vail-kagami: A Secret Flat in Cardiff, Part 1/3 (Jack/Ten, Gwen/Rhys) [PG-13]
Title: A Secret Flat in Cardiff (1/3)
Author: vail_kagami
Challenge: Domesticity
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Torchwood Series 2 Finale
Warnings: None
Summary: When Jack told her about he dangerous alien locked up in a special prison, this was not what Gwen had expected.
Gwen had had many expectations of the place she was called to, and when she turned the key Jack had given her in the lock and opened the door to what looked like a perfectly unsuspicious flat on the outside, none of them were met.
There were no blank walls, bars and locks. Instead what appeared to be a perfectly normal flat on the outside appeared to be a perfectly normal flat on the inside as well.
The alien prisoner didn’t meet her expectations either. For one, he didn’t look alien. No tentacles, no long, sharp teeth, no multitude of eyes. Instead she found herself face to face with a perfectly normal looking, rather cute man with unruly hair and large brown eyes. And freckles.
He was skinny, too. All long limps and angles. A bit like Bambi, Gwen thought. She hadn’t noticed that when she’d seen him before.
Her mind recaptured the situation while her mouth tried to figure out what to say. She was in a high security prison that looked like a clean, tasteful and not unexpensive residence, face to face with a dangerous alien prisoner who looked like the nice bloke next door and greeted her with a warm smile. Someone, it deserved to be noted, she had seen before and didn’t exactly associate with the words ‘Global Threat’.
Her mouth finally produced some sounds but her ears refused to let her know what she had actually said. Her eyes, however, catching the Doctor’s confused frown, informed her that it had probably not been a compliment to her intelligence.
Either something about the entire situation had changed drastically in the last few hours, or Jack deserved a good kick in his nicely shaped arse for leaving out some important bits of information. He’d probably even deliberately mislead her, just to see her make an idiot of herself when she came here.
Well, no such luck, boss, she thought. For Jack was nowhere in sight and had ultimately missed her moment of brain failure.
Gwen had expected him to greet her when she came in, not this cheerful, unthreatening assumed prisoner. She wondered where he was, and what the hell was going on here.
“Jack’s in the kitchen,” the Doctor informed her as he led her deeper into the flat. “He’s making coffee.” He grimaced, just a little. “Personally, I prefer tea.”
So did Gwen, as long as Ianto wasn’t around. Jack’s coffee was a bit rubbish. She liked it strong, but the stuff he brewed was almost solid.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head in an attempt to make sense of all this. “I didn’t… What Jack had told me was…” She started again, from a different angle. “What are you doing here?”
But the Doctor only frowned at her. “What did Jack tell you?”
“I told her there was a seven legged monster waiting for her, that has tentacles instead of arms and feeds off sex,” Jack explained, sliding his arms around the Doctor’s hips from behind and resting his chin on the other’s shoulder. He grinned playfully as he equally playfully pulled the alien closer against his body, but there was a warning in his eyes as he regarded Gwen. She glared at him; if he didn’t want her to say something wrong, giving her some additional information would have been nice. Not that a bit of mystery wasn’t attractive in a man, but on occasion Jack was overdoing it.
There probably was something to be said about Gwen falling in love with - and marrying - the least mysterious man in all of Wales.
“He told you that, and still you came here unarmed,” the Doctor noted. “It tells a lot about you, Gwen Cooper.” His tone was one of slight puzzlement. It was impossible to tell if he was just making fun of her or had really believed what Jack had just said. Gwen glared at her boss again, who smiled innocently - before grumbling in protest when the Doctor wriggled out of his embrace.
“Living room,” he commanded, disappearing through the nearest door. They could still hear his voice when he added, “I’m afraid I can’t offer you any tentacles today, though.”
Gwen glared at Jack again. Questions burned on her tongue, but the Captain’s gaze held them in check. The walls were thin here. He didn’t want the Doctor to hear.
They way to the living room was a lot longer than she had expected. The flat certainly was larger than it had seemed from the outside. Eventually it hit her that it had to be at least two or three flats, joined by removing some walls between them.
She also noticed, when finally they reached their destination, that the windows all were small, and blocked by subtle but solid looking bars. The kind that killed people in case of fire.
The Doctor, sitting on a couch, followed her gaze. “The house is fire proof,” he said, and Gwen, trying to shake off the vague feeling that he was reading her mind, sat down in the armchair opposite him.
There were three cups on the table, and two cans. The Doctor took the one with the tea and filled two of the cups. “It might not be what you came here for, but I promise that this tastes better than most tentacles I have come across.” Again Gwen could not tell if he was joking. “How do you like your tea?”
