Hitting the Ground Running: Chapter Forty-Two
“I’ve been getting reports of seventeen road traffic accidents, happening right across the country, all the way from Glasgow to St. Ives.”
“Is that above normal?” Jack peered over her shoulder.
“Well, they all occurred between 8:40 and 8:41. Seventeen road traffic accidents happening at exactly the same minute? And every single one of them involving children,” she sounded thoughtful.
“That’ll be the school run,” Ianto realized.
“All of them were just…standing in the road,” Gwen said quietly, and Jack let out a rather gusty sigh in Ianto’s mind.
So much for a quiet day.
Ianto didn’t reply, but he was thinking the exact same thing.
000
They were all working furiously about an hour later, and Ianto switched to the external CCTV camera on a hunch, not surprised to see the doctor from the hospital meandering about outside on the Plass. “Jack,” he called, and the older man bounded over. “You were right. He’s back.”
“Who’s back?” Tosh asked, glancing over.
“What’s he doing?” Jack ignored the question.
“Waiting, just like you said. He’s been there twenty minutes.”
“Just tell us who he is,” Owen broke in.
“Doctor Rupesh Patanjali. He saw the hitchhiker; he’s the ‘bodies going missing’ man,” Ianto replied, having filled the others in on the doctor’s parting words a short time earlier.
“So you just let him follow you?” Gwen asked, incredulous.
“Ask about Torchwood and most people point toward the bay,” Ianto shrugged.
“Bloody secret organization, alright,” Owen snarked.
“So, what’re we doing with him?”
“Somebody needs to go out and talk to him. Both Ianto and I think there’s something funny with his story, but maybe he’ll open up to somebody else,” Jack shrugged. “I don’t want to dismiss it as nothing in case it is something, but I also don’t want to waste my time.”
“Oh, I’ll go,” Gwen stormed out of the Hub, and Owen raised his good hand.
“Is that wise? With the mood she’s in…”
“She’ll be fine,” Jack nodded firmly. “Now, back to work, kids; I want to know what’s going on with the children.”
000
Ianto sighed and leant back on the steps, glancing out the corner of his eye at Jack, who was looking at the ground thoughtfully. They’d all been a little spooked when the weird thing with the kids had happened again, and Ianto had immediately phoned Rhiannon only to find out that David and Mica were affected as well.
Gwen was headed off to find out what she could about the older man who seemed to have been afflicted the same way as the kids, and both Tosh and Owen were out for a quick lunch (well, Tosh was out for a quick lunch; Owen just decided to tag along).
“Lunch time,” Jack cleared his throat. “This place should be buzzing with kids.”
“Everyone’s taken them home,” Ianto sighed, knowing that Rhi would be keeping the kids at home as well.
“We need a child,” Jack said suddenly, and Ianto turned to him in shock. “ ‘Cause we need to test those frequencies. Find the right frequency, and we can find out who’s transmitting.”
“Where d’you get a child, though?” Ianto wondered aloud. “I can find you lasers and Weevils and hitchhikers, but kids? And you are not asking David or Mica,” he added in a low voice, almost daring Jack to contradict him.
“It’s not dangerous…”
“No, Jack,” Ianto said firmly. “I don’t want them getting involved. As far as Rhiannon knows, I’m a civil servant. I want to keep it that way.”
“Fine,” Jack shrugged and stood up, heading down the Plass as Ianto tailed after him.
“And you’re not asking Steven, either,” he called, and Jack stopped so short he nearly fell over.
“H-how…”
“I know everything,” Ianto said simply, trying to push down the hurt he was feeling before turning away. He’d known about Lucia, about ‘Alice’ and Steven for years, but he kept hoping Jack would reveal it on his own.
He should have known better. There were some things Jack would never tell him.
“Ianto, I…”
“Go if you want to. I can’t stop you,” Ianto didn’t turn around as he headed back for the Hub, but Jack ran up behind him and caught his shoulder.
“Ianto, I would have told you…”
“It’s fine, Jack. I don’t mind. It’s none of my business,” Ianto rattled off, breaking away from Jack.
