'You Can't Be Here' (WIP) 7
Title: You Can't Be Here
Author: Time Phobia
Rating: PG
Characters: (this section: Jack, Ianto, Tenth Doctor)
Pairings: (series: Jack/Ianto)
Summary: The TARDIS is taking everyone on a little trip....
Timing: Post-CoE, Post-Waters of Mars
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or make a profit. They are owned, for the most part, by RTD and BBC.
Warning: Mentions of cannon character death. Don't worry. Death is only a beginning.
Author's Note (for series): I've got a long detailed spoiler-rific post here
A/N: Been a week. Made this section longer to make up for it. Hopefully I'll post again this week.
“I think,” the Doctor said slowly, “it’s best to let her take us where she’s going.”
Jack couldn’t tear his eyes from Ianto. “The TARDIS do this often?”
“No.” The Doctor stared down at Ianto. “He must have been very convincing. I don’t even know how the panel opened.”
“Before, the Rift was tearing her apart.”
The Doctor shrugged. “Rose got her to help once. I never did figure that one out.” He nodded at Ianto. “How is he?”
“Breathing,” Jack replied. “Still unconscious.” Carefully, Jack sought out a pulse, and frowned when he found it. “That doesn’t feel right.”
The Doctor grabbed his coat and pulled a stethoscope out of one pocket. After slipping it on, he knelt next to Ianto. He opened Ianto’s shirt just enough to slip the stethoscope in. “That’s because he has two hearts.”
Jack clutched Ianto reflexively. “What’s happened here?”
“I don’t know,” the Doctor sighed. “Hopefully he can tell us when he wakes up.” The Doctor stood. “Come on. Let’s get him somewhere more comfortable.”
*-*
The bed felt soft. Someone was lying next to him. He turned towards the warmth and nuzzled his head against a firm chest. He hoped it belonged to Jack.
Thoughts started pushing in. Thoughts that weren’t his. He frowned.
A hand drifted through his hair. Jack’s voice whispered, “It’s okay.”
Ianto opened his eyes slowly. The room was barely lit. Jack’s thoughts drifted towards him, though most were about him and his well-being and another loud, insistent voice spoke at him about countless scenarios and data until it made Ianto’s head hurt. He whimpered and shut his eyes again.
Someone started singing. For a moment, Ianto thought the TARDIS had begun again, but he could already hear her music in the background of his thoughts. This voice was different. Jack’s calm soothing voice.
Jack was singing him a lullaby. Ianto relaxed, focusing on the sounds and words, on feeling Jack’s chest moving with his breath. He’d heard the song before; Jack had sung him the old melody when Ianto had been ill with a fever.
Slowly, Ianto worked at shutting out the other voices. Jack’s was almost too easy to close out, but the Doctor’s loud yelling took some work. The TARDIS’s song he kept inside. She was too beautiful and soothing to want to ignore.
When Jack finished singing, he asked softly, “Ianto?”
“I’m here,” he whispered and opened his eyes again. He shifted so he could look into Jack’s.
“Welcome back,” Jack said as he smiled.
In the last five months, Jack had smiled so rarely. Ianto treasured this one and returned it.
“Can you sit up?” Jack asked.
Ianto nodded and then moved stiffly to an upright position. He saw they were in a small bedroom. Jack’s duffel bag sat open on the dresser. His shoulder holster sat just barely in sight.
The Doctor leaned against the wall near the door, but when Ianto looked at him, he straightened. He had the expression of the Oncoming Storm again.
“How are you feeling?” Jack slid his arm around Ianto’s back.
“Good.” Ianto leaned into the other man. His senses were threatening to overwhelm him. In all this time, he thought he could smell Jack, but the scent was more powerful than his memory gave it credit. His warmth greater. God, he’d missed being physical. Yet, something about his own body wasn’t quite like he remembered. “I’m solid again, but I don’t feel quite the same.”
“That’s because you aren’t human,” the Doctor informed him.
