Cross Roads - Rewind 11/?
Title: Cross Roads - Rewind 11/?
Rating: 15 maybe?
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Captain John
Chapters: Sequel to “Sleeping With The Enemy.”
Spoilers: Anything Torchwood could be hinted at.
Summary: Jack’s despair can no longer be hidden from the team whilst hope is dawning for Ianto in the form of the Captain who was never his.
Disclaimer: Regrettably I own nothing, none of the characters, zip. Wish I did though.
Author’s Notes: Yup, me again. I thought I’d post more rewind, mostly down to
naddypants :P. Big thanks has to go to all my great readers, and to
2nd_toshiko for being the most efficient beta! As ever, all comments are adored and loved! Thank you :)
Chapter One: So Much For My Happy Ending
Chapter Two: Lost But Not Found
Chapter Three: Call Me When You’re Sober
Chapter Four: In The Cold Light Of Morning
Chapter Five: Remember Me
Chapter Six: Chasing Parallels
Chapter Seven: Who Am I?
Chapter Eight: I love you, I’ll kill you
Chapter Nine: Where Have The Good Men Gone?
Chapter Ten: Sleeping With The Enemy
Dedicated to the always amazing
2nd_toshiko and
naddypants. You girls really are great. :)
Toshiko Sato had always been a morning person. There was something nice about being awake when the rest of the world was asleep. The world was hers, it was quiet, peaceful. She could think.
It was for this reason that Tosh was always at the Hub early, and why Ianto had given her a key (with Jack’s blessing) to the tourist office so that she could let herself in. Ianto. Toshiko found herself sighing, her thoughts wandering to the friend she’d lost. The best friend she’d lost. The man who had given her away on her wedding day.
Although now, Tosh never came into work alone. Her dead husband would come with her, he didn’t need to sleep anyway, and besides, Owen would barely leave her side. At night he would just lie beside her, which Tosh had felt guilty about, until Owen told her that it was the only thing that gave him peace. Toshiko liked that. The fact that the man she loved could watch over her when she couldn’t watch out for herself.
Making their way down to the Hub, Tosh noticed that the large chasm was silent, except for the soft murmurings and beeps of the rift monitor.
“Tea boy isn’t back yet.” Owen announced, dropping his coat onto his chair. “If he’s so ill, why won’t Jack let me check him over?”
“He just needs rest, Owen.” Tosh felt herself lie, her heart stinging because she knew just how far away Ianto was. “He’ll be back in no time.” She gave him a soft smile, hanging up her own coat. “I’m going to go and see if Jack’s in his office.”
Jack’s office door was closed, something that Tosh rarely used to see before Ianto had gone missing. Anxiously, she tapped her knuckles on the wood, knocking harder when there was no answer. As the silence continued, she forced open the door, the wood jamming slightly from lack of use.
“Jack?” Tosh felt herself gasp, heart jumping as she saw her Captain lie in the corner, back leaning against the wall. She found herself running to his side immediately, yelling for Owen. “Jack?!” She felt herself shriek, as the Captain’s head lolled to one side.
“What the-” Owen was on his knees beside them, reaching down for Jack’s wrist, trying to find the non existent pulse. He looked up at Jack’s head, noticing a dark red streak running down the brick behind it, leading up to a larger patch of an even deeper red stain. Owen traced it with his fingers, the colour rubbing off in small flakes. Dried blood…..
“Tosh…” He breathed, pointing to the gun that lay in Jack’s lap. “Get rid of that will you?”
“He didn’t……….Owen, he’s not tried to….” Tosh couldn’t finish her throat clogging as she slid the gun across the floor towards the other end of the room.
“I think he might have, Tosh.” Owen paused, looking at Jack’s head for an entry wound. “But he didn’t do this recently. There’s no wound.”
“Then why isn’t he breathing?”
“More likely because of these.” The young doctor reached down to Jack’s side, picking up an empty whisky bottle and the remainder of a packet of sleeping tablets. “He stinks of it. I’d say this was pretty recent.”
They sat there in silence; after all there was nothing else that they could do. Simply wait for Jack to come back to them, wait for him to claw his way back into life. And, exactly 1 minute later, Jack was gasping for breath, his chest moving almost out of control.
“Jack?” Owen said clearly, holding his body down whilst he clutched at his shirt. “Jack, its Owen. Can you hear me?”