“I didn’t want to tell you because I thought…I…”
“Jack,” Ianto finally turned to look at his lover, the other man looking remarkably lost and morose. “I know you’ve lived for a long time. I know you’re going to live for a long time after I’m gone. I can hardly resent you for having a life before me.”
“It’s…not that,” Jack took a step forward and, when Ianto didn’t move away, came close enough to wrap him in a warm embrace. “I just don’t like thinking about him because Alice won’t let me be there. She doesn’t want to tell him the truth, and I don’t blame her, but…while I’m ‘Uncle Jack’ for now, what’s going to happen in ten years when he’s old enough to notice I’m not aging?”
“That’ll be for him to decide, sir,” Ianto pulled Jack close, getting the feeling that the older man really needed the comfort right now. “When he’s an adult, he can decide for himself whether he wants to know the truth, but I think it’s unfair of Alice to shut you out entirely. I know that…I know that you have wonderful intentions, Jack, but I can also see why she might resent you; I’m guessing that, as a father, you weren’t around much of the time.”
“And I regret that, every day. I should have…”
“No. No regrets,” Ianto said sternly, pulling back to force Jack to look him in the eye. “No regrets, okay? But you can fix it, Jack; it isn’t too late. Go see them. Tell Alice the truth, don’t even mention using Steven for your little…experiment, and see how she reacts.”
“God, I don’t deserve you,” Jack buried his face in Ianto’s shoulder again and turned to kiss his neck.
“And yet, for some reason, I stay,” Ianto smiled. “And while I have to admit that it is a little strange knowing you have a daughter that’s older than me, it’s just one of the things that I’ve learned to live with when it comes to you.”
“Ianto…” Jack stopped talking and just kissed him, and Ianto was rather thankful that the normal amount of kids were absent from the Plass because this wasn’t a ‘thank-you’ kiss; this was ‘in a minute I’m going to strip you and shag you senseless’ kiss, and he forced himself to push Jack away. “Later?” the older man asked hopefully.
“I already told you that,” Ianto straightened the collar on Jack’s coat before nodding. “Now, go. Tosh, Owen and I will keep working away on this.”
“Right. Won’t be long,” Jack blew him a kiss and turned around to stride off, yelling over his shoulder that he was borrowing the SUV.
000
There’s something fishy going on at the hospital, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it, Jack said to him sometime later. I still don’t trust that doctor.
Are you asking for permission, sir?
Nope, just letting you know I’m blocking you out for a while in case things get ugly, Jack replied, and Ianto nodded.
Thanks for letting me know. We’ll see you back here soon?
Yup. Gwen back, yet?
Not yet, Ianto informed him, but she’s found out the real name of the guy she went to see, so Tosh is running a search.
Great. I’ll talk to you later, Jack broke off and Ianto sighed, turning around as the door alarm sounded and Gwen rushed in.
“Result: there was a Holly Tree Lodge just outside Arbroath. It’s a hotel, now, but up until 1965 it was a state-run orphanage. And they had a Clement MacDonald,” Tosh announced, but Gwen ignored her and headed straight for the autopsy bay.
“Oi,” Owen started.
“He was taken into care April 1965, after his mother died. No father on record. In November 1965 he was transferred along with…” she broke off as Gwen continued to potter away, ripping things out of drawers.
“OI!” Owen bolted down the stairs. “What’re you doing?”
“Full Internal Body Scan. Now,” she snapped, and he got the equipment set up.
“Is it really that hard to just ask?” he muttered before pointing. “Put your hand on the scanner.”
She did so, and the medic’s eyes widened as the tiny red dot appeared. “Is that…”
“Oh, bloody ‘ell,” Owen muttered as Jack swept into the Hub, looking a little worse for wear.
“We need damage control at St. Helens. One body, Doctor Rupesh Patanjali. Shot in the back,” he swallowed.
“What happened?” Ianto took a step toward him as Jack looked at him.
“I don’t know. He was just left there right beside me, like…someone’s gloating,” Jack shook his head.
“They killed you,” Ianto didn’t pose it as a question, and Jack could only nod in agreement.
