Fanfic - The Spirit of Torchwood 3/4 [Torchwood: Jack/Ianto]

[soera]

Part One
Part Two

The next day, Jack woke up.

It wasn’t something any of them expected, not so soon and not quite in the fashion Jack chose. He sauntered out of the recovery room early in the afternoon, grinned at his shocked employees, and said, “Missed me, kids?”

It took a moment, but then Gwen squealed and flung herself at Jack, nearly forgetting to drop the cable she was holding first. Jack laughed and hugged her, spinning her around and kissing her cheek briefly.

Ianto looked away, taking a moment to compose himself as Toshiko and then even Owen hugged Jack as well. Corinne gave him a sympathetic look and placed her hand on his shoulder. By the time it was his turn, Ianto felt a little more in control of himself.

“Welcome back, sir,” he said with a reserved smile.

“Good to be back,” Jack replied, beaming at him.

“How is this possible, though?” Toshiko asked incredulously. She couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

“Didn’t Gwen tell you?” Jack began, shrugging. Then he paused and took a closer look at Ianto, who hurriedly smoothed out his face.

“Conference room?” Jack suggested after a few long moments. “No, wait, my office, actually, I should see what there is to do while we talk.”

“Jack?” Gwen asked uncertainly.

He gave her a reassuring look. “It’s fine,” he said. “They deserve to know, too.”

The story that Jack gave them was simple enough, though still incredible. Apparently, he’d had an accident a long time ago that had left him unable to die - permanently, at least. Gwen had found out by chance when Suzie had shot him in front of her. Somehow, that made Ianto feel a little better. Jack explained that he was currently still searching for the Doctor, the one person he thought might be able to give him an explanation about what had happened to him, and undo it.

“You do realise that the Doctor is officially listed as an Enemy of Torchwood,” Ianto observed.

“He doesn’t deserve it,” Jack insisted, pacing the room while the others sat on chairs they’d brought in from the Hub main. “I travelled with him once, I know him.”

“I’ll work on getting the Charter changed,” Ianto replied.

“Oh,” Jack said, sounding taken aback, as if he’d been expecting more of an argument. He gave Ianto a pleased look. “Sure, if you can.”

“Do my best,” Ianto said.

“Getting back to the important things,” Owen said pointedly. “Like Jack’s immortality?”

“If I find a version of the Doctor who knows me,” Jack said, “I’m going after him. I don’t know any more than you do, and I’d like some answers.” He glanced at the hand in a jar that sat in pride of place on the table. “That’ll let me know if he’s around.”

“A hand?” Millie asked. “As detectors go, that’s an… unusual one.”

“If I could run some tests,” Owen began.

“No!” Jack and Ianto exclaimed simultaneously.

Jack twitched and turned to Ianto in surprise. “Okay, I know why I don’t want to,” he said. “What’s your reason?”

Ianto flushed.

“I had the strangest thought earlier, when I saw you,” Jack said conversationally. “I thought you already knew I couldn’t die.”

“Busted,” Corinne said, wincing.

Ianto swallowed and looked down, nervously rubbing his wrist.

“You knew?” Gwen asked. “How?”

Ianto glanced up briefly at her, then at Jack. Jack didn’t seem particularly angry - just curious, though Ianto knew he was skilled at hiding his true feelings when he wanted to. All the same…

“I’m an archivist,” he said. “I found a few interesting records.”

“And here I thought I hid my trail so well,” Jack said, amused.

“You did,” Ianto said. “There’s nothing in the electronic database. I found these in the old archives. Level B10? No one ever goes there, and I wanted to know if there was anything useful we might be overlooking.”

“And you found records of my old cases?” Jack asked.

“A few,” Ianto said. “And - and a journal.”

“Whose?” Jack demanded.

“Emily Holroyd,” Ianto said, and watched as Jack blanched.

“Well,” Jack said. “That would explain why you know I don’t want any tests run on me.”

“Quite,” Ianto said. “I destroyed it when I realised what it was. And I rewrote the other records to make it seem like they were about another agent.”

“Sneaky,” Toshiko said admiringly.

Ianto shrugged, looking at her thoughtfully. Then he looked at Owen, and at Gwen. He trusted these people, he truly did. He wasn’t blind to their flaws, but he’d rather have them at his back than anyone else. He remembered Lisa’s laughter when she’d died and realised that he could still see her, her query on why he hadn’t told her.

“All right,” Jack said equably, apparently ready to move on.

“But the real reason why I went looking in the archives,” Ianto said quietly, “was because I already knew you were immortal.”

Jack paused.

“What the hell,” Millie demanded.

“What’re you doing?” Corinne asked in alarm.

“Ianto, you’d better be sure of this,” Damien said warningly.

“How?” Jack asked.

Ianto swallowed. “John Ellis told me,” he said. “I pretty much talked him into thinking he’d been imagining things, but it just didn’t make sense.”

“John Ellis,” Jack repeated, sitting down slowly behind his desk. “He didn’t know I couldn’t die. Not until I -”

“Died with him,” Ianto filled in. “Right.”

“You talked to him after he was dead,” Toshiko said slowly. Ianto could see the looks in their faces, and knew what they’d be thinking.

“Not the Glove, or anything like it,” he said calmly. “It’s just that I can see ghosts.”

“It sounds so blunt when you put it like that,” Millie said.

“You can see ghosts,” Owen repeated in disbelief.

“I make it a point not to talk to any ghosts who seem attached to people I know,” Ianto said, shrugging. “But I didn’t want Ellis hanging around Jack because he was curious.”

