fandomtownies | Sea caves: Wee Hours of Sunday Morning

Sea caves: Wee Hours of Sunday Morning

Jack - the older one, Captain Jack - sat on the floor of the cave, staring at himself. His younger self had barely moved and he couldn't touch him; all he could do was wait.

There must be someone on this island that would come and get him, even if Jack, in his drug addled state, hadn't thought there was. And if not, he'd take him back to the Hub. Gwen wouldn't report him, and she'd be able to treat his injuries without creating a paradox that would make one - or both - of them disappear.

[ooc: may contain very very minor spoilers for the season finales of the last two seasons of Doctor Who, and rumours and wild speculation regarding Torchwood.]

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Sam shot Parker a look, trying to ask what was going on and also making sure that the other girl stayed out of the line of fire. "You can't have him."

Parker takes a step back, seething, and watching the guy poke at his nose. "There can't be too many faces like that running around the galaxy. I'm assuming this is Jack's long-gone and never-missed biological parent. And that somehow he's in this Torchwood mess." She glared at him. "I'd punch you just for existing, never mind Jack getting hurt."

The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself, but he had to say something. "Parker." It came out strangled, and he tried again. "Parker. He's not my parent. He's me. Just a lot older." Leaning back against Isabel, he muttered, "And way more annoying."

"Oh, don't bet on that, Harkness," Sam took a second to glare at him, then turned back to the older man. "If you're Jack Harkness, prove it."

"Sam." Jack winced, wondering if she was ever going to forgive him. He managed to push to his feet, one hand resting on Isabel's shoulder. "Look at him, will you? He's me."

Cedric doesn't say anything immediately but he does look from one the younger Jack's face to the older Jack's.

And he remembers he woke up alone and he could've helped. But he didn't know.

After a long pause, he says, "They look the same. It might be the truth."

Parker stared at the guy a moment, then closed her eyes and rubbed her knuckles. "Okay. You. Older Jack Guy. What. The. Hell. How did he get hurt, what are you doing here, why didn't you bring him to the dorms, and most importantly... what?" Parker flailed at him, seething. "Just, what?"

"Parker. Calm down. Please." He crouched down, deliberately trying to lower the threat level and smiled young Jack's smile at her, had he but known it. "It's really simple. Sort of. Two very stupid people threatened him to get me here. So here I am."

"I can't touch him, because if I do, he could go poof and disappear. Or I could. So I couldn't bring him to you, you had to come and get him. And he was drugged, which is why he's about to fall on his ass again."

"How long have you been here?" Sam asked, finally beginning to believe this half-assed explanation. Not that she lowered her weapon, although she was tempted to use it on the third stupid person who hadn't called anyone.

"Has entropic cascade failure begun to set in, or are you just worried about setting off the Blinovitch effect? How are you not making a huge paradox just by being here, by the way?"

His eyes lit up, and he turned towards Sam, sitting down and making himself comfortable. "Only about three, four hours. Blinovitch effect. And I'm not creating a paradox, because as far as we can figure it, I'm immune from changes in my time line. There was an incident," and he snorted at the understatement, "that kind of excised me from the past. Whatever he does, doesn't change me."

Cedric has no idea what they're talking about, if he's honest, he probably doesn't want to know.

He finally lets his wand fall lax at his side and he glares at Jack before glaring again at Captain Jack. Really, it's all he's got.

Jack winced and looked at the ground, before letting his legs fold under him, leaning back against Izzy while she started wiping the abrasions on his wrists with something that stung.

He was just starting to realise how badly he'd screwed this up.

After glaring for a moment, his eyes settle back on Jack and Jack's injuries and his fingers tighten around the wand. Isabel has him and he's awake and he's not dead.

It's a relief. Just this morning he'd been floating and happy and now...

"We should leave soon." He wants Jack safe and somewhere not here.

"Yeah, me too." Gwen was going to notice her ship was missing if he didn't get it back before her shift. Hauling himself to his feet, he stretched and grinned at everyone. "He knows more than me about what happened, so if you've got any questions, ask him."

"Nice try," Sam said, taking a few steps closer, hands clasped behind her back, but didn't get within Captain Jack's striking distance. "But he doesn't know why you're doing this. Since I don't believe it's purely out of the goodness of your heart, I want to know why, and I want to know that you'll never again put Jack's life in jeopardy because of some stupid stunt."

She glared over her shoulder at Jack. "Not that he doesn't do that enough on his own."

His eyes narrowed, but he flashed her a smile. "It wasn't me that put his life in danger, he managed that all on his own. And I get the feeling I'm not the only one who thinks so." His gaze swept them all before returning to Sam. "I didn't have to come. Nothing would have happened to me if they'd killed him. So, yeah, goodness of my heart pretty much sums it up."

"Bullshit," Sam shot back. "Who are they and will they be back?"

"They were what was left of an alien slaver ring that the people I work for took out. And they won't be coming back." He bared his teeth at her, and it was barely a smile. "This is nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. And I'll be taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"You'd better. I don't care if you are Jack Harkness. If they show up and endanger this Jack--our Jack--again, I will be more than happy to take care of this problem at its root." Sam said, assuming the older Harkness would catch her implication.

A slow smile spread across his face and he relaxed completely. "I can live with that." Stepping closer to her, he leaned forward and said quietly, "Thank you."

That surprised Sam. "For what?"

"For watching out for him." He hesitated, then added, "I remember what it was like when I was his age, so go easy on him. He didn't mean to be an idiot."

"Sure he did." Sam snorted, for once truly believing that this was an older version of Jack standing in front of her. "Nice try. He should have said something."

"Yeah, he should have. He was stupid." Looking over, he watched the blonde girl fuss over his younger self, watched the way he was leaning into her, and his lips twisted into a half smile. "But still, go easy. This is all new to him."

"About that." Parker stepped a little closer, but made sure Sam still had a clear shot, and the Cedric could still hit him with a spell, if necessary. "He's not exactly you. And you're not exactly him. I get that. But..." She narrowed her eyes, studying him. "You knew all about him. You came to the rescue. Am I as far off as I was before, if I guess that you brought him back here, three months ago?"

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