And The Doctor Makes Four (3/?)
Title: And The Doctor Makes Four
Author: fluffygremlin
Characters/Pairings: Eleven, River, Jack, and OCs
Summary: “Torchwood Four is lost but we’ll find it someday.”
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Russell T Davies and the BBC. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made.
PART THREE
“Take him to the museum,” Catherine said softly. “We’ll follow shortly.”
Jack listened as the unnamed Englishman stalked off, rather loudly, with the Doctor in tow. He sat patiently as Catherine slowly undid the bonds holding his hands and feet. Sitting up, he turned to swing his legs to one side of the table as he slipped off his blind fold, blinking in the bright light. Catherine stood in front of him, just out of arms reach. He looked her over slowly, taking in her twisted dark hair and hazel eyes surrounded in dark circles. There were lines at her eyes that he didn’t remember and a single grey hair glinting in the harsh light of the medbay that he was certain wasn’t there the last time he saw her.
“What happened here?” he asked. The younger woman crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter behind her.
“Torchwood,” she said firmly.
“So you said upstairs.”
Catherine looked down at her hands and idly played with the gold ring on her thumb.
“Well,” Jack drew the word out as he hopped off of the metal table and moved to stand beside her. “Let’s start with what I know. A message went out to all facilities stating the rift was acting up. ‘Stability in question. Suggest drawback.’”
“Something One refused to even consider,” Catherine added. Jack nodded and slid closer so that their shoulders were nearly touching.
“Two days later we got another message. ‘Four is lost.’ That was it. I got here as quickly as I could, as quickly as I was allowed, but all I found was a big metal door with a deadlock seal. Sixty years, One told us. For sixty years this place was as good as a tomb.”
“Would have been better if it was,” Catherine said brusquely. She continued fiddling with her ring for a moment before straightening up and turning half towards Jack. “Walk with me, Captain?”
“Lead on, my lady,” Jack replied with a wide smile. He offered the woman his arm and was pleased as she took it, rolling her eyes at the same time. They moved up the metal steps that lead from one medbay amphitheater and into the large, open cavern that formed the majority of the base.
“Our rift was always so much smaller than yours,” Catherine said as they walked around the empty space at the center.
“Well it’s not the size that counts,” Jack smirked.
“Whoever told you that was just trying to make you feel better,” Catherine replied. The pair made their way through the maze of desks as they spoke, moving towards the back of the room.
“As I was saying,” she continued, “Our rift was always smaller. It was discovered well over 3 centuries ago, judging by the drawings that were in the caverns leading to this one. Small and stable and surrounded by a couple feet of limestone. It was just the place to set up a base focused on research and development.”
“Not to mention a nice, solid bunker on the eve of the Cold War.”
“That too. It was a perfect way to underline the ‘special relationship’ between the White House and Buckingham Palace while providing a safe spot for further investigation into the phenomenon.”
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“Phenomenon?!” The Doctor repeated incredulously. “You people seem to take great pleasure in messing about with things you cannot begin to understand. You’re like Neanderthals trying to use a supercomputer.”
“Thank you,” Thomas said sarcastically, “that is oh so helpful right now.”
“Tell me, in as few words as possible, clearly and concisely, what happened in this place. 60 year lockdown. Rift in time and space. A young woman with old eyes. What did you people do this time? How did you survive down here for so long?”
“Rotate,” Thomas said, turning his finger in the air in front of the Doctor’s face.
“What?”
“Turn around,” the man said firmly. The Doctor eyed him for a moment before complying and finding himself looking down on a forest.
“Brilliant,” he whispered softly. “A carbon sink of living conifer trees hundreds of feet underground. And are those Helian Lifegivers? Perfect micronized nuclear fusion reactors capable of lasting a thousand years or more,” he explained to River, pointing to the three bright points of light floating near the ceiling of the large area. “And I can hear a lovely dripping which means there is an underground river near here. Oxygen. Water. All you need is a large cache of nonperishable food and you could live down here indefinitely.”
“Clear and concise enough for you?” Thomas moved to stand next to the Doctor and looked out over the tops of the pine trees that stood tall and evergreen under the light of the miniature alien suns.
“For the latter question, yes. Now let’s get back to the ‘what have you people done this time’ portion.”
“More show and tell,” Thomas sighed, pushing past the Doctor and River, both of whom followed as he quickly slid down a ladder and began winding his way through the trees. They quickly came to the place where the artificial woods gave way to a large body of clear water. Two tree stood out from the others.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and stalked over to them, scanning them quickly and humming to himself as he looked over the read outs.
“I’m going to assume this one hasn’t actually been here for a millennia,” he said, gesturing at the old, knarled tree. “And the small one isn’t new, is it?”