“Back up,” Gwen said. “Back up to the part where you think you can see ghosts.”

“I don’t think it, I know it,” Ianto said with conviction. “Ever since I was a child. The first one I saw whom I knew was my Nain. She attended her funeral. I recall she thought the eulogy was hilarious.”

“You were young,” Gwen said. “Isn’t it possible you -”

“She hung around, giving me unsolicited advice for ten years,” Ianto said dryly. “It got to the point I didn’t dare bring any girls home, for fear she’d start critiquing their taste in clothes and makeup. She was already doing it with my attire, and my sister’s, not that Rhiannon could hear her. I had to put up with it, though.”

Owen snorted at that. “Doesn’t mean you weren’t hallucinating,” he said pointedly. “And if those hallucinations have been persisting all this while, then you could have a serious problem.”

Ianto glanced at Jack, wondering why he was being so silent. Before he could say anything, though, the blonde woman he often saw by Owen stepped up.

“If you can see ghosts, can you see me?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied politely.

“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, my. I didn’t dare hope it was possible.”

“Ianto?” Toshiko asked uncertainly.

“It seems rather an invasion of privacy on my part if I talk to the dead loved ones of my friends,” Ianto explained. “So I try not to do it.”

“Well, it’ll help prove your case right now,” she said teasingly. “My name’s Katie, and I used to be Owen’s fiancée.”

Ianto’s eyes widened. “Fiancée?” he asked in surprise. He looked at Owen. “You were engaged?”

The colour suddenly rushed from Owen’s face.

“Her name’s Katie,” Ianto supplied helpfully.

“How do you know that?” Owen choked out.

Ianto shrugged. “She’s right there.”

Owen looked around wildly as if he might be able to see her if he looked hard enough.

“Ianto,” Jack finally said. “You’re not lying, are you?”

“No, sir,” Ianto said. “I’m not, but I do understand if you choose not to believe me.” He chose his words carefully. “I’m familiar with disbelief and… negative reactions to my ability.”

“Would you tell Owen something for me, Ianto?” Katie interrupted.

“What is it?” he asked her.

“Tell him I love him, and I don’t blame him or Torchwood, that I think he’s doing brilliant work now and I want him to keep it up, and be happy, even if it’s not with me,” she said in a rush. “Also, to stop being a bloody knob, throw out the damn alcohol, and get his life back in shape.”

Ianto bit his lip to stop the smile, but dutifully relayed the message.

“Sounds like Katie, all right,” Owen said, with a short, half-hysterical laugh.

“Are you moving on?” Ianto asked suddenly. Katie was gaining that shimmer and he suddenly wasn’t sure he wanted her to move on. “Only, you’re doing that glowing thing, and I don’t think Owen’ll -”

“He’ll be fine,” Katie said. “He just needed to hear that I don’t blame him.”

“What d’you mean, move on?” Owen demanded.

“She’s leaving,” Ianto said. “Ghosts aren’t meant to linger here. There’s somewhere else they have to go, and she’s leaving now.”

“But she can’t,” Owen said pleadingly.

Katie winked out of existence.

Ianto looked over at Owen. “It’s a much better place for them than here,” he said. “Every time one leaves, I catch the barest glimpse of where they’re going, and I know it’s good for them.”

“Is she gone?” Jack asked quietly. Ianto nodded, then looked away as Owen’s face crumpled.

“Remember what she said, Owen,” Jack said. “She doesn’t blame you, and she wants you to be happy.”

“I can actually say with certainty that she’d not want you to beat yourself up over her,” Ianto added. “I may not have talked to her before, but I did see some of her… uh, antics when you came to work hung-over.”

Owen choked on a laugh. “Did she try to strangle me?” he asked. “Or did she try to throw things at me?”

“Both,” Ianto admitted.

“This is really real then,” Toshiko said at last. She looked a little crestfallen, and Ianto suspected that it was at the news that Owen had had a fiancée he obviously felt deeply for.

“You can see ghosts,” Gwen added in disbelief.

“It would appear that way,” Jack said, resting his elbows on the table and propping up his chin in his hands. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you, Ianto?”

“That’s about it, really,” Ianto murmured. “Nothing else surprising about me.”

“Are there any ghosts here?” Gwen asked suddenly.

Ianto reached out and snagged Damien’s wrist without looking. “Damien here,” he said. “He was Head of Engineering at Torchwood One.” He glanced at Jack. “He was the one who helped me with… Lisa.”

Jack nodded in realisation. “Wait,” he said suddenly. “Damien’s that guy you mentioned before, your friend -”

Ianto shrugged. “Kind of a surrogate father,” he said. He gave Damien’s hand a shake, ignoring Damien’s mild protest. “Always watching out for me. And yes, I can interact with ghosts just as well as I can interact with any of you. Probably just looks a bit odd to you, though.”

“A bit,” Toshiko agreed with a giggle. Jack’s eyes were bright and cheery. The entire team looked like they were already settling into this new information about Ianto. If Torchwood did nothing else for them, at least they were probably some of the most adaptable people on the planet.

Ianto gave her a small smile as he dropped Damien’s hand. “And Millie, Corinne and Adrian are here too,” he said. “All ex-field agents at One. I think Corey’s probably down in the archives, staring wistfully at the shelves. The others don’t usually come in here.”

“You’ve got quite the army wandering the streets though,” Damien observed. “Your own super spy network.”

“True enough,” Ianto said, giving Damien a smile. He looked back at the others. “Damien just commented on my - what was it?”

“Super spy network,” Damien repeated obligingly.

