Restoration (10/10)
Title: Restoration (10/10)
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Doctor, Martha, Rhys, Rhiannon
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: CoE
Summary: My response to the horrors of series 3.
Wow! I can't believe it, last chapter! Seriously, I'm usually very bad a finishing stuff. No worries though, because there will be a sequel - a whole bunch of them, actually. I've got a series planned *grins manically* Anyway, this is a little shorter than I'd intended, but the ending sort of happened, and I liked it, so I'm leaving it alone. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for all the comments and encouragement! It makes me happy :-) The sequel should be posted sometime over the weekend, called Continuance.
Ianto can scarcely believe it. The Hub. It’s finally done. Rebuilt. Back. He glances to Gwen, who looks half-disbelieving, half utterly happy. She’s showing now - four and a half months, almost. And the Hub, too. Four months since it was blown to pieces, and now it’s back. He doesn’t need to look at Jack to know what he feels, doesn’t even need to focus on the link; he’s practically radiating happiness and relief and excitement.
It will not be the same; he knows this and feels a pang, but it’s close enough for him to be happy. The new tourist office is almost finished, the rest of the Plass is still off limits to the public, but the Hub itself is complete - or close enough, anyway.
None of them speak as they make their way through the entrance at the back of the tourist office, standing silently in the lift and then stepping through the new door.
The sight hits him like a blow to the chest; he is grateful when Jack laces their fingers together and squeezes his hand. It is very close to the original Hub; if he doesn’t look too hard he can pretend it is the same and that nothing has changed. Things have, though. It’s largely bare, lacking much of its old furniture and equipment. The layout is just slightly different, but it’s noticeable. Still. The Hub - and it very much is the Hub, despite the differences and the lack of a lived-in feel.
‘Home,’ he says quietly, in much the same way as he had on that day in the old Torchwood One storage facility. And it is. Not in quite the same way as his flat, especially now that Jack’s living with him - it’s not official, but he knows it won’t change - but it’s still home.
‘It feels good to be back,’ Gwen comments as Jack takes the first step forward. ‘It’s been strange, working in a proper office these past few months.’
‘There’s still some work to be done. Most of the large stuff’s already been sorted, but there’s still a few things to be dealt with.’
Ianto just nods, moving away to explore. It feels strange. The new Hub has lost the emotional imprints left there over the century; it has a new, empty atmosphere, not exactly unpleasant, but not comforting, either. The lingering signatures of Tosh and Owen are entirely gone; he feels a sharp pang of loss, compounded by the fact that their stations are also missing.
Jack must sense something is wrong, because his mind brushes gently across Ianto’s, sending a wave of love and warmth. He sighs slightly, soothed, but still aware of the strangeness, the loss. He pushes it aside, though, and begins his exploration.
The layout, as he had noticed before, is only slightly different, although there is a fair bit missing. All the knickknacks they had collected, the old sofa, alien objects, paperwork and bits and pieces of tech are completely gone; he can only hope that similar things will build up again quickly. The Hub seems stark and cold without them.
Moving away from the main area he heads down to the lower levels. Janet is gone, and the cells are new and empty. As he looks further he begins to note that less has changed. At the bottom-most levels things are almost exactly the same, and he draws a long, slow breath, inhaling the comfortingly familiar smell and mentally probing the space. There isn’t much, just tiny hints of emotion, but he isn’t surprised. Hardly anyone ever comes this far down.
Lost in his reverie, he doesn’t notice Jack joining him until he is right at his side.
‘Are you alright?’ he asks, and Ianto can feel his concern.
‘It’s just strange. I never really registered it, but I suppose I always picked up on the signatures and emotions left behind. They gave the Hub a ... feel. And now it’s all gone. There’s just nothing.’
Jack pulls him close, arms folding around him, and Ianto relaxes into the embrace, inhaling the familiar 51st century pheromones. ‘I know what you mean. It’s certainly not surprising that you’re aware of it - most people sense that kind of thing, if only vaguely, and your empathy is fairly well-developed.’
‘It’s not the pleasantest of sensations.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ he agrees.
‘It always felt like there was a little bit of Tosh and Owen left. It was nice. And now that’s gone.’
Jack sighs. ‘I suppose we’ll just have to wait for our own signatures to imprint. It’ll never be the same, but it won’t feel quite so empty.’
Ianto hums and then asks, ‘Do you think I could stay here a moment? I want to take a look a bit lower.’
‘Okay. I’ll go and see how Gwen’s doing.’
Truthfully, there was barely anything left to see, but he wanted a second to gather himself. He still hasn’t found the courage to look at the new Archives; he might leave it a couple of days, give himself time to adjust.
He stays there for several moments before making his way up to join Jack and Gwen in the newly built conference room. Gwen looks a little red around the eyes and Jack’s jaw is tense; his emotions are confused, mixed up and not really discernible. Ianto doesn’t probe.
‘It’ll be better once we’ve been here a few days,’ he states. ‘Once we’re used it it and everything’s not quite so ... new.’
Gwen nods a little shakily and Jack shoots him a small smile.
‘It’s just so strange,’ she says, looking around. ‘God ... better than the office though. We’ll feel more like Torchwood again.’
They fall into a comfortable silence that lasts several minutes, the weight of memories tugging insistently. Ianto indulges himself, thinking back to a time when Tosh and Owen were still alive and the whole team had been arguing over the purpose of the newest object that had fallen through the Rift. They had never found out what it really did, despite plenty of tests and experiments, but they had had fun coming up with increasingly bizarre ideas.
Shaking the memory away, he claps his hands together, starling the other two out of their own thoughts. ‘Right. Who wants coffee?’ Gwen laughs, and Jack kisses him, and Ianto thinks that they might just be alright.
