… I would like to search through your archives and records, if possible".
"Sure", he brings the cup to his lips. "What for?".
Come on, Zoe. He's your friend. He just said that. "Time Lord…s".
He almost spits his coffee. "Time Lords? Like in general, or… a specific one? You're joking".
"Unfortunately, I'm not".
"Oooh, the nerve", he mocks me. "So the bond thing, it it real? You longing for that psycho?".
"Mmm. Yes and no. Yes the bond thing is real, and no I'm not longing for him. But… recently I met… well let's just say I remembered something Chloe told me a while ago, and I need to look into it and I don't know where to start from, and you have the entire Torchwood database. And, room and board". I smile.
"Unbelievable", he shakes his head, lowering towards me. "Tell you what. You can browse the database and archive and whatever you want, but I'll need something… in return", he says, his face very close to mine now.
I mean, Jack and I, there's a precedent, but I wasn't expecting that. "What would that be?", I whisper.
"Well", he says, his breath on my hair, "honestly", he whispers, softly, then switches to professional suddenly standing up. "Before her untimely death, Toshiko was working on an emergency Time Lock for the Hub. I'm sure you can complete it better than Ianto or Gwen".
I sigh, "I'll get onto it", I smile.
"And of course, you're welcome to join me tonight or any other night, should you ever feel lonely".
"Noted", I smile.
When Ianto comes in the next morning, first thing he does - trying to do so subtly, but failing - is checking if I did, in fact, sleep with Jack. It takes a few days before he reassures himself I'm not a threat, but after that he's lovely and adorable and a great friend. Gwen is a little suspicious of me at first too, but then she eases up and becomes friendly.
She brings me a cup of tea when I'm deep into reading.
"Still on that, huh?".
I click on the mouse, and the page switches to the next article. I can't find anything, and the newspaper articles after Harold Saxon died are all about the president of the USA that he killed or about the Valiant. No mention of estates, or inheritances. Whatever Saxon and Chloe had was all forged, so it's possible that nothing was left.
"I am thinking maybe I should go back to Broadfell prison and visit-".
"Psycho you?".
"Don't call her that", I scold her.
"You said she was insane when you visited her".
"She was", I say, sipping some tea. "And then… I never went back to see her".
Jack joins us. "So why are you looking into this now?".
I think about it. Should I tell them that I ran into young Chloe at the Time Agency? Or that after how things went with the Master that last time, I'm sure that even if he didn't regenerate, his story is not over yet?
"She said", I start, still cautious "she said there was a plan. And you're right, she was insane, so if there is a plan to bring the Master back, she can't handle it on her own. Definitely not from inside a prison cell".
Jack looks gloomy. "I for sure would be happier if you were around, should that happen".
"The Doctor told me the same thing once", I whisper, "a long time ago".
"Have you heard from him?", Gwen asks, "maybe he has advice".
"He's… he doesn't like to talk about him. But no, I haven't heard from him".
I have his phone number, but do I call him? Does one just… call the Doctor?
Jack seems to read my mind. "What are you going to do when you get bored with all of this? Wait on Mermaid quay for him to show up at the rift?".
I smile. "I have my… transport", I say, twisting the time ring on my finger. "But usually he just… well, he summons me?".
Gwen invites me over for dinner at her place, and I finally meet Rhys, who is great. Sometimes they act and speak so proudly Welsh that I feel arrogance in my own London accent, so much that Rhys feels literally sad for me when I tell them I'm going back to London. I don't know how much Rhys knows about Gwen's work at Torchwood, so I don't mention Chloe, or anything. When I say goodnight to go back to the Hub, she hugs me tight.
"I'm going to miss you, you know?".
I smile. Gwen sometimes is harsh and direct, but she's actually sweet. Also, I can imagine how lonely she must feel in that big underground base now that their team was torn apart.
"I'm not leaving forever, you know?", I tell her. "I'll be back".
It's just after dawn when Jack drives me to the train station. "So no teleporting codes, huh?", he asks me, waving his hand to suggest the ring.
I smile. "You remember how the Doctor always dismisses vortex manipulators because they're just rubbish compared to the Tardis? Like a sports car and a space hopper, he says. Well this thing is more like… a bicycle? A skateboard? It's only useful under certain circumstances".
"Oooh, Time Lord jewelry, gets useless with rain. Maybe you should sell it to some southern Europe-based Time Lord", he jokes.
"Shut up", I smile. "I was a human for a long time, I know how to take a train".
"I remember you complaining when you got here".
"Again, because you were in Switzerland- Switzerland! Besides, I've been here for weeks now. Maybe I'm just nostalgic".
"Well then", he says, pulling over. "Call before you come back. You're welcome but I'm not giving you keys to the Hub", he jokes, giving me a mobile phone. "And let me know if you find out something about our mutual friends".
"Will do. Thanks, Jack".
"Safe journey", he says. "Wishing you a peaceful, aliens-free ride", he says, winking at the blaster I'm hiding under the posh coat I borrowed from Ianto.
"You know me" I joke. "When the Doctor's away…".
I do indeed feel safer with the blaster, but I really hope I won't need it.
But… I don't make it to Broadfell prison.
In fact, the train ride is pretty peaceful and uneventful- a little girl is playing with an airplane toy. I smile at her and her young mum. These last weeks, they actually made me a bit nostalgic. Doing research, staying in one place, having new friends, getting to know old friends better. It doesn't compare to the life on the Tardis. How I could have that (almost) normal, (pretty much) simple human life, and now this whole new history, a whole new universe in my brain, and the possibility to explore the whole universe around us. I suddenly wonder what's going on with the Doctor, if past me is still with them, if she left already, and why he didn't, in fact, come back to find me yet. I wonder if the distance is helping us, if he actually needed present me to stay away for a while after meeting the Master. I've kept myself busy, helping the Torchwood team, looking for the mysterious plans about the Master that Chloe mentioned, studying. I also want to try and reach UNIT again - somebody mentioned a mysterious black archive, which sounds intriguing. Maybe I'll invite the Doctor along. I search through the psychic link, I can't locate him, and his presence is very faint, feels very distant.
The train slows down entering the station, the girl and her mum are in line in front of me. For a moment I feel a pinch, as if the psychic link with the Doctor got stronger. Maybe he's in London too? I try to reach him, I feel his energy reaching back, but it lasts a moment, and then the train swerves violently to the side, throwing me almost on top of the girl, who immediately starts crying.
We all descend the train, everything is a mess. What was it, an earthquake? A bomb? No, not that, something… else. The psyichic link is gone, but my Time Lord senses are alert on some other kind of message. All the trains are visibly shaken, and it's still morning, so Paddington station is quite busy; but it looks like most people are just fine, although shocked and surprised. It's all quite dark inside the station, the shake must have cut the electricity - I pull out my laser screwdriver and point it to an access point at the end of the bank. The lights come back on the platforms, but something catches my eye from outside.
I exit towards the street, and It's pitch black. I shiver. Did I say early morning?