“Super spy network,” Ianto relayed. “The others - from Torchwood One, I mean, there’s maybe two hundred of them left who haven’t moved on - anyway, the lot of them are spread out across the majority of Britain. They tend to pop by and let me know if there’s anything interesting going on.”

“That’s how you always know what’s happening everywhere?” Jack asked incredulously.

“Guilty,” Ianto said, amused at the look on Jack’s face.

“Cheat,” Jack said, laughing. “So long as you use your superpowers for us, Ianto Jones.”

“Wasn’t planning on anything else,” Ianto replied with a slight smile.

“They took it a lot better than I expected,” Damien commented.

Ianto shrugged minutely. They were reacting all right now, but after the information had had time to sink in - that was the important thing. He’d just have to wait and see.

“Eugene!” Jack crowed all of a sudden, pointing accusingly at Ianto. “That’s why you got all weird when we said we saw Eugene Jones!”

Ianto couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled past his lips. “Oh,” he said. “You should have seen him when he followed Gwen back here. Jumping around like a kid in a candy store.”

“Was he really?” Gwen asked, eyes sparkling.

“I think we made his day,” Ianto confessed. “Except maybe when you were about to cut into his chest. He fainted.”

Owen snorted at that. “Not surprised,” he said.

“And that’s why you wanted to study the Eye,” Jack added in realisation.

“Yep,” Ianto said. “To see if there’s a reason behind why I can see them.”

“I would offer tests, but I don’t think you’d take me up on that,” Owen said dryly.

“Depends on what they are,” Ianto said slowly. “If you think up anything that might help, let me know and I’ll think about it.”

Jack gave him a sideways look. “You wouldn’t mind?”

Ianto shrugged. “If it helps me understand it,” he said, “I don’t mind. Is that hand supposed to be doing that?”

Jack spun around to look at the severed hand, sitting pretty in its jar. The entire thing had begun to glow, sparkling motes of light dancing around it.

“He’s here?” Jack breathed in disbelief. Toshiko lunged for the security monitors and in a few taps, had brought up the footage of the Plass directly atop them. “He’s here,” Jack said again, staring at the blue box that was sitting innocuously on the fake slab that covered their invisible lift.

“So go, already,” Ianto said, rising. “He doesn’t know you’re here; he might not stay long.”

“I don’t know when I’ll be back,” Jack said, scrambling for a bag under his desk. He shoved the entire jar with the hand into his bag, then continued to grab a few other miscellanea while he talked. “He’s not exactly great with his landings, got twelve months instead of twelve hours once. Uh, I’ll make him get me as close back as possible, but I might be a while. Ianto, you’re in charge. Don’t do field work, you need to stay alive to run things. And the rest of you stay alive too! Um, UNIT and Helen are calling today. Ianto, check my accounts, you’ll figure it out. And -”

“We’ll wear sunscreen,” Owen interrupted. “Go!”

Jack slung the bag across his shoulders, beamed at them, then caught a thoroughly surprised Ianto by the arms and planted a hard, fast kiss on his lips. “Be safe,” he said, then took off for the exit. The cog door screamed shut behind him.

“What,” Owen said, raising an eyebrow, “was that?”

Ianto was fairly positive his face could rival a tomato. “I have no idea,” he said, manfully ignoring Corinne’s laughter.

“Looked like a kiss to me,” Toshiko said, grinning.

“Did rather, didn’t it?” Gwen said. “Kind of hot, actually,” she added thoughtfully.

“You’re shagging Jack?” Owen demanded.

“No,” Ianto insisted. “He flirts, of course he flirts, he flirts with everyone, but that’s it.”

“But that time, after Suzie,” Gwen objected. “When I walked in on the two of you with your arms around each other?”

“He was upset!” Ianto protested. “He stole a hug, that’s all!”

“You didn’t object!” Corinne sang.

“Oh, shut up, Corinne,” Ianto growled, and stalked from the room.

His departure might have been a little more dignified if everyone - even Damien, the traitor - hadn’t been laughing behind him.

As Ianto had expected, when the truth about his ability had had time to sink in, the team became a little uncomfortable around him. It wasn’t as bad as he had feared, though, and after a week or so, they began to relax again.

Eventually, Owen came to him to find out more about what Katie had done while she’d still been around. Ianto was happy to share what he remembered, and Owen willingly explained some of her more peculiar actions and words to Ianto.

It was odd, but after that, Owen actually became somewhat mellower. Ianto even caught him apologising to Toshiko once, for disrupting one of her programs by accident.

“I think it’s done him good,” she confided in Ianto later. “Let him move on some.”

“I reckon so, too,” Ianto admitted. It was the first time his ability had directly helped a living person. He found he rather liked the idea.

The team finally got used to the idea, and after that, they truly didn’t seem to have any problems with it.

Ianto wondered what Jack thought of him, as he travelled with the Doctor. If he thought of him at all.

With Jack gone off for the time being, the team found that their workload had increased quite a bit. No one had realised exactly how much work Jack had regularly done after hours. Without his frequent night patrols, the Weevil population on the streets grew unmanageably large. A month after Jack left, the problem came to a head, and they were forced to spend a couple of days proactively rounding up Weevils and returning them to the sewers before further damage could be caused.

“We might want to set up a rota,” Gwen suggested. “Take turns on night patrols, like Jack did.”

“Not advisable,” Ianto said immediately. “Dying wouldn’t stick for Jack, so he took risks we can’t afford.”

“We’d have to go it in pairs at least,” Owen mused. “But that leaves us running the risk of becoming over-fatigued.”