“Yeah. Twice.”
Ianto spared the others a quick glance before yanking Jack toward him, and Jack accepted the hug before pulling back, still keeping his hands on Ianto’s arms. “You think…”
“Maybe we’re being targeted,” Jack nodded in agreement. “Whether it’s him or me, we should be careful,” he moved toward the rail, Ianto following, and continued. “Owen! Gwen! We have to…” he stopped short, looking at the scan on the wall. “Oh, my God. Is that…”
“Sure is,” Owen had his arms crossed as he was staring between Gwen and the scan on the wall.
“How long?”
“Three weeks,” Gwen said, sounding as if she were still in shock over the whole incident.
“That’s good, isn’t it?” Jack sounded unsure, and Gwen looked at him, eyes wide and mouth open as Jack gently touched her shoulder. “From where I’m standing it…looks pretty good to me.”
“Yeah,” Gwen broke into a radiant smile. “Bloody Hell, it’s brilliant!”
“Ianto! Tosh!” Jack yelled, and the two of them came over to the rail. “We’re having a baby!”
Ianto inwardly cringed at his choice of words, but he couldn’t deny being happy for Gwen, and he knew how much this little bit of normalcy at Torchwood would mean to Jack.
“Have you told Rhys?” Jack pressed, and Gwen shook her head.
“I’ve only just found out myself,” she protested, already digging for her mobile.
“Oh, you told us before you told him? He is gonna love that!” Jack crowed.
And just how old are we, sir?
Sorry.
“Congratulations,” Ianto said sincerely, and Tosh ran down the stairs to give Gwen a hug.
“Yeah. Little brat runnin’ about. Brilliant,” Owen groused, but Gwen hugged him anyway.
“But Jack, are you sure…I mean, the job…” Gwen looked at him, and Jack shook his head.
“Don’t worry. You can stay in the Hub and be our coordinator until your delivery, and the rest of us are more than capable of handling field calls,” Jack assured her, and she sighed in obvious relief. She looked back at the scan as Jack placed his hand on top of hers on the scanner, and a moment later alarm bells went off all over the Hub.
“What the Hell is that?” Gwen looked around in shock as Jack turned to the screen, his eyes widening in shock at the diagram of himself on the screen.
“Oh, my God…”
“There’s a bomb,” Ianto gripped the rail tightly and leant forward. “There’s…”
“A bloody bomb in your stomach!” Owen grimaced, and Jack looked around hurriedly.
“Get out.”
“No!” Gwen grabbed his hand.
“All of you!”
“Jack, we’re not leaving!” Owen strode forward and put his hand over their combined ones.
“Right now!” Jack snapped.
“Blast radius: one mile,” Tosh reported from the computer station.
“Right now; get out!” Jack shoved Gwen and Owen away. “Owen, get the girls. Make sure they get out. Please,” he added, and Owen looked at him before taking Gwen’s arm and hurrying her up the stairs.
“Toshiko, we’ve gotta move!” he pushed Gwen toward the rolling door before yanking Tosh from the computer and ushering her out as well, barely making it through the door before it slammed shut, locking down the base.
“Ianto, you’re gonna get locked inside!” Jack ran up the stairs, bodily grabbing Ianto and wrestling him toward the Lift.
“I’m not leaving you!” Ianto scrabbled at the keyboard. “There must be a way to override the mechanism!”
“For God’s sake, get out!”
“There’ll be nothing left of you!” Ianto shouted.
“I can survive anything,” Jack reminded him, pushing him onto the Lift before spinning him around and kissing him fiercely, and it felt far too much like a good-bye kiss for Ianto’s liking. Jack pressed a button on his wrist strap and the Lift stared to rise, Ianto blinking back tears as he looked down at his lover. “I’ll come back,” Jack promised. “I always do.”
Ianto could vaguely hear the countdown as the Lift rose, and just before he reached the surface he sent a quick thought out. Remember, no matter what happens, that I love you.
Yeah. I lo-
Jack blocked him out a second before the explosion rocked the entire bay, and Ianto’s last conscious thought before he was caught in the blast was that he hoped everyone had made it out alright.
