Fic challenge
Woo! I think my mojo is back, for which I need to thank szm and holdingoff for their soothing my shattered nerves with good news.
This came about because of one scene that wouldn't go away and everything just escalated from there. I hate the way my neurones misfire sometimes!
Title: Green, Green Grass of Home
Characters: Ianto, Gwen, Jack and Ten
Rating: Mild PG for kiss and inference.
Spoilers: Mild for Adrift
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to RTD and to the BBC
Summary: Ianto's home. Written in response of Day Fifteen of the horizonssing challenge.
Ianto landed hard enough to wind himself, stumbling forward a little and very nearly tripping over his own feet. He caught himself and looked around warily, remembering some of the other landings he had made over the past six months. To his intense relief, he seemed to be standing at the side of a road that stretched out in either direction until it swept over the brow of a hill to his right and disappeared around a bend and a dip to his left. The landscape looked achingly familiar and he swiftly accessed his locator to see if he could confirm what his heart already told him.
"Earth, Northern Hemisphere, United Kingdom, Wales." He read it off in increasing excitement before searching for more. "Come on, come on; what's the date?" To his intense annoyance, the best reading he could get was early 21st century which he knew covered a 25-year stretch of time. "How the hell did they ever get a job done with this tech?" he grumbled to himself.
Still, he shouldn't be complaining. This was the closest he had got to home since the Rift had snatched him a year ago by his own timeline. He was actually a hell of a lot luckier than 90% of the poor souls who got taken and most of the time he remembered that. To be so close to home and Jack, however, and not know for certain meant that his usual patience and gratitude flew out of the window. He realised that he wasn't going to get any closer to his goal of getting home by just standing around, so he mentally tossed a coin for a direction and then started walking.
After a while, his impatience gave way to euphoria. If anyone had told him a year ago that the sight of sheep grazing would have him grinning like an idiot, and that a sprig of heather pulled from the ground would make him want to cry, he would have looked at them in disbelief and probably made sure his stun gun was ready to hand. As it was, he felt like bouncing along and singing something ridiculously patriotic. His observation that doing that would be just plain silly lasted about three hours before he gave in and started to sing with gusto. He was three quarters of the way through Men of Harlech, after running through every rugby song he had ever known, when he spotted the big black SUV barrelling along the road towards him.
The breath caught in his throat and he stared in absolute hope as it approached, the tinted windows making it difficult for even his sharp eyes to see who was inside. It was still too far away for him to see the TORCHWOOD legend etched along its side, but the outline and the light rack were unmistakeable. Part of him hoped that he wouldn't see Tosh and Owen when it pulled up, because that would mean that he had overshot and was eclipsing his own timeline, but part of him felt a fierce surge of hope that he would, in fact, see the two people he still missed with a pang he suspected would never truly die.
The SUV braked to a halt fifty yards away and the driver's door was flung open to disgorge a wild-eyed Gwen. She stayed where she was for a moment, just staring at him, and Ianto noted a little uneasily that she had her gun out. He realised that he had better say something before she decided he was some kind of alien trick. He could see the glint of her wedding ring on her finger, and she didn't seem that much older, so he knew he was close to his mark.
"It's me, Gwen, I swear," he said as he lifted his hands to show that he was unarmed. (Which wasn't strictly the truth but he had no intention of harming a hair on her head.) "No tricks. I've managed to get back. How long have I been away?"
"A month," Gwen said in a stunned voice. "You were taken a month ago."
"A month?" Ianto echoed in dismay. He had hoped it would be more a week or maybe to. "Shit. How's Jack? He hasn't done anything stupid, has he?"
Gwen's face twisted and she was suddenly running in his direction. He braced himself but still staggered when she flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh God, Ianto!"
"Gwen, for God's sake!" Ianto said in exasperation, even as he returned her hug. "I could still have been an alien. Where's your sense?"
She started laughing and crying and hauled off enough to hit him on the arm, which made him yelp and that made her laugh and cry all the harder. After a moment, Ianto joined in, so utterly relieved to be home that he felt like screaming and dancing around like a mad thing. It took a while for them both to calm down, but Ianto eventually sobered and finally caught up to the fact that Gwen seemed to be on her own.
"Gwen, did you come out here without backup?" he demanded in horrified tones. When she suddenly couldn't meet his eyes, his stomach went into freefall. "Oh, Duw, what's happened to Jack?"
"Nothing!" she said immediately, giving him a reassuring hug he had difficulty in believing. "I promise you, he's fine," she continued.
