The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Twelve

Not even a minute later, Jack and Gwen exit the house, seeing Sophie sitting on the rockwall. "Tell me you didn't see it."

"What, the body? Owen wouldn't let me."

For once, Jack actually looks pleased at the mention of the doctor. "We got two more houses to check. You should-"

"Stay here. Yeah, I know. You do realise you promised me an adventure, right?"

Jack seems to consider her words, "Alright. So far everything has been abandoned. The whole town is a ghost town. You can come to the next house. But if I say go, you go. No questions asked."

Sophie nods, following the other two Torchwood members. Gwen is the first to the door, and tries to push it open, but only gets it a little ways. "Locked?" Jack asks, standing out of view, his gun in the air.

"Locked," the Welshwoman answers.

Sophie pulls her sonic out of her back pocket, stepping toward the door. Jack nods, as she shows it to him. Gwen steps to side, her gun in hand, as Sophie sonics the lock open, and pushes the door in. Neither Torchwood agent has a chance to react, as a gunshot resounds through the village, and Sophie goes flying back, screaming in pain.

Jack's eyes widen, and he forces the door open, while Gwen runs to Sophie's side. Sophie can't process anything happening around her, she just sees the blood on her hands, and thinks of Morgan. She vaguely registers voices over her head, and blinks rapidly, shaking her head.

Owen is hovering over her, his med bag abandoned on the ground. Jack is crouching beside her, looking into her eyes. He lets out a breath when she meets his eyes, and he scoops her up in his arms. "I got you, I got you," he says, comfortingly, but Sophie can't fully register what he's saying. Her hands are clutching at her side, where all she feels is pain, so much so that there is blackness dotting the edges of her vision. Jack sets her down gently on a hard surface, and brushes her hair out of her face. He turns to Gwen, "I'll check upstairs."

Sophie, upon hearing those words, grabs his hand with her right one, keeping her left hand plastered to her side. It's the only conscious thought she's made since having the bullets rip into her skin. All she knows is she needs her brother with her now. Jack meets her eyes again, squeezing her hands. Sophie vaguely registers Gwen saying she'll search upstairs. Owen leans over her, and gives her a half smile. Gently, he touches her side, and she pulls away, squealing in pain. Jack grabs her other hand, holding them both tightly in his. "Listen, listen," Owen says, kindly, "I'm going to have a look at your wound now, okay? Just keep calm"

She feels his fingers touch her side, and tries to pull away again, protesting. Jack just holds her hands, keeping her as steady as possible. Gingerly, Owen pulls back her blood-soaked t-shirt, exposing the tender, bloody flesh to the air of the house. She's kicking her legs, not even realising all that she's doing, just knowing she wants the pain to stop. Jack looks over at Owen in concern. "She's in shock. But this could've been a whole lot worse." He grabs a large pad of gauze, placing over the gunshot holes. "Hold this," he tells Jack. The immortal switches so he's holding both of Sophie's hands in one of his, using his free hand to apply pressure. Sophie lets out a stream of curse words, all in various alien languages. Any other day Jack would be impressed, but at that moment, the words barely register, just wanting to make sure that Sophie is okay.

"How bad?" Jack asks, as Sophie's screams of pain move closer to crying and grunting.

"The bullets are lodged near the surface. She's been a bl**dy lucky girl. Another inch to the left and any one of her vital organs might've been. Anyway." The doctor moves aside, and grabs a needle. He doesn't wait for any reaction, injecting a numbing agent near the wound. She starts to calm down a bit, as the drug begins to work. Jack moves back to holding both of her hands, as Owen grabs a pair of tweezers from the bag. When Sophie's eyes land on the tweezers, she flinches back, trying to get away. Jack crouches so he's level with her face, "Owen has to get the pellets out, Soph. Just take a few deep breaths, start naming constellations, tell me a story about the Doctor. Just whatever will help you right now."

Owen gets to work, using the tweezers to remove the pellets, as Sophie grits her teeth, "Did I ever tell you what his Sixth Incarnation wore?" she grimaces.

"No," Jack replies, Sophie squeezing his hands tighter in pain, "What did it look like?"

"Have you ever heard of the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat?"

"Donnie Osmond, right?"

She nods, "It was worse than that coat, and more colourful. It was the brightest, most obnoxious frock coat I have ever seen." She stops and grunts in pain, as the first pellet is removed.

Jack looks around at that point, Sophie grimacing in pain, "What's taking Tosh and Ianto so long?"

Gwen comes down the stairs at that point, the shotgun in her hand, "Give them a chance, Jack. The SUV might be locked up or under guard."

"Or they could be dead," the boy who shot Sophie says. Everyone turns to glare at him, "Well, everyone else is."

Gwen instructs the boy to sit down, and he starts to tell them what he knows. Sophie continues to tell Jack all about the Doctor's sixth incarnation, trusting Gwen and Owen to hear what the boy says. "He had these bright yellow pinstripe trousers, and wore red boots with green spats over top. He even wore a multi-coloured waistcoat, and a shirt with question marks on the lapels." She once again stops to grimace, but plows on, doing her best to ignore the pain, "But of course, no outfit is truly complete without a polka dot cravat and a cat pin."

Jack chuckles a bit thinking about the Doctor wearing any of that. He knows that he must've had a different face, but all he can see is his Northern Doctor in the get up just described. He hears the kid mention something about barricading themselves in, and knows he has to jump in. "We'll make base at the pub," he tells them, looking down at Sophie.

"What about Tosh and Ianto?" Owen asks, pulling the last pellet out of Sophie's side, "Should we go after them?"

"Not till we know what we're dealing with." He slides his arms under her back and her knees as Owen protests again. Turning to his medic, the captain states, "They're not children. They know what to do. Let's go." He walks briskly out of the house, Sophie rambling on about the Doctor while clutched securely in his arms. He can't help but feel guilty, knowing he was the one who brought her here, and then he let her enter the house first. He resolves that once she starts to feel better, he'll apologise for his lapse in judgement.