Fic: Always (In Memoriam: Ianto Jones)
Always (In Memoriam: Ianto Jones)
Characters/pairings: Jack, Ianto, mentions of the Doctor and Ianto’s family
Rating: G
Word count: 1163
Warnings: This is gen, but contains vague references to the Jack/Ianto relationship in canon through the narrative, even though Ianto is about five. If this bothers you, please don’t read.
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or the Whoniverse or any of its characters. Those belong to RTD, the BBC, (Starz?) and in the case of the Doctor, Steven Moffat also. I am merely playing in their sandbox (no pun intended).
Summary: On a mission, Jack meets a crying five-year-old Ianto in the park. schmoop_bingo prompt: kidfic, kissbingo prompt: time: young.
Beta-ed by Dan Brown eldarwannabe who also put up with my whining, though I made some small changes again after. Thank you so much!
A/N: On Jack and “mum”: there’s two ways to see this- one is that after all his time in Wales Jack has picked up some nuances of the local speech though not the accent, or two- when talking to British people in general, Jack says “mum”, though when he talks about his own mother he says “mom”. I’m conveniently ignoring that Jack says “mum” in Adam and chalking that up to a John Barrowman thing rather than a continuity error with his accent.
This was written in honor of it being Ianto’s One-Year Deathiversary; unfortunately real life intervened, and it’s being posted late. It turned out surprisingly angsty, but has a nice ending I think. ::lights a candle::
Wales, 1989
Captain Jack Harkness casually stood outside a Newport playground and watched as it steadily cleared of children and adults alike as his shadow lengthened with the lowering sun . Eventually there was just one child left, and Jack hoped that no one else from Torchwood would show up to investigate the anomaly he had registered. A blue police box sighting was his territory.
After more time passed and no one came to pick up the child, Jack walked over to the sandbox where the kid was playing and crouched down in front of him. He was actually quite adorable, the way he was concentrating so hard on building his sand construct that he hadn’t noticed anything happening around him.
“Hey kid,” Jack asked gently, waiting until the kid looked at him, “where’s your mum? Surely she wouldn’t leave you alone like this?” Jack hoped a Weevil hadn’t gotten at her. He wondered if Weevils even came out to Newport.
The kid looked around, noticing for the first time that he was alone, and burst into tears.
“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Jack sputtered, “hold on, stop crying. Please stop crying, please.”
Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work.
Jack awkwardly rubbed the boy’s back in an attempt to calm him down, and after a few moments, he was only letting out sniffles and little hiccupy sobs. It was when the kid went to wipe his nose off on his sleeve that Jack started to fumble through his pockets for some form of tissue, breathing a sigh of relief when he found one.
“Blow,” he instructed, holding the tissue up to the kid’s nose. “So… what’s your name?”
“Ianto,” the kid said after using the tissue.
“Ianto,” Jack repeated, rolling the syllables over in his mouth, “a good Welsh name. Do you have a last name to go with it?”
“My mam told me not to talk to strangers.”
Jack bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. “I’m not a stranger,” he said, “I’m a cop and a captain. Captain Jack Harkness at your service.” He grinned, and almost laughed at Ianto’s wide-eyed wonder.
“Like in the army?” Ianto asked.
“Sort of. I was in the RAF. We fly planes,” he added at Ianto’s look of confusion. “C’mere. What are you doing all alone?”
Ianto bit his lip as it started to wobble again, “I was here with my sister, but she’s not here anymore,” his voice started to shake, “she wanted to play with her friends instead.”
“Hey, don’t cry again, Ianto; I’ll play with you.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” Jack said, shrugging off his coat and laying it over the one of the benches near him before sitting down in the sand. “Now what are we building?”
~*~*~
It was over an hour later, the sun had nearly set and still no one had shown up to claim Ianto. Jack allowed Ianto to lead them to where Ianto lived, though he hoped he would be able to find his way back to the park after.
“Which way?” Jack asked as they stopped at the corner, and Ianto had to take a moment to look around before pointing left.
Ianto had shocked Jack earlier by slipping his hand into Jack’s, explaining that his mam always made him hold an adult’s hand when crossing the street. It had been too long since Jack had held a child’s hand, and Ianto’s was so small.
When they finally reached Ianto’s house, the little boy stopped and stubbornly refused to walk up the driveway.
“I don’t want to get in trouble for being late,” he said with a pout, “they’ll be mad at me.”
“What? No! They’ll be happy that you’re home, Ianto, they love you.”
“No they don’t.” Ianto pouted harder, pulling on Jack’s hand as he marched up the walkway and knocked on the door. There was a small delay, before a middle-aged woman opened the door followed by a loud shriek of “Ianto!” from just behind her.
A young girl rushed out the door and grabbed Ianto, lifting him up into the air and hugging him tightly as she apologized repeatedly.