“So forget the night patrols,” Toshiko said. “Why don’t we do day patrols instead?”

They all looked at her expectantly. “Face it,” she said. “When we’re at the Hub, a lot of the time we’ve not got anything to do. Slow days like that, why don’t we go out on patrol? The two who aren’t driving can continue with paperwork and anything online in the back.”

“And I can coordinate from here if something does happen,” Ianto said. “It’s a good idea. Thoughts?”

“What about things like autopsies?” Owen asked. “We do need to be in the Hub for some of the experiments and things. Like if Tosh has a new programme she wants to run, she can’t do that from the car.”

“Patrol every other day,” Gwen said. “It doesn’t have to be daily, after all. We can take an extra day off if the work’s piling up here.”

“Worst case scenario, patrol in alternating pairs,” Ianto agreed. “That way, you each get an extra day to clear any backlog.”

“Should work,” Owen said, and Toshiko chimed in with her agreement. They hashed out a quick schedule to try out. They’d have to modify it as the circumstances dictated, of course, but it looked promising to begin with.

“You’ve gotten so organised,” Jack marvelled.

Ianto very nearly dropped his stack of folders. “Jack?” he said blankly. Somewhere in his peripheral vision, he noticed another man and a woman behind Jack, looking around curiously. It was Jack that all his attention was on, though, Jack and that terribly weary look in his eyes.

“What happened?” he blurted out, dropping the folders on the nearest table. “What happened to you?”

Jack laughed softly. “You can’t possibly have cheated for that. How did you know?”

Ianto couldn’t take his eyes off Jack. “Everything,” he replied. “Just -”

“Who’s this, then?” the unfamiliar man asked, eyeing Ianto strangely.

“Ianto Jones,” Jack said. “Ianto, meet the Doctor and Martha Jones.”

“Pleasure,” Ianto said, lips quirking in the tiniest of smiles. He glanced back at Jack, eyes still distressed.

“It was a bit rough,” Jack admitted. “How long have I been away?”

Ianto swallowed and accepted the unsubtle change of topic. “Four months,” he said. “The others are just out on a patrol.”

“Things have changed,” Jack said in admiration.

Ianto shrugged. “I don’t think any of us knew how much you were doing after hours,” he said. “Not until the Weevils started popping up everywhere. We decided to do daytime runs to get them back into the sewers before their above-ground population became too overwhelming for us.”

Jack nodded. “And… Helen…”

“All sorted,” Ianto said. “Payments made as usual, and no change on that front.”

Jack relaxed minutely. “All right,” he said. “No injuries or anything I should know about?”

“The usual suspects when chasing Weevils,” Ianto replied. “Nothing major, and no one’s currently running on an injury.”

“Good enough,” Jack said. He glanced at the other two. “You two want to have a look around?”

“Should I call Myfanwy down?” Ianto asked archly.

“After the tour,” Jack said, grinning wickedly.

“I don’t like that look on your face,” Martha decided.

“So, how long till the rest of your team gets back?” Martha asked. “I’d like to finally meet the infamous Torchwood.”

“What have you been saying, sir?” Ianto asked suspiciously, setting cups of tea in front of Martha and the Doctor.

“Sir?” the Doctor mumbled in disbelief.

“Me?” Jack said. “Nothing, nothing at all.”

Ianto raised an eyebrow.

“Really nice suit, by the way,” Jack said, appreciatively raking his eyes over Ianto’s rear as Ianto bent over to retrieve some biscuits from a lower cabinet.

“Stop it,” the Doctor said in exasperation.

“What?” Jack asked. “Ianto, does it bother you, my saying that?”

“I’d be far more bothered if you stopped,” Ianto replied calmly. “I’d then be forced to check you for mind-altering substances.”

Jack grinned. “See, Ianto’s fine with it,” he said happily. “Oh, is that coffee? Ianto Jones, I could kiss you.”

“What’s stopping you?” Ianto murmured under his breath.

“This,” Jack said, hefting his coffee cup aloft, “is the best coffee I’ve ever had.”

“Better than Adrixian Four?” the Doctor asked.

“Much,” Jack said. “Adrixian Four is like instant coffee compared to this.” He inhaled deeply, relaxing into his chair. “Heaven in a cup.”

“Oh, I’ve got to try some too then,” the Doctor said, turning bright, puppyish eyes on Ianto. “I mean, if it’s better than Adrixian Four coffee! That entire planet’s devoted to coffee, you know. Well, it will be in about three hundred years, anyway. All around the planet, all types of coffee grown in all sorts of conditions. Their speciality brew comes from the tropics, and it’s supposed to be the best coffee in the universe.”

“That’s this,” Jack mumbled, closing his eyes in bliss as he took a deep draught.

“He might be saying that because I manage to get it as strong as he likes,” Ianto said. “At that strength, it’s probably capable of taking the skin off your tongue.”

The Doctor winced. “Maybe a little less strong then.”

“You generally prefer tea?” Ianto asked.

“Oh yes,” the Doctor said, hefting his cup of tea happily. “Tannins, you know.”

“Of course,” Ianto said blandly. “Ms Jones?”

“Oh, god, just Martha,” she laughed. “And yeah, I guess I’ll try some too. Plenty of sugar though.”

Ianto made up a couple of cups for them, similar to how he made Toshiko’s. She was generally a tea-drinker too, but she fancied Ianto’s coffee when it was a little weaker, and had a good dash of cream and sugar in it. They seemed to like it well enough, at any rate.

“I could bring him to Adrixian Four, get him a shop,” the Doctor told Jack. “They’d love him there.”

