Happenstance: End of Days, Part 3 (18/??)
Happenstance: End of Days, Part 2 (17/??)
Title: Happenstance: End of Days
Rating: PG-13 for this chapter
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Spoilers: Through Season 1, episode 12
Summary: Set before and during ‘End of Days’, from Ianto’s perspective.
A/N: Can be read alone, if you've seen the episode it will make sense
Beta'ed by the 'Super'
frakkin_addict
Linky Links!:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 |
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Tosh, what happened just now?”
“Maybe it was a glitch, a Rift spike? I’m just checking…”
She trails off and click clacks the keys in double time. Ianto flips through the Hub’s internal CCTV channels to check on Gwen, Rhys and Jack.
“Tosh…”
She is rapidly scanning code in roughly five windows, barely paying mind to Ianto’s voice.
“In a minute, I just need to…”
“Tosh, stop looking. We have a bigger problem.”
She looks up at him, seemingly coming out of a daze, innocently asking the obvious question.
“What?”
“Rhys…”
He turns his monitor so she can see the video feed. Squinting from a distance, she walks closer.
“Oh! Oh my God. Ianto!”
Were it not for the dire situation at hand, her expression would have been comical, all round eyes, pressing her hand over her mouth. But Ianto isn’t laughing.
I liked him actually, from Gwen’s stories he sounded like a nice bloke. It will kill her if he’s dead. Gwen, I’m so sorry. Sorry you got caught up in the godforsaken place with the rest of us.
Mutely, they stand there watching as Jack tries to calm and comfort Gwen. It is plain to see on the grainy video that Gwen is hysterical, and Jack is just barely hanging onto his self-control. Toshiko is the first to speak again, voice shaking and airy.
“Poor, Gwen.”
Poor Jack. It tears him apart to see one of us like this. After Mary, Diane, Lisa…
Ianto knows that he is reacting in shock, simply analyzing the things happening around him, in lieu of actually emoting. But he fiercely holds onto it, needing to function, to do something.
“We should-ahem-move the body. He can’t stay down there. I’ll get a gurney and take it down. If you think you could take over for Jack, he and I can transport it. ”
“I, um, sure. I’ll help you down with it.”
They speak in hushed tones, and move cautiously towards the medical bay. When they quietly reach the cells, Ianto waits patiently at the threshold while Tosh goes to extricate Gwen from Jack’s arms. He watches as the two of them coo at Gwen, transferring her into Tosh’s arms. They manage to get up off the floor, but can’t convince her to move more than arms length away from her fallen partner. Jack meets Ianto’s eyes, signaling him to enter with the gurney. There are tears staining his cheeks. Silently they lift Rhys’ body and lay him down, as ceremoniously as possible, to a fresh refrain of moaning sobs. Ianto doesn’t look, but he is certain that he can hear Tosh’s light soprano joining this verse. With a glance, Jack tells him to move out.
What a motley processional we must make. The seasoned war hero, the weeping lover, the sympathetic friend and the dispassionate porter.
Reaching the medical bay, Ianto and Jack place their parcel in the center. Gwen breaks out of Toshiko’s hold, moving to Rhys’ side immediately. Ianto grabs a stool for her to sit on, and Owen’s tool tray, where he places supplies to clean her hands. Sensing what he is planning, Jack brushes him aside to take over. Not knowing what to do without a clear task ahead of him, Ianto joins Tosh on the stairs. He shoves his hands into his pockets, not caring that he is pulling at his suit.
“I'll have to tell his family.”
When Gwen’s voice drifts over to him, it’s stronger than he expected. Wanting to be helpful, to relieve her of the macabre task of relating this death to her almost-family, he offers the only thing he can think of.
“We'll deal with it.”
“The way you dealt with that porter the first time I met you? No, you won't deal with him, Ianto.”
He was not expecting the venom in him her tone. Tosh tries too, only to be snapped at as well. Jack doesn’t even attempt to say anything, having already realized that there is simply nothing right to say. Her voice is bitter as she continues to address them.
“This is what happens here. We all end up alone. Not me. No way.”
She says it like an accusation, pitting Jack, Ianto and Tosh against her. Her gaze sweeps over them all, damning them each individually, and as an assembly. Finally she turns all her attention to Jack.
