THE VANISHING ACT

[CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS]

It was amazing, the things that Jack Harkness now considered normal and everyday. Things like a glove that resurrects the dead being slipped onto Suzie's hand, for example, the metal fingers bending. Or things like an alien body laying out on Owen's examining table, its chest cut open and its almost human-like ribs sawed into and pulled open, revealing oozing and stinking entrails. Things like government databases that were supposed to be restricted scattered on Tosh's multiple monitors and accessed within seconds of him asking. Things like the way Ianto's ass looked in those trousers. All of these things were so extraordinary, or would be if Jack hadn't been a Torchwood employee for... a very long number of years. Now he took those things for granted; all except maybe Ianto's backside, which Jack examined very carefully when the younger man was carrying away an empty tray after delivering each team member his or her coffee.

The day was winding down and the team was cleaning up from the day of hard work. As usual, one of the Weevils had come up from the sewer and started to wreak havoc in the streets of Cardiff, and this one had been particularly evasive. It had taken them a better part of the day to track the thing down, and in order to stop it killing again, Jack had been forced to dispatch it. He wasn't broken up about it; for every one Weevil on the surface there had to be a couple dozen beneath the ground, unbeknownst to most of the population of Cardiff. And that alien body was now ripped open and under the bright lights and gloved hands of Dr. Harper. The physician cleaned up, and the second-in-command gingerly put her resurrection glove back into its case while the technician shut down her numerous computers. And their fearless leader? He was up in his office, grimacing at the button-down shirt he held in his hands that was more or less ruined by Weevil blood. No one bothered him; they all simply slipped out, disappearing to their own homes. Jack's home was Torchwood.

One employee of Torchwood Three did remain behind with Jack, though, at least for a little while. Ianto eventually came upstairs and tugged the ruined shirt from Jack's grip, offering the Captain a simple, 'I'll get you a new one,' before turning and walking away, letting Jack have that wonderful view again. Ianto said a quick goodnight, then was gone with the rest.

Jack rubbed his face with his hands, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a low sigh. It took a lot to make the Captain tired, but tired he was, and the bed that he had hidden away not far from his office was calling out to him in a very, very appealing manner. But before he could allow himself to sink into that well-deserved sleep, he had to do something about just how disgusting he was at the moment. He had been running around all day, had eventually shot a gun and been splattered with extra-terrestrial blood. Yes, something had to be done about this. It was a short walk to the convenient shower stalls hidden within the labyrinth that was Torchwood Three, and Jack was used to the trip. He didn't go home to a comfortable flat somewhere away from all of this, no. He housed himself within these many walls. Which was part of the reason why he had absolutely no problem stripping down and walking barefoot, with only a towel modestly covering his more private parts. Although if someone walked in he wouldn't be able to promise that towel would stay on and protect his modesty.

Captain Harkness took his time in the shower, scrubbing himself down quite well and making sure that every part of his seemingly ageless body was in near perfect shape before stepping out and drying himself off. He didn't bother dressing right away; he deserved the comfort of walking around freely, he though, and by now he figured none of his employees would even be surprised by what he was doing if one of them decided to show up. Now back in his office, bare feet squishing into the carpet underfoot and wet hair falling into his face, Jack reached out and picked up his infamous jacket, examining it closely for any trace of blood. Not a second into that examination and he yawned, closing his eyes tightly - and even before he opened his eyes again he knew something was different. Perhaps it was the fact that the surface beneath his bare feet was now hard and warm, or perhaps it was the hum of voices that abruptly stopped a moment later. Or maybe he just had some sort of sixth sense.

He was not expecting the scene in front of him when he came out of his yawn. He found himself standing on top of what he immediately recognized as a bar, inside what was more than likely a pub. Around him were people and creatures he had never seen... and they were seeing much more of him than he probably would have liked to display. Both of his hands dropped to his side, his jacket still clutched in one fist, and he let his gaze travel from face to shocked face, using his free hand to then hitch up the towel that was riding dangerously low.

