Fic: The Boy Is Gone 7/?
TITLE: The Boy Is Gone 7/?
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood and its characters are property of the BBC. The Family Jones is of my own creation.
RATING: PG-15
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, OC’s (& a surprise guest)
SUMMARY: The Rift has never been the most stable influence in Ianto Jones’ life but when children in Cardiff start disappearing all over the city, Ianto’s family life crashes rather dramatically with Torchwood.
AUTHOR NOTES: This is the sequel to my stories, “Family Matters” and “A Nostalgic Yearning” and is the finale in the series “Footprints in the Sand”. It will not make sense unless you have read these. Set post Exit Wounds.
I'm having a bit of a writers fit at the moment - meaning I've written loads of this fic over the last week but I can't post any of it because it's all set after this bit which I can't seem to write due to it being actual 'plot' before we get back to the start (if that makes any sense what-so-ever). So um, this ain't the best chapter in my eyes but it's done what I was generally trying to achieve... maybe... just bare with me please! And I know you all will since you're such lovely people. Brain meet brick wall.
| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |
Tuesday 12th August 8.57am
Rhys flicked the news on. It was hard to watch anything else when it dominated nearly every channel.
“Police are advising people to stay inside with their children. All schools within the Cardiff area have now been closed until further notice as,”
Rhys turned the television off, throwing the remote onto the coffee table in front of him. He didn’t need second hand lies.
“What I don’t understand is what the hell he’s doing here. You’ve been away for a week to god knows where and when you come back you’ve got some other man with you.”
“Rhys for pity’s sake I’m not sleeping with him, I work with him.”
“That still doesn’t explain what the bloody hell he’s doing -“
Rhys remembers a gasp escaping his lips as the young Welshman emerged back into the living room after using their shower. He remembers the haunted look on his face as he tried to smile through the obvious pain he was in, remembers the way Ianto tried to apologise for his presence, still insisting he’s fine to go home, to be on his own, but Gwen’s having none of it, and from the way Ianto holds himself Rhys is suddenly having none of it either.
Rhys remembers cooking dinner for the three of them as Gwen and Ianto belay to him a story that he now knows is a lie. He still doesn’t really know where they were that week when Jack had gone missing, doesn’t think he wants to know. In fact he knows he doesn’t want to know, not when he woke up to Ianto screaming in the middle of the night and Gwen going to him.
“It’s just a nightmare pet.”
“How can it be when I know it happened?”
Tuesday 12th August 11.42am
Jack stared at the wall opposite him, looking but not really seeing. He’d been up all night collating Rift readings. He’d even been down to Flat Holm. He didn’t know why now. He certainly hadn’t been looking for hope in the destitute stories of the inmates. If anything they’d striped the last of it from him.
Gwen had been out to talk to several of the parents of missing children, all had similar stories of seeing dead loved one’s before their children had vanished. Jack was sat above tunnels full of alien activity, of readings and history and reports but not one of them spoke of ghosts. He wondered briefly whom Ianto had seen, had been tempted by, because it was clear to Jack that these apparitions were the ones taking children, playing on their innocence that dead family members really could come back to life. He wondered if it had been Lisa.
He pushed that thought to one side when another one popped into his head. Is this how Ianto had felt when he had left with the Doctor? This hopeless feeling that a part of you was gone and never coming back? That there was no one there to be your safety net when you fell? The feeling that it wasn’t going to be all right.
“Did you mean what you said earlier?”
“I said a lot of things earlier.”
“That you came back for me?”
“I always say what I mean.”
Jack’s hands tightened slightly round the photo of him and Ianto he’d fished out of the old biscuit tin in his bottom desk drawer. He let a sigh pass through his parched and tired lips. He hadn’t had caffeine in well over twenty-four hours, hadn’t eaten anything either. He felt bereft inside.
“Everything will be alright.”
“You know that for certain do you?”
“You forget I know everything.”
