Fic: The Oncoming Storm (Slash, AU, Janto 8/40)
Author: d8rkmessngr
Pairing: Jack/OMC, Jack/?, Jack/Ianto eventually, het and slash
Rating: NC-17 (betaed)
Summary: He left Jack on the game station. Abandoned. But then…he came back…different. An AU look on what happens if things happened differently. Doctor Who 'verse with Torchwood later on. Be sure to read the warnings.
Warnings: Please read each chapter's individual warnings. Some parts down the road may briefly mention non-con, abuse, and/or violence. Dark in the beginning. Please note there are some dark thoughts as my boys are broken…for now. Each chapter will be labeled for your convenience.
Author's Notes: Please note this is an AU that will cross over DW to TW season one. I'm probably spoiling my own story, but it will eventually be Janto. There's a bit of a journey first. I hope you enjoy. I'm working on this and intend to post regularly every other day. And again, I always believe in happy endings. So without further ado…
Disclaimer: RTD and BBC owns them. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Warning For This Chapter: mentions past non-con/dubious consent, minor (very minor) het, verbal and mental abuse.
Prologue + Ch , Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 8
London, Canary Wharf
2006
Ianto had always read about a person's skin crawling but always wondered what that sensation could be like.
Now he knew.
It was an oily feeling that lingered when Ianto felt the Doctor's gaze upon him. It was like fingernails scratched lightly on his arms, leaving faint burning abrasions on his skin. Ianto fidgeted on the spot and couldn't even bring up the polite response of smiling back or saying hello. He was surprised to see Captain Harkness go rigid; that only made the oily sensation worsen. There was a sudden urge to shower as well.
"What is this?" Director Hartman had gotten over her initial shock and was sputtering. "This place was off limits under my orders! Who are these people?"
The Doctor raised a hand and smiled thinly at her. "May I introduce you to Captain Harkness?" He paused and his eyes narrowed, his mouth twisting a little. "My companion."
He didn't know why, but Ianto bristled, especially when he caught the impassive look on Harkness' face and the tensed muscle under his jaw. Harkness just smiled, tightly, and bowed his head a little, looking completely uncomfortable when he stepped forward and took Hartman's hand.
"Director Hartman," the captain greeted, lightly holding her fingers before letting go. "Nice to meet you." His smile was less forced now, but his eyes looked dull. He stepped back, by the Doctor, who touched his back briefly with a hand.
Hartman looked both fascinated and disgusted, and blinked at Harkness as if he were a puzzle. She recovered and pointed at Ianto.
"And who are you?"
Ianto flinched. He fumbled for his id badge. "I work downst-in archives…" he hastened to explain.
"This place is sealed off." The director, who didn't recognize him of course, was frosty, her lips pursed. "No one was to step foot inside the Doctor's ship."
"I invited him in," Harkness quickly jumped in. He looked over to Ianto with a wan smile before he averted his gaze again.
"Yes, well, the captain here is a friendly sort," the Doctor chuckled. "No harm. It's not like they could fly away. The ship won't listen to him."
"Who's in charge of you? What's your name?" Hartman was still going, but Ianto suspected it was more for the Doctor's benefit.
"Worster is my supervisor," Ianto said quickly. "My name's Ianto Jones. I'm a junior researcher."
Ianto felt awkward standing there. He could see the Doctor's hand claw the coat material out of the corner of his eye. He fidgeted, wishing he wasn't here, feeling incredibly bad on Harkness' behalf. He stared at the stiff back, the greatcoat bunched in the Doctor's grip; he almost missed the Doctor's startled expression.
"Ianto Jones, is it?" the Doctor murmured. An odd, pleased look crossed his face. "Well, this just gets better and better." He looked back at the captain and the look dropped for something darker.
"You were to stay inside, Captain."
"And you were taking too long, Doctor," Harkness retorted. There was a flicker of surprise from the Doctor. "I wanted to be sure you weren't being taken apart by Torchwood." Chagrin swept over his features and the captain looked over to the director. "No offense."
"None taken," Director Hartman returned in a dry voice. "I assure you; dismantling the Doctor to see what makes him tick is not Torchwood's modus operandi."
It was good fortune that Ianto still had enough common sense not to snort.
"I find it charming however," Director Hartman oozed and Ianto inwardly winced, "that your captain would seek to guard you, Doctor. Possibly with his life."
There was that odd smile/smirk again. "Ah yes," the Doctor drawled, glancing sideways at Harkness. "You would think it impressive…his life…Our Captain is quite the hero." He laughed and that odd expression dropped like it had never been there. The captain smiled faintly to the director but said nothing more.
