Late Night Loss Chapter 7

[galadriel1010]

Martha rolled over and snuggled closer to her fiancé as the soft light of dawn filtered through the curtains. As soon as they walked into the house it was obvious who’d been in charge of the redesign; stark white walls were brightened with posters and art deco paintings, stencils in bright primary colours danced up the walls of the stairs and furry beanbags and throws furnished the living room. In the main bedroom, where Martha and Tom had slept, the walls were a soft pink, whilst the curtains and bed spread were a warm orange. Strangely enough, it worked, but it wasn’t the best thing to wake up to at this time of the morning.

She groaned slightly and tried to pull away without waking Tom up, but gave up quickly. This moment wouldn’t last, but it could last just a little while longer, please?

Half an hour later she felt Tom squeeze her gently and nuzzled against his chest in response. He laughed slightly and pushed gently so that he could look down at her, suddenly serious, although he was still endearingly fuzzy-eyed, “Your friends need us.”

She nodded and rested her chin on his chest, gazing up at him, “What do you think?”

“About the disappearance?”

“About anything. You don’t live this weirdness, you’re not as close to them as I am, I can’t be objective.”

“Well…” He gazed at the ceiling, “Jack’s besotted but professional. He’ll break sooner or later, but not when anyone’s relying on him. I think with the team he has around at the moment, it’ll probably be sooner, because you’re all ready to pick up the slack for him. Especially Jasmine…”

“Hmm, you noticed too?” Martha asked with a soft smile

“She fancies Jack, she’s trying to impress him.”

“They used to be together, a long time ago, and she hero worships him.” She agreed quietly, “But she’s damn good at her job, she’ll catch both Torchwood and him when he falls.”

“So the world won’t be resting on his shoulders any more.” He mused, “It must be such a lonely existence.”

“Yeah, just each other to hold on to. And…”

“And?”

She frowned slightly, “And the Doctor. I wonder…”

Tom sat up and swung his legs off the edge of the bed, “Have you called him about all this?”

“No, that’s what I was just wondering.” She mirrored his actions and pulled on jeans and a blouse hurriedly, “But I don’t know if Jack would want him here.”

“I’m not sure I want him here.” Tom confessed, “But if it’ll help get your friend back…”

She came round the bed and stood on tip-toes to kiss him gently and possessively, “You have nothing to worry about, really.”

“I know, but it doesn’t stop me worrying.” He trailed kisses along to just below her ear and then pulled away, “I’m dumb, I know.”

“I’m not complaining.”

John was sitting at one of the temporary stations filling in a report about a Weevil that he and Jazz had captured that morning and looked up as the cog door discharged Martha, Tom and PC Andy. It was a welcome distraction from the hated paperwork so he smiled warmly, “Morning; if you’re after breakfast, Jazzy’s in the kitchen.”

“We’ve eaten.” Martha came down to look over his shoulder, “Weevil hunt?”

“Yeah. Please do the report for me?” He begged; English wasn’t his first language of course, and when he spoke he used a translation device and writing it was extremely difficult for him, so Andy took pity on him.

“Be glad you’re not having to write it in Welsh.” He teased him.

Martha leant on the desk to watch them, “How’s Jack doing?” she asked quietly

“Could be better.” A softer than usual American drawl replied to her question from the doorway leading down to the lower levels and their eyes all flew to the enigmatic immortal watching them with sad eyes. “Any news?”

They all looked to John and Jasmine, who had been around all night, “Nothing, no rift activity. Just a weevil sighting last night.”

He sighed and looked that little bit more broken, but seemed to be holding together, “The rift’s quiet at the moment, we should have a look into if there’s a reason for it or if it’s just a holiday.”

“You mean apart from that storm, Jack?” Jazz pointed out with a yawn over the top of a glass of cola, “Wish for chaos and the universe will present us with it, you know that.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” He looked miserable but shrugged, “I just…”

“Need something to occupy your mind?” He nodded, “Read a book Jack. There’s nothing to do around here, and worrying isn’t going to bring him back.”

John nodded in agreement and ticked facts off on his fingers, “We don’t know where he is, we don’t know how he got there, we don’t know how to get him back. All we can do is wait for more information and then act on it.”

Jack’s hands formed fists and he fought back tears. “I can’t just do nothing!”

“You can’t do anything Jack.” Jazz whispered, “We can’t do anything. We can just…”

“Wait.” He rubbed his hands across his face, “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Martha shook her head, “We all understand, and as soon as we can do anything we’ll be with you.”

They made their way up to the kitchen and demolished a pile of bacon butties, Jack only managed a slice of toast, and discussed the night’s Weevil hunt (“And I thought only Jack could come back from an actual Weevil hunt completely naked!”) the new Lotus (“Still not as pretty as Martha” from Tom and Jack) and one of Jack and Jasmine’s past adventures with the Doctor (“You think he’s jeopardy friendly now!”). It was pretty much anything and everything apart from their missing friend and his distraught lover.

