Final chapter! And I got an A- for my English essay about writing so yay for me. Next story has a very, very vague plotline and no title so it may be a week or more until you actually get to read it.
To go with my trend of listening to very depressing songs while I write the song for this chapter is Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars. I don't know why it's sad, the lyrics aren't but it is so sad.
To finish off, John is in mortal danger, Jess has some thinking to do very, very quickly, and the two of them have a heart-to-heart. Also one of longest conversations I've ever written. Enjoy, guys.
This chapter is dedicated to spncsifreak for the longest review I've ever received and making me smile after a very long school day. After a suggestion in said review, I'm calling for ideas as to what I should call this series. Something crazy but not completely unconnected.
Disclaimer: cold vegetable stir-fry. Yum. (I really shouldn't drink coffee this late at night.)
Forgiving, Forgetting
Jess snapped back to the real world with the rift still blazing inside her skull and a heavy feeling in her stomach. She didn't understand the rift, but she did trust it. Something was very, very wrong. As that thought was formed, her phone rang, making her jump.
"Hello?"
"Jess! Thank god. We need your help."
"Ianto, you're not making sense, what's happened?"
"We were going after this alien, and it killed Jack and attacked John." Of course. "We seriously need you, he's really badly hurt."
"Where are you?"
He gave her the location. "Listen, we heard about what happened. Are you going to be OK to…"
"Ianto, I'm not going to leave someone injured over a personal fight. Let me sort that out, OK? I'll be a couple of minutes, try and keep John talking so he doesn't pass out."
………………
Jess pulled up in her car, and headed over to where Gwen and Ianto were both crouched next to John.
"You got hurt again? Need I point out you should be more careful?"
"It made you talk to me again, though."
His voice was strained and Jess could tell it was bad. She cut her eyes to Ianto and Gwen who moved off a little to give them some privacy.
"We can talk about it later. Right now we have other concerns." The hidden meaning was there: they might not get a later to talk about it in.
"How bad is it?"
"Bad. Too bad." Jess sighed. The wounds from the creature were too deep and too close to vital organs. Then she had a brainwave. "Nanogenes."
"Where are you going to get Nanogenes from? I did have some, but they've been too damaged to work any more."
"Ianto!"
"What is it?"
"Has there ever been anything archived at Torchwood as Nanogenes?"
"Yes, two years ago a canister fell through. Jack said we shouldn't open them."
"Go to Torchwood, get that canister. We need it."
Ianto nodded and ran to the SUV, taking Gwen with him. Jess looked around her at a dead Jack, the carcass of the creature, and the ground soaked with blood.
"Why did you come to help?"
It was asked so outright that the question took Jess by surprise.
"I don't know. I really hated you, but a few hours with… a few hours later and I just don't any more."
"With?"
"Later. Explanations later. Anyway, I couldn't not come. I can't let someone die because I have a personal issue to deal with."
"Thank you. And I am sorry. But I had to. Rules of space and time. There's no getting around it."
"I know. I understand a little more now."
There was an engine sound getting closer. "They're nearly here. What do I do with the Nanogenes?"
"Take the card from my wrist strap. The container has like a swipecard reader. Put it through there, wait for the light to change and then open the container and stand back." His breathing was laboured now and Jess felt scared for the first time. He'd told her when they were waiting for the rift predictor to get them out that Nanogenes could fix anything, but it seemed like too much. Too far gone. As the SUV pulled up his eyes closed. Jess took the card and followed his instructions, praying that it wasn't too late.
………………
'Later' turned out to mean a week later when Jess was taking a break from working outside the hub, looking out over the bay. She hadn't exactly been avoiding John, but she'd made no effort to bring up the subject with him. Well, it wasn't exactly something that you could just drop into a conversation. But as she was leaning on the railing he came and leant next to her.
"So. Explanations later."
"Yeah."
"Thanks for the quick thinking on the Nanogenes, by the way."
"Bet you're glad you mentioned them."
"I'm sorry. For what happened."
"I was angry at you. I hated you. But now I understand why you had to do it. She's happier now."
"What do you mean?"
"The greatest philosophical question. What happens after we die. I have an answer for it now. Elisa came back to me. The rift is like a being composed of energy. When we die we turn back into the energy that we came from. Sustained in the rift forever; isn't that wonderful?"
"Jess. That doesn't happen. She's gone. People don't come back."
"But they do. It's the rift. I know you don't believe me but can you honestly tell me in categorically isn't true?"
"Well, no, but isn't it possible you're just hoping for something that can't happen?"
"You want proof? Right after my daughter left I saw you, bleeding. Then Ianto called me and when I found you it was exactly like I saw it."
That made him think. "So the rift can show you the future?"
"Only the near future, I think. And the dead."
"Fine."
"What?"
"I believe you. But don't tell the others. It's too soon after they lost their team mates."
"Yeah. I don't think I can do anything with this though. I can't control it, and reasoning with the rift is like reasoning with a brick wall. I can feel it listening but it just sort of is, and doesn't do anything."
"Maybe it's shy."
"A dimensionally transcendental space-time rift is shy? You have a very strange mind."
"Says the person with said dimensionally transcendental rift in her head."
"Point taken, but I doubt shy is its problem. More likely it's just being awkward."
"And you call me strange."
"Yes I do. Are we done stating the obvious?"
There was a thoughtful pause, and then John asked in an uncharacteristically soft voice, "Are you okay?"
"I didn't think I would be, but I am. You know the five stages of grief? Something, something, something, something else and acceptance?"
"Something like that, yeah."
"It's taken me seven years, but I think I finally got there. I am officially a well-balanced individual now."
"Okay, firstly; being well-balanced is so boring, I tried it once and vowed never to be it again, and secondly; you work for a secret organisation catching aliens. You really think that qualifies as well-balanced?"
"I was thinking relatively."
"I'm going back in now; it's freezing out here. You coming?"
"In a minute."
She listened to his footstep fade away. And for the first time in seven years, she smiled and truly meant it.
What can I say? I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Now, everyone run off and click that review button. Not forgetting series title suggestions.