Through the looking-glass 1/2

[blinding_echos]

Title: Through the looking-glass
Part: 1/2
Word Count: 19,093 (both parts total)
Characters: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, with small cameos by Suzie Costello and Lisa Hallett.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys
Rating: R
Genre: AU, angst, dark themes.
Warning: Spoilers for the whole of Torchwood series 1 and 2.
Disclaimer: Alas the Torchwood character's are not mine, they belong to other more fabulous people. Which makes me sad.

Un-beta'ed, sorry. Any and all mistakes are my own (i'm known as the typo queen around friends), and i apologize for them. Feel free to point any mistakes out, as long as you're polite about it ^_^

WARNING! This is an AU fic that features torture, violence, gore, excess swearing, character death and the extreme OOC of canon characters. If this is not your cup of tea, i suggest you pass this one over. You've been warned.

Author's Note: Yup, i have lost my mind. If anyone after reading this wants to send the men in white coats with butterfly nets after me, i would not run away lol. I worry about how my mind works sometimes. This is the week long project i wrote after watching the BtVS episode "The Wish", having Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and The Carpenter stuck in my head and watching Natural Born Killers all in one day. Yes, i am odd, what can i say. Oh and just a btw for any Twihards reading this, yes there is a joke made at the expense of the books and it's writer. But it's all in good fun and i actually have nothing against the books, i just felt like being a smart ass ^_^

Summary: Spatial holes cause trouble for Torchwood when one of their own falls through and ends up in a universe that's very much the same yet glaringly different all at once.


Jack walked into the Hub with his usual flourish, his greatcoat swishing around him as he moved. To be honest, neither Gwen or Ianto had even noticed that Jack wasn’t there. He had been when they arrived to work, but Jack tended to be able to leave the premises without the rest of the team knowing it. It was a rather annoying habit the older man had acquired, leaving without the others knowing his whereabouts. But today he had been on a mission, he stopped before the couch and dropped a large leather bound book on the table. Both Gwen and Ianto, who had been seated on the sofa, leaned forward to look at the tome that Jack had dropped. “Lewis Carroll?” Ianto questioned as he read the gold leaf name on the binding.

“Through the looking-glass.” Jack said, placing his hand on his hips. “First edition.”

“Oh!” Gwen exclaimed. “I adore Alice in Wonderland.” She said, reaching out for the old book.

“Actually Through the looking-glass was published in 1871, six years after Alice’s adventures in Wonderland was published.” Ianto said evenly. “And has very little reference to the original subject source, people just often mesh the two books together because of the more commonly known Disney animated version which takes plot points from both books.” Leave it too Ianto to make a children’s book sound like lecture material. Gwen just rolled her eyes at him, having gotten use to him knowing pretty much everything by now. “Where did you get a first edition Jack?” Ianto asked, looking over Gwen’s shoulder as she leafed through the pages carefully.

“I bought it.” He said simply, causing both of his team members to look at him with skeptic eyes.

“Exactly when did you buy it?” Gwen asked.

“1871.” Jack muttered quickly as he shrugged out of his coat, placing it on the empty chair in front of what was once Toshiko’s desk.

“Hmm, of course.” Gwen said with slight amusement.

“What’s this about?” Ianto asked, eyeing the older man.

At the question Jack leaned over Tosh’s desk and typed a few commands onto the computer, a large blue map of the city popped up onto the screen. Another few clicks of the keyboard and various pulsing black dots showed up on the screen as well, a new one cropping up ever so often. Both Gwen and Ianto got up from where they were, moving to stand near Jack. “What are those?” Gwen asked, leaning forward to get a better look, the book still clutched in her arms.

“Holes.”

“Holes?” Ianto quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean holes?”

“Exactly what it sounds like, those right there children are holes in the fabric of space.”

“Why didn’t the alarms go off?” Gwen questioned.

“Because this has nothing to do with the Rift.”