“You bring him back.”
“No.”
He answers her bluntly, but turns to leave her, rejoining his compatriots. She won’t be dissuaded, which has always been her biggest asset as a team member. When Jack refuses her again, her fragile shell begins to crumble once more.
“No, there's something wrong with time, so we, we can go back to the moment, to the very moment ...”
“Gwen ...”
“There's something you can do, otherwise WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT OF YOU?!”
She rushes Jack, attacking him with flying fists.
“You, you bring him back! Bring him back! You bring him back! Do you understand me, Jack-fucking-Harkness?”
He takes it for an instant, as if he wants to be hurt for letting her down. But he restrains her, hugging her to him tightly, murmuring into her hair.
“Gwen, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry.”
Completely focused on the dreadful tableau before him, Ianto jumps when he hears Owen behind him on the stairs.
“Oh, shit. What happened?”
Poor lovesick Toshiko greats him brightly, but Ianto can’t feel anything but dread at his arrival. The medic hurries to Gwen’s side, assuming that she will turn to him for comfort rather than scream at him to not touch. Regardless of being rebuffed by a possible ally, Owen presses his point home.
“How many other people have got to suffer? I'm gonna fix this. I'm opening the rift.”
“There's only one way to stop this, before things get worse. People will die, Ianto. Thousands of people. Unless you open the Rift”. Maybe they’re all right. Maybe if we do it right this time… Close it properly. The splinters in time might just close…
Making a snap decision, Ianto turns and follows Owen without a word. Jack’s voice rumbles after him.
“Make sure you stop him.”
He almost lets the comment slide, simply walking away to betray Jack, again. But his skin tingles at Jack’s assumption. Knowing that this may be the last decision that he ever gets to make for himself, he needs for Jack to know that he has chosen for himself.
“No.”
He turns before he can truly see the hurt and outrage on Jack’s face, but his mind fills in the gaps for him. It’s almost enough to make his steps falter; but not quite enough to dissuade him. Determined to see this through, Ianto struggles to shut out all of his doubts at disobeying Jack. He can feel it in every nerve that this is the only solution.
Even the Great Captain Jack Harkness and his trusty Torchwood Three team can do nothing to stop the Rift from obliterating the Earth. Except, just possibly, resetting it.
Tosh and Gwen follow him closely behind. Owen for his part, doesn’t seem at all surprised at this rally of support.
This is our only hope, there are no other solutions.
He sees that Owen is merely meandering through the system, not knowing the most direct route to their final destination. Ever helpful and efficient, Ianto speaks up.
“Enter Emergency Protocol One.”
Gwen takes over the keyboard, even while Tosh and Ianto watch on.
Clearly, Tosh has her doubts as well. But she’s not voicing them either. Oh well, onward and upward then.
Suddenly the room fills with the harsh blaring of the Rift alarm.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Get away from the computer, Gwen.”
Jack fairly growls from behind them, causing sparks to skitter down Ianto’s limbs.
“This is a trap. All these cracks around the world, they're diversions. This is what Bilis wants.”
Don’t look at him, be strong. I can’t let him sway me. This feels like the answer.
Gwen’s hands are shaking, hovering just over the keyboard. Ianto can’t stand the anticipation, so he prompts her with the password.
“Rhea Silva.”
Mother to Romulus and Remus, of Numitor, descendant of Aeneas. Silvia ‘of the forest’, Rea, meaning ‘guilty’.
A metallic click tangs in Ianto’s ears.
“I said, ‘Move’.”
Jack’s gun is trained on Gwen, less than 2 meters away. Ianto knows that Jack is deadly serious, having had this exact gun pointed at his own head. So he finds it somewhat ludicrous that Toshiko chooses this moment to chat.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Jack doesn’t even hear her.
“Final warning.”
Gwen turns to face him, also seemingly unaware of her very real and very present danger.
“Come on, Jack.”
“You're a united front now? Toshiko, the poor girl who'll screw any passing alien that gives her a pendant? Owen, so strong, he gets in a cage with a Weevil, desperate to be mauled. Or Ianto, hiding his cyber-girlfriend in the basement. Your three comrades here pumped bullets into her, remember?”