Jack gave him a disbelieving look. “Uh, no,” he said, clutching at Ianto’s hand. “Mine.”

“Lovely to know I have a say in this,” Ianto said, giving Jack a bland smile. “If you’ll excuse me, sir, I should go inform the others that you’ve returned.”

“I’ll come with!” Jack said, bouncing up. “Be right back, you two.”

“I thought I was mishearing things the first time,” the Doctor said, frowning. Ianto shut the door behind them, but they could still clearly hear the conversation. “But ‘sir,’ really?”

“Doesn’t quite seem to fit the image, does it?” Martha observed.

“Always,” Jack sighed dramatically. “I always get that. People don’t think I deserve respect.”

“I can’t imagine why, sir,” Ianto replied.

“I don’t know why,” Jack said. “But I actually get the feeling you didn’t mean that sarcastically.”

Ianto stopped in front of Toshiko’s desk, meeting Jack’s eyes squarely. “I didn’t.” He put on the headphones, tapped into the group channel and waited for everyone to check in.

“Hullo,” Ianto greeted them. “Got a bit of a surprise for you lot. Round up for today and get back here, will you?”

“It’s barely two,” Owen protested. “We’re just getting started, really.”

“I know,” Ianto said. “But believe me, this is something you’ll want to see.” He tilted his head at Jack, gesturing at the headphones and attached mike enquiringly.

Jack grinned and leaned in, speaking into the mike. “Unless you feel like you’re doing just fine on your own, of course,” he said. “Don’t let me stop you from doing your work.”

“Oh, for -” Owen began, but was drowned out by the girls’ exclamations. Ianto winced as feedback squealed.

“Yes, yes, we’re all very excited,” he said in his most bored voice. “So, come on back now, all right? Incidentally, the Doctor and a friend of his have also dropped by for a visit, so on the off-chance you run into a stranger in the Hub, please don’t shoot.”

“I’ll think about it,” Owen said. “On our way back now. Give us half an hour.”

“Will do,” Ianto said, and hung up. His eyes flickered over to Jack, who still hadn’t moved back from when he’d leaned in to talk.

“Hey,” Jack said softly.

“Hi,” Ianto replied.

Jack hesitantly moved a little closer, but it was Ianto who finally bridged the gap. He didn’t know when the kiss got as desperate as it did, but when they finally broke apart, they’d somehow wound up against the wall, panting wildly, bodies flush against each other. Ianto could feel hard brick pressing into his back, and firm flesh pressing against his front, and he pulled Jack into a tighter hug and buried his face in his neck.

“Missed you,” Jack confessed quietly.

Ianto made a sound of agreement and attempted to burrow a bit closer. Jack sighed contentedly, leaning into the hold.

After a few minutes, Jack finally stirred, taking the slightest step backwards. Ianto unwillingly loosened his hold.

“Much as I like this,” Jack said, smiling. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Doesn’t sound too good,” Ianto observed.

“It’s not bad,” Jack assured him. “There’s a reason the Doctor’s here now. I mean, he barely ever sticks around unless there’s something going on, you know? Took everything I had to convince him to come down just for a day, see what Torchwood’s become instead of what he knew it to be. That was the excuse, anyway.”

“And the real reason?” Ianto asked.

Jack shrugged. “He’s been to a lot more places in the galaxy than I have,” he said honestly. “Seen a lot more than me. If there’s anyone out there who could explain your ability, he’s more likely to know than I am. I didn’t tell him,” he added hastily. “I just wanted him here in case you decided it was all right to ask.”

Ianto bit his lip. “He won’t tell anyone?” he asked anxiously.

“He won’t,” Jack assured him. “Neither will Martha, if you want to tell her, but of course you don’t have to. You can trust them both, I promise.”

“Let me think about it?” Ianto asked.

“Sure,” Jack said. “But - and I don’t mean this to put pressure on you - he doesn’t usually stay long. If you want to, you’ll have to decide soon.”

“Okay,” Ianto said. “I should - go talk to Damien about it.”

“Any of them here now?” Jack asked.

“Christ. No, thank god,” Ianto said, flushing. He didn’t want to imagine their reactions to his and Jack’s rather heated kiss. Fortunately, the others had decided to lend a hand by checking out the parts of Cardiff that the team wasn’t patrolling at the time. They’d been a great help in getting Torchwood to problem areas before anything serious could happen.

“Live a little,” Jack said, grinning. “What’s a bit of exhibitionism?”

“No, Jack,” Ianto said firmly. “Absolutely not.”

Jack laughed and dipped his head to kiss the side of Ianto’s neck. “No?” he asked. “Pity. Oh well, there’s plenty of other things we can do.”

“What,” Ianto asked, staring at the ceiling, “have I gotten myself into?”

Jack returned to keep the Doctor and Martha entertained. In the meantime, Ianto retreated to his workstation in the archives. He thought specifically of Damien, and then said, “Damien, do you have a minute? Need some advice.”

A few seconds later, Damien appeared in front of him. The ability to call a familiar ghost to him was something Ianto had discovered by accident a few months ago. Damien said it sounded as if Ianto was standing right next to him, speaking to him. Damien did have the option not to respond, but it had opened up new avenues of communication for them.

It also made Ianto wonder what else he didn’t know about his ability.

Ianto quickly summarised his dilemma for Damien. The older man thought about it in silence for a few minutes.

“Ask him,” Damien finally said.

“You’re sure,” Ianto said.

“He doesn’t stay long when he’s here,” Damien said, counting off on his fingers. “Most people don’t know he exists. Those who do, also know how to keep a secret, or the fact of alien life would have been exposed long ago. Most of the time, he’s not here on Earth, so who’s he going to reveal this to that might affect you? He travels a lot, so it’ll be hard tracking him down to get any information on you.”

He looked at Ianto and shrugged. “There’s always a risk, but if you’re going to ask anyone for help, he’s probably your best bet.”

Ianto sighed. “That’s what I thought.” He hesitated.

“But?” Damien prodded.

“Telling the team’s one thing,” Ianto said. “I trust them. I don’t even know the Doctor. All I know is Jack trusts him.”

“You also know that trust isn’t something Jack gives lightly,” Damien pointed out.

Ianto nodded slowly. “You definitely think I should do this then,” he said.

“Yep,” Damien agreed.

“Okay,” Ianto said, taking a deep breath. “Thanks.”

Damien smiled at him. “You’re welcome. I’ll just go back now, then. Oh, and you might want to tidy your hair before Corinne sees you.”

Ianto flushed scarlet and Damien vanished with a laugh, snapping back to wherever he’d been before Ianto had called him over.

Ianto neatened up in the bathroom, taking his time and thinking about what to say. Then he pulled up all the courage he had, and headed back up.

Jack, the Doctor and Martha were discussing the relative merits of some planet or other when Ianto returned. He took a seat beside Jack and waited for a break in the conversation. When it came, he gave Jack a slight nod.

“Yes?” Jack asked.

“Yep,” Ianto said.

“Okay,” Jack said. “So, Doctor. Ianto’s got a question he’d like to ask you, but we’d like assurance that the information stays private.”

“Oh, of course,” the Doctor said, looking intrigued.

“Should I leave?” Martha asked.

Ianto glanced at Jack, then shook his head. “Not as long as you’ll keep the secret,” he said.

“Thanks,” she said, smiling faintly. Ianto suspected she knew exactly how much it had cost him to trust her like that. “I will.”

“So, what is it?” the Doctor asked. “It’s not about the Simulacra, is it, because those people just wouldn’t stop when I asked them to, so when they wound up as, well, slugs, really, it wasn’t -”

“Ianto can see ghosts,” Jack interrupted bluntly.

The Doctor blinked.

“Ever heard of anything similar?” Jack asked conversationally.

“Ghosts,” the Doctor said, frowning. “No, no, can’t say I’ve come across anything like that. Things people thought were ghosts, yes, but not actual ghosts. Hm, let me think - you’re sure they’re ghosts, now?”

“Yes,” Ianto said.

“I just had a really disturbing thought,” Martha said slowly. “Saxon’s ghost isn’t anywhere around, is it?”

Jack flinched violently. Ianto frowned minutely as he looked around, then shook his head. “No one here at the moment, at any rate,” he said. “You meant Harold Saxon? Should he be here?”

“No,” Martha said immediately. “Rather a good thing if he’s not here.”

Jack curled his hand painfully tight around Ianto’s. Ianto let him.

“Is it people you used to know or some such?” the Doctor enquired.

“Not only them,” Ianto said. “I tend not to talk to the ones I don’t know. They get a bit obsessive sometimes, following me around.”

“You have ghostly stalkers?” Jack asked, frowning.

“Not anymore,” Ianto said. “But when I was younger, yes. It’s how I started -” he hesitated, looking over his shoulder.

“What?” Jack asked.

“Owen’s already taken to calling me Melinda,” Ianto said, grimacing. “I hardly want to give him more ammunition. But I try and convince them to move on, where I can.”

“Melinda?” the Doctor asked in confusion.

“The Ghost Whisperer,” Martha laughed. “I suppose it’s fitting, in a way.”

“Thanks,” Ianto said dryly. “Really, I just do it to preserve my own sanity. Do you know how loud a roomful of frustrated ghosts can get?”

“They can’t see each other,” Jack added, grinning. “So they don’t realise there’re others all talking at the same time. Right?”

“Right,” Ianto said. “The ones I’m friends with, they know that and they’ve gotten good at figuring out who I’m talking to, based on my responses. And they know not to take it personally when I ask them all to shut up for a minute.” He smiled.

“Not so much with the ones you don’t know?” Martha asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Ianto agreed. “And it’s a bit odd standing in the middle of the street and yelling at nothing, you know?”

“Well, I’ve never heard of quite this sort of ability before,” the Doctor said thoughtfully. “The closest would be - probably about six centuries from now, on Raynham, I suppose -”

“Raynham,” Ianto repeated under his breath.

“If you go about Townshend City, there’s a group of people, I think, who say they can speak to the dead,” the Doctor went on. “Never put much stock in it myself, though I heard plenty of people say it wasn’t a scam. Could go have a look, I suppose, see if there’s anything to it. Though it still doesn’t explain why you’d have this ability.” He frowned at Ianto. “You are human, aren’t you?”

“Entirely so,” Ianto said dryly.

“Hm,” the Doctor said contemplatively. “Quite peculiar then. Rather unusual ability, especially for a human. You humans don’t tend to get very many people who’re gifted like that.”

Ianto barely refrained from rolling his eyes.

“If you manage to find out anything, could you let us know?” Jack asked.

“Oh, of course,” the Doctor said. He gave Ianto an apologetic look. “Not of much help right now. Sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Ianto said.

Corinne chose that moment to appear next to him. “There’s a bit of a mess with -” she began, then stopped when she caught sight of their unexpected company. “Oh, he’s back!” she said in pleasure. Then she caught sight of Jack’s and Ianto’s hands, still interlaced under the table.

Ianto winced at her deafening squeal.

“What?” Jack asked.

“Corinne gets a bit - enthusiastic, sometimes,” Ianto said with a sigh.

“She here?” Jack asked curiously.

“Just popped by,” Ianto said, gesturing vaguely towards where she was standing. Then he yelped as she grabbed his free hand and shook it vigorously. “What, what?”

“What I was trying to tell you,” she said. “Before you distracted me with the lovely hand-holding, thank you, oh, did you kiss, you must have!”

“Corinne,” Ianto said in exasperation. “Focus.”

“Right,” she said. “There’s a bit of a mess with a blowfish. Seems like it’s on drugs, and it’s just stolen a sports car.”

“Brilliant,” Ianto said, sighing. He’d have to go re-route the others to the blowfish then. With any luck, he and Jack could catch up to them and help get the blowfish under control. They were always dangerous when they were high.

Then he caught sight of the expressions on the others’ faces. “What? Corinne said there’s a drugged-out blowfish that’s gone and stolen a car, so -”

“Back to work,” Jack said delightedly.

“Can we come along?” the Doctor asked excitedly.

“A blowfish?” Martha asked incredulously.

“Oh, dear,” the Doctor muttered. “Oh, dear.”

“Really think there’s any way out of this that leaves that blowfish alive?” Jack asked pleasantly.

“Well,” the Doctor said. “If we just tried talking to him, perhaps.”

“Ever seen someone on meth?” Ianto asked. “You’ve got one chance to talk them down. If paranoia kicks in, or psychosis, then there’s nothing more you can do. A blowfish on any type of drug is exactly the same way.”

“The team will already have tried reasoning,” Jack added. “Clearly, it hasn’t worked.”

“Did they try enough, though?” the Doctor pressed.

“They’ll have tried right up until he decided to hold these people hostage,” Ianto said. “And probably even then. But right now, those people take priority. They’re completely innocent in all this.”

“And that blowfish isn’t?” the Doctor asked indignantly.

Ianto regarded him coolly. “He had a choice about taking those drugs, and he had a choice about taking these people hostage,” he said.

“I really don’t see any other way, Doctor,” Martha said softly, laying a hand on his arm.

The Doctor pursed his lips unhappily. “Humans,” he said. “Always so violent.”

“Are Time Lords really exempt?” Jack asked, baring his teeth in a parody of a smile. There was tense silence for a moment, before Ianto cleared his throat.

“Blowfish,” he reminded Jack.

Jack nodded after a moment. “Cover me from here,” he told Ianto. “I’ll see what I can do.”

It ended with a dead Jack and a subdued blowfish. Ianto refrained from asking the Doctor if it was a preferable outcome to a dead blowfish and an uninjured Jack. He hefted Jack’s body in a fireman’s carry and brought him to the back of the SUV while Gwen administered Retcon to the hysterical family that had been taken hostage. They’d believe that they’d been victims of a home invasion and nothing more.

Martha, Ianto noted, looked vaguely sick as she looked at Jack’s dead body.

“You do know about him, don’t you?” Ianto asked, carefully laying Jack down. He arranged Jack’s body into a comfortable position.

“He’ll come back,” Martha said. “Yes, I know. It’s just -”

“He’s died a lot, hasn’t he?” Ianto asked, smoothing Jack’s shirt down. “While he was with you.”

Martha’s eyes clouded. “Yes,” she said finally.

Ianto nodded and fell silent, waiting for Jack to come back. Owen brought in the unconscious blowfish and secured it, then patted Ianto’s shoulder lightly and hopped back out to help Gwen and Toshiko with the cleanup.

It didn’t escape Ianto’s notice that he’d also steered Martha away, leaving Ianto alone with Jack, if only for a few minutes. He was vaguely grateful for that.

Jack came back to life flailing and gasping just like all those times Millie had described to him. What struck Ianto as strange was the absolutely terrified look on Jack’s face as he came back, the way he recoiled instinctively from Ianto, scrambling away. It took a few moments for his expression to clear, and then a look of relief took over.

Odd, Ianto thought. It had been as if he’d expected someone else to be there.

“Jack,” Ianto said quietly, cautiously reaching forward.

“Sorry,” Jack responded. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Ianto said, holding out a hand to Jack. After a moment, Jack took it, and let Ianto pull him up.

“Blowfish contained, as you can see,” Ianto said, gesturing at the alien trussed up in the corner.

“No one was hurt?” Jack asked.

“Just you,” Ianto said, squeezing Jack’s hand lightly.

“I’ll come back,” Jack said. “I always do.”

Ianto nodded slightly. “He wasn’t able to help you, then.”

“Nope,” Jack said, voice catching slightly. “You know, you’re the first person to put it like that?”

“Like what?” Ianto asked.

“Most people ask if I can be fixed, or put back to normal, something like that,” Jack said, smiling at Ianto. “Never if I can be helped.”

The blowfish was secured in one of the cells until the drugs wore off. After that, it would be brought to an island co-owned by Torchwood and UNIT, until such time as transport back to its native planet arrived. It was Torchwood’s responsibility to contact those planets, and the island afforded the spaceships enough privacy to discreetly land and remove the prisoners.

The Doctor left shortly after ensuring that the blowfish would indeed be treated well. Martha went with him after thanking Ianto for the coffee. She also gave him her number and told him to call if he ever had any questions about Jack’s time away.

He rather thought he could get to like the spirited young lady.

The team retired to the conference room to properly catch up with their leader. Jack spun a grand tale about seeing the end of the universe, and the team were suitably amazed.