"You're telling me that Jack let you come all the way out here to investigating a temporal anomaly without any kind of backup?" Ianto continued to demand.
"How did you know it was a temporal anomaly?" Gwen said in confusion.
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Because I caused it, twpsyn," he said with a small smile that faded almost immediately. "Gwen: Jack?"
Gwen sighed and patted his arm. "He's fine but he's not here. He went a little bit…. Well, he went completely round the bend when the Rift took you. He scared me for a while," she admitted. "He was so lost and wild. I never really understood how much he loves you until you weren't there any more."
She looked almost envious but Ianto's heart broke at the thought of Jack's pain and loss. "I tried to get back as soon as I could, but-"
"Ianto, it's a miracle that you've made it back at all!" Gwen said, her smile returning briefly.
"Jack?" Ianto prompted and she laughed.
"You're as bad as one another," she said in affection. She stood back for a moment and really looked at him. "There's something different about you. You seem…" Words seemed to fail her and Ianto smiled reassuringly, wanting to steer her away from that subject.
"I had to lose the suit," he said smoothly.
That worked and she gave him an indulgent smile, shaking her head even as she ran her eyes appreciatively over him. The jeans, t-shirt and black leather jacket suited him and she said as much, seeing him grin mischievously and suddenly look years younger.
"Picked it up at my last port of call, and no, I can't tell you about it," he said swiftly. "Jack?"
Gwen sighed with exasperation, then sobered. "Let's get into the SUV," she said. "It looks like it might rain."
Ianto glanced up. "Not for another hour and a half," he said in distraction, but did as she suggested and ignored her look. "You're going to have to tell me sooner or later," he pointed out as they settled inside the vehicle. He absent-mindedly stroked the dashboard and smiled in affection. "Missed this brute," he said fondly. "Now, to business," he continued pointedly.
Gwen nodded, reaching out to take his hand, almost as if she was afraid he would vanish again if she didn't have hold of him. "Like I said, Jack took it badly when you were taken. He spent the first week seeing if he could trace where you had gone. I didn't understand any of the stuff he rambled about, but I knew it was serious when he called in Hart." She paused and flashed him a smile when Ianto rumbled in annoyance. "Would it make you feel any better if I told you that Hart seemed just as set on finding you once he knew what had happened?"
"Not particularly. I don't like having Hart anywhere near Jack. He isn't good for him," Ianto said peevishly. "So what happened then?"
"They didn't get anywhere so Jack phoned Martha and asked Martha to phone the Doctor." She looked up sharply as Ianto stiffened. He didn't think he would ever process all the issues he had with the Doctor and he liked the idea of the Timelord being anywhere near Jack even less than he appreciated Hart's unwelcome presence. "He got Martha to ask the Doctor to come to Cardiff and then he… well, I think jack sort of kidnapped the Doctor."
Ianto blinked. "He what?"
Gwen frowned and fiddled with her hair with her free hand. "I don't really think I can describe it as anything else. The Doctor turned up, Jack asked him to help him find you and the Doctor started to say that it was too big a job and the next thing I know, Jack was telling me that he'd be back in a couple of days, I could call UNIT if I needed any help and he was dragging the Doctor into the TARDIS by the scruff of his neck. The Doctor wasn't happy. He didn't stop yelling all the time until the door shut and the TARDIS faded away."
"Oh, I wish I'd seen that," Ianto said in amusement. The mighty Doctor being dragged along and made to do as he was told. He could have made his fortune if he'd sold tickets to that event! "So that was a couple of days ago?" Damn, he'd missed Jack by the proverbial whisker!
Gwen nodded. "Things have been quiet. Not even a Weevil, so when this disturbance came through, I left Rhys to keep an eye on things and came out to see."
Ianto winced. "Rhys is at the Hub?"
"Don't you start, Ianto Jones!" Gwen said fiercely. "He knows not to touch anything and to ring me if anything happens or one of the alarms goes off."
"All right, all right, I'm sorry," Ianto said placatingly, lifting his arms in surrender. "Can we go home?" he asked wistfully.
"No problem!" Gwen said with a wide grin, starting the SUV and doing a three-point turn to head back the way she had come.
"Do you have Martha's number on your mobile?" Ianto asked after a while.
Realising what he meant to do, Gwen nodded and handed her phone over to him. After a moment to remember how to use it, he located Martha's number and rang her. "Good day to you, Dr Jones," he said cheerfully when she answered, pleased to hear another voice from his old life.
"Ianto?" Ianto was nearly deafened by the shriek of delight she made, jerking the phone away from his ear and smiling ruefully at Gwen's giggles. "Ianto Jones, are you back where you belong?"