Anger seizes Ianto, fueling his certainty that Jack is wrong.
How can you be so blind to this? We fucked up. We opened the rift wrong, and now everything is going to shit. You said it yourself that it’s just going to spread. This is the only semi-logical cure. It doesn’t matter if it’s what Billis wants, as long as it works! How can you lash out at us when we’re only trying to fix what we broke!
Suddenly Gwen’s punching Jack, hard enough to make him fall to the ground, and Owen has the Jack’s Webley in his hands.
“We're relieving you of your command, ‘Captain’. We're opening that Rift and getting back what we lost!”
Move Ianto, do something!
His attention is drawn back to the screen.
RETINA PRINTS OF ALL TORCHWOOD PERSONNE REQUIRED FOR AUTHORISATION
“Stay down!”
Owen bellows, fingers itching to pull the trigger.
“You're in charge, Owen? You've gotta have significantly bigger balls.”
BANG.
Jack’s dead. Lying on the floor, blood leaking from his head wound. The shots keep coming, perforating his still form. Finally, Ianto has control of his motor skills again, as he moves to kneel beside Jack.
“What have you done?”
Hating himself more as every second passes, Ianto does his part to complete the emergency protocol sequence, trying all the while to ignore Jack’s prone form on the floor.
Even now, in defying Jack, in doing something that I believe is the correct course of action, I can’t take the lead.
He stands by as Gwen pauses, fleetingly, before finalizing the process. A pregnant moment, and then faint noises drift up from the cells. Ianto can almost identify the species by their cries. A growl sounds behind them, making Ianto flinch. Gwen screams as Jack claws at her leg, back from the dead. Owen gapes. Jack speaks, weak but commanding, reiterating Ianto’ s own question.
“What have you done?”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ianto and Gwen help Jack escape the Hub as it implodes. Nearly dragging the worn man down onto the road, Ianto is oddly struck by how rarely Jack accepts this type of help from others. Abruptly, Gwen steps away from them, leaving Ianto to hold Jack up on his own. He stops trying to move forward, knowing that it is as hopeless as trying to shift a mountain. He follows Gwen’s sightline. A small beady man in a cravat stands before them.
Bilis.
“From out of the darkness, he is come…Son of the Great Beast, cast out before time, chained in rock and imprisoned beneath the rift…All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer.”
Turning now to follow Bilis’ gaze, Torchwood views the greatest threat they’ve ever faced. Images flash in Ianto’s mind, of the many etchings he viewed only this morning while researching.
Chaos, this is chaos. The end of days has arrived, and there’s nothing we can do.
He can hear hundreds of people screaming, running from certain death. But their cries are cut off, moving the sound abruptly forward.
Death, everywhere death. It’s Canary Wharf multiplied.
Bilis stands before them, praising his personal god and damning them all. When his form disappears, Gwen turns to Jack, demanding orders.
“How do we stop it? Tell me what to do, Jack.”
How will he know? This isn’t an alien, it’s a myth, a fable, it’s not real, it’s Not real, please don’t be real.
There is a second when Ianto thinks that Jack will agree with his own desperate cynicism, but he straightens his back and singles out Gwen.
“Just you ... get me to an open space.”
What will you do? What can be done? The entire city will be dead before you even get there!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Gwen? Where are you are? What’s going on? We saw-something…”
Tosh trails off, obviously listening to Gwen on her ear comm. Ianto activates his own earpiece to listen in on the conversation. As soon as the line is opened, she looks to him as if he can translate Gwen’s loud wretched sobs into English.
“Gwen, bod dawelu. You have to tell us what’s happened.”
“I’ve got her location. I’ll just get Owen, we can be there in ten minutes.”
Tosh rushes off to find the medic, while Gwen continues to howl in his ear.
“Gwen! What has happened? Where is Jack?”
“Ohgodhe’sdead Ianto he’s-“
He doesn’t even hear her weeping any more, the pounding of his own heart obliterates other noise. Tosh is in front of him, presumably telling him that she and Owen will be back as soon as they can be, and to hold down the fort. He knows this because that’s what he always hears when he is left to man the Hub. Finally, the blaring alarm accompanying the closing cog door infiltrates his foggy mind.
