'You Can't Be Here' (10/35?)

[timephobia]

Title: You Can't Be Here
Author: Time Phobia
Rating: R (this section)
Characters: (this section: Jack, Ianto, Tenth Doctor, Past-Jack, OCs)
Pairings:  (series: Jack/Ianto)
Summary: Jack and the Doctor have a chat, Ianto has to distract past-Jack.
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


                After Ianto left the TARDIS, Jack turned around to face the Doctor again. Jack frowned at the Time Lord a little when he saw the demanding expression. “What?” Jack asked.

“Jack Harkness in love,” the Doctor replied. “With just one man. Didn’t think I’d see that.”

“It’s James Smith now,” Jack said.

“You and I both know that’s only temporary. I’m surprised you didn’t change while he was passed out.” The Doctor was fussing with his controls again.

“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think,” Jack countered.

“Maybe,” the Doctor admitted slowly. Nonchalantly, he continued the conversation, “So where did you find Ianto Jones?”

“He found me,” Jack said as he glanced around the control room. The idea of keeping still bothered him, so he ducked under the control panel. Things were in a mess and he sighed.

“How?”

Jack forgot he was supposed to be storytelling. “He approached me wanting a job with Torchwood. I turned him down twice. Third time was the charm.” Jack examined a few of the wires more closely, wondering if the connection was right, then realizing that they had to be run that way because something else was damaged. “Can you ever get parts for her?”

“Time to time. I have to modify a lot,” the Doctor replied. “How did he even know about Torchwood? I thought you were a ‘secret’ organization.”

“He worked for London.” Jack pulled out an electronics board gently. “One of the twenty-seven survivors, though his cyber-girlfriend was the twenty-eighth.”

“Cyber-girlfriend?”

“She wasn’t fully converted. He tried converting her back to human, but it failed.”

“If she was part cyberman, she should have been sucked into the Void with the rest of them,” the Doctor said sternly. “Why didn’t she?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said. He glanced up from his investigation to look at the Doctor. “I never quite understood what happened at Canary Wharf. I knew something wrong was going on, but when I started complaining to London, they shut me out.”

“The Cybermen were stepping across the Void from another dimension because London was poking a larger and larger hole with their ‘Ghost Shift,’” the Doctor explained. “I reversed it. Anything that had been through the Void had to go back into it.”

“Explains that random death,” Jack muttered.

“What?”

“Well, at the height of Canary Wharf, I just died.” Jack shrugged. “Didn’t make any sense. When I came to, Tosh and Susie were going on about how all the Daleks and Cybermen had been torn out of the world.”

“Still, why didn’t Ianto’s cyber-girlfriend go through?”

“She wasn’t fully ‘upgraded.’”

“By how much?”

“I don’t know. She might have been a little over half done,” Jack said.

“That should have been more than enough,” the Doctor muttered. “Did Ianto tell you anything specific?”

“I don’t think he has any idea what happened at the end of the battle,” Jack replied. “He told me he had to drag her out of the building. Most of the conversion units were gone, though.”

“I never thought to clean-up the technology,” the Doctor said.

“I know.” Jack placed the electronic board back. “A lot of what UNIT and I have had to do the last few years is clean up after you’ve left.”

“I didn’t think, Jack.”

“I know,” Jack repeated with a sigh. He stood up. “But you seem to be getting more forgetful lately.”

Jack heard his own voice come up from the counsel. “Just act natural and I won’t shoot.”

Jack demanded, “Did you bug Ianto?”

The conversation continued, though the Doctor turned down the volume. “I needed to know when he was close.”

“You didn’t tell him.”

“I’m not sure I can trust him,” the Doctor replied. “From what you just told me, it seems like he has a history of fighting the Void.”

“Because he pulled Lisa out?” Jack asked. “She was probably just strapped down.”

“Still, too many coincidences piling up around your boyfriend,” the Doctor answered. “I just wanted to be sure we can trust that he’s being honest with us.”

“At this point, why would he lie?”

The Doctor glared at Jack and startled him. Jack had only been the subject of that glare twice, and neither time was it this intense, and he certainly hadn’t made such a huge mistake this time. “This is going to be a lot harder on all of us if you keep questioning my judgment.”

“Look, I don’t know what’s eating you, but we’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t start trusting him and me,” Jack returned. He snagged the keyboard away from the Doctor and started typing. The program shouldn’t have presented any problems, but the first attempt failed.

“I trust you, Jack.”

“Right,” Jack muttered as he pulled off his wrist-strap and found a cable to connect it to the TARDIS computer. “That’s why you’re trying to make me doubt Ianto every time we get separated.”

“You doubted him,” the Doctor said.

“I doubted he was real,” Jack replied. “Different story.”

“We don’t know what he’s capable of,” the Doctor snapped. “That’s a whole world of danger.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s capable of,” Jack returned. He keyed into the program and turned off the dampener. With a few quick keystrokes, he started honing in on the Time Lord archive. “So maybe it’s not a good idea to piss him off.”

“Maybe it’s not him you should worry about angering,” the Doctor threatened.

Jack left the search program running as he turned towards the Doctor. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked hotly. “You’re not the same man.”

“People change, Jack. Even Time Lords.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, a little bewildered. “I’m starting to get that. But what are you becoming?”

The program brought up a city map and a pale dot flashed on the screen. “Now all I have to do is go pick it up,” the Doctor said.

“Why don’t you just stay here?” Jack told him. “I’ll get it.”