Ianto carefully reached over and took the large book out of Gwen’s arms, with a look on his face that clearly expressed that answers were expected, he handed it back to Jack. “Okay, so what’s that got to do with the book?”

~~~~

It wasn’t long before the group was sat in the conference room, Jack at the head of the table. The large screen on the wall had the same blue map up on it, black dots fading in and out of view across it. Jack had his elbows rested upon the table surface, his hands tented as he stared at the screen silently. Both his teammates watched him, waiting him to begin.

“What if I told you that Lewis Carroll hadn’t made it up?” Jack posed the question, still staring at the map.

“Excuse me?” Gwen said, thinking that perhaps she may have heard wrong.

“That.” Jack pointed at the screen. “Is a spatial flux, known fondly has The looking-glass phenomenon thanks to Mr. Carroll. The universe is constantly in motion, and every once and a while lines will cross. Sort of like tectonic plates shifting, it’s very slight but can sometimes cause big problems. That’s-“ He pointed to the screen once again. “The problem.”

“It tears holes in inner space?” Ianto said.

“Not just inner space, all space. Inner, outer, basically spatial reality breaks down in tiny areas. Those areas stay open for about twenty-four hours before they close, the problem being that people can be sucked through them.”

“Wait a minute!” Gwen said, finally catching on. “Are you telling us that Lewis Carroll went through one of these things?”

Jack nodded. “Yes.”

“So the things he wrote in this book.” She tapped the large book that sat in the middle of the table. “Are based on truth, that he was sucked through space and wound up on a...” She struggled to finish her sentence.

“Anthropomorphic planet.” Ianto finished for her.

“What he said!” She motioned to Ianto only to pause suddenly.“What’s anthropomorphic?”

“Human form and characteristics on things that aren’t human.” Ianto explained.

“Oh okay.” She nodded.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m saying.” Jack said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest.

“Well how do we stop it?”

“That’s the thing, we can’t really.”

“What!? What about all the people that will fall through one of these holes?” Gwen asked.

“They usually come back no worse for wear.”

“Usually?”

“Well, see they’re not suppose to be there. It’s kind of like -“ He looked around, looking for a way to explain it simply. “Think of it like getting a splinter in your hand, the wood is a foreign object that’s now in your body.” From his right Jack heard Ianto cover up a snorting sounding laugh at his choice of words with a slight cough. Normally Jack would jump at the chance to continue along the obviously dirty thought pattern that Ianto had traveled down, but instead continued speaking to Gwen. “Eventually your body pushes it out because it’s not suppose to be there. That’s kind of what happens to anyone who gets pulled into one of these holes, they’re the splinter. At the end of the twenty-four hours they get pushed back out.”

“Unharmed right?” Gwen looked hopeful.

“Usually.” Jack said again. “There are inevitably some casualties because frankly not everywhere is nice, but more often than not people come back unscathed. Whether it be from a different planet, a different era, an alternate or mirrored dimension. To be honest some of the worlds best children’s stories and entertainment ideas came from people who fell through one of these things. Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe, Harry Potter, The Muppets, Tellytubbies, that Gabba Gabba show or whatever it’s called, the list goes on and on.”

“Oh! What about Twilight!?” Gwen asked excitedly, looking like she wanted to go looking for the one hole in time that held the ever elusive sparkly vampire hunk.

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s the product of too many lonely nights, chick flicks and possibly some sort of hallucinogenic drug.” Jack quipped, causing Ianto to chuckle softly from beside him. Gwen just shot the two men an evil look, deciding right then and there that they were both thick as bricks. “Anyway...” Jack continued on, not enjoying the heated glare he was getting from Gwen for making fun. “All we can do is monitor them and makes sure that everyone who goes through comes back safely, just hope to god no one gets pulled to a hostile planet or a mirror world.”

“What’s a mirror world?” Gwen inquired.

“It’s like our world, just everything’s reversed.”

“You mean like, left is right and day is night or something?”

“Kind of, more like right is wrong and good is evil.”

“What!?” Gwen’s eyes went wide with shock. “You mean there’s an actual mirror version of our reality were we’re all evil?”

“Basically.” Jack nodded.

“Have you ever been?” Ianto asked suddenly, his bright blue eyes trained on Jack.

“Nah.” Jack said flippantly, waving the question off with one hand. Ianto didn’t believe him for one moment, but didn’t bring it up. “Listen, even with all the monitoring, these things just tend pop up unannounced so I want you two to please be careful about where you walk today. Oh, and set your watches, just in case.” Both Gwen and Ianto looked at their wrist watches.

“When did the holes first start appearing?” Ianto asked Jack.

“About ten hours ago, so set your timers for about fourteen hours.” Both people did as they were told, their watches beeping as they were set.

“Okay!” Jack clapped his hands together before standing. “Well even with all this, we still have a lot of work to do.” The other two got up as well, Gwen grabbing the book off the table and heading out the door. “Ianto.” Jack grabbed a hold of the younger man’s arm, stopping him from leaving the room. “UNIT sent a batch of those spidery mouse things to us again and one of them got loose down around the cells.”

Ianto sighed, rolling his eyes fondly at the older man. “I’ll go catch it.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Jack said quickly, looking very relieved. “I hate those spidery mouse things.”

“I know.” Ianto smirked before leaving the room, making his way down toward the cells.

Down in the cells Ianto crept along slowly bent at the waist for about twenty-five minutes, he watched the edge of the floors along the walls very closely. “Here alien, were are you? You ugly little cretin.” He called out softly, truth be told he didn’t exactly like the spidery mouse things either but he at least didn’t scream like a woman and attempt to shoot at them like Jack did. “Where are you, you daft thing?” He huffed, standing up straight and stretching his back. Being hunched over was not only horrible for his posture, it was also causing a crick in his neck. He decided Jack owed him a massage later, preferably with the flavored oils.

“Ianto?” Gwen’s voice rang out in his ear.

“Gwen you’ll have to run out for coffee, I’m on a hunt down here.” He replied once he pressed the com link in his ear on.

He was answered by a soft chuckle. “No, that’s not what I wanted. You can come up, I found the mouse thing.”

“It was up there?”

“Yes.”

“Did Jack see it?”

Another chuckle. “Yes.”

“Is he standing on his desk?”

This time Gwen laughed full on. “No, but he is muttering about possibly sending something horrible and alien back to UNIT as payback. I think I heard him say something about uncontrollable itching powder that colors the skin purple.”

Ianto sighed. “I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Right, oh, and bring a cage will you?”

When Ianto finally emerged from the lower levels of the cells, he heard the sounds of an argument. Argument or not, he was not expecting to find what he found as he began to walk up the stairs next to the Rift manipulator. Jack was standing in the middle of the room, a jar of something held high up in the air. Gwen was holding the mouse alien in her hand against her chest, while she attempted to get the jar from Jack with the other one. Only she was quite a bit shorter than he was, so she ended up jumping ever so often in hopes of reaching the jar that Jack was holding up and out of reach. He ever so often would take a few quick steps away from her, holding his free hand out to put a barrier between him and the woman. “I mean it Gwen, stop coming near me with that thing in your damn hand!”

“Then give me -“ She jumped for the jar again. “The itching powder!” She made a step at him again, causing him to scurry backward away from her. The two looked like squabbling siblings, it was not a very good look for them. “Jack! You cannot send alien practical jokes to UNIT, that won’t help anything.”

“It’s not a joke, it’s a warning. Anymore of those damn things and I’ll sic Janet on them!”

“Jack!”

Ianto couldn’t help but laugh softly, shaking his head at the two. “You two are just the epitome of maturity right now.” He said sarcastically.

“Well it’s his fault!” Gwen said as she strained to get the jar once again. “He’s going to start a war with UNIT because he doesn’t like household vermin!” Neither of the people seemed to be concerned to look at Ianto as he shook his head at their antics.

“They’re not household vermin, they’re space vermin and they’re hideous!” Jack shot back. Any retort that Gwen had was cut off by the sound of metal crashing against metal. Both people stopped and turned to look at Ianto, only he was no longer there. The small metal cage that he had be carrying continued to bounce down the stairs before stopping at the bottom, leaning against the bottom step.

“Ianto?” Gwen asked, looking around. “Where did you go?” She asked, moving toward where he had been walking.

Jack, who’s attention had snapped to Tosh’s old computer screen, suddenly leaped forward and grabbed Gwen round the middle. “Gwen no!” He shouted.

Gwen yelped in surprise, which accidently caused her to toss the alien she had clutched in her hand into the air. Both people watched in awe as the little thing, with the body of a dormouse and eight furry spindle like legs, flew through the air and very suddenly disappeared from sight. “What the hell?” She breathed, noticing how the air in the area right at the top of the stairs seemed to shimmer and move like the surface of sunlit water. “Is that?”

“The looking-glass.” Jack confirmed. “Ianto just went through.” He said, sounding more than a little concerned.

“Oh no.” Gwen said softly. “Ianto.”

~~~~

Ianto groaned as he willed his stomach to stop doing flips, he hadn’t realized that he was walking into one of the spatial holes until he felt the illness hit him like a ton of bricks. He quickly fell to his knees once on the other side, leaning forward and retching. Once he was done, he quickly remember to look at his watch. He grabbed his wrist, allowing his eyes to focus for a moment. “Thirteen hours.” He said to himself softly, sighing as the waves of sickness finally subsided. He hadn’t even considered to look around until he heard the sound of someone clear their throat, and felt the very distinct cool metal of the barrel of a gun pat the side of his face from behind.