“Then what am I?”
“According to your DNA,” the Doctor replied, emphasizing the next two words, “Time Lord.”
“You must be joking,” Ianto answered.
“I wouldn’t joke about this,” the Doctor said with a glare.
Jack’s hand stroked Ianto’s side as he asked, “Do you remember anything about what happened?”
“There was a light,” Ianto began. He closed his eyes and rested his head. “I heard singing and I went to the control panel. It’s her. She sings all the time. So I just sang back to her. We had a kind of conversation and she made a promise to help me the best she could.” Ianto opened his eyes. “Then I woke up here.”
The TARDIS’s song shifted. Here.
Both Ianto and the Doctor glanced at the door.
“Okay, what’d I miss?” Jack said uneasily.
“We stopped,” the Doctor replied. He headed out of the room.
Jack started to move, but Ianto caught his arm. “I know why she made me solid,” he whispered hurriedly. “She didn’t trust him not to hurt me. She said I’d been fighting for so long to stay here, that this would be a better way. I wouldn’t have to hurt you anymore.”
“Ianto, you never--” Jack began.
Ianto knew that he’d been taxing Jack, even before the Doctor had said anything to him about it. Jack couldn’t hide anything from him right now. He interrupted, “You can’t tell me you aren’t feeling better.”
Jack sighed and admitted, “Yeah, I am. A lot better rested. You?”
“Same,” Ianto agreed. “I’m also starving.”
Jack chuckled. “We’ll see about getting something to eat then.”
“Would you two hurry up!” the Doctor shouted.
“What? Worried we’re using your bed?” Jack replied as he winked at Ianto. “Come on, even I’m not this fast. Though, we could, you know. All three of us.”
Ianto smiled and rolled his eyes. Jack’s little joke only made him happy. Obviously he had to be feeling better.
They made their way up to the control room-the Doctor just barely in sight of Jack and Ianto, and for the first time, Ianto began to understand just how large the TARDIS was. They passed room after room. The bedrooms were far inside, though Jack told him there had been one a lot closer. “The Doctor’s pretty sure we’ll be here a while, so he gave us one,” Jack replied.
“Awfully small one.”
“He mighta been trying discourage us from sharing one,” Jack said.
“Jealousy or distrust?” Ianto asked.
Jack gave him a wry grin. “Just distrust, Ianto. He’s not interested in your man.”
Ianto slipped his hand inside Jack’s. He could feel his heart thudding at what Jack had said. Wait, no, he could feel his hearts thudding. Okay, he thought, that’s going to take some getting used to.
*-*
The Doctor said nothing as they walked up the final staircase, but he did stare at them with a disapproving look. Jack instantly dropped Ianto’s hand. He wasn’t sure exactly what made the Doctor so upset, but he was willing to wager that the Doctor didn’t like the idea of Jack and Ianto cozying up to each other again. Jack wanted to look at the Doctor and say, ‘Tough shit,’ but something about the Doctor had shifted lately. Something definitely different in the way he operated, and Jack had the feeling they were one strong argument away from leaving himself and Ianto stranded wherever the TARDIS had just landed.
Jack crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath in, “So, where are we?”
The Doctor glanced back at his controls, idly hitting a few buttons, before announcing, “Earth. Not quite mid-twentieth century. Won’t know for sure until we step outside.”
Ianto had moved to the other side of the controls and he frowned at a blinking light. “Should that be doing that?” he asked.
The Doctor huffed, “You’ve been a Time Lord for exactly six hours, most of which you were unconscious, and now you think you know how a TARDIS works?” He pulled out a pair of glasses and shoved them onto his face as he rounded the counsel to where Ianto stood.
Slowly, Jack followed.
With a frown, the Doctor examined the light, then glared at Ianto, and then rushed back around the controls. “No. It shouldn’t. It’s not possible.”
“What is it?” Jack asked.
“Time Lord emergency signal,” Ianto and the Doctor said at the same time.