"So," he announced, apparently unruffled, although his mind was moving very, very quickly. He shifted his weight to one foot, turning his hip and tilting his head to the side slightly."Who wants to buy me a drink?"

[claire]

Having left the gardens a little while back, Claire had wandered off into the town alone. The man she had met in the gardens was nice, but of no real help to her. And she was of no real help to him. What they needed to do was find a local person, assuming there were local people, to tell her where she was. Deciding that the most likely way to come across people was to go into the town she followed one of the shoddy paths towards the town’s center.

The weather was mild here, wherever here was, and Claire wasn’t sure if she wanted to put on her sweatpants or not. She held on to them, just as she had been when she had been taken, or sent to, or whatever had gotten her to this place, and was now wearing just a light jacket over her Costa Verde cheerleading uniform. At least her shoes were practical, she thought to herself as she walked through the wooded area on the outskirts of what appeared to be a rustic, almost old-westerny sort of town. As far as she had seen there was no sign of electricity, no advanced technology at all. No cars. No macadam or pavement. Everything was cobblestone or dirt paths! She could only imagine what a disaster it would’ve been had she been snatched up wearing a jean skirt and heels. The white sneakers they used for practice were the best she could’ve asked for, a small fact she kept reminding herself about over and over as she stomped through fallen tree limbs and stepped over animal droppings. Yuck.

Claire followed the edge of the tree line until she was right outside the town itself. After encountering another equally confused and helpless person she had made it her new mission to find a native, assuming there were any. If someone lived here then maybe they knew what was going on, why she was here. Hell, if the could tell her where she was she would be grateful. If there was a phone, that would be perfect. If she could call Peter, he could come and find her, he could just teleport her away from here. All of her problems would be solved.

That’s when the noise reached her ears. Voices. Loud voices, exaggerated voices. She came around the side of the building the voices were coming from to see a wooden sign swinging gentle in the wind. There was a butterfly burned onto it. She walked up to the window and took a cautionary glance inside to see where the ruckus was coming from, and was greeted with a welcoming sight. It was a bar!

Claire pushed open the front door and stepped inside, forgetting all of her previous inhibitions about being in this strange place. These were just normal people sharing drinks, well, most of them. Some of them were less human and more like… creatures for lack of a better word. She wasn’t about to question things at this point of her day. As a matter of fact Claire was almost willing to write all of this off as a dream. She didn’t even care that she was underage as she walked up to the bar and took a seat on one of the empty stools.

Claire spent the majority of an hour talking to the people who were there. Some of them weren’t very helpful, but others gave her some insight into the town she was currently occupying. For starters, there was no money. Things were just… done. No one seemed to know why they were there, either, but none of that mattered to her after she had her first couple of drinks in her. Claire had snuck some alcohol at parties before, she was a cheerleader, after all, though her with her father being so strict all of the time she had never actually gotten drunk.

She wasn’t drunk yet, which was weird. She had so many drinks in her, but she felt like she had been drinking juice cups this whole time. She didn’t know what anything was called but the bartender seemed to have a good idea as to what she would like. He hadn’t been wrong yet, at least. Claire was just about to give up and go back to investigating the town when out of no where there was a man on the bar. A naked man. Well, not fully naked, but only wearing a towel. She blinked a few times to make sure that she wasn’t hallucinating; she hadn’t had enough drinks for that. No, there really was a mostly naked man who had suddenly appeared on the bar.

Unlike herself when she had first arrived here, though, he didn’t seem put off in the least bit. As a matter of fact, he seemed like one of the most confident people Claire had ever seen, and he was standing in the middle of a bar in a towel. That certainly said something about his character. “I’d buy you a drink if there was money here,” Claire found herself offering, staring up at the man while trying to avert her gaze from places she ought not be looking. Even in her slightly inebriated state she could put two and two together - he was probably sent here just like her. She’d take any allies she could get at this point! A slight blush came to her cheeks (in addition to the slight blush from the alcohol) at the realization that she was talking to a naked man in a bar. Or on a bar, rather. “Just ask and they’ll give you one,” she said, hoping to keep his attention.

[CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS]

Not nearly enough people had jumped at the chance to get Jack a drink, he quickly decided. Usually he had men and women throwing themselves at him from every direction, so many that he could hardly keep count. But after that initial moment of silence the few seconds after the near-naked man had appeared out of nowhere, when everyone had paused to look up at him (a few of them slowly shaking their heads in his direction), everything seemed to have gone back to normal. A slight frown appeared on the Captain’s face and he had half a mind to just let his towel drop and let everyone know just what they were missing, but he had a little more dignity than that. Only a very, very small amount more. There was one person who reacted, though, and actually kept her eyes on him. Jack looked down at the blonde as she spoke, and somehow managed a somewhat charming smile.

But that smile became much more genuine as he absorbed what she had informed him of. “So you’re saying,” he started slowly, a dreamy kind of look on his face. “That the drinks here… are free?” He paused, looked thoughtful, hitched up his towel again. "Let me break this down so I can better understand it. People hardly react when there's a naked man making a spectacle of himself on top of the bar. There are cute little blondes running around that have no qualms engaging said naked man." He glanced at the girl with a playful, sideways grin. "And this naked man can get himself free drinks just by asking for them." Both hands now on his hips, he looked around, the earlier thoughtfulness being replaced with yet another smile. "I don't know where I am," he said. "But I can already tell I'll like it here."

As loathe as he was to clothe himself in such an apparently free environment, he quickly decided that he didn't want to bring anymore attention to himself, at least not until he knew exactly where he was. So he slipped his coat on and buttoned it up, but not before securing the towel around his waist. He then leaned down and put his hand on top of the bar, using that to brace himself as he jumped off. The Captain very fluidly slid into the seat next to blondie, figuring she should be the first stop in his informational journey. Before he could ask his initial question, though, the bartender interrupted with a somewhat gruff, 'What can I get you?' Jack glanced at the man, who looked somewhat severe, and answered that he'd like a glass of scotch before turning back to the girl... who was wearing a cheerleading uniform. Really? A cheerleader? And we all know Jack's mind went right there.

He reached out and took her hand, lifting it to his lips and gently kissing the back of it. "Captain Jack Harkness," he said, introducing himself. Figured it might be nice for him to let the girl know exactly who he was before the third degree started. He didn't give her much of a chance to reply to his introduction, and instead launched right into the question that had been nagging him, letting go of her hand. "Where exactly am I?" he asked. "I can tell I'm not in Cardiff anymore, and glancing outside..." He leaned in his seat to look past the girl and out one of the windows at the front of the pub. "...I'm going to go ahead and assume that I'm in another world entirely. So." Jack paused to grab the drink that had been brought to him, and he quickly downed the glass, hardly even flinching. "Where am I?"

After saying it out loud, the fact that Jack was definitely not in Cardiff anymore sort of darkened his mood. He was up for an adventure every once in a while, that was for sure. And he had been to several different time and universes during his very long lifetime. But he had been stolen from the Torchwood base and put here without any warning or explanation, and he had no idea whether or not he'd be able to get back to the place where he'd been so comfortable for so long. And what if he missed the Doctor? What if that man showed up while Jack was stuck here on some unknown planet in some unknown universe without anything at all - no weapons, no technology, nothing - and Jack was left behind for the second time? What if he never got to see Ianto or Tosh or Owen or Suzie again? Part of Jack knew that loss was just part of his existence, because while he was immortal his friends were not. So he expected to lose them. But not so soon, not in this way, and that hurt him.

Although he didn't let it show. He didn't know what enemies might be around, waiting for him to reveal any sort of weakness. He wouldn't give them that advantage. So his smile remained and he took his next drink (his glass had been dutifully refilled by the bartender without his asking) slowly and calmly, his previous question's urgency somewhat dulled by the smile that brightened his face. Captain Jack, smiling even through the worst of things. "Now that I think of it," he added as the idea occurred to him. "You don't look like you belong here either. This doesn't seem like the place for organized sports, let along a cheerleading squad." He could be wrong, but he quickly figured that she had been taken from another world, too, and put here. But why? His brain whirred with all the questions he wished he could find answers to.

