:: Disclaimer ::I do not claim any rights to the characters depicted in this fan-fiction. It is simply a creative write for the sake of crossing Torchwood with Doctor WHO for longer than a simple visit. It is in no way tied officially to the events in either show, and does not alter the script in the slightest. The credit goes completely to Russel T. Davies for the creation of both shows. The only credit claimed here is the original context of story plot. Credit for that goes to the roleplayer displayed on the link bellow.
www.roleplayer.me/TheHUBCaretaker
——————————————–
Did you miss Chapter #1?Read it here:http://authspot.com/thoughts/tending-to-a-timelord-chapter-1/
——————————————–

Chapter #2 – The Mechanic

With the Captain’s word the team made their motions to search the grounds. It only took Ianto Jones a matter of minutes to find the detailed building reports from public building records; using the computer system they had hotwired into the SUV. The main building had smaller facilities built around it, so this mechanic turned prisoner could be anywhere. So, the lines of communication were kept open, allowing the Welshman to give any Intel he could as the others made their way. Tosh easily lead them around to the window the captive leaped from and Jack knelt down to take in any details he could. His bright eyes took in the impact to the ground and the form it left behind, but Owen was the first to speak on the outline left there among the glass shards.

“That’s human looking,” he said, stepping up next to the Captain to get a better look. Taking in the details he gave a nod of verification. “Definitely human related. Six foot tall, and male. Strong build but slender frame. Can’t be any older than his mid-thirties.”

“With a profile like that lets hope he’s alive. He’s probably a looker,” Jack said with one of his signature smiles before stepping past to where the form had dragged himself before finally getting to his feet. But there were other markings that followed these out toward the smaller buildings of the Asylum. “Looks like he was followed. Chased, actually, because he made a mad run for it,” he added before making his own dash to follow with his gun in hand.

“The buildings along the property take a tri-sector formation due to the way the main building is laid out. All three of the buildings seem to be additional medical wards to house the overload of patients. Beyond that is open forest,” Ianto’s voice echoed through each communicator and Owen gave a frustrated sigh.

“So, he could be anywhere. For all we know the aliens that followed him could have recaptured him. Hell, we could be following a cold trail,” he said.

“If it helps to solve the mystery then I’d rather have a cold trail than nothing at all,” Gwen said as the team continued to follow the Captain.

The more Jack moved the more concerned he was for the mechanic, because the markings from the tenticles of aliens suggested that it was quite a wrestling match. Along the way the victim lost quite a bit of blood, leaving more cold blotches along the grass. But that wasn’t what concerned him the most. There were signs that lead to the 51st century man’s fears. These harsh running feet wore a withered type of tennis shoe, but the more the immortal man studied it the more he found it to be the slender form of a trainer shoe. The struggle lead right into the east most building and that’s where Jack stopped dead in his strides for a moment.

“Oh, no,” he managed to breath out, still holding the old and broken door open.

“What?” Gwen asked as she came in beside him. He reached out to stop her and she instantly looked around, fining a coat upon the dirty tiled floor. Not just any coat. It was a long tan trench coat with the right shoulder blown through. The entire coat was covered in mud and blood blotches. Gwen’s gaze almost instantly went to the man beside her as the other members of the team stepped inside. “You know who we’re looking for, don’t you, Jack?”

“So, this whole thing is connected to Torchwood?” Tosh asked.

The Captain swallowed hard, stepping forward to take up the coat and drape it over his arm. “No, probably not… but I do know him. Let’s hope – for the sake of everyone involved – that this isn’t who I think it is,” he said before making a run through the halls.

At this point Gwen, Owen and Tosh felt that they were going through the same thing they did against John Hart. Their boss took on the situation without saying much of anything to inform his team. All they could do was run to follow him as the man exited through a broken window and continued out toward the open forest. The markings on the ground suggested that the humanoid mechanic lost the aliens that pursued him, because the tentacle marks trailed in a different direction once they came to the forest. Jack continued to follow the trainer shoes through the brush before coming to a stop in front of a small cave entrance. The members of his team came soon after, breathing hard in their effort to keep up.

Jack looked back only once before he sighed and moved forward to duck down into the entrance. He only had to make a few steps before he found the figure he was looking for laying along the shadows. The slender form of a pale man was out cold, his damp spiked brunette locks littered about his freckled face. His pin-striped brown suit looked like it had been through hell, just like the rest of him. Jack took a careful step forward before kneeling down directly behind the man. He searched for a pulse and found it, counting four paces with each round of beats. Two hearts and both of them were still ponding, but the man’s skin was nearly ice cold to the touch. The immortal man then reached out to turn him upon his back, scooping his arm under the man’s shoulders to lift him upward. That’s when the mechanic tensed up, his senses still on guard despite never waking. Jack gave a smooth shooshing sound to try to comfort the wounded man, finally able to lift him into his arms and carry him out of the cave where the rest of his team was waiting.

“Human. I knew it,” Owen almost instantly said and both woman gave him a quizzical glance.

“No, he’s not.” Jack said as he carefully knelt in the brush to use the sunlight to get a better look at the one in his arms. The brunette gave a light groan, shrinking a bit to bury his face in the Captain’s coat but he took hold of the alien’s face to keep him still and visible. He then turned his gaze toward the members of his team. “He’s a TimeLord. The Doctor – My Doctor. This is him,” he added and all three of them carried a wide-eyed expression, marked by silence. Not a single one of them could protest anymore once they knew exactly who they were running for.

