Title: Fallout, Part Eighteen

Author: Emma

Characters: A whole bunch of folk.

Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack in it!

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?
Author's Note: This fic is CoE compliant

Part One is here; Part Two is here; Part Three is here; Part Four is here; Part Five is here; Part Six is here; Part Seven is here; Part Eight is here; Part Nine is here; Part Ten is here; Part Eleven is here; Part Twelve is here; Part Thirteen is here; Part Fourteen is here; Part Fifteen is here; Part Sixteen is here; Part Seventeen is here

           “No.”

            “Jack…”

            “Absolutely not.”

            The objective part of Yan’s brain noted that Jack Harkness in a cold rage was quite a terrifying thing. “Why not?”

            “Because it is impossible to even begin to predict what it will do to you.”

            “But we can predict what it will do to Donna. She’ll be dead in a few more days.”

            “And I will mourn. She is a fellow Companion and one of the gutsiest dames it’s been my privilege to know. But my days of trading off people and hoping for the best are over.”

            “It’s not the same thing!”

            “It is to me.”

            Yan moved to sit in his usual spot on Jack’s desk. “I can help her, Jack.”

            “And how do we help you if this goes wrong?”

            “What are you so worried about?”

            Jack took a deep breath. “Have you stopped to think it’s all too convenient? Don’t look at me like that. They worked long and hard to create you, Yan. It doesn’t make any sense to go at all that trouble to set up the equivalent of a three-card monte game. No, the Master had plans for you. We don’t know what exactly he left behind in the brain of yours. Flooding it with Time Lord knowledge may be exactly what he wants us to do.”

            “Jack, that’s… paranoid.”

            “The Master is the dictionary definition of paranoid, Yan. And he hates me.” Jack shivered slightly. “He wants to live forever, you see. That’s what’s at the bottom of his madness. He’s afraid of death. And there I was, an inferior creature, and I had his heart’s desire. You know how I survived him? By knowing that every time I came back to life I was driving him a little more insane.”

            “And you think he would make me into some sort of sleeper? Like Beth?”

            Jack nodded. “If you succeeded, he would have the pleasure of knowing he had defeated me by using the one I loved the most against me. If you failed, he had the even greater pleasure of knowing I destroyed the thing I loved the most one more time. With the added bonus of executing part of the Doctor along with you.”

            “On the other hand, if we bring it all out in the open we can figure out what he’s after and stop him.”

            “Yan…”

            “No, Jack, listen. You don’t have a reason to trust Yan completely yet. But you can trust Ianto.”

            “What do you mean?”

            Yan tapped his temple. “The Doctor said Ianto was able to override my conditioning enough to plant a suggestion that I should go find you. Let’s use that. If there’s a way to let Ianto resurface, he would handle whatever came up.”

            Jack ghosted his fingers over Yan’s face. “Doesn’t it worry you? That I would want to keep Ianto instead?”

            Yan kissed Jack’s fingers as they stroked his lips. “I may not have reason to trust you completely yet, Jack. But I trust Ianto.”