An hour or more later, Jasmine collected together the plates and was surprised when Martha offered to help her and suggested that the others should go and monitor the rift and get out from under their feet. The trained alien hunters amongst them went to the board room to monitor scans and prepare for the day, and Tom and Rhys went up to the arcade on the second level to try out the Wii that Ianto had installed not long before Tosh and Owen died.

The two women washed and dried in silence for a while, each lost in her own thoughts. When she finished, Jazz turned to lean against the sink and watched her friend, “You’re think what I’m thinking?”

“Depends on what you’re thinking, doesn’t it?” Martha pointed out, “I’m thinking about what could be happening to poor Ianto, how awful it must be for Jack, what we could do to help, how bad it feels to be unable to do anything.” She didn’t look up, concentrating instead on finishing off drying the last couple of plates.

“Wondering who might be able to help?” Jazz asked with a soft smile, “Do you think we should call him?”

“We need to do anything we can.” Martha dried her hands and put the plates away, “But what will Jack say?”

The blonde’s eyes were worried, “I’m not taking no for an answer from him, he won’t want to go to him for help, but we need help, we need Jack and he needs Ianto and we need the Doctor. I’ll make the call… maybe later though.” She added as he rift alert blared, “Jack got his wish.”

They raced down to the Hub where fervent and organised activity was already under way. The commander swung into control immediately, barking out orders, “Rift shower, five locations. Jack take Tom, Gwen with Rhys, Mickey and Atraxet, John with Martha and Andy you’re with me. Scout the location out, contain if necessary and radio in. If it can be arrested or collected safely then do so, if you need backup call for it. First pair to get finished are on run-around, second are back here to control. Any questions?” There was a busy silence as everyone kitted up and grabbed weapons, “Good, fall out people.”

Andy followed close behind Jasmine as she inched forwards to the spike site; it was all quiet, almost suspiciously so he would have said, but he knew he was on edge and expecting the worst. She was relaxed, or as relaxed as was safe, and it reassured him… Slightly. Jazz suddenly let out an unexpected sigh of relief and moved forwards more confidently, scanning once around the area before she approached something that looked like a gun on the floor, “Projector, I think, but I’ll have to check later. This is definitely the location, and I don’t see anything else.”

“Jazz, we’ve contained a visitor, as yet unknown species. We’re heading back to the Hub with him.” John’s voice came across the coms and she nodded decisively

“OK, well we have what I think is a projector. We’ll contain it securely in the car and go on response, you’re on control. Anyone else in position?”

Gwen checked in first, “At location, no sign of anything come through though.”

“Thanks Gwen, hang about for a moment, yeah? Mickey?”

“Nearly there Zee, could do with some back-up here by the looks of things though.”

“Gwen, you’re closer.”

“On it.”

“Jack, how are you doing?”

“Could do with backup here as well Jazz.” He admitted, “We have shots being fired.”

“OK, Andy and I are on our way.” She was already in the car as she spoke and just waited for Andy to get his door shut before she roared away, “Don’t engage it Jack, and keep Tom safe.”

Martha’s voice agreed with her, “I’m counting on you Jack.”

“I gotcha. Hurry Jazz.”

She floored the accelerator and concentrated on the traffic. It was still only mid morning, so the traffic wasn’t quite rush hour levels, but it wasn’t good. “Come on!” She growled, letting her irritation out before flicking her coms to open. “Jack, keep me posted.”

Tom’s voice was the one that reached her, “He’s dead. They got him, he got them… Will he…”

She sighed, “He’ll be back, stay close to him and don’t be scared when he comes back, or at least try not to show it. It can be a bit…”

“Weird.” Martha supplied for her, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, situation contained. Both dead, although one only temporarily.”

“OK, we’re two minutes away. Martha, make that call.”

Jack dragged himself back to life and clasped onto the thing closest to him, which happened to be Jasmine’s hands. He gasped painfully and let her pull him closer, leaning heavily against her and squeezing his eyes tight shut. It was a few minutes before he felt ready to move again and let them pull him upright and then another minute before he could walk to the car with help.

Now he was sitting on the sofa in the Hub with a mug of hot chocolate and a headache, staring unseeingly into the middle distance. He knew the others were watching him in concern, but he’d given up caring the moment he woke up alone nearly four days before. God it was a long time. It was the longest he’d been without his lover since he returned from the year of hell with the Doctor, and it felt twice as long as that separation had been.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t recognise the sound at first, but when he did he looked up in shock as a blue police phone box appeared in the middle of his Hub. The doors swung open almost immediately and a tall, scrawny figure in a suit peered out for a moment before he emerged fully, his eyes fixed on the figure now standing up from the sofa in shock. “Doc?”

“Hello again Captain.” He turned to Martha, “You called?”

Jazz walked towards him and hugged him, “We have a missing person, it’s Ianto.”

“And you thought I might be able to help?” He smiled at her

“You can, just be being here.” She confessed