He’ll be back, she just doesn’t-does she know? Who has he told? Why did I never ask him? No. It’s fine. He’ll come back. Jack, what have you done?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Peering past Gwen, Ianto studies Jack’s waxen features.
He doesn’t look real, like a store mannequin. How can that be the man I’ve fallen in love with?
He listens to Gwen arguing with Owen, as if that will change the facts.
“You're certain?”
“He's ice cold. No vital signs.”
“He survived when you shot him. When I first joined, he said he couldn't die.”
“He was wrong.”
He’s dead. He’s really dead.
Gwen refuses to leave the body, all but demanding that they all leave her with it. Ianto wants to be mature about this, let her have her time with him. He is well aware that she was the one who witnessed Jack’s last moments, and will therefore needs to process that. At the same time he is hurt that he wasn’t there for Jack when he sacrificed himself.
Maybe things would have ended the same way, maybe not. But I could have been there. With Jack. In the end. Of course, taking Gwen was probably his way of protecting me from this torment. Wouldn’t do to watch another lover die. Except that I don’t see it that way. All I want is the chance to say goodbye. You could have given me that, Jack.
He finds that he has wandered into Jack’s empty office, and straightens some papers out of habit. But being in Jack’s space, he can no longer stifle the tears that he has so carefully hidden from the others. His breathing becomes erratic, but he knows there’s nothing to do for it, now that it’s started. So he gives into an earlier impulse. As Owen cleaned Jack’s body, to prepare it for storage, Ianto had disposed of Jack’s ruined clothes. Except for his beloved coat. Now, no longer caring if the others see his despair, he crosses over to it, lifting it with care from the coat rack. Not wanting to admit that this may be the last time he will be able to indulge in drowning in Jack’s scent, he presses the worn wool to his face, inhaling deeply.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Helping Tosh tidy up was just another way to distract himself from thinking about Jack laying cold on a morgue slab. But Ianto learned a long time ago that creating order is the only logical way to handle stress. He’s never shared this information with his colleagues, but suspects that they understand the reason for his obsessive behaviors.
Maybe I do have a problem, OCD or something. I doubt that Owen would ever make mention, unless I started directly affecting him with my behavior. Bleaching his coffee mug without rinsing it or something. But aren’t obsessive-compulsives focused on the repetition of the action itself, rather than the outcome? I think I’ve read that somewhere… Everything I do is simply meticulous. It never bothers Jack-God, no Ianto, don’t. Push it aside; you can deal with it later. Once we have a plan, once you’re alone. Then you can break down and give into the crippling misery. But right now, the team needs you to be present. It’s just like when Lisa-shit, that still hurts. Just put it aside for now, do something productive. Focus on the task at hand. There are countless things to put right, floors to sweep, files to sort… I could put on another pot. We’ve been at this for a while already. Wait, where’s she going?
Ianto tracks Tosh across the hub until he notices what she rushing towards.
Jack’s alive…
Suddenly he can’t get past those two words, overlapping one another, filling his head with noise. He has the urge to run to him. He tries to make his muscles work, but feels like he’s walking through mud. He soldiers on, traveling the seemingly endless distance to the resurrected man. Then, face to face, he becomes painfully aware that they are on full display, as Gwen and Tosh are openly staring at Jack.
What is he thinking? Has he forgiven us for turning our backs on him? Has he forgiven me for betraying him again?
Awkwardly, he offers his hand to Jack, not certain what the appropriate greeting is in this kind of situation.
We’ve never even hugged in front of the others; he won’t want the tea boy clinging to him now. If he even wants speak to me after I disobeyed him.
Thankfully, Jack ignores his attempt at propriety, pulling him into strong arms. Ianto can’t fight the single sob tearing from his throat, so he buries his face in Jack’s neck, breathing him in. Wrapping his arms equally tight around Jack, he can feel the small tremors’ running through the other man’s fatigued muscles. Wanting nothing more than to stay in his arms forever, Ianto feels Jack pull away after a long moment. Looking into the sparkling sapphire eyes he feared he would never again see shining, he tries to read Jack’s thoughts. But he needn’t look hard, because now Jack is kissing him for all his worth. It’s quick, hard and closed mouth, but to Ianto, at this moment, it is the best kiss he’s ever received. Stunned he watches as the other man walks away, encounters Owen and thankfully forgives him as well.