Gwen hesitated, wondering if it would be impolite not to insist on coffee. After all Jack had only brewed it for her visit…
“Don’t worry,” the Doctor interrupted her thoughts with a wink. “If Jack really wanted to share his coffee, he would make some a normal person could survive drinking.”
“Hey!” Jack protested as he flopped down on the couch beside his friend. Not close enough to touch, Gwen noticed, suddenly reminded of why she had come here. The Doctor rolled his eyes at him.
“Not everyone’s immortal,” he pointed out. Gwen watched them, feeling like she was missing something. This domestic scene was not what she had expected when Jack had told her to come here.
“According to Jack, you’re facing some problems with a case you’re working on,” the Doctor said, carefully sipping his tea. Gwen tried to do the same and burned her lips.
“Yes,” she confirmed, setting the cup back onto the table. “Did he also mention that it was a case of world threatening proportions?”
“No, but I figured as much. I get the feeling you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.” The Doctor didn’t even glance at Jack, and Jack didn’t move, and still Gwen had the impression of him winding uncomfortably under an accusing stare. Something was definitely going on there, on some level she couldn’t reach.
In the next thirty minutes she filled the Doctor in with all she had found out about the aliens snatching away random people and bringing them back as walking time bombs. It wasn’t just Cardiff, it was happening all over the world. The Doctor nodded thoughtfully at times but didn’t interrupt her, even though Jack had probably already told him most of it. Eventually he leaned back, thought some more, and then told them who these aliens were, what they wanted, and how they could stop them. Occasionally he asked for additional information - not only about the alien threat but also about their own resources, and together they worked out a plan to save the world.
Six cups of tea later Gwen left, wondering how this case could ever have caused them so much trouble. It all seemed so simple now.
Well, it always helped if you had someone on your side who knew what to do.
Jack had told her to wait outside, so she did. There was no way she would leave without Jack answering a few questions anyway. She made a quick call to Ianto to have him research and prepare as much of the necessary stuff as possible. There wasn’t too much he could do though. Every internet research and computer hacking they had to handle made Gwen feel the loss of Tosh all the more.
At least the remaining members of the team were still able to use Google.
She finished the call with the promise that they’d be back in no time, and then she leaned back against the SUV and looked at the long building she had just left. Now she was looking for them she could see no sign of life behind most of the windows. There were curtains, even flowers on the windowsills, and some rooms were lit, but it seemed staged somehow, as if no one actually lived there.
She wondered if Jack had bought the entire building, taking one large flat for his friend to live in and keeping the rest empty. No one in the immediate neighbourhood.
It seemed strange, but not stranger than the Doctor living in a secret flat in Cardiff. From all she knew about him it didn’t seem like something he’d do.
Jack let her wait for half an hour before he had the grace of stepping out of the front door. Gwen watched him locking it with what she knew wasn’t the simple key it looked like. There was another even more complicated lock on the door to the flat itself. Despite everything, she was aware that the man who had probably just saved the planet once again was indeed a prisoner here.
And she’d be damned if she’d let Jack get away without telling her why.
He approached her under the grey autumn sky. The words were already on her tongue, but he gestured for her to get in the car first. Reluctantly she did so, making sure to get behind the wheel. Just so Jack couldn’t drive back in silence and drop her off without a single answer.
But he got onto the passenger seat without protest. Refusing to start the car, Gwen for the first time noticed that there was no other car around, wondering if Jack had walked all the way here.
“Explain,” she simply said.
Jack sighed.
Gwen scowled at him. “You told me the only one able to help us was an alien you had locked up in a special prison.”
Jack’s stare turned dark. “He is.”
“I noticed that!” she snapped. “But you could have mentioned that it wasn’t a monstrous evil creature but in fact the guy who’s saved the universe the last time I saw him. And why do you keep him prisoner anyway? He didn’t seem all that dangerous to me.”
Jack snorted in reply, but there was nothing playful about it. “You don’t know him. Do you really think he’d be able to defeat all these threats to the cosmos if he were harmless?”
“You know what I mean. He’s not someone who’d cause any harm to the general public. Also…” There was something else that bothered her. “He didn’t seem to mind being locked up.”
“It was his idea,” Jack revealed. And sighed again when he accepted that more explanation was required. “The Doctor is… not well at the moment,” he said carefully. “He’s ill and weakened, and sometimes… he loses it. He has spells when he’s just… not himself. He just loses grip on reality, and in that state he could cause harm to anyone. Most likely himself.”
The answer was not really satisfying. “In that case, is it really okay to leave him alone like that?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, I made sure he’s safe before I left. We’ve been handling this for a while now.”