"Yes, thank God," Ianto said, staring out over the landscape that was passing them by and falling in love with his home all over again. "Can you do me a favour and ring the Doctor and tell him to tell Jack that he should come home to Cardiff so I can make him some coffee? He's probably deep in withdrawal by now."
"Oh, he's in withdrawal, all right, but it isn't for coffee," Martha laughed, sounding giddy with delight. "I'll do it right away and I'll be down in Cardiff in a couple of days to give you a hug. I'd come down right away but I have a feeling Jack won't be letting you out of his sight for at least 48 hours!"
Ianto sighed in delighted anticipation at the thought as he handed Gwen her phone back. "Do you mind if I open the window?" he asked. When she shook her head, he did so and leaned over so that the air flowing in hit him right in the face. "Duw, I've missed this," he sighed. "I never realised that Wales has a scent all of its own, or that the air felt just right against the skin." He closed his eyes and inhaled.
"How long has it been for you, Ianto?" Gwen asked quietly.
"A year," Ianto replied softly. A year without Jack. A year without Gwen and Rhys and Myfanwy and the tourists he used to curse under his breath but would now be tempted to kiss. A year without the right kind of coffee and the smell of the fish and chip shop he used to pass on the way back to his house. A year without rugby and finding obscure bands on YouTube and Paul O'Grady. A year without a certain scent in his nostrils and the feel of a particular pair of lips against his. He didn't even realise he was crying until he felt Gwen's hand find his and he opened his eyes to find the scenery blurred.
The SUV nearly ran into the blue Police Box as it materialised smack in the middle of the road in front of them.
Swearing fit to curl the ears of a sergeant-major, Gwen somehow managed to avoid the TARDIS and also dodged the large boulders that loomed alongside the road. Momentarily breathless after being slammed up against the seat-belt, Ianto clawed at the release mechanism as the door to the TARDIS was wrenched open and Jack appeared at a flat-out run. Ianto had managed to get free and was out of the SUV in time to brace himself as Jack reached him, but instead of grabbing him and ramming him up against the SUV, Jack simply stood and stared. The expression on his face robbed Ianto of his breath all over again. So open and too terrified to hope, it made Ianto's heart ache.
"I'm back, cariad," he said softly. "I promised I would never willingly leave you, remember?" Jack searched his face and eyes for a few more minutes before his face crumpled and he reached out to pull Ianto into an embrace which tightened until Ianto had trouble breathing. He didn't say anything, however, since he was holding on just as tightly. "God, I missed you," he whispered. "I missed you so damn much!"
"I was s-so afraid," Jack stuttered, almost gasping. "I thought ab-bout all the p-people who c-came back and I was so damn afraid…"
"It's all right," Ianto soothed. "The Rift was kind and here I am. I'm sorry I couldn't come back sooner."
"Hell, Ianto, I'm happy to settle for a month!" Jack snorted, finally managing to pull back, although he didn't let go completely and his eyes were suspiciously damp. "But how-?"
"That's what I'd like to know, as well," came the Doctor's voice as he came over to join them, a hard look in his eyes. "The TARDIS is reading residual traces of Time Agency technology. Now what would you know about that, Ianto Jones?"
Ianto was a little puzzled over the Doctor's air of belligerence, but he had nothing to hide, holding up his left arm to reveal the leather cuff wrapped around it. "Needs must," he said dryly when he saw Jack's eyes widen in recognition. "Found it amongst the loot on a Bregos pirate ship and recognised it. Took me nearly three months to figure out how to use it."
"I thought so!" the Doctor snapped. He reached out to grab Ianto's arm, fishing out his sonic screwdriver. "You amateurs and your meddling with the timeline-" He stopped with a squawk as Ianto calmly wrenched his arm out of his grip before doing a little grabbing of his own and taking the sonic screwdriver off the Doctor. "Hey! Jack, tell your Archivist to give me back my property!"
Ianto raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Oh, so suddenly the concept of private property has some meaning for you, does it?" he snapped. "Or does it only apply when it's your own stuff that's being manhandled?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes and Ianto observed sniffily that he needed practice to carry it off properly. "Look, time technology should not be allowed to fall into the hands of amateurs or irresponsible meddlers-"
"Hmm, so I take it that you'll be handing the TARDIS in at some point, then, since the latter charge was levied against you by your own people?" Ianto inquired with poisonous sweetness. Seeing that he had momentarily rendered the Doctor speechless, Ianto took advantage of the opportunity. He held up his wrist again. "This has allowed me to cross time and space to come home to where I belong. To my family. If, at some point, my family or some other innocent is threatened, then I may be able to save them by using it."
