Overcoming the Past (And the Future. And, If There’s Time, the Present), for H/C Bingo
Title: Overcoming the Past (And the Future. And, If There’s Time, the Present)
Fandoms: Torchwood and Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Characters/pairings: Jack/Ianto/Doctor (I thought it was Eleven, but now that I look over it, it might be Ten… how is it that I don’t know this?! Read it as you wish.), Martha and Surprise guest!
Warnings (including spoilers): Tiny but arguably significant spoiler for The End of Time, probably spoilers for some parts of seasons 5, 6 and 7 that I haven’t seen yet but heard about and they got lodged into my brain. Spoiler for the end of Parting of the Ways, though if you haven’t seen that you’re probably really confused about Torchwood in general. And, like, vaguely for that one eppy in Season 1 when Rose first came back that I’m too lazy to look up, and, you know what, how about you just don’t read this unless you’ve seen up to Eleven’s intro like me or don’t mind maybe being spoiled.
Wordcount: 2,276 words.
Author's Note: Written for the hc_bingo prompt 'Abandonment issues'.
Summary: I'm not quite sure how, but I've somehow ended up as the on-call couple's counselor to the most infuriating three-person couple you could imagine.
[*]
Well, it’s a long story, but I guess you deserve to know, right? I mean, if anyone does. You ought to know what you’ve gotten yourself- are getting yourself- what’s going on. Ugh, I’m getting a headache already.
It took a pretty long time, in my opinion, for those three to settle down in their relationship. Jack and the Doctor had to talk out their issues with the Jack being immortal, and Ianto and Jack had to talk out their issues with monogamy- and they both had issues, no matter what Jack might say- and the Doctor and Ianto had to… well, they had to get to know each other, to be honest. Still, Ianto took to adventuring faster than I’d thought he would, considering how reserved he usually is. Both the Doctor and Ianto are the sort who spend a long time avoiding talks about important things, so by the time they decided they liked each other well enough, I’d nearly strained my eyeballs for rolling.
How do I know all of this? Somehow, I ended up as the listening ear to all three of them. After the year we lived through that almost nobody else remembers, Jack trusts me. And I know he protected my family and the Doctor, so there’s not much I wouldn’t do for him as well. Now that I’m married, the Doctor’s decided he can use my universal mobile to dish about his love life (I’m not complaining, honestly, but I think I may just be the last of his companions he’s on good terms with- or the only one willing to listen to him blather on, God help me) and Ianto pretty much said that the choice was between me, a touchy-feely colleague and his sister. Still, he did say he couldn’t think of a better friend to talk about things to than me.
Once I saw my phone bill, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a good friend anymore.
So by the time they finally settled down as much as any couple- or whatever they are- possibly could settle down while traveling in the Tardis, they knew where things stood with the others’ personalities and expectations and needs. It's a complicated relationship, but as long as the three of them were all working at it, they seemed happy. They are all used to hard work, after all.
But once things get to a certain level of peace, well, that’s when things have got to go wrong, right? It’s like, as soon as they’re happy, they’ve got to start looking for things to go wrong. Now, Mickey and I aren’t perfect, but at least we recognize that what we do is dangerous enough not to borrow trouble from the future.
It started with the Doctor doing something stupid. You’re not surprised, are you? I sure wasn’t. The three of them were on some sort of resort planet (Jack tried to describe it, but he led off with ‘it was all my idea’ and I sort of blocked it out after that) and the Doctor got one of those messages on his psychic paper. Jack tried to explain to me the whole ‘Doctor’s future wife’ thing, except all that talk about the backward timelines did my head in. But anyway, he didn’t stop to wait for Jack and Ianto- his lovers- he just ran for the Tardis. Jack and Ianto got there just in time to see him vanish.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, but it’s hard to describe what it feels like for the Tardis to disappear in front of you. It’s happened to me- once when the Master stole it and three or four times when I said goodbye to the Doctor. Even when it was my choice, there’s still this huge sense of loss inside you, like something precious is gone and you might never get it back. And when it’s not your choice, that feeling is terrible. Especially if you’re Jack. The first time Jack traveled with the Doctor, when he first became immortal, the Doctor left him behind on this space station- oh, you know about that already? Good, it’s another long story.
When Jack called me his voice was all tense and I could practically hear Ianto watching him- with those two, you just know, you know? I thought he was angry until I heard his voice shaking. He said the Doctor wasn’t answering on the Tardis and could I please call him. Then Ianto took the phone and he must have gone into the other room because what he said then, in that tone of voice, I know Jack wouldn’t have stood for, no matter how betrayed he was feeling. Jack’s just like that. And Ianto’s just like that.
So I called the Doctor, and got voicemail, of course, and I left a pretty scathing message about the type of person who would leave his boyfriends on some planet and not even tell them why. I might have hinted at how Jack was feeling, but gently. Benefit of the doubt, yeah?
It was two weeks for me- it always going timey wimey at the worst times, right?- before I heard from them again. The Doctor phoned while I was on a mission and left a message apologizing. Then Jack called and told me how afraid he’d been that the Doctor had abandoned him again, that all the progress they’d made had been a lie. I told him he really needed to talk it out with the both of them, but he said the Doctor felt guilty enough and he didn’t want to press his luck. I tried to tell him that wasn’t any way to go about having a relationship, but he insisted he knew better. That’s just like Jack, sometimes. I said he should at least talk to Ianto, but he had an answer for that, too, of course: he was afraid Ianto would choose the Doctor over him, because who wouldn’t choose the Doctor and the Tardis and the adventuring that Ianto loves?
