Pocket Watch Boy (Torchwood) 3/4
Pocket Watch Boy 3/4
The life and times of Ianto Jones
A Torchwood/Doctor Who story
by mhalachaiswords
Parts One, Two, Three, Four.
The story at my website.
~~~
banner by ranlynn
Things slowly went back to a semblance of normality, or as much as anything could at Torchwood. Once they saw Jack and Ianto stumble in the next morning, in roughly the same battered shape they had left the previous day, Tosh and Owen went about their normal routines. Tosh occasionally popped up beside Ianto to ask him a question on something alien or strange. What her underlying point was, Ianto was too tired to decipher, so he patiently answered her and waited for her inevitable boomerang to her desk, then back to his side.
Owen was as snarkish as ever, jabbing needles into Ianto's skin for more blood samples, making him sit beneath scanners and taking his temperature and making him breathe into tubes. He wasn't very communicative, and whatever verbosity might have existed dried up when he saw the finger-shaped bruises on Ianto's arms and hips.
Jack was nowhere to be found. Tosh said helpfully that she thought she'd seen him go into the archives, and she could look on the internal cameras if Ianto wanted, but he brushed that off. If Jack wanted to hide, that was Jack's business.
And to top off the day, Myfanwy was peckish. Unable to tell if she was sick or just broody, Ianto spent a large chunk of the morning enticing her to eat, protecting his head when she reared back and lashed her wings out at the air. She didn't look sick or feeble, just... worried.
Around five, Tosh appeared once again at Ianto's side, only this time she had her purse and jacket in hand. Ianto, nursing a bruised shoulder from jumping out of Myfanwy's way, just looked at her.
"Come on," she said as she shrugged into her coat. "You didn't have any lunch."
"Neither did you."
"All the better excuse to get out of here," Tosh continued. "That pub down the wharf should be dead this time of day."
So Ianto found himself walking beside Tosh along the waterfront, the sunlight sluggishly dancing over the choppy bay. Ianto breathed in the salty air and waited for Tosh to speak what was on her mind.
"So," she finally said once they were at a table in the nearly empty pub, a cola for her and tea for him and food on the way, "Here we are."
Ianto raised his eyebrow a fraction.
She returned his look. "What? It's been a strange few days."
"Tell me about it." Ianto sipped at his tea, absently placing it as a cheap Indian blend by the rough taste of the tannins. "Don't suppose you saw Jack this afternoon?"
Tosh shook her head. "He was still in the basement when I checked. Did something happen with you two last night?"
Ianto shifted his teacup on the table, watching the trails of moisture bead on the varnished surface. "We talked about things," he said vaguely. "Like my..." He looked around the room, noting the few inhabitants. "My background."
"Did Jack tell you what he knows?" Tosh asked quickly, eyes bright.
Other days, he did other stuff, echoed in Ianto's mind, sending his hearts racing as he almost gagged on his mouthful of tea. He covered his reaction with a pretend coughing fit. "A little," Ianto said, not willing to tell Tosh what he had heard from Jack. "Nothing really definite."
"Do you know why Jack freaked out so much?"
He knew I couldn't die. He found that utterly fascinating. "I have some ideas," Ianto said cautiously. "Mostly I think it was surprise."
Tosh nodded sagely. "I suppose I'd feel the same way if I found out... you know, about someone I cared so much about."
Ianto almost tipped over his cup. "What?"
Tosh leaned in closer. "Come on, Ianto, you have to know that Jack totally adores you." She smiled, a little sadly. "It's sort of cute."
Ianto stared at Tosh. Whatever there was between Jack and Ianto, Ianto certainly didn't think that Jack adored him. Found him amusing, sure. Was always up for some witty banter and naked groping in the office behind closed doors, that sort of thing. But adored?
Ianto didn't want to be adored by Jack Harkness, because that would mean that this was more than an office fling and Ianto wasn't sure he could handle that, not with him the way he was and with Jack so damaged and broken and especially now that Ianto knew why.
And he wondered why he was there and not back at the Hub with Jack, why he'd let Jack vanish among the dusty ghosts of Torchwood's dead.
He made it through the rest of the meal with only half his attention on Tosh. She didn't seem to mind, rambling on about work and her landlord and the state of Cardiff's weather. Then she handed Ianto a take-away bag with food for Jack, hooked her arm in Ianto's and walked him back to the Hub, watered and fed.
The room, tilted four degrees counterclockwise, hummed at their entry. Owen sat slumped at his computer tapping absently at the keyboard. He barely looked over as the door rolled shut.
Ianto gave Tosh a thankful smile. "There are some things I need to see to downstairs," he said, and walked away before she could ask for anything or Owen could pull him into the medical bay for more tests.
The underground hallways were all rearranged two inches to the left, with Ianto reaching for door handles in the wrong places and stepping up stairs that weren't there. After almost walking into a wall, Ianto stopped in the middle of the hallway. He rubbed at his eyes, looked again, and everything was back to normal.
Wondering what had been in his tea, or if Owen had taken a little too much blood for tests, Ianto continued along the halls without further mishap.