“How long? What’s wrong with him?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Jack’s voice was harsh, telling her not to pry. “All you need to know is that he’s asked me to lock him up, so he can’t go and hurt anyone when he’s out of it. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s unpredictable. But at the same time I also created this place to keep everyone else out. The Doctor is vulnerable at the moment, and there are too many who might seize the opportunity.”
Gwen remembered their conversation, recalled the Doctor, relaxed, sitting cross-legged on the couch and sipping tea while giving instructions for saving the planet. He hadn’t seemed ill, or unstable. It was hard to believe there was anything wrong with him.
She believed Jack anyway. This wasn’t something he’d lie about.
“Who else knows about this?” she asked.
“Just me and you.”
That was a surprise, though perhaps it shouldn’t have been. In any case it showed Gwen how much Jack trusted her. It was quite flattering.
“No one else can know,” Jack added, quite unnecessarily. “He’s got more enemies than you can imagine, and if any of them found out about this… I can’t be there to protect him all the time. Promise me you won’t tell anyone! Not Ianto, not Rhys, no one.”
The more people knew about a secret the higher was the risk of others finding out. Gwen understood, and promised him, of course.
It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to keeping secrets from her husband.
-
Sometimes, in the following weeks, Gwen thought that the solving of a problem they were facing at work would be much easier if they would just ask the Doctor to solve it for them. Jack had made his point very clear in this regard, though: he might ask for help now and then, when he went to visit his friend, but Gwen was not to bother him unless the world was on the brink of destruction. She didn’t quite understand why - surely the alien would welcome the distraction? - but didn’t argue. She didn’t know enough about the Doctor’s fragile state to discuss this with Jack. Of course the reason for her not knowing enough was that Jack didn’t tell her. And that was something she would have argued with under normal circumstances. In this case, however, she knew there would be no point. Jack wouldn’t tell her. Even mentioning the Doctor was pushing it on most days.
He’d left her the keys and codes for the doors he’d given her the first time he’d called her there. Just in case anything happened to him that would keep him from taking care of his friend himself.
Gwen often thought of ignoring his orders and going back there when she felt the Doctor would be able to help with something. She never did.
Until the day, two months later, when there was another threat to the city to be overcome. The rift was acting up, weevils were showing up everywhere in the city, and people were going crazy. According to the archives something like this had happened before, fifty years ago. Jack would know more.
And Jack was nowhere to be found. He didn’t answer his cell phone. And Gwen knew there were only three places he could possible be: Eaten by the rift, sucked into space, or with the Doctor.
As the other two were somewhat hard to check, she tried the Doctor first.
-
As she stepped through the last of the three doors, the apartment seemed empty. It felt empty as well. No one home.
Gwen decided to check anyway. She couldn’t imagine where the Doctor could have gone, but perhaps he had overcome his mysterious illness and had returned to his usual business in his magical box. And had taken Jack along, while he was at it. Which would still be better for Jack than having been sucked into space, but for his team it wouldn’t make much difference.
The fact that she was looking for someone gave the former policewoman a convenient excuse to look behind every door she came across, and get a general picture of the place. She found a kitchen, something that looked like an office, albeit one in which all the computers had been mutilated and rewired to form something of no obvious purpose. A bedroom, large and empty. The living room. Something that looked like a dining hall, right next to a room that was just plain empty. Then there was the bathroom, with a tub so large it was almost a pool.
The air was cool and fresh in here, so it came as a surprise to discover that the windows could not be opened. They also upon closer examination turned out to be soundproof. For some reason this stroke Gwen as slightly disturbing, despite the fact that given the purpose and location of this place it was almost inevitable.
Once again she called Jack’s name, and the Doctor’s, but somewhat subdued, as if she was scared she could actually be heard. Which was stupid, but probably a natural side effect of being in a place she was not supposed to be. At least Jack wouldn’t be happy about her showing up here. Gwen almost hoped he wasn’t here after all.
If she found only the Doctor it wouldn’t be too bad either. The alien could probably help them just as well or better, and with some luck, Jack would never find out she’d even been here.
Of course, if the Doctor wasn’t here anymore, her drive here would have been one big waste of time. Gwen was beginning to lose what little hope she had when she entered another corridor and saw the light falling through one of the open doorways. And now she heard it: a dull thumping, like wood on wood, and a voice that didn’t sound like the Doctor but was too quiet to be certainly identified as Jack’s. Suddenly Gwen felt even more uneasy than before. Chances were high that by walking in on them she would create an embarrassing situation.
On the other hand she had walked in on Jack and Ianto before, and Jack hadn’t seemed to care particularly much. She decided to risk it.
Gwen opened her mouth to announce her presence when she looked into the room, and didn’t close it again, although no sound left her throat. Altogether, she later observed, she didn’t stand in the doorway for more than ten seconds, yet it was long enough to take in the scene playing out in front of her.