"But-"
"No!" he snapped at the Doctor. "This is not negotiable! If you had not tampered with Jack's Cuff, he would have been able to escape Grey. He might have been able to save Tosh. He might have been able to save Owen. That is now done and can't be undone, but if you think I am going to forgo the chance to maybe save Gwen or Jack or even your precious Martha in the future, then you can think again!"
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a slender pencil-like wand which he manipulated before bringing it to bear on the sonic screwdriver. The device gave a musical chirrup and Ianto put it back in its place before tossing the sonic screwdriver back at the Doctor. The Doctor caught and checked it out before giving Ianto a look of pure outrage.
"You've broken it!"
"I've disabled it," Ianto corrected. "You should be able to reboot it if you try. Otherwise you'll just have to build another one." He switched his attention back to Jack, who looked like he was torn between amazement and amusement. Judging from the gleam in his eyes, amusement was winning. "Let's go home, Jack. I need coffee, pizza, a shower, a clean suit and you - and not necessarily in that order."
"You got it!" Jack said after giving him one fierce kiss that made Ianto's blood sing and his head swim.
"You broke my sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said stubbornly.
Ianto rolled his eyes (and did a much better job of it). "I disabled it," he repeated patiently. "And I have one other thing for you before you go." He removed a small disc from the side of his Cuff. "Here."
The Doctor caught the disc as Ianto tossed it to him and gazed at him in bemusement. "What's this?"
"The space-time co-ordinates where I left four Timelords bickering over points of protocol," Ianto said with a wicked smile.
The Doctor glared at Ianto. "That's not funny!" he snarled. "There are no other Timelords apart from me!"
"Chance would be a fine thing," Ianto retorted. "Their names were Feronia, Boccas, Lemnel and Terronan. I think they were bureaucrats of some kind because they did nothing but go on about procedures and protocols until I felt like tossing them all into the nearest black hole!"
The Doctor's head had come up sharply as Ianto reeled off the names and hope twisted his face. "They were alive?"
"They were when I left," Ianto nodded. "And still talking like it was going out of fashion. Something about the Third Scroll of Rassillon. They didn't have a functioning TARDIS so they were stuck. Not that they seemed all that concerned about it, but I had a definite place to be."
"Timelords," the Doctor whispered, looking down at the disc.
"Bureaucratic, pedantic Timelords," Ianto agreed with a sigh. "Almost I can forgive you careering around the universe causing a mess if that's what you had waiting for you at home."
The Doctor gave him a watery smile. "Do you know, I think I would give an entire regeneration to hear them going on about some point of protocol?"
Ianto shrugged and waved him in the direction of the TARDIS. "Be my guest. You'll probably change your mind after ten minutes in Lemnel's company! Jack, Cardiff?" he demanded plaintively.
"Cardiff," Jack agreed with a laugh. "We'll order pizza and drink coffee and you can tell us all about your adventures!"
"That might take a while," Ianto said ruefully, already certain that he would only be telling Jack the whole story.
Jack turned back to the Doctor. "Um, thanks for the lift, Doc, and I'm sorry for the, er, strong-arm tactics." He turned back to Ianto with a dazzling smile. "I should have known Ianto would make it back under his own steam!"
Ianto knew a small flicker of compassion as he looked over at the Doctor. The man meant well, even if he was a menace to Ianto's peace of mind. "Call in when you're next in the area," he said with as sincere a smile as he could manage under the circumstances.
They piled into the SUV and drove off, their excited chatter fading into the air. The Doctor looked down at the disc again. Part of him dismissed it out of hand. He would know if there were surviving Timelords, wouldn't he? And yet…. He hadn't known about the Master, because he had hidden as a human. What if these four had done something similar? It wouldn't hurt to go and check. On the other hand, however….
"He broke my sonic screwdriver," he said, sending a narrow-eyed look after the departed SUV. He sniffed and shrugged. "Well, all right, he disabled it," he corrected himself. "I'll go and check to see if those four are there and then Mr Ianto Jones and I are going to have a little chat!"
Doing his best to scowl ferociously, the Doctor couldn't help but hug the disc to him as he made his way back into the TARDIS. First of all, of course, he would have to see about re-enabling his sonic screwdriver and then he'd see what was at the other end of those co-ordinates. And then he was most definitely coming back. Because, unlike Ianto Jones, the Doctor knew exactly what was in the Third Scroll of Rasillon.