“Want to tell me what the hell you’re doing in my place?” A slightly familiar voice said.
Ianto’s first instinct was to jump up and whirl around, his body language must have conveyed that because there was the sound of a gun chocking and then he felt it pressed against the back of his head. “Slowly.” The person warned. Ianto did as he was told, standing slowly with his arms outstretched in a surrendering position.

“I’m unarmed.” He said simply.

“Like I give a fuck.” The voice said. “Turn around.”

Ianto did, unable to hold back a slightly surprised sound at the sight of a very intimidating looking Gwen standing before him. She was dressed head to toe in black and her hair was slicked back into a tight ponytail. She looked like she had about twelve different guns and weapons strapped to her body, and those were only the ones he could see. He was sure there were more concealed ones, and had to wonder how such a tiny woman managed to hold up that much weaponry without falling over from the weight.

“March.” She snapped, nodding her head to the side. Ianto once again did as he was told, walking the way she told him too. He soon realized that he was in one of the lower levels of the Hub, only it had been difficult to recognize because almost all of the light bulbs were burnt out and it was obvious no one had cleaned in years. He had trouble seeing in front of him and kept tripping, which just caused Gwen to chuckle from behind him. “Don’t break anything.” She sneered, obviously not concerned about his welfare. There wasn’t any light until they made their way to the main level of the Hub, although Ianto would have preferred there be no light at all. The place was in total and utter chaos. The windows to the hot house were smashed, and it no longer held plants but what was obviously the skeleton of what he could only assume was once Myfanwy, a large piece of the window sticking up from the neck area of the bones. His heart twinged a little at the sight, his poor pet. The place was littered with shell casings, and old pizza boxes and garbage. As he was marched past the med bay he nearly retched again, the stench that was permeating from the room was overpowering. He chanced a look as they past and instantly wished he hadn’t, it looked like something out of a horror movie. Or worse yet, it looked like the kitchen he had almost been beheaded in back in the Brecon Beacons. There was blood and bits of things all over the place, things floating in jars and a half rotten corpse of some alien laid out on the table. He made a small ‘ugh’ noise, unable to hold back his disgust. The walls had holes in them from where it looked like someone had used them for target practice, and as he was pushed into Jack’s office he gasped at the sight of a rather pathetic and horribly abused looking weevil chained in the corner making a painful noise.

“Look what I found.” Gwen said, shoving him forward and causing him to hit the side of the desk.

“How the fuck did someone get in here!?” Ianto’s head snapped up when he heard Owen’s voice coming from what was usually Jack’s seat. Owen looked like a complete and utter thug, his clothes were torn and ill fitted. He had one entire arm covered in tattoos, and a large scar running from the back of his right ear and down the length of his jaw. His hair was cut very short with a very slight peak running down the middle of his head. Ianto had to admit, Owen was never the most posh when it came to clothes, but the person that sat before him had the most baffling fashion sense for a grown man he had ever seen! “Ianto Jones?” Owen questioned, leaning forward over the desk. Ianto noted idly how disgustingly filthy the other man’s hands were, caked with dried blood and dirt, he made a mental note not to allow Owen’s hands anywhere near him.

“Yes.” Ianto nodded simply, standing up straight again.

“What the hell are you doing out of your metal body?”

“Excuse me?” Ianto was so shocked by the question he was sure his eyes must have looked like they were going to pop out of his head.

“What do you figure?” Owen questioned, looking past Ianto to Gwen. “The Rift?”

“Probably.” She said with a shrug.

“Excuse me, what did you mean -“ Ianto attempted to interrupt, only to be kicked roughly in the back of the knees by Gwen. This caused his legs to give out and him to fall to the ground, his face hitting the edge of the desk. He groaned in pain, the taste of blood welling up in his mouth. Owen stepped out from behind the desk, standing over him. “We don’t like to be interrupted here, especially by unwelcome off world visitors.” Ianto attempted to say something again, only it came out as a grabble. “What?” Owen asked, leaning over him.

The young Welshman then did something he never did, he spat, on the floor, on the floor of the Hub no less. He spat the blood out of his mouth onto the floor, and oddly still felt slightly guilty for doing so. “I said.” He looked up at Owen. “I’m not from off world.”

“Oh really?” Owen crouched down next to him so they could look eye to eye. “Then were you from?”

“Torchwood, Cardiff.”

“You’re in Torchwood, Cardiff sweetheart. Try again.”

Ianto huffed disbelievingly. “You know, for someone who catches aliens for a living you are surprisingly closed minded.”

Owen backhanded him, causing his head to snap viciously to the side. He then grabbed Ianto by the hair and pulled his face closer to his own. “Then enlighten me, mate.” The medic ground out the word ‘mate’, managing to make it sound like a threat.

“I fell through a spatial hole, one minute I was in my Hub the next I was in yours. It’s happening all over the city, check your scans, it’s true.”

Owen looked up at Gwen and gave her a nod, she moved over to the computer on the desk and typed a few things in. It only took a moment, all the while Owen stayed next to Ianto holding his hair rather roughly. “Nothing.” Gwen said.

“What? No!” Ianto exclaimed.

Gwen just turned the screen so he could see it from where he was. The map was the same blue one, only it was missing the black spots that had marked where the holes were.

“Wanna try again?” Owen asked, smirking evilly at him. Gwen matched around from where she was standing and grabbed Ianto by one of his arms, hauling him up. He had to admit, he was surprised at her strength. “Stick him in a cell.” Owen ordered as he stood up again, running one grimy hand along his jaw. “I’ll figure out what to do with him later.”

“Can I keep him?” Gwen asked, twisting Ianto’s arm behind him at a painful angle. He winced, making a small grunting noise. If she kept it up she would snap his arm with little trouble at all.
“He’s very cute.” She used her free hand to slap his cheek.

“We’ll see.” Owen muttered, obviously losing interest in Ianto quickly and going back to what he had been doing before hand.

“Can I play with him?” Gwen asked, the fear of what her idea of ‘play’ might have been caused a slight cold shiver to run down Ianto’s spine.

“No!” Owen snapped. “Just put him in a fucking cell!”

“You never let me have any fun!” Gwen shouted, inadvertently twisting Ianto’s arm more as she got upset.

“Enough of your fucking twaddle!” Owen yelled at her. “Just go put him in a god damned cell before I stick a gun up your ass!”

Gwen huffed in an annoyed manner, easily turning Ianto by using his slowly breaking arm to maneuver him to where she wanted. “Tease.” She quipped back at Owen before pushing Ianto out of the office and back out into the Hub.

Once they got far enough from Owen, Ianto decided he would try to talk to Gwen. She had always been the bleeding heart of the group, perhaps he could play on her sense of pity. “Gwen.” He ventured.

“What?” She asked from behind him, still holding his arm.

“Gwen, you have to let me go.”

She just laughed at him. “I do, do I?”

“Yes.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you don’t want to do this.”

“I don’t?” She twisted his arm even more, causing him to yelp in pain. “Funny, because I think I do.”