“Owen……” The Captain breathed, gulping in air like a fish out of water. “I’m sorry.” He managed to mutter, pulling himself up so he was sitting upright, hands running through his hair. “My head……” He grimaced. “I’m so sorry…….I just wanted to stay asleep……..it wouldn’t work…….I was drunk……..I…….Oh God……”
“Jack….you’re making no sense.”
“Ianto……” The Captain murmured softly, making eye contact with the young doctor. “I’ve lost him, Owen.”
Rain hammered against the windows, as Ianto opened his eyes, lifting his hands to rub at them. He stretched, feeling warmth cover his entire body. Looking around him for the first time, Ianto felt his heart jump, the apartment so unfamiliar around him. He sat up, his brain waking up, remembering.
John was nowhere to be seen, the room empty of him or of any noise. Ianto panicked, searching the room around him, eyes scanning everywhere. He couldn’t abandon him….
“John?” He called out, bringing the sheets up to cover his bare torso. “John?!”
“I’m here. Calm down.” The Captain smirked, standing in the doorway, looking so different without his military jacket. He looked clean now too, his shirt a bright white, hair slightly dampened. “No point covering up, eye candy.” He winked, stepping towards him. “I brought you this. That’s what domestic people do, right?” He placed a mug of what looked like coffee onto the table beside Ianto.
“You? Domestic?” Ianto laughed, taking the mug in his hands and giving it a testing sip. “This isn’t half bad. How did you do it?”
“When you’ve been around like me, you learn things.” The Captain smiled. “Don’t we have a date with a Captain this morning?”
“You do. I can’t face him.”
“You’re going to have to.” John paused, bending over to pick up Ianto’s shirt from the floor. “I doubt he’ll help me alone….but with you…..” He threw the shirt at the younger man.
“What about me?”
“I saw what happened at the dock remember? He cares about you. Maybe not in the way you’d like him to, but he cares.”
“So you think he’ll help me?”
“It’s what I’m counting on.”
“And what if he doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll have to hope he’s still as much of a conman as he was.” John gave him a short smirk, nodding his head towards the coffee. “Drink that and get dressed. We need to get going.”
It was surreal, following John. He had the same authority as Jack, that same air that you could follow him to the end of the earths and it would be ok. Except with John, this felt so alien, because Ianto’s own perception of him stood in the way. He still felt like he hated John, felt like he should kill him because of what he’d done. But that no longer felt like the John he was with now. It was as if this John was another person, like he had never been the man who had poisoned Gwen, who’d left all the team for dead. This John was contrary to everything that Ianto believed in.
As he hammered at Jack’s door, Ianto felt his own heart hammer in his chest. Flashes of the morning before ran before his eyes. The way he’d told this Jack everything, the way he’d argued, the way he’d try to change him. He could see Jack’s face; see the sorrow reflected back at him, the hurt. He’d caused that. And now he was there begging for help.
“Go away!” There was a harsh yell from behind the door as Ianto continued to bang against it. “I don’t want whatever it is that you’re selling!”
“Jack!” Ianto called out, glancing unsurely to John who was standing out of sight next to him. “Jack, its Ianto!” There was silence, before Ianto heard the familiar tumble of a key being turned within the door. Slowly it opened, rusted hinges creaking slightly.
“Jones?” Jack looked at him, his face pale and drawn, the rings around his eyes as dark as the black baggy trousers he wore.
“Jack. I need to talk to you.”
“We talked enough yesterday. Wasn’t I clear?” The Captain snapped, hand moving to close the door.
“We need your help, Jack.” Ianto said quickly, putting his foot in the way so that the door couldn’t close.
“We?”
“Yes.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me.” John gulped, before taking a step forwards. “Hello, Jack.”
“John?” Jack’s face was blank, his mouth open slightly, eyes as if they’d seen a ghost. “Please tell me its you.”
“It is me.” Ianto watched as John’s face was passive, his eyes locked with the Captain’s.
“And you’re from another world?” Jack mumbled, taking a tentative step forward.
“Yes.”
“I see.” Jack swallowed hard, his gaze not leaving John’s. But this wasn’t like the last time Ianto realised. There wasn’t any resentment, any anger in Jack’s eyes. But there was something more…… “You better come in.” Jack nodded, standing aside so they could move past him. He forced them a smile. “I guess that’s what you want?”