“Correct on both counts,” the Englishman said. “Every tree here was planted at the same time. We moved those two after the Rift imploded.”
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“Imploded?” Jack glanced at Catherine as they continued through the thin wire laced tunnels that connected the various caves that made up Torchwood Four. “As in, less BOOM! and more… slurrrrrp?”
“Try not to make that noise again,” the woman rolled her eyes.
“We had thought the worst,” Jack continued.
“Because being buried for sixty years isn’t bad enough?” Catherine stopped in front of Jack and turned to face him so quickly he held up his hands in self-defense and nearly accidently grabbed her in an unfortunate location.
“I’ve been through worse,” he responded nonchalantly.
“The Rift got completely unstable.” Catherine brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. “When it imploded it was the opposite of what we expected. Bursts of energy erupted all over the place.”
“Bursts of time energy,” Jack provided.
“The Corporeal died instantly, aged a thousand years in a moment. Dust and nothing more. Dad…” Catherine paused, absently bringing her hands together again to finger the gold ring that flashed in the harsh lighting. “Dad suddenly found himself all of 9lbs, 13 ozs.”
“Big baby,” Jack smirked before becoming serious again quickly. “What about the others?”
“Mother and Elizabeth weren’t affected at all, except by the fact that there was now a newborn needing taking care of. We didn’t think Charlie was either, at first, but he went grey within five years and was dead within seven.”
“Oh, kiddo,” Jack said softly. He reached out to brush the errant strands away from Catherine’s face where they had fallen yet again.
“Don’t,” she replied, stepping back, her entire carriage changing in a moment. “Don’t pity me… us. We’re past that stage, Captain. So very far past it. The time for pity was sixty years ago when everyone I cared about realized that their death sentence had been signed and sealed with a great big T.”
“I get it now,” Jack straitened up and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I don’t normally forgive someone for shooting me so quickly without at least a little more pouting but I totally get it. You assumed I came to collect you.”
“For the greater good,” Catherine raised her chin slightly in a look of defiance. “Do you deny it?”
“Sixty years ago? No. That is exactly why I would be here. I told you though… Things have changed. The Torchwood you grew up in is gone. Dust and nothing more.”
“Except for Captain Jack Harkness.”
“Except for me.”
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Jack grinned widely when he saw the Doctor, all long limbed and bowtied, arguing incessantly with his companion and gesturing widely with his screwdriver to the point that the man standing off to the side actually ducked at one point afraid that it was going to fly at him. Catherine grabbed his arm before they made their presence known to the trio.
“He won’t know you,” she whispered quietly, glancing over at the older man next to the Doctor. “Thomas doesn’t remember anything about his life before he was… reborn.”
“I imagine that was difficult for all of you.” Jack crossed his arms as he looked over the man who was once a close friend.
“Nearly fifty years he dedicated to the Institute before the accident,” Catherine sighed, “And all he has to show for it is this hole in the ground being everything he’s ever known.”
“And your mother?”
“Do you remember how she was when she found out Torchwood had recruited Elizabeth and myself?”
“That was… painful. She never was a fan of the whole ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ line of thinking. Something you apparently inherited.”
Catherine snorted before she could stop herself and glanced at the Captain out of the corner of her eye.
“You probably shouldn’t have prefaced it with ‘Remember that time I tried to pick up your husband in a bar…’,” she grinned. She nudged Jack with her elbow before her face became more solemn.
“It took a month or so before things calmed down enough for her to stop going like a machine. She completely broke down on night, all rage and destruction. The next morning she swept up the glass and continued on like nothing had happened. She and Elizabeth worked together to figure out how to raise an infant using nothing more than MREs and sacks of powdered milk. A biologist and a doctor working together in the most depraved nursery ever invented.
I was actually… glad… in a way, that she died before he hit his twenties. I don’t think she could have survived it much longer, even though she never complained. Well, except when we ran out of tea.”
“How did she…”
“The Rift is still active, albeit far less than before. Creatures can still slip through on occasion and some of them come through armed.”
“And your sister?” This question was met with stony silence and when Jack turned towards the young woman at her side he could read the emotions written all over her face. Jack simply nodded and shifted his weight slightly as he turned back to watch the Doctor turn his screwdriver on Thomas and begin scanning him.
“He doesn’t want to leave,” Catherine said quietly. “I think he’s afraid that once we’re free of this place I’ll disappear or get arrested or something and he’ll be stuck in a strange world he doesn’t understand. I think he’s afraid of being alone.”
“Aren’t we all,” Jack replied softly. He slid one arm around the woman beside him and squeezed slightly. “And yet we’re never truly are alone when it matters.”