“I’m bringing the SUV around,” came Ianto’s voice through the communicators before the connection cut off.

With those words Owen came forward and knelt to get into his medical kit. In a matter of seconds he had gloves on again and undid the buttons of the TimeLord’s suit jacket. With Jack’s help he lifted him enough to carefully remove the jacket before Owen applied pressure to stop the bleeding. The Doctor gave a light groan but Jack kept a firm grip to make sure he stayed still. No matter how rough Owen had to be just to get a good grip the alien didn’t awaken, which concerned Jack. No matter how much he might have projected that he kept track of the TimeLord in his arms he could honestly admit that he knew nothing of the Doctor’s anatomy besides the basics. Why he functioned the way he did was all still a mystery to him. His thoughts were brought right back to the moment when he heard the harsh wheels of the SUV pull in through the brush of the forest.

Soon the team had the Doctor inside the HUB, bringing him in through the lift entrance rather than the tourist shop. Jack carried him with Owen close to keep the bleeding down to a minimum. Gwen and Tosh were quick to follow Ianto in through the tourist entrance. The moment the lift was secured the Captain stepped off and with Owen’s guidance he brought the TimeLord into the medical center and laid him down upon the operating table.

“Tell me you at least know something about your Doctor, Harkness. The only thing on record is that he can’t take human pain killers, which is going to make this interesting enough,” Owen said as he slipped on a new pair of gloves and worked to remove the brown tie and white dress shirt. By Jack’s silence, the med-tech’s gaze shifted up toward him. He could see the worry the immortal man tried so desperately to hide and sighed. “Look, I can do my best. Whatever /I do won’t be with chemicals of any kind because I have no idea what it’ll do to him. I’ll patch this up and look over him for any other wounds and then… I dunno what else I really could do. He did a hell of a job to make sure Earth has no medical records for him,” he added with a little softer and more supportive tone.

Jack gave a light sigh, knowing that his team really didn’t have much to work with. Hell, he didn’t have much to work with when it comes to his own Doctor. “I know… It’s a good call not to use any chemicals. As far as recovery goes, I’m not entirely sure. I’ve never seen him sink into a dead sleep like this,” he admitted.

“What about tea, sir?” Ianto asked from the railing area just above them, standing between the two girls as they watched over the scene. It was a question that made every team member turn toward him in confusion.

“Tea?” Owen asked in complete bewilderment and the Welshman nodded.

“Yeah. All of the records from Torchwood One stated that he tends to cling to cold environments unless he was in recovery. Snow, hail and oceans. His TARDIS was found landed at an ocean shore once. But when he was in recovery he would cling to hot climates or took in contrasting fluids to create that heat within himself. So… Tea?” Ianto asked with a shrug and the Captain gave him an encouraging smile.

“I’ll hold you to it.” With those words Ianto stepped off toward his kitchenette. Jack then let his gaze fall toward the two women who instantly stood ready to receive any order given to them. “Toshiko, try to find the TARDIS. I don’t care how much hacking and scanning you have to do, I want it found STAT. Gwen… I know I hired you to help us remember what it means to be human, but right now I need you to focus on the Doctor. He’ll want to leave the moment he wakes up, and we can’t have that,” he said and the brunette woman’s face contorted slightly.

“He’s not a prisoner is—”

“No. Far from it, but he’s wounded so he’s under Torchwood’s care. He has more trust issues than I’ve ever seen, so he won’t want to stay. He doesn’t even trust UNIT even though they have more ground with him than Torchwood does—”

“Kick the professional talk, Jack. You want me to do this then you’ll have to give me something to work with,” she said, which almost instantly made the man fall silent. Before he knew it Owen was nudging him out of the way so that he could work, so the Captain climbed the stairs to stand by his office. That’s when Gwen stepped aside to chat with him more. “What is it really? Tell me. You travelled with him, so you’ve got to know something of his life. Does he not trust humans? Thought you said he loved humans.”

“He does, and that’s the problem. As much as he loves them he wouldn’t trust his life to them. Humankind is far too willing to dissect things they don’t understand. So, he would likely end up tortured to death on an operating table by other factions of alien defense – and he knows it. That’s why I’m glad we were lucky enough to find him instead of UNIT or MI5,” Jack said and she nodded in understanding. She was about to open her mouth to speak again when the 51st century man turned to face her. Any word she could get from him was important so she let herself fall silent again. “When I first met the Doctor he carried a different face – No, he was a different man entirely. He didn’t trust in anyone back then. Maybe he trusted Rose Tylet but it’s hard to tell. This one is different in so many ways but the only thing that is really the same is that guarded nature. It’s like a spirit bound habit that has kept him alive for hundreds of years. Rose tried to break it. I tried to break it… but we couldn’t.”

“So, the new question is: What happened to him that made him shut himself away like that?” Gwen asked.

“I have no clue. I had always assumed that it was the fact that he’s the last of his kind, but it’s got to be something else. He’s a broken man in many ways, Gwen.” It seemed like those words were enough to get the Welsh woman’s brain stirring with ideas. Her pink lips curled into a soft yet confident smile and the Captain’s eyebrows rose slightly. It was an interesting smile, almost like a mischief maker’s smirk. “What have you got cooking in that brain of yours.”

“Oh… just a little something to give him reason to trust us.”