Shoving the assortment of beer bottles, pizza boxes and take away cartons from the worn leather sofa, Jack indicated for them to sit down, collapsing down into the armchair opposite, resting his head in his hands. He rubbed at his face, breathing hard.
“You said you needed my help.” He grunted, reaching across to the table in front of them and taking a large swig from what looked to be a bottle of whisky. Ianto shuddered; the similarities between Jacks were almost too much. “Why’s that?” He held out the bottle to Ianto, who shook his head, watching John in disgust as he accepted it and took just as big a gulp as Jack. The alcohol seemed to affect neither of them.
“I need help fixing my wrist strap.” John sighed, taking it off and throwing it to the other Captain. “I managed to do a reality jump. But the circuits fried straight afterwards. I can’t even get a current to go through it anymore.”
“Who are you kidding, John?” Jack smiled, opening it up and staring at the fine circuit boards. “You could never modify it like this. It’s all too neat for a start…..” He paused, pulling a wire loose before tearing out carelessly. “Or in your world are you suddenly a genius?”
“Hey!” John gasped, watching him rip into the device. “Ok, so I got some help from a girl…….but still, I need to fix it so I can-”
“So you can send Jones home?” Jack looked up, unwittingly finishing his sentence.
“Yeah.”
“And what about you?”
“I’ll do what I’ve always done. Free spirited, that’s me.”
“That what they’re calling it these days?” Jack quipped, returning his attention to the wrist strap lying in his lap.
“Can you fix it?” Ianto felt as if he was intruding, sat amongst two time agents, two men so similar in some ways they could be doubles. His eyes met with Jack’s. “I mean. Can you do it?”
“Maybe.” Jack sighed, putting it down beside him. “It’s pretty advanced though. And I’m missing something pretty important.”
“What’s that?”
“I need a battery, something durable, doesn’t have to be new.”
“What’s so hard about that?”
“Usually….” John butted in, looking anxious. “The wrist strap works off my own body heat, it recycles energy and so it doesn’t need a battery. But he needs power to kick start it. Nothing fancy, just a tiny battery that will pump something back into it and get it going again. Except this is a parallel world, the energy here is totally different. It’s not compatible with my device.”
“So even if I manage to fix it, I can’t get it powered up.” Jack nodded in agreement.
Ianto paused, thinking. He hadn’t brought anything through into this world with him except what he always carried. He never carried batteries, so he had nothing. This realisation hit him hard in the stomach. His brain wretched. That was it then. Until Ianto remembered something. He reached into his jeans pocket, feeling the familiar lump underneath the fabric.
“What about this?” Pulling out his stopwatch, Ianto handed it over to Jack. “It’s got a battery right?”
“It could work.” Jack tossed the object around in his hands. “I don’t need much energy; the wrist strap should amplify whatever I feed it with.” He stopped, looking up. “It’ll mean breaking this though.”
“I don’t care.” Ianto shrugged off the sentiment, forgetting the years as a family heirloom that the watch had given him. “I just want to get home.”
“Okay, then.” Jack smiled. “I’ll try and fix this.” He gave them both a serious look. “I can’t promise anything, though. This is too far over my head.”
“I understand.” Ianto swallowed, suppressing the growing anticipation and hope in his heart. He wasn’t sure how he could take the news that Jack hadn’t been able to fix the wrist strap if he let his hope get the best of him.
“Shall we cut to the chase?” John smirked, leaning forward so he could talk to Jack closer. “What’s it going to cost us?”
“Nothing.”
“Now you’re the one kidding with me. I know you, Jack Harkness.”
“You might know me, but he knows what I can become.” Jack paused, nodding in Ianto’s direction.
“Me? But you said-”
“I know what you said.” Jack smiled, taking another large gulp of whisky before continuing. “But I’ve had time to think. Sometimes, the smallest gestures cause the biggest changes, right?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You do. You said I could change. Maybe I can. I’ll never know if I don’t try.”
“Thank you.” Ianto nodded, giving Jack a short, yet sweet smile. “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”
“You don’t have to.” Jack met his gaze, watching his eyes. “It’s all right there.”
They left the device with Jack, moving outside into the corridor, Ianto’s mind a blur of thoughts, emotions whizzing across his synapses at light speed. So much had happened in the last hour. They’d covered so much ground.
“So what now?” Ianto asked, resting against the corridor wall.
“We wait.” John sighed, scratching at his head.