Previous ChaptersHERE
“Is that above normal?” Jack peered over her shoulder.
“Well, they all occurred between 8:40 and 8:41. Seventeen road traffic accidents happening at exactly the same minute? And every single one of them involving children,” she sounded thoughtful.
“That’ll be the school run,” Ianto realized.
“All of them were just…standing in the road,” Gwen said quietly, and Jack let out a rather gusty sigh in Ianto’s mind.
So much for a quiet day.
Ianto didn’t reply, but he was thinking the exact same thing.
000
They were all working furiously about an hour later, and Ianto switched to the external CCTV camera on a hunch, not surprised to see the doctor from the hospital meandering about outside on the Plass. “Jack,” he called, and the older man bounded over. “You were right. He’s back.”
“Who’s back?” Tosh asked, glancing over.
“What’s he doing?” Jack ignored the question.
“Waiting, just like you said. He’s been there twenty minutes.”
“Just tell us who he is,” Owen broke in.
“Doctor Rupesh Patanjali. He saw the hitchhiker; he’s the ‘bodies going missing’ man,” Ianto replied, having filled the others in on the doctor’s parting words a short time earlier.
“So you just let him follow you?” Gwen asked, incredulous.
“Ask about Torchwood and most people point toward the bay,” Ianto shrugged.
“Bloody secret organization, alright,” Owen snarked.
“So, what’re we doing with him?”
“Somebody needs to go out and talk to him. Both Ianto and I think there’s something funny with his story, but maybe he’ll open up to somebody else,” Jack shrugged. “I don’t want to dismiss it as nothing in case it is something, but I also don’t want to waste my time.”
“Oh, I’ll go,” Gwen stormed out of the Hub, and Owen raised his good hand.
“Is that wise? With the mood she’s in…”
“She’ll be fine,” Jack nodded firmly. “Now, back to work, kids; I want to know what’s going on with the children.”
000
Ianto sighed and leant back on the steps, glancing out the corner of his eye at Jack, who was looking at the ground thoughtfully. They’d all been a little spooked when the weird thing with the kids had happened again, and Ianto had immediately phoned Rhiannon only to find out that David and Mica were affected as well.
Gwen was headed off to find out what she could about the older man who seemed to have been afflicted the same way as the kids, and both Tosh and Owen were out for a quick lunch (well, Tosh was out for a quick lunch; Owen just decided to tag along).
“Lunch time,” Jack cleared his throat. “This place should be buzzing with kids.”
“Everyone’s taken them home,” Ianto sighed, knowing that Rhi would be keeping the kids at home as well.
“We need a child,” Jack said suddenly, and Ianto turned to him in shock. “ ‘Cause we need to test those frequencies. Find the right frequency, and we can find out who’s transmitting.”
“Where d’you get a child, though?” Ianto wondered aloud. “I can find you lasers and Weevils and hitchhikers, but kids? And you are not asking David or Mica,” he added in a low voice, almost daring Jack to contradict him.
“It’s not dangerous…”
“No, Jack,” Ianto said firmly. “I don’t want them getting involved. As far as Rhiannon knows, I’m a civil servant. I want to keep it that way.”
“Fine,” Jack shrugged and stood up, heading down the Plass as Ianto tailed after him.
“And you’re not asking Steven, either,” he called, and Jack stopped so short he nearly fell over.
“H-how…”
“I know everything,” Ianto said simply, trying to push down the hurt he was feeling before turning away. He’d known about Lucia, about ‘Alice’ and Steven for years, but he kept hoping Jack would reveal it on his own.
He should have known better. There were some things Jack would never tell him.
“Ianto, I…”
“Go if you want to. I can’t stop you,” Ianto didn’t turn around as he headed back for the Hub, but Jack ran up behind him and caught his shoulder.
“Ianto, I would have told you…”
“It’s fine, Jack. I don’t mind. It’s none of my business,” Ianto rattled off, breaking away from Jack.