“You can’t risk--”

“Past-me’s drinking in a bar with Ianto. He’s not going anywhere. Besides, I’ll have security programs around the box.” Jack pulled the wire connected to his wrist-strap and put it back on. “This’ll still be able to get past them without alerting past-me.”

“I’ll go with you,” the Doctor offered.

“I’ll be faster on my own,” Jack said as he headed for the door.

“I should come with you. It’s Time Lord technology, after all.”

“Fine, but the bombs are going to start soon, so keep up.”

Jack and the Doctor headed out into the night.

*-*

Ianto laughed a little too loudly. He’d forgotten how fast alcohol could have an effect on an empty stomach, and while he’d stopped, he still couldn’t help feeling a little flushed. Jack-no Jamie-wasn’t helping matters with his ridiculous stories and making him laugh. Some things never changed.

By now, Ianto had had access to every mind in the bar, and he realized how he gained it. Once people thought about him, he was in. Now that he was corporeal, that was a lot easier. Alcohol had dulled the other voices to a background hum without his need to concentrate. He couldn’t even hear Jamie, or the two Englishmen-Edward and Peter.

Edward launched into a story next, with Peter embellishing. Ianto was so caught up in it that he was started by a hand suddenly sliding up his leg. He glanced over at Jamie and ended up looking into Jamie’s eyes.

The barrier alcohol had provided evaporated instantly, but thoughts didn’t come through to Ianto. Images did.

And Jamie had a pretty intriguing idea involving himself, Ianto, and his hotel room. The image, the vision, felt so real. Like they were there. Jamie’s-no, Jack’s-hands on him. The vision swirled to a night in his apartment. A memory. A very vivid memory.

Another hand on his shoulder felt almost as shocking as a cold shower. “Are you all right?” Peter was asking. Concern was heavy in his voice. “What has Jamie done now?”

“Fine,” Ianto gasped, pulling away from the table. “I just need the restroom.” He stood, though his legs threatened to give out from shaking, and hurried towards the bathroom door.

He barely heard Edward saying, “Jamie, I don’t think that’s a wise idea.”

The bathroom door hadn’t even shut before Jamie walked in behind Ianto. Jamie closed the door and locked it before turning his gaze on Ianto.

Honestly, Ianto had been expecting an angry man, and when he looked into Jamie’s fear-stricken face, he was more than a little surprised.

However, Jamie grabbing him by the lapels and shoving him into the wall didn’t surprise him. “What the hell was that?” Jamie demanded.

“I can’t tell you,” Ianto managed.

Anger filled Jamie’s eyes now. “You’re not making it out of this bathroom unless you do.”

“A memory,” Ianto whispered. “Just a memory.”

“I don’t have any recollection of you,” Jamie replied.

“Because you haven’t met me yet,” Ianto told him.

“I know you in my future,” Jamie rephrased. “What’d I send you to do, distract me? Am I going to find that box gone?”

Ianto licked his lips. “I’m afraid so.”

“Damn it,” Jamie hissed as he released Ianto. “Knew that thing was trouble the moment it went off. I was hoping to get a little something for it though.”

“Sorry,” Ianto muttered. He made to slip past Jamie, but Jamie pinned Ianto against the wall.

“Not done with you yet,” Jamie said.

“I can’t tell you anything,” Ianto returned. “You know too much already.”

“I just want a little preview. Momentary kind of thing,” Jamie replied. “I’ve got a retcon. I won’t remember a thing.”

“Retcon can be triggered,” Ianto said.

“You do know me well,” Jamie joked. He leaned in close to Ianto. “Just a taste.”

His scent. His lips. His eyes.

I’m fucked, Ianto thought, trying to take a deep breath without inhaling more of Jamie’s erotic scent. “You might not see anything,” Ianto whispered. “That was an accident before.”

“Then it’ll be just a kiss.”

There wasn’t any getting away from this, Ianto convinced himself as Jamie closed the distance. They kissed and at first, nothing happened.

But when their tongues met. Oh God.

Jack smiling, laughing. Their flirting. Kissing. Fucking. Late nights and early mornings. Jokes. Dates. Running. Sex. Life endangered. Cuddling. Lust. Hate. Passion. Need.

“I love you.”

Memories flooded through him and into Jamie. He knew they were passing now, that they weren’t in order, and he tried to contain them. Slow them down. The rush was happening too fast even for him.

They broke apart, gasping. Their breaths mingled. “Ianto,” Jamie practically moaned.

His name on Jamie’s-Jack’s-lips was just too much in his current state. He reached out, pulling Jamie hard against him, and kissed. This time the kiss was just a kiss. And another kiss. Jamie was hard and grinding him into the wall. Ianto moaned.

Jamie broke the kiss. “You’re vibrating,” he chuckled, reaching deftly into Ianto’s pocket and pulling out the cellphone.

“Fuck,” Ianto hissed as he snatched the phone back.

ALL DONE, the text read.

“I’m guessing from the look on your face that our time’s up,” Jamie said.

“Yes.”

Jamie backed up and laughed as he reached into his pocket. “I’m sad to see all that go.” He pulled out a small pill box and produced a white pill. “But I guess I’ll get to it in time.” After downing one of the little white pills, he gave Ianto a quick peck on the lips. “Go catch up to me.”

Then he sauntered out of the bathroom.

Still reeling from the encounter a little, Ianto rinsed his face with cold water before emerging from the bathroom. Jamie Hunter was already gone-and so were Peter and Edward.

And somehow I’m surprised, Ianto thought as he raced back towards the TARDIS.

Onto Part 11