I had to get my husband to give me a shoulder rub after how frustrated that call made me and make him listen to my rant about Jack. He helped out by thinking up creative insults for Jack. Mickey’s a sweetheart, really.
Anyway, it was another month before I heard back. I’d hoped they’d just worked it all out, but then I get a call from Ianto that’s apparently only a week after Jack refused to do anything productive about his fears. Ianto says Jack’s been pulling away from him, him and the Doctor, putting more energy into their adventures and working on the Tardis and less into conversations or pissing about. When Jack stops joking, something’s up.
Ianto told me that’s how Jack had been at Torchwood whenever something had him stressed out, but this time he couldn’t get through to him at all. Again, I suggested talking about it, but Ianto said Jack wouldn’t talk, not in this mood. And, I mean, he knows his boyfriend better than me, sure, but I’m getting pretty frustrated at this point, yeah? So I said he should go talk to the Doctor. Ianto got all formal, like he was picking his words- I said I know him pretty well, didn’t I? So I get him to tell me the problem, which was like pulling a tooth, and he finally comes out with how he didn’t know if he should get involved between the two of them and how he was afraid they would hurt each other.
I see you know what he meant, don’t you. So okay, he had a good point. But they were dating, right? And traveling companions, and I’m still not sure, after all this time, which of those requires more trust. So I got mad. Which I know wasn’t smart, 'cause Ianto’s not the type to argue, he just shuts down. I asked him why he was even in a relationship with the two of them if he felt like an outsider and didn’t trust them with each other, and he just said ‘I suppose you’re right’ and hung up. He hung up on me!
Stop laughing, it’s not that funny! Okay fine, I guess it is. They’re infuriating, right? The lot of them, they deserve each other!
I mean, not that you don’t- yeah, sorry, I’ll just keep going.
So I called back, like, immediately, and the Doctor picks up. And he said he was so glad I was calling, because he could really use some advice, and I stopped him, so I could figure out where we were in our respective timelines- oh, you know what that’s like, yeah? I hate it. He said it was about three weeks since he’d left them on that resort planet, which meant it was only a few days since I’d talked to Ianto. I was hoping that meant they hadn’t had time to do too much damage, but… well, Sod’s Law. Ianto had gotten hurt on an adventure, and now none of them were even talking to each other, and the Doctor was really confused.
He told me how torn up he was about Ianto getting hurt. He said he’d had companions who’d died in the past, and lovers, even a wife, and he hated even thinking about how Ianto would leave one day as well. He’d worried since they’d first come on board that when Ianto died, Jack would leave- but lately, he was afraid that they were both planning to leave him. He said he’d been skittish around them- which, of course, meant rambling on at supersonic speed. Never changes, does he?
I’m ready to pull my hair out by this point, so I ordered the Doctor to get Jack and Ianto and his royal self in the same room and to put me on speaker. So he puts me on hold. For six hours. The nerve of that man. I don’t know why I even like him, sometimes.
And then- what?- yeah, and then I remember that I love him. Not in a romantic way, though, I promise! I’ve got Mickey, remember?
He said it was some sort of distortion from the Vortex, but I didn’t care. By that time I’d had a row with Mickey about keeping the mobile line backed up and Jack was grumbling and I was just done. So I pretty much laid all the cards on the table. I told them that Jack was afraid the Doctor would leave him again and Ianto would go with him when he did, that Ianto felt like Jack was pulling away from them and he didn’t know where he fit in with Jack and the Doctor’s relationship, and that the Doctor was afraid of doing something wrong and driving the other two away.
And then silence fell.
Wait, wait, uh- no, I just meant that there was this really awkward silence. Are you okay? Alright…
So they didn’t say anything, and I suddenly got this feeling like I might have ruined everything- because sometimes stuff just shouldn’t be talked about. But then I remember that I know these guys, and they’ve all been hurt in the past and they’re all afraid and if they don’t confront these things they’ll fall apart. So I said that they were all going to stay in whatever room they were in until they’d talked it all out. And I heard clicks in the background of the call, like doors, and I knew it was the Tardis, cause she’s a lot smarter and sneakier than she usually lets on.
What do you mean you’ve met her?
So, umm, Ianto thanks me- God he sounded red in the face, he blushes pretty badly, if you’ve seen- and hangs up. And my husband is a lifesaver because he came in just then with some vodka martinis and said that I should’ve been a threesome couples counselor, cause that was three times as hard as any regular couples. And I said no, more like ten times harder.
They seemed okay after that. Jack called me the next day, and apparently it was a month later and they were all getting along and communicating- yeah, unexpected, right! And they all wanted to take me on a trip to say thanks. And that one trip turned into just one more, as it does, and this is the fifth place I’ve been this time. I hope Mickey hasn’t had time to worry. After what happened with Rose-
Oh, you’ve heard of her too? No, no, that’s fine. I met her, she’s actually really nice.
Ahem. So, yeah. That’s pretty much it. I’m sorry they’re all so awkward around you, but they’ve just really gotten back into the groove of things, and since you were sort of the one who started all this- not that I’m blaming you! Just… they’re all together, now. And you being here, and knowing this Doctor, it just reminds them all that it won’t last as long as they want it to. Ianto’s going to die someday, and you didn’t recognize Jack, so he won’t be with the Doctor by the next time he meets you, and- I mean, you understand, right?
Well… I guess that’s possible. I don’t really know if I can see them going for it, but… could that really work? Well, of course, if it meant they could be together without the timelines- yeah, yes! My God, that could work! You wait here, I’ll go convince them to listen to you.
And River? Thank you so much. Really.
My H/C Bingo Card