“I didn’t want to tell you because I thought…I…”
“Jack,” Ianto finally turned to look at his lover, the other man looking remarkably lost and morose. “I know you’ve lived for a long time. I know you’re going to live for a long time after I’m gone. I can hardly resent you for having a life before me.”
“It’s…not that,” Jack took a step forward and, when Ianto didn’t move away, came close enough to wrap him in a warm embrace. “I just don’t like thinking about him because Alice won’t let me be there. She doesn’t want to tell him the truth, and I don’t blame her, but…while I’m ‘Uncle Jack’ for now, what’s going to happen in ten years when he’s old enough to notice I’m not aging?”
“That’ll be for him to decide, sir,” Ianto pulled Jack close, getting the feeling that the older man really needed the comfort right now. “When he’s an adult, he can decide for himself whether he wants to know the truth, but I think it’s unfair of Alice to shut you out entirely. I know that…I know that you have wonderful intentions, Jack, but I can also see why she might resent you; I’m guessing that, as a father, you weren’t around much of the time.”
“And I regret that, every day. I should have…”
“No. No regrets,” Ianto said sternly, pulling back to force Jack to look him in the eye. “No regrets, okay? But you can fix it, Jack; it isn’t too late. Go see them. Tell Alice the truth, don’t even mention using Steven for your little…experiment, and see how she reacts.”
“God, I don’t deserve you,” Jack buried his face in Ianto’s shoulder again and turned to kiss his neck.
“And yet, for some reason, I stay,” Ianto smiled. “And while I have to admit that it is a little strange knowing you have a daughter that’s older than me, it’s just one of the things that I’ve learned to live with when it comes to you.”
“Ianto…” Jack stopped talking and just kissed him, and Ianto was rather thankful that the normal amount of kids were absent from the Plass because this wasn’t a ‘thank-you’ kiss; this was ‘in a minute I’m going to strip you and shag you senseless’ kiss, and he forced himself to push Jack away. “Later?” the older man asked hopefully.
“I already told you that,” Ianto straightened the collar on Jack’s coat before nodding. “Now, go. Tosh, Owen and I will keep working away on this.”
“Right. Won’t be long,” Jack blew him a kiss and turned around to stride off, yelling over his shoulder that he was borrowing the SUV.
000
There’s something fishy going on at the hospital, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it, Jack said to him sometime later. I still don’t trust that doctor.
Are you asking for permission, sir?
Nope, just letting you know I’m blocking you out for a while in case things get ugly, Jack replied, and Ianto nodded.
Thanks for letting me know. We’ll see you back here soon?
Yup. Gwen back, yet?
Not yet, Ianto informed him, but she’s found out the real name of the guy she went to see, so Tosh is running a search.
Great. I’ll talk to you later, Jack broke off and Ianto sighed, turning around as the door alarm sounded and Gwen rushed in.
“Result: there was a Holly Tree Lodge just outside Arbroath. It’s a hotel, now, but up until 1965 it was a state-run orphanage. And they had a Clement MacDonald,” Tosh announced, but Gwen ignored her and headed straight for the autopsy bay.
“Oi,” Owen started.
“He was taken into care April 1965, after his mother died. No father on record. In November 1965 he was transferred along with…” she broke off as Gwen continued to potter away, ripping things out of drawers.
“OI!” Owen bolted down the stairs. “What’re you doing?”
“Full Internal Body Scan. Now,” she snapped, and he got the equipment set up.
“Is it really that hard to just ask?” he muttered before pointing. “Put your hand on the scanner.”
She did so, and the medic’s eyes widened as the tiny red dot appeared. “Is that…”
“Oh, bloody ‘ell,” Owen muttered as Jack swept into the Hub, looking a little worse for wear.
“We need damage control at St. Helens. One body, Doctor Rupesh Patanjali. Shot in the back,” he swallowed.
“What happened?” Ianto took a step toward him as Jack looked at him.
“I don’t know. He was just left there right beside me, like…someone’s gloating,” Jack shook his head.
“They killed you,” Ianto didn’t pose it as a question, and Jack could only nod in agreement.
“Yeah. Twice.”
