Right Here Waiting For You
Right Here Waiting For You - Chapter 6/19 by LilFerret
Fandom: Torchwood
Summary: Sometimes it takes almost losing someone to realize exactly what you have.
Rated: R/Mature
Categories: Drama, Romance
Characters/Ship: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes
Word count: 1,975
Published: 02/29/12
Author Notes: This was originally meant as a cliché fic, however I wasn't able to get it finished in time. I am posting it in parts but at least half of the fic is written so far.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter List: ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX
Over here at ff.net...
Right Here Waiting For You - Chapter 6
The tour of the Hub was nearly complete, and Jack was beginning to get a bit discouraged. It was the place where Ianto spent the majority of his time and yet his memory still wasn't being triggered. He began to seriously doubt it would ever come back.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Ianto told him, leaning against the boardroom table as Jack took a seat in his chair.
Jack rubbed his hands over his face. “I'd just figured of all places...”
“Look, Jack,” Ianto started, taking the seat to Jack's right and tugging one of his hands down, “it will happen when it happens. As much as I'd like to know who I am, and have a sense of familiarity when I enter a room, I'll be okay if I never remember.”
Jack frowned, settling his other hand over Ianto's and effectively sandwiching it between his own. “You'd really be fine with being a stranger in your own body?”
Shrugging, Ianto smiled. “You have to take what you're given in life. Nothing is guaranteed, and the end could be tomorrow. It's best to enjoy what you have. That much I know.”
“Sounds like a good bit of advice.”
“I think...” Ianto tilted his head slightly. “I think my grandmother once told me that.”
Jack's eyebrows went up. “Is that a memory coming back?”
“More like a feeling. I'm really not sure.”
“Maybe you're right, Ianto.” Jack squeezed Ianto's hand and then pulled away, getting up from the table. “Maybe we're both pushing you too hard. This thing is going to happen when it happens and it might just be the little nuances that come back first. Like your innate knowledge of coffee making, and the love of suits.”
“And pearls of wisdom from yesteryear.”
“Exactly.”
Ianto got to his feet and followed Jack out of the room. They stopped by the railing and looked down over the expanse of the Hub. “It's definitely not the traditional workplace,” he said, nodding towards the floor below. “Certainly fascinating, though.”
“Well, it's been like this a long time,” Jack replied, smiling. He wondered exactly how much to tell Ianto. He knew if the man's memory never fully returned he'd need to know certain things he'd known before. “Are you planning to stay?”
Ianto's brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“If you never regain your memory,” Jack explained, shoving his hands in his pockets, “would you stay here and still be part of Torchwood?”
“I'd not actually thought about it,” said Ianto, licking his lips. “This is where I worked before. I don't see why I'd want to change that. Why? Did you...not want me to?”
Jack's eyes widened. “No, that's not it, believe me. I just wasn't sure that you wouldn't want a fresh start.”
“Somewhere else?”
“Yeah.”
“Is this coming from my boss, my friend, or my lover?”
“All of the above, actually.”
“I can't guarantee this would always be what I want,” Ianto told him, gesturing toward the whole of the Hub, “but for right now things are alien enough as it is, no pun intended, and I don't see a reason to shake things up even more.”
Jack nodded, gripping the railing. “There are things I still haven't told you about. Strange things you might not believe right away.”
“Stranger than the rainbow-colored, flying, reptilian Jolo'teri we currently keep in the cell next to the Weevil?”
Jack chuckled. The expression on Ianto's face when he'd introduced him to the alien species had been comical. It was like watching a child discover something new and fascinating and not have a clue what to make of it. Not that he considered Ianto a child, of course. Far from it.
“Stranger than that.”
“From what I've learned and seen so far I think I'm taking it all in stride. I'm assuming these things are those which my former self already knew?”
“Yes they are,” Jack replied, turning his back on the Hub and folding his arms across his chest. It was a defensive move, he knew, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't every day you told your lover you were immortal, and everything that it entailed. Twice with one person was more than enough.