Jack felt the ghost of a chuckle pass his lips, but it was short lived. He closed his eyes to find the visage of Ianto swimming before him, that smile of his that was to small but so warm.
“Jack?”
Jack’s eyes snapped open as he heard the familiar Welsh vowels in his name, spinning round in his chair to find Gwen stood at his door, rather than the Welshman he had dreamt it to be.
“Gwen?” He replied, a hint of disappointment in his voice that he couldn’t find the energy to mask.
“Andy’s just called, says there’s another girl gone missing, this time from her home. She was in the kitchen with her mother baking cookies before she was calling out for her Grandfather to help and then she was gone.”
“Let me guess, Grandfather been dead for a while?” Jack asked, not needing Gwen’s hesitant nod to know the answer.
“I’m going to go talk to them, Andy’s still there.”
“I’ve got something I want to check out myself. Give me a call if you find out anything new.” Jack replied. Gwen nodded before she disappeared out the cog-door. Jack didn’t move from his chair. His mind was blank. He didn’t know who or where to turn to next but he wasn’t about to tell Gwen that.
Tuesday 12th August 1.13pm
Ria stood at the glass window of the Neonatal Unit staring it at all the premature children contained in their incubators. She felt like she hadn’t slept, felt like she’d been stood there all day just staring with unseeing eyes at her newborn child. She almost couldn’t tell her child apart from the others, had barely seen her beyond a few minutes. She was a day old now and Ria had yet to hear her baby cry, had yet to hold her in her arms. She couldn’t hold either of her children at the moment, didn’t even have anyone to hold her, to tell her it was going to be all right. She felt silent tears slipping down her face as she remembered the last time she’d visited a hospital.
“Come on, she’ll be fine, she’ll pull through.”
“How do you know?”
“’Cause she’s Mam, she’s not going to leave us.”
Ria could still see the weary look in her brother’s eyes as he held her close. She remembered how sure he had been when she knew in retrospect it had just been his denial working overtime due to the recent loss of his girlfriend. Like her he’d just been scared of the facts presented to them on a silver platter. She remembered how reassuring his presence had been though, how much conviction there was in his words and she wished now that he would tell her it was fine, that he and Finn were coming back and that the baby was going to pull through.
“Mam’s dead.”
“What?”
“She died this morning Ianto, she was at Tesco, doing the shop for Sunday dinner.”
Silence. No how. No why.
“Was someone with her?”
“What?”
“Was someone with her Ria?”
“No. She was on her own.”
Tuesday 12th August 2.35pm
Gwen was stood outside the Starbucks in Mermaid Quay, staring in through the darkened windows past the closed sign. She’d got nothing more than fresh tears from the parents of the newest missing child. It almost made her grateful that her and Rhys hadn’t had children yet, but she didn’t want to think like that. What she wanted was a piece of chocolate decadence cake, was craving it in fact, but Starbucks was ‘closed due to a family emergency’.
“Come on, I’ll buy you a bit of cake after the day you’ve had.”
“What about you? What do you get for the shit day you’ve had?”
“Good company. And possibly a Marshmallow swizzle stick.”
Gwen tried to force a smile onto her face but she couldn’t find the energy let alone the motivation.
Tuesday 12th August 2.57pm
Jack was crossing the expanse of the Hub towards his office when he caught a glimpse of something moving down in the autopsy bay. He stopped in his tracks, turning back and peering round the corner.
“Hello?” Jack called hesitantly, hand reaching for his gun.
“I couldn’t save him.”
Jack faltered on the first step as he heard her words resonating through the autopsy bay. A breath hitched in his throat as she came into view, smiling up at him from beside the table. She had on that green shirt that Jack had told her so often suited her so well. Her glasses were perched on the edge of her nose, her hair pulled back away from her delicate features, a few strands escaping to fall over her eyes.
“Toshiko?” Jack heard his voice break as he took a step hesitantly towards her, the smell of lilies pervading his senses as he unconsciously reached out for her. He felt his heart lift with every step he took closer to her, the autopsy room almost dazzling in it’s appearance before there was a flicker of something inhuman on her face. It hit Jack full force then as he fell backwards up the stairs away from her.
