Torchwood Fic - tag for season finale
Summary: Tag for season finale. SPOILERS
A/N: Beta thanks to victorian_tweed and zebra363, who says that she should probably watch the show if I'm 'going to keep writing it'. And special_trille who said she liked the fic and all it needed was another twelve chapters of Ianto having adventures.
Tosh dashed to her computer and called up the CCTV, her fingers flying over the keyboard, her coffee cup teetering on the edge of the desk where she’d carelessly discarded it. Ianto was right behind her and caught it automatically. He set it straight, placing the tray he had been carrying down carefully, mindful of the tremors in his fingers he couldn’t seem to control. He couldn’t believe this was happening, after everything they’d been through, the agony of the last three days, believing Jack was dead; it was just like Lisa, all his fault, all of them, Owen, Gwen, it was all their fault.
And then, unbelievably, Jack was alive again. He kissed Ianto, and it was forgiveness, and it was like coming home again.
Ianto shouldn’t have gone with Tosh to get the coffees. He hadn’t wanted to leave Jack, but Jack had insisted, insisted that he was okay, that everything was back to normal, that THEY were back to normal, and he hadn’t felt able to make a scene, to admit in front of everyone how much he needed to stay with Jack, to be with him, afraid of what the others would think - that he was weak, that he was pathetic. Well, he was pathetic, wasn’t he? Going along with the others, even though he knew it would lead to disaster, not able to think clearly with Jack dead. Had he thought that opening the rift would bring Jack back, like Gwen was so convinced it would Rhys? All he could remember was the grief overwhelming him all over again, first Lisa and now Jack, and all he wanted was to die himself.
They all gathered in front of the screen and watched as Jack ran over to the case containing the severed hand he was so obsessed with.
‘Is it...glowing?’ Tosh asked, doubtfully.
Who cared? ‘Look at his face,’ Ianto said, swallowing hard. Jack’s face was lit up in a smile Ianto’d never seen before. Jack moved his head slightly, as though listening. Papers flew about, as if a breeze were swirling about within the Hub.
‘I heard a sort of grinding noise,’ Gwen said, ‘and came out to see what it was.’
On the screen a light appeared, flashing, and a blue box appeared out of thin air.
‘Oh my God,’ gasped Tosh.
‘I don’t believe it,’ said Owen flatly.
‘Look at Jack,’ Ianto said tonelessly. Jack’s face was incandescent, Ianto thought, and so beautiful -- that’s what he looks like when he’s truly happy. Ianto could feel his heart breaking into pieces within his chest. Jack had never looked at him like that.
Jack ran towards the box, fumbling in his pocket as he went, pulling out a key on a chain. Even as he held it out, the door in the box opened. They watched as Jack ran into the box without hesitation and the door swung shut. The light flashed again and the box…vanished.
‘What the hell was that?’ Gwen asked frantically. ‘Can we track it? Tosh?’
‘We can’t.’ Tosh threw up her hands. ‘That’s the TARDIS. It can’t be detected by any technology we have. Torchwood’s been working on it for years.’
‘He’s gone.’ Ianto stumbled to sit down in the chair behind him, and put his head in his hands.
‘What’s the TARDIS?’ he heard Gwen say. ‘What is it?’
‘It’s the Doctor’s ship, of course.’ Owen, sounding exasperated. ‘Don’t you know?’
‘Why should I? Who is ‘the Doctor’?’
‘It’s one of the first things you learn in basic training. Keep a look out for a blue police box. Report, but do not interfere.’
‘Is he dangerous?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Owen’s voice sounded smug. Ianto wanted to hit him.
‘He’s on our side,’ Tosh was explaining to Gwen. ‘He protects the Earth from alien invasion. He’s been doing it for hundreds of years, apparently.’
‘Hundreds...of…years?’ Gwen faltered. ‘He’s an alien, then?’
‘Obviously,’ Owen said, in his ‘are you stupid?’ voice.
‘And he’s abducted Jack?’
Ianto half sobbed into his hands, hoping the sound was muffled enough that the others hadn’t heard. He scrubbed surreptitiously at his eyes, and looked up at where they were grouped around the monitor.
‘Didn’t you see his face?’ he said bitterly. ‘He couldn’t wait to go.’ Couldn’t wait to leave us. Couldn’t wait to leave me.
Gwen crossed her arms. ‘You know,’ she said thoughtfully, ‘we were talking just before this happened and I asked him what visions would make him open the rift and he said’. She paused. ‘He said, ‘the right kind of doctor’. And he sounded so wistful.’
‘You think he meant this Doctor?’ Tosh asked anxiously. ‘I didn’t even know he knew him. It’s not in any of the files on the Doctor, and Jack’s never mentioned him.’ Tosh looked at Ianto. ‘Has he?’
