first_in_time | Zagreus Sits Inside Your Head (for Splendid

Barbara looked out at the view as Ian put the last of their things in the car. From the front door of the little Bed and Breakfast, she could see beautiful rolling hills for miles. The last of the morning was being chased away as the sun rose higher in the sky, thawing everything out. Even the cows seemed more active on one particular hill.

"I wish we could stay for a little longer," she sighed to Ian, turning her back on it all so that it might be easier to leave. Her arms folded, one hand still held on to the key they were yet to return. "I don't suppose your car has a secret time traveling device so we can spend an extra few weeks here?"

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From:

first_in_time

Jack chuckled at Ian's embarrassment and sipped at his tea again. He missed the future where sex wasn't such an intimidating, secretive thing. One day he'd get back there, even if he had to live through the prude times before hand.

"Ian?" Jack said as he walked toward the phone, "your crown jewels are showing." He nodded at the small gap in Ian's dressing gown, and tried not to grin.

From:

splendid_roman

Ian clutched at the dressing gown, holding it closed, and whirled on Jack. "How do you know my name?" Although after he asked he realised that the man'd had plenty of time to go through their things. His name would be on the post, if nowhere else.

"Who are you and what do you want?" He advanced on the stranger, angry and hoping to make him feel threatened.

From:

first_in_time

Jack calmly sipped at his tea, Ian's intimidation having no affect on him what so ever. His eyes didn't waver from Ian's, and his stance stayed just as relaxed as when he was first found.

"Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood," he replied after taking his time to swallow the tea in his mouth and have a second sip. "I know your name, Ian Chesterton because I know the Doctor and we need to discuss exactly what happened between you and your wife this afternoon."

From:

splendid_roman

That gave him pause and he stopped in his tracks. He still wanted to know how Captain Harkness had got in the flat and why he'd been drinking their tea while they were in the bedroom. But mention of the Doctor made that more important. "How do you know about that?"

From:

first_in_time

"Because it's what Torchwood specialises in," he said and poured the remaining tea into the sink, pulling a face. "God, I can't wait for real coffee machines to be available in people's homes."

From:

splendid_roman

"No one asked you to drink our tea," he said coldly. Whoever this man was, Ian was unimpressed. "I'm going to get dressed, then we can talk about this afternoon. Don't touch anything while I'm gone." He spoke to the Captain as if he was a naughty schoolboy. Then he went back to the bedroom to find Barbara and some clothes.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara was already dressed and hiding behind the bedroom door. She had a slat from under the bed ready for any kind of on coming attack. When Ian appeared, she let the piece of wood down.

"What happened?"

From:

splendid_roman

"He says he knows the Doctor and he's come to talk to us about this afternoon." Deciding some clean clothes would be best, Ian opened a few drawers and then started getting dressed. He didn't tell Barbara that Harkness had been listening to them - it was probably better for her not to know.

"He wouldn't tell me how he got in or why he couldn't just knock on the door like anyone else."

From:

first_in_time

"Why would anyone want to talk to us about this afternoon?" she asked, following him around the room so that she could keep her voice down.

From:

splendid_roman

"He said he was Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood and they specialise in that sort of thing." He turned to look at her while he buttoned his shirt. "Maybe it was all their fault and we breathed in some hallucinatory gas or something."

From:

first_in_time

"Torchwood...I've never heard of it before. Have you?" She fixed up the buttons he had skipped.

From:

splendid_roman

He shook his head and stood still while she finished with his buttons. "I don't know what he's trying to pull, but he must know something. I think it's worth talking to him to see what he does know."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara sighed a little, now that she was quite a bit more at ease. "Yes, I think we should. I'd also like to know why he's in your - our - home."

From:

splendid_roman

"Let's see what he has to say for himself." He took Barbara's hand so they could face Harkness together.

He wasn't in the kitchen any more. They found him in the lounge, sprawled out in the middle of the sofa eating a biscuit. He looked up when they entered. "These are going stale," he complained, although it didn't stop him from finishing the biscuit.

From:

first_in_time

"No one has been here for a week," Barbara retorted while not quite meeting the stranger's eye. Subconsciously she tried to cover her self with her unoccupied arm.

"I heard," Jack replied through a mouthful of biscuit, "but I'm only here about the last few hours. As I understand it, you were coming back from some romantic weekend away and stopped by the side of the road?"

From:

splendid_roman

Ian shifted a little closer to Barbara. Harkness still didn't seem intimidated - in fact he looked perfectly at home.

"Yes," Ian said, keen to get this over and get rid of him. "And then we ended up in somewhere like Wonderland."

"That's odd." Harkness took a notebook and pen out of his pocket and made some notes. "So you didn't see the Doctor?"

From:

first_in_time

"Why would we see the Doctor?" Barbara asked, "we're still not entirely sure what it was that we saw other than it looked like something out of a Lewis Carrol novel."

Jack muttered "damnit!" under his breath, the first time he truly looked anything but completely calm and at ease. "You sure there was nothing...Doctor-y about the whole thing? TARDIS walls, random rooms, that fuzzy feeling you get at the back of your head when the TARDIS is in flight?"

From:

splendid_roman

Harkness must be telling the truth about knowing the Doctor if he knew about that feeling in your head. Ian wasn't quite sure how much he wanted to tell him, though.

"We only saw one room and that was the library." It had looked like the TARDIS library, but hadn't behaved like it.

"Was it the library on the TARDIS?" Jack asked, sounding eager to know the answer.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara hesitated. "It...could have been?" but she wasn't too sure. It was difficult to tell when her head was hitting the ceiling and she couldn't hear her husband.

From:

splendid_roman

"It was the sort of oddness you get with the Doctor," Ian added, but Jack didn't look any less disappointed with their answers.

"The Doctor's not the only alien who's ever visited Earth," Jack said.

From:

first_in_time

"We know," Barbara replied. "We saw the Daleks visit Earth in the year 2050."

Jack just glanced at her before ruling off a section of his notebook. "So I'm going to need a statement for our records."

"Whose records? And how do you know so much about the Doctor?" she interrupted. Jack barely so much as glanced at her.

"If you could tell me in as much detail as possible exactly what happened, I can be on my way and leave the two of you to your previous activities."

From:

splendid_roman

Ian blushed at that and let go of Barbara's hand. "We don't feel like giving a statement to someone who breaks into our flat and won't tell us anything." He folded his arms.

"I told you, I'm from Torchwood." Jack kept his pen poised over his notebook, as if they were about to give a statement.

"And we've never heard of Torchwood." Ian glared at Jack.

From:

first_in_time

"I'm not leaving until I have a statement," Jack said and sat on the arm of Ian's sofa. He had retreated back to his casual self, as though annoying people relaxed him.

Barbara huffed and put her hands upon her hips. "We had a flat tyre, I saw something in the forest, we followed it and ended up in some strange place, then found our way back to the car. That's all we're giving you. Now I think you need to leave."

From:

splendid_roman

Jack shook his head. "Why should I do that?"

"Because you can either leave on your own or I'll throw you out." Ian took a step toward Jack. He'd be happy to let Jack stay when it looked like he was going to be able to tell them what happened, but he either didn't know or was not going to say. In which case there was no use him being here any longer.