Ianto didn’t need Damien to realise that Jack was leaving out far more than he was telling them.

He would ask Jack later, he decided. Hopefully, Jack would tell him at least a little. If not… he’d give him some time. But first he’d try, after the others left and things were a little quieter.

Sadly, John Hart’s arrival put that plan to rest.

“Oh yeah,” Jack commented. “Loving that office feel.” He flashed Ianto a quick grin. “I always get excited in these places.”

“Are you that deprived?” Ianto asked politely.

“Maybe a little,” Jack said. “But probably not so much anymore?” He raised his eyebrows.

Ianto tried not to smile. “Suppose you’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

“Not too long,” Jack said, leering at him. Ianto turned away to hide the amusement on his face, flipping through a folder on a desk just for something to do.

“Bomb’s not in there,” Jack said, a smirk in his voice. “Unless it’s a very, very small bomb.”

“Oh, be quiet,” Ianto said, finally starting to laugh as he glanced back at Jack.

Jack beamed, coming up behind Ianto and winding his arms around Ianto’s waist. “I can do quiet,” he said. “If it’s worth the effort.”

Ianto attempted to get loose, but Jack simply held on tighter. “Not here, Jack,” Ianto said. “Definitely not here.”

“After we get back, then,” Jack purred, nuzzling Ianto’s neck in direct contrast to his words. He licked a line along Ianto’s jaw, tracing the shape of his face up to his ear. Ianto shivered as Jack tugged on his earlobe lightly with his teeth.

“After we’ve dealt with all this, and we’re back either at yours or mine,” Ianto said. His hands somehow found their way under Jack’s coat, mapping the lines of cloth-covered muscle. “Preferably yours, I don’t want Camilla walking in on us.”

“Camilla?” Jack enquired in a mumble as he continued to lip Ianto’s ear. With one hand, he loosened Ianto’s tie and undid the top couple of buttons. A single finger ran along Ianto’s collarbone, half-ticklish, half-sensuous. Ianto shivered again, pressing closer.

“Ghost,” Ianto explained. “A child.” Jack’s shirt had come un-tucked. Peculiar how that had happened. The first brush of skin on skin thrilled him. “Stays at home, mostly, doesn’t like coming out.”

“Mm,” Jack mumbled, too busy nibbling on Ianto’s neck to really respond.

“Ianto, we’ve got a problem - oh, shit, sorry, sorry, bad timing,” Corinne yelped.

Ianto let out an undignified squeak and hastily extricated himself from a surprised Jack’s grasp. “What?” he asked Corinne, flushing. “I thought you were with Gwen?” Jack’s face immediately slipped back into professionalism, realising that if Ianto’s friend had left her assigned station, it was because something had gone wrong.

“That would be the problem,” Corinne said. “He’s poisoned Gwen and gone after Owen and Toshiko.”

“Where is she?” Ianto asked immediately. Once she’d relayed the information, Corinne left once more to keep an eye on John’s movements.

“Gwen’s been poisoned,” he told Jack, as he fished out his phone. He called Owen and Toshiko quickly, updating them on the situation and warning them that John Hart was presently on his way to their location.

“Have they found anything yet?” Jack asked. Ianto relayed the question. They had, and so Jack told them to get to Gwen as soon as possible and help her.

“How do we play this?” Ianto asked.

“Have your stun gun?” Jack asked. “Good. Let’s get up to the roof and find you a hiding place. I have a sneaking suspicion I know what John’s after.”

Having failed to locate Owen and Toshiko, John came to Jack next. He seemed only mildly annoyed to find out from Jack that they’d already located the device, and that Ianto had returned to the Hub with it.

“Then why’re you here?” he asked.

Jack smiled, glancing up at the starlit sky. “Remembering,” he said. “I was just headed back, actually.” He took a couple of steps diagonally forward, beginning the slow process of manoeuvring John into the right position.

From his concealed vantage point, Ianto listened as John tried to convince Jack to leave the planet with him. It was rather gratifying to hear Jack claim that this was where he belonged.

It was even more gratifying when he finally got to stun John Hart.

It really didn’t come as a surprise to any of them that John Hart’s greediness had come back to bite him in the rear. At least they finally managed to get rid of him - and they even wound up with an unexpected free day. Of course, they’d have to spend it in a place where they wouldn’t run into their past selves. Since Owen, Gwen and Toshiko had spent a good bit of the afternoon patrolling Cardiff, that was a little problematic. After a bit of discussion, they decided to book a few rooms at a hotel and relax.

As a bonus, Gwen would get to relax her stiff muscles in the spa.

“I told you not to kiss him,” Jack said, shaking his head severely at her.

“It was a bit unexpected!” she retorted, mock-glaring at him. “I wasn’t exactly planning on it!”

Jack grinned and patted her shoulder. “Well, what’s important is you’re all right now,” he said. “Go pamper yourself a bit.” He glanced over at the others. “Goes for you lot, too. You deserve it, with all you’ve been doing while I was gone.”

Ianto snapped his phone shut and came over. “Got us rooms,” he announced. “They’ll let us check in right away.”

Jack gave him a pleased grin. “Let’s go, then.”

Jack and Owen looked at each other. Then, simultaneously, they cried, “Dibs!” and took off running for the sports car.

“Men,” Gwen said, rolling her eyes. Toshiko nodded vehemently in agreement.

Ianto rather felt inclined to agree.

“So,” Jack murmured as the others trooped into the hotel ahead of them. “You did get us a room together, right?”

Part Four