“Rhi, let go, you’re hurting me,” Ianto said, his voice muffled, and Jack realized that this must be Ianto’s sister.
“So who’re you and why do you have my son?” the woman-Ianto’s mother, Jack corrected himself-asked, leaning against the doorpost.
“Just a cop in the area,” Jack said with a shrug, reaching into his pocket for his credentials. He handed them to her and she took them skeptically.
“Huh. Special Ops,” she said, looking at it, “is he in trouble?”
“No, I just saw he was alone and offered to help.”
“Is he going to be in trouble?”
“No ma’am. He’s a cute kid, and I can see he takes after you.”
Ianto’s mother pinked at that, and reached for her children to usher them inside as she bid Jack goodnight.
“Can I say goodbye to Captain Jack?” Ianto asked in a small voice, and once his mother waved him on Jack found himself with a small child wrapped around his leg. “Goodbye Captain Jack,” Ianto said into Jack’s thigh, and Jack smiled and lifted Ianto into his arms.
“Hey, listen to me,” Jack began, making sure Ianto met his eyes as his voice dropped to a whisper, “We had fun today, but I want you to remember that there will always, always be someone out there who loves you, Ianto Jones. Even in a thousand years.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Thank you,” Ianto said, wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck and snuggling in.
No, thank you, Jack thought, placing a kiss to Ianto’s forehead before putting him down. “Now be good.”
He waited until Ianto was inside the threshold before turning around, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away as he heard the door shut behind him. At the corner of the block, Jack turned back, watching the shapes flit past the window of the Jones home as they went about their evening routine.
“So was it worth it?” A voice asked from behind him, and the immortal sighed but didn’t look away.
“It wasn’t enough,” Jack replied, “it was worth it, but it will never be enough.”
“Jack, look at me,” the man said, and Jack finally turned his head. “You still remember him, kept your promise, and in the process gave him something happy to remember. It wasn’t just yourself you helped today. Now come back to the TARDIS and we’ll put these clothes away until next time.”
“Thanks for letting me do this, Doctor.”
“I owe you, don’t I? And I want my psychic paper back too. I saw you using it.”
Jack handed the leather case back to the Doctor and they both walked back to the blue box on the corner. He stopped in the doorway, turning around for one last look at Newport.
“Always, Ianto Jones, always,” he whispered into the night air.
END
A/N 2: No, Ianto’s mother is not the best of parents, I did that on purpose.
xposted to dw/lj,
the_hub, torchwood_fic, jackxianto, and torchwoodcoffee
Characters/pairings: Jack, Ianto, mentions of the Doctor and Ianto’s family
Rating: G
Word count: 1163
Warnings: This is gen, but contains vague references to the Jack/Ianto relationship in canon through the narrative, even though Ianto is about five. If this bothers you, please don’t read.
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or the Whoniverse or any of its characters. Those belong to RTD, the BBC, (Starz?) and in the case of the Doctor, Steven Moffat also. I am merely playing in their sandbox (no pun intended).
Summary: On a mission, Jack meets a crying five-year-old Ianto in the park. schmoop_bingo prompt: kidfic, kissbingo prompt: time: young.
Beta-ed by Dan Brown eldarwannabe who also put up with my whining, though I made some small changes again after. Thank you so much!
A/N: On Jack and “mum”: there’s two ways to see this- one is that after all his time in Wales Jack has picked up some nuances of the local speech though not the accent, or two- when talking to British people in general, Jack says “mum”, though when he talks about his own mother he says “mom”. I’m conveniently ignoring that Jack says “mum” in Adam and chalking that up to a John Barrowman thing rather than a continuity error with his accent.
This was written in honor of it being Ianto’s One-Year Deathiversary; unfortunately real life intervened, and it’s being posted late. It turned out surprisingly angsty, but has a nice ending I think. ::lights a candle::
Wales, 1989
Captain Jack Harkness casually stood outside a Newport playground and watched as it steadily cleared of children and adults alike as his shadow lengthened with the lowering sun . Eventually there was just one child left, and Jack hoped that no one else from Torchwood would show up to investigate the anomaly he had registered. A blue police box sighting was his territory.
After more time passed and no one came to pick up the child, Jack walked over to the sandbox where the kid was playing and crouched down in front of him. He was actually quite adorable, the way he was concentrating so hard on building his sand construct that he hadn’t noticed anything happening around him.
“Hey kid,” Jack asked gently, waiting until the kid looked at him, “where’s your mum? Surely she wouldn’t leave you alone like this?” Jack hoped a Weevil hadn’t gotten at her. He wondered if Weevils even came out to Newport.
The kid looked around, noticing for the first time that he was alone, and burst into tears.
“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Jack sputtered, “hold on, stop crying. Please stop crying, please.”
Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work.