Title: Happenstance: End of Days
Rating: PG-13 for this chapter
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Spoilers: Through Season 1, episode 12
Summary: Set before and during ‘End of Days’, from Ianto’s perspective.
A/N: Can be read alone, if you've seen the episode it will make sense
Beta'ed by the 'Super'
frakkin_addict
Linky Links!:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 |
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“Tosh, what happened just now?”
“Maybe it was a glitch, a Rift spike? I’m just checking…”
She trails off and click clacks the keys in double time. Ianto flips through the Hub’s internal CCTV channels to check on Gwen, Rhys and Jack.
“Tosh…”
She is rapidly scanning code in roughly five windows, barely paying mind to Ianto’s voice.
“In a minute, I just need to…”
“Tosh, stop looking. We have a bigger problem.”
She looks up at him, seemingly coming out of a daze, innocently asking the obvious question.
“What?”
“Rhys…”
He turns his monitor so she can see the video feed. Squinting from a distance, she walks closer.
“Oh! Oh my God. Ianto!”
Were it not for the dire situation at hand, her expression would have been comical, all round eyes, pressing her hand over her mouth. But Ianto isn’t laughing.
I liked him actually, from Gwen’s stories he sounded like a nice bloke. It will kill her if he’s dead. Gwen, I’m so sorry. Sorry you got caught up in the godforsaken place with the rest of us.
Mutely, they stand there watching as Jack tries to calm and comfort Gwen. It is plain to see on the grainy video that Gwen is hysterical, and Jack is just barely hanging onto his self-control. Toshiko is the first to speak again, voice shaking and airy.
“Poor, Gwen.”
Poor Jack. It tears him apart to see one of us like this. After Mary, Diane, Lisa…
Ianto knows that he is reacting in shock, simply analyzing the things happening around him, in lieu of actually emoting. But he fiercely holds onto it, needing to function, to do something.
“We should-ahem-move the body. He can’t stay down there. I’ll get a gurney and take it down. If you think you could take over for Jack, he and I can transport it. ”
“I, um, sure. I’ll help you down with it.”
They speak in hushed tones, and move cautiously towards the medical bay. When they quietly reach the cells, Ianto waits patiently at the threshold while Tosh goes to extricate Gwen from Jack’s arms. He watches as the two of them coo at Gwen, transferring her into Tosh’s arms. They manage to get up off the floor, but can’t convince her to move more than arms length away from her fallen partner. Jack meets Ianto’s eyes, signaling him to enter with the gurney. There are tears staining his cheeks. Silently they lift Rhys’ body and lay him down, as ceremoniously as possible, to a fresh refrain of moaning sobs. Ianto doesn’t look, but he is certain that he can hear Tosh’s light soprano joining this verse. With a glance, Jack tells him to move out.
What a motley processional we must make. The seasoned war hero, the weeping lover, the sympathetic friend and the dispassionate porter.
Reaching the medical bay, Ianto and Jack place their parcel in the center. Gwen breaks out of Toshiko’s hold, moving to Rhys’ side immediately. Ianto grabs a stool for her to sit on, and Owen’s tool tray, where he places supplies to clean her hands. Sensing what he is planning, Jack brushes him aside to take over. Not knowing what to do without a clear task ahead of him, Ianto joins Tosh on the stairs. He shoves his hands into his pockets, not caring that he is pulling at his suit.
“I'll have to tell his family.”
When Gwen’s voice drifts over to him, it’s stronger than he expected. Wanting to be helpful, to relieve her of the macabre task of relating this death to her almost-family, he offers the only thing he can think of.
“We'll deal with it.”
“The way you dealt with that porter the first time I met you? No, you won't deal with him, Ianto.”
He was not expecting the venom in him her tone. Tosh tries too, only to be snapped at as well. Jack doesn’t even attempt to say anything, having already realized that there is simply nothing right to say. Her voice is bitter as she continues to address them.
“This is what happens here. We all end up alone. Not me. No way.”
She says it like an accusation, pitting Jack, Ianto and Tosh against her. Her gaze sweeps over them all, damning them each individually, and as an assembly. Finally she turns all her attention to Jack.
“You bring him back.”