“I'm listening, Jack.”
“Something happened to me,” he started, drawing a deep breath. “A long time ago. Or, if I'm being more accurate, a long time from now.”
“Go on.”
“I was killed once. Many times, actually, but this was the first time.” Ianto's eyebrow went up but he remained silent. “I was many years in the future helping my friends fight a race of aliens known as the Daleks. I was killed, but then I resurrected. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but ever since that first time I can't stay dead.”
Ianto's mouth opened slowly, as if he meant to speak, but then it snapped shut. He pursed his lips and stared down at his shoes for a moment before looking back up and raising both eyebrows. Jack nodded his head, reaffirming what he'd just said. Ianto spent a moment more appearing to process what Jack had told him before gesturing for him to continue.
“I can travel through time. Or, at least, I used to be able to.” He raised his left wrist, indicating his wrist strap. “It burnt out the last time I used it. I was trying to get back to
a time I could meet up with my friends, since they disappeared after I died, but I ended up in Cardiff in the mid 1900s.”
“And you've been here ever since?”
“Yep.”
“And where are you from originally?”
“Boeshane Peninsula, in the 51st century.” He was leaving a lot out, he knew, but this was more than enough to throw at Ianto for one day.
“So that would make you...”
“Pretty damned old,” Jack finished for him. “Yeah.”
Ianto swallowed, glancing down at the computers and the women behind them. “Do they know?”
“They all do, Owen included. It's a difficult thing to explain away when you resurrect in the field after a Weevil's just ripped your throat out.”
“I imagine so.”
“Gwen was the first to know. She saw me get shot. It happened right in front of her.”
Ianto winced. “That sounds awful. I'm sorry.”
“Oh, gunshots heal quickly. It wasn't that bad. Now the more violent deaths...”
“I meant for everything, Jack. I'm sorry this happened to you.”
Jack smiled softly. “It's alright, Ianto. I'm pretty used to it, actually.”
“How does one get used to something like that? To...dying...and then coming back.”
“It's taken me a long time, and apart from wanting answers, well...I just deal with it.”
Ianto nodded, looking down at his shoes again. “I'm a bit tired, Jack. Do you think it would be too much trouble to go back home for a while?”
Jack felt his heart clench. Damn. Here it was, the moment Ianto rejected him. It hadn't happened the first time around, but he'd been dreading it all the same. “Not at all. We can go right now.”
The drive to Ianto's flat was a rather quiet one, and Jack silently cursed himself for having thrown his own past at the man so soon. He was suffering from brain damage, damn it. Ianto didn't need to add the conundrum that was Jack Harkness to his burdens. He wasn't at all surprised that Ianto needed space. He only hoped it wasn't a permanent arrangement.
When they arrived Jack helped Ianto with the bags of purchases he'd made earlier, following him into the building, up in the lift and over to his door. He handed Ianto the keys and the Welshman took them from him, unlocking the door and heading inside. Jack stepped in behind him, draping the garment bags over the back of the couch in the lounge, and watching as Ianto did the same.
“Would you like a coffee?” the man asked him, taking off his coat and hanging it up.
“No, that's alright. I can grab something on the way back to the Hub. I'll leave your keys with you, though, in case you need to step out. It's not a bad walk.”
Ianto stopped mid step in his journey toward the kitchen, spinning around. “You're leaving?”
Jack frowned. “I assumed when you asked to come back home you wanted to be alone.”
“What gave you that idea?”
“Well...” The truth was he'd assumed. “You said you were tired.”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “And that's the same as wanting you to leave?”
“Maybe.” Jack couldn't help his smile at the Welshman's familiar mannerism. “I'm guessing I was wrong?”
“Extremely.” Ianto shook his head and then smiled back, walking over to Jack and sliding his coat from his shoulders. “Here, let me.”
Jack watched as Ianto placed the coat on the rack, the familiarity of the moment lost on Ianto but meaning so much to him. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” Ianto replied, heading back toward the kitchen. “Now, coffee?”
“Absolutely.”