The Doctor slowly straightened and glared at Ianto.
“Stop shouting your thoughts at me and I’ll try not to listen,” Ianto replied crossly.
“You can still read thoughts,” the Doctor drawled.
“Yes.”
“Not a good sign,” the Doctor muttered as he hunched back over his controls.
“And why not?” Ianto demanded.
“It means you’re not just Time Lord,” the Doctor told him. “We can share thoughts, but it takes concentration.”
“Maybe your people used to be able to do this,” Ianto argued.
“You aren’t one of my people. They died,” the Doctor barked.
“Great. We have something in common,” Ianto snapped.
“At least we know why the TARDIS brought us here,” Jack interjected loudly. He hoped to ease the building tensions, but he could tell he wasn’t having any effect on the Doctor.
“There aren’t any Time Lords to be emitting this signal,” the Doctor told him.
Ianto started to reach for a control, but Jack caught his wrist. Figuring that Ianto was still reading his thoughts, Jack told him, “Not a good idea. He’s on edge.”
“He keeps too much to himself. He’s guarding this place like a secret treasure. She hates it.” Ianto used his free hand and flipped a switch.
Behind Jack and Ianto, near the entrance of the TARDIS, the hologram of a man appeared. He wore long strange robes, that looked blue because of the projection, and he had a regal bearing to him. “-an automated distress call,” the slightly elderly voice began, “I am the Librarian. If you are receiving this signal, than one of our archives has been moved, or is in danger, and you are close enough to aid it. Please, you must find the archive and return it to Gallifrey, or find an equally safe place to hide it. We cannot lose this information. This message will repeat. This is an automated-”
Ianto flipped the switch again.
“I’m going to ignore the fact that you knew how to do that because we have bigger problems,” the Doctor announced. His hands worked at the controls.
“How charitable,” Ianto muttered.
“Just don’t,” Jack begged mentally.
Ianto sighed. “Sorry,” he replied telepathically.
“So, what’s our next step?” Jack asked.
“I’m trying to triangulate the signal, but I’m having trouble,” the Doctor replied. He scrutinized a monitor. “So much easier when the planet has satellites orbiting around it.”
“Then we must be here before the 1950’s,” Ianto offered.
“I still should be able to get some sort of fix on it,” the Doctor continued. “Something must be interfering. But there’s not a lot on this planet in the 1940’s that could.”
“The 40’s? You sure?” Ianto asked as he rounded the center hub to the Doctor’s monitors.
The Doctor started pointing out the various readings, rambling off about concentrations of radio waves, and nuclear energy. “America hasn’t dropped the bombs yet,” the Doctor told him.
“Because if she had, than there would be an extra level of radiation in the air,” Ianto replied.
The Doctor smiled at him. “Very good.”
Jack didn’t feel like ruining the slight bonding moment by telling the Doctor that little fact had even invaded television shows by Ianto’s time. “Then we’re sometime between 1939 and 1945. You know, we could just open the door and figure it out the easy way.”
“Still trying to get a signal on it.”
“Maybe we could ask around,” Ianto suggested. “An archive must be fairly large, shouldn’t it? Or is it like the TARDIS? Bigger on the inside.”
“Time Lord technology is always really good at packing a lot into a small space,” the Doctor answered, happier to be explaining. “What we’d be looking for wouldn’t be much bigger than a shoebox. Metallic, though the Librarian built them with chameleon circuits and perception filters. Wherever they go, they blend in, but you have to be a time traveller even to be able to notice it. Inside, it contains the data of millions of books.”
Jack felt his blood run cold. He wiped a hand across his mouth before he asked, “But it always has something on it, doesn’t it? A symbol. Like an infinity symbol, but not. All circles and loops leading into each other.”
The Doctor straightened and both he and Ianto stared over at Jack. “How would you know that?” the Doctor demanded.
“Because I know where and when we are. And I know who has it,” Jack said. “Me.”
Onto Part 8