Entry tags:

captain jack harkness, fragment, martha jones, nick fury, paradox 2, tenth doctor

Fragment- Paradox II
Just posting to find later. Playing around with the ending to Paradox II to get it to line up with the ending of "Last of the Time Lords". (Not that I've figured out the rest of the story yet, but now I know where to go when I do, lol.)

---

Colonel Nicholas Fury stood in the middle of the Helicarrier’s control center like a rock in a river, agents flowing around him, the currents shifting with each new bit of information that came through. Fury watched the screens flip through shots from the Valiant, the White House, Camp David, and the U.N. council room. He listened to the chatter between S.H.I.E.L.D. and U.N.I.T. and felt a touch of sympathy for General Lethbridge-Stewart for having this mess dumped into his lap, though he was relieved he didn’t have to pick up the pieces this time.

Been there, done that, Fury thought with a rueful smile.

“Colonel Fury!” The shout pushed Fury into motion and he strode to communications to look at the live feed that was coming through.

“Sir!” The agent on the feed snapped to attention as Fury leaned forward. “We have one of the terrorist suspects!”

Fury resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Which one of the thousands of terrorist suspects that we’re looking for do you have?”

The image swung around and refocused on a man in blood stained clothes sitting calmly at a table while three guns were pointed at his head.

“Captain Jack Harkness, Sir!”

“On my way.”

---

Fury stopped just outside the room Jack was being held in and glanced inside. Jack was still in the same position as before though the agents had backed up and given him a little space. He looked a little worse for wear in his blood-covered tee shirt and slashed jeans, and Fury thought the clothing looked oddly out of place on him. There were no visible wounds but Jack was radiating a sense of exhaustion that lined up with all the damage his clothing was showing.

“Where did you find him?”

The agent pulled out a data pad and called up a map of the dock area, clicking it over to a satellite view of a warehouse as he said, “We picked up a spike of radiation in this building and went in to investigate. We found the suspect lying unconscious in an office on the west side of the building.”

Fury glanced into the room as he asked, “Unconscious? He wasn’t dead?”

The agent looked uncomfortable. “Well, we assumed he was dead when we found him. The radiation levels concentrated in this one spot were well above lethal doses, but by the time we arrived there was no trace of the radiation we had picked up. We did have a little trouble at first finding his pulse but he regained conscious while we were examining him.”

“Were you able to determine what type of radiation it was?”

“No sir, sorry; by the time we tried to analyze it there wasn‘t enough to left to determine that.”

Fury frowned, but was hardly surprised by the answer. “Good work. I’ll take it from here. You’re dismissed.”

“But…” It was clear that the agent was struggling not to argue with his orders, and Fury felt a little pride when the kid took a deep breath and said, “Sir, he could be dangerous, I can’t…”

“That wasn‘t a suggestion. You and your men are dismissed.”

The agent, obviously knowing better than to push his luck, ordered the others out. Waiting until they were gone, Fury stepped into the room.

Jack looked up and gave Fury a weary, relieved smile. “Nick.”

“Jack.” Fury sat down opposite Jack and asked, “What happened?”

Jack leaned back, and Fury wondered what had made the hole at the center of the huge spot of blood on one side of his shirt. “I need to know what’s going on first.”

“President’s dead, England‘s dealing with a political nightmare, you were shot by the Master and Miss Jones used your wristband to go wherever the hell she went five hours ago. Currently there’s no sign of the Master, the Doctor, Miss Jones, or the Toclafane.”

Closing his eyes, Jack nodded, then told Fury everything.

---

Jack stared out the window of Nick’s apartment, the city of New York a glittering blanket before him. He felt safe here, not surprising considering Nick’s position as head of S.H.I.E.L.D., but Jack knew it was more than that. Nick had given him the space he needed, had not asked anything of him, had known what Jack needed and had given it without question, and Jack knew the old soldier understood exactly what it was he was going through.

However, it was time for him to leave. New York was not the place for him, it was too chaotic, too energetic, it wasn‘t what he needed, it was the team that he had left behind that he needed now. An amused smile twitched his lips; like his life in Cardiff would be any less chaotic than a life here would be. There was something he had to do before he could leave though.

The smile slipped away as he turned his head slightly, his gaze drifting past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as memories of the day he’d discovered he could not die after being shot on that little island more than a century ago flashing through his mind, to the glow of the New Jersey shoreline. He stared at it, then said, “Mind if I borrow your cell, Nick?”

He watched Nick’s reflection in the window as he held out the cell. “Number five,” Nick said, “it‘s his cell phone number.”

Jack smiled and scrolled down to House’s number. He held the cell to his ear and waited for House to pick up, a knot slowly tightening around his chest as he tried to figure out what to say.

“Hello?”

Jack couldn’t breathe as he listened to James repeat, “Hello?”

There was a sound in the background then House demanded, “Who is it?”

“Uh, someone named Fury.”

“Don’t know em, hang up.”

“But.”

There was an exasperated noise from House, and then the line clicked off. He looked down at the cell before handing it back to Nick.

Nick pocketed the cell and walked away. “I’ll drop you off.”

Jack nodded. “I’ll get my things.”

---

Martha watched the Doctor stare at the screen showing Ronald Dahl Plass, as they waited for Jack to return. It had been a month since time had reset, a month of answering questions and trying to help her family settle back into a normal life. Her parents had decided to move to New York to be closer to Leo and the grandkids and Tish was still trying to figure out what she was going to do. Martha was still trying to figure that out herself.

She stood up and joined the Doctor, looking down at the screen just as a red car of a make she didn’t recognize stop at on end of the Plass. A figure stepped out, and Martha sensed the Doctor stiffen as she recognized Jack. Jack leaned down and spoke to the figure sitting inside. He then straightened and the car drove away.

They stood staring at the screen a moment, then the Doctor grabbed his coat and ran out the door, Martha fast on his heels.

Jack hadn’t made it very far when the Doctor yelled, “Jack!”

Jack twisted around, a look of delight on his face as Martha ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. She laughed as Jack picked her up and swung her around before setting her down on her feet. He chuckled, his eyes sparkling as he said, “Savior of the world.”

She giggled, “Yep, that’s me.”

He gave her a genuine smile then shifted his gaze past her. She stepped out of the way and glanced back at the Doctor. There was a stricken look on his face as he stared at Jack.

“I’m so sorry.”

Jack shook his head. “It’s all right.”

“No, it’s…”

“No, really, it’s all right.” A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. “I had a long talk with your eighth self, he explained quite a bit.”

“I don’t remember that,” the Doctor said softly.

Jack seemed amused. “Well it was a paradox, wouldn‘t expect you to.”

“Jack.” The Doctor took another step forward, then suddenly wrapped his arms around Jack, burying his face against Jack’s shoulder. Jack looked surprised as he tentatively returned the hug.

There was a soft sound from the Doctor, then he sobbed into Jack’s coat. A tender look crossed Jack’s face as he closed his eyes and tightened his hold, rubbing the Doctor’s back, slowly swaying as he held the Doctor.