‘No,’ Ianto said, through a throat that kept trying to close on him, ‘but then, he never did tell us much, did he?’
Gwen rewound the file and paused it on Jack’s face as he ran towards the machine. ‘He looks so happy, doesn’t he?’
‘Looks like wishes can come true,’ Owen said. He kicked at some papers on the floor as he started to walk off. ‘If you’re bloody Captain Jack Harkness,’ he added viciously.
‘Owen!’ Gwen sounded chiding.
‘Well,’ Owen swung around, waving his hands to encompass them all. ‘Look at our sorry lot. Just look at us.’ His shoulders slumped and he rubbed at his eyes. ‘We’ve all had our hearts ripped into shreds and trodden on,’ he continued more quietly, ‘and our fearless leader just gets to fucking abandon us and ride off into the proverbial sunset.’
Tosh looked as though she was about to cry. ‘You don’t think he’s coming back then?’
Owen looked anguished. ‘Would you?’
‘He’ll come back,’ Gwen said confidently. ‘He wouldn’t just leave us.’ She looked at Ianto. ‘Would he?’
Ianto looked at her. She was looking at him like he had the answers. Like he knew Jack best just because they’d had something ‘on the side’, as Owen put it. But then, he’d thought so too until he’d seen that footage.
He nodded towards the screen, at Jack’s face. ‘I don’t know,’ he said bleakly. ‘I don’t know that man.’
‘Oh, Ianto,’ Gwen said, her voice full of compassion and too much knowledge. She came and knelt before him and put her arms around him, pulling him towards her. He resisted for a moment, trying for some last vestige of control, but it was too much. Jack was gone. He crumbled out of the chair and into her arms, which tightened around him. Jack was gone. He clung to her. He was vaguely aware when Tosh knelt next to him and put an arm around him, resting her forehead on his shoulder. His stomach ached but he couldn’t stop sobbing, though his face was hot and wet and he could feel his nose starting to run. He began to pull away, embarrassed, and a wad of tissues was abruptly thrust in front of his face. He let go of Gwen and sat up a bit, wiping his nose, his face. He looked up. Owen was crouched beside him, holding a tissue box. Ianto stared at him, blinking to clear his eyes. Owen held his stare for a few moments. Then he nodded once, decisively, and stood up.
‘Right,’ Owen said. ‘We’ve got work to do.’
‘What?’ Ianto croaked.
‘If anyone can find a way to track that thing, it’s us,’ he announced. ‘He’s not getting away from us that easy.’
‘So what?’ Ianto said. ‘What are we going to do if we find him? He chose to leave, remember.’
Owen smirked. ‘I’ve always fancied the idea of a bit of travel.’
Gwen rubbed Ianto’s back. ‘You must be joking,’ she said incredulously. ‘You want us to go into space?
‘Why not?’
Ianto pulled away from Gwen and stood up. ‘No,’ he said firmly.
‘What do you mean, no?’
‘Even if we could find a way, do you really think that’s what Jack wants?’
‘Who cares? He needs us. He’s not well. He was just dead, if you remember.’
Ianto walked up to him, stared him in the eye. ‘Twice. I remember.’
Owen’s hands came up to Ianto’s chest as though to shove him. Then his face crumpled and he turned away.
Tosh stood up. ‘That’s enough,’ she said firmly. ‘None of us are thinking clearly right now. We should all go home and get some sleep.’
‘And then what?’ Gwen said, getting up and brushing at her jeans.
‘And then we carry on until Jack comes back.’
‘If he comes back,’ Ianto interjected.
‘You want us to just do nothing?’ Gwen asked incredulously. ‘No, maybe Owen’s right. We should look for him.’
‘We have to trust Jack.’ Tosh said firmly. Ianto looked at her. She seemed so sure, so confident. ‘He’ll come back. We have to do our jobs and protect the Earth.’ Tosh crossed her arms. ‘It is our duty.’
‘Our duty!’ Owen scoffed.
Ianto pulled himself together with an effort. He walked up to Tosh and stood beside her. ‘Tosh is right.’
Owen glared at him, but then shrugged. ‘Whatever.’
‘Everyone should go home now.’ Ianto said. ‘Rest.’
He watched as they gathered their things and shuffled tiredly towards the doors.
Gwen paused, ‘You coming, Ianto?’
‘I’ll just finish up here and then lock up,’ Ianto said.
Gwen nodded and left. Ianto looked around at the empty Hub, at the papers on the floor, the abandoned coffee cups. The thought of going home to his empty flat was unbearable. He couldn’t get the image of Jack’s face just before he’d vanished out of his head. What if he didn’t come back? Ianto didn’t know how he would stand this pain. He had no tears left. Slowly, he started to pick up the fallen papers.