OOOO
This came about because of one scene that wouldn't go away and everything just escalated from there. I hate the way my neurones misfire sometimes!
Title: Green, Green Grass of Home
Characters: Ianto, Gwen, Jack and Ten
Rating: Mild PG for kiss and inference.
Spoilers: Mild for Adrift
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to RTD and to the BBC
Summary: Ianto's home. Written in response of Day Fifteen of the horizonssing challenge.
Ianto landed hard enough to wind himself, stumbling forward a little and very nearly tripping over his own feet. He caught himself and looked around warily, remembering some of the other landings he had made over the past six months. To his intense relief, he seemed to be standing at the side of a road that stretched out in either direction until it swept over the brow of a hill to his right and disappeared around a bend and a dip to his left. The landscape looked achingly familiar and he swiftly accessed his locator to see if he could confirm what his heart already told him.
"Earth, Northern Hemisphere, United Kingdom, Wales." He read it off in increasing excitement before searching for more. "Come on, come on; what's the date?" To his intense annoyance, the best reading he could get was early 21st century which he knew covered a 25-year stretch of time. "How the hell did they ever get a job done with this tech?" he grumbled to himself.
Still, he shouldn't be complaining. This was the closest he had got to home since the Rift had snatched him a year ago by his own timeline. He was actually a hell of a lot luckier than 90% of the poor souls who got taken and most of the time he remembered that. To be so close to home and Jack, however, and not know for certain meant that his usual patience and gratitude flew out of the window. He realised that he wasn't going to get any closer to his goal of getting home by just standing around, so he mentally tossed a coin for a direction and then started walking.
After a while, his impatience gave way to euphoria. If anyone had told him a year ago that the sight of sheep grazing would have him grinning like an idiot, and that a sprig of heather pulled from the ground would make him want to cry, he would have looked at them in disbelief and probably made sure his stun gun was ready to hand. As it was, he felt like bouncing along and singing something ridiculously patriotic. His observation that doing that would be just plain silly lasted about three hours before he gave in and started to sing with gusto. He was three quarters of the way through Men of Harlech, after running through every rugby song he had ever known, when he spotted the big black SUV barrelling along the road towards him.
The breath caught in his throat and he stared in absolute hope as it approached, the tinted windows making it difficult for even his sharp eyes to see who was inside. It was still too far away for him to see the TORCHWOOD legend etched along its side, but the outline and the light rack were unmistakeable. Part of him hoped that he wouldn't see Tosh and Owen when it pulled up, because that would mean that he had overshot and was eclipsing his own timeline, but part of him felt a fierce surge of hope that he would, in fact, see the two people he still missed with a pang he suspected would never truly die.
The SUV braked to a halt fifty yards away and the driver's door was flung open to disgorge a wild-eyed Gwen. She stayed where she was for a moment, just staring at him, and Ianto noted a little uneasily that she had her gun out. He realised that he had better say something before she decided he was some kind of alien trick. He could see the glint of her wedding ring on her finger, and she didn't seem that much older, so he knew he was close to his mark.
"It's me, Gwen, I swear," he said as he lifted his hands to show that he was unarmed. (Which wasn't strictly the truth but he had no intention of harming a hair on her head.) "No tricks. I've managed to get back. How long have I been away?"
"A month," Gwen said in a stunned voice. "You were taken a month ago."
"A month?" Ianto echoed in dismay. He had hoped it would be more a week or maybe to. "Shit. How's Jack? He hasn't done anything stupid, has he?"
Gwen's face twisted and she was suddenly running in his direction. He braced himself but still staggered when she flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh God, Ianto!"
"Gwen, for God's sake!" Ianto said in exasperation, even as he returned her hug. "I could still have been an alien. Where's your sense?"
She started laughing and crying and hauled off enough to hit him on the arm, which made him yelp and that made her laugh and cry all the harder. After a moment, Ianto joined in, so utterly relieved to be home that he felt like screaming and dancing around like a mad thing. It took a while for them both to calm down, but Ianto eventually sobered and finally caught up to the fact that Gwen seemed to be on her own.
"Gwen, did you come out here without backup?" he demanded in horrified tones. When she suddenly couldn't meet his eyes, his stomach went into freefall. "Oh, Duw, what's happened to Jack?"
"Nothing!" she said immediately, giving him a reassuring hug he had difficulty in believing. "I promise you, he's fine," she continued.
"You're telling me that Jack let you come all the way out here to investigating a temporal anomaly without any kind of backup?" Ianto continued to demand.