Before her lay, curiously, another bedroom, this one smaller than the first. Both Jack and the Doctor were on the bed, but they weren’t doing what she had expected them to do. Instead, Jack was leaning over his friend, using one hand to pin both thin wrists above the Doctor’s head and the other to open his shirt and expose his neck. Gwen noted the syringe he was keeping between his teeth just in time to not get the wrong idea.
The Doctor struggled against the grip, but the movement was weak and uncoordinated. His face was turned away. Gwen only heard his harsh, fast breathing.
His legs kicked out aimlessly, a motion that reminded her of convulsion rather than an attack.
Jack looked straight at her. There was no surprise on his face, no anger. Just concentration and grim determination, and concern, as if he couldn’t be bothered to adjust his expression to acknowledge her presence.
“Out,” he said.
Gwen fled.
-
Ten minutes later, Gwen entered the flat once again. Jack hadn’t come out yet, and while he hadn’t given the impression of being keen on anyone’s company, she couldn’t just stand outside, or leave and forget about it. There had been a reason for her to come here, after all. They needed his help.
Also, she wanted to see if perhaps he might need her help. And see what exactly was going on there. The house was almost radiating silence now, and it worried her.
This time she headed straight for the smaller bedroom, making sure not to make too much noise. But even her footsteps seemed to echo. The door was still open, but now it was perfectly still inside the room.
Gwen found Jack sitting on the edge of the bed, using a damp cloth to wipe the forehead of the Doctor, who was now lying still beneath the covers. Again, the captain noticed her before she could say anything. One look told her not to come closer.
So Gwen watched as Jack stood, and took the padded restraints hanging from the bed frame, and fastened them around the Doctor’s wrists.
When Jack was done she retreated further down the corridor, so they wouldn’t disturb the sleeping man.
But no words were spoken. Jack just stood before her, too close, invading her personal space. Hovering over her, and then his fist hit the wall, in one wordless expression of his displeasure. For the first time in years, he frightened her.
So her voice caught a little when she told him about the case that had brought her here in the first place, and she was speaking too quickly, like a schoolgirl caught stealing pens from the teacher’s office. She didn’t ask about the Doctor. She didn’t dare.
Jack was silent for a long time. Then he turned around and walked out of the apartment without a word, only once stopping to quietly close the door to the Doctor’s room.
-
As expected, Jack was able to help them find a solution for their current problem. He never spoke about what Gwen had seen in the apartment that day, and she was smart enough to bite her tongue and never ask about it. Until the day mentioning the Doctor became absolutely inevitable.
Another few weeks had passed by then. During that time Gwen had noticed what she might have noticed before, had she actually been looking for it: Jack wasn’t sleeping in the hub anymore. Now he came to work like the rest of them instead of living there, and it wasn’t hard to figure out where he went when he left for home. Gwen imagined him and the Doctor living like an old married couple, and it would have been almost sweet, if not for the knowledge of the Doctor’s strange and possibly dangerous illness and the fact that their flat had soundprrof, barred windows.
Since she was the only one to know about the Doctor at all, Gwen couldn’t help wondering what Jack had told Ianto about the sudden appearance of his social life.
Perhaps he had told him, after all. Just in case Jack and Gwen got stuck somewhere together, as could well happen with the work they were doing. Just so there would be someone to care for the Doctor and keep him from starving until they - or at least Jack - came back. But even if he had, it wouldn’t have helped at all when Gwen and Jack finally did get stuck together.
One moment they had been chasing a hostile alien through the streets of Cardiff, the next moment there was only darkness. When Gwen regained consciousness, she found herself in a cold, uncomfortable cell, along with her teammates.
Teammates. Plural.
Almost two years ago they had followed a fake lead to the Himalaya. It had turned out that this was just Mr Saxon-the-Alien’s way of getting them out of the way, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t found anything. Even the Himalaya was home to some extraterrestrial life, it had turned out.
And now that life, or what was left of it, had tracked them down and locked them up, without doubt plotting some kind of horrible revenge - and talking its time with it. On the third uneventful day in the cell, living off bread and water like prisoners in a bad movie, Gwen couldn’t help mentioning the Doctor, worried he would simply die of dehydration if they didn’t get home soon.
“He doesn’t need as much food and fluid as we do,” Jack told her, keeping his voice down to not wake the sleeping Ianto. Despite his relaxed act, Gwen could tell he was worried himself. “He’ll survive without me for a while,” he said none the less.
“But what if we’re stuck here for weeks? Or die?” Well, that was an idea she didn’t need. “Who takes care of your boyfriend then?”
“Don’t worry.” Jack gave her a quick smile. “When we’re not back after a week, there’s still your boyfriend to rely on.”