A/N: Beta thanks to victorian_tweed and zebra363, who says that she should probably watch the show if I'm 'going to keep writing it'. And special_trille who said she liked the fic and all it needed was another twelve chapters of Ianto having adventures.
Tosh dashed to her computer and called up the CCTV, her fingers flying over the keyboard, her coffee cup teetering on the edge of the desk where she’d carelessly discarded it. Ianto was right behind her and caught it automatically. He set it straight, placing the tray he had been carrying down carefully, mindful of the tremors in his fingers he couldn’t seem to control. He couldn’t believe this was happening, after everything they’d been through, the agony of the last three days, believing Jack was dead; it was just like Lisa, all his fault, all of them, Owen, Gwen, it was all their fault.
And then, unbelievably, Jack was alive again. He kissed Ianto, and it was forgiveness, and it was like coming home again.
Ianto shouldn’t have gone with Tosh to get the coffees. He hadn’t wanted to leave Jack, but Jack had insisted, insisted that he was okay, that everything was back to normal, that THEY were back to normal, and he hadn’t felt able to make a scene, to admit in front of everyone how much he needed to stay with Jack, to be with him, afraid of what the others would think - that he was weak, that he was pathetic. Well, he was pathetic, wasn’t he? Going along with the others, even though he knew it would lead to disaster, not able to think clearly with Jack dead. Had he thought that opening the rift would bring Jack back, like Gwen was so convinced it would Rhys? All he could remember was the grief overwhelming him all over again, first Lisa and now Jack, and all he wanted was to die himself.
They all gathered in front of the screen and watched as Jack ran over to the case containing the severed hand he was so obsessed with.
‘Is it...glowing?’ Tosh asked, doubtfully.
Who cared? ‘Look at his face,’ Ianto said, swallowing hard. Jack’s face was lit up in a smile Ianto’d never seen before. Jack moved his head slightly, as though listening. Papers flew about, as if a breeze were swirling about within the Hub.
‘I heard a sort of grinding noise,’ Gwen said, ‘and came out to see what it was.’
On the screen a light appeared, flashing, and a blue box appeared out of thin air.
‘Oh my God,’ gasped Tosh.
‘I don’t believe it,’ said Owen flatly.
‘Look at Jack,’ Ianto said tonelessly. Jack’s face was incandescent, Ianto thought, and so beautiful -- that’s what he looks like when he’s truly happy. Ianto could feel his heart breaking into pieces within his chest. Jack had never looked at him like that.
Jack ran towards the box, fumbling in his pocket as he went, pulling out a key on a chain. Even as he held it out, the door in the box opened. They watched as Jack ran into the box without hesitation and the door swung shut. The light flashed again and the box…vanished.
‘What the hell was that?’ Gwen asked frantically. ‘Can we track it? Tosh?’
‘We can’t.’ Tosh threw up her hands. ‘That’s the TARDIS. It can’t be detected by any technology we have. Torchwood’s been working on it for years.’
‘He’s gone.’ Ianto stumbled to sit down in the chair behind him, and put his head in his hands.
‘What’s the TARDIS?’ he heard Gwen say. ‘What is it?’
‘It’s the Doctor’s ship, of course.’ Owen, sounding exasperated. ‘Don’t you know?’
‘Why should I? Who is ‘the Doctor’?’
‘It’s one of the first things you learn in basic training. Keep a look out for a blue police box. Report, but do not interfere.’
‘Is he dangerous?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Owen’s voice sounded smug. Ianto wanted to hit him.
‘He’s on our side,’ Tosh was explaining to Gwen. ‘He protects the Earth from alien invasion. He’s been doing it for hundreds of years, apparently.’
‘Hundreds...of…years?’ Gwen faltered. ‘He’s an alien, then?’
‘Obviously,’ Owen said, in his ‘are you stupid?’ voice.
‘And he’s abducted Jack?’
Ianto half sobbed into his hands, hoping the sound was muffled enough that the others hadn’t heard. He scrubbed surreptitiously at his eyes, and looked up at where they were grouped around the monitor.
‘Didn’t you see his face?’ he said bitterly. ‘He couldn’t wait to go.’ Couldn’t wait to leave us. Couldn’t wait to leave me.
Gwen crossed her arms. ‘You know,’ she said thoughtfully, ‘we were talking just before this happened and I asked him what visions would make him open the rift and he said’. She paused. ‘He said, ‘the right kind of doctor’. And he sounded so wistful.’
‘You think he meant this Doctor?’ Tosh asked anxiously. ‘I didn’t even know he knew him. It’s not in any of the files on the Doctor, and Jack’s never mentioned him.’ Tosh looked at Ianto. ‘Has he?’