“No.”
He answers her bluntly, but turns to leave her, rejoining his compatriots. She won’t be dissuaded, which has always been her biggest asset as a team member. When Jack refuses her again, her fragile shell begins to crumble once more.
“No, there's something wrong with time, so we, we can go back to the moment, to the very moment ...”
“Gwen ...”
“There's something you can do, otherwise WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT OF YOU?!”
She rushes Jack, attacking him with flying fists.
“You, you bring him back! Bring him back! You bring him back! Do you understand me, Jack-fucking-Harkness?”
He takes it for an instant, as if he wants to be hurt for letting her down. But he restrains her, hugging her to him tightly, murmuring into her hair.
“Gwen, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry.”
Completely focused on the dreadful tableau before him, Ianto jumps when he hears Owen behind him on the stairs.
“Oh, shit. What happened?”
Poor lovesick Toshiko greats him brightly, but Ianto can’t feel anything but dread at his arrival. The medic hurries to Gwen’s side, assuming that she will turn to him for comfort rather than scream at him to not touch. Regardless of being rebuffed by a possible ally, Owen presses his point home.
“How many other people have got to suffer? I'm gonna fix this. I'm opening the rift.”
“There's only one way to stop this, before things get worse. People will die, Ianto. Thousands of people. Unless you open the Rift”. Maybe they’re all right. Maybe if we do it right this time… Close it properly. The splinters in time might just close…
Making a snap decision, Ianto turns and follows Owen without a word. Jack’s voice rumbles after him.
“Make sure you stop him.”
He almost lets the comment slide, simply walking away to betray Jack, again. But his skin tingles at Jack’s assumption. Knowing that this may be the last decision that he ever gets to make for himself, he needs for Jack to know that he has chosen for himself.
“No.”
He turns before he can truly see the hurt and outrage on Jack’s face, but his mind fills in the gaps for him. It’s almost enough to make his steps falter; but not quite enough to dissuade him. Determined to see this through, Ianto struggles to shut out all of his doubts at disobeying Jack. He can feel it in every nerve that this is the only solution.
Even the Great Captain Jack Harkness and his trusty Torchwood Three team can do nothing to stop the Rift from obliterating the Earth. Except, just possibly, resetting it.
Tosh and Gwen follow him closely behind. Owen for his part, doesn’t seem at all surprised at this rally of support.
This is our only hope, there are no other solutions.
He sees that Owen is merely meandering through the system, not knowing the most direct route to their final destination. Ever helpful and efficient, Ianto speaks up.
“Enter Emergency Protocol One.”
Gwen takes over the keyboard, even while Tosh and Ianto watch on.
Clearly, Tosh has her doubts as well. But she’s not voicing them either. Oh well, onward and upward then.
Suddenly the room fills with the harsh blaring of the Rift alarm.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Get away from the computer, Gwen.”
Jack fairly growls from behind them, causing sparks to skitter down Ianto’s limbs.
“This is a trap. All these cracks around the world, they're diversions. This is what Bilis wants.”
Don’t look at him, be strong. I can’t let him sway me. This feels like the answer.
Gwen’s hands are shaking, hovering just over the keyboard. Ianto can’t stand the anticipation, so he prompts her with the password.
“Rhea Silva.”
Mother to Romulus and Remus, of Numitor, descendant of Aeneas. Silvia ‘of the forest’, Rea, meaning ‘guilty’.
A metallic click tangs in Ianto’s ears.
“I said, ‘Move’.”
Jack’s gun is trained on Gwen, less than 2 meters away. Ianto knows that Jack is deadly serious, having had this exact gun pointed at his own head. So he finds it somewhat ludicrous that Toshiko chooses this moment to chat.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Jack doesn’t even hear her.
“Final warning.”
Gwen turns to face him, also seemingly unaware of her very real and very present danger.
“Come on, Jack.”
“You're a united front now? Toshiko, the poor girl who'll screw any passing alien that gives her a pendant? Owen, so strong, he gets in a cage with a Weevil, desperate to be mauled. Or Ianto, hiding his cyber-girlfriend in the basement. Your three comrades here pumped bullets into her, remember?”
Anger seizes Ianto, fueling his certainty that Jack is wrong.
