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Link to Part 13
http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/47796.html
Link to Part 15
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“You have us underway? When do we arrive?” Jack asked, sitting up.
“No, we’re not underway,” the Doctor said softly, his eyes resting on the heavy swell of Jack’s stomach.
“Doctor, this is Martha we’re talking about, we have to go. I’ll be perfectly fine in the TARDIS or the Hub while you guys go and rescue her, we can’t leave her to die,” Jack said, outraged.
“All right, I’ll go and get us underway. Ianto, will you stay and keep Jack company?”
“He really means ‘stop Jack trying to wander off’ doesn’t he?” Jack growled after the Doctor left the room.
“Obviously, Jack you’ve been agitating to get out of here for days. You and I both know that you would see this as an ideal reason to get out of that bed, and he knows it too. You can’t risk that child you’re carrying Jack, you have to stay put.”
“Yes, because obviously being worried as hell about Martha won’t be unnecessarily stressful,” Jack pouted.
“Please Jack; if you behave now, then when we land, there is a chance you can convince him to let you rest in the Hub, so that you can at least hear what is going on.”
Jack didn’t argue any further, knowing that Ianto was right, there was no point pushing it now, when he had more chance of getting a concession later.
They looked toward the door as the Doctor came back in.
“Right, we’re on our way, three hours to Earth, but I’m aiming to land almost immediately after they made that call,” the Doctor said, and then he nailed Jack with a narrow glare.
“Jack, as I KNOW that the moment Ianto and I are out of sight, you will be out of that bed, as there won’t be anyone to keep you in it, so we are going to be coming to an agreement now.”
“An agreement?” Jack asked curiously.
“Yes, you can go as far as the Hub, as long as you are sitting down from the moment you get there. I will be requiring that they leave that doctor of theirs with you, because either he stays or I do, and if I am going to stay, then we might as well not go at all. You will not give him any trouble, and you will not do anything foolish. Is that agreed?”
Jack looked mutinous for a moment, and the Doctor thought he was going to get an argument, but then his shoulders slumped and he nodded once.
“I agree to your terms,” he sighed.
“Good, you get some rest now, Ianto or I will wake you just before we land so that you can get dressed.”
Jack nodded again and settled back against the pillows, his hand stroking idly over his bump until he drifted into sleep.
“You were a little hard on him weren’t you?” Ianto complained softly.
“Come on Ianto, you know him as well as I do, do you really think that he would be as careful as he needs to be if we didn’t lay down the law to him?”
“I suppose not,” Ianto conceded.
“We need to keep him safe Ianto, because over the years, he’s got out of the habit of bothering to keep himself safe,”
Ianto nodded, not even bothering to try to refute that, he knew it was true, he had cleaned the blood up too many times.
“Come on, we should leave him to sleep until we get there,” the Doctor said, gently tugging him from the room. They could worry about clearing the dishes later.
xxx
Jack woke up as Ianto shook his shoulder lightly, groaning slightly as he forced his eyes open.
“Morning already?” he complained.
“No, we’re on Earth. Jack, if you want to sleep, you can,” Ianto said, hoping he would, that he would go to sleep, and stay sleeping until they had Martha back safe and sound.
“No, no, I’m awake,” Jack croaked, forcing himself up into a sitting position.
Ianto hid a sigh and turned to pick up the clothes he had brought in with him.
“Come on then, let’s get you dressed.”
Once Jack was in the comfortable sweat pants and loose T-shirt, Ianto helped him out of the room, heading to the console room, and from there into the Hub.
“Oh my God, look at you,” Tosh squeaked happily, darting over to Jack. She held a hand hesitantly toward his stomach, and when he nodded with a small smile, she grinned and reached forward to feel it.
“Oh,” she whispered as she felt the baby shift a little under her hand.
He noticed that Owen and Gwen were staring at him as if he had two heads and three arms as Ianto started him moving in the direction of the couch again, he thought for a brief moment about calling Zaphod and Ford when this little misadventure was over, but dismissed it with a tiny shudder. The thought of those two, while he was this heavily pregnant, actually scared him. They took all of his energy and then some at the best of times.