"How did you know it was a temporal anomaly?" Gwen said in confusion.
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Because I caused it, twpsyn," he said with a small smile that faded almost immediately. "Gwen: Jack?"
Gwen sighed and patted his arm. "He's fine but he's not here. He went a little bit…. Well, he went completely round the bend when the Rift took you. He scared me for a while," she admitted. "He was so lost and wild. I never really understood how much he loves you until you weren't there any more."
She looked almost envious but Ianto's heart broke at the thought of Jack's pain and loss. "I tried to get back as soon as I could, but-"
"Ianto, it's a miracle that you've made it back at all!" Gwen said, her smile returning briefly.
"Jack?" Ianto prompted and she laughed.
"You're as bad as one another," she said in affection. She stood back for a moment and really looked at him. "There's something different about you. You seem…" Words seemed to fail her and Ianto smiled reassuringly, wanting to steer her away from that subject.
"I had to lose the suit," he said smoothly.
That worked and she gave him an indulgent smile, shaking her head even as she ran her eyes appreciatively over him. The jeans, t-shirt and black leather jacket suited him and she said as much, seeing him grin mischievously and suddenly look years younger.
"Picked it up at my last port of call, and no, I can't tell you about it," he said swiftly. "Jack?"
Gwen sighed with exasperation, then sobered. "Let's get into the SUV," she said. "It looks like it might rain."
Ianto glanced up. "Not for another hour and a half," he said in distraction, but did as she suggested and ignored her look. "You're going to have to tell me sooner or later," he pointed out as they settled inside the vehicle. He absent-mindedly stroked the dashboard and smiled in affection. "Missed this brute," he said fondly. "Now, to business," he continued pointedly.
Gwen nodded, reaching out to take his hand, almost as if she was afraid he would vanish again if she didn't have hold of him. "Like I said, Jack took it badly when you were taken. He spent the first week seeing if he could trace where you had gone. I didn't understand any of the stuff he rambled about, but I knew it was serious when he called in Hart." She paused and flashed him a smile when Ianto rumbled in annoyance. "Would it make you feel any better if I told you that Hart seemed just as set on finding you once he knew what had happened?"
"Not particularly. I don't like having Hart anywhere near Jack. He isn't good for him," Ianto said peevishly. "So what happened then?"
"They didn't get anywhere so Jack phoned Martha and asked Martha to phone the Doctor." She looked up sharply as Ianto stiffened. He didn't think he would ever process all the issues he had with the Doctor and he liked the idea of the Timelord being anywhere near Jack even less than he appreciated Hart's unwelcome presence. "He got Martha to ask the Doctor to come to Cardiff and then he… well, I think jack sort of kidnapped the Doctor."
Ianto blinked. "He what?"
Gwen frowned and fiddled with her hair with her free hand. "I don't really think I can describe it as anything else. The Doctor turned up, Jack asked him to help him find you and the Doctor started to say that it was too big a job and the next thing I know, Jack was telling me that he'd be back in a couple of days, I could call UNIT if I needed any help and he was dragging the Doctor into the TARDIS by the scruff of his neck. The Doctor wasn't happy. He didn't stop yelling all the time until the door shut and the TARDIS faded away."
"Oh, I wish I'd seen that," Ianto said in amusement. The mighty Doctor being dragged along and made to do as he was told. He could have made his fortune if he'd sold tickets to that event! "So that was a couple of days ago?" Damn, he'd missed Jack by the proverbial whisker!
Gwen nodded. "Things have been quiet. Not even a Weevil, so when this disturbance came through, I left Rhys to keep an eye on things and came out to see."
Ianto winced. "Rhys is at the Hub?"
"Don't you start, Ianto Jones!" Gwen said fiercely. "He knows not to touch anything and to ring me if anything happens or one of the alarms goes off."
"All right, all right, I'm sorry," Ianto said placatingly, lifting his arms in surrender. "Can we go home?" he asked wistfully.
"No problem!" Gwen said with a wide grin, starting the SUV and doing a three-point turn to head back the way she had come.
"Do you have Martha's number on your mobile?" Ianto asked after a while.
Realising what he meant to do, Gwen nodded and handed her phone over to him. After a moment to remember how to use it, he located Martha's number and rang her. "Good day to you, Dr Jones," he said cheerfully when she answered, pleased to hear another voice from his old life.
"Ianto?" Ianto was nearly deafened by the shriek of delight she made, jerking the phone away from his ear and smiling ruefully at Gwen's giggles. "Ianto Jones, are you back where you belong?"