How can you be so blind to this? We fucked up. We opened the rift wrong, and now everything is going to shit. You said it yourself that it’s just going to spread. This is the only semi-logical cure. It doesn’t matter if it’s what Billis wants, as long as it works! How can you lash out at us when we’re only trying to fix what we broke!
Suddenly Gwen’s punching Jack, hard enough to make him fall to the ground, and Owen has the Jack’s Webley in his hands.
“We're relieving you of your command, ‘Captain’. We're opening that Rift and getting back what we lost!”
Move Ianto, do something!
His attention is drawn back to the screen.
RETINA PRINTS OF ALL TORCHWOOD PERSONNE REQUIRED FOR AUTHORISATION
“Stay down!”
Owen bellows, fingers itching to pull the trigger.
“You're in charge, Owen? You've gotta have significantly bigger balls.”
BANG.
Jack’s dead. Lying on the floor, blood leaking from his head wound. The shots keep coming, perforating his still form. Finally, Ianto has control of his motor skills again, as he moves to kneel beside Jack.
“What have you done?”
Hating himself more as every second passes, Ianto does his part to complete the emergency protocol sequence, trying all the while to ignore Jack’s prone form on the floor.
Even now, in defying Jack, in doing something that I believe is the correct course of action, I can’t take the lead.
He stands by as Gwen pauses, fleetingly, before finalizing the process. A pregnant moment, and then faint noises drift up from the cells. Ianto can almost identify the species by their cries. A growl sounds behind them, making Ianto flinch. Gwen screams as Jack claws at her leg, back from the dead. Owen gapes. Jack speaks, weak but commanding, reiterating Ianto’ s own question.
“What have you done?”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ianto and Gwen help Jack escape the Hub as it implodes. Nearly dragging the worn man down onto the road, Ianto is oddly struck by how rarely Jack accepts this type of help from others. Abruptly, Gwen steps away from them, leaving Ianto to hold Jack up on his own. He stops trying to move forward, knowing that it is as hopeless as trying to shift a mountain. He follows Gwen’s sightline. A small beady man in a cravat stands before them.
Bilis.
“From out of the darkness, he is come…Son of the Great Beast, cast out before time, chained in rock and imprisoned beneath the rift…All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer.”
Turning now to follow Bilis’ gaze, Torchwood views the greatest threat they’ve ever faced. Images flash in Ianto’s mind, of the many etchings he viewed only this morning while researching.
Chaos, this is chaos. The end of days has arrived, and there’s nothing we can do.
He can hear hundreds of people screaming, running from certain death. But their cries are cut off, moving the sound abruptly forward.
Death, everywhere death. It’s Canary Wharf multiplied.
Bilis stands before them, praising his personal god and damning them all. When his form disappears, Gwen turns to Jack, demanding orders.
“How do we stop it? Tell me what to do, Jack.”
How will he know? This isn’t an alien, it’s a myth, a fable, it’s not real, it’s Not real, please don’t be real.
There is a second when Ianto thinks that Jack will agree with his own desperate cynicism, but he straightens his back and singles out Gwen.
“Just you ... get me to an open space.”
What will you do? What can be done? The entire city will be dead before you even get there!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Gwen? Where are you are? What’s going on? We saw-something…”
Tosh trails off, obviously listening to Gwen on her ear comm. Ianto activates his own earpiece to listen in on the conversation. As soon as the line is opened, she looks to him as if he can translate Gwen’s loud wretched sobs into English.
“Gwen, bod dawelu. You have to tell us what’s happened.”
“I’ve got her location. I’ll just get Owen, we can be there in ten minutes.”
Tosh rushes off to find the medic, while Gwen continues to howl in his ear.
“Gwen! What has happened? Where is Jack?”
“Ohgodhe’sdead Ianto he’s-“
He doesn’t even hear her weeping any more, the pounding of his own heart obliterates other noise. Tosh is in front of him, presumably telling him that she and Owen will be back as soon as they can be, and to hold down the fort. He knows this because that’s what he always hears when he is left to man the Hub. Finally, the blaring alarm accompanying the closing cog door infiltrates his foggy mind.
He’ll be back, she just doesn’t-does she know? Who has he told? Why did I never ask him? No. It’s fine. He’ll come back. Jack, what have you done?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Peering past Gwen, Ianto studies Jack’s waxen features.