He grinned at the Welshman's back, shoving his hands in his pockets and following behind him. He really needed to stop second-guessing himself. He should have put more faith in the man.
He paused in the doorway, watching Ianto pull their mugs out of the cupboard. Again it was their two favorite mugs, and for a moment he allowed himself to forget anything had changed. Once Ianto had poured the beans into the grinder Jack stepped up behind him, sliding his arms around the man's waist and kissing the side of his neck.
“I missed you.”
“Honestly, Jack, I've been in the kitchen less than a minute.”
Jack chuckled, not stepping away. “I meant I missed you while you were in the hospital.”
“You were there with me.”
“I know,” said Jack, watching Ianto's hands as they moved the coffee grounds into the coffee maker. Fresh, filtered water came next and then Ianto started the machine, turning in his arms and placing his hands on Jack's hips.
“So how did you miss me when I was right there?”
“I missed talking to you. Or rather, having a two-sided conversation.”
“I'm good at that then, yeah?”
“Yeah. When you want to be. Sometimes you're quiet, though, but your presence never goes unnoticed.”
Ianto pulled Jack tight against him. “We don't need words to have a conversation, sir.”
Jack growled deep in his throat. “You have no idea how hard it is not to break the doctor's rules and take you right against this counter, Ianto.”
“I can understand,” Ianto murmured, shifting his hips slightly so that their groins rubbed together. “Maybe you should call him and double check.”
The heady mix of Ianto's scent, the smell of coffee brewing behind them, and the friction Ianto was creating was enough to make Jack groan. “I think he's probably off shift by now.”
“He might be on call,” Ianto replied, backing him up until he'd pinned him to the opposite counter and burying his face in Jack's neck.
“He could be with a patient,” Jack argued, grunting when Ianto thrust against him.
“You're probably right,” Ianto agreed, tugging Jack's shirt from his trousers. “Better not to disturb them.”
“Ianto?”
“Hmm?”
“What about the coffee?”
“It can wait.”
Chapter 7
Comments and reviews always welcome and appreciated. ♥
Fandom: Torchwood
Summary: Sometimes it takes almost losing someone to realize exactly what you have.
Rated: R/Mature
Categories: Drama, Romance
Characters/Ship: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes
Word count: 1,975
Published: 02/29/12
Author Notes: This was originally meant as a cliché fic, however I wasn't able to get it finished in time. I am posting it in parts but at least half of the fic is written so far.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter List: ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX
Over here at ff.net...
Right Here Waiting For You - Chapter 6
The tour of the Hub was nearly complete, and Jack was beginning to get a bit discouraged. It was the place where Ianto spent the majority of his time and yet his memory still wasn't being triggered. He began to seriously doubt it would ever come back.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Ianto told him, leaning against the boardroom table as Jack took a seat in his chair.
Jack rubbed his hands over his face. “I'd just figured of all places...”
“Look, Jack,” Ianto started, taking the seat to Jack's right and tugging one of his hands down, “it will happen when it happens. As much as I'd like to know who I am, and have a sense of familiarity when I enter a room, I'll be okay if I never remember.”
Jack frowned, settling his other hand over Ianto's and effectively sandwiching it between his own. “You'd really be fine with being a stranger in your own body?”
Shrugging, Ianto smiled. “You have to take what you're given in life. Nothing is guaranteed, and the end could be tomorrow. It's best to enjoy what you have. That much I know.”
“Sounds like a good bit of advice.”
“I think...” Ianto tilted his head slightly. “I think my grandmother once told me that.”
Jack's eyebrows went up. “Is that a memory coming back?”
“More like a feeling. I'm really not sure.”
“Maybe you're right, Ianto.” Jack squeezed Ianto's hand and then pulled away, getting up from the table. “Maybe we're both pushing you too hard. This thing is going to happen when it happens and it might just be the little nuances that come back first. Like your innate knowledge of coffee making, and the love of suits.”
“And pearls of wisdom from yesteryear.”
“Exactly.”