“And in the meantime?”
“The world’s your oyster, eye candy.”
“Oh, great.” Ianto smiled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “How long?”
“I have no idea.” John stood beside him, resting his head on the wall. “It could take days, weeks, months. Jack’s good, but this technology……Zara was better.”
“You talk about her a lot.”
“I do?” John gave Ianto a gentle laugh, although his eyes stayed passive. “If I’m honest, I feel guilty. I left her like she was nothing.”
“And was she?”
“No, she was something alright. I didn’t love her, but she never deserved what I did to her.”
“Would you go back to her?”
“Nah…” The Captain paused, inhaling deeply before continuing. “Type of girl she was, I’d be dead before I managed to say anything.”
“Charming girl.” Ianto let out a dark chuckle, turning to the older man. “So what will you do now?”
“I think I’m going to stay. Curiosity has got the better of me now. I want to know what I meant to this Jack.” He smiled, turning to the Welshman. “How about you?”
“I don’t know.” Ianto shrugged, feeling something brush against his hand in his pocket. Pulling out, his eyes quickly flicked across the crumpled business card. “You know what? I think I’m going to give my sister a ring.” He grinned, holding the card out to John.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“She suggested it. She doesn’t know who I am. You said so yourself.”
“But what’s to stop you losing it? Like you did with Jack?”
“Nothing.” Ianto breathed. “But I want to know she’s happy in this world. That the life she’s living here is worth it. I’ve never had the chance to see her grow up with me.”
“It’s dangerous.” John warned, his eyes serious. “If you get too attached, what happens when you have to give her up to go home?”
“You make her sound like a pet.”
“Same principle.” John stepped away from the wall, making a move to Jack’s door. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do Ianto.”
“Sounds like it.”
“I’m not. I just don’t want you to have any ties to this world. Because if you ever do get the chance to go home, you’re going to have to face the realisation that they’ll be broken forever.”
“I know that John.”
“I know. But I don’t think you’ve realised it yet.”
Long chapter this one, but still, melodrama all around eh? Or at least for real Jack…. Anyways, as always I’d love to know what you think if you have the time! :D Thanks!
Just Being Me
xxxx
Click here for the next chapter, "My Past, Your Future, Our Present."
Rating: 15 maybe?
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Captain John
Chapters: Sequel to “Sleeping With The Enemy.”
Spoilers: Anything Torchwood could be hinted at.
Summary: Jack’s despair can no longer be hidden from the team whilst hope is dawning for Ianto in the form of the Captain who was never his.
Disclaimer: Regrettably I own nothing, none of the characters, zip. Wish I did though.
Author’s Notes: Yup, me again. I thought I’d post more rewind, mostly down to
naddypants :P. Big thanks has to go to all my great readers, and to
2nd_toshiko for being the most efficient beta! As ever, all comments are adored and loved! Thank you :)
Chapter One: So Much For My Happy Ending
Chapter Two: Lost But Not Found
Chapter Three: Call Me When You’re Sober
Chapter Four: In The Cold Light Of Morning
Chapter Five: Remember Me
Chapter Six: Chasing Parallels
Chapter Seven: Who Am I?
Chapter Eight: I love you, I’ll kill you
Chapter Nine: Where Have The Good Men Gone?
Chapter Ten: Sleeping With The Enemy
Dedicated to the always amazing
2nd_toshiko and
naddypants. You girls really are great. :)
Toshiko Sato had always been a morning person. There was something nice about being awake when the rest of the world was asleep. The world was hers, it was quiet, peaceful. She could think.
It was for this reason that Tosh was always at the Hub early, and why Ianto had given her a key (with Jack’s blessing) to the tourist office so that she could let herself in. Ianto. Toshiko found herself sighing, her thoughts wandering to the friend she’d lost. The best friend she’d lost. The man who had given her away on her wedding day.
Although now, Tosh never came into work alone. Her dead husband would come with her, he didn’t need to sleep anyway, and besides, Owen would barely leave her side. At night he would just lie beside her, which Tosh had felt guilty about, until Owen told her that it was the only thing that gave him peace. Toshiko liked that. The fact that the man she loved could watch over her when she couldn’t watch out for herself.
Making their way down to the Hub, Tosh noticed that the large chasm was silent, except for the soft murmurings and beeps of the rift monitor.