Author: fluffygremlin
Characters/Pairings: Eleven, River, Jack, and OCs
Summary: “Torchwood Four is lost but we’ll find it someday.”
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Russell T Davies and the BBC. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made.
PART THREE
“Take him to the museum,” Catherine said softly. “We’ll follow shortly.”
Jack listened as the unnamed Englishman stalked off, rather loudly, with the Doctor in tow. He sat patiently as Catherine slowly undid the bonds holding his hands and feet. Sitting up, he turned to swing his legs to one side of the table as he slipped off his blind fold, blinking in the bright light. Catherine stood in front of him, just out of arms reach. He looked her over slowly, taking in her twisted dark hair and hazel eyes surrounded in dark circles. There were lines at her eyes that he didn’t remember and a single grey hair glinting in the harsh light of the medbay that he was certain wasn’t there the last time he saw her.
“What happened here?” he asked. The younger woman crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter behind her.
“Torchwood,” she said firmly.
“So you said upstairs.”
Catherine looked down at her hands and idly played with the gold ring on her thumb.
“Well,” Jack drew the word out as he hopped off of the metal table and moved to stand beside her. “Let’s start with what I know. A message went out to all facilities stating the rift was acting up. ‘Stability in question. Suggest drawback.’”
“Something One refused to even consider,” Catherine added. Jack nodded and slid closer so that their shoulders were nearly touching.
“Two days later we got another message. ‘Four is lost.’ That was it. I got here as quickly as I could, as quickly as I was allowed, but all I found was a big metal door with a deadlock seal. Sixty years, One told us. For sixty years this place was as good as a tomb.”
“Would have been better if it was,” Catherine said brusquely. She continued fiddling with her ring for a moment before straightening up and turning half towards Jack. “Walk with me, Captain?”
“Lead on, my lady,” Jack replied with a wide smile. He offered the woman his arm and was pleased as she took it, rolling her eyes at the same time. They moved up the metal steps that lead from one medbay amphitheater and into the large, open cavern that formed the majority of the base.
“Our rift was always so much smaller than yours,” Catherine said as they walked around the empty space at the center.
“Well it’s not the size that counts,” Jack smirked.
“Whoever told you that was just trying to make you feel better,” Catherine replied. The pair made their way through the maze of desks as they spoke, moving towards the back of the room.
“As I was saying,” she continued, “Our rift was always smaller. It was discovered well over 3 centuries ago, judging by the drawings that were in the caverns leading to this one. Small and stable and surrounded by a couple feet of limestone. It was just the place to set up a base focused on research and development.”
“Not to mention a nice, solid bunker on the eve of the Cold War.”
“That too. It was a perfect way to underline the ‘special relationship’ between the White House and Buckingham Palace while providing a safe spot for further investigation into the phenomenon.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Phenomenon?!” The Doctor repeated incredulously. “You people seem to take great pleasure in messing about with things you cannot begin to understand. You’re like Neanderthals trying to use a supercomputer.”
“Thank you,” Thomas said sarcastically, “that is oh so helpful right now.”
“Tell me, in as few words as possible, clearly and concisely, what happened in this place. 60 year lockdown. Rift in time and space. A young woman with old eyes. What did you people do this time? How did you survive down here for so long?”
“Rotate,” Thomas said, turning his finger in the air in front of the Doctor’s face.
“What?”
“Turn around,” the man said firmly. The Doctor eyed him for a moment before complying and finding himself looking down on a forest.
“Brilliant,” he whispered softly. “A carbon sink of living conifer trees hundreds of feet underground. And are those Helian Lifegivers? Perfect micronized nuclear fusion reactors capable of lasting a thousand years or more,” he explained to River, pointing to the three bright points of light floating near the ceiling of the large area. “And I can hear a lovely dripping which means there is an underground river near here. Oxygen. Water. All you need is a large cache of nonperishable food and you could live down here indefinitely.”
“Clear and concise enough for you?” Thomas moved to stand next to the Doctor and looked out over the tops of the pine trees that stood tall and evergreen under the light of the miniature alien suns.
“For the latter question, yes. Now let’s get back to the ‘what have you people done this time’ portion.”
“More show and tell,” Thomas sighed, pushing past the Doctor and River, both of whom followed as he quickly slid down a ladder and began winding his way through the trees. They quickly came to the place where the artificial woods gave way to a large body of clear water. Two tree stood out from the others.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and stalked over to them, scanning them quickly and humming to himself as he looked over the read outs.
“I’m going to assume this one hasn’t actually been here for a millennia,” he said, gesturing at the old, knarled tree. “And the small one isn’t new, is it?”