Ianto got to his feet and followed Jack out of the room. They stopped by the railing and looked down over the expanse of the Hub. “It's definitely not the traditional workplace,” he said, nodding towards the floor below. “Certainly fascinating, though.”
“Well, it's been like this a long time,” Jack replied, smiling. He wondered exactly how much to tell Ianto. He knew if the man's memory never fully returned he'd need to know certain things he'd known before. “Are you planning to stay?”
Ianto's brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“If you never regain your memory,” Jack explained, shoving his hands in his pockets, “would you stay here and still be part of Torchwood?”
“I'd not actually thought about it,” said Ianto, licking his lips. “This is where I worked before. I don't see why I'd want to change that. Why? Did you...not want me to?”
Jack's eyes widened. “No, that's not it, believe me. I just wasn't sure that you wouldn't want a fresh start.”
“Somewhere else?”
“Yeah.”
“Is this coming from my boss, my friend, or my lover?”
“All of the above, actually.”
“I can't guarantee this would always be what I want,” Ianto told him, gesturing toward the whole of the Hub, “but for right now things are alien enough as it is, no pun intended, and I don't see a reason to shake things up even more.”
Jack nodded, gripping the railing. “There are things I still haven't told you about. Strange things you might not believe right away.”
“Stranger than the rainbow-colored, flying, reptilian Jolo'teri we currently keep in the cell next to the Weevil?”
Jack chuckled. The expression on Ianto's face when he'd introduced him to the alien species had been comical. It was like watching a child discover something new and fascinating and not have a clue what to make of it. Not that he considered Ianto a child, of course. Far from it.
“Stranger than that.”
“From what I've learned and seen so far I think I'm taking it all in stride. I'm assuming these things are those which my former self already knew?”
“Yes they are,” Jack replied, turning his back on the Hub and folding his arms across his chest. It was a defensive move, he knew, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't every day you told your lover you were immortal, and everything that it entailed. Twice with one person was more than enough.
“I'm listening, Jack.”
“Something happened to me,” he started, drawing a deep breath. “A long time ago. Or, if I'm being more accurate, a long time from now.”
“Go on.”
“I was killed once. Many times, actually, but this was the first time.” Ianto's eyebrow went up but he remained silent. “I was many years in the future helping my friends fight a race of aliens known as the Daleks. I was killed, but then I resurrected. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but ever since that first time I can't stay dead.”
Ianto's mouth opened slowly, as if he meant to speak, but then it snapped shut. He pursed his lips and stared down at his shoes for a moment before looking back up and raising both eyebrows. Jack nodded his head, reaffirming what he'd just said. Ianto spent a moment more appearing to process what Jack had told him before gesturing for him to continue.
“I can travel through time. Or, at least, I used to be able to.” He raised his left wrist, indicating his wrist strap. “It burnt out the last time I used it. I was trying to get back to
a time I could meet up with my friends, since they disappeared after I died, but I ended up in Cardiff in the mid 1900s.”
“And you've been here ever since?”
“Yep.”
“And where are you from originally?”
“Boeshane Peninsula, in the 51st century.” He was leaving a lot out, he knew, but this was more than enough to throw at Ianto for one day.
“So that would make you...”
“Pretty damned old,” Jack finished for him. “Yeah.”
Ianto swallowed, glancing down at the computers and the women behind them. “Do they know?”
“They all do, Owen included. It's a difficult thing to explain away when you resurrect in the field after a Weevil's just ripped your throat out.”
“I imagine so.”
“Gwen was the first to know. She saw me get shot. It happened right in front of her.”
Ianto winced. “That sounds awful. I'm sorry.”
“Oh, gunshots heal quickly. It wasn't that bad. Now the more violent deaths...”
“I meant for everything, Jack. I'm sorry this happened to you.”
Jack smiled softly. “It's alright, Ianto. I'm pretty used to it, actually.”
“How does one get used to something like that? To...dying...and then coming back.”
“It's taken me a long time, and apart from wanting answers, well...I just deal with it.”
