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Days of Reckoning

Summary:

It was five days that forever changed Great Britain and the world.  Five days that Torchwood has been preparing for since Gray returned with Jack.  But will it be enough?

Chapter 1: Prologue: A Stirring of Evil

Notes:

Okay, so here we have the next installment in the Points of Departure series and the re-write of Children of Earth.  To say that I completely turn Torchwood canon upside down on its head, shake it a few dozen times, and then turn it upside down again, is a minor understatement.  However, I can tell you this:  at the request of rhia_starsong, I’ve included two conversations/confrontations between Alice and Lucia.  One will be one-sided … the other, not so much.  That’s all I’ll say about that, because I don’t want too many spoilers.  And to say that Children of Earth will have a much different ending this time around is a mega-understatement.  It won’t be a completely happy ending, but it will be a hopeful one, and I think that’s all any of us have ever asked, because this is Torchwood.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer:  Captain Jack Harkness, the Torchwood team and concept, and his family, don't belong to me (although I like to think I take somewhat better care of them, especially Jack).  They belong to BBC, Starz Studios, and Russell T. Davies.

 

 

Prologue

 

 

A Stirring of Evil

 

 

London, England

July 2009

 

 

She never really thought about the amount of time they spent in graveyards ... maybe because Torchwood operatives rarely lived past the age of thirty-five, and death was a constant companion.  Scratch that ... they rarely attained the age of thirty-five, much less living past it.  Her mother was a rarity, but only because she took her small daughter and left Torchwood.  Left Torchwood, left her father, left the man she claimed to love.  Or, as Owen sourly put it when she finally told him the story, she cheated.  Her lips twitched as she thought about the man she thought she could love.  Oh, she was a bit older than him, and she knew that her father would have Owen's arse if things went bad between them (and not in a good way), but yes, she thought she could love Owen.  She stared at her mother's grave, murmuring, "Do you know, I still haven't forgiven you for that, Mum?  Not just taking me away from Dad, but for trying to turn me against him ... for lying to me about him.  You taught me that Dad always lies, and he has lied.  But your lies are bigger than his."

Alice Carter, born Melissa Moretti, paced in front of her mother's grave.  Steven was in school, while Esther and Ianto were spoiling Alice's father.  It'd been a hard year for Torchwood, though not without some bright spots.  There was the wedding of Rhys Williams and Suzie Costello ... and Alice was beyond happy for her friend, because of all people, Suzie deserved to find a good man who could fill in the missing pieces of her heart and soul.  And much to the astonishment of all, they were able to adopt a toddler girl named ‘Anwen,' who was left orphaned by the recent Dalek invasion.  Jack merely smiled a bit sadly when he was told her name, and Alice guessed that was the name of Rhys and Gwen's daughter in the other reality.  There was also the birth of her new cousin ... Devin Shayne Harkness, born to Gray and Tosh just a few months earlier.  Not surprisingly, little Devin never lacked for someone to hold him.  Also not surprisingly, aside from Mummy and Daddy, his favorite person to hold him was his namesake and Uncle Jack.  Devin always settled right down when Alice's father held him.

She continued after a moment, "Do you know what the biggest lie of all is, Mum?  That Dad asked for any of this.  He never asked to be immortal.  He never asked to die and come back to life, he never asked to watch the people he loved die or turn against him because he remains young and beautiful while we wither and age and die.  I finally got it, and it was because of Esther.  She's young and beautiful, but she won't always be young.  She said, almost off the cuff, that it said more about your insecurity ... and mine ... that we resented Jack, than it does about him.  Think about that for a minute, Mum.  The fault, the weakness, is with us. She'll age, Mum, just like we will, but do you know ... she'll still be beautiful.  Even if she lives to be eighty-five, she'll still be beautiful, because she's beautiful on the inside."

Alice thought about her confrontation with Suzie Costello Williams years earlier, when Suzie realized that Jack couldn't stay dead.  She slowly shook her head, murmuring, "Dad is no saint.  He's no angel, and do you know, Mum, I don't think I'd love him nearly as much as I do if he was.  But he's a good man and he does his best, and that's all any of us have the right to ask of him.  We expect him to have all the answers and to always make the right decisions ... even when the best decision available to him can't save everyone ... but he's only human, and we have to take responsibility as well.  That finally got driven home to me when I watched him die day after day after day on the Valiant, to protect us and to protect the Jones family.  They love him, you know.  They love him so much, and I pity anyone who harms Dad if Francine Jones finds out about it."  She paused, allowed her lips to quirk just a little, and then she added, "On second thought, no ... actually, no, I don't."

Her mother told her so many times while she was growing up that she was protecting her from her father.  Looking back now, though, Alice realized that wasn't the truth.  If she was protecting anyone, Lucia Moretti was protecting herself.  She said softly, "You took me from my father.  You convinced me that he didn't love me.  But the truth is, you did it to hurt him.  I don't think I'll ever forgive you for that, Mum.  You used me to hurt my father.  So many times while I was growing up, you went on and on about the bond between a mother and a child, and what a mother would do to protect her child.  But if I've learned anything from giving birth to and raising Steven, it's that a mother puts her child's well-being ahead of her own.  You didn't do that.  And if I hadn't met Suzie ... a woman whose mother eventually did put her well-being first ... I might have become just like you.  But I am the daughter of Captain Jack Harkness, I am my father's daughter and I am beyond proud of that.  You may have won the battle when you took me away from my dad, Mum, but you lost the war!"

With those words, Alice stalked away from her mother's grave.  She felt a little lighter, but that albatross of resentment she felt toward her mother still lingered just under her breastbone, and she didn't know how to get rid of it.  So many times, her father counseled her to let it go, to forgive her mother, but Alice couldn't.  Not when her mother's words to her ex-husband could have resulted in Alice and Steven dying if Jack and Suzie hadn't been present.  Not when her mother poisoned her memories of her father, not when ... wait.  She stared at the road, her heart seeming to take up residence in her throat.

In the street, children stood, speaking in unison.  Cars screeched to a halt to avoid hitting the youngsters and Alice breathed, "Oh, no."  She remembered what her father told her, about those first days of the catastrophe that destroyed his world.  It was their hope (Torchwood as a whole) that the 456 wouldn't return, but in their heart of hearts, each knew better.  During the last few months, using her father's false memories (but were they really false), Suzie and Alice began putting contingency plans in place.

For now, Alice fumbled in her pocket for her mobile, hit the speed dial number for the Hub, and said tensely, "Suzie, it's me.  Yeah, I'll be leaving in a few minutes.  It's started, and we can start expecting the attacks soon.  I know.  I know, and if they decided that putting a bomb in my father is a good way to ‘contain' him, we have new avenues open to us.  Right.  Right, I'm on my way back.  I'll see you soon ... kiss Anwen for me.  Bye."  She ended the call decisively and made her way back to her car, absently taking note of the way the children returned to their senses and carried on as if nothing happened.   To them, it hadn't, and that was good.  But for Alice, as she started her car, she swore that this time, she wasn't losing her father or her son.  She would die first.

 

TBC