RP for mrsharker

[quitehomoerotic]

It's early evening and in the half light the Bay has a comfortable quiet. Jack sent the team off to have a little social time. They've all worked so hard lately and they could do with it. He went for a walk, somewhere with a high roof and a vantage point for him to look over the city.

He's back on his way home now, taking a slow stroll down Lloyd George Avenue and back towards Butetown and the Bay. Outside the Millennium centre are couples and people milling around, all preparing for an evening of entertainment. It makes Jack smile as he seems them all, all safe in this city he loves so much.

On his way across the Plass he takes a slight de-tour to one of the poster boards, to take a look at just what these people are waiting to see. The sight before him though is not one he expects, and one he's far from prepared for.

The face is familiar, oh so familiar, and his breath gets caught in his chest, taking him a moment or two to realise he isn't breathing at all.

"It can't be," he whispers, but there's nobody there to listen.

Jack's eyes are swimming and he's glued to the spot. This can't be right, he's sure this can't be right. Just an odd co-incidence. Someone who happens to look similar. It has to be. It can't be her.

But it doesn't hurt to make sure. So instead of back to the Hub, Jack heads into the Millennium center and with the aid of the word 'Torchwood', he goes backstage.

Comments

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"I guess I had to," Jack sighs. "There's a man... when I met you I was looking for him. Looked for him for a hundred years. Guess you could say I looked up to him. Tried to be like him. I hope I do him justice."

"My team," he smiles, thinking of them, "They're wonderful people. They put themselves at risk every day to save this city. To save the world."

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Demons, aliens, hell-beasts...?" She's seen so much in her time, done so very much to protect her city -- good old London town. "I helped slay a dragon once."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack laughs warmly. Of course, he should expect it of her, shouldn't he. "Aliens," he says, amused.

Taking a breath he starts, hoping to explain. "Cardiff has a rift in space and time running right through the centre of it. It's my job to monitor what comes in and out of it."

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Well," Mina inclines her head respectfully, "I'm still maintaining the Stacks and standing in as London's guardian until little Luke Rutherford comes of age."

She chooses not to mention that a large part of her ability to maintain any order in London-town is the fact that most of the inhumans are deeply afraid of the monster she could become if she so chooses. That she cultivates that sense of danger among the half-life.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"And you do that all yourself?" Jack asks, sounding suddenly protective. "And who looks after you?"

"Mina you can't even see. How can you look after a city?"

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"I have a wonderful valet-slash-nurse-slash-driver who helps me with day to day issues, and Luke's godfather is a smiter, too. He travels a lot, all over Europe and America, but when he's in London we spend some time together."

A more modern woman might have taken offense at his implication that she wasn't capable of taking care of herself. It doesn't occur to Mina to be offended.

"And... periodically if a real problem surfaces, I stop my treatments for a while." She hadn't intended to mention that, but there's something in his tone that brooks no omission. It's not a tone Jonathan used terribly often with her, but she's learned very well to respect it. "It awakens the killer in me and returns my sight."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"You spend time with him?" Jack sounds jealous, though it's completely unintentional, and rather amusing in it's tone. "Well," he breathes, "I'm glad you're not alone."

As he listens he tilts his head and straightens his back a little. "You do?" It's bad of him to think, or even imagine it, and even worse to voice it, but he can't seem to stop himself. "So if you wanted... you could see me?"

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

She feels very much alone most of the time, but it wouldn't be helpful at all to say it out loud. It's probably why she and Rupert are such good friends: the American understands her loneliness, and she understands his grief at the loss of his wife.

Mina closes her eyes at the temptation he places before her. "It takes... a while to work through the treatments," she offers. The taste of blood, too, has the same effect, only stronger and faster. "I wouldn't want to hurt you."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack lets out an empty sort of laugh. "Mina, you couldn't hurt me if you tried. I mean you could, but it wouldn't last. I've died so many times... but I always come back. I always wake up."

His hand grips hers a little, a gentle reassuring gesture.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"That doesn't mean you're immune to pain, or that it wouldn't horrify you to see me like that," Mina points out. "I remember how distressed you were when Dracula was trying to turn me - the way my changed behavior upset you..."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"I'm used to pain, and I'm pretty resilient. You're beautiful and you're strong. You will always be that to me." He looks down, away. Feeling somewhat terrible that he's even indirectly trying to persuade her to do something she obviously tries so hard to fight.