Ianto nodded, looking down at his shoes again. “I'm a bit tired, Jack. Do you think it would be too much trouble to go back home for a while?”
Jack felt his heart clench. Damn. Here it was, the moment Ianto rejected him. It hadn't happened the first time around, but he'd been dreading it all the same. “Not at all. We can go right now.”
The drive to Ianto's flat was a rather quiet one, and Jack silently cursed himself for having thrown his own past at the man so soon. He was suffering from brain damage, damn it. Ianto didn't need to add the conundrum that was Jack Harkness to his burdens. He wasn't at all surprised that Ianto needed space. He only hoped it wasn't a permanent arrangement.
When they arrived Jack helped Ianto with the bags of purchases he'd made earlier, following him into the building, up in the lift and over to his door. He handed Ianto the keys and the Welshman took them from him, unlocking the door and heading inside. Jack stepped in behind him, draping the garment bags over the back of the couch in the lounge, and watching as Ianto did the same.
“Would you like a coffee?” the man asked him, taking off his coat and hanging it up.
“No, that's alright. I can grab something on the way back to the Hub. I'll leave your keys with you, though, in case you need to step out. It's not a bad walk.”
Ianto stopped mid step in his journey toward the kitchen, spinning around. “You're leaving?”
Jack frowned. “I assumed when you asked to come back home you wanted to be alone.”
“What gave you that idea?”
“Well...” The truth was he'd assumed. “You said you were tired.”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “And that's the same as wanting you to leave?”
“Maybe.” Jack couldn't help his smile at the Welshman's familiar mannerism. “I'm guessing I was wrong?”
“Extremely.” Ianto shook his head and then smiled back, walking over to Jack and sliding his coat from his shoulders. “Here, let me.”
Jack watched as Ianto placed the coat on the rack, the familiarity of the moment lost on Ianto but meaning so much to him. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” Ianto replied, heading back toward the kitchen. “Now, coffee?”
“Absolutely.”
He grinned at the Welshman's back, shoving his hands in his pockets and following behind him. He really needed to stop second-guessing himself. He should have put more faith in the man.
He paused in the doorway, watching Ianto pull their mugs out of the cupboard. Again it was their two favorite mugs, and for a moment he allowed himself to forget anything had changed. Once Ianto had poured the beans into the grinder Jack stepped up behind him, sliding his arms around the man's waist and kissing the side of his neck.
“I missed you.”
“Honestly, Jack, I've been in the kitchen less than a minute.”
Jack chuckled, not stepping away. “I meant I missed you while you were in the hospital.”
“You were there with me.”
“I know,” said Jack, watching Ianto's hands as they moved the coffee grounds into the coffee maker. Fresh, filtered water came next and then Ianto started the machine, turning in his arms and placing his hands on Jack's hips.
“So how did you miss me when I was right there?”
“I missed talking to you. Or rather, having a two-sided conversation.”
“I'm good at that then, yeah?”
“Yeah. When you want to be. Sometimes you're quiet, though, but your presence never goes unnoticed.”
Ianto pulled Jack tight against him. “We don't need words to have a conversation, sir.”
Jack growled deep in his throat. “You have no idea how hard it is not to break the doctor's rules and take you right against this counter, Ianto.”
“I can understand,” Ianto murmured, shifting his hips slightly so that their groins rubbed together. “Maybe you should call him and double check.”
The heady mix of Ianto's scent, the smell of coffee brewing behind them, and the friction Ianto was creating was enough to make Jack groan. “I think he's probably off shift by now.”
“He might be on call,” Ianto replied, backing him up until he'd pinned him to the opposite counter and burying his face in Jack's neck.
“He could be with a patient,” Jack argued, grunting when Ianto thrust against him.
“You're probably right,” Ianto agreed, tugging Jack's shirt from his trousers. “Better not to disturb them.”
“Ianto?”
“Hmm?”
“What about the coffee?”
“It can wait.”
Chapter 7
Comments and reviews always welcome and appreciated. ♥