Death is the Beginning - Chapter Twelve
“Let’s start at the staircase, as you go down the steps you are falling into a deeper state of hypnosis. Unlike Jack, you are not merely an observer, you are a participant, at the bottom of the stairs is a door. I want you to open it and step through........where are you?”
“I’m in my house,” Ianto’s voice was low and soft as he answered.
“What do you see?”
“I’m in a hallway, my hallway. There are paintings on the wall, candlesticks.”
Slowly, Ianto’s breathing increased, and sweat formed on his brow as he became more agitated.
“There’s a mirror.....”
“I can see myself....”
Ianto gripped the side of the table, his knuckles turning white with the pressure.
“Ianto...?” Jack moved near his side, glancing at Masters with a worrying look.
Grayson Masters held up his hand to Jack.
“Do you know your name?”
“Yes”
“What is it?”
Ianto looked in the mirror; the face of Margaret Strauss looked back.
“Oh god.....I have to stop this, have to stop the jealousy.”
Margaret picked up the telephone and dialled the number.
“Hello Mr Hart? Yes, it’s Margaret Strauss.”
“Oh Margaret so glad you called. I’ve been thinking about you...”
“Stop right there Mr Hart, this is no social call and I can’t believe I let it get even this far. You cannot contact me again, Mr Hart.”
“But Margaret, we had a connection, he doesn’t love you the way I love you.”
“Mr Hart! He loves me just fine and I love him. I NEVER had any interest in you. Good day, Mr Hart!”
“In three, two, one...well, Mr Jones, I think we have heard enough.”
“No, no you haven’t, I’m not.....I’m not Roman and you were not....”
“Ianto! I was hoping I would find you here.”
Tosh bounded in to the room not registering the tension in the air. She turned to Jack who was eyeing Ianto cautiously.
“Hello, Jack!”
“Uh...hello. Tosh?”
“No you don’t understand....I’ve found out who you are! Your name actually is Jack! Jack Harkness, I mean what are the odds huh?”
“Jack Harkness?” he repeated, rolling the name around in his mouth just to see how it would fit.
She handed him a wallet with his photo on a drivers licence.
“The address isn’t far from here and I wanted to come and tell you in person.”
Ianto reached across for Jack but the older man flinched back.
“No!”
Ianto reared back as if he was burnt. Suddenly feeling closed in, Ianto pushed himself to his feet. “I have to get out of here.”
“Ianto, wait” Tosh called after him, confused.
She turned around and expected Jack to follow him but when he didn’t she decided to go after him herself finally catching up with him in the car park.
“Ianto wait, look there is no reason to be so worried. He’s single, lives alone definitely unattached.”
“Just leave it, Tosh.”
“Ianto, wait!”
“Tosh, do me a favour and look out for him, I gotta get out here for a while.”
“Ianto?”
But he got in the car and sped off, leaving her bewildered.
****
Ianto didn’t know where to go but found himself parked outside of a now familiar grocery store. He needed some advice.
Owen Harper was stacking shelves in a quiet part of the market when Ianto Jones approached him, looking for all the world like a kid who had lost his lolly.
“Sorry mate, I’m busy.”
“I really need to talk to you.”
“Yeah well I need six figure salary but that’s not going to happen.”
Owen turned to walk away, going back to a box full of tinned peas.
“Please Dr Harper, you said you were good, a good Doctor.”
Owen snarled.
“I was a good Doctor, past tense Jones. Now I have shelves that need my attention.”
“What if I could help in the salary department?”
“What? At Torchwood Investigations?”
The good Doctor had done his homework.
“I can offer you employment as a Doctor. We are branching out and need a good Doctor.”
Owen was definitely interested, placing the peas on the shelf he stopped what he was doing to face the younger man.
“I was de-registered, how can-“
“I can get you your licence back.”
The fierce look on Ianto’s face told Owen that this kid was not joking.
“You can do that?”
Ianto nodded.
Owen reached around and undid the apron he wore.
“Alan, I’m taking my break.”
A tall man murmured from behind the counter as Ianto followed Owen out to the back room and he started recalling the vision he had.
“So, let me get this straight, you were Margaret Strauss.”
“Yes.” Ianto patted his pockets and drew out a picture from the magazine they had got from Master’s shop.
“Woah, you were a babe!”
Ianto snatched the photo back as Owen smirked.
“So, that guy with no memory was your husband who killed you, only now he’s back, yeah?”
“Yep. Seems that way.”
Ianto searched Owen’s face for a hint of disbelief only to be profoundly relieved when he found none.
“It makes perfect sense.”
“It does?”
“Yeah, I mean this gender swap stuff happens all the time. You can be Betty in one life and Bob in the next. Husband one minute, wife the next, like two halves of the same person and you two are about as intertwined as it gets.”
“So, what do I do?”
“That’s the easy part. If it really is him and he killed you then you gotta kill him, before he kills you.”
“I thought karmically we were supposed to learn from this life and all that.”
“Well that’s what you may have learned but it’s kill or be killed mate. Survival of the fittest.”
Ianto stared at him, a dubious look on his face.
“Maybe Roman didn’t really kill her?”
“But you saw him when he found her on the phone. Look, if he really killed you back then, if he really did it, then you gotta get in first.
Ianto nodded, knowing now what he had to do.
“Thanks, Dr Harper, oh and by the way....you start Monday, 8.00am.”
Chapter Thirteen