[claire]

Jack hadn’t been the only person to take notice of the lack of reaction amongst the patrons of the bar. Claire could only assume that the longer a person was in Terra the more used to people appearing out of thin air that person would become. Though she had been pretty shocked to see the naked man pop into existence before her very eyes, she had done the exact same thing less than twenty-four hours ago so it was far from unbelievable. It was enough to make her a little speechless, though, and she couldn’t be sure how much of that was the man’s sudden appearance or his nakedness. After all, Claire was just a sixteen year old girl when you got right down to the basics!

As the man remarked on the free drinks Claire actually laughed out loud. It was the first time she had done that all day and the noise caught her by surprise. It would figure that of all the people she would end up encountering it would be a lush with a sense of humor. The second the words ‘cute little blonde’ left his lips Claire could feel the blush rise in her cheeks. She had engaged him rather readily, hadn’t she? That was so unlike her, but after the weeks she had just been through and her trials today she supposed her mind just saw no point in being bashful anymore… or at least at that moment. The blush on her face spoke to the contrary.

Things only got worse for her uncontrollable hormonal reactions as the stranger moved with a grace she had only seen in dancers, gymnasts, and a few of her fellow cheerleaders (many of whom were both gymnasts and dancers) from the top of the bar to the stool next to her before picking up her hand from where it rested on the bar and kissed it. She wanted to be witty and say something like ‘just Claire’ or ‘no fancy titles here’, but before she could even think to say her name Captain Jack Harkness had sprung straight into a series of questions with barely any pause for a breath. She did, however, manage to keep herself from appearing visibly flustered despite the fact that Captain Jack Harkness was almost embarrassingly charming.

“Claire Bennet,” she replied first, knowing that if she didn’t remember to say her name right away she’d forget to introduce herself altogether. “I have no ‘exact’ information to give you, but plenty of vague ideas. The locals call this place Terra. No one seems to know why we’re here, but no one is surprised that we are,” she started, hoping to be of some help to Jack. The longer she could give him information, the longer she’d have a kind face to talk to. She wasn’t sure where the man she had met earlier had ended up at and who knew what sorts of people she would come across next. If the next guy who spoke to her was sent to harm here in some way, or if she was transported to another place the next time she blinked… well, the world was suddenly full of even more uncertainty than before so Claire wanted to make sure she was making the most of these moments she had right now. It didn’t hurt when they were with such an attractive and charming man, either.

Now that she thought about it, Captain Jack Harkness would be the perfect person to send after someone like Claire to get information and win her over. Good looking, suave, complementary… everything a sixteen year old girl would fall for in a hearbeat, which was even more impressive since hers had been a little faster than before ever since his appearance. No, she knew that there would be no point in second-guessing every stranger she met in Terra. She was more clueless than she would like to admit and knew that if she could find an ally or two along the way she would probably be able to use them in the future. If that meant showing a little unwarranted trust then that was what she would have to do.

“I don’t belong he-,” Claire started, but stopped mid-sentence. “I don’t come from here,” she corrected. With all she was experiencing recently about fate and destiny she was reluctant to say that she didn’t belong here. Maybe Terra was exactly where she belonged, and it had just taken her this long to make it here. “Cardiff… that’s in the UK somewhere, right?” Claire’s father had traveled all over the world and used to bring her stuffed bears from wherever he went. She remembered something about Cardiff once, though he hadn’t been there on business he had stopped on his way to somewhere, or from somewhere, or something like that. It was nice to know that he was from Earth, too. He had an American accent, though at the moment she had other things she wanted to focus on. “I was just coming from our last cheerleading run-through before competition, and when I turned around I was in the middle of a garden here. “I was in California, in the United States.”

For every question Claire answered she thought of a dozen more. So people were being taken from where they were and brought here, but for what purpose? How many of them? Was there a common thread, or was this some random occurrence? She kept these to herself for now and waited for a response from Jack. Maybe he would know something that could shine a light on all of this...

[CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS]

Jack was studying this girl - Claire Bennet, apparently - very closely as she answered. Well, she seemed sincere enough. He had seen enemies in stranger guises than a teenage cheerleader, though, so of course he was wary. Not wary enough to turn on his heel and run away, hiding somewhere until he could find someone he knew he could trust (which would be virtually impossible in this new world). Oh, what the hell. He was indestructible. He really wasn't that worried. In the couple of centuries he'd been alive, he'd died a countless number of times, and he very much doubted he would meet his very overdue and finally permanent end at the hands of this girl. The information she gave him was processed quickly - Terra, she said. He had never heard of it, but he hardly knew the name of every planet in the universe. That was The Doctor's job, wasn't it, and maybe lately Jack had been relying a little too much on Torchwood's extensive computer database. If he wanted to know something all he had to do was ask Tosh, who'd take only a moment of typing before responding with the accurate answer. Of course, Jack appreciated that much more now that he didn't have it at his disposal.

'I don't belong he- I don't come from here,' Claire said, and Jack quirked an eyebrow, one corner of his mouth lifting in a grin. "No?" he replied quickly, automatically. "Strange, because I thought a cheerleader in a place like this was absolutely typical." His sarcasm was so second nature that he didn't even lose a beat of the conversation as Claire continued. He nodded at her question, slipped in a, "Yes, Cardiff is in Wales," before she started up her talking again. Well, she seemed rather eager to converse. As far as he could tell, the people around him were not a chatty bunch, so maybe she was just grateful that he was talking to her at all, or listening to her at all. It sounded as if she had only just arrived in this place, not much earlier than he had - that further explained the uniform. And it further solidified the fact that she seemed to be someone he could trust. Of course, Jack wasn't going to put much stock in her; it wasn't as though he planned on staying in Terra forever, and he didn't much plan on taking her on as some kind of pseudo-companion. A lasting relationship with someone in this unknown place was something he knew he'd have to avoid. Because he had no intention of taking up permanent residence, which meant that this cute little blonde would eventually disappear from his life.

Once Claire was finished, Jack took a moment to collect himself, put all those little pieces together in order to (hopefully) better understand what the hell was happening to him. As far as he could tell, the two of them had nothing in common besides geography: both came from Earth, that is, and both were human. Well, Jack's humanity could be easily questioned, but for all intents and purposes he marked that as a similarity in his mind. But they were different genders, different ages, vastly different skills - she could do back tucks and yell really loudly while... Okay, well, Jack could do both of those things, but they weren't things he did often. Jack had been alive long enough that there weren't many things he couldn't do, to be honest. As it was, their similarities were slim, so what were they both doing on Terra? And the biggest question, other than why this had happened, was who had the power to do that?

"Well," Jack said finally, after a moment of silence. "I'm not sure how well-versed you are on other-worldly things, Claire Bennet, but what I can tell you right off the bat is that we're not on Earth anymore." As if a bunch of the people around them weren't proof enough of that fact. And more than that, this place felt different. Jack Harkness did turn to his gut once in a while for information, and right then his gut was telling him that the ground underneath him and the sky above him wasn't Earth's. But the scotch, though. The scotch tasted like Earth scotch. And it was delicious. "And unless you had no idea that this was somewhere other than Earth," Jack continued, but not before throwing back more of his drink, "You, as a victim of abduction, are acting far too calm." He gave her a sideways glance. The captain's voice was devoid of any accusation and held something more like curiosity. "Makes me sort of wonder what kind of things you were up to back in California."

All right, so Jack's initial judgment of this girl had been a little off; he had corrected himself, at least, and figured she was a little more three-dimensional than a cut-out cheerleader who jumped around doing flips and waving around pom-poms. The captain rested his somewhat scrutinizing gaze on Claire's face and didn't look away, not even when he signaled for the bartender to give him more to drink. He was good at reading peoples' faces, so if this girl wanted to tell a lie she'd have to be some kind of professional to get it past him. Maybe she had encountered aliens before. Or maybe she was an alien herself. But there had to be something in her past that allowed her to adjust fairly well to what was going on. Jack recognized the need for information in her, but could detect no panic whatsoever. And he wanted to know why.