Jack awkwardly rubbed the boy’s back in an attempt to calm him down, and after a few moments, he was only letting out sniffles and little hiccupy sobs. It was when the kid went to wipe his nose off on his sleeve that Jack started to fumble through his pockets for some form of tissue, breathing a sigh of relief when he found one.
“Blow,” he instructed, holding the tissue up to the kid’s nose. “So… what’s your name?”
“Ianto,” the kid said after using the tissue.
“Ianto,” Jack repeated, rolling the syllables over in his mouth, “a good Welsh name. Do you have a last name to go with it?”
“My mam told me not to talk to strangers.”
Jack bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. “I’m not a stranger,” he said, “I’m a cop and a captain. Captain Jack Harkness at your service.” He grinned, and almost laughed at Ianto’s wide-eyed wonder.
“Like in the army?” Ianto asked.
“Sort of. I was in the RAF. We fly planes,” he added at Ianto’s look of confusion. “C’mere. What are you doing all alone?”
Ianto bit his lip as it started to wobble again, “I was here with my sister, but she’s not here anymore,” his voice started to shake, “she wanted to play with her friends instead.”
“Hey, don’t cry again, Ianto; I’ll play with you.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” Jack said, shrugging off his coat and laying it over the one of the benches near him before sitting down in the sand. “Now what are we building?”
~*~*~
It was over an hour later, the sun had nearly set and still no one had shown up to claim Ianto. Jack allowed Ianto to lead them to where Ianto lived, though he hoped he would be able to find his way back to the park after.
“Which way?” Jack asked as they stopped at the corner, and Ianto had to take a moment to look around before pointing left.
Ianto had shocked Jack earlier by slipping his hand into Jack’s, explaining that his mam always made him hold an adult’s hand when crossing the street. It had been too long since Jack had held a child’s hand, and Ianto’s was so small.
When they finally reached Ianto’s house, the little boy stopped and stubbornly refused to walk up the driveway.
“I don’t want to get in trouble for being late,” he said with a pout, “they’ll be mad at me.”
“What? No! They’ll be happy that you’re home, Ianto, they love you.”
“No they don’t.” Ianto pouted harder, pulling on Jack’s hand as he marched up the walkway and knocked on the door. There was a small delay, before a middle-aged woman opened the door followed by a loud shriek of “Ianto!” from just behind her.
A young girl rushed out the door and grabbed Ianto, lifting him up into the air and hugging him tightly as she apologized repeatedly.
“Rhi, let go, you’re hurting me,” Ianto said, his voice muffled, and Jack realized that this must be Ianto’s sister.
“So who’re you and why do you have my son?” the woman-Ianto’s mother, Jack corrected himself-asked, leaning against the doorpost.
“Just a cop in the area,” Jack said with a shrug, reaching into his pocket for his credentials. He handed them to her and she took them skeptically.
“Huh. Special Ops,” she said, looking at it, “is he in trouble?”
“No, I just saw he was alone and offered to help.”
“Is he going to be in trouble?”
“No ma’am. He’s a cute kid, and I can see he takes after you.”
Ianto’s mother pinked at that, and reached for her children to usher them inside as she bid Jack goodnight.
“Can I say goodbye to Captain Jack?” Ianto asked in a small voice, and once his mother waved him on Jack found himself with a small child wrapped around his leg. “Goodbye Captain Jack,” Ianto said into Jack’s thigh, and Jack smiled and lifted Ianto into his arms.
“Hey, listen to me,” Jack began, making sure Ianto met his eyes as his voice dropped to a whisper, “We had fun today, but I want you to remember that there will always, always be someone out there who loves you, Ianto Jones. Even in a thousand years.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Thank you,” Ianto said, wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck and snuggling in.
No, thank you, Jack thought, placing a kiss to Ianto’s forehead before putting him down. “Now be good.”
He waited until Ianto was inside the threshold before turning around, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away as he heard the door shut behind him. At the corner of the block, Jack turned back, watching the shapes flit past the window of the Jones home as they went about their evening routine.
“So was it worth it?” A voice asked from behind him, and the immortal sighed but didn’t look away.
“It wasn’t enough,” Jack replied, “it was worth it, but it will never be enough.”
“Jack, look at me,” the man said, and Jack finally turned his head. “You still remember him, kept your promise, and in the process gave him something happy to remember. It wasn’t just yourself you helped today. Now come back to the TARDIS and we’ll put these clothes away until next time.”
“Thanks for letting me do this, Doctor.”
“I owe you, don’t I? And I want my psychic paper back too. I saw you using it.”
Jack handed the leather case back to the Doctor and they both walked back to the blue box on the corner. He stopped in the doorway, turning around for one last look at Newport.
“Always, Ianto Jones, always,” he whispered into the night air.
END
A/N 2: No, Ianto’s mother is not the best of parents, I did that on purpose.
xposted to dw/lj,
the_hub, torchwood_fic, jackxianto, and torchwoodcoffee