Gwen stared at him.
“Well, husband, really,” Jack corrected himself.
-> Part 2
Author: vail_kagami
Challenge: Domesticity
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Torchwood Series 2 Finale
Warnings: None
Summary: When Jack told her about he dangerous alien locked up in a special prison, this was not what Gwen had expected.
Gwen had had many expectations of the place she was called to, and when she turned the key Jack had given her in the lock and opened the door to what looked like a perfectly unsuspicious flat on the outside, none of them were met.
There were no blank walls, bars and locks. Instead what appeared to be a perfectly normal flat on the outside appeared to be a perfectly normal flat on the inside as well.
The alien prisoner didn’t meet her expectations either. For one, he didn’t look alien. No tentacles, no long, sharp teeth, no multitude of eyes. Instead she found herself face to face with a perfectly normal looking, rather cute man with unruly hair and large brown eyes. And freckles.
He was skinny, too. All long limps and angles. A bit like Bambi, Gwen thought. She hadn’t noticed that when she’d seen him before.
Her mind recaptured the situation while her mouth tried to figure out what to say. She was in a high security prison that looked like a clean, tasteful and not unexpensive residence, face to face with a dangerous alien prisoner who looked like the nice bloke next door and greeted her with a warm smile. Someone, it deserved to be noted, she had seen before and didn’t exactly associate with the words ‘Global Threat’.
Her mouth finally produced some sounds but her ears refused to let her know what she had actually said. Her eyes, however, catching the Doctor’s confused frown, informed her that it had probably not been a compliment to her intelligence.
Either something about the entire situation had changed drastically in the last few hours, or Jack deserved a good kick in his nicely shaped arse for leaving out some important bits of information. He’d probably even deliberately mislead her, just to see her make an idiot of herself when she came here.
Well, no such luck, boss, she thought. For Jack was nowhere in sight and had ultimately missed her moment of brain failure.
Gwen had expected him to greet her when she came in, not this cheerful, unthreatening assumed prisoner. She wondered where he was, and what the hell was going on here.
“Jack’s in the kitchen,” the Doctor informed her as he led her deeper into the flat. “He’s making coffee.” He grimaced, just a little. “Personally, I prefer tea.”
So did Gwen, as long as Ianto wasn’t around. Jack’s coffee was a bit rubbish. She liked it strong, but the stuff he brewed was almost solid.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head in an attempt to make sense of all this. “I didn’t… What Jack had told me was…” She started again, from a different angle. “What are you doing here?”
But the Doctor only frowned at her. “What did Jack tell you?”
“I told her there was a seven legged monster waiting for her, that has tentacles instead of arms and feeds off sex,” Jack explained, sliding his arms around the Doctor’s hips from behind and resting his chin on the other’s shoulder. He grinned playfully as he equally playfully pulled the alien closer against his body, but there was a warning in his eyes as he regarded Gwen. She glared at him; if he didn’t want her to say something wrong, giving her some additional information would have been nice. Not that a bit of mystery wasn’t attractive in a man, but on occasion Jack was overdoing it.
There probably was something to be said about Gwen falling in love with - and marrying - the least mysterious man in all of Wales.
“He told you that, and still you came here unarmed,” the Doctor noted. “It tells a lot about you, Gwen Cooper.” His tone was one of slight puzzlement. It was impossible to tell if he was just making fun of her or had really believed what Jack had just said. Gwen glared at her boss again, who smiled innocently - before grumbling in protest when the Doctor wriggled out of his embrace.
“Living room,” he commanded, disappearing through the nearest door. They could still hear his voice when he added, “I’m afraid I can’t offer you any tentacles today, though.”
Gwen glared at Jack again. Questions burned on her tongue, but the Captain’s gaze held them in check. The walls were thin here. He didn’t want the Doctor to hear.
They way to the living room was a lot longer than she had expected. The flat certainly was larger than it had seemed from the outside. Eventually it hit her that it had to be at least two or three flats, joined by removing some walls between them.
She also noticed, when finally they reached their destination, that the windows all were small, and blocked by subtle but solid looking bars. The kind that killed people in case of fire.
The Doctor, sitting on a couch, followed her gaze. “The house is fire proof,” he said, and Gwen, trying to shake off the vague feeling that he was reading her mind, sat down in the armchair opposite him.
There were three cups on the table, and two cans. The Doctor took the one with the tea and filled two of the cups. “It might not be what you came here for, but I promise that this tastes better than most tentacles I have come across.” Again Gwen could not tell if he was joking. “How do you like your tea?”
Gwen hesitated, wondering if it would be impolite not to insist on coffee. After all Jack had only brewed it for her visit…
“Don’t worry,” the Doctor interrupted her thoughts with a wink. “If Jack really wanted to share his coffee, he would make some a normal person could survive drinking.”