"Yes, thank God," Ianto said, staring out over the landscape that was passing them by and falling in love with his home all over again. "Can you do me a favour and ring the Doctor and tell him to tell Jack that he should come home to Cardiff so I can make him some coffee? He's probably deep in withdrawal by now."
"Oh, he's in withdrawal, all right, but it isn't for coffee," Martha laughed, sounding giddy with delight. "I'll do it right away and I'll be down in Cardiff in a couple of days to give you a hug. I'd come down right away but I have a feeling Jack won't be letting you out of his sight for at least 48 hours!"
Ianto sighed in delighted anticipation at the thought as he handed Gwen her phone back. "Do you mind if I open the window?" he asked. When she shook her head, he did so and leaned over so that the air flowing in hit him right in the face. "Duw, I've missed this," he sighed. "I never realised that Wales has a scent all of its own, or that the air felt just right against the skin." He closed his eyes and inhaled.
"How long has it been for you, Ianto?" Gwen asked quietly.
"A year," Ianto replied softly. A year without Jack. A year without Gwen and Rhys and Myfanwy and the tourists he used to curse under his breath but would now be tempted to kiss. A year without the right kind of coffee and the smell of the fish and chip shop he used to pass on the way back to his house. A year without rugby and finding obscure bands on YouTube and Paul O'Grady. A year without a certain scent in his nostrils and the feel of a particular pair of lips against his. He didn't even realise he was crying until he felt Gwen's hand find his and he opened his eyes to find the scenery blurred.
The SUV nearly ran into the blue Police Box as it materialised smack in the middle of the road in front of them.
Swearing fit to curl the ears of a sergeant-major, Gwen somehow managed to avoid the TARDIS and also dodged the large boulders that loomed alongside the road. Momentarily breathless after being slammed up against the seat-belt, Ianto clawed at the release mechanism as the door to the TARDIS was wrenched open and Jack appeared at a flat-out run. Ianto had managed to get free and was out of the SUV in time to brace himself as Jack reached him, but instead of grabbing him and ramming him up against the SUV, Jack simply stood and stared. The expression on his face robbed Ianto of his breath all over again. So open and too terrified to hope, it made Ianto's heart ache.
"I'm back, cariad," he said softly. "I promised I would never willingly leave you, remember?" Jack searched his face and eyes for a few more minutes before his face crumpled and he reached out to pull Ianto into an embrace which tightened until Ianto had trouble breathing. He didn't say anything, however, since he was holding on just as tightly. "God, I missed you," he whispered. "I missed you so damn much!"
"I was s-so afraid," Jack stuttered, almost gasping. "I thought ab-bout all the p-people who c-came back and I was so damn afraid…"
"It's all right," Ianto soothed. "The Rift was kind and here I am. I'm sorry I couldn't come back sooner."
"Hell, Ianto, I'm happy to settle for a month!" Jack snorted, finally managing to pull back, although he didn't let go completely and his eyes were suspiciously damp. "But how-?"
"That's what I'd like to know, as well," came the Doctor's voice as he came over to join them, a hard look in his eyes. "The TARDIS is reading residual traces of Time Agency technology. Now what would you know about that, Ianto Jones?"
Ianto was a little puzzled over the Doctor's air of belligerence, but he had nothing to hide, holding up his left arm to reveal the leather cuff wrapped around it. "Needs must," he said dryly when he saw Jack's eyes widen in recognition. "Found it amongst the loot on a Bregos pirate ship and recognised it. Took me nearly three months to figure out how to use it."
"I thought so!" the Doctor snapped. He reached out to grab Ianto's arm, fishing out his sonic screwdriver. "You amateurs and your meddling with the timeline-" He stopped with a squawk as Ianto calmly wrenched his arm out of his grip before doing a little grabbing of his own and taking the sonic screwdriver off the Doctor. "Hey! Jack, tell your Archivist to give me back my property!"
Ianto raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Oh, so suddenly the concept of private property has some meaning for you, does it?" he snapped. "Or does it only apply when it's your own stuff that's being manhandled?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes and Ianto observed sniffily that he needed practice to carry it off properly. "Look, time technology should not be allowed to fall into the hands of amateurs or irresponsible meddlers-"
"Hmm, so I take it that you'll be handing the TARDIS in at some point, then, since the latter charge was levied against you by your own people?" Ianto inquired with poisonous sweetness. Seeing that he had momentarily rendered the Doctor speechless, Ianto took advantage of the opportunity. He held up his wrist again. "This has allowed me to cross time and space to come home to where I belong. To my family. If, at some point, my family or some other innocent is threatened, then I may be able to save them by using it."