“No you don’t, I know you. You’re a good person, you’d never hurt anyone if you didn’t have too.”

Gwen laughed loudly at that. “You don’t know me at all.”

“Yes, yes I do. You are Gwen Cooper, you’re married to Rhys Williams. You’re parents are Mary and Geraint Copper.”

“So you read a file, good on you.” She said, pushing him down the stairs. He nearly fell but managed to right himself before he barreled head first down them.

“You met Rhys in college, he told you a stupid joke about a legless turtle the day you met!” Ianto was pleading now.

“Where do you find a legless turtle?” Gwen asked softly, remembering the joke.

“Where you left it.” Ianto answered. “It’s a lousy joke.”

Gwen’s face hardened, whirling him around to face her. “So you think you know me huh? So you think you know Torchwood, then enlighten me. What happened to Ianto Jones? Huh? What’s his story? I mean I never met the guy but I sure as shit know his story, everyone in Torchwood knows his story!”

“I don’t know.” Ianto shook his head.

“Come on! You can do better than that!” She demanded, giving Ianto a shove. He landed roughly against one of the cell doors, the back of his head cracking sharply off the glass. “If you expect me to be a good little oyster and follow your lead then you better give me something to work with! What happened to Jones, you’re him, tell me!”

“I don’t, I don’t know.” Ianto said, the pain from his throbbing head causing tears to well up in his eyes.

“Okay, you be the oyster, try to keep up now.” She said snidely, standing before him. “Poor little Jones tried to save his bitch of a girlfriend from becoming a cyberman. See there’s this company that takes the minds of the wicked and sticks them into big metal suits, then re-programs them. They use them as guards up in the world.” She pointed up, indicating the streets of Cardiff above them. “Cute little guard dogs, meant to help keep the weak and the innocent safe from us brigands and killers and the rest of the not so nice alien types. He thought he gotten her out soon enough, he thought Torchwood could fix her. Only problem was, she was too far gone. So he put a bullet to her, put her down like an animal.”

“No.” Ianto shook his head, refusing to believe any of it.

“Oh yeah, only problem was that killing one of those cyber things is punishable by death. When he was disposing of her body, he was caught. So they took him, scooped out his head and stuck it in metal casing.” Ianto felt bile rise in his throat, he didn’t want to believe her. She had to be lying, but the look on her face told him she wasn’t. “You’re walking around up there, right now. Well, cyber you at least. You’re helping little old ladies across the street and making sure children don’t get snatched from playgrounds. It’s sickening.”

“Good.” Ianto said firmly, glaring at Gwen.

“Excuse me?”

“I said good.”

Gwen smacked him hard, it shouldn’t have been enough to cause him to stumble to the side but considering how much his head hurt he did. “He was one of the most twisted bastards Torchwood London ever had, and you’re telling me that’s it’s a good thing he’s gone!?” She shouted.

“Yes!” Ianto ground out. “I’d rather be a cyberman then be what you are!”

“And what am I?”

“A twisted version of a good person, using Torchwood’s power to spread fear and corruption.”

“That’s very astute of you.”

“Torchwood is not this, it’s a good place. We do good things, and Jack would never -“

“Oh you know Jack?” Gwen asked, placing her hands on her hips.

“Yes.”

“Jack’s a good guy is he?”

“Yes.”

“He’s not some sick science experiment gone wrong that needs to be dissected and studied?”

“No!”

“Oops!” Gwen smirked, hitting a button on one of the walls causing the overhead light in the cell behind him to flicker to life. Ianto didn’t want to turn around, really, but he knew he had too. He turned and nearly fainted from what he saw. Jack was sprawled out in the corner of the cell, topless. His skin was a pale grey and he looked gaunt, his chest was laid wide open and kneeling down next to him was Tosh. Beautiful and innocent Tosh, was anything but. She was dressed in a long white lab coat, and it looked like very little if anything underneath. Her hair was long, longer than Ianto had ever seen it and she had streaks of color throughout it. He had never in all the time he had known her ever seen her wear as much make-up as she was right then, he doubted she even owned that much make-up. Her white coat, her bare hands and legs were covered in blood and she was pulling something out of Jack’s chest.

“Do you mind! I’m working with light sensitive material over here!” Tosh snapped at Gwen angrily. “Turn off the damn light!”

Gwen did, muttering ‘bitch’ under her breath. Ianto was appalled to catch Jack take a ragged breath just as the lights dimmed once again. He was alive, he was alive as they did their experiments on him.

“You guys are fucking insane.” He breathed softly before Gwen grabbed him again.

“Maybe.” She said, as she pushed him toward another cell. “But at least we enjoy it.” She smirked, shoving him into an empty cell. He stumbled in, barely catching himself on the far wall. “Welcome to Torchwood love.” She said with a wink as she closed and locked the door. As she walked away Ianto could hear her heels clicking loudly against the cement floor.

