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fh_alumniKane was furious, raging anger locked down under iron control, but Jack could see it in his eyes. He knew there hadn't been a bar fight. He knew it.
There was nothing he could do, however. Not when Agency cadets, the bartender at the Wolf's Head, and several prominent law enforcement officers - the few nights Jack had spent entertaining certain members of the local constabulary paying off in unexpected ways - ready to assure anyone who asked that yes, it had happened.
Kane might be stuck with accepting the lie about the fight, but it didn't stop him from demanding to know what Jack intended to do. "Because you're pretty much useless like that," he snapped out.
Jack clamped down on a surge of anger at being described as useless. "I'll take a few weeks off," he drawled after a minute. "About time I had a holiday, anyway, and there's a pleasure planet just a few galaxies over that I've never visited. It's as good a place as any to," he bared his teeth in a smirk, "convalesce."
The pen in Kane's hands snapped. Jack barely concealed his satisfaction.
"Fine. And Harkness?" Kane abandoned all pretence of playing nice and came around the desk to loom over him. "Do not fuck up and do not try and run, because I will find you."
Jack smirked even wider. "Aww, I didn't know you cared."
There was a flash of something he almost recognised in Kane's eyes before he turned away, and it wiped all expression off Jack's face. "Get out."
Jack went.
* * *
"I don't really want to go to Paradise Five," he admitted later, lying on Jason's bunk with his right arm folded under his head. He hadn't been back to his quarters since Jason had found him there two nights ago. "It was just the first thing I thought of that would piss him off."
Jason was being very quiet, watching the floor as if it concealed the key to all the universe's unanswered questions. "There is somewhere else you could go," he said after a minute.
"No." He refused to look at Jason, stared instead at the glint of reflected light on the immobiliser encasing his left hand and wrist.
He lifted his head and studied Jack thoughtfully. "Why not?"
A million reasons he didn't have the words - wouldn't have, even if he lived to be as many years old - to express, but there was one very simple one that overshadowed all the complex. "They'd know."
Jason was quiet for a long time before cautiously asking, "What if I could make it so they didn't?"
Jack didn't answer, but his heart sped up.
"Jack? I could. It would be easy, actually. But you'd have to remember, forever, when you went back there, exactly what time period, because I'd have to wipe it out of your VM as well as the ship's recorder, and you do not want to shadow yourself." He grinned. "The pilot you'd have to deal with on your own, but somehow I think that wouldn't be a problem.
He turned his head to study Jason, found himself being watched. It shook him for a moment. Somewhere along the line the kid had grown up, grown into someone Jack barely recognised. "You can do that?"
"I can," he said matter-of-factly. "Turns out, this is what I'm good at. They're moving me into the tech stream."
One heartbeat, two, and Jack shot to his feet, paced across the tiny room, stopping with his forehead against the wall. A chance to go back… "Let's do it."
[ooc: NFB, distance, NFI same, OOC is always cool!]
There was nothing he could do, however. Not when Agency cadets, the bartender at the Wolf's Head, and several prominent law enforcement officers - the few nights Jack had spent entertaining certain members of the local constabulary paying off in unexpected ways - ready to assure anyone who asked that yes, it had happened.
Kane might be stuck with accepting the lie about the fight, but it didn't stop him from demanding to know what Jack intended to do. "Because you're pretty much useless like that," he snapped out.
Jack clamped down on a surge of anger at being described as useless. "I'll take a few weeks off," he drawled after a minute. "About time I had a holiday, anyway, and there's a pleasure planet just a few galaxies over that I've never visited. It's as good a place as any to," he bared his teeth in a smirk, "convalesce."
The pen in Kane's hands snapped. Jack barely concealed his satisfaction.
"Fine. And Harkness?" Kane abandoned all pretence of playing nice and came around the desk to loom over him. "Do not fuck up and do not try and run, because I will find you."
Jack smirked even wider. "Aww, I didn't know you cared."
There was a flash of something he almost recognised in Kane's eyes before he turned away, and it wiped all expression off Jack's face. "Get out."
Jack went.
"I don't really want to go to Paradise Five," he admitted later, lying on Jason's bunk with his right arm folded under his head. He hadn't been back to his quarters since Jason had found him there two nights ago. "It was just the first thing I thought of that would piss him off."
Jason was being very quiet, watching the floor as if it concealed the key to all the universe's unanswered questions. "There is somewhere else you could go," he said after a minute.
"No." He refused to look at Jason, stared instead at the glint of reflected light on the immobiliser encasing his left hand and wrist.
He lifted his head and studied Jack thoughtfully. "Why not?"
A million reasons he didn't have the words - wouldn't have, even if he lived to be as many years old - to express, but there was one very simple one that overshadowed all the complex. "They'd know."
Jason was quiet for a long time before cautiously asking, "What if I could make it so they didn't?"
Jack didn't answer, but his heart sped up.
"Jack? I could. It would be easy, actually. But you'd have to remember, forever, when you went back there, exactly what time period, because I'd have to wipe it out of your VM as well as the ship's recorder, and you do not want to shadow yourself." He grinned. "The pilot you'd have to deal with on your own, but somehow I think that wouldn't be a problem.
He turned his head to study Jason, found himself being watched. It shook him for a moment. Somewhere along the line the kid had grown up, grown into someone Jack barely recognised. "You can do that?"
"I can," he said matter-of-factly. "Turns out, this is what I'm good at. They're moving me into the tech stream."
One heartbeat, two, and Jack shot to his feet, paced across the tiny room, stopping with his forehead against the wall. A chance to go back… "Let's do it."
[ooc: NFB, distance, NFI same, OOC is always cool!]
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Date: 2007-07-05 03:48 am (UTC)Squee!
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Date: 2007-07-05 03:49 am (UTC)