Antar, six months after Fandom

[izzyalienqueen]

Isabel stumbled as the ground shifted under her feet. Michael looked back at her, tilting his head in a way that she recognized as a question. Are you okay? She smiled tightly and nodded, not willing to do anything that would indicate she wasn't ready to be out on a mission like this so soon after they got her away from Kivar.

They continued on, the shaking of the ground becoming more pronounced as time passed. Then it didn't matter because they were under attack and all that was important was not getting hit.

A sharp cry of pain caught her attention and Isabel turned, immediately starting towards where Michael was lying on the ground. She'd taken two steps when the ground heaved once more and a light flashed. Stumbling, Isabel fell forward. And then it all went black.



The rift alarm grabbed everyone's attention immediately -- it 'd been incredibly quiet for weeks.

It didn't take long for Tosh to track the source, and pull up the CCTV.

When Jack saw the small heap of blonde girl curled limply on the ground, he hit the button, switching off the feed. "That's it. Everyone go home. You've got the night off."

It took five minutes of fast talking, and he had to physically push Ianto through the door, but they were finally all gone. "Right," he muttered. "Let's see what the hell you're doing coming through the rift."

She was easy to find, and he crouched next to her, studying her carefully. She was definitely out for the count, but when he brushed the hair off her face, she flinched.

He spent a long time staring down at her. This was his younger self's weak spot, his Achilles heel, and it was going to bite him one day. Already had, at least once. It would be incredibly easy to end that problem, here and now. But she stirred, turning towards him with a noise that was part whimper and part sigh, and the moment was gone in a flood of memories not his own.

"It's alright, Isabel," he said. "You're safe." Who knew if she could hear him, but when he carefully picked her up, she didn't flinch.

It didn't take long to get her back to the Hub. He set her on the couch, checked her for injuries and, finding nothing more serious than scrapes and bruises, draped a blanket over her.

Coffee, the latest printouts on the lack of rift activity, and a chair dragged over where he could see her, and he propped his feet on the couch and made himself comfortable. If she didn't wake up soon, he'd call Owen back, but if he could keep the others out of it, he'd be a happy Captain.



[NFB yadda, yadda, yadda...]

Comments

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Please," she nodded, looking over her shoulder at the instrument. "I would like that. A lot."

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

"It won't work right away." He flicked the switch and the device warmed in his hand. "And it might sting a bit," he warned, centering it over the tattoo.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"That's fine. I just want it gone."

Isabel's hands clenched because it did sting, but beyond that initial movement she stayed perfectly still, willing it to disappear.

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

He watched her carefully, studying the line of her back, wondering exactly what the mark represented. He had his suspicions, none of them good.

After several minutes, he flicked the device off. "That's all for now. You can get dressed."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, Isabel turned her head and peered over her shoulder, and then her face fell. The mark was faded from what it was, but still clearly visible. Without saying a word, she pulled the sweater back over her head and wrapped her arms around herself.

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

He closed his hand over her other shoulder, squeezing gently. "Here," he said, holding the device out to her, his younger self's memories goading him to break his own rules. "Take it. No more than five minutes every three or four days. It'll be gone in a couple of weeks. And I need it back when you're done."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She stared at it for a long minute before taking the device and setting it in her lap. "Thank you. And you will." Isabel fell silent for a moment more, studying the device. Finally she looked up.

"So has Parker turned up to drag you to lunch yet?" she asked, quirking her lips into something that could be called a smile only by the barest of margins. She wanted to ask about Jack, but wasn't ready to hear that he'd permanently vanished into the Time Agency.

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

Random conversation as she attempted to distract herself wasn't a surprise, though the topic was. "Is she likely to?" he asked, gesturing towards the door. "And there's more comfortable places to put you."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"She was accepted into Oxford," Isabel explained, realizing as she did so that she might have actually made it back in time for Spring Break 2008. "She was planning on taking a trip here to see you and demand you take her to lunch. A Captain Jack is better then no Jack at all you know? It's what? August? September now? I'd start getting prepared to be harassed. Because I'm sure she'll turn up soon."

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

It stopped him in his tracks and he turned to face her. "When do you think it is?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel stopped before she walked into him and shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know for sure. Stuff happened and I lost track of time. But we were there just about six months or so. So sometime in late Summer? Or maybe early Fall?"

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

"Right." He shook his head as he led her back to his office, waiting until she was sitting on the couch again. "Isabel, you fell through a rift in space and time. It's March eighth. 2007."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She stared, slowly shaking her head and trying to do the math. "That means...it's been less then a week since I left Fandom. They'll still be there."

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

"Welcome to the wonders of time travel." He patted her knee. "We'll get you back, safe and sound, and yes, your friends will still be there."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Good. I missed them," Isabel said, smiling the smallest of smiles.

[torchwood-jack.livejournal.com]

He rested his hand on top of her head. "Right, you stay here, I'll go see about getting you home."

He left her sitting on the couch and went to make some phone calls. He was going to have to call in some favours, one of them a big one, but he should be able to get her there with no fuss and no questions.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Her smile gone, Isabel rested her head against the back of the couch and wondered if it would be possible to just pretend she never left Fandom and that the time on Antar hadn't happened.