He doesn’t look real, like a store mannequin. How can that be the man I’ve fallen in love with?
He listens to Gwen arguing with Owen, as if that will change the facts.
“You're certain?”
“He's ice cold. No vital signs.”
“He survived when you shot him. When I first joined, he said he couldn't die.”
“He was wrong.”
He’s dead. He’s really dead.
Gwen refuses to leave the body, all but demanding that they all leave her with it. Ianto wants to be mature about this, let her have her time with him. He is well aware that she was the one who witnessed Jack’s last moments, and will therefore needs to process that. At the same time he is hurt that he wasn’t there for Jack when he sacrificed himself.
Maybe things would have ended the same way, maybe not. But I could have been there. With Jack. In the end. Of course, taking Gwen was probably his way of protecting me from this torment. Wouldn’t do to watch another lover die. Except that I don’t see it that way. All I want is the chance to say goodbye. You could have given me that, Jack.
He finds that he has wandered into Jack’s empty office, and straightens some papers out of habit. But being in Jack’s space, he can no longer stifle the tears that he has so carefully hidden from the others. His breathing becomes erratic, but he knows there’s nothing to do for it, now that it’s started. So he gives into an earlier impulse. As Owen cleaned Jack’s body, to prepare it for storage, Ianto had disposed of Jack’s ruined clothes. Except for his beloved coat. Now, no longer caring if the others see his despair, he crosses over to it, lifting it with care from the coat rack. Not wanting to admit that this may be the last time he will be able to indulge in drowning in Jack’s scent, he presses the worn wool to his face, inhaling deeply.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Helping Tosh tidy up was just another way to distract himself from thinking about Jack laying cold on a morgue slab. But Ianto learned a long time ago that creating order is the only logical way to handle stress. He’s never shared this information with his colleagues, but suspects that they understand the reason for his obsessive behaviors.
Maybe I do have a problem, OCD or something. I doubt that Owen would ever make mention, unless I started directly affecting him with my behavior. Bleaching his coffee mug without rinsing it or something. But aren’t obsessive-compulsives focused on the repetition of the action itself, rather than the outcome? I think I’ve read that somewhere… Everything I do is simply meticulous. It never bothers Jack-God, no Ianto, don’t. Push it aside; you can deal with it later. Once we have a plan, once you’re alone. Then you can break down and give into the crippling misery. But right now, the team needs you to be present. It’s just like when Lisa-shit, that still hurts. Just put it aside for now, do something productive. Focus on the task at hand. There are countless things to put right, floors to sweep, files to sort… I could put on another pot. We’ve been at this for a while already. Wait, where’s she going?
Ianto tracks Tosh across the hub until he notices what she rushing towards.
Jack’s alive…
Suddenly he can’t get past those two words, overlapping one another, filling his head with noise. He has the urge to run to him. He tries to make his muscles work, but feels like he’s walking through mud. He soldiers on, traveling the seemingly endless distance to the resurrected man. Then, face to face, he becomes painfully aware that they are on full display, as Gwen and Tosh are openly staring at Jack.
What is he thinking? Has he forgiven us for turning our backs on him? Has he forgiven me for betraying him again?
Awkwardly, he offers his hand to Jack, not certain what the appropriate greeting is in this kind of situation.
We’ve never even hugged in front of the others; he won’t want the tea boy clinging to him now. If he even wants speak to me after I disobeyed him.
Thankfully, Jack ignores his attempt at propriety, pulling him into strong arms. Ianto can’t fight the single sob tearing from his throat, so he buries his face in Jack’s neck, breathing him in. Wrapping his arms equally tight around Jack, he can feel the small tremors’ running through the other man’s fatigued muscles. Wanting nothing more than to stay in his arms forever, Ianto feels Jack pull away after a long moment. Looking into the sparkling sapphire eyes he feared he would never again see shining, he tries to read Jack’s thoughts. But he needn’t look hard, because now Jack is kissing him for all his worth. It’s quick, hard and closed mouth, but to Ianto, at this moment, it is the best kiss he’s ever received. Stunned he watches as the other man walks away, encounters Owen and thankfully forgives him as well.