The Wife of Captain Jack Harkness

Waking the Past

 I wake up, gasping for my breath; I lie still for a few moments until my breathing settles. I wonder how long I’ve been lying in bed. I’m cold and feverish, unsure where I am and whether it is morning or night. It is now that the devastating reality returns to me, engulfing me in despair. I shall not rise from this bed again. These past few weeks I have been so tired and very weak. The doctor says I only have days… I am desperate to see all my loved ones. My son Peter, he is posted in France, I do not think I will see my brave boy again. We have been at war for nearly a year. I had hoped with all my heart there would not be another in my lifetime. I belong to a generation who lived through the horrors of the first one and our worst fears have been realised. I pray for my son’s safe return, for the sake of Marion and their child, my dear granddaughter who they named after me. Bella is so beautiful and full of life, she reminds me so much of my brother…

 Marion, who has been reading quietly beside me, holds the glass of water to my dry mouth as I quench my burning thirst. My daughter-in-law has spent hours patiently nursing me, she is the kindest woman I have ever known. I feel guilty for being such a burden but at this moment in time Marion wishes to keep occupied, she does not know I have contacted Jack. How could I even begin to explain the existence of Captain Jack Harkness? My family and friends know me as the widow of David Jenkins, Peter’s father but I was once Mrs. Harkness… As my final days close in around me it doesn’t seem so long ago, the past is my constant companion.

 There are so many memories, the regrets of a whole lifetime. I’m haunted by my children, the ones who did not get their chance to live…I count myself blessed the day my son Peter came into my life, a much longed for child. I have been lucky to have my son and his family but now we are at war again I feel adrift from everything, maybe I have seen too much of this world… My second husband was a civil servant and an acquaintance of Jack Harkness and although our time together was a happy one, Jack Harkness cast a long shadow over our marriage…

Lately I find myself returning to my childhood, my Ma, Pa and my dear brother Fred. All my life they have been sealed within the silent tomb of my heart. When I die, will I see them all again? I have witnessed and experienced many impossible things in this world which would shock and astound people, so I must believe anything is possible…

 My brother and I were orphaned at a young age when we lost our parents to cholera. Their deaths set our life on a different course when we were taken in by our wealthy Aunt. My mother who had married for love ended up poor, her sister, our Aunt Nerys had married for wealth. Family feuds had held strong for many years but my Aunt, who was childless, would not see her niece and nephew in an orphanage. My brother and I were well cared for in our new home in Cardiff, Fred especially received the education and opportunities which he would not have known in his former life… Though I sometimes wonder how different it all could have been. A few years later my brother and I were completely alone in the world. Though it certainly helped that we were left our Aunt’s fortune. With a modest income, we found a suitable home in the city for ourselves and a young servant. Fred Jones was all I had, over the years we’d formed an unbreakable bond and I believed nothing could come between us. I thought we would have years together, but that was before Fred joined Torchwood and Captain Jack Harkness entered our lives…