“Hey!” Jack protested as he flopped down on the couch beside his friend. Not close enough to touch, Gwen noticed, suddenly reminded of why she had come here. The Doctor rolled his eyes at him.
“Not everyone’s immortal,” he pointed out. Gwen watched them, feeling like she was missing something. This domestic scene was not what she had expected when Jack had told her to come here.
“According to Jack, you’re facing some problems with a case you’re working on,” the Doctor said, carefully sipping his tea. Gwen tried to do the same and burned her lips.
“Yes,” she confirmed, setting the cup back onto the table. “Did he also mention that it was a case of world threatening proportions?”
“No, but I figured as much. I get the feeling you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.” The Doctor didn’t even glance at Jack, and Jack didn’t move, and still Gwen had the impression of him winding uncomfortably under an accusing stare. Something was definitely going on there, on some level she couldn’t reach.
In the next thirty minutes she filled the Doctor in with all she had found out about the aliens snatching away random people and bringing them back as walking time bombs. It wasn’t just Cardiff, it was happening all over the world. The Doctor nodded thoughtfully at times but didn’t interrupt her, even though Jack had probably already told him most of it. Eventually he leaned back, thought some more, and then told them who these aliens were, what they wanted, and how they could stop them. Occasionally he asked for additional information - not only about the alien threat but also about their own resources, and together they worked out a plan to save the world.
Six cups of tea later Gwen left, wondering how this case could ever have caused them so much trouble. It all seemed so simple now.
Well, it always helped if you had someone on your side who knew what to do.
Jack had told her to wait outside, so she did. There was no way she would leave without Jack answering a few questions anyway. She made a quick call to Ianto to have him research and prepare as much of the necessary stuff as possible. There wasn’t too much he could do though. Every internet research and computer hacking they had to handle made Gwen feel the loss of Tosh all the more.
At least the remaining members of the team were still able to use Google.
She finished the call with the promise that they’d be back in no time, and then she leaned back against the SUV and looked at the long building she had just left. Now she was looking for them she could see no sign of life behind most of the windows. There were curtains, even flowers on the windowsills, and some rooms were lit, but it seemed staged somehow, as if no one actually lived there.
She wondered if Jack had bought the entire building, taking one large flat for his friend to live in and keeping the rest empty. No one in the immediate neighbourhood.
It seemed strange, but not stranger than the Doctor living in a secret flat in Cardiff. From all she knew about him it didn’t seem like something he’d do.
Jack let her wait for half an hour before he had the grace of stepping out of the front door. Gwen watched him locking it with what she knew wasn’t the simple key it looked like. There was another even more complicated lock on the door to the flat itself. Despite everything, she was aware that the man who had probably just saved the planet once again was indeed a prisoner here.
And she’d be damned if she’d let Jack get away without telling her why.
He approached her under the grey autumn sky. The words were already on her tongue, but he gestured for her to get in the car first. Reluctantly she did so, making sure to get behind the wheel. Just so Jack couldn’t drive back in silence and drop her off without a single answer.
But he got onto the passenger seat without protest. Refusing to start the car, Gwen for the first time noticed that there was no other car around, wondering if Jack had walked all the way here.
“Explain,” she simply said.
Jack sighed.
Gwen scowled at him. “You told me the only one able to help us was an alien you had locked up in a special prison.”
Jack’s stare turned dark. “He is.”
“I noticed that!” she snapped. “But you could have mentioned that it wasn’t a monstrous evil creature but in fact the guy who’s saved the universe the last time I saw him. And why do you keep him prisoner anyway? He didn’t seem all that dangerous to me.”
Jack snorted in reply, but there was nothing playful about it. “You don’t know him. Do you really think he’d be able to defeat all these threats to the cosmos if he were harmless?”
“You know what I mean. He’s not someone who’d cause any harm to the general public. Also…” There was something else that bothered her. “He didn’t seem to mind being locked up.”
“It was his idea,” Jack revealed. And sighed again when he accepted that more explanation was required. “The Doctor is… not well at the moment,” he said carefully. “He’s ill and weakened, and sometimes… he loses it. He has spells when he’s just… not himself. He just loses grip on reality, and in that state he could cause harm to anyone. Most likely himself.”
The answer was not really satisfying. “In that case, is it really okay to leave him alone like that?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, I made sure he’s safe before I left. We’ve been handling this for a while now.”
“How long? What’s wrong with him?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Jack’s voice was harsh, telling her not to pry. “All you need to know is that he’s asked me to lock him up, so he can’t go and hurt anyone when he’s out of it. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s unpredictable. But at the same time I also created this place to keep everyone else out. The Doctor is vulnerable at the moment, and there are too many who might seize the opportunity.”