Ianto spared the others a quick glance before yanking Jack toward him, and Jack accepted the hug before pulling back, still keeping his hands on Ianto’s arms. “You think…”
“Maybe we’re being targeted,” Jack nodded in agreement. “Whether it’s him or me, we should be careful,” he moved toward the rail, Ianto following, and continued. “Owen! Gwen! We have to…” he stopped short, looking at the scan on the wall. “Oh, my God. Is that…”
“Sure is,” Owen had his arms crossed as he was staring between Gwen and the scan on the wall.
“How long?”
“Three weeks,” Gwen said, sounding as if she were still in shock over the whole incident.
“That’s good, isn’t it?” Jack sounded unsure, and Gwen looked at him, eyes wide and mouth open as Jack gently touched her shoulder. “From where I’m standing it…looks pretty good to me.”
“Yeah,” Gwen broke into a radiant smile. “Bloody Hell, it’s brilliant!”
“Ianto! Tosh!” Jack yelled, and the two of them came over to the rail. “We’re having a baby!”
Ianto inwardly cringed at his choice of words, but he couldn’t deny being happy for Gwen, and he knew how much this little bit of normalcy at Torchwood would mean to Jack.
“Have you told Rhys?” Jack pressed, and Gwen shook her head.
“I’ve only just found out myself,” she protested, already digging for her mobile.
“Oh, you told us before you told him? He is gonna love that!” Jack crowed.
And just how old are we, sir?
Sorry.
“Congratulations,” Ianto said sincerely, and Tosh ran down the stairs to give Gwen a hug.
“Yeah. Little brat runnin’ about. Brilliant,” Owen groused, but Gwen hugged him anyway.
“But Jack, are you sure…I mean, the job…” Gwen looked at him, and Jack shook his head.
“Don’t worry. You can stay in the Hub and be our coordinator until your delivery, and the rest of us are more than capable of handling field calls,” Jack assured her, and she sighed in obvious relief. She looked back at the scan as Jack placed his hand on top of hers on the scanner, and a moment later alarm bells went off all over the Hub.
“What the Hell is that?” Gwen looked around in shock as Jack turned to the screen, his eyes widening in shock at the diagram of himself on the screen.
“Oh, my God…”
“There’s a bomb,” Ianto gripped the rail tightly and leant forward. “There’s…”
“A bloody bomb in your stomach!” Owen grimaced, and Jack looked around hurriedly.
“Get out.”
“No!” Gwen grabbed his hand.
“All of you!”
“Jack, we’re not leaving!” Owen strode forward and put his hand over their combined ones.
“Right now!” Jack snapped.
“Blast radius: one mile,” Tosh reported from the computer station.
“Right now; get out!” Jack shoved Gwen and Owen away. “Owen, get the girls. Make sure they get out. Please,” he added, and Owen looked at him before taking Gwen’s arm and hurrying her up the stairs.
“Toshiko, we’ve gotta move!” he pushed Gwen toward the rolling door before yanking Tosh from the computer and ushering her out as well, barely making it through the door before it slammed shut, locking down the base.
“Ianto, you’re gonna get locked inside!” Jack ran up the stairs, bodily grabbing Ianto and wrestling him toward the Lift.
“I’m not leaving you!” Ianto scrabbled at the keyboard. “There must be a way to override the mechanism!”
“For God’s sake, get out!”
“There’ll be nothing left of you!” Ianto shouted.
“I can survive anything,” Jack reminded him, pushing him onto the Lift before spinning him around and kissing him fiercely, and it felt far too much like a good-bye kiss for Ianto’s liking. Jack pressed a button on his wrist strap and the Lift stared to rise, Ianto blinking back tears as he looked down at his lover. “I’ll come back,” Jack promised. “I always do.”
Ianto could vaguely hear the countdown as the Lift rose, and just before he reached the surface he sent a quick thought out. Remember, no matter what happens, that I love you.
Yeah. I lo-
Jack blocked him out a second before the explosion rocked the entire bay, and Ianto’s last conscious thought before he was caught in the blast was that he hoped everyone had made it out alright.
Previous ChaptersHERE