“Tea boy isn’t back yet.” Owen announced, dropping his coat onto his chair. “If he’s so ill, why won’t Jack let me check him over?”
“He just needs rest, Owen.” Tosh felt herself lie, her heart stinging because she knew just how far away Ianto was. “He’ll be back in no time.” She gave him a soft smile, hanging up her own coat. “I’m going to go and see if Jack’s in his office.”
Jack’s office door was closed, something that Tosh rarely used to see before Ianto had gone missing. Anxiously, she tapped her knuckles on the wood, knocking harder when there was no answer. As the silence continued, she forced open the door, the wood jamming slightly from lack of use.
“Jack?” Tosh felt herself gasp, heart jumping as she saw her Captain lie in the corner, back leaning against the wall. She found herself running to his side immediately, yelling for Owen. “Jack?!” She felt herself shriek, as the Captain’s head lolled to one side.
“What the-” Owen was on his knees beside them, reaching down for Jack’s wrist, trying to find the non existent pulse. He looked up at Jack’s head, noticing a dark red streak running down the brick behind it, leading up to a larger patch of an even deeper red stain. Owen traced it with his fingers, the colour rubbing off in small flakes. Dried blood…..
“Tosh…” He breathed, pointing to the gun that lay in Jack’s lap. “Get rid of that will you?”
“He didn’t……….Owen, he’s not tried to….” Tosh couldn’t finish her throat clogging as she slid the gun across the floor towards the other end of the room.
“I think he might have, Tosh.” Owen paused, looking at Jack’s head for an entry wound. “But he didn’t do this recently. There’s no wound.”
“Then why isn’t he breathing?”
“More likely because of these.” The young doctor reached down to Jack’s side, picking up an empty whisky bottle and the remainder of a packet of sleeping tablets. “He stinks of it. I’d say this was pretty recent.”
They sat there in silence; after all there was nothing else that they could do. Simply wait for Jack to come back to them, wait for him to claw his way back into life. And, exactly 1 minute later, Jack was gasping for breath, his chest moving almost out of control.
“Jack?” Owen said clearly, holding his body down whilst he clutched at his shirt. “Jack, its Owen. Can you hear me?”
“Owen……” The Captain breathed, gulping in air like a fish out of water. “I’m sorry.” He managed to mutter, pulling himself up so he was sitting upright, hands running through his hair. “My head……” He grimaced. “I’m so sorry…….I just wanted to stay asleep……..it wouldn’t work…….I was drunk……..I…….Oh God……”
“Jack….you’re making no sense.”
“Ianto……” The Captain murmured softly, making eye contact with the young doctor. “I’ve lost him, Owen.”
Rain hammered against the windows, as Ianto opened his eyes, lifting his hands to rub at them. He stretched, feeling warmth cover his entire body. Looking around him for the first time, Ianto felt his heart jump, the apartment so unfamiliar around him. He sat up, his brain waking up, remembering.
John was nowhere to be seen, the room empty of him or of any noise. Ianto panicked, searching the room around him, eyes scanning everywhere. He couldn’t abandon him….
“John?” He called out, bringing the sheets up to cover his bare torso. “John?!”
“I’m here. Calm down.” The Captain smirked, standing in the doorway, looking so different without his military jacket. He looked clean now too, his shirt a bright white, hair slightly dampened. “No point covering up, eye candy.” He winked, stepping towards him. “I brought you this. That’s what domestic people do, right?” He placed a mug of what looked like coffee onto the table beside Ianto.
“You? Domestic?” Ianto laughed, taking the mug in his hands and giving it a testing sip. “This isn’t half bad. How did you do it?”
“When you’ve been around like me, you learn things.” The Captain smiled. “Don’t we have a date with a Captain this morning?”
“You do. I can’t face him.”
“You’re going to have to.” John paused, bending over to pick up Ianto’s shirt from the floor. “I doubt he’ll help me alone….but with you…..” He threw the shirt at the younger man.
“What about me?”
“I saw what happened at the dock remember? He cares about you. Maybe not in the way you’d like him to, but he cares.”
“So you think he’ll help me?”
“It’s what I’m counting on.”
“And what if he doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll have to hope he’s still as much of a conman as he was.” John gave him a short smirk, nodding his head towards the coffee. “Drink that and get dressed. We need to get going.”