Gwen remembered their conversation, recalled the Doctor, relaxed, sitting cross-legged on the couch and sipping tea while giving instructions for saving the planet. He hadn’t seemed ill, or unstable. It was hard to believe there was anything wrong with him.
She believed Jack anyway. This wasn’t something he’d lie about.
“Who else knows about this?” she asked.
“Just me and you.”
That was a surprise, though perhaps it shouldn’t have been. In any case it showed Gwen how much Jack trusted her. It was quite flattering.
“No one else can know,” Jack added, quite unnecessarily. “He’s got more enemies than you can imagine, and if any of them found out about this… I can’t be there to protect him all the time. Promise me you won’t tell anyone! Not Ianto, not Rhys, no one.”
The more people knew about a secret the higher was the risk of others finding out. Gwen understood, and promised him, of course.
It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to keeping secrets from her husband.
-
Sometimes, in the following weeks, Gwen thought that the solving of a problem they were facing at work would be much easier if they would just ask the Doctor to solve it for them. Jack had made his point very clear in this regard, though: he might ask for help now and then, when he went to visit his friend, but Gwen was not to bother him unless the world was on the brink of destruction. She didn’t quite understand why - surely the alien would welcome the distraction? - but didn’t argue. She didn’t know enough about the Doctor’s fragile state to discuss this with Jack. Of course the reason for her not knowing enough was that Jack didn’t tell her. And that was something she would have argued with under normal circumstances. In this case, however, she knew there would be no point. Jack wouldn’t tell her. Even mentioning the Doctor was pushing it on most days.
He’d left her the keys and codes for the doors he’d given her the first time he’d called her there. Just in case anything happened to him that would keep him from taking care of his friend himself.
Gwen often thought of ignoring his orders and going back there when she felt the Doctor would be able to help with something. She never did.
Until the day, two months later, when there was another threat to the city to be overcome. The rift was acting up, weevils were showing up everywhere in the city, and people were going crazy. According to the archives something like this had happened before, fifty years ago. Jack would know more.
And Jack was nowhere to be found. He didn’t answer his cell phone. And Gwen knew there were only three places he could possible be: Eaten by the rift, sucked into space, or with the Doctor.
As the other two were somewhat hard to check, she tried the Doctor first.
-
As she stepped through the last of the three doors, the apartment seemed empty. It felt empty as well. No one home.
Gwen decided to check anyway. She couldn’t imagine where the Doctor could have gone, but perhaps he had overcome his mysterious illness and had returned to his usual business in his magical box. And had taken Jack along, while he was at it. Which would still be better for Jack than having been sucked into space, but for his team it wouldn’t make much difference.
The fact that she was looking for someone gave the former policewoman a convenient excuse to look behind every door she came across, and get a general picture of the place. She found a kitchen, something that looked like an office, albeit one in which all the computers had been mutilated and rewired to form something of no obvious purpose. A bedroom, large and empty. The living room. Something that looked like a dining hall, right next to a room that was just plain empty. Then there was the bathroom, with a tub so large it was almost a pool.
The air was cool and fresh in here, so it came as a surprise to discover that the windows could not be opened. They also upon closer examination turned out to be soundproof. For some reason this stroke Gwen as slightly disturbing, despite the fact that given the purpose and location of this place it was almost inevitable.
Once again she called Jack’s name, and the Doctor’s, but somewhat subdued, as if she was scared she could actually be heard. Which was stupid, but probably a natural side effect of being in a place she was not supposed to be. At least Jack wouldn’t be happy about her showing up here. Gwen almost hoped he wasn’t here after all.
If she found only the Doctor it wouldn’t be too bad either. The alien could probably help them just as well or better, and with some luck, Jack would never find out she’d even been here.
Of course, if the Doctor wasn’t here anymore, her drive here would have been one big waste of time. Gwen was beginning to lose what little hope she had when she entered another corridor and saw the light falling through one of the open doorways. And now she heard it: a dull thumping, like wood on wood, and a voice that didn’t sound like the Doctor but was too quiet to be certainly identified as Jack’s. Suddenly Gwen felt even more uneasy than before. Chances were high that by walking in on them she would create an embarrassing situation.
On the other hand she had walked in on Jack and Ianto before, and Jack hadn’t seemed to care particularly much. She decided to risk it.
Gwen opened her mouth to announce her presence when she looked into the room, and didn’t close it again, although no sound left her throat. Altogether, she later observed, she didn’t stand in the doorway for more than ten seconds, yet it was long enough to take in the scene playing out in front of her.
