Captain Jack and Captain Jack [for slayers_desire]

[fractured_agent]

It's been a few months since the team got their first lessons in psychic shielding, and once again, the Hub is open to April's expertise. Though he knows they're having guests, Jack doesn't push anyone to clean up the clutter so it looks better. The Hub is still a work space, and a chaotically changing one at that. They're all used to it by now, and Jack knows April won't mind.

Ianto is manning the tourist information office upstairs, as usual, and he knows that April is coming.

Comments

[slayers_desire]

April wonders if part of the reason they were sent back to this date has to do with the real Captain Harkness. But she wisely says nothing when Jack makes an excuse to leave the situation.

[fractured_agent]

As soon as they're away from the main party, Tosh can't hold it in any longer. "Why does that man have your name?"

Jack searches for an answer that would make sense, and comes up dry. He very rarely gets caught flat-footed, but this is a doozy. Something he'd never in a million years prepared himself for.

[slayers_desire]

April doesn't think they could use the 'inherited the name' excuse. The original Jack doesn't look anything like thier Jack.

"It is a long and complicated story."

[fractured_agent]

That answer just frustrates Tosh more. "I can tell you're holding back on me!" she exclaims, knowing that they're both hiding something. Jack has always played up being mysterious but now she needs to know.

Jack finds his voice. "It's not my name. It's his."

[slayers_desire]

"And I assuming that you borrowed the name of someone who died in the War? So it would never be connected..."

[fractured_agent]

Tosh is still upset, but she's listening. "Why? Why would you need to use the name of a dead man from this war?" She pauses a moment, and puts a few things together. "You look like you fit in here."

He knew he couldn't keep it a secret forever. But he was hoping to pretend to be as normal as Torchwood would let him for a while. "I can't explain how, but I served in the war in 1941. I was undercover and needed a false identity." It's not a total truth, but it's not a lie either.

[slayers_desire]

"And for now, while that Jack is around, we just will have to use another false identity."

[fractured_agent]

"But why him?" Tosh asks.

"It was convenient... our physical descriptions were similar enough. And an American with the RAF was too good an opportunity to pass up." Jack tries to break the tension with a typical Jack comment. "I just didn't realize he was so hot."

[slayers_desire]

"That's our Jack..."

"He is still the same man, even with this strange development."

[fractured_agent]

At least on the surface, anyway. Underneath that flirtatious smile is still the guilt of knowing that he stole a man's identity and never even bothered to learn more about him as a person. When he first took the name, he only looked for what was the most convenient. Never bothered to think about the real person behind the name.

"You chose his name because he dies in battle," Tosh says, growing concerned now. "When?"

And that's the worst part about it for Jack. "Tomorrow."

[slayers_desire]

April flinches. Because this is the problem with time travel... being presented with a situation you want to stop... and not knowing if you should or not.

"Dammit..."

[fractured_agent]

Jack knows the answer perfectly well. There's nothing he can do to stop it. He can't. His own timeline would be at risk if he did, and someone living when they shouldn't... that's one of the most dangerous changes to make.

He's only just met the man whose identity he stole. And already his heart is breaking for him. "You can't even tell him," he says, to April and more importantly to Tosh.

[slayers_desire]

"I know..." But it still doesn't make April happy.

[fractured_agent]

Tosh isn't happy either. But she accepts that Jack knows better. "What happens?" She has to know.

Jack read it all in a dusty old file once, and now he can't help but picture it in his mind. The faceless Captain has a face in his mind's eye now. "Tomorrow is their last training exercise. Just another day. They go out on a sortie and are surprised by two formations of Messerschmitts. He destroys three of the enemy... his men listen to his whoops of joy over the radio. But then it all goes quiet." Jack looks down for a moment. "He can't bail out, because his whole plane is on fire. But his men all make it back to safety."

[slayers_desire]

April shivers for a moment, wiping away a tear from her eye. "We have to avoid him... it would be better that way."

[fractured_agent]

"I don't know if we can, but we can try." A part of Jack doesn't want to. This is Captain Harkness' last night alive. He should be enjoying the party atmosphere, the drinks and the women, the music that Jack's always loved so much. And though he won't admit it, he wishes he could ask the man for forgiveness. Forgiveness for taking his name, continuing to use it as his own, without any regard for the man who belonged to it.

[slayers_desire]

April moves to give Jack a tight hug, knowing his silent pain very well. "I wish this wasn't part of your past... and it could be changed..."

[fractured_agent]

Jack hugs her back, feeling so conflicted.

Tosh has many more questions, but this doesn't seem like the right time to ask. She waits until they pull back from each other again. "So now what do we do?"

Jack takes a deep breath and lets it out, trying to get his rattled thoughts in order. "We need to get your half of the equations to the Hub in our time."

[slayers_desire]

"How are you going to do that?"

[fractured_agent]

"That's what we need to figure out," Jack says. "Tosh, how much battery life do you have on your laptop?"

"Not much, I was going to charge it back at the Hub," Tosh answers. "We need to get the equations written down on paper before it goes completely."

Jack nods. "Okay. First order of business is finding a safe spot to do that in." He looks over at April and raises an eyebrow. "Can you find us someplace we won't be walked in on?"

[slayers_desire]

"Sure thing..." April projects her senses to find them a safe place, where they can have a moment to themselves.

[fractured_agent]

Much of the dance hall is in use at the moment, as the place is packed with people. There is one oasis of calm on the ground floor, tucked underneath the dance floor - an office of some sort, steeped with the same darkness that April sensed in the elderly man who held the door for them.

[slayers_desire]

"There is an office on the ground floor... but it belongs to that elderly man, and it has the same darkness that he had."

[fractured_agent]

Tosh is starting to pick up on the fact that April's powers extend far beyond telepathy, although for now she doesn't know just how far. "Is it dangerous?"

"Whatever darkness is down there seems pretty passive, so it's probably not as risky as letting anyone else see a laptop computer,' Jack says.

[slayers_desire]

"Darkness is always dangerous. But Jack is right, it is an oasis of calm, surrounded by the noisy celebration all around us..."

"I could go in first... to ensure he is not in the office."