“Oh my god.” Ianto breathed, unable to wrap his head around what had just happened. All he knew was that he suddenly felt very sorry for Lewis Carroll.

~~~~

Ianto had shed his suit jacket rather quickly, rolling his sleeve up to check this badly twisted arm. It wasn’t broken, not for a lack of trying, but it was quickly turning a lovely shade of bruised purple. It was swelling up and he had very little mobility in it thanks to shooting pains he experienced every time he moved it. He sat on the ground, his back resting against the back wall. He idly stared out of the filthy glass window of the cell and out into the empty darkness of the hallway, the only sound was the occasional moan or shuffling from occupants of the other cells. He knew that two hours had already gone by just by the fact that his watched had beeped twice since he had been stuck in the cell. “Eleven more hours.” He muttered to himself, thinking that maybe, just maybe he could wait it out.

With a sigh he closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the cool stone wall. This had not been what he had planned for the day, not by any stretch of the imagination. Slipping into a mirror world where his closest friends were murdering psychopaths and cybermen were used as protection against them? It was laughable, it made him wonder what the hell Daleks were in this world? Desk clerks?

Ianto jumped slightly when he heard Jack gasp loudly from the cell next to his, making it the sixth time he had heard the other man come back to life. Ianto could only assume that having his chest ripped open and bits taken out would cause quite a few takes before Jack was fully healed. It took him a moment to realize that Jack was saying something, his voice very low. It sounded like a song or a rhyme of some sort. Moving very quietly, Ianto got up from his spot on the floor and crawled onto the cement bench. He pressed his ear up against the cold cell wall, attempting to listen. Because the walls were so thick Jack’s voice was muffled, but clear enough for Ianto to make out what he was saying.

“‘I weep for you,’ the Walrus said: ‘I deeply sympathize.’ With sobs and tears he sorted out
those of the largest size, holding his pocket-handkerchief before his streaming eyes.”

Ianto cut in, speaking directly to the wall as to make sure Jack could hear him. “‘O Oysters,’ said the Carpenter, ‘You've had a pleasant run! Shall we be trotting home again?' But answer came there none, and this was scarcely odd because they'd eaten every one.” He paused, listening to hear if Jack would respond. Which of course he didn’t, after all that had been the end of the poem. So Ianto tried a different approach. “You know what’s going on don’t you?” Only silence met his inquiry. “Jack!” He hissed loudly. “Captain Jack Harkness! I know you.” He was desperate to get the older man to speak to him.

“Like you know Cooper?” Came Jack’s terse response, sounding clearer than Ianto had expected. Jack must have moved closer to the front of the cell so he could speak through the holes in the glass, Ianto did the same, leaning his back against the glass as he slid down into a seated position on the floor.

“Okay, I admit, that didn’t go over as well as I had hopped with Gwen.”

Jack laughed a small humorless laugh. “That’s because her husbands dead and there you were chatting on about him.” Jack sounded winded, like talking was zapping all his energy.

“Oh.” Ianto blanched. “Poor Rhys.” He may never had admitted it out loud, but Ianto had always like Rhys. He seemed like a decent enough bloke, he treated Gwen right and took the whole idea of Torchwood in stride. He was a good man, and didn’t deserve to die.

“Trust me, he’s better off.” Jack said.

The two lapsed into silence for a long while, the only sound was Jack’s ragged breathing. It wasn’t until Ianto’s watched beeped for a third time, that either one of them spoke again. “Ten hours.” He muttered to himself.

“Till what?” Jack asked, surprising Ianto with that fact that he heard the muttered words.

“I go home.”

Jack scoffed in a tired fashion. “You’re not going home.”

“Yes I am.” Ianto insisted, sounding very sure. And he was, he had never doubted Jack before, well maybe once before. But normally he didn’t doubt Jack, and he wasn’t about to this time. Jack had assured both him and Gwen that morning that once the spatial reality returned to normal that anyone who had slipped through would return home, and Ianto was sure he had been right about that.

“Who you going home too?” Jack asked, obviously humoring him. Ianto understood that, it must have been awful lonely to be stuck in a cell with nothing but non verbal alien life as your closest neighbours for years on end.

Ianto considered simply saying ‘you’ when asked, but thought better of it. “Family.”

Jack was quiet again for a moment before he asked yet another question. “How exactly do you know me?”

“Excuse me?”

“You said you knew me.”

“Oh, yeah, I do.”

“You told Cooper that I was a good guy.”

“You heard that did you?” Ianto smirked.

“Well you were being manhandled against my cell door, it was kind of hard not to overhear you.” Jack said flippantly.

“I’m surprised you heard any of that, what with the predicament you were in at the time.”

“Having that bitch ripping my chest apart doesn’t make my hearing any less sharp.”

Ianto cringed. “Don’t call her that.” He said softly.

“Who?”

“Toshiko, don’t call her that.”

“Oh, is that her name?”

“You don’t know her name?” Ianto sounded a little surprised at that, he had just assumed that Jack would know everyone.

“Kid, when you’ve been here as long as I have, names mean very little. All the faces sort of fade into one big blur.” Jack replied in a defeated tone.

“But you know Gwen’s name.”

Jack chuckled. “Yeah, well it’s kind of hard for me not to remember her. She’s the reason I’m no longer get fed.”

“What!?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m going to die on them or anything.”

Ianto huffed, letting his head thump against the glass in frustration. “What are you doing here Jack? Why are you in a cell? You’re a good man, you should be out there stopping the evil, not being kept by it.” Ianto worried he may have said too much when Jack didn’t reply right away.

“What’s your name?” He finally asked.

“Ianto.”

“Well Ianto, trust me on this, I’m not a good man. In fact I’m a complete monster.”

The word ‘monster’ made Ianto’s skin crawl, he hated that he had once called Jack that. But he was still so hung up on Lisa at the time then that he had to take his pain out on someone, and Jack was the perfect candidate, as usual. “Damn it! How many times do I have to tell you, you’re not a monster!”

Jack then had the audacity to laugh that him, sighing. “Where you from?”

“Here, well not here exactly. I work for Torchwood, only I walked through a spatial hole and ended up here.”

“Ah!” Jack exclaimed tiredly. “You know those are one sided right? If you have them on your side, they don’t show up on this side.”

“Yeah, I figured that out already.” Ianto said dryly.

“So there’s a me where you’re from, a me that you apparently have to remind isn’t a monster.”

“Yeah.” Ianto said, nodding softly even though he knew Jack couldn’t see him thanks to the cement wall separating their cells. “Jack?”

“What?”

“If I die here, when I get sent back to my reality I’ll stay dead won’t I?”

“Yes.”

“That’s what I thought.”

~~~~

Ianto stayed sitting where he was for the next hour or so, listening for the sounds of his watch beeps, willing them to happen faster than they were. He was sitting with his back still against the glass, his legs crossed Indian style in front of him. He had his elbows resting on his thighs, his fingers tented together with his head resting upon them. Jack had gone silent, which could only mean that he had either died yet again from starvation or he had fallen asleep. Ianto wondered how anyone could possibly fall asleep there, that was until his eyes started to slip closed. It seemed unrelenting darkness and boredom was the perfect recipe for sleep, even if you weren’t tired whatsoever. As he drifted in and out of unconscious, Ianto dreamt. He dreamt of Jack, of Jack’s smile and his hands, and even his coat. He dreamt of Cardiff, walking it’s streets, helping Gwen pick out a birthday gift for Rhys. Of Tosh, beautiful, sweet little Tosh. How she would call him and speak technobabble at him for hours at night because she knew he was one of the only people who could keep up with her. He even managed to dream of Owen, the prat, who ended up not being so bad once they got to know each other a bit better. He wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep, but the sound of light humming quickly woke him up. His muscles screamed from the position he had been in for so long, and that crick in his neck from earlier in the day was back.

“Incoming.” He heard Jack say in an almost sing song type of voice, right before the uncovered florescent bulb that was in the cell flickered to life causing him to go temporarily blind. He quickly shielded his eyes and scurried across the cell, placing his back against the cement wall, he wasn’t about to have someone sneak up behind his back again.

The humming was now coming from right outside, it was unnerving to say the very least. Ianto blinked multiple times, attempting to get his eyes to adjust to the light quicker. Finally he saw Tosh standing outside the glass, a small white plastic bucket in her hand. She was still wearing the white coat, only this time it was open and beneath it he saw that she was wearing a horribly short blue dress. Her eyes were cold and emotionless, yet her lips held just the slightest smile to them. She pressed a button to allow the glass door to open, waltzing in, her high heels echoing loudly in the small space.

“‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax. Of cabbages--and kings.” She quoted as she stalked forward toward Ianto, on the last word her right hand swung out from behind her back and toward his arm. Ianto yelled out in surprise as he felt a knife slice through his flesh, cutting deeply into his inner forearm. He grabbed the bleeding wound with his free hand, only to have her sweep his legs out from under him with a quick kick of one of her feet. He tumbled to the ground with a very undignified thud, making a painful grunting noise. All at once she was sitting on his chest, a knee on either side of him. She managed to pull the hand he was using to quell the blood flood of his arm away from the wound and tuck it under her knee as well, taking point to grind his fingers into the ground as she did so. She was fast, and ruthless, but she also knew he was much stronger than she which was why she then placed her large knife against his exposed neck. “Move, and I’ll cut your head off.” The tone of her voice let Ianto know that she was not kidding.

Tosh then took his easily flowing arm and held it over the little white bucket she had been holding. He watched with uneasy eyes as his blood dripped from his split open arm and into the tub, worrying that she was looking to bleed him dry. He knew that with the proper vacuuming systems the human body could be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, but luckily all she had was the bucket, Ianto silently thanked God for small favors.

After what Ianto was sure was mere seconds, even though it felt like hours, Tosh was done. She dropped his arm, letting his bang roughly against the floor. She leaned over him, her face close to his own. “You know, I was kind of hopping you would move. I had plans of taking your head and transplanting it onto Harkness’s body, I wanted to see if it would reanimate or if just his body would.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Ianto said, his voice getting caught in his throat momentarily.

“Maybe later.” She shrugged. “Besides, I only had clearance for your blood.” She leaned down and planted a kiss on his lips before hopping up from her place, both blood and knife in hand.

Ianto groaned, sitting up slowly. “Why do you need my blood?” He asked, holding his bleeding and throbbing arm against his chest.

“Blood test.” Tosh said flippantly as she exited the cell closing the door behind her.

“And you couldn’t have used a needle!?” He called out after her in disbelief.

“Needles aren’t as much fun.” Was her response as she walked away after turning the light in his cell off, once again plunging him into total darkness.

~~~~

Ianto sat still in the dark, allowing his eyes a few minutes to readjust. Once he could see again he looked down at his arm, wincing as he did so. The slash was deep, it ran down in a slight curve from just below the bend of his elbow stopping above his wrist. He wasn’t exactly surprised that even though she had barely paid any attention to where she was cutting, that she still managed to miss both the radial and ulnar artery. After all, Tosh was very smart. She had known what she was doing, she hadn’t ment to kill him, just hurt him. Sighing, and deciding that he was currently experiencing the worst day in the history of his life since Canary Warf, he pulled his handkerchief out of his suit jacket’s pocket. Biting back a groan of pain, he wrapped it tightly around his arm, using his free hand and his teeth to tie it.

“You alive over there?” Jack asked, although not exactly sounding like he cared one way or another.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Ianto said, moving to sit on the edge of the bench nearest the glass.

“You’re very lucky, and very stupid.”

“How am I stupid?”

“You could have fought her off, she’s not exactly big.”

“You could too!” Ianto snapped, taking slight offence.

Jack just laughed at him. “If I’m not on the brink of death from starvation, then they drug me. They learned the hard way not to trust me at full strength.”

Something suddenly dawned on Ianto. “You’re the one who gave Owen that scar, aren’t you?”

“You mean the little weasel with the tattoos?” Jack chuckled. “Yeah, that was me.” He sounded very pleased with himself.

“I shot him once.” Ianto said, unsure as to why he was even bringing it up. He just felt like if he kept talking then perhaps the quickly creeping fear that was running through his veins wouldn’t smothering him.

“The weasel?”

“We mostly just called him Owen, but yeah. Back where I’m from, I shot him in the shoulder once.”

“On purpose?”

“I had too.”

“Remember that, that ‘have too’ feeling next time she shows up at your cell.”

Ianto shook his head. “I can’t, I cannot hit her.”

“Damn it!” Jack snapped, obviously getting annoyed. “That woman is not who you think she is! She is going to kill you, and she is going to enjoy it!” Jack paused. “You want to go home?”

“Yes.” Ianto said quietly.

“Then you’re going to have to fight.”

Ianto smiled a wry little smile, a breathless barely there chuckle escaping his lips. “Almost sounds like you care.”

“Yeah well, you’re the first human I’ve had to talk to in a little over forty years that hasn’t wanted to cut me up or torture me. Besides, you’re going home soon. Gotta keep you alive for at least a few more hours.”

Ianto laughed softly, looking down at his watch as it beeped once again.

“How long?” Jack asked.

“Six hours.” It still sounded like so long, Ianto didn’t want to admit it but he was starting to wonder if he would make it out of his situation alive. “What about the other two?” He asked suddenly. “You warned me about Tosh, but what about the other two?”

“I don’t know what the guy’s story is, he hardly ever comes down here.” Jack said. “He’ll come down once and a while to watch, but he pretty much stays away from the humans. He likes to pick apart the aliens though, I know that much. His favorite are these harmless meek creatures called weevils, he just tears them apart.”

“Yeah, he had one chained up in his office.” Ianto said, unable to hold the disgust out of his tone. True, weevils may have been not so nice where he came from but he didn’t approve of torturing them for fun. Hell, Jack had even named Janet and looked at her as a pet of sorts. So yes, Ianto was definitely against weevil abuse.

“As for Cooper, she’s hired muscle mostly. She likes guns and weapons, they get her hard sort-to-speak. A complete sadomasochist, trust me, you’re better off with -“ He paused.

“Tosh.” Ianto offered.

“Right. Tosh, you’re better with her locked up in your cell with you than you are with the other one. At least Tosh will kill you quick, and you won’t have to hear her laugh as she does.”

“Christ!” Ianto muttered, feeling utterly exhausted.

“A lot to take in huh?”

The Welshman laughed curtly. “Yeah, yeah, I’d say so.”

~~~~

The two men sat in amicable silence for the next hour or so, Jack humming ever so often to himself. Ianto was still trying to wrap his mind around everything that was going on, he knew Jack was right. He knew that these people were not his friends, not the people he knew and loved. That Tosh was dead and gone, he had been then when she went. He had stood at her funeral, sandwiched between Jack and Martha watching as her coffin was lowered into the ground. He knew all this, yet that didn’t stop his stomach from lurching every time he allowed the image of fighting or possibly killing the sadistic sociopath that happened to be wearing her face, into his mind. He sighed heavily, rubbing his weary eyes. When he got home he was going to request a vacation, a long one.

Ianto was shocked when the light in his cell suddenly came on, flooding the small space in bright white light. He gasped, covering his eyes quickly. His retina’s burned from the sudden change, causing him to groan. He chanced a peak out from behind the darkening shield of his hands to look out of his cell, seeing no one there but noting that light seemed to be streaming from Jack’s cell as well. He heard Jack curse softly under his breath, followed by the sound of footsteps. Ianto couldn’t see who the footfalls belonged too, but it wasn’t long until they stopped and the sound of something tapping against glass followed.