Before her lay, curiously, another bedroom, this one smaller than the first. Both Jack and the Doctor were on the bed, but they weren’t doing what she had expected them to do. Instead, Jack was leaning over his friend, using one hand to pin both thin wrists above the Doctor’s head and the other to open his shirt and expose his neck. Gwen noted the syringe he was keeping between his teeth just in time to not get the wrong idea.
The Doctor struggled against the grip, but the movement was weak and uncoordinated. His face was turned away. Gwen only heard his harsh, fast breathing.
His legs kicked out aimlessly, a motion that reminded her of convulsion rather than an attack.
Jack looked straight at her. There was no surprise on his face, no anger. Just concentration and grim determination, and concern, as if he couldn’t be bothered to adjust his expression to acknowledge her presence.
“Out,” he said.
Gwen fled.
-
Ten minutes later, Gwen entered the flat once again. Jack hadn’t come out yet, and while he hadn’t given the impression of being keen on anyone’s company, she couldn’t just stand outside, or leave and forget about it. There had been a reason for her to come here, after all. They needed his help.
Also, she wanted to see if perhaps he might need her help. And see what exactly was going on there. The house was almost radiating silence now, and it worried her.
This time she headed straight for the smaller bedroom, making sure not to make too much noise. But even her footsteps seemed to echo. The door was still open, but now it was perfectly still inside the room.
Gwen found Jack sitting on the edge of the bed, using a damp cloth to wipe the forehead of the Doctor, who was now lying still beneath the covers. Again, the captain noticed her before she could say anything. One look told her not to come closer.
So Gwen watched as Jack stood, and took the padded restraints hanging from the bed frame, and fastened them around the Doctor’s wrists.
When Jack was done she retreated further down the corridor, so they wouldn’t disturb the sleeping man.
But no words were spoken. Jack just stood before her, too close, invading her personal space. Hovering over her, and then his fist hit the wall, in one wordless expression of his displeasure. For the first time in years, he frightened her.
So her voice caught a little when she told him about the case that had brought her here in the first place, and she was speaking too quickly, like a schoolgirl caught stealing pens from the teacher’s office. She didn’t ask about the Doctor. She didn’t dare.
Jack was silent for a long time. Then he turned around and walked out of the apartment without a word, only once stopping to quietly close the door to the Doctor’s room.
-
As expected, Jack was able to help them find a solution for their current problem. He never spoke about what Gwen had seen in the apartment that day, and she was smart enough to bite her tongue and never ask about it. Until the day mentioning the Doctor became absolutely inevitable.
Another few weeks had passed by then. During that time Gwen had noticed what she might have noticed before, had she actually been looking for it: Jack wasn’t sleeping in the hub anymore. Now he came to work like the rest of them instead of living there, and it wasn’t hard to figure out where he went when he left for home. Gwen imagined him and the Doctor living like an old married couple, and it would have been almost sweet, if not for the knowledge of the Doctor’s strange and possibly dangerous illness and the fact that their flat had soundprrof, barred windows.
Since she was the only one to know about the Doctor at all, Gwen couldn’t help wondering what Jack had told Ianto about the sudden appearance of his social life.
Perhaps he had told him, after all. Just in case Jack and Gwen got stuck somewhere together, as could well happen with the work they were doing. Just so there would be someone to care for the Doctor and keep him from starving until they - or at least Jack - came back. But even if he had, it wouldn’t have helped at all when Gwen and Jack finally did get stuck together.
One moment they had been chasing a hostile alien through the streets of Cardiff, the next moment there was only darkness. When Gwen regained consciousness, she found herself in a cold, uncomfortable cell, along with her teammates.
Teammates. Plural.
Almost two years ago they had followed a fake lead to the Himalaya. It had turned out that this was just Mr Saxon-the-Alien’s way of getting them out of the way, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t found anything. Even the Himalaya was home to some extraterrestrial life, it had turned out.
And now that life, or what was left of it, had tracked them down and locked them up, without doubt plotting some kind of horrible revenge - and talking its time with it. On the third uneventful day in the cell, living off bread and water like prisoners in a bad movie, Gwen couldn’t help mentioning the Doctor, worried he would simply die of dehydration if they didn’t get home soon.
“He doesn’t need as much food and fluid as we do,” Jack told her, keeping his voice down to not wake the sleeping Ianto. Despite his relaxed act, Gwen could tell he was worried himself. “He’ll survive without me for a while,” he said none the less.
“But what if we’re stuck here for weeks? Or die?” Well, that was an idea she didn’t need. “Who takes care of your boyfriend then?”
“Don’t worry.” Jack gave her a quick smile. “When we’re not back after a week, there’s still your boyfriend to rely on.”
Gwen stared at him.
“Well, husband, really,” Jack corrected himself.
-> Part 2