It was surreal, following John. He had the same authority as Jack, that same air that you could follow him to the end of the earths and it would be ok. Except with John, this felt so alien, because Ianto’s own perception of him stood in the way. He still felt like he hated John, felt like he should kill him because of what he’d done. But that no longer felt like the John he was with now. It was as if this John was another person, like he had never been the man who had poisoned Gwen, who’d left all the team for dead. This John was contrary to everything that Ianto believed in.
As he hammered at Jack’s door, Ianto felt his own heart hammer in his chest. Flashes of the morning before ran before his eyes. The way he’d told this Jack everything, the way he’d argued, the way he’d try to change him. He could see Jack’s face; see the sorrow reflected back at him, the hurt. He’d caused that. And now he was there begging for help.
“Go away!” There was a harsh yell from behind the door as Ianto continued to bang against it. “I don’t want whatever it is that you’re selling!”
“Jack!” Ianto called out, glancing unsurely to John who was standing out of sight next to him. “Jack, its Ianto!” There was silence, before Ianto heard the familiar tumble of a key being turned within the door. Slowly it opened, rusted hinges creaking slightly.
“Jones?” Jack looked at him, his face pale and drawn, the rings around his eyes as dark as the black baggy trousers he wore.
“Jack. I need to talk to you.”
“We talked enough yesterday. Wasn’t I clear?” The Captain snapped, hand moving to close the door.
“We need your help, Jack.” Ianto said quickly, putting his foot in the way so that the door couldn’t close.
“We?”
“Yes.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me.” John gulped, before taking a step forwards. “Hello, Jack.”
“John?” Jack’s face was blank, his mouth open slightly, eyes as if they’d seen a ghost. “Please tell me its you.”
“It is me.” Ianto watched as John’s face was passive, his eyes locked with the Captain’s.
“And you’re from another world?” Jack mumbled, taking a tentative step forward.
“Yes.”
“I see.” Jack swallowed hard, his gaze not leaving John’s. But this wasn’t like the last time Ianto realised. There wasn’t any resentment, any anger in Jack’s eyes. But there was something more…… “You better come in.” Jack nodded, standing aside so they could move past him. He forced them a smile. “I guess that’s what you want?”
Shoving the assortment of beer bottles, pizza boxes and take away cartons from the worn leather sofa, Jack indicated for them to sit down, collapsing down into the armchair opposite, resting his head in his hands. He rubbed at his face, breathing hard.
“You said you needed my help.” He grunted, reaching across to the table in front of them and taking a large swig from what looked to be a bottle of whisky. Ianto shuddered; the similarities between Jacks were almost too much. “Why’s that?” He held out the bottle to Ianto, who shook his head, watching John in disgust as he accepted it and took just as big a gulp as Jack. The alcohol seemed to affect neither of them.
“I need help fixing my wrist strap.” John sighed, taking it off and throwing it to the other Captain. “I managed to do a reality jump. But the circuits fried straight afterwards. I can’t even get a current to go through it anymore.”
“Who are you kidding, John?” Jack smiled, opening it up and staring at the fine circuit boards. “You could never modify it like this. It’s all too neat for a start…..” He paused, pulling a wire loose before tearing out carelessly. “Or in your world are you suddenly a genius?”
“Hey!” John gasped, watching him rip into the device. “Ok, so I got some help from a girl…….but still, I need to fix it so I can-”
“So you can send Jones home?” Jack looked up, unwittingly finishing his sentence.
“Yeah.”
“And what about you?”
“I’ll do what I’ve always done. Free spirited, that’s me.”
“That what they’re calling it these days?” Jack quipped, returning his attention to the wrist strap lying in his lap.
“Can you fix it?” Ianto felt as if he was intruding, sat amongst two time agents, two men so similar in some ways they could be doubles. His eyes met with Jack’s. “I mean. Can you do it?”
“Maybe.” Jack sighed, putting it down beside him. “It’s pretty advanced though. And I’m missing something pretty important.”
“What’s that?”
“I need a battery, something durable, doesn’t have to be new.”
“What’s so hard about that?”
“Usually….” John butted in, looking anxious. “The wrist strap works off my own body heat, it recycles energy and so it doesn’t need a battery. But he needs power to kick start it. Nothing fancy, just a tiny battery that will pump something back into it and get it going again. Except this is a parallel world, the energy here is totally different. It’s not compatible with my device.”
“So even if I manage to fix it, I can’t get it powered up.” Jack nodded in agreement.
Ianto paused, thinking. He hadn’t brought anything through into this world with him except what he always carried. He never carried batteries, so he had nothing. This realisation hit him hard in the stomach. His brain wretched. That was it then. Until Ianto remembered something. He reached into his jeans pocket, feeling the familiar lump underneath the fabric.
“What about this?” Pulling out his stopwatch, Ianto handed it over to Jack. “It’s got a battery right?”
“It could work.” Jack tossed the object around in his hands. “I don’t need much energy; the wrist strap should amplify whatever I feed it with.” He stopped, looking up. “It’ll mean breaking this though.”
“I don’t care.” Ianto shrugged off the sentiment, forgetting the years as a family heirloom that the watch had given him. “I just want to get home.”
“Okay, then.” Jack smiled. “I’ll try and fix this.” He gave them both a serious look. “I can’t promise anything, though. This is too far over my head.”
“I understand.” Ianto swallowed, suppressing the growing anticipation and hope in his heart. He wasn’t sure how he could take the news that Jack hadn’t been able to fix the wrist strap if he let his hope get the best of him.
“Shall we cut to the chase?” John smirked, leaning forward so he could talk to Jack closer. “What’s it going to cost us?”
“Nothing.”
“Now you’re the one kidding with me. I know you, Jack Harkness.”
“You might know me, but he knows what I can become.” Jack paused, nodding in Ianto’s direction.
“Me? But you said-”
“I know what you said.” Jack smiled, taking another large gulp of whisky before continuing. “But I’ve had time to think. Sometimes, the smallest gestures cause the biggest changes, right?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You do. You said I could change. Maybe I can. I’ll never know if I don’t try.”
“Thank you.” Ianto nodded, giving Jack a short, yet sweet smile. “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”
“You don’t have to.” Jack met his gaze, watching his eyes. “It’s all right there.”
They left the device with Jack, moving outside into the corridor, Ianto’s mind a blur of thoughts, emotions whizzing across his synapses at light speed. So much had happened in the last hour. They’d covered so much ground.
“So what now?” Ianto asked, resting against the corridor wall.
“We wait.” John sighed, scratching at his head.
“And in the meantime?”
“The world’s your oyster, eye candy.”
“Oh, great.” Ianto smiled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “How long?”
“I have no idea.” John stood beside him, resting his head on the wall. “It could take days, weeks, months. Jack’s good, but this technology……Zara was better.”
“You talk about her a lot.”
“I do?” John gave Ianto a gentle laugh, although his eyes stayed passive. “If I’m honest, I feel guilty. I left her like she was nothing.”
“And was she?”
“No, she was something alright. I didn’t love her, but she never deserved what I did to her.”
“Would you go back to her?”
“Nah…” The Captain paused, inhaling deeply before continuing. “Type of girl she was, I’d be dead before I managed to say anything.”
“Charming girl.” Ianto let out a dark chuckle, turning to the older man. “So what will you do now?”
“I think I’m going to stay. Curiosity has got the better of me now. I want to know what I meant to this Jack.” He smiled, turning to the Welshman. “How about you?”
“I don’t know.” Ianto shrugged, feeling something brush against his hand in his pocket. Pulling out, his eyes quickly flicked across the crumpled business card. “You know what? I think I’m going to give my sister a ring.” He grinned, holding the card out to John.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“She suggested it. She doesn’t know who I am. You said so yourself.”
“But what’s to stop you losing it? Like you did with Jack?”
“Nothing.” Ianto breathed. “But I want to know she’s happy in this world. That the life she’s living here is worth it. I’ve never had the chance to see her grow up with me.”
“It’s dangerous.” John warned, his eyes serious. “If you get too attached, what happens when you have to give her up to go home?”
“You make her sound like a pet.”
“Same principle.” John stepped away from the wall, making a move to Jack’s door. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do Ianto.”
“Sounds like it.”
“I’m not. I just don’t want you to have any ties to this world. Because if you ever do get the chance to go home, you’re going to have to face the realisation that they’ll be broken forever.”
“I know that John.”
“I know. But I don’t think you’ve realised it yet.”
Long chapter this one, but still, melodrama all around eh? Or at least for real Jack…. Anyways, as always I’d love to know what you think if you have the time! :D Thanks!
Just Being Me
xxxx
Click here for the next chapter, "My Past, Your Future, Our Present."