“Correct on both counts,” the Englishman said. “Every tree here was planted at the same time. We moved those two after the Rift imploded.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Imploded?” Jack glanced at Catherine as they continued through the thin wire laced tunnels that connected the various caves that made up Torchwood Four. “As in, less BOOM! and more… slurrrrrp?”
“Try not to make that noise again,” the woman rolled her eyes.
“We had thought the worst,” Jack continued.
“Because being buried for sixty years isn’t bad enough?” Catherine stopped in front of Jack and turned to face him so quickly he held up his hands in self-defense and nearly accidently grabbed her in an unfortunate location.
“I’ve been through worse,” he responded nonchalantly.
“The Rift got completely unstable.” Catherine brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. “When it imploded it was the opposite of what we expected. Bursts of energy erupted all over the place.”
“Bursts of time energy,” Jack provided.
“The Corporeal died instantly, aged a thousand years in a moment. Dust and nothing more. Dad…” Catherine paused, absently bringing her hands together again to finger the gold ring that flashed in the harsh lighting. “Dad suddenly found himself all of 9lbs, 13 ozs.”
“Big baby,” Jack smirked before becoming serious again quickly. “What about the others?”
“Mother and Elizabeth weren’t affected at all, except by the fact that there was now a newborn needing taking care of. We didn’t think Charlie was either, at first, but he went grey within five years and was dead within seven.”
“Oh, kiddo,” Jack said softly. He reached out to brush the errant strands away from Catherine’s face where they had fallen yet again.
“Don’t,” she replied, stepping back, her entire carriage changing in a moment. “Don’t pity me… us. We’re past that stage, Captain. So very far past it. The time for pity was sixty years ago when everyone I cared about realized that their death sentence had been signed and sealed with a great big T.”
“I get it now,” Jack straitened up and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I don’t normally forgive someone for shooting me so quickly without at least a little more pouting but I totally get it. You assumed I came to collect you.”
“For the greater good,” Catherine raised her chin slightly in a look of defiance. “Do you deny it?”
“Sixty years ago? No. That is exactly why I would be here. I told you though… Things have changed. The Torchwood you grew up in is gone. Dust and nothing more.”
“Except for Captain Jack Harkness.”
“Except for me.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack grinned widely when he saw the Doctor, all long limbed and bowtied, arguing incessantly with his companion and gesturing widely with his screwdriver to the point that the man standing off to the side actually ducked at one point afraid that it was going to fly at him. Catherine grabbed his arm before they made their presence known to the trio.
“He won’t know you,” she whispered quietly, glancing over at the older man next to the Doctor. “Thomas doesn’t remember anything about his life before he was… reborn.”
“I imagine that was difficult for all of you.” Jack crossed his arms as he looked over the man who was once a close friend.
“Nearly fifty years he dedicated to the Institute before the accident,” Catherine sighed, “And all he has to show for it is this hole in the ground being everything he’s ever known.”
“And your mother?”
“Do you remember how she was when she found out Torchwood had recruited Elizabeth and myself?”
“That was… painful. She never was a fan of the whole ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ line of thinking. Something you apparently inherited.”
Catherine snorted before she could stop herself and glanced at the Captain out of the corner of her eye.
“You probably shouldn’t have prefaced it with ‘Remember that time I tried to pick up your husband in a bar…’,” she grinned. She nudged Jack with her elbow before her face became more solemn.
“It took a month or so before things calmed down enough for her to stop going like a machine. She completely broke down on night, all rage and destruction. The next morning she swept up the glass and continued on like nothing had happened. She and Elizabeth worked together to figure out how to raise an infant using nothing more than MREs and sacks of powdered milk. A biologist and a doctor working together in the most depraved nursery ever invented.
I was actually… glad… in a way, that she died before he hit his twenties. I don’t think she could have survived it much longer, even though she never complained. Well, except when we ran out of tea.”
“How did she…”
“The Rift is still active, albeit far less than before. Creatures can still slip through on occasion and some of them come through armed.”
“And your sister?” This question was met with stony silence and when Jack turned towards the young woman at her side he could read the emotions written all over her face. Jack simply nodded and shifted his weight slightly as he turned back to watch the Doctor turn his screwdriver on Thomas and begin scanning him.
“He doesn’t want to leave,” Catherine said quietly. “I think he’s afraid that once we’re free of this place I’ll disappear or get arrested or something and he’ll be stuck in a strange world he doesn’t understand. I think he’s afraid of being alone.”
“Aren’t we all,” Jack replied softly. He slid one arm around the woman beside him and squeezed slightly. “And yet we’re never truly are alone when it matters.”