“‘A loaf of bread,’ the Walrus said, ‘Is what we chiefly need -“ Gwen’s sardonic voice rang out, which caused Ianto’s heart to seize in fear. “Pepper and vinegar besides are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, oysters dear, we can begin to feed.” The tone of her voice as she spoke the word ‘feed’ was one of nightmares.

“Bored are you?” He heard Jack quip. Ianto couldn’t actually see either people, but the shadow of Gwen standing before Jack’s newly illuminated cell that cast out along the cement floor allowing him a shadow puppet show of sorts. He watched as Gwen pulled out a gun and placed the barrel of it against one of holes in the glass. “Oh, how typical.” Jack said in a bored tone. The sound of the gun shot reverberated loudly throughout the cells, causing Ianto to jump. He moved back away from the glass, placing himself in the farthest corner of his caging. He wanted to look away from the shadows that were dancing across the floor but couldn’t. He watched as Gwen entered Jack’s cell, looking down on him. Ianto didn’t look away until he heard Jack start to scream, his hands clamping over his ears tightly trying to block out the sounds of the torture. Ianto didn’t know what was worse, the sounds of Jack’s pain or the sound of Gwen’s enjoyment. Her laughing and giggling was enough to make his skin crawl as he sunk to the floor in the corner, squeezing his eyes shut. He didn’t know how long the torture would last, all he knew was the moment Jack went silent, it was over. Jack hadn’t lasted very long, his painful protests fading out quicker than Ianto had expected.

Ianto refused to look up, staring at the ground, his hands still over his ears. It wasn’t until he heard the muffled sound of Gwen’s voice did he look up. “Hello oyster.” She said, standing before his cell. She had a large pair of bloody shears in her hand, and was dragging the point of them along the glass causing a them to emit a high pitched scraping noise. Ianto’s breath hitched in fear, it was an odd feeling, being terrified of Gwen. “You know.” She said in a conversational tone. “It’ll be interesting playing with you, because unlike the captain over there, you’ll actually break.” She smiled evilly, the thought of breaking Ianto obviously caused her much joy. When the door slid open, Ianto actually flinched and attempted to flatten himself into the corner he was in. Gwen walked into the cell slowly, swinging her hips in a cocky way as she moved. She flipped the shears around from one of her fingers like they were a child’s toy, smirking.

Ianto thought about what Jack had said, about the need to fight back. He considered that he had never before hit Gwen, ever, and never before had he even wanted too. But Ianto also knew that if Gwen, his Gwen was in his position, she wouldn’t hesitate for a moment fighting off her teammate’s look-a-likes. As she crouched down in front of him, Ianto curled his right hand into a fist by his side. He was much larger than her, and knew a good knock would take the wind out of her. But she was also brandishing weapons, and Ianto really preferred to get home in one piece.

Gwen noticed his flexing fist, arching her eyebrows at him. “You going to hit me?” She asked, sounding oddly hopeful. “Go on.” She nodded at him. “It’s been so long since I’ve had someone who’d fight back.”

Ianto inhaled deeply, weighing the pros and cons quickly in his head. If he did manage to overpower her, exactly where could he go? True he could lock her in the cell and escape deeper into the Hub, attempting to wait out the last hours in hiding. Or he could attempt to get out into the world, that was if he managed to get past both Tosh and Owen. Of course if either one of those plans failed he’d just find himself on the receiving end of a very painful death, which was the very thing he was trying to avoid.

“Hit me.” She urged, a hungry look in her eyes.

With a sigh Ianto relented, allowing his fist to uncurl. He pointedly laid his hand flat against the ground, palm down, to show that he wasn’t going to play her little game.

“Pity.” Gwen said and she watched his hand slacken. “You could have been really fun.” She paused. “Oh well.” She shrugged before pulling her arm back and plunging the shears into his left thigh, blood spilling out onto her hand. Ianto screamed, pain ripping through his body roughly. He convulsed in agony, grunting as he banged his head against the wall behind him. “It’s your own fault.” Gwen said as she started to open the handle of the shears, causing their blades to spread within his thigh. “You should have been willing to play.” Ianto just continued to try and keep his cries of pain bit back as she twisted the blades in his leg.

As quick as the pain was there, it was suddenly lessened. Ianto thought perhaps he had blacked out, that was till he opened his eyes to see Gwen standing up again. She had one of her fingers pressed against her ear. “What!?” She barked into her comm system, the shears being held loosely in her free hand. Ianto watched as bright red blood dripped down the partially opened blades and landed with wet sounds on the floor before him. “I’m busy!” She said to whoever was on the other end of the conversation. With an annoyed roll of her eyes, she huffed. “Fine!” Ianto watched as she tapped the comm off and turned back toward him. “Well, we’ll have to continue this later.” She said in an almost apologetic way, like she was telling Ianto that she had to run out on his birthday party or something.

The moment she was gone and he was left in darkness once again, Ianto slumped onto the floor. He laid on his back, breathing heavily as he clutched his bleeding thigh. “Fuck!” He shouted, his eyes watering.

“Be glad you’re alive kid.” Jack’s exhausted sounding voice said.

Ianto laughed at that, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah.” He said, his voice wavering with pain. He didn’t stay like that too long, knowing full and well that he had to stop the bleeding of his leg, lest he wanted to bleed to death. With quite a bit of effort Ianto managed to sit back up and pull himself up onto the bench, his leg screaming out in protest as he did. Once he was sitting, he removed his simple yet expensive button down shirt. Ianto couldn’t help but look at the material remorsefully, what a horrible day to wear white. It took a few tries thanks to the fact that his clothes were always so well made, but eventually he managed to tear his poor shirt into strips.
He gritted his teeth as he wrapped his leg tightly, making a tourniquet to quell the bleeding. The pressure made the throbbing in his appendage intensify, but he knew it was a necessary evil. Now that he was shirtless, and his simple undershirt did little to keep the dampness of the cool cell out of his bones, Ianto put back on his dark suit jacket to try and keep a bit warmer.

Ianto’s watched beeped, the small noise sounding so very loud in the cell. His own ragged breathing the only other sound as he tried to overcome the pain he was feeling.

“How - how long?” Jack asked, his voice thick. Ianto could tell that he was about to die again.

“Four hours.”