"So..." he perks, "Food?"

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Yes, please," Mina nods. "Order for me: whatever your favourite is. I've yet to meet an Italian dish that I didn't enjoy."

She's tempted -- she's so tempted to yield to his wishes, to allow herself to stop fighting for just a little while. But she's not sure she'll manage to crawl back onto the wagon if she does. She's not sure she wouldn't do something terrible. (The fact that she managed for so long to contain herself with willpower alone doesn't ever seem argument enough to let down her guard.)

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Great," Jack smiles and motions over one of the waiters, ordering for them both the pasta dish of the day and a bottle of wine.

He falls a little quiet, thinking about it. It's like scratching an open wound. He knows he shouldn't, but the urge is still there.

So instead he barges ahead with the conversation. "It's been so long, I don't know where to start."

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

She can practically taste the way he's still rolling the terrible thought around and around his head. Even blind, she can still read him at least.

"It has." If they weren't still automatically at ease with one another, she'd feel this was almost awkward. It's not, but it's hard to know what to say, where to go. She doesn't want to regale him with tales of dead friends and the dead children of dead friends...

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

And it's a thought that won't go away. Try as he might. The seed has been planted, and he wonders just what it would be like.

"I could tell you about me... about who I am. If you want to know. But honestly... it's not all good, and," he laughs, weakly, "there's a lot of it."

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

She knows him well enough to know that the thought is haunting him. Frankly, she'd thought his experiences with Dracula's brides would have left him more wary, but there it is, that utter curiosity that got both of them into a great deal of trouble at times.

"I want to know." She squeezes his hand. "Jack."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's never really been one to let logic rule him, and the same can be said now. Despite what he knows, it really doesn't matter.

He nods a little and sighs. Wondering where to possibly start.

"I'm not from when you think I am. My name... my name isn't even Jack, that's a name I took, but it's the name I go by, have done for a long time. I'm- I'm from the future, Mina. The fifty first century. I used to be something called a Time Agent, a long time ago in a very different life. I met someone, a friend, I travelled with him, there was a battle and I died. Really died, but someone brought me back, brought be back for good. He left me there and I used this-" he takes her hand and puts it on his wrist strap. "Do you remember this? To get back to Earth. But it broke, and I got stranded in eighteen sixty nine. So I was stuck there. I had to keep going on Earth until I could find him."

It's a stream of consciousness, and difficult for him. He's so secretive at times it's just so unusual to give away so much.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Time travel?" Mina's eyebrows climb for her hair line and her fingers move over the leather strap he'd worn for as long as she'd remembered. "And I always thought he was unique--"

Her thought is interrupted by the waiter, bringing over the bottle of wine and pouring for them, presenting it to Jack for tasting.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack frowns slightly. Out of any reaction he could have imagined, that wasn't one he expected. He's all prepared to question when the waiter arrives, stopping him.

He tests the wine and nods, allowing him to pour. Not that it means a lot to Jack, he's not a big drinker, not any more at least.

He waits, rather impatient, until the waiter leaves.

"What were you saying?"

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"What was I saying?" Her train of thought was interrupted. "That's quite the history, my love, and I appreciate your honesty very much."

It's funny: she's not sure she'd have reacted quite this calmly had he told her all this when they were married. Now, after years of absence, the shock of him being alive was large enough to mitigate any real shock from any other revelations he might have to offer.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"You said you thought he was unique. Who is 'he'?" Jack's voice is urgent and verging on desperate. He can't quite believe she could have already encountered a time traveller. And who? Who could she possibly have met?

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Oh, that," Mina smiles and strokes her fingers along the back of his hand to calm the intensity she can hear in his voice. "I was thinking of a friend of mine. A gentleman time traveler I've known, oh, even since before we met, darling."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Right. Okay, and uh, who is he?" Jack realises he's being somewhat curt and short, and he back peddles a little.

"Sorry, I just... can you tell me who he is? A name?"

His heart beats ten to the dozen. Could she have really met someone. Known someone, all those years ago.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

She sips her wine, "And he's been so many different men over the years, for all the sense that makes. He usually goes by John Smith in polite company, but he prefers to be called Doctor."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

If Mina could see Jack's face she'd see him pale and watch his expression fall from his face. He feels winded, like the moments after he wakes from death. He tries to answer, but his throat is dry, raw.

"What does he look like?" He finds himself asking after a pause. Which regeneration, he wants to know. He needs to know.