[claire]

Claire started on what was now her eleventh drink. She wasn’t sure how many shots of what came in each one of these, but for her height and weight she shouldn’t have been alive any more, let alone completely sober. She was more pissed off that she couldn’t get drunk than anything as it dawned on her that her organs were tissues, cells, just like the rest of them. The tissue must be healing itself as she drank. Regenerating. She could never get drunk. “Well isn’t that just dandy,” she muttered to herself. At least they tasted good, if nothing else. Not that she had been looking forward to turning into an alcoholic, but it would’ve been nice to have that fallback if all else failed. She was sure that at this point in her life she would be looking for little ways to lose her inhibitions and relax a little, take the edge off of things.

“What would I cheer for, the tumbleweeds?” More and more people were showing up every day, that much she knew, but there weren’t many people here to begin with. There was no electricity. There was a tailor, she had heard, which was a relief. She wanted to find less conspicuous clothes at some point of her day here, but for now she was just trying to make sense of it all. She guessed that all of them were. “At least you know what a cheerleader is. I never realized how hard it was to explain what a cheerleader was until I met a guy who had never seen one before,” she said. It wasn’t like her day was going to get much stranger.

Not one to trust other people easily, Claire was shocking herself a little with how much she was talking to Jack. She knew that it was probably just because nothing was familiar here. She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know anyone in this place, and she was willing to take a small chance on anyone she met in the hopes of finding an ally here. She had always had someone, no matter how superficial the relationship may have been, on her side. Her dad. Peter. West.

No, she wasn’t going to start thinking about all of them now. She would find a way to get back home, there had to be someone who knew what was going on, some way to get out of here. Now it was just a matter of figuring out what that was. Maybe talking to Captain Jack Harkness from Cardiff, Wales wasn’t going to help her figure that out, but it was better than sitting at the bar alone which was what she had been doing.

It was then that Jack began to tell her what he had gathered just from his few moments of being on Terra. They weren’t on Earth any more. And she was being too calm for an abductee. Claire’s smile waned a little at the corners. Yes, he was charming, but he was also someone who was looking for answers. And now she had raised suspicion. She didn’t respond right away, not sure what the right thing to do was. She could lie, she could say she thought this was Earth, but it was a little late to act surprised now. She had suspected this was another planet when she had met Wash earlier and learned that in certain times traveling to other planets was common.That didn’t leave her with many options. All she could think of was how upset her father would have been if he knew she was considering telling Jack the truth.

“Well, I went to high school, you know, classes, leading cheers, sneaking out of the house,” she started, stalling a little. What should she say? Evil people with super powers have been hunting me? A radioactive man blew up my house once? I was dead a few times already, what’s a little kidnapping going to hurt? “I’ve been… involved… in things,” she admitted. “Never anything like this, but after what I’ve seen, some of the people I’ve met, I guess the idea of being taken to another planet isn’t out of my realm of possibilities anymore.” She couldn’t believe that just over a year ago something like this would’ve paralyzed her with fear and confusion. She never would’ve believed it, and now… now she just accepted these things as facts, taking it all in stride. While she was proud of herself, it was also a little scary. She knew she was being cryptic but she just wasn’t used to talking about this side of her life. She didn’t know what to say, or if she should say anything at all. She made up her mind not to lie, at least. She was done lying. Maybe this was her chance to start over – the life she had always wished for, where she wouldn’t have to hide from everyone and lie to every single person she met. Maybe this whole abduction thing didn’t have to be a totally bad thing.

[CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS]

Jack liked this girl. Really, he did. He just didn't like it when people kept things from him. All right, so that made him a bit of a hypocrite. All right, so that made him entirely a hypocrite, considering all the secrets he kept from those he cared about. Things he had done in his past that he wasn't proud of. Things that were better left buried in his mind, and things that would change the way the team thought of him forever. He had his reasons, though, for his secrets. And he was sure Claire had her own reasons. He just didn't like it. He had noticed the way her smile had faltered when he called her out, and that in itself was a sign of guilt if he had ever seen one. She had given herself away within seconds, and Jack probably wasn't going to let up until he had her figured out. He wasn't doing this to be unkind, because she seemed nice: much nicer than the other people/creatures that were haunting the pub. But maybe knowing exactly what or who she was would make trusting her a little easier, which just would have been nice. And what's more, maybe knowing exactly what or who she was would make the connection between the two of them and eventually the other inhabitants of Terra all the more clear to the captain.

That was what he needed to do, he had decided. If Claire had shown up in Terra just as he had, that most likely meant that more people had done the same thing. And finding some kind of thread that connected them all would lead Jack to why they were taken. And if he had the why that might lead to the who. And the who might lead to him tracking them down - in nothing but a towel and his jacket, if he had to - and 'persuading' them to put him the hell back where he belonged. He did miss the familiar hub and its occupants, and he hadn't been away from them for very long at all.

She skirted around the subject initially, talking about school and cheerleading and being a normal teenager. But of course that was a preface to something more, as Jack had suspected. 'I've been... involved... in things,' she revealed vaguely, and Jack raised an eyebrow. '...I guess the idea of being taken to another planet isn't out of my realm of possibilities anymore.' Jack nodded a few times, and was quite frankly pretty fascinated by this. You see, he didn't lead a double life like this girl apparently did. His life was Torchwood. It was all the aliens and the technology and the whole 'saving the world' thing that happened over and over. He didn't have another job, or other relationships for that matter. He had tried that before, but the whole 'being immortal' thing sort of put a damper on any possibility of him having a normal life. Not that he exactly wanted one. He was waiting for the Doctor, after all, and using Torchwood to pass the time - and being with the Doctor wasn't normal by any standards.

Suffice to say, Jack was pretty impressed with Claire at this realization. "Must be tiring," he observed. "Putting on the show of being a normal, peppy cheerleader." And that was the end of his observation. Sort of uncharacteristic of him, saying something so serious without softening it a bit with humor. It was just his honest opinion; it must have been tiring. Keeping his secrets was tiring, and he was sure Claire had to feel the same way. As far as Jack knew, she was a teenage girl before all of this. Jack had the advantage of many, many years to build up strength to carry around his burdens. Did she have that same luxury? He doubted it.

"You don't have to be so vague, you know," Jack offered, flashing her yet another smile. "It's not like you're going to scare me away. Trust me." He took a sip of his drink. "Have you ever smelled a Weevil? There's nothing more terrifying than that stench." The captain wrinkled his nose. "It's absolute hell trying to get that out of clothes, let me tell you." That being said, he grabbed the lapel of his jacket and tugged it up to his nose, sniffing it and making a face. "If you don't believe me, smell it for yourself. I wouldn't recommend it, though. You might not be able to keep down all that alcohol you've been drinking." Jack sighed a little, leaned against the bar with his elbows propped on the shiny wooden counter. He played idly with the glass in front of him, swirling the amber-colored liquid inside of it. "But like I was saying," he started back up again. "I don't scare too easily. Being immortal can leave a guy sort of jaded when it comes to the extraordinary. Things start to lose their novelty." He glanced to the side at the blonde, shrugging his shoulders a little. "Not that I'm complaining. It made being abducted from my shower a little less off-putting."

[claire]

Claire wanted to trust Jack, she really, truly did. She had spent the last two years of her life keeping things from people, though. It was second nature to her at this point. No, it was first nature, if that was a even a thing. It was what she did best – hide who she was to try to fit in. The thought crossed her mind that maybe nobody in Terra was normal, though. Maybe fitting in here had to do with having a power. She looked Jack up and down before glancing at some of the other people… and things… in the bar. Maybe they all had some sort of special power. She had met some pretty average people, though, and the most special thing she had come across had been a guy from the future and a crazy military-trained lady who had wanted to shoot her. Other than that it had just been normal people, blacksmiths and tailors and butchers… if anyone here was special they certainly weren’t showing it. But that made sense, too, since she wasn’t walking around parading her power either. It was quite plausible that everyone here was hiding a gift, and that this was the reason they were being brought here.  
 