‘No,’ Ianto said, through a throat that kept trying to close on him, ‘but then, he never did tell us much, did he?’
Gwen rewound the file and paused it on Jack’s face as he ran towards the machine. ‘He looks so happy, doesn’t he?’
‘Looks like wishes can come true,’ Owen said. He kicked at some papers on the floor as he started to walk off. ‘If you’re bloody Captain Jack Harkness,’ he added viciously.
‘Owen!’ Gwen sounded chiding.
‘Well,’ Owen swung around, waving his hands to encompass them all. ‘Look at our sorry lot. Just look at us.’ His shoulders slumped and he rubbed at his eyes. ‘We’ve all had our hearts ripped into shreds and trodden on,’ he continued more quietly, ‘and our fearless leader just gets to fucking abandon us and ride off into the proverbial sunset.’
Tosh looked as though she was about to cry. ‘You don’t think he’s coming back then?’
Owen looked anguished. ‘Would you?’
‘He’ll come back,’ Gwen said confidently. ‘He wouldn’t just leave us.’ She looked at Ianto. ‘Would he?’
Ianto looked at her. She was looking at him like he had the answers. Like he knew Jack best just because they’d had something ‘on the side’, as Owen put it. But then, he’d thought so too until he’d seen that footage.
He nodded towards the screen, at Jack’s face. ‘I don’t know,’ he said bleakly. ‘I don’t know that man.’
‘Oh, Ianto,’ Gwen said, her voice full of compassion and too much knowledge. She came and knelt before him and put her arms around him, pulling him towards her. He resisted for a moment, trying for some last vestige of control, but it was too much. Jack was gone. He crumbled out of the chair and into her arms, which tightened around him. Jack was gone. He clung to her. He was vaguely aware when Tosh knelt next to him and put an arm around him, resting her forehead on his shoulder. His stomach ached but he couldn’t stop sobbing, though his face was hot and wet and he could feel his nose starting to run. He began to pull away, embarrassed, and a wad of tissues was abruptly thrust in front of his face. He let go of Gwen and sat up a bit, wiping his nose, his face. He looked up. Owen was crouched beside him, holding a tissue box. Ianto stared at him, blinking to clear his eyes. Owen held his stare for a few moments. Then he nodded once, decisively, and stood up.
‘Right,’ Owen said. ‘We’ve got work to do.’
‘What?’ Ianto croaked.
‘If anyone can find a way to track that thing, it’s us,’ he announced. ‘He’s not getting away from us that easy.’
‘So what?’ Ianto said. ‘What are we going to do if we find him? He chose to leave, remember.’
Owen smirked. ‘I’ve always fancied the idea of a bit of travel.’
Gwen rubbed Ianto’s back. ‘You must be joking,’ she said incredulously. ‘You want us to go into space?
‘Why not?’
Ianto pulled away from Gwen and stood up. ‘No,’ he said firmly.
‘What do you mean, no?’
‘Even if we could find a way, do you really think that’s what Jack wants?’
‘Who cares? He needs us. He’s not well. He was just dead, if you remember.’
Ianto walked up to him, stared him in the eye. ‘Twice. I remember.’
Owen’s hands came up to Ianto’s chest as though to shove him. Then his face crumpled and he turned away.
Tosh stood up. ‘That’s enough,’ she said firmly. ‘None of us are thinking clearly right now. We should all go home and get some sleep.’
‘And then what?’ Gwen said, getting up and brushing at her jeans.
‘And then we carry on until Jack comes back.’
‘If he comes back,’ Ianto interjected.
‘You want us to just do nothing?’ Gwen asked incredulously. ‘No, maybe Owen’s right. We should look for him.’
‘We have to trust Jack.’ Tosh said firmly. Ianto looked at her. She seemed so sure, so confident. ‘He’ll come back. We have to do our jobs and protect the Earth.’ Tosh crossed her arms. ‘It is our duty.’
‘Our duty!’ Owen scoffed.
Ianto pulled himself together with an effort. He walked up to Tosh and stood beside her. ‘Tosh is right.’
Owen glared at him, but then shrugged. ‘Whatever.’
‘Everyone should go home now.’ Ianto said. ‘Rest.’
He watched as they gathered their things and shuffled tiredly towards the doors.
Gwen paused, ‘You coming, Ianto?’
‘I’ll just finish up here and then lock up,’ Ianto said.
Gwen nodded and left. Ianto looked around at the empty Hub, at the papers on the floor, the abandoned coffee cups. The thought of going home to his empty flat was unbearable. He couldn’t get the image of Jack’s face just before he’d vanished out of his head. What if he didn’t come back? Ianto didn’t know how he would stand this pain. He had no tears left. Slowly, he started to pick up the fallen papers.