“No.” He shook his head wildly, scrambling up backwards. “This is wrong.” He told himself, hands clutching at the railings as the room dimmed.
“We need more.” Toshiko hissed at him, her voice taking on an eerie quality of someone who had not used their voice in a long time as she continued to reach out for him, moving up the stairs to follow him.
“You would last forever.” Toshiko’s lips curled into a cruel smile as she reached out for Jack again, but he had his gun out now, gripping it between shaking hands. He fired two shots, closing his eyes as the second one hit its target. Tears slipped freely down his cheeks as he listened, waiting for more words of malice coming from such an angelic voice, but none were forthcoming. He opened his eyes gingerly, taking in the empty autopsy room before he lay back on the steps, his gun clattering down them as tears continued to stain his cheeks. His gaze flickered to the bottom of the bed and the slightly pink tinge the grouting between the tiles still had before he closed his eyes again, listening to the frantic beat of his heart inside his chest.
Tuesday 12th August 3.17pm
Jack was still sat on the stairs of the autopsy room when Gwen returned, lacking in chocolate cake. He was clinging onto one of the poles that held the railings in place, a faraway look in his eyes as he stared at his gun that lay a few steps down from him.
“Jack?”
Gwen approached him like he was a spooked horse, scared that he would startle any moment, but he didn’t seem to register her presence.
“Jack?” She tried again, placing a hand on his shoulder. He started, head snapping round to look at her. He had a wide-eyed look of fear on his face that scared Gwen, his eyes red-ringed from crying. Her stomach knotted painfully as she glanced down at the autopsy table, relieved to find it empty.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
Jack shook his head, turning away from her now and pulling himself to his feet. He was almost grateful when the rift monitor bleeped at them for the umpteenth time that day. His brain was already putting two and two together though as he crossed to the machine, the words ‘You would last forever’ haunting him.
On to Part 8
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood and its characters are property of the BBC. The Family Jones is of my own creation.
RATING: PG-15
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, OC’s (& a surprise guest)
SUMMARY: The Rift has never been the most stable influence in Ianto Jones’ life but when children in Cardiff start disappearing all over the city, Ianto’s family life crashes rather dramatically with Torchwood.
AUTHOR NOTES: This is the sequel to my stories, “Family Matters” and “A Nostalgic Yearning” and is the finale in the series “Footprints in the Sand”. It will not make sense unless you have read these. Set post Exit Wounds.
I'm having a bit of a writers fit at the moment - meaning I've written loads of this fic over the last week but I can't post any of it because it's all set after this bit which I can't seem to write due to it being actual 'plot' before we get back to the start (if that makes any sense what-so-ever). So um, this ain't the best chapter in my eyes but it's done what I was generally trying to achieve... maybe... just bare with me please! And I know you all will since you're such lovely people. Brain meet brick wall.
| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |
Tuesday 12th August 8.57am
Rhys flicked the news on. It was hard to watch anything else when it dominated nearly every channel.
“Police are advising people to stay inside with their children. All schools within the Cardiff area have now been closed until further notice as,”
Rhys turned the television off, throwing the remote onto the coffee table in front of him. He didn’t need second hand lies.
“What I don’t understand is what the hell he’s doing here. You’ve been away for a week to god knows where and when you come back you’ve got some other man with you.”
“Rhys for pity’s sake I’m not sleeping with him, I work with him.”
“That still doesn’t explain what the bloody hell he’s doing -“
Rhys remembers a gasp escaping his lips as the young Welshman emerged back into the living room after using their shower. He remembers the haunted look on his face as he tried to smile through the obvious pain he was in, remembers the way Ianto tried to apologise for his presence, still insisting he’s fine to go home, to be on his own, but Gwen’s having none of it, and from the way Ianto holds himself Rhys is suddenly having none of it either.