“Keep your head up kid.” Jack breathed and with that he went silent, leaving Ianto alone with his thoughts.

~~~~

It wasn’t long until he heard Jack gasp back to life, panting with effort as he usually did. “You okay?” Ianto asked, leaning his head back against the wall. He was feeling a tad lightheaded thanks to the blood loss. He heard Jack sigh, followed by the sound of shuffling.

“Yeah.” Jack said, he could he heard sitting down near the front glass once again. Ianto didn’t follow suit, he stayed sitting on the bench, mostly because his leg hurt to much for him to move right then. “You?” The older man asked.

“I’m fine.” Ianto answered wearily, the loss of blood making his voice sound think against his tongue.

Jack chuckled. “Oh yeah, you sound it.”

Ianto snorted. “I thought I was sounding okay.” He joked, the mere fact that he was able to joke right then astonished him.

“You know, you may not get out of this alive.” Jack stated in a matter of fact way.

“The thought’s crossed my mind.” Ianto admitted before sighing. “If I die here Jack’s never going to forgive me.” He said, not exactly meaning too say it out loud.

“You close to him? Jack asked.

Ianto considered lying, but figured there was no point in it. “He’s my boss.”

“Oh.”

“As well as my lover.”
“Ah.” Jack said, and Ianto could almost picture him nodding understandingly.

“Yeah.” Ianto sighed, allowing his eyes to slip shut. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, really. Or perhaps he just fell out of consciousness due to his blood loss, either way he didn’t open his eyes again until an hour later, the sound of his watch waking him up. He bit back a groan, his head pounding like a drum. Which was all well and good, since it matched beats with his throbbing arm and leg. He continued to sit there resting, listening to the sounds of the cells around him. There were soft whimpers and moans coming from a few of them, from what he could only assume were alien’s hoping for death to come soon. Ianto understood that, if he didn’t know that he’d be going home soon he too might have been looking forward the death sooner than later. He also heard the very distinct sound of Jack speaking very softly to something, holding a one sided conversation of sorts. Perhaps he had befriended one of the aliens, or perhaps he was just a little crazy. That would make more sense after all, Ianto had no idea how many years Jack had been kept in the cell he was currently in. Months, years, centuries was more like it. Any man would lose his mind, but then again Jack wasn’t exactly ‘any man’ no matter what reality he was in.

With a little effort Ianto managed to move from the bench seat and plant himself firmly on the floor once again, his back against the glass. He stretched his wounded leg out in front of him, silently hoping that it wouldn’t get infected. He doubted highly that the shears Gwen had used had been clean, and it didn’t help that his shirt had been covered in dirt from the filthy cell before he used it to bandage himself. Once he got settled he listened to the sound of Jack talking.

“Where did you come from eh?”

“Who are you talking too?” Ianto asked softly, hearing Jack pause momentarily.

“Oh, so you are alive huh?”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” Ianto smirked.

“But I am.”

Ianto chuckled softly. “So, who are you talking too?” He asked again.

“This little thing.” Jack said. “Normally they’re vicious little fuckers, but this one seems to be tame. It’s like a cross between a rodent and -“

Ianto shook his head, hardly believing what he was hearing. “And a spider.” He interrupted. “Small, with a body sort of like a dormouse and eight long furry thin legs and a long tail?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

Ianto sighed. “Chances are, if it’s tame, it came with me.”

“You mean you brought a pet with you from your world?” Jack sounded amused, it was the first time since Ianto had started speaking to him that he had heard that bit of brightness in the older man’s voice.

“No, of course not. It’s not a pet, it’s kind of a pest where I’m from. It must have slip through the spatial hole at the same time I did.”

“It’s smart.” Jack said simply.

“How do you know?” Ianto asked, interested. They had never had a chance to study that particular species of alien because of Jack’s dislike of them.

“I comes when I call to it.” Jack then made a short series of clicking noises to demonstrate his point, although it was a little useless since Ianto could not see either Jack nor the alien.

“I like it.” Jack determined. “I’m gonna call it Jimmy.”

Ianto chuckled softly to himself, rolling his eyes. “You’re calling it Jimmy? Why?”

“Because Barbara doesn’t seem right.”

Ianto laughed, shaking his head. Some things really were universal, like Jack’s discontent with the name Barbara for his pets.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Ianto assured. The two lapsed into silence once again, Ianto just enjoying the fact the he wasn’t alone. He listened to the sound of Jimmy’s little legs tapping against the floor and walls as it scurried around, Jack ever so often making a clicking noise to call it back. It wasn’t until he heard Jack groan slightly that he spoke up again. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Jack said. “My stomach’s just starting to eat itself is all.”

Ianto sighed, it must have been horrible for Jack. Each time he came back from the dead he came back healthy, so everyday he slowly has to starve to death again. What a retched existence, Torchwood really was a horribly sadistic keeper. Ianto was about to say something to that effect when he paused, remembering something. He quickly patted down his jacket, searching for that familiar feeling. He smiled when he finally found what he had been looking for in the inner pocket of the jacket’s lining, pulling out a handful of toffees and wrapped chocolate kisses. It was one of Jack’s little quirks, ever since he had found out that Ianto had a sweet tooth that he very rarely indulged in, Jack had started slipping sweets into Ianto’s suit pockets whenever he stayed over at the Hub. Ianto had accused him of trying to make him fat, to which Jack had just assured him that then there would be more of him to hold on too. Ianto smiled at the thought of his lover, he really was a big goof sometimes. A completely loveable goof, but a goof none the less.

“Hey, send Jimmy over here.” Ianto said to Jack.

“Why?”

“Just do it.” Ianto said with a smirk, sticking his finger out of one of the holes making the clicking noise with his mouth that Jack had been making. It took a few seconds, but pretty soon he saw the little alien that had caused so much trouble back at the Hub walk along the glass of his cell and squeeze through one of the holes. “Give me a minute.” He said to the little thing, swearing he saw it nod. Using a bit of his left over shirt that he hadn’t used on his leg, he placed the sweets on it and wrap the strip of fabric around them, tying it tightly. Very carefully Ianto held out the little package to the alien, who took a hold of it in it’s teeth. He then picked the creature up in his hand and held it palm up next to one of the holes. It couldn’t get out at first, so Ianto tried another way. He allowed the alien to crawl through first and then passed the small wrapped package through to it. It slipped down the glass slightly when the weight of the sweets first hit, but it quickly got it’s bearings and made it’s way back to Jack’s cell.

“What’s this?” Jack asked once Jimmy was safely back in his cell.

“I gift from Jack.” Ianto said with a smirk. “Enjoy.”

“Sweets?” Jack asked, his tone unreadable.

“Hey, it may not be a five course meal but at least it’ll keep you from starving for now.” Ianto reasoned, only to be met by silence. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that he finally heard a very soft, yet very sincere ‘thanks.’

“No problem.” He said.

Canon FYI: Yes i know that the cell doors do not open on the side with the glass, but for the sake of the story i changed that. Just chalk it up to the whole 'mirror' thing ^_^.

Had to cut it up into two posts because LJ hates me, so just continue on to part two ^_^