She could tell that he was noticing every little change in her expression, seemed to be reading every twitch of her hand and shrug of her shoulder. His eyes were taking in more about her in the past couple of seconds that she could’ve discerned from him in hours, she was willing to bet, and she hated that a little. Her father had been like that, too. He could tell when she was lying before the words ever left her mouth and she never stood a chance around him. She wondered if she stood a chance with the Captain here. The raised eyebrow clearly told her that she did not. She had never been the best of liars and this act of hers wasn’t fooling anyone. He knew she was hiding more than she was saying. A part of her wanted him to just drop it and allow her to go on pretending she wasn’t special. Pretending she was just like every other human in the universe. But another part of her – what she was beginning to suspect was a bigger part of her – wanted him to pry. She wanted him to ask, to force her into saying what she was. She just wanted someone to know! She had no idea what it would feel like to not have to hide, to not have to watch her every word and movement to make sure people wouldn’t pick up on her charade. It was something she had dreamed about recently, and while being taken from her home and put in this strange place terrified her she wasn’t about to deny the opportunity it may have been giving her.
 
“It sucks,” she admitted. Just thinking about it was enough to cause her chest to feel heavy with the stress of the double-life she lived. With her experiments with her powers that she had to hide from the world, from any potential friends she could have had if she wasn’t so busy keeping herself at a distance.  “One of those, ‘I never asked for this’ sort of scenarios, you know?” She wasn’t sure if he did know, but she was glad he didn’t say anything condescending afterwards. Nothing like ‘but I bet it’s exciting, like in the movies’ or ‘but I bet it’s made you a better person’. “I mean, I do love cheerleading. It isn’t like I’m being forced to be a teenager; I would’ve had to do all of that anyway.” Claire figured it was a distinction worth making.

And then Jack said a few more things that caught her off guard. Weevils? She had no idea what that was, and wasn’t sure she wanted to know from the sounds of it. Were those things on Earth somewhere? He had said he was from Wales, after all. But that didn’t mean he was from her time - she had already met a man from the future, from another planet and everything, so she wasn’t about to question anything he told her at this point. “No, I’ve never smelled one, and I think I’m going to pass, but thanks for offering,” she added, smiling a little again. Asking her to smell something terrible reminded her of Lyle. He would do that all of the time, and she never understood how his guy friends would go for it. Must’ve been a macho male thing. When Jack started talking again it was far more serious than jokes about bad smells though he seemed so very nonchalant about the whole thing. Yes, Jack Harkness was completely nonchalant when he told her that he was immortal.

Immortal. Couldn’t die. Going to live forever. When she had read the book that West had left her about the genetic mutations, the bit that was inside of it about cell regeneration possibilities had posed the question of whether or not every human could one day evolve to be immortal. If cells and tissues regenerated themselves, would the body remain young forever, would the person age? Those questions had echoed in the back of her thoughts since she read them, though she didn’t dare think that she was immortal, even if the odds were stacked in her favor. After all, if she wasn’t that would be the letdown of the century.

But Jack, Jack was immortal. At least, he said he was immortal, and while most people would hear that and laugh Claire believed him without a second thought. “You’re… you’re immortal?” She repeated, her voice lowered as if she didn’t want anyone else to overhear even though he had made the statement in a normal conversational tone. “What happens to you if you get shot, or stabbed? Do you have scars, or does it just sort of… heal over?” She couldn’t keep the eager tone out of her voice and she didn’t care. Could it be that this man had the same sorts of powers that she did? “What if you break a bone?” Now she just wanted to compare and she had to force herself to stop asking questions. Despite the serious matter they were discussing, despite how personal this issue may have been to him, she couldn’t keep the slight smile from her face at the idea of having found somebody who may be more like her than anyone she had ever met before.