Ianto swallowed a sigh of relief when the director dismissed him with a warning. Hartman looked more irritated than mad and she was too engrossed with what the Doctor was saying to really assert her authority on him. Ianto gave his goodbyes quickly before the director could change her mind. He glanced over to Harkness, hoping the captain could see the apology in his eyes, but the captain wasn't looking his way. Ianto didn't know why he felt disappointed but he gave the man another look over his shoulder and slipped out of the incredible machine that was mostly certainly not a police box.
"Stay here, Captain. The Director and I have much to discuss with you."
There was a shiver up his back when Ianto shut the door behind him and the too smooth voice of the Doctor reached his ears like a hot wind. Ianto oddly panicked when he shut the door, realizing the captain was now alone with the Doctor and the director. But of course that was all right, wasn't it? Captain Harkness travelled with the Doctor. Ianto lingered a moment longer by the police box, shifting from foot to foot. Finally, feeling a little foolish, Ianto crossed over the Caution tape to get back to work.
He never saw the captain again for the rest of the day or the next day after.
He never felt the first shot.
The Doctor, as soon as young Ianto Jones left the TARDIS, tapped his chin with his pointer, muttering, "Now, where were we? Ah, yes!" Without warning, he spun around, whipped out his laser screwdriver and shot him. It was too quick, the pain too sharp all over to identify where he was hit. It just went dark.
Jack gasped; his throat and chest burned when he came back to life. There were a few seconds when he could feel his body trying to repair what was damaged and he felt the faint throb above his heart. His chest constricted. Ah, the Time Lord shot him in the heart. At least that was quick. Better than some deaths he'd experienced. The stray javelin was still the worst.
"…and the good thing is, he’s not dead for long…can be killed again…"
Jack became aware of the Doctor standing over him, gazing down at him with an almost benevolent expression.
"Welcome back, Captain." The Doctor extended his hand and pulled Jack up. He gave him a beatific smile, patting him all around. "All there? Good. Good. I think you'd proven our point to the director quite convincingly."
Jack coughed, staggering as he tried to steadied himself. His chest ached like a great weight sat on it. "A little warning would have been nice," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
The Doctor looked at him with blank eyes. "What?" Understanding lit his face. "Ah yes!" He opened his hands towards Jack in a small flail. "Look out!"
"Thanks," Jack muttered under his breath. He looked at the director, still looking quite stunned.
"You see, Madam Director," the Doctor said smoothly. "I think we might find a solution to your problem for the spatial breach and come to an ideal agreement."
Jack felt ice hardening down his back when the woman's gaze drifted over to him and her expression turned speculative.
"Doctor?" Jack asked, faltering. What was going on? Jack nearly jumped when he felt the Time Lord's hand on his back again.
"Come, my Captain," the Doctor intoned, his eyes smoky as his mouth curved. "Let us demonstrate the vortex treatment as well."
His knees turned weak and Jack's stomach clenched. "Doctor," he protested faintly.
"We're doing this for you," the Doctor hissed low. The hand on Jack's back dug deeper, grabbing his coat, pressing into his spine.
Jack swallowed the bile rising up his throat and wordlessly followed the Doctor to the medical bay, the director following on his shadow. They chatted like he wasn't there and for a moment, he wanted to stop, turn around, do something other than go back there. The hallway seemed long, but the Doctor's fist on his coat loosened to light fingers tapping on his back.
…thrum-thrum-tap-tap…
And with a sick feeling in his stomach, his mouth dry, Jack Harkness stepped back into the medical bay, the doors closing behind him with a finality that made him close his eyes.
It was with illogical relief Ianto met the dim hallways of his section of the archives. The few others who shared the floor blinked at him with the kind of annoyance librarians reserved for noisy patrons. Ianto waved a feeble apology, ducked into the cubby that served as his office and sank into his seat.
"Well done, Jones," Ianto muttered to himself as he tried to straighten his desk. He sorted the piles of folders left on his work area. "Not really impressive." Ianto sighed to himself. Dealing with people was a necessary evil but sometimes…Lisa had teased him that Ianto had only applied for the archives because there was less chance of talking to anyone.
Ianto ran a hand through his hair, combing back any unruliness.
Lisa wasn't completely wrong.
Ianto cringed, thinking of how he had flustered like a schoolboy, tripped over everything sticking out of the floor. The Captain was right; he would have broken his…well…
"Be a shame if you break that pretty neck of yours."
Good grief. Harkness' voice was deep and it clung to his mind like a cobweb. The man had absolutely no concept of personal space. Ianto could still remember how blue his eyes were when he’d caught him before Ianto could indeed break his neck.
"If I was a better man…I would kiss you right now."
He was joking. Harkness looked like a humorous fellow. Right?
Ianto ducked his head and rifled through the files he needed to reorganize. Old files needed to be tagged for scanning, newer files needed to be logged. Photos were in an odd mess, left neglected due to the Doctor's arrival.
One, detached from any of the paperwork, peeked out from under the piles. Ianto plucked it out and glanced at the border to figure out where it belonged. He jerked and stared at it.
Oh bloody hell…
Captain Jack Harkness stared back at him in the old sepia tone photo Ianto had held before Lisa's call. Harkness was garbed in the old-fashioned military uniform of the early 1900's. The antiquated photo didn't reveal pale blue eyes, but Ianto recognized them all the same.
Ianto checked the date. 1909.
"He's a time traveler. Makes sense. He traveled to 1909," Ianto murmured. He searched for the matching folder. Finding it, Ianto's eyebrow rose when he saw the hand-stamped Torchwood emblem on the top of the paper.
It was a mission report.
"He worked for Torchwood?" Ianto yelped before he could stop himself. He darted his eyes left then right before he pulled the folder closer.
Ianto bit his lower lip and lowered the folder. He stared at the photo in his other hand. The smile the subject wore looked war-weary. And now that he'd seen the real thing, he knew who the melancholy eyes were for.
"Hello again, Captain," Ianto murmured. He lowered the photo to the desk. Ianto paused.
It was in the archives. It wasn't necessarily secret. Anyone could have pulled it out.
Ianto began to read. As his eyes scanned the pages, his fingers stroked the photo he'd forgotten he still held.
"…possible mara was sighted in Lehore. Sent freelancer agent Jack Harkness to investigate…"
Two days later…
The archives' usual serenity rang hollow today. What Ianto could count on before was now too gloomy, too cramped for his taste. He supposed it was because he’d got a "real taste of adventure" as Lisa put it, sneaking into the Doctor's box.
The entire Institute was busy with excitement. Lisa’d barely had enough time to have a few mouthfuls of cold Chinese this morning before dashing out to work again. Ianto was getting requests from all departments for the oddest bits of information. He'd never seen this many people visiting his quiet corner since he’d started working in Torchwood.
During the lulls, Ianto found himself rereading the Lehore mission again and again. In particular, the brief note in Harkness' handwriting where he put himself to blame for the death of fifteen men.
They’d drowned in mouthful of red petals.
"…my men, my responsibility…"
In summary, it was all Harkness’d ever written, but Ianto read it, analyzed it. He could probably identify the cursive handwriting now.
Ianto could hear the Captain as he read it; his smooth, deep voice that made you feel warm inside yet still shivers could go down your spine.
Ianto sighed, looking at the cabinet "Ha" he’d left partially opened. A small stack of "Harkness" files were uncovered. He just couldn't bring himself to read them. It only gave him more questions.
Questions he wanted to ask in person. Ianto just needed to figure out how to ask. The cargo bay’d been sealed tighter than a drum.
Scrubbing his hands over his face, Ianto sighed wearily. He was obsessing for some reason. Ianto couldn't stop thinking about how the Captain looked, standing so close to him like he was going to kiss him.
"Not that I would kiss him," Ianto muttered, but he could feel the flush creeping up his neck.
"Ianto?" Lisa called down to the archives and Ianto stood, looking guiltily at the files surrounding him.
"You hungry? We bought Chinese." Lisa's voice drew a few heads to pop up to shush her.
We? Ianto's shoulders dropped. "Lovely," he muttered. Ianto squared back his shoulders, popped out to greet Lisa with a grin.
"Chinese sounds brilliant," Ianto said. He gave one last look at his piles before he joined Lisa.
Lisa and a few of her friends from upstairs were invading the "d" to "f" sections to grill him.
"I really didn't see anything," Ianto repeated. He darted Lisa a look. He had told her that night in what he thought was in confidence. He wasn't sure if he was annoyed or flattered his girlfriend was going around telling everyone about his over-exaggerated adventures.
"I was in the main chamber and-"
"So it isn't just one room then?" Lorrie, a pretty blonde with freckles from Dr. Kendell's team, interrupted. She was the one who’d recommended Lisa her new position with Singh. She was built like a dancer yet her gestures were not graceful as she reached over for an eggroll on his side of the table while still talking. "How the bloody hell did he get the outside around the inside?" She sat there, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth with her food, her hand impatiently tattooing a beat on the table as she waited for an answer.
"Did you take pictures at least?" Lorrie asked, exasperated.
"Lore, he just said he was only there a minute before the director came in," Lisa cut in, flashing an apologetic look to Ianto. Under the table, she squeezed his knee.
Lorrie reminded him of a pitbull. "Did you see the other rooms?" she insisted. "How big was the main chamber? What was its function?"
"Her," Ianto muttered. "He referred to it as a 'her'."
"He?" That was from Frederick, a prat on Dr. Carter's team and who, in his own opinion, warranted his own team because of his PhD in nuclear sciences. "You mean the Doctor?"
Ianto snapped his mouth shut and chose the moment to sip his wonton soup.
"I think he meant Captain Hotness-oops, I mean Harkness." Elisa from Alien Cryptography giggled behind her chopsticks. The petite Pakistani jabbed the air with a piece of steamed vegetable with her cheap wooden utensils.
Frederick groaned, rolling his gray eyes that reminded Ianto of a professor he once had. "There she goes again. Blimey, she hasn't quit harping about 'Captain Hotness' since she saw him yesterday!"
Elisa leaned forward, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Mark told me he saw the Doctor practically drag the captain into engineering lab six yesterday." She fanned herself. "They were gone for a long time, if you know what I mean."
"What do you-Oh." Ianto felt his ears burned when Lorrie and Elisa exchanged a smirk before they broke out into giggles. He became very aware of the photo he kept in his suit pocket. Ianto meant to put it back in the Harkness folder. It was just that he was interrupted each time, Ianto reasoned as his hand wandered into his right pocket to check it was still there.
"Of course he's gay," Lisa mourned half-heartedly. She grinned at Ianto. "Thank God not all the good ones are."
Good Lord, it felt like he was being set on fire when the others laughed. Ianto waggled a finger at her before finishing his soup.
"Too bad," Elisa sighed. She propped her chin with her hand, her other drumming the table idly. "Always the good ones. Even the bloody aliens are gay now."
"It might not be that." For some reason, Ianto was compelled to speak up. "He didn't look…gay." And most certainly not alien.
Frederick grunted. "I was talking to Harper over at Cardiff and he agrees with me. Period military is not the dress code of a straight man."
"Cardiff?" Lorrie snorted indelicately. "That ruddy lot with Alex, Mr. Spooky Do?"
"Is he still claiming he saw the future?" Elisa snickered as she popped a candied walnut in his mouth.
"The twenty first century is when it all changes," Frederick echoed.
Ianto chuckled weakly with the others. Their laughter made his stomach churn and once again, he checked either end of the archives. "I haven't seen the Doctor touring the tower lately," Ianto tried to change the subject.
"I'd seen him down in the rift chambers yesterday! The Captain, too," Lisa piped up.
"Hm." Lorrie's fingers went up and down on the table in a rhythm that was beginning to annoy Ianto. "I saw the Doctor and the director in a meeting with the physicists."
"She won't let us talk to the Doctor or let us take a bloody reading!" Frederick complained. "She's been hanging on his every word!"
Elisa sighed. "I heard they were in the MX-CR chambers today as well. No one ever visits Alien Cryptography."
Ianto frowned to himself. Why was the captain in there? It was a new room, whose purpose was targeting the spatial breach high above Canary Wharf. It had lain neglected, shut down while the director tried to convince the PM of its value.
"I heard the project is going to reopen," Frederick remarked, smug at having the bit of gossip.
The table erupted in "You're taking the piss!" and "God, really?" all around. Ianto glanced down the rest of the archives nervously. They seemed to echo a little louder today. Sometimes, he wished they would stay upstairs for lunch.
"There's no way Whitehall would approve that much kilowatts for us to do this!" Lisa exclaimed. "It's why they shut it down in the first place!" She reached over and plucked a mushroom off Ianto's stir-fry. He retaliated with a nip off her chow mein. Lisa crossed her eyes at him.
Frederick rubbed his bristly chin and cleared his throat. Lisa rolled her eyes to Ianto.
"I heard the Doctor had some ideas in regards to the breach." Frederick smirked. "Sod Whitehall."
The group fell into stunned silence.
"So we might actually get that breach open," Lisa murmured. She looked over to Ianto. "They'll probably need more people then."
Ianto took an eggroll and broke it in half, not looking at Lisa as he drowned it in plum sauce. He refused to have a row about it in front of her friends.
Lorrie nodded as she chewed thoughtfully. "Gary said he saw one of the engineering team dismantling something from the Doctor's time machine and rebuilding it in MX-CR."
"It still looks like a police box not a time machine," muttered Ianto. Frederick snorted, agreeing.
"Ruddy thing doesn't even look like a spaceship," Frederick griped. He sat back on his chair, his fingers drumming on the table, mimicking Lorrie. "And he doesn't look like an alien either."
"Oh if he's an alien, they're more than welcome to invade us," Elisa said dreamily.
Lisa coughed on her noodles. Lorrie snickered.
"I think you just want Captain Hotness to invade you," Frederick guffawed, hands waving when Elisa shrieked. Fortune cookies flew back and forth.
Ianto winced at the mess, looked back down at his stir fry and silently agreed.
Captain Hotness most certainly did not look like an alien.
Lisa pinched another mushroom and winked at him.
Captain Harkness. He meant Captain Harkness, damn it.
Chapter 9
Additional Notes: Many thanks to snakeling for betaing this chapter long ago. Yes, I finally finished and can start reposting! Huzzah! LOL.
Pairing: Jack/OMC, Jack/?, Jack/Ianto eventually, het and slash
Rating: NC-17 (betaed)
Summary: He left Jack on the game station. Abandoned. But then…he came back…different. An AU look on what happens if things happened differently. Doctor Who 'verse with Torchwood later on. Be sure to read the warnings.
Warnings: Please read each chapter's individual warnings. Some parts down the road may briefly mention non-con, abuse, and/or violence. Dark in the beginning. Please note there are some dark thoughts as my boys are broken…for now. Each chapter will be labeled for your convenience.
Author's Notes: Please note this is an AU that will cross over DW to TW season one. I'm probably spoiling my own story, but it will eventually be Janto. There's a bit of a journey first. I hope you enjoy. I'm working on this and intend to post regularly every other day. And again, I always believe in happy endings. So without further ado…
Disclaimer: RTD and BBC owns them. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Warning For This Chapter: mentions past non-con/dubious consent, minor (very minor) het, verbal and mental abuse.
Prologue + Ch , Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 8
London, Canary Wharf
2006
Ianto had always read about a person's skin crawling but always wondered what that sensation could be like.
Now he knew.
It was an oily feeling that lingered when Ianto felt the Doctor's gaze upon him. It was like fingernails scratched lightly on his arms, leaving faint burning abrasions on his skin. Ianto fidgeted on the spot and couldn't even bring up the polite response of smiling back or saying hello. He was surprised to see Captain Harkness go rigid; that only made the oily sensation worsen. There was a sudden urge to shower as well.
"What is this?" Director Hartman had gotten over her initial shock and was sputtering. "This place was off limits under my orders! Who are these people?"
The Doctor raised a hand and smiled thinly at her. "May I introduce you to Captain Harkness?" He paused and his eyes narrowed, his mouth twisting a little. "My companion."
He didn't know why, but Ianto bristled, especially when he caught the impassive look on Harkness' face and the tensed muscle under his jaw. Harkness just smiled, tightly, and bowed his head a little, looking completely uncomfortable when he stepped forward and took Hartman's hand.
"Director Hartman," the captain greeted, lightly holding her fingers before letting go. "Nice to meet you." His smile was less forced now, but his eyes looked dull. He stepped back, by the Doctor, who touched his back briefly with a hand.
Hartman looked both fascinated and disgusted, and blinked at Harkness as if he were a puzzle. She recovered and pointed at Ianto.
"And who are you?"
Ianto flinched. He fumbled for his id badge. "I work downst-in archives…" he hastened to explain.
"This place is sealed off." The director, who didn't recognize him of course, was frosty, her lips pursed. "No one was to step foot inside the Doctor's ship."
"I invited him in," Harkness quickly jumped in. He looked over to Ianto with a wan smile before he averted his gaze again.
"Yes, well, the captain here is a friendly sort," the Doctor chuckled. "No harm. It's not like they could fly away. The ship won't listen to him."
"Who's in charge of you? What's your name?" Hartman was still going, but Ianto suspected it was more for the Doctor's benefit.
"Worster is my supervisor," Ianto said quickly. "My name's Ianto Jones. I'm a junior researcher."
Ianto felt awkward standing there. He could see the Doctor's hand claw the coat material out of the corner of his eye. He fidgeted, wishing he wasn't here, feeling incredibly bad on Harkness' behalf. He stared at the stiff back, the greatcoat bunched in the Doctor's grip; he almost missed the Doctor's startled expression.
"Ianto Jones, is it?" the Doctor murmured. An odd, pleased look crossed his face. "Well, this just gets better and better." He looked back at the captain and the look dropped for something darker.
"You were to stay inside, Captain."
"And you were taking too long, Doctor," Harkness retorted. There was a flicker of surprise from the Doctor. "I wanted to be sure you weren't being taken apart by Torchwood." Chagrin swept over his features and the captain looked over to the director. "No offense."
"None taken," Director Hartman returned in a dry voice. "I assure you; dismantling the Doctor to see what makes him tick is not Torchwood's modus operandi."
It was good fortune that Ianto still had enough common sense not to snort.
"I find it charming however," Director Hartman oozed and Ianto inwardly winced, "that your captain would seek to guard you, Doctor. Possibly with his life."
There was that odd smile/smirk again. "Ah yes," the Doctor drawled, glancing sideways at Harkness. "You would think it impressive…his life…Our Captain is quite the hero." He laughed and that odd expression dropped like it had never been there. The captain smiled faintly to the director but said nothing more.
Ianto swallowed a sigh of relief when the director dismissed him with a warning. Hartman looked more irritated than mad and she was too engrossed with what the Doctor was saying to really assert her authority on him. Ianto gave his goodbyes quickly before the director could change her mind. He glanced over to Harkness, hoping the captain could see the apology in his eyes, but the captain wasn't looking his way. Ianto didn't know why he felt disappointed but he gave the man another look over his shoulder and slipped out of the incredible machine that was mostly certainly not a police box.
"Stay here, Captain. The Director and I have much to discuss with you."
There was a shiver up his back when Ianto shut the door behind him and the too smooth voice of the Doctor reached his ears like a hot wind. Ianto oddly panicked when he shut the door, realizing the captain was now alone with the Doctor and the director. But of course that was all right, wasn't it? Captain Harkness travelled with the Doctor. Ianto lingered a moment longer by the police box, shifting from foot to foot. Finally, feeling a little foolish, Ianto crossed over the Caution tape to get back to work.
He never saw the captain again for the rest of the day or the next day after.
He never felt the first shot.
The Doctor, as soon as young Ianto Jones left the TARDIS, tapped his chin with his pointer, muttering, "Now, where were we? Ah, yes!" Without warning, he spun around, whipped out his laser screwdriver and shot him. It was too quick, the pain too sharp all over to identify where he was hit. It just went dark.
Jack gasped; his throat and chest burned when he came back to life. There were a few seconds when he could feel his body trying to repair what was damaged and he felt the faint throb above his heart. His chest constricted. Ah, the Time Lord shot him in the heart. At least that was quick. Better than some deaths he'd experienced. The stray javelin was still the worst.
"…and the good thing is, he’s not dead for long…can be killed again…"
Jack became aware of the Doctor standing over him, gazing down at him with an almost benevolent expression.
"Welcome back, Captain." The Doctor extended his hand and pulled Jack up. He gave him a beatific smile, patting him all around. "All there? Good. Good. I think you'd proven our point to the director quite convincingly."
Jack coughed, staggering as he tried to steadied himself. His chest ached like a great weight sat on it. "A little warning would have been nice," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
The Doctor looked at him with blank eyes. "What?" Understanding lit his face. "Ah yes!" He opened his hands towards Jack in a small flail. "Look out!"
"Thanks," Jack muttered under his breath. He looked at the director, still looking quite stunned.
"You see, Madam Director," the Doctor said smoothly. "I think we might find a solution to your problem for the spatial breach and come to an ideal agreement."
Jack felt ice hardening down his back when the woman's gaze drifted over to him and her expression turned speculative.
"Doctor?" Jack asked, faltering. What was going on? Jack nearly jumped when he felt the Time Lord's hand on his back again.
"Come, my Captain," the Doctor intoned, his eyes smoky as his mouth curved. "Let us demonstrate the vortex treatment as well."
His knees turned weak and Jack's stomach clenched. "Doctor," he protested faintly.
"We're doing this for you," the Doctor hissed low. The hand on Jack's back dug deeper, grabbing his coat, pressing into his spine.
Jack swallowed the bile rising up his throat and wordlessly followed the Doctor to the medical bay, the director following on his shadow. They chatted like he wasn't there and for a moment, he wanted to stop, turn around, do something other than go back there. The hallway seemed long, but the Doctor's fist on his coat loosened to light fingers tapping on his back.
…thrum-thrum-tap-tap…
And with a sick feeling in his stomach, his mouth dry, Jack Harkness stepped back into the medical bay, the doors closing behind him with a finality that made him close his eyes.
It was with illogical relief Ianto met the dim hallways of his section of the archives. The few others who shared the floor blinked at him with the kind of annoyance librarians reserved for noisy patrons. Ianto waved a feeble apology, ducked into the cubby that served as his office and sank into his seat.
"Well done, Jones," Ianto muttered to himself as he tried to straighten his desk. He sorted the piles of folders left on his work area. "Not really impressive." Ianto sighed to himself. Dealing with people was a necessary evil but sometimes…Lisa had teased him that Ianto had only applied for the archives because there was less chance of talking to anyone.
Ianto ran a hand through his hair, combing back any unruliness.
Lisa wasn't completely wrong.
Ianto cringed, thinking of how he had flustered like a schoolboy, tripped over everything sticking out of the floor. The Captain was right; he would have broken his…well…
"Be a shame if you break that pretty neck of yours."
Good grief. Harkness' voice was deep and it clung to his mind like a cobweb. The man had absolutely no concept of personal space. Ianto could still remember how blue his eyes were when he’d caught him before Ianto could indeed break his neck.
"If I was a better man…I would kiss you right now."
He was joking. Harkness looked like a humorous fellow. Right?
Ianto ducked his head and rifled through the files he needed to reorganize. Old files needed to be tagged for scanning, newer files needed to be logged. Photos were in an odd mess, left neglected due to the Doctor's arrival.
One, detached from any of the paperwork, peeked out from under the piles. Ianto plucked it out and glanced at the border to figure out where it belonged. He jerked and stared at it.
Oh bloody hell…
Captain Jack Harkness stared back at him in the old sepia tone photo Ianto had held before Lisa's call. Harkness was garbed in the old-fashioned military uniform of the early 1900's. The antiquated photo didn't reveal pale blue eyes, but Ianto recognized them all the same.
Ianto checked the date. 1909.
"He's a time traveler. Makes sense. He traveled to 1909," Ianto murmured. He searched for the matching folder. Finding it, Ianto's eyebrow rose when he saw the hand-stamped Torchwood emblem on the top of the paper.
It was a mission report.
"He worked for Torchwood?" Ianto yelped before he could stop himself. He darted his eyes left then right before he pulled the folder closer.
Ianto bit his lower lip and lowered the folder. He stared at the photo in his other hand. The smile the subject wore looked war-weary. And now that he'd seen the real thing, he knew who the melancholy eyes were for.
"Hello again, Captain," Ianto murmured. He lowered the photo to the desk. Ianto paused.
It was in the archives. It wasn't necessarily secret. Anyone could have pulled it out.
Ianto began to read. As his eyes scanned the pages, his fingers stroked the photo he'd forgotten he still held.
"…possible mara was sighted in Lehore. Sent freelancer agent Jack Harkness to investigate…"
Two days later…
The archives' usual serenity rang hollow today. What Ianto could count on before was now too gloomy, too cramped for his taste. He supposed it was because he’d got a "real taste of adventure" as Lisa put it, sneaking into the Doctor's box.
The entire Institute was busy with excitement. Lisa’d barely had enough time to have a few mouthfuls of cold Chinese this morning before dashing out to work again. Ianto was getting requests from all departments for the oddest bits of information. He'd never seen this many people visiting his quiet corner since he’d started working in Torchwood.
During the lulls, Ianto found himself rereading the Lehore mission again and again. In particular, the brief note in Harkness' handwriting where he put himself to blame for the death of fifteen men.
They’d drowned in mouthful of red petals.
"…my men, my responsibility…"
In summary, it was all Harkness’d ever written, but Ianto read it, analyzed it. He could probably identify the cursive handwriting now.
Ianto could hear the Captain as he read it; his smooth, deep voice that made you feel warm inside yet still shivers could go down your spine.
Ianto sighed, looking at the cabinet "Ha" he’d left partially opened. A small stack of "Harkness" files were uncovered. He just couldn't bring himself to read them. It only gave him more questions.
Questions he wanted to ask in person. Ianto just needed to figure out how to ask. The cargo bay’d been sealed tighter than a drum.
Scrubbing his hands over his face, Ianto sighed wearily. He was obsessing for some reason. Ianto couldn't stop thinking about how the Captain looked, standing so close to him like he was going to kiss him.
"Not that I would kiss him," Ianto muttered, but he could feel the flush creeping up his neck.
"Ianto?" Lisa called down to the archives and Ianto stood, looking guiltily at the files surrounding him.
"You hungry? We bought Chinese." Lisa's voice drew a few heads to pop up to shush her.
We? Ianto's shoulders dropped. "Lovely," he muttered. Ianto squared back his shoulders, popped out to greet Lisa with a grin.
"Chinese sounds brilliant," Ianto said. He gave one last look at his piles before he joined Lisa.
Lisa and a few of her friends from upstairs were invading the "d" to "f" sections to grill him.
"I really didn't see anything," Ianto repeated. He darted Lisa a look. He had told her that night in what he thought was in confidence. He wasn't sure if he was annoyed or flattered his girlfriend was going around telling everyone about his over-exaggerated adventures.
"I was in the main chamber and-"
"So it isn't just one room then?" Lorrie, a pretty blonde with freckles from Dr. Kendell's team, interrupted. She was the one who’d recommended Lisa her new position with Singh. She was built like a dancer yet her gestures were not graceful as she reached over for an eggroll on his side of the table while still talking. "How the bloody hell did he get the outside around the inside?" She sat there, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth with her food, her hand impatiently tattooing a beat on the table as she waited for an answer.
"Did you take pictures at least?" Lorrie asked, exasperated.
"Lore, he just said he was only there a minute before the director came in," Lisa cut in, flashing an apologetic look to Ianto. Under the table, she squeezed his knee.
Lorrie reminded him of a pitbull. "Did you see the other rooms?" she insisted. "How big was the main chamber? What was its function?"
"Her," Ianto muttered. "He referred to it as a 'her'."
"He?" That was from Frederick, a prat on Dr. Carter's team and who, in his own opinion, warranted his own team because of his PhD in nuclear sciences. "You mean the Doctor?"
Ianto snapped his mouth shut and chose the moment to sip his wonton soup.
"I think he meant Captain Hotness-oops, I mean Harkness." Elisa from Alien Cryptography giggled behind her chopsticks. The petite Pakistani jabbed the air with a piece of steamed vegetable with her cheap wooden utensils.
Frederick groaned, rolling his gray eyes that reminded Ianto of a professor he once had. "There she goes again. Blimey, she hasn't quit harping about 'Captain Hotness' since she saw him yesterday!"
Elisa leaned forward, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Mark told me he saw the Doctor practically drag the captain into engineering lab six yesterday." She fanned herself. "They were gone for a long time, if you know what I mean."
"What do you-Oh." Ianto felt his ears burned when Lorrie and Elisa exchanged a smirk before they broke out into giggles. He became very aware of the photo he kept in his suit pocket. Ianto meant to put it back in the Harkness folder. It was just that he was interrupted each time, Ianto reasoned as his hand wandered into his right pocket to check it was still there.
"Of course he's gay," Lisa mourned half-heartedly. She grinned at Ianto. "Thank God not all the good ones are."
Good Lord, it felt like he was being set on fire when the others laughed. Ianto waggled a finger at her before finishing his soup.
"Too bad," Elisa sighed. She propped her chin with her hand, her other drumming the table idly. "Always the good ones. Even the bloody aliens are gay now."
"It might not be that." For some reason, Ianto was compelled to speak up. "He didn't look…gay." And most certainly not alien.
Frederick grunted. "I was talking to Harper over at Cardiff and he agrees with me. Period military is not the dress code of a straight man."
"Cardiff?" Lorrie snorted indelicately. "That ruddy lot with Alex, Mr. Spooky Do?"
"Is he still claiming he saw the future?" Elisa snickered as she popped a candied walnut in his mouth.
"The twenty first century is when it all changes," Frederick echoed.
Ianto chuckled weakly with the others. Their laughter made his stomach churn and once again, he checked either end of the archives. "I haven't seen the Doctor touring the tower lately," Ianto tried to change the subject.
"I'd seen him down in the rift chambers yesterday! The Captain, too," Lisa piped up.
"Hm." Lorrie's fingers went up and down on the table in a rhythm that was beginning to annoy Ianto. "I saw the Doctor and the director in a meeting with the physicists."
"She won't let us talk to the Doctor or let us take a bloody reading!" Frederick complained. "She's been hanging on his every word!"
Elisa sighed. "I heard they were in the MX-CR chambers today as well. No one ever visits Alien Cryptography."
Ianto frowned to himself. Why was the captain in there? It was a new room, whose purpose was targeting the spatial breach high above Canary Wharf. It had lain neglected, shut down while the director tried to convince the PM of its value.
"I heard the project is going to reopen," Frederick remarked, smug at having the bit of gossip.
The table erupted in "You're taking the piss!" and "God, really?" all around. Ianto glanced down the rest of the archives nervously. They seemed to echo a little louder today. Sometimes, he wished they would stay upstairs for lunch.
"There's no way Whitehall would approve that much kilowatts for us to do this!" Lisa exclaimed. "It's why they shut it down in the first place!" She reached over and plucked a mushroom off Ianto's stir-fry. He retaliated with a nip off her chow mein. Lisa crossed her eyes at him.
Frederick rubbed his bristly chin and cleared his throat. Lisa rolled her eyes to Ianto.
"I heard the Doctor had some ideas in regards to the breach." Frederick smirked. "Sod Whitehall."
The group fell into stunned silence.
"So we might actually get that breach open," Lisa murmured. She looked over to Ianto. "They'll probably need more people then."
Ianto took an eggroll and broke it in half, not looking at Lisa as he drowned it in plum sauce. He refused to have a row about it in front of her friends.
Lorrie nodded as she chewed thoughtfully. "Gary said he saw one of the engineering team dismantling something from the Doctor's time machine and rebuilding it in MX-CR."
"It still looks like a police box not a time machine," muttered Ianto. Frederick snorted, agreeing.
"Ruddy thing doesn't even look like a spaceship," Frederick griped. He sat back on his chair, his fingers drumming on the table, mimicking Lorrie. "And he doesn't look like an alien either."
"Oh if he's an alien, they're more than welcome to invade us," Elisa said dreamily.
Lisa coughed on her noodles. Lorrie snickered.
"I think you just want Captain Hotness to invade you," Frederick guffawed, hands waving when Elisa shrieked. Fortune cookies flew back and forth.
Ianto winced at the mess, looked back down at his stir fry and silently agreed.
Captain Hotness most certainly did not look like an alien.
Lisa pinched another mushroom and winked at him.
Captain Harkness. He meant Captain Harkness, damn it.
Chapter 9
Additional Notes: Many thanks to snakeling for betaing this chapter long ago. Yes, I finally finished and can start reposting! Huzzah! LOL.