Ianto settled him on the couch and folded a blanket over him, before turning back to look at the others.
“Right, so, what’s the game plan?”
“Well, apparently I’m staying here,” Owen growled, glaring over at where Jack sat. Everyone glared at him, and he raised his hands in submission. It was only a token protest anyway, he didn’t mind too much staying behind, the Doctor had told him about Jack being confined to bed rest, and he privately agreed that someone should be with him incase everything went to hell.
“There isn’t really much actual planning we can do for the rest of it. We need to locate Martha, find out exactly what these people have been doing with the ‘Mayfly’ and close them down, permanently,” the Doctor said darkly. These people had threatened one of his companions, experimented on human beings, then murdered them when their experiments didn’t work out, had made it necessary for him to bring his mates into danger, and risk the safety of his unborn child, they were going to pay.
“Well, Tosh had a slightly gruesome, macabre, but frankly brilliant idea for getting you in. The body of the hit man is hooked up for the remote control now,” Owen said.
“Good, then we’re almost ready to go. Doctor, you really should take a gun,” Gwen said, holding one out to Ianto, expecting him to take it. Ianto hesitated for a moment, looking to the Doctor, then shook his head slowly.
“The Doctor doesn’t use guns Gwen and I think……”
“Ianto, it’s OK for you to take it right now, if you get separated from him, you are going to need to defend yourself. If these are the kind of people who would send a hit man after innocent civilians, you cannot go in there unarmed,” Jack said softly from behind him.
Ianto looked back over his shoulder at Jack, and realized he was locked in a staring contest with the Doctor. Glancing between the two he saw the Doctor drop his eyes away first.
“Jack is right Ianto, take it this once. You at least I know I can trust not to shoot unless there is no other recourse at all,” the Doctor said.
Ianto nodded and took the gun, clipping the holster to the waist of his jeans, and automatically checking the clip and the sights before holstering it.
“Right, let’s go,” Gwen said, starting to stride toward the door to the garage.
The Doctor frowned at her back for a moment, and took a deep breath.
“Miss Cooper lets make something very clear from the outset shall we? You asked us to come here because you got Martha into trouble, and you needed help to get her out, fine, but you are not leading us in there. In the absence of Jack as the leader of this little trip, you WILL do as I say, because I’m not having some human go off half cocked, and getting the rest of us killed. I am in charge here, and as I don’t think Jack actually left YOU in charge when we left, I suggest you take any complaints to him, or possibly Owen, as I understand he is second in command of this happy little band,” the Doctor said bluntly.
Gwen turned and stared at him, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly, then her eyes darkened, her face flushed and she took a deep breath. Recognizing the signs of an oncoming Cooper Tirade™, Jack stepped in.
“He’s right Gwen; he is in charge of this mission. You thought he was the one you needed to get Martha out of there, well, you got him, and now you will listen to every word he says to you. You give him any trouble and get someone killed because of it, you will find out just how hard I can be, pregnant or not, is that clear?” he said sharply.
“Seconded, well aside from the pregnant bit, obviously,” Owen said, obviously trying not to laugh at the dyspeptic look on her face. She had been steadily getting bossier and bossier for months, since Jack had gone off with the Doctor, thinking they would fall in with her usurping command like she had last time Jack had gone. But he and Tosh had been resisting this time, not enough to start a full out war without Jack there to put her in place, but not giving in to her all the time. It was nice to have Jack come back and deflate her a little, no matter the circumstances.
“Understood,” she said sullenly.
“Good, shall we?” the Doctor said, gesturing her to start walking again.
When they were gone, Owen came to sit on the sofa beside Jack, his eyes for once serious.
“I’ll set up the comm. link in a minute, give them time to set up and get going. How are you, really? Given what the Doctor said about why you were on bed rest, you probably could have done without that scene.”
“I’m fine Owen, I promise. Not even a little dizzy.”
“You’ll tell me if you start feeling off though, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” Owen said, going over to set up the communications link. Once that was done and tested, he came back, sitting on the other end of the sofa and crossing his arms.
“So, you and Teaboy, you’re not coming back to Earth, are you?” he asked.
tbc