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Doctor, Martha, Rhys, Rhiannon
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: CoE
Summary: My response to the horrors of series 3.
Wow! I can't believe it, last chapter! Seriously, I'm usually very bad a finishing stuff. No worries though, because there will be a sequel - a whole bunch of them, actually. I've got a series planned *grins manically* Anyway, this is a little shorter than I'd intended, but the ending sort of happened, and I liked it, so I'm leaving it alone. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for all the comments and encouragement! It makes me happy :-) The sequel should be posted sometime over the weekend, called Continuance.
Ianto can scarcely believe it. The Hub. It’s finally done. Rebuilt. Back. He glances to Gwen, who looks half-disbelieving, half utterly happy. She’s showing now - four and a half months, almost. And the Hub, too. Four months since it was blown to pieces, and now it’s back. He doesn’t need to look at Jack to know what he feels, doesn’t even need to focus on the link; he’s practically radiating happiness and relief and excitement.
It will not be the same; he knows this and feels a pang, but it’s close enough for him to be happy. The new tourist office is almost finished, the rest of the Plass is still off limits to the public, but the Hub itself is complete - or close enough, anyway.
None of them speak as they make their way through the entrance at the back of the tourist office, standing silently in the lift and then stepping through the new door.
The sight hits him like a blow to the chest; he is grateful when Jack laces their fingers together and squeezes his hand. It is very close to the original Hub; if he doesn’t look too hard he can pretend it is the same and that nothing has changed. Things have, though. It’s largely bare, lacking much of its old furniture and equipment. The layout is just slightly different, but it’s noticeable. Still. The Hub - and it very much is the Hub, despite the differences and the lack of a lived-in feel.
‘Home,’ he says quietly, in much the same way as he had on that day in the old Torchwood One storage facility. And it is. Not in quite the same way as his flat, especially now that Jack’s living with him - it’s not official, but he knows it won’t change - but it’s still home.
‘It feels good to be back,’ Gwen comments as Jack takes the first step forward. ‘It’s been strange, working in a proper office these past few months.’
‘There’s still some work to be done. Most of the large stuff’s already been sorted, but there’s still a few things to be dealt with.’
Ianto just nods, moving away to explore. It feels strange. The new Hub has lost the emotional imprints left there over the century; it has a new, empty atmosphere, not exactly unpleasant, but not comforting, either. The lingering signatures of Tosh and Owen are entirely gone; he feels a sharp pang of loss, compounded by the fact that their stations are also missing.
Jack must sense something is wrong, because his mind brushes gently across Ianto’s, sending a wave of love and warmth. He sighs slightly, soothed, but still aware of the strangeness, the loss. He pushes it aside, though, and begins his exploration.
The layout, as he had noticed before, is only slightly different, although there is a fair bit missing. All the knickknacks they had collected, the old sofa, alien objects, paperwork and bits and pieces of tech are completely gone; he can only hope that similar things will build up again quickly. The Hub seems stark and cold without them.
Moving away from the main area he heads down to the lower levels. Janet is gone, and the cells are new and empty. As he looks further he begins to note that less has changed. At the bottom-most levels things are almost exactly the same, and he draws a long, slow breath, inhaling the comfortingly familiar smell and mentally probing the space. There isn’t much, just tiny hints of emotion, but he isn’t surprised. Hardly anyone ever comes this far down.
Lost in his reverie, he doesn’t notice Jack joining him until he is right at his side.
‘Are you alright?’ he asks, and Ianto can feel his concern.
‘It’s just strange. I never really registered it, but I suppose I always picked up on the signatures and emotions left behind. They gave the Hub a ... feel. And now it’s all gone. There’s just nothing.’
Jack pulls him close, arms folding around him, and Ianto relaxes into the embrace, inhaling the familiar 51st century pheromones. ‘I know what you mean. It’s certainly not surprising that you’re aware of it - most people sense that kind of thing, if only vaguely, and your empathy is fairly well-developed.’
‘It’s not the pleasantest of sensations.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ he agrees.
‘It always felt like there was a little bit of Tosh and Owen left. It was nice. And now that’s gone.’
Jack sighs. ‘I suppose we’ll just have to wait for our own signatures to imprint. It’ll never be the same, but it won’t feel quite so empty.’
Ianto hums and then asks, ‘Do you think I could stay here a moment? I want to take a look a bit lower.’
‘Okay. I’ll go and see how Gwen’s doing.’
Truthfully, there was barely anything left to see, but he wanted a second to gather himself. He still hasn’t found the courage to look at the new Archives; he might leave it a couple of days, give himself time to adjust.
He stays there for several moments before making his way up to join Jack and Gwen in the newly built conference room. Gwen looks a little red around the eyes and Jack’s jaw is tense; his emotions are confused, mixed up and not really discernible. Ianto doesn’t probe.
‘It’ll be better once we’ve been here a few days,’ he states. ‘Once we’re used it it and everything’s not quite so ... new.’
Gwen nods a little shakily and Jack shoots him a small smile.
‘It’s just so strange,’ she says, looking around. ‘God ... better than the office though. We’ll feel more like Torchwood again.’
They fall into a comfortable silence that lasts several minutes, the weight of memories tugging insistently. Ianto indulges himself, thinking back to a time when Tosh and Owen were still alive and the whole team had been arguing over the purpose of the newest object that had fallen through the Rift. They had never found out what it really did, despite plenty of tests and experiments, but they had had fun coming up with increasingly bizarre ideas.
Shaking the memory away, he claps his hands together, starling the other two out of their own thoughts. ‘Right. Who wants coffee?’ Gwen laughs, and Jack kisses him, and Ianto thinks that they might just be alright.