He finally located Jack in Cold Storage, sitting in the corner, his back pressed against the bricks. Jack didn't look up as Ianto sat beside him on the floor. Ianto placed the white paper bag on the floor between them. Nothing in the room was outwardly in disarray, but Ianto's practiced eye slowly uncovered the discrepancies, the slight tilt of the handle on compartment six where Suzie Costello lay for eternity, scratches along the wood all the way up near the ceiling by compartment seventy-five, where Ashna Baines had lain since Torchwood found her dismembered body lying in a rainy alley in 1993, and he wondered what Jack had been looking for amongst the bodies of his dark-haired companions.
After a few minutes, Jack reached for the white bag. "Tuna?" he asked, pulling out the sandwich.
"Chicken," Ianto corrected. The slow weight of the dead filled the room. "If you want some crisps, there are some hidden in Gwen's desk."
"Thanks."
Ianto stared straight ahead, not sure if he was waiting, but the room didn't shift over, none of the dead arose, and after a few more minutes of this, Ianto decided to chalk his previous disorientation up to blood loss.
"How are things upstairs?"
"Normal," Ianto said. "Owen's deciphering my DNA and Tosh is busy with the Rift monitoring program."
"Good." Jack ripped a piece of crust from his bread and stared at it for a few moments before shoving it into his mouth. "What did you do all day?"
Ianto contemplated telling Jack he had set his plans for world domination into effect, but he rather suspected that joke would not be well received. "Myfanwy is reacting to something. I think we're lucky she's the only one of her species, or we might soon be knee-deep in baby pteranodons."
Jack smiled faintly. "Gwen and Tosh would love that."
"If you want the girls to be happy, we can always get a Torchwood cat."
Jack almost choked on his sandwich. "We are not getting an office cat!"
"A little marmalade tom?" Ianto continued. "We could even fit it with a tiny leather wristband on its paw."
Jack balled up the paper bag and threw it at Ianto's head. "Only if we also get a black and white kitten that I get to put a blue collar on."
"A tabby for Gwen and a midnight black cat for Tosh?"
"And a little zombie kitten for Owen." Jack sighed. "And then they'd all get eaten by Myfanwy or the Weevils."
"Myfanwy hasn't eaten a cat in months," Ianto protested. "The reports of missing household pets in Cardiff has dropped substantially in the last two years."
"See, this is why we just can't have nice things." Jack wiped his fingers on his shirtsleeve, not noticing Ianto cringe. "Maybe put curtains up in the medical bay?"
"You should have seen what Gwen tried to do while you were gone."
Jack shot Ianto a glare. "She didn't." Ianto remained silent. "She wanted to put up curtains?" When Ianto continued to remain silent, Jack pursed his lips. "You're having me on."
"Not at the moment, Captain Harkness." There was just a hint of flirtation in Ianto's voice, just enough to pull Jack back from past to now.
Jack rested his head against the wall, looking slightly more comfortable than he had when Ianto entered the room. "Do you ever think about what it would be like to be stuck in one of those cupboards for all eternity?"
"I try to avoid thinking about things like that."
"Lucky." Jack pushed his hair back, fingers lingering on his forehead. "Last night, I dreamed that Gwen hadn't sat with me after that Abbadon thing and I woke up, locked in that cupboard." He frowned. "And there was this thing with Suzie and a cannibalistic clown."
"Suzie hated clowns."
"She told me once that she read 'It' when she was twelve."
That didn't surprise Ianto in the least.
Jack took a deep breath. "Look, Ianto, about last night..."
All of Tosh's words of Jack's adoration came back to Ianto in a terrifying rush. He wasn't sure he could deal with proclamation of any sort coming from Jack at this point. "Thanks for staying," he said quickly. "It was-- I mean, it was good that you stayed."
Jack was looking at him with that indecipherable Harkness stare, but he did not launch into any sort of ramble or rant, which both cheered Ianto and made him want to kick himself for forgetting with whom he was dealing. "Thanks for letting me."
And that was that.
~~~
Jack helped Ianto feed the Weevils and waited while Ianto performed his nightly check on the secure cells. Rather, Ianto spotted in the reflection of the glass, Jack spent a while staring at Ianto's arse. At least that hadn't changed.
"Have you figured out how you'll tell Gwen?" Jack asked as they headed back for the stairs. "She's back tomorrow."
Ianto took the step too early, stumbling and blinking as he tried to figure out what was wrong with him. "I was rather hoping to avoid that conversation."
"Come on, I think it'll be fun," Jack said with forced cheer. "Five quid says she'll do that blinking anime stare of hers and then deny it all and go back to work."
"Either that or threaten to shoot me."
"Gwen wouldn't shoot you." Jack held the door open for Ianto, the very model of a modern major annoying employer. Ianto considered himself lucky the man didn't cop a feel as Ianto passed him by. "Suzie would have shot you. Come on, I'll make it ten quid."
"No."
"Twenty, and if I lose I'll do that thing you like with the handcuffs and jello. Please?"
"No. And we still have the problem at hand."
"It's not a problem," Jack insisted. "If you're so hesitant, I'll tell her. Like this. So, Gwen, welcome back from Corsica!" he said in a flamboyant voice as he pushed through the door into the Hub. "We're fine, Ianto's an alien and we're getting a cat!"
Jack froze mid-flourish, and Ianto had to pull up short to avoid running the man down. From Jack's startled body language, and the dead silence in the Hub, Ianto wondered...
He closed his eyes as Tosh asked, "You're getting a pet?"
"Is that some sort of gay code for moving in together?" Owen asked.
And then, as Ianto had feared, Gwen's voice rose above the tumult, "What do you mean, Ianto is an alien?"
"Huh. You're back." Jack put down his arms. "Ianto, you owe me twenty pounds."
"Jack!"
Ianto shoved past Jack to see Gwen Williams (nee Cooper) standing in the middle of the Hub, tanned and spooked, with her eyes very wide indeed.
Jack cleared his throat. "Things were fine while you were gone," he said. "Other than a few Weevil sightings, very little alien activity."
Owen coughed, especially odd since he no longer had the need to breathe.
Ianto straightened his tie. He supposed it was up to him now, to explain to Gwen about his origins, but he couldn't figure out the words.
"Aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon?" Jack went on. "I hope Corsica didn't run out of sun."
Gwen shook her head. "Right," she said. "Ianto's an alien. Like when I started and you told me that the Mainframe computer was alive. Very funny."
Jack sighed. "Actually, Gwen, he is. She is. They are?"
"Stop it! He isn't." Gwen pointed a finger in Ianto's general direction. "Look at him! He's human!"
"Aren't you the one who spent a day pregnant with alien spawn because you were chasing an alien that looked human?"
Gwen's eyes bugged out more. "Ianto's a shape shifter?"
Tosh made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Jack leaned against the railing, amused exasperation exuding from every pore. "Ianto is not a shape shifter. He is not human. He is a very human-looking alien with impeccable taste in suits and the uncanny ability to actually make drinkable coffee, considering he grew up Welsh--"
"Hold on a moment," Ianto objected mildly.
"--and he's been cleared to continue working here."
Gwen blinked owlishly at Jack for a minute. "Cleared by who?" she finally asked.
"By me," Jack retorted. "Any problems with that?"
Something about Jack's confrontational manner set Gwen to the defensive. "Would it matter if I said there was?"
"Not in the least." Jack turned on his heel and stalked off to his office.
Tosh shook her head. "It's fine, Gwen. Jack wouldn't let Ianto roam free if he wasn't sure he was safe." She went back to hammering on her keyboard. Owen pointedly ignored them all.
Gwen turned her wide eyes on Ianto. He smiled faintly.
She stayed where she was. "You're an alien."
Ianto sighed. "I'm not human, but I'm still me."
"What sort of alien are you?"
Still unable to say the phrase Time Lord without wincing at the pretentiousness, Ianto shrugged. "I never knew. You know I was adopted."
"Uh huh. But I thought... I mean, one doesn't think..."
"If it makes you feel any better, Jack almost shot me when he found out," Ianto said.
Jack leaned out of his office. "Why are you here, anyway?" he yelled at Gwen. "You weren't coming back until tomorrow."
"Our plane landed early--"
"British planes never land early!"
"--and I wanted to make sure things were all in order here!" Gwen crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at Jack, Ianto's alien nature forgotten for the moment.
Jack vanished into his office. Moments later, Gwen's mobile phone rang. She looked at the call display, her face clouding as she lifted the phone to her ear.
"Are you going to be this childish all evening?"
Ianto heard Jack's voice coming over the tinny line. "It's called a phone, Gwen, they've been around since the turn of the century and are a handy device to check in at work without actually checking in at work."
"What is your point?"
"If you missed us, just say so."
Gwen slapped her phone shut. "That man," she muttered. When Jack did not reappear on the landing, she squared her shoulders and turned back to Ianto. "What were we talking about?"
Ianto narrowed his eyes at Gwen, who was no longer worried or in denial. She was pleasantly annoyed by the exchange with Jack, but that was all. "About what Jack said when you came in."
Gwen waved her hand. "He's just being picky. I wanted to see how everything was with my own eyes, that's all." She gave Ianto a smile. "And now that I've done that, I'll see you all tomorrow morning, how does that sound?"
Tosh and Owen leaned around their respective monitors to stare at Gwen. "She can't have gotten over that so quickly," Tosh said.
"It's got to be the perception filter," Owen grumbled. "Even Gwen's not that thick."
"I can hear you!"
"Can you turn it off?" Owen asked Ianto.
Ianto rolled his eyes. "No, I can't 'turn it off'."
"You didn't even try." Owen hauled himself up off his chair and jumped carefully down the steps to Gwen's side. "Come on, Gwen, you're going to listen to his hearts."
"What are you talking about?" Gwen demanded, resisting Owen's attempts to pull her along.
"Ianