Lost in Time - part 1
Title: Lost in Time - part 1
Genre: crossover Torchwood/ Brokeback Mountain: canon for TW, au for BBM
Word count: ~11350 in total
Pairing: Canon pairings
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers for Torchwood: set probably early in season 2, but parallels to “Out of time” 01x10 are not entirely coincidental
Warnings: swearing
Summary: Team Torchwood rushes to another rift anomaly that brought along something from the past: two cowboys, for whom a trip to the middle of nowhere took an unexpected turn. Ennis' POV.
Disclaimer: Oh, you know - I don't own neither Brokeback Mountain nor Torchwood nor do I claim any rights to one of them. All creative rights to the characters belong to BBC and Focus and their original creators RTD and AP. I won‘t make any profit with this story.
Thanks to chamilet and musicandjason for the beta work.
Lost in Time
Part 1
“God dammit!”
He found himself on the hard ground. His back was hurting as much as his pride. He shook his head in disbelief while pushing his hat back in place.
Ennis DelMar couldn’t remember the last time he’d been thrown off his own horse.
Hoping his dark gelding would still be close by, he pushed himself up from the rough ground.
Wait! Rough …? He looked at his hands, where small dark stones had left imprints in his palms. Looked down onto a dark tarmac surface where there should have been a muddy forest path.
He looked up irritated and confused. Looked around for his horse and … oh, there he was. Jack, holding his light brown mare by the reins.
“Jack? Where the hell … ? How …?”
He didn’t finish his questions. Could read the same questions on the stunned face of his companion. But for once he got no reply. For once he found Jack Twist lost for words.
And it frightened him.
He nudged him, carefully but impatient.
“What happened, Jack?”
And finally he received a choked answer.
“I … have no idea.”
The two men looked around. Bewildered. Dumbfounded. They stood in the middle of a paved street, where, mere seconds ago, had been a narrow, partly overgrown path in the Teton National Forest, Wyoming. This was not Wyoming though, he was pretty sure. At least not a part he’d seen before. Well, he hadn’t seen that much, he confessed to himself. Had never wanted to. And knew exactly why … He looked over his shoulder cautiously.
Brick houses stood, close-packed along a perfectly straight narrow road. Where there should have been a horizon at the end of the street was just another row of the same small houses. They each looked the same to him. Neatly lined up, some had the tiniest patch of grass in front of them, if any. Most had nothing though. On the side of the road were cars he’d never seen. They looked … so small. And most definitely strange to him. He thought they might have been futuristic, but he scolded himself immediately for being so silly.
Only a few trees were a reminder of the surroundings he’d just been to. Where he’d been riding next to Jack, when a flash of lightning had frightened their horses. Jack’s mare had shied and his own gelding had nearly run into her when his flight instinct took over. The sudden rearing had taken him by surprise and he’d found himself on the ground.
A ground he didn’t know.
The sound of a fast approaching car broke their numbness. They quickly tried to get out of the way, Jack dragging the still nervous horse with him onto the sidewalk.
A shiny black truck stopped close by, not quite in front of them. It looked even more unusual than the other cars, but at least the size was closer to what he was used to. He’d never seen that car type before though.
The doors flew open and three people emerged. A young man, gaunt, with a fierce expression stood closest. Right behind him a woman appeared from the back of the car. She looked more concerned, her clothes though, Jesus … he briefly thought of Alma, comparing his bland wife to this self-confident and brisk young woman. His thoughts were distracted by a third man coming around the hood from the other side of the car. The long flagging coat on first sight familiar - looking like a duster - confused him. It seemed so wrong in this surrounding. But really, anything seemed just wrong in this surrounding. Anything familiar … they, he felt just wrong, completely out of place.
“Now look at them,” Coat Man turned his head from eyeing them to the others with a wide grin. “The rift sent us something nice for once. Cowboys, holy cow … and real ones. Must be an early Christmas present or something!”
The woman flashed him a smile, revealing a tooth gap and sending a sparkle to her eyes.
“Oh, I soo know what you mean!“
“Yeah, splendid! Get your bloody hormones under control, Ladies, and let me remind you of a certain teaboy and that lorry driver you have at home. Now can we get on with this, please,” the fierce looking one grumbled.
“And here I thought you’d like tall, long-legged brunettes coming through the Rift,” the woman hissed back, which earned her an angry glare.
Well, at least they spoke English. Kind of…
The guy in the coat strode over to them, closely followed by his comrades. The smile he offered them just as bright as before, but a more serious expression on his face.
“Welcome to Cardiff.”
Ennis felt Jack close behind him. Jack's shoulder pressed into his shoulder blade. He would have tensed had he not been so tense already. To be that close, in public, in front of people they didn’t know nothing about. But he didn’t step aside. In the nervousness that seemed to paralyze him, somehow Jack’s touch was more comforting than frightening for once.
And for once Jack was the one breaking the contact on purpose, stepping around him.
“Uhm, to where?”
“Cardiff, Wales.”
Their faces still must have shown no sign of recognition, so the younger man added a “United Kingdom? Great Britain?!”, which at least seemed vaguely familiar. He’d heard of that.
He remembered that he’d watched a few episodes of ‘The Saint’ and somehow Sherlock Holmes sprang to his mind, too.
“Captain Jack Harkness,” Coat Guy said, offering another of those blinding smiles and a hand, which Jack happily accepted and returned. Of course.
“Jack Twist, nice to meet you. So you‘re English? Your accent sounds familiar though.”
A laugh. A grunt. A snort. Ennis couldn’t tell who had made which sound.
“He is.” A thumb indicated to the grumpy fella. “The only one, actually.”
“The only what?”
“Englishman.”
“I am Welsh, and proud of it. And Gwen Cooper by the way,” the woman told them, giving a small wave accompanied by a friendly smile.
“And this is Owen Harper.” The Captain introduced the other man, who just nodded. “Doctor Owen Harper actually. He can see to your bruises later if you’d like. Are you ok?”
This question was clearly indicated at him. Shit! “Uhm, yeah!”
Jack had turned around as well. With concern clearly mirroring in his eyes, he watched him closely. His hand stopped mid air when Ennis shot a glare in his direction.
“’m fine.” He retorted through clenched lips.
His head didn’t feel fine. Neither did his shoulder, but he remained silent.
“This is Ennis Del Mar,” Jack told the strangers, while he was still thinking about what to say next.
Jack had obviously found his voice back quite quickly. Ennis would have been surprised if otherwise.
Still nobody had explained what had happened though. And how comes that they were in … where was that again? Carve? … ah dammit. Well, how they got there. And how they would get back?!!!
“… Wyoming. In 1972. Why?”
Jack seemed happy to do the talking.
“We’ll explain this to you when we are back in the Hub.”
“Back where?”
“Our headquarters.”
“But Jack, what about the horse?” the doctor threw in.
“What about the horse?” Jack asked, patting the neck of the mare he still held on the reins.
“I bet the girls would like a pony,” the Captain answered simultaneously, shooting a glance at the woman.
Ennis realized at the same time as Jack obviously did, that the question hadn’t been aimed at him.
The woman laughed. Cooper, wasn‘t it? Couldn’t remember the first name, it had sounded strange.
“Oh, I sure wouldn’t mind and I bet Tosh wouldn’t neither. But Ianto will if you’ll bring home another pet he has to look after. And I am not so sure Myfanwy will be all that pleased with another addition to the hub’s fauna. Or too pleased, developing new tastes. But a horse in an underground place doesn’t sound like a good idea anyway. My friend Heather has a horse though. Maybe she’ll have an idea. Or I can ask Andy. He could check with the mounted police corps.”
“You do that, Gwen. Call your friend first. Can we leave you here with this task?”
“What’s going on? Why do we have to leave her?” Ennis got nervous now. They talked about his horse as if he had nothing to say about that matter. What was going on here?!
“We can’t transport the horse in the SUV. And even if we could, we couldn’t bring it to our headquarters for various reasons. Gwen will arrange for it to be brought to a place that will be more appropriate. Nothing will happen to the horse.”
Ennis wasn’t convinced but felt intimidated. What could he say anyway without a better suggestion? He just wanted his horses to be taken good care of.
“There must be another one. Have you seen a second one? Where is my other horse?”
“Ennis, calm down.”
Jack’s pacifying tone didn’t help. It only made him more agitated. Just like the familiar touch to his arm; he winced.
Everyone expressed their concern about a second, missing horse and Ennis was promised that his gelding would be looked for. The woman took over the reins from Jack and started to caress the mare, talking to the horse in a low voice.
“I’ll take her down to the Embankment. There’s some lawns there where we’ll wait until we can be picked up,” Gwen, right?, said to no one in particular, eyes still on the horse while patting its forehead.
“What’s her name?”
All eyes turned to him but only Jack’s elbow made him react to this question that was apparently meant for him.
“Uhm, Pinta,” he murmured finally.
While they got into the car Ennis realized irritated that the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car. Everything seemed to be, he reasoned after a second look. It took him a few minutes, until they got to the bigger streets, then he noticed that the cars were driving on the wrong side of the streets as well.
Holy shit!! In what kind of mirrored reality had they ended up here?!
The ride to the headquarters was quiet. Jack was asking a question every now and then which was answered usually by the Captain. But aside from that and a few of Jack’s irregular noises of astonishment and wonder there wasn’t any talking going on.
When the car stopped and they opened the doors to get out, Ennis smelled a completely unfamiliar scent. There was also a noise he’d never heard before, a kind of squeaking, like … maybe birds. And then he saw the boats. He climbed out of the car, eyes fixed on the water. The sea, he was actually looking at the sea. He stood transfixed, staring at the dark waves, the whitish-gray clouds above and the horizon in between.
“It’s very calming and very beautiful, I know, but we should get in now,” a soft voice interrupted his thoughts of nothing. Ennis turned his head and saw the Captain.
“Come on.”
They walked a wooden path alongside the waterfront, down some stairs getting even closer to the edge of the sea. Ennis only noticed the open door to a small tourist office when Jack called after him.
Jack stood in the door and waited, looking curious and probably a bit nervous but nowhere near as tense and insecure as he himself felt. Jack’s hand reached out for him when he passed him in the door frame. He didn’t react to it, just took a few quick steps further into the small office.
The Captain stood in front of a counter, talking to a young man probably a couple of years Ennis' junior in a classy suit. Not that he’d know anything about it. The only time he’d ever worn something comparable to a suit was at his wedding and that one had been borrowed.
The Captain turned around now, looked at them, turning his head from left to right, then back to the man behind the counter.
“This here is Ianto Jones, if you have any questions or requests he’ll probably be able to help," he introduced the young man.
"Ianto, this is Jack Twist and Ennis DelMar. They’ll be our guests for a couple of days. There are some things we need to explain and take care of. Could you show them to the conference room, I have to make a few calls before I'll join you.”
With that the Captain disappeared through a door Ennis could swear hadn’t been there a moment ago.
He looked around the tourist office, the colourful displays, the picturesque posters of a medieval castle, the stony steeple of a huge church, and some strange forms Ennis couldn’t figure out, but were apparently part of the city as well. Could that be buildings? He preferred the poster of the green, hilly landscape ending with a rough edge over the wide blue sea.
Then he saw postcards. More castles and churches and coastal views. And one of a mountain scene, reflected in the calm waters of a lake …
Someone cleared their throat with a decent cough. He looked up and saw the young man standing by the door in the stone wall indicating with his head to the corridor behind, where he could see Jack walking down the stairs to whatever would wait for them there.
Ennis followed reluctantly.
He went down a set of stairs, steep and illuminated by the cold light of neon lamps, through narrow, tunnel-like corridors, some made of rough brick, some plain fair-faced concrete, some with tiled walls. The tiles looked old. Some were stained, some cracked and some were missing altogether. Pipes, some older, some newer, ran along the ceilings, with leaks causing puddles every now and again. And then they entered what must be the actual headquarters.
He stopped abruptly. Stunned, his feet rooted to the spot, he looked around open-mouthed.
Strange didn’t even begin to cover it. It looked … surreal. Not only like nothing he’d ever seen before, but … well, surreal. Parts of his surroundings looked pretty old. The first thing to catch his eye was the large letters tiled to the vaulted wall: TORCHWOOD.
The threadbare couch right underneath the letters would have been modern back at home, but looked a little shabby here. It looked about as out of place as he felt. The feeling was magnified when his eyes turned to the center of the place. It was the complete opposite to the narrow halls they’d just come down, with a huge room - that’s if you could still call it a room - so high he couldn’t make out the ceiling in the darkness above. It was here that the shabbiness of the past clashed with the sci-fi technology of a future he couldn't pinpoint.
Even for - well, now - it might be futuristic although it had an industrial touch to it.
Metallic gangways crossed a water area in the middle, stairs ran up to different glass-walled rooms in the upper levels, others lead down to somewhere else.
Compared to the tourist office they had come through this place looked huge; compared to any building he knew actually.
They had been led down some steps through the center and upstairs again to the conference room. There they had all sat around a table and were introduced to the last member of their team, a Japanese woman, Ms. Toshiko Sato, who apparently was a computer genius, whatever that meant.
And then he and Jack had been told about a rift in time and space that brought things from anywhere and anytime to present day Cardiff - or what they called present day. Which was 2008; thirty-six years and a couple of thousand miles away from where he and Jack had been just a few hours ago. Riding through the woods on a sunny morning after a short night’s sleep and celebrating their first time together in four months ...
That’s where that name came in again: Torchwood. That was the name of the team. They obviously minded the rift, took care of what was washed ashore by it. And who knew what else?
They’d been told that they’d be provided with all the necessary papers, contacts, some money. That they could stay in the guest quarters until things were sorted. And finally … that there was no way of going back.
For fuck’s sake - he wasn’t sure if that news had really sunken in yet. The angst and whatever else he had felt previously was gone. He felt … numb.
The team doctor had insisted on having a look at his shoulder and had cleaned the scratch on his head as well before giving his ok that Ennis seemed alright, health wise.
Now Ennis stood on one of the upper galleries of the bunker these people called their headquarters and stared down into that strange, dark place. There were technical sounds and lights bleeping and buzzing and blinking everywhere, pipes and cables and yet it didn't look like the spaceships he had seen on TV on a few occasions. But then this wasn’t a spaceship. This was … ah what the hell! He leaned back to the wall and closed his eyes.
“Would you like a cup of coffee or anything else? Are you hungry maybe?”
He was startled by the young man in the suit. Again.
“Uhm, thanks, I'll take a cup a coffee but I can't eat just now.”
He was handed a steaming mug of coffee. Ennis took it gratefully. The familiar flavor was wonderful, as was the coffee when he took the first sip. For the first time he seemed to be able to relax a little, let go of some of the tension, the caution that had held on tight until now.
He followed the young man to the railing, coming to a halt, overlooking the incredible place that was the Hub.
He took another sip of coffee. It was strong and dark, just like he liked it as it reminded him of the coffee Jack used to make in the early days of their summer up on -
A shrieking noise jerked his wandering memories to an abrupt halt. He winced and spilled some coffee at the sudden movement.
“Jesus, what was that??!”
“The pteranodon.”
“The whut?”
“The pteranodon. A dinosaur.”
“A …”
“Dinosaur, yes. Well, a prehistoric reptile to be precise. They were quite common in Wyoming, actually. In their time.” *
“And why is it here?”
“She lives here. Her name is Myfanwy.”
“But why is it … she here?”
“Probably the same reason you are here. Travelling through time and space via the rift. Just a little more time.”
“All the travelling I ever done is going round the coffeepot, looking for the handle. And now space and time …,” he sighed.
“And she really is from Wyoming?”
“Well, I don’t know. But fossils of pteranodons were found in Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.* And with you being transported here from Wyoming as well it’s not completely unlikely that there is an area with a higher possibility of rift activity than others. Tosh is already checking.”
Coffees finished, mugs gone somewhere, Ennis and Ianto Jones stood in a somewhat companionable silence. He couldn’t help but feel an unfamiliar connection towards the young man.
Ennis’ eyes searched the place for Jack, finally finding him with the woman who had taken his horse, by one of the blinking machines, talking animatedly. He frowned but kept quiet.
The silence was broken nonetheless:
“So, you and Mr. Twist - you two are real-”
Ennis head snapped up, glaring at Ianto, who silenced immediately.
How did he know? They weren’t that obvious, were they? Fuck, could you tell it that easily?
Or did Jack say anything? Jaaack!
Ianto looked at him surprised and finished his sentence, a little bemused.
“… cowboys then?”
Ennis was shocked and relieved at the same time.
“Oh …,” he squeezed out awkwardly.
The young man quietly watched him, apparently awaiting an answer.
“Well, not really probably.” He paused, shrugged, then thought better of it, offering more information to avoid further questions.
“Grew up on small farms, both of us. Herded sheep together one summer. I used to work as a ranch hand, still do if the chance comes up, but that depends … Jack sells farm equipment for his father-in-law. Did a bit of rodeoing before, or so he claims ….”
He suppressed a smile and was surprised to notice one playing on Ianto’s lips.
They both turned to face the middle of the hub again, watching the quiet activity from above in silence.
Just as the Captain left his office on the opposite side of the huge hall, walking down the stairs, Ianto quietly spoke again.
“It’s ok, you know.”
“Huh?”
“If you and Mr. Twist are more than friends.”
Ennis took a step back from the railings, fists clenched, lips forming a tight, thin line. It wasn’t even consciously, rather an automatism really.
“Whatcha mean?” he managed to growl.
“Keep calm.“ The young man seemed unflustered. “Really, there is nothing wrong with being gay. Not here, not anymore! It’s more …”
“I ain’t … gay - queer, whatever,” he spat out. Then, avoiding Ianto’s eyes he continued in a mere whisper, “Jack is the only one for me. Only one ever …” He trailed off, realizing too late his defensive speech was answering a yet unasked question.
“Same here.” Ennis heard the smile in the young man’s voice without having to look. “Jack was the first man I ever…” His voice trailed off but Ennis looked up, irritated.
“Huh? Jack?” Then it dawned on him. “Oh, you mean Captain Harkness.”
“Sorry. Yes, of course. Well, … you see, I was engaged before … before I joined Torchwood 3. Before I … he and I …”
“Uhm, I'm married. With two girls … was married I suppose - back then ... where we came from. Damn! I wished I’d knew what became of my girls. What happened to my family?” A sigh, close to a sob followed his painful wish; he felt a warm hand pressing his shoulder sympathetically.
“I’ll have a look into things for you,” Ianto promised.
Both took up their earlier positions again. Elbows on the railings side by side, watching their Jacks, who were talking animatedly to each other now.
A little later the Captain and Ms. Sato showed them to their quarters for the next days.
It was a small twin bedroom in the upper parts of the bunker. It was furnished sparsely and lacked any decoration. With a small bathroom just across the hall it was nonetheless much better and cleaner than many of the bunk houses and motels he’d seen in his days. And the bed was certainly more comfortable than the bedroll would have been back at the camp.
“Sorry, it’s not much,” the Captain apologized.
Jack waved his hand dismissively.
“We’ve had far worse. At least it doesn’t smell like cat piss,” he chuckled.
Ennis remembered as well and couldn’t hold back a faint smile.
“We just recently set the guest rooms up, but I hope it will do until we have things sorted out. Make yourselves comfortable.”
Pointing to the beds the Captain continued. “Will you two be ok with it?”
Again Jack spoke before Ennis could even decide what the Captain was implying.
“Oh, we shared tents before, a room can’t be all that bad. We’ll get used to it.”
He actually said it with a little wink and Ennis wasn’t sure if it was meant for him or the Captain.
“I’m sure you will,” the Captain grinned, then turned serious again.
He handed them each a couple of bank notes. An elderly stone-faced woman with something in her curls looked at him. He stared back blankly, remembering having heard about the English having a queen. Must be her probably. So this was British money. He’d never been handed over money like that, without work, without any comment … he wondered how much it was. Well, it was thirty pounds he counted, but how much was it worth? What was he supposed to do with it? Buy with it?
“Ianto will take you to a shopping centre later. You should get some essentials, toiletries, maybe some clothes, food, whatever you like. We‘ll see about anything else tomorrow.”
He nodded to them and left the room, Ms. Sato following him after giving them an encouraging smile.
Ennis looked at the two beds, then at Jack.
“Which bed do you want?”
“We’re not sharing?”
“No way!” What was Jack thinking? As if it wasn't enough that Ianto already knew, he wanted to make it even more obvious.
Jack sighed.
“Then I don’t care. Have whichever you want.”
He turned around, grabbed a towel from the table and left the room. Ennis heard him going to the bathroom.
He sat down on the bed closer to him, shoulders sagging, and buried his head in his hands.
Why couldn’t Jack understand? Wasn’t it bad enough what had happened already? Did he have to make it worse? They had no clue whatsoever about the place they were at, the time they ended up in. Jack certainly couldn’t expect him to change himself that suddenly as well.
He didn’t hear Jack come back, jumped when he felt a cool hand at his neck. He recognized it at once and gave in to the comfort it brought for a moment or two. Then he straightened up shaking the hand off in the process.
Jack sat down next to him from the other side of the bed, facing the opposite direction. Ennis could smell the faint scent of soap, noticed the wet hair. They sat in silence for a while, not looking at each other but leaning slightly towards the other, shoulders finally touching. He was glad for the closeness, the warmth in the unknown, cold adjacencies.
They sat like that until the low sound of footsteps echoed through the corridors, approaching.
Ennis got up, staring blankly at his boots, turning around to a knock at the door. Ianto stood there, carrying something familiar looking. He held it up for them to see and Ennis recognized the saddle bags. He walked over with hasty strides, taking the items the well dressed man held out to him and which looked so strange in his hands. He held them carefully and when he turned around to place them on the bed, he met Jack’s eyes, still sitting there, and risked a shy smile. It was returned instantly but lasted only about a second. They both looked up when Ianto spoke again.
"I left the saddle up in the conference room since space here is rare, but I thought you might need some things from the bags. For the necessities we could go do some shopping now. Or do you want to have a shower first?”
He looked at Ennis.
“No, it‘s ok. We can go.”
“Are you sure?” He raised an eye brow.
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, you would certainly draw less attention in the city mall if you didn’t smell like a horse ranch.”
Jack chuckled. Ennis turned his head from Ianto to Jack and looked questioningly at his friend. Jack nodded grinning.
“I’ll be waiting for you in the Tourist Office. Come up when you are ready.”
“All right,” Ennis gave in reluctantly, reaching for a towel.
* This is actually true. Well, at least wikipedia says so and couldn't resist to insert that information.
Part 2 >>
Amazing Counters
Genre: crossover Torchwood/ Brokeback Mountain: canon for TW, au for BBM
Word count: ~11350 in total
Pairing: Canon pairings
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers for Torchwood: set probably early in season 2, but parallels to “Out of time” 01x10 are not entirely coincidental
Warnings: swearing
Summary: Team Torchwood rushes to another rift anomaly that brought along something from the past: two cowboys, for whom a trip to the middle of nowhere took an unexpected turn. Ennis' POV.
Disclaimer: Oh, you know - I don't own neither Brokeback Mountain nor Torchwood nor do I claim any rights to one of them. All creative rights to the characters belong to BBC and Focus and their original creators RTD and AP. I won‘t make any profit with this story.
Thanks to chamilet and musicandjason for the beta work.
Lost in Time
Part 1
“God dammit!”
He found himself on the hard ground. His back was hurting as much as his pride. He shook his head in disbelief while pushing his hat back in place.
Ennis DelMar couldn’t remember the last time he’d been thrown off his own horse.
Hoping his dark gelding would still be close by, he pushed himself up from the rough ground.
Wait! Rough …? He looked at his hands, where small dark stones had left imprints in his palms. Looked down onto a dark tarmac surface where there should have been a muddy forest path.
He looked up irritated and confused. Looked around for his horse and … oh, there he was. Jack, holding his light brown mare by the reins.
“Jack? Where the hell … ? How …?”
He didn’t finish his questions. Could read the same questions on the stunned face of his companion. But for once he got no reply. For once he found Jack Twist lost for words.
And it frightened him.
He nudged him, carefully but impatient.
“What happened, Jack?”
And finally he received a choked answer.
“I … have no idea.”
The two men looked around. Bewildered. Dumbfounded. They stood in the middle of a paved street, where, mere seconds ago, had been a narrow, partly overgrown path in the Teton National Forest, Wyoming. This was not Wyoming though, he was pretty sure. At least not a part he’d seen before. Well, he hadn’t seen that much, he confessed to himself. Had never wanted to. And knew exactly why … He looked over his shoulder cautiously.
Brick houses stood, close-packed along a perfectly straight narrow road. Where there should have been a horizon at the end of the street was just another row of the same small houses. They each looked the same to him. Neatly lined up, some had the tiniest patch of grass in front of them, if any. Most had nothing though. On the side of the road were cars he’d never seen. They looked … so small. And most definitely strange to him. He thought they might have been futuristic, but he scolded himself immediately for being so silly.
Only a few trees were a reminder of the surroundings he’d just been to. Where he’d been riding next to Jack, when a flash of lightning had frightened their horses. Jack’s mare had shied and his own gelding had nearly run into her when his flight instinct took over. The sudden rearing had taken him by surprise and he’d found himself on the ground.
A ground he didn’t know.
The sound of a fast approaching car broke their numbness. They quickly tried to get out of the way, Jack dragging the still nervous horse with him onto the sidewalk.
A shiny black truck stopped close by, not quite in front of them. It looked even more unusual than the other cars, but at least the size was closer to what he was used to. He’d never seen that car type before though.
The doors flew open and three people emerged. A young man, gaunt, with a fierce expression stood closest. Right behind him a woman appeared from the back of the car. She looked more concerned, her clothes though, Jesus … he briefly thought of Alma, comparing his bland wife to this self-confident and brisk young woman. His thoughts were distracted by a third man coming around the hood from the other side of the car. The long flagging coat on first sight familiar - looking like a duster - confused him. It seemed so wrong in this surrounding. But really, anything seemed just wrong in this surrounding. Anything familiar … they, he felt just wrong, completely out of place.
“Now look at them,” Coat Man turned his head from eyeing them to the others with a wide grin. “The rift sent us something nice for once. Cowboys, holy cow … and real ones. Must be an early Christmas present or something!”
The woman flashed him a smile, revealing a tooth gap and sending a sparkle to her eyes.
“Oh, I soo know what you mean!“
“Yeah, splendid! Get your bloody hormones under control, Ladies, and let me remind you of a certain teaboy and that lorry driver you have at home. Now can we get on with this, please,” the fierce looking one grumbled.
“And here I thought you’d like tall, long-legged brunettes coming through the Rift,” the woman hissed back, which earned her an angry glare.
Well, at least they spoke English. Kind of…
The guy in the coat strode over to them, closely followed by his comrades. The smile he offered them just as bright as before, but a more serious expression on his face.
“Welcome to Cardiff.”
Ennis felt Jack close behind him. Jack's shoulder pressed into his shoulder blade. He would have tensed had he not been so tense already. To be that close, in public, in front of people they didn’t know nothing about. But he didn’t step aside. In the nervousness that seemed to paralyze him, somehow Jack’s touch was more comforting than frightening for once.
And for once Jack was the one breaking the contact on purpose, stepping around him.
“Uhm, to where?”
“Cardiff, Wales.”
Their faces still must have shown no sign of recognition, so the younger man added a “United Kingdom? Great Britain?!”, which at least seemed vaguely familiar. He’d heard of that.
He remembered that he’d watched a few episodes of ‘The Saint’ and somehow Sherlock Holmes sprang to his mind, too.
“Captain Jack Harkness,” Coat Guy said, offering another of those blinding smiles and a hand, which Jack happily accepted and returned. Of course.
“Jack Twist, nice to meet you. So you‘re English? Your accent sounds familiar though.”
A laugh. A grunt. A snort. Ennis couldn’t tell who had made which sound.
“He is.” A thumb indicated to the grumpy fella. “The only one, actually.”
“The only what?”
“Englishman.”
“I am Welsh, and proud of it. And Gwen Cooper by the way,” the woman told them, giving a small wave accompanied by a friendly smile.
“And this is Owen Harper.” The Captain introduced the other man, who just nodded. “Doctor Owen Harper actually. He can see to your bruises later if you’d like. Are you ok?”
This question was clearly indicated at him. Shit! “Uhm, yeah!”
Jack had turned around as well. With concern clearly mirroring in his eyes, he watched him closely. His hand stopped mid air when Ennis shot a glare in his direction.
“’m fine.” He retorted through clenched lips.
His head didn’t feel fine. Neither did his shoulder, but he remained silent.
“This is Ennis Del Mar,” Jack told the strangers, while he was still thinking about what to say next.
Jack had obviously found his voice back quite quickly. Ennis would have been surprised if otherwise.
Still nobody had explained what had happened though. And how comes that they were in … where was that again? Carve? … ah dammit. Well, how they got there. And how they would get back?!!!
“… Wyoming. In 1972. Why?”
Jack seemed happy to do the talking.
“We’ll explain this to you when we are back in the Hub.”
“Back where?”
“Our headquarters.”
“But Jack, what about the horse?” the doctor threw in.
“What about the horse?” Jack asked, patting the neck of the mare he still held on the reins.
“I bet the girls would like a pony,” the Captain answered simultaneously, shooting a glance at the woman.
Ennis realized at the same time as Jack obviously did, that the question hadn’t been aimed at him.
The woman laughed. Cooper, wasn‘t it? Couldn’t remember the first name, it had sounded strange.
“Oh, I sure wouldn’t mind and I bet Tosh wouldn’t neither. But Ianto will if you’ll bring home another pet he has to look after. And I am not so sure Myfanwy will be all that pleased with another addition to the hub’s fauna. Or too pleased, developing new tastes. But a horse in an underground place doesn’t sound like a good idea anyway. My friend Heather has a horse though. Maybe she’ll have an idea. Or I can ask Andy. He could check with the mounted police corps.”
“You do that, Gwen. Call your friend first. Can we leave you here with this task?”
“What’s going on? Why do we have to leave her?” Ennis got nervous now. They talked about his horse as if he had nothing to say about that matter. What was going on here?!
“We can’t transport the horse in the SUV. And even if we could, we couldn’t bring it to our headquarters for various reasons. Gwen will arrange for it to be brought to a place that will be more appropriate. Nothing will happen to the horse.”
Ennis wasn’t convinced but felt intimidated. What could he say anyway without a better suggestion? He just wanted his horses to be taken good care of.
“There must be another one. Have you seen a second one? Where is my other horse?”
“Ennis, calm down.”
Jack’s pacifying tone didn’t help. It only made him more agitated. Just like the familiar touch to his arm; he winced.
Everyone expressed their concern about a second, missing horse and Ennis was promised that his gelding would be looked for. The woman took over the reins from Jack and started to caress the mare, talking to the horse in a low voice.
“I’ll take her down to the Embankment. There’s some lawns there where we’ll wait until we can be picked up,” Gwen, right?, said to no one in particular, eyes still on the horse while patting its forehead.
“What’s her name?”
All eyes turned to him but only Jack’s elbow made him react to this question that was apparently meant for him.
“Uhm, Pinta,” he murmured finally.
While they got into the car Ennis realized irritated that the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car. Everything seemed to be, he reasoned after a second look. It took him a few minutes, until they got to the bigger streets, then he noticed that the cars were driving on the wrong side of the streets as well.
Holy shit!! In what kind of mirrored reality had they ended up here?!
The ride to the headquarters was quiet. Jack was asking a question every now and then which was answered usually by the Captain. But aside from that and a few of Jack’s irregular noises of astonishment and wonder there wasn’t any talking going on.
When the car stopped and they opened the doors to get out, Ennis smelled a completely unfamiliar scent. There was also a noise he’d never heard before, a kind of squeaking, like … maybe birds. And then he saw the boats. He climbed out of the car, eyes fixed on the water. The sea, he was actually looking at the sea. He stood transfixed, staring at the dark waves, the whitish-gray clouds above and the horizon in between.
“It’s very calming and very beautiful, I know, but we should get in now,” a soft voice interrupted his thoughts of nothing. Ennis turned his head and saw the Captain.
“Come on.”
They walked a wooden path alongside the waterfront, down some stairs getting even closer to the edge of the sea. Ennis only noticed the open door to a small tourist office when Jack called after him.
Jack stood in the door and waited, looking curious and probably a bit nervous but nowhere near as tense and insecure as he himself felt. Jack’s hand reached out for him when he passed him in the door frame. He didn’t react to it, just took a few quick steps further into the small office.
The Captain stood in front of a counter, talking to a young man probably a couple of years Ennis' junior in a classy suit. Not that he’d know anything about it. The only time he’d ever worn something comparable to a suit was at his wedding and that one had been borrowed.
The Captain turned around now, looked at them, turning his head from left to right, then back to the man behind the counter.
“This here is Ianto Jones, if you have any questions or requests he’ll probably be able to help," he introduced the young man.
"Ianto, this is Jack Twist and Ennis DelMar. They’ll be our guests for a couple of days. There are some things we need to explain and take care of. Could you show them to the conference room, I have to make a few calls before I'll join you.”
With that the Captain disappeared through a door Ennis could swear hadn’t been there a moment ago.
He looked around the tourist office, the colourful displays, the picturesque posters of a medieval castle, the stony steeple of a huge church, and some strange forms Ennis couldn’t figure out, but were apparently part of the city as well. Could that be buildings? He preferred the poster of the green, hilly landscape ending with a rough edge over the wide blue sea.
Then he saw postcards. More castles and churches and coastal views. And one of a mountain scene, reflected in the calm waters of a lake …
Someone cleared their throat with a decent cough. He looked up and saw the young man standing by the door in the stone wall indicating with his head to the corridor behind, where he could see Jack walking down the stairs to whatever would wait for them there.
Ennis followed reluctantly.
He went down a set of stairs, steep and illuminated by the cold light of neon lamps, through narrow, tunnel-like corridors, some made of rough brick, some plain fair-faced concrete, some with tiled walls. The tiles looked old. Some were stained, some cracked and some were missing altogether. Pipes, some older, some newer, ran along the ceilings, with leaks causing puddles every now and again. And then they entered what must be the actual headquarters.
He stopped abruptly. Stunned, his feet rooted to the spot, he looked around open-mouthed.
Strange didn’t even begin to cover it. It looked … surreal. Not only like nothing he’d ever seen before, but … well, surreal. Parts of his surroundings looked pretty old. The first thing to catch his eye was the large letters tiled to the vaulted wall: TORCHWOOD.
The threadbare couch right underneath the letters would have been modern back at home, but looked a little shabby here. It looked about as out of place as he felt. The feeling was magnified when his eyes turned to the center of the place. It was the complete opposite to the narrow halls they’d just come down, with a huge room - that’s if you could still call it a room - so high he couldn’t make out the ceiling in the darkness above. It was here that the shabbiness of the past clashed with the sci-fi technology of a future he couldn't pinpoint.
Even for - well, now - it might be futuristic although it had an industrial touch to it.
Metallic gangways crossed a water area in the middle, stairs ran up to different glass-walled rooms in the upper levels, others lead down to somewhere else.
Compared to the tourist office they had come through this place looked huge; compared to any building he knew actually.
They had been led down some steps through the center and upstairs again to the conference room. There they had all sat around a table and were introduced to the last member of their team, a Japanese woman, Ms. Toshiko Sato, who apparently was a computer genius, whatever that meant.
And then he and Jack had been told about a rift in time and space that brought things from anywhere and anytime to present day Cardiff - or what they called present day. Which was 2008; thirty-six years and a couple of thousand miles away from where he and Jack had been just a few hours ago. Riding through the woods on a sunny morning after a short night’s sleep and celebrating their first time together in four months ...
That’s where that name came in again: Torchwood. That was the name of the team. They obviously minded the rift, took care of what was washed ashore by it. And who knew what else?
They’d been told that they’d be provided with all the necessary papers, contacts, some money. That they could stay in the guest quarters until things were sorted. And finally … that there was no way of going back.
For fuck’s sake - he wasn’t sure if that news had really sunken in yet. The angst and whatever else he had felt previously was gone. He felt … numb.
The team doctor had insisted on having a look at his shoulder and had cleaned the scratch on his head as well before giving his ok that Ennis seemed alright, health wise.
Now Ennis stood on one of the upper galleries of the bunker these people called their headquarters and stared down into that strange, dark place. There were technical sounds and lights bleeping and buzzing and blinking everywhere, pipes and cables and yet it didn't look like the spaceships he had seen on TV on a few occasions. But then this wasn’t a spaceship. This was … ah what the hell! He leaned back to the wall and closed his eyes.
“Would you like a cup of coffee or anything else? Are you hungry maybe?”
He was startled by the young man in the suit. Again.
“Uhm, thanks, I'll take a cup a coffee but I can't eat just now.”
He was handed a steaming mug of coffee. Ennis took it gratefully. The familiar flavor was wonderful, as was the coffee when he took the first sip. For the first time he seemed to be able to relax a little, let go of some of the tension, the caution that had held on tight until now.
He followed the young man to the railing, coming to a halt, overlooking the incredible place that was the Hub.
He took another sip of coffee. It was strong and dark, just like he liked it as it reminded him of the coffee Jack used to make in the early days of their summer up on -
A shrieking noise jerked his wandering memories to an abrupt halt. He winced and spilled some coffee at the sudden movement.
“Jesus, what was that??!”
“The pteranodon.”
“The whut?”
“The pteranodon. A dinosaur.”
“A …”
“Dinosaur, yes. Well, a prehistoric reptile to be precise. They were quite common in Wyoming, actually. In their time.” *
“And why is it here?”
“She lives here. Her name is Myfanwy.”
“But why is it … she here?”
“Probably the same reason you are here. Travelling through time and space via the rift. Just a little more time.”
“All the travelling I ever done is going round the coffeepot, looking for the handle. And now space and time …,” he sighed.
“And she really is from Wyoming?”
“Well, I don’t know. But fossils of pteranodons were found in Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.* And with you being transported here from Wyoming as well it’s not completely unlikely that there is an area with a higher possibility of rift activity than others. Tosh is already checking.”
Coffees finished, mugs gone somewhere, Ennis and Ianto Jones stood in a somewhat companionable silence. He couldn’t help but feel an unfamiliar connection towards the young man.
Ennis’ eyes searched the place for Jack, finally finding him with the woman who had taken his horse, by one of the blinking machines, talking animatedly. He frowned but kept quiet.
The silence was broken nonetheless:
“So, you and Mr. Twist - you two are real-”
Ennis head snapped up, glaring at Ianto, who silenced immediately.
How did he know? They weren’t that obvious, were they? Fuck, could you tell it that easily?
Or did Jack say anything? Jaaack!
Ianto looked at him surprised and finished his sentence, a little bemused.
“… cowboys then?”
Ennis was shocked and relieved at the same time.
“Oh …,” he squeezed out awkwardly.
The young man quietly watched him, apparently awaiting an answer.
“Well, not really probably.” He paused, shrugged, then thought better of it, offering more information to avoid further questions.
“Grew up on small farms, both of us. Herded sheep together one summer. I used to work as a ranch hand, still do if the chance comes up, but that depends … Jack sells farm equipment for his father-in-law. Did a bit of rodeoing before, or so he claims ….”
He suppressed a smile and was surprised to notice one playing on Ianto’s lips.
They both turned to face the middle of the hub again, watching the quiet activity from above in silence.
Just as the Captain left his office on the opposite side of the huge hall, walking down the stairs, Ianto quietly spoke again.
“It’s ok, you know.”
“Huh?”
“If you and Mr. Twist are more than friends.”
Ennis took a step back from the railings, fists clenched, lips forming a tight, thin line. It wasn’t even consciously, rather an automatism really.
“Whatcha mean?” he managed to growl.
“Keep calm.“ The young man seemed unflustered. “Really, there is nothing wrong with being gay. Not here, not anymore! It’s more …”
“I ain’t … gay - queer, whatever,” he spat out. Then, avoiding Ianto’s eyes he continued in a mere whisper, “Jack is the only one for me. Only one ever …” He trailed off, realizing too late his defensive speech was answering a yet unasked question.
“Same here.” Ennis heard the smile in the young man’s voice without having to look. “Jack was the first man I ever…” His voice trailed off but Ennis looked up, irritated.
“Huh? Jack?” Then it dawned on him. “Oh, you mean Captain Harkness.”
“Sorry. Yes, of course. Well, … you see, I was engaged before … before I joined Torchwood 3. Before I … he and I …”
“Uhm, I'm married. With two girls … was married I suppose - back then ... where we came from. Damn! I wished I’d knew what became of my girls. What happened to my family?” A sigh, close to a sob followed his painful wish; he felt a warm hand pressing his shoulder sympathetically.
“I’ll have a look into things for you,” Ianto promised.
Both took up their earlier positions again. Elbows on the railings side by side, watching their Jacks, who were talking animatedly to each other now.
A little later the Captain and Ms. Sato showed them to their quarters for the next days.
It was a small twin bedroom in the upper parts of the bunker. It was furnished sparsely and lacked any decoration. With a small bathroom just across the hall it was nonetheless much better and cleaner than many of the bunk houses and motels he’d seen in his days. And the bed was certainly more comfortable than the bedroll would have been back at the camp.
“Sorry, it’s not much,” the Captain apologized.
Jack waved his hand dismissively.
“We’ve had far worse. At least it doesn’t smell like cat piss,” he chuckled.
Ennis remembered as well and couldn’t hold back a faint smile.
“We just recently set the guest rooms up, but I hope it will do until we have things sorted out. Make yourselves comfortable.”
Pointing to the beds the Captain continued. “Will you two be ok with it?”
Again Jack spoke before Ennis could even decide what the Captain was implying.
“Oh, we shared tents before, a room can’t be all that bad. We’ll get used to it.”
He actually said it with a little wink and Ennis wasn’t sure if it was meant for him or the Captain.
“I’m sure you will,” the Captain grinned, then turned serious again.
He handed them each a couple of bank notes. An elderly stone-faced woman with something in her curls looked at him. He stared back blankly, remembering having heard about the English having a queen. Must be her probably. So this was British money. He’d never been handed over money like that, without work, without any comment … he wondered how much it was. Well, it was thirty pounds he counted, but how much was it worth? What was he supposed to do with it? Buy with it?
“Ianto will take you to a shopping centre later. You should get some essentials, toiletries, maybe some clothes, food, whatever you like. We‘ll see about anything else tomorrow.”
He nodded to them and left the room, Ms. Sato following him after giving them an encouraging smile.
Ennis looked at the two beds, then at Jack.
“Which bed do you want?”
“We’re not sharing?”
“No way!” What was Jack thinking? As if it wasn't enough that Ianto already knew, he wanted to make it even more obvious.
Jack sighed.
“Then I don’t care. Have whichever you want.”
He turned around, grabbed a towel from the table and left the room. Ennis heard him going to the bathroom.
He sat down on the bed closer to him, shoulders sagging, and buried his head in his hands.
Why couldn’t Jack understand? Wasn’t it bad enough what had happened already? Did he have to make it worse? They had no clue whatsoever about the place they were at, the time they ended up in. Jack certainly couldn’t expect him to change himself that suddenly as well.
He didn’t hear Jack come back, jumped when he felt a cool hand at his neck. He recognized it at once and gave in to the comfort it brought for a moment or two. Then he straightened up shaking the hand off in the process.
Jack sat down next to him from the other side of the bed, facing the opposite direction. Ennis could smell the faint scent of soap, noticed the wet hair. They sat in silence for a while, not looking at each other but leaning slightly towards the other, shoulders finally touching. He was glad for the closeness, the warmth in the unknown, cold adjacencies.
They sat like that until the low sound of footsteps echoed through the corridors, approaching.
Ennis got up, staring blankly at his boots, turning around to a knock at the door. Ianto stood there, carrying something familiar looking. He held it up for them to see and Ennis recognized the saddle bags. He walked over with hasty strides, taking the items the well dressed man held out to him and which looked so strange in his hands. He held them carefully and when he turned around to place them on the bed, he met Jack’s eyes, still sitting there, and risked a shy smile. It was returned instantly but lasted only about a second. They both looked up when Ianto spoke again.
"I left the saddle up in the conference room since space here is rare, but I thought you might need some things from the bags. For the necessities we could go do some shopping now. Or do you want to have a shower first?”
He looked at Ennis.
“No, it‘s ok. We can go.”
“Are you sure?” He raised an eye brow.
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, you would certainly draw less attention in the city mall if you didn’t smell like a horse ranch.”
Jack chuckled. Ennis turned his head from Ianto to Jack and looked questioningly at his friend. Jack nodded grinning.
“I’ll be waiting for you in the Tourist Office. Come up when you are ready.”
“All right,” Ennis gave in reluctantly, reaching for a towel.
* This is actually true. Well, at least wikipedia says so and couldn't resist to insert that information.
Part 2 >>
Amazing Counters