"But-"
"No!" he snapped at the Doctor. "This is not negotiable! If you had not tampered with Jack's Cuff, he would have been able to escape Grey. He might have been able to save Tosh. He might have been able to save Owen. That is now done and can't be undone, but if you think I am going to forgo the chance to maybe save Gwen or Jack or even your precious Martha in the future, then you can think again!"
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a slender pencil-like wand which he manipulated before bringing it to bear on the sonic screwdriver. The device gave a musical chirrup and Ianto put it back in its place before tossing the sonic screwdriver back at the Doctor. The Doctor caught and checked it out before giving Ianto a look of pure outrage.
"You've broken it!"
"I've disabled it," Ianto corrected. "You should be able to reboot it if you try. Otherwise you'll just have to build another one." He switched his attention back to Jack, who looked like he was torn between amazement and amusement. Judging from the gleam in his eyes, amusement was winning. "Let's go home, Jack. I need coffee, pizza, a shower, a clean suit and you - and not necessarily in that order."
"You got it!" Jack said after giving him one fierce kiss that made Ianto's blood sing and his head swim.
"You broke my sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said stubbornly.
Ianto rolled his eyes (and did a much better job of it). "I disabled it," he repeated patiently. "And I have one other thing for you before you go." He removed a small disc from the side of his Cuff. "Here."
The Doctor caught the disc as Ianto tossed it to him and gazed at him in bemusement. "What's this?"
"The space-time co-ordinates where I left four Timelords bickering over points of protocol," Ianto said with a wicked smile.
The Doctor glared at Ianto. "That's not funny!" he snarled. "There are no other Timelords apart from me!"
"Chance would be a fine thing," Ianto retorted. "Their names were Feronia, Boccas, Lemnel and Terronan. I think they were bureaucrats of some kind because they did nothing but go on about procedures and protocols until I felt like tossing them all into the nearest black hole!"
The Doctor's head had come up sharply as Ianto reeled off the names and hope twisted his face. "They were alive?"
"They were when I left," Ianto nodded. "And still talking like it was going out of fashion. Something about the Third Scroll of Rassillon. They didn't have a functioning TARDIS so they were stuck. Not that they seemed all that concerned about it, but I had a definite place to be."
"Timelords," the Doctor whispered, looking down at the disc.
"Bureaucratic, pedantic Timelords," Ianto agreed with a sigh. "Almost I can forgive you careering around the universe causing a mess if that's what you had waiting for you at home."
The Doctor gave him a watery smile. "Do you know, I think I would give an entire regeneration to hear them going on about some point of protocol?"
Ianto shrugged and waved him in the direction of the TARDIS. "Be my guest. You'll probably change your mind after ten minutes in Lemnel's company! Jack, Cardiff?" he demanded plaintively.
"Cardiff," Jack agreed with a laugh. "We'll order pizza and drink coffee and you can tell us all about your adventures!"
"That might take a while," Ianto said ruefully, already certain that he would only be telling Jack the whole story.
Jack turned back to the Doctor. "Um, thanks for the lift, Doc, and I'm sorry for the, er, strong-arm tactics." He turned back to Ianto with a dazzling smile. "I should have known Ianto would make it back under his own steam!"
Ianto knew a small flicker of compassion as he looked over at the Doctor. The man meant well, even if he was a menace to Ianto's peace of mind. "Call in when you're next in the area," he said with as sincere a smile as he could manage under the circumstances.
They piled into the SUV and drove off, their excited chatter fading into the air. The Doctor looked down at the disc again. Part of him dismissed it out of hand. He would know if there were surviving Timelords, wouldn't he? And yet…. He hadn't known about the Master, because he had hidden as a human. What if these four had done something similar? It wouldn't hurt to go and check. On the other hand, however….
"He broke my sonic screwdriver," he said, sending a narrow-eyed look after the departed SUV. He sniffed and shrugged. "Well, all right, he disabled it," he corrected himself. "I'll go and check to see if those four are there and then Mr Ianto Jones and I are going to have a little chat!"
Doing his best to scowl ferociously, the Doctor couldn't help but hug the disc to him as he made his way back into the TARDIS. First of all, of course, he would have to see about re-enabling his sonic screwdriver and then he'd see what was at the other end of those co-ordinates. And then he was most definitely coming back. Because, unlike Ianto Jones, the Doctor knew exactly what was in the Third Scroll of Rasillon.
OOOO