Rhys remembers cooking dinner for the three of them as Gwen and Ianto belay to him a story that he now knows is a lie. He still doesn’t really know where they were that week when Jack had gone missing, doesn’t think he wants to know. In fact he knows he doesn’t want to know, not when he woke up to Ianto screaming in the middle of the night and Gwen going to him.
“It’s just a nightmare pet.”
“How can it be when I know it happened?”
Tuesday 12th August 11.42am
Jack stared at the wall opposite him, looking but not really seeing. He’d been up all night collating Rift readings. He’d even been down to Flat Holm. He didn’t know why now. He certainly hadn’t been looking for hope in the destitute stories of the inmates. If anything they’d striped the last of it from him.
Gwen had been out to talk to several of the parents of missing children, all had similar stories of seeing dead loved one’s before their children had vanished. Jack was sat above tunnels full of alien activity, of readings and history and reports but not one of them spoke of ghosts. He wondered briefly whom Ianto had seen, had been tempted by, because it was clear to Jack that these apparitions were the ones taking children, playing on their innocence that dead family members really could come back to life. He wondered if it had been Lisa.
He pushed that thought to one side when another one popped into his head. Is this how Ianto had felt when he had left with the Doctor? This hopeless feeling that a part of you was gone and never coming back? That there was no one there to be your safety net when you fell? The feeling that it wasn’t going to be all right.
“Did you mean what you said earlier?”
“I said a lot of things earlier.”
“That you came back for me?”
“I always say what I mean.”
Jack’s hands tightened slightly round the photo of him and Ianto he’d fished out of the old biscuit tin in his bottom desk drawer. He let a sigh pass through his parched and tired lips. He hadn’t had caffeine in well over twenty-four hours, hadn’t eaten anything either. He felt bereft inside.
“Everything will be alright.”
“You know that for certain do you?”
“You forget I know everything.”
Jack felt the ghost of a chuckle pass his lips, but it was short lived. He closed his eyes to find the visage of Ianto swimming before him, that smile of his that was to small but so warm.
“Jack?”
Jack’s eyes snapped open as he heard the familiar Welsh vowels in his name, spinning round in his chair to find Gwen stood at his door, rather than the Welshman he had dreamt it to be.
“Gwen?” He replied, a hint of disappointment in his voice that he couldn’t find the energy to mask.
“Andy’s just called, says there’s another girl gone missing, this time from her home. She was in the kitchen with her mother baking cookies before she was calling out for her Grandfather to help and then she was gone.”
“Let me guess, Grandfather been dead for a while?” Jack asked, not needing Gwen’s hesitant nod to know the answer.
“I’m going to go talk to them, Andy’s still there.”
“I’ve got something I want to check out myself. Give me a call if you find out anything new.” Jack replied. Gwen nodded before she disappeared out the cog-door. Jack didn’t move from his chair. His mind was blank. He didn’t know who or where to turn to next but he wasn’t about to tell Gwen that.
Tuesday 12th August 1.13pm
Ria stood at the glass window of the Neonatal Unit staring it at all the premature children contained in their incubators. She felt like she hadn’t slept, felt like she’d been stood there all day just staring with unseeing eyes at her newborn child. She almost couldn’t tell her child apart from the others, had barely seen her beyond a few minutes. She was a day old now and Ria had yet to hear her baby cry, had yet to hold her in her arms. She couldn’t hold either of her children at the moment, didn’t even have anyone to hold her, to tell her it was going to be all right. She felt silent tears slipping down her face as she remembered the last time she’d visited a hospital.
“Come on, she’ll be fine, she’ll pull through.”
“How do you know?”
“’Cause she’s Mam, she’s not going to leave us.”
Ria could still see the weary look in her brother’s eyes as he held her close. She remembered how sure he had been when she knew in retrospect it had just been his denial working overtime due to the recent loss of his girlfriend. Like her he’d just been scared of the facts presented to them on a silver platter. She remembered how reassuring his presence had been though, how much conviction there was in his words and she wished now that he would tell her it was fine, that he and Finn were coming back and that the baby was going to pull through.
“Mam’s dead.”
“What?”
“She died this morning Ianto, she was at Tesco, doing the shop for Sunday dinner.”
Silence. No how. No why.
“Was someone with her?”
“What?”
“Was someone with her Ria?”
“No. She was on her own.”
Tuesday 12th August 2.35pm
Gwen was stood outside the Starbucks in Mermaid Quay, staring in through the darkened windows past the closed sign. She’d got nothing more than fresh tears from the parents of the newest missing child. It almost made her grateful that her and Rhys hadn’t had children yet, but she didn’t want to think like that. What she wanted was a piece of chocolate decadence cake, was craving it in fact, but Starbucks was ‘closed due to a family emergency’.
“Come on, I’ll buy you a bit of cake after the day you’ve had.”
“What about you? What do you get for the shit day you’ve had?”
“Good company. And possibly a Marshmallow swizzle stick.”
Gwen tried to force a smile onto her face but she couldn’t find the energy let alone the motivation.
Tuesday 12th August 2.57pm
Jack was crossing the expanse of the Hub towards his office when he caught a glimpse of something moving down in the autopsy bay. He stopped in his tracks, turning back and peering round the corner.
“Hello?” Jack called hesitantly, hand reaching for his gun.
“I couldn’t save him.”
Jack faltered on the first step as he heard her words resonating through the autopsy bay. A breath hitched in his throat as she came into view, smiling up at him from beside the table. She had on that green shirt that Jack had told her so often suited her so well. Her glasses were perched on the edge of her nose, her hair pulled back away from her delicate features, a few strands escaping to fall over her eyes.
“Toshiko?” Jack heard his voice break as he took a step hesitantly towards her, the smell of lilies pervading his senses as he unconsciously reached out for her. He felt his heart lift with every step he took closer to her, the autopsy room almost dazzling in it’s appearance before there was a flicker of something inhuman on her face. It hit Jack full force then as he fell backwards up the stairs away from her.
“No.” He shook his head wildly, scrambling up backwards. “This is wrong.” He told himself, hands clutching at the railings as the room dimmed.
“We need more.” Toshiko hissed at him, her voice taking on an eerie quality of someone who had not used their voice in a long time as she continued to reach out for him, moving up the stairs to follow him.
“You would last forever.” Toshiko’s lips curled into a cruel smile as she reached out for Jack again, but he had his gun out now, gripping it between shaking hands. He fired two shots, closing his eyes as the second one hit its target. Tears slipped freely down his cheeks as he listened, waiting for more words of malice coming from such an angelic voice, but none were forthcoming. He opened his eyes gingerly, taking in the empty autopsy room before he lay back on the steps, his gun clattering down them as tears continued to stain his cheeks. His gaze flickered to the bottom of the bed and the slightly pink tinge the grouting between the tiles still had before he closed his eyes again, listening to the frantic beat of his heart inside his chest.
Tuesday 12th August 3.17pm
Jack was still sat on the stairs of the autopsy room when Gwen returned, lacking in chocolate cake. He was clinging onto one of the poles that held the railings in place, a faraway look in his eyes as he stared at his gun that lay a few steps down from him.
“Jack?”
Gwen approached him like he was a spooked horse, scared that he would startle any moment, but he didn’t seem to register her presence.
“Jack?” She tried again, placing a hand on his shoulder. He started, head snapping round to look at her. He had a wide-eyed look of fear on his face that scared Gwen, his eyes red-ringed from crying. Her stomach knotted painfully as she glanced down at the autopsy table, relieved to find it empty.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
Jack shook his head, turning away from her now and pulling himself to his feet. He was almost grateful when the rift monitor bleeped at them for the umpteenth time that day. His brain was already putting two and two together though as he crossed to the machine, the words ‘You would last forever’ haunting him.
On to Part 8