Hope (Part 3)

[amythest_n_ice]

http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/15377.html
Link to Part 2

http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/16449.html
Link to Part 4

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The Doctor watched as Jack's eyes slid back to the screen, once more fixed on the image.

"Our baby." He pointed out softly, his fingers once more caressing the image.

 

“I know, we’ll figure something out. You’ll have to stay on the TARDIS until you give birth, it’s the only way to keep you both safe.”

“What about the fact that neither of you like having me around for too long?”

“The TARDIS can make a suite for you , away from the center, so that if it all gets too much, you can be away from the heart.”

“You expect me to spend possibly days, or even weeks, sitting alone?”

“Alone? I assumed……”

“Assumed what?”

 

“That Ianto would be with you. You and he are…..together…..aren’t you?”

“No, we’re not. We were, before I left with you. After you dropped me home, no, I did nothing to rekindle what we had. He wants to, I think, but……….” Jack reached out and touched the screen again.

 

“I can’t think about anything like that right now. I still love you, and he knows it. If it weren’t for my falling pregnant, I might have been able to bury my feelings for you again, only took me nearly a hundred years last time.” Jack closed his eyes tightly, but couldn’t hold back the tears. They spilled down his face, and he abruptly turned on his side, his back to the Doctor, curling into a defensive ball. The Doctor reached out hesitantly, but didn’t touch the tense back only inches from his hand. After watching the distressed figure for a moment, he turned and walked from the room, Jack heard the door shut behind him, and gave in to the wracking sobs he had been trying to swallow.

 

The Doctor leaned his head back against the door for a moment, hearing the sobs, and bit his lip, then he turned away and hurried along the corridor, heading for the console room.

 

Ianto and Martha were sitting outside the café when the Doctor came back.

 

“Where’s Jack?” Ianto demanded as soon as he saw the Time Lord.

 

“In the TARDIS. He’s a bit upset, I thought you might be able to calm him down.”

 

“What the hell did you do to him?” Ianto demanded, standing up from the table.

 

“You can ask him,” the Doctor said quietly, not wanting to get into it out here.

 

Ianto and Martha followed the Doctor back to the TARDIS. Once inside, The Doctor led Ianto to the medical bay and showed him in. When he went back to the console room, Martha was sitting in the captain’s chair, watching him with an unreadable expression.

 

“What’s going on?” She demanded.

 

“I’m sorry Martha, but I can’t tell you, not yet anyway. I have a lot I need to think through, and Jack and I have a lot to work out.”

 

He leaned back against the console rail and scrubbed his hands through his hair, making it even messier than normal. He knew he had been unfair to Jack from the moment he had become immortal, running away, avoiding him, and then sleeping with him after the Master had been defeated. Now the younger man was pregnant, and he wasn’t sure what to do for the best.

 

Ianto came back in, giving the Doctor a filthy look.

 

“He’s asleep. Can you materialize this inside the hub in Cardiff?”

 

“Of course I can. He doesn’t want to stay then?” The Doctor asked, surprising himself by how disappointed that thought made him feel.

 

“God help him, but yes he does. We need to go to the hub to change the code on the secure archive so they can’t get in, pick up some stuff for both him and I.” Ianto gave the Doctor a challenging look on that point, but the time lord just nodded.

 

“And finally, this time no one just disappears, the rest of the team need to be informed that we’re going.”

 

“Won’t they want to know why?”

 

“Probably, but you and Jack are going to need to decide if you tell them between you,” Ianto said coldly.

 

“You’re right, of course.”

 

“I’m going to go back and sit with him, I’ll let you know when he wakes up.” Ianto turned and walked out again, wishing he could tell the Doctor exactly what he thought of him for treating Jack the way he was, but knowing that it would upset Jack too much.

 

Gwen, Owen and Tosh looked at one another in puzzlement as they looked around the hub. Jack had text all of them and told them to come back to the hub, but there were no signs of an alarm, and no sign of Jack or Ianto.

 

“Where the fuck are they? I think Harkness has finally lost the plot. He kicks us all out in a hissy fit this morning, then tonight he calls us back and he isn’t here. I think he needs a psych evaluation.” Owen snarled, pacing across the floor of the hub and kicking stuff out of his way.

 

“Maybe he’s finally going to apologize for going off without a word, and worrying us all.” Gwen said, watching Owen, and thinking that maybe breaking up with him had been a little premature. He was hot when he was pissy, she decided.

 

“Maybe he’s ill.” Tosh said quietly.

 

“What?” Owen snapped.

 

“You must have noticed how pale, and tired he’s been recently. He’s been so quiet too.”

 

“I doubt it, he’s never been ill, germs won’t go near him, and he can’t be killed,” Owen said thoughtfully, now it had been mentioned, he had vaguely noticed that Jack had been out of sorts, but he hadn’t thought anything of it.

 

There was a grinding, roaring sound suddenly coming from Jack’s office, and they all pulled their guns, and moved to the doorway of the office, where they could point them at the slowly appearing blue box.

 

It finally solidified with a slight thud, and they tensed, but nothing moved, the door remained resolutely shut. They all jumped when Owen’s mobile rang, and keeping his gun aimed at the box, he scrabbled for it in his pocket with his other hand.

 

“Harper,” he snapped.

 

“Owen, it’s me. Put the guns down.” Jack’s voice was sharp.

 

“What? Don’t think so Harkness. Torchwood’s number one seek and detain appears right in the hub, and you want us to disarm?”

“Put the fucking guns down Owen, or I swear to god………..” There was a slight scuffling sound, then Ianto’s voice took over.

 

“Don’t mind Jack, he’s a little stressed right now. Put the guns down Owen, there’s no way we’re coming out unless you do, and Jack and I need to talk to you.”

 

“Oh great, the tea boy’s in there too,” Owen sniped.

 

“Is he a hostage?” Gwen asked.

 

“Hardly, put the guns down,” Owen said with a deep sigh, shoving his own back in his holster. As soon as they had all put their guns away, Ianto stepped out of the TARDIS, looking at them.

 

“Are you all going to listen to what we need to say, without making a fuss?”

 

“Do we have a choice?” Gwen asked.

 

“Not really.”

When they had all agreed that they would listen, Ianto stepped out of the doorway and let the others out. The Doctor and Martha leaned back against the TARDIS, leaving Jack and Ianto facing their colleagues, but close enough that the Doctor could get Jack back into the TARDIS quickly if he needed to.

 

“Right, so what’s going on then?” Owen asked.

 

“Ianto and I are going to be leaving for a while,” Jack said quietly.

 

“With him?” Gwen demanded, gesturing at the Doctor in annoyance.

 

“With the Doctor, yes.”

 

“Is he forcing you?” Tosh asked in concern.

 

“No. I’m going with him because, I have a, um, medical condition that there is no way can be dealt with on Earth, Ianto is coming because I need him to.”

“This is Torchwood, Jack, there is very little we haven’t dealt with in the way of strange medical conditions. What could be bad enough that you would have to go with him, especially when he’s only just brought you back.” Owen pointed out.

 

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the Doctor, and the Time Lord nodded at him.

 

“I’m pregnant,” Jack said, very quietly.

 

“How the hell is that possible?”

 

“Who by?” Gwen and Owen spoke over each other, and Owen looked at Ianto.

 

“Its possible because my physiology allows for it Gwen, Owen, none of your business.”

 

“It’s the tea boy, isn’t it. That’s why he’s going with you.” Owen persisted.

 

“No.” The Doctor spoke for the first time. He pushed away from the wall of the TARDIS where he had been leaning, and moved to Jack’s shoulder, not quite close enough to touch, but slightly possessive non the less.

 

“It’s yours?” Gwen snorted.

 

“I knew you were a freak Jack, but pregnant, by an alien, that really takes the cake.” Owen snickered.

 

Tosh saw Jack was starting to look a bit upset at the reaction of his team, the people who he should have been able to count on to understand at least a little. She moved forward and grasped his hand lightly, pulling him down to kiss him softly on the cheek.

 

“I’m pleased for you,” she said gently.

 

“Thank you Tosh.”

 

“So how long are you going to be gone for this time?” Gwen asked, blowing out a put upon sigh.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Enough. We have to be going. Jack, Ianto, you had some things you needed to do, didn’t you?” The Doctor asked, taking control.

 

“Sorry I called you guys in. Tosh, would you mind staying to put the hub alarms on automatic after we leave, or the TARDIS will just set them off.”

“No problem.” She assured him, squeezing his hand again.

 

Realizing they had effectively been dismissed, and not really inclined to argue about it at the moment, Owen and Gwen walked out, and the last thing that Tosh heard of them was Gwen’s voice.

 

“So, Owen, how about a drink. I thought this was about work, so I told Rhys not to expect me too early.”

 

Tosh rolled her eyes, realizing that Gwen was moving into slapper mode again.

 

Tosh sat out of the way, watching quietly as Jack and Ianto moved around, taking care of what they needed to. Jack changed the code on the secure archive, and then hesitated. He scrawled the numbers on a slip of paper and pressed it into her hand.

 

“For absolute emergencies only, and do NOT allow Gwen or Owen to know it.”

“Thank you Jack,” she said, she glanced at the paper long enough to memorize the numbers, and then scrabbled in her handbag for a lighter.

 

“Right, I have everything.” Ianto came back in with a couple of bags, watching with a raised eyebrow as Tosh burned something.

 

“Good, lets go.” The Doctor bounced impatiently.

 

“Jack, take care of yourself.” Tosh caught his hand again, and pulled him down for another kiss.

 

“Thanks Tosh,” he said, she smiled and lightly touched his stomach.

 

“Keep in touch, if you can. I want to know you’re OK, and this one too.”

 

“I’ll try Tosh.”

Ianto hugged her, giving her a light peck on the lips.

 

“Take care of yourself Tosh, and don’t let them give you any crap.”

 

“I won’t, you look after yourself too Ianto, and them.”

 

“I will.”

They all vanished back inside the TARDIS, and Tosh watched as it groaned and roared it’s way back out of the hub. She set all the automatics, and walked out of the hub, leaving it in darkness.

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