Torchwood One Shots

The Hand in the Jar

I have already published this in my Doctor Who One Shots and Crossovers book, but as it's a Torchwood One Shot too, I've decided to post it here too. 

Captain Jack Harkness was looking straight up when it happened - it was a wonder he didn't notice it.

It was Christmas day 2005, and he was pacing the streets of London below the giant spaceship that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Sycorax, he thought, as he observed the intricate details of the craft. It had been a hectic day - he had given the team the day off, and it had seemed unfair to call them in for something which seemed so insignificant at first. It will be fine, he had reasoned, I'll head to London, check this little thing out, and be back in Cardiff by Monday. And better still, everyone will get that day off they've been moaning about.

When he had arrived in the capital, it became very clear that this was absolutely not insignificant - even when the people had left from the rooves, and it seemed as though everything was going to be ok, there was still a huge alien spaceship hovering menacingly over the city - not his city, granted, but a city, and he had a duty of care. And so he came to be pacing beneath the ship, wondering how the hell he was going to get up to it. And that was when it happened - the hand. He really should have noticed a disembodied hand plummetting hundreads of metres down, but that's how it is with these things sometimes - he didn't notice until it hit him in the face.

Jack got to his feet - the momentum of the hand had been great enough to knock him over - and ran a hand (his hand, not the severed one) through his hair to fix it while he peered down at the offending limb on the pavement. He decided it would be best to touch it, and then he could work out who's it was, and what had happened to them. He wrapped it in a cloth and gingerly picked it up, retreating to the SUV, where he had haphazardly stranded it in the middle of the road.

Once inside the vehicle, he used an alien device he found abandoned on the back seat - remember to tell the team NOT to leave valuable Alien tech lying about, especially where someone could sit on it and have their ass burned off - and scanned the hand with a gentle beep. He waited for a few seconds, and when the results came through, he leapt from the car so fast he cracked his head on the door frame - rapidly worsening the blossoming head ache, and flattening his hair for the second time in as many minutes - and gazed up at the now disappearing form of the space ship (it was leaving at least, that was a positive). The person he had been hunting for for the last century and a half - the person who had all the answers, and to whose body the hand belonged, could be on that ship. And the opportunity to speak with them had slipped through his fingers once again.

He paused in frustration for a second, staring up at the sky in irritation, before a stroke of inspiration hit him, and he was back into the SUV - a bit slower this time, he would need his head intact for his amazing idea.

************

"Has he finally gone insane?" Muttered Owen, as he watched Jack in his office, shifting items about to find a spot for the latest addition to the mad mix of items in his office. Jack had a habbit of collecting weird alien stuff (and then keeping it in unorganised chaos, which drove the uber-organised archivist up the wall) but this was definitley one of the stranger things.

Tosh shrugged in response - she was too busy with her work to really listen.

"I mean, what does he even need a hand in a jar for anyway?" Continued Owen, genuinely baffled.

"Maybe it has sentimental value?" Added Suzie, but even she sounded unconvinced.

"How can a severed hand have sentimental value?" Said Owen.

"Maybe he liked the person it belonged to."

"Yeah, 'cause that's how we all remember people we miss. Oh yeah, know my mate that died? Well, I've got his disembodied hand in a jar on my desk, and I look up at it and think of him every day." Owen made a face.

"It's not the weirdest thing I've heard of." Said Tosh, "Some people have portraits done of late loved ones with paint made from their bones and ashes." Both Owen and Suzie grimaced at this. "I promise it's true! Look it up if you don't belive me."

"You know, I don't think I will." Said Owen, retreating back to the Autopsy room with a look of disgust. "But with that pleasant thought, I've got an Autopsy to get back to."

If the irony of this occured to Tosh and Suzie, they didn't comment as they to returned to their work.

*******

When Ianto entered Jack's office with a cup of coffee later that day, the first thing he noticed was the new addition. God, we have one day off, he thought, but said nothing, only placed the steaming mug in front of Jack, who was silently reading through a large stack of paper work, and looking extremely bored. Jack looked up and smiled his signature grin at Ianto, taking a sip of the delicious drink he knew and loved. Ianto smiled at the obvious appreciation of his skills - he relished being the person who could provide the team with the best coffee they could want - even if it did come with a plethra of irritating nick names, mainly courtesy of Owen. Then again, if he got too annoying, Owen's coffee could accidentally become decaf, or if Ianto was feeling particularly vindictive, contain laxatives. Ianto looked up, noticed Jack's face of questioning, and realised he had zoned out. He hurriedly stood up, feeling flustered for some reason, and straightened his already perfect tie as he always did when he was embarrased.

"Well, it there's nothing else I can do for you, Sir?" He asked.

Jack shook his head, and Ianto gratefully left the room, all thoughts of the out of place hand jar vanished.

****

In fact, it wasn't for a few more weeks until the jar was mentioned again.

"What is that thing?" Owen finally asked Jack after a meeting in his office, gesturing to the hand in the jar of slightly bubbling liquid.

"You're a doctor, you should know what a hand is." Joked Jack, doing his usual of shying away from a question with humour. But this time it wasn't going to work on the doctor.

"I mean what's it doing here? Why do you need a hand in a jar?" He pressed.

"Why do you wear badges on your coat?" Answered Jack, looking at the array of bright badges on the lapel of Owen's white medical coat.

"Jack, it is not the same! One of them is there because it makes it look better, and the other..."

"Is your badges." Interrupted Jack, looking down at his paperwork in a way that definitely signified that the conversation was now over. Owen sighed and left the room.

*****

The next person to try was Ianto.
He walked into the office carrying a strategically timed coffee, and made a point of looking at the jar sat on the desk.

"Oh, is that new?" He asked casually.

"We both know that you noticed it the moment it appeared." Said Jack, without looking up from his paperwork (which he was pretending to be being very diligent with). "If you want to know what it's for, I'm not saying anything."

Ianto shrugged, and left the room.

"I will take the Coffee though." Jack smiled, and Ianto rolled his eyes and handed it over, before retreating through the office door.

When he returned to the hub, he was immediately greated by his three eager colleauges.

"Anything?" Asked Tosh hopefully.

"No, he just said 'if you want to know what it's for, I'm not saying.'" Ianto shrugged.

"Damn, if he won't tell you, he won't tell anyone." Said Owen, who was leaning against the barrier.

"Hang on, 'what it's for?" Said Suzie thoughtfully, "So he wants to use it for something? It's not just decorative."

"Yeah, cause having a disembodied hand you're going to use is way better than having one purely for aesthetic." Sighed Owen, with a Ianto-worthy eye roll.

"Well, I guess we're not going to find out." Said Tosh.

"And maybe we don't want to know." Added Suzie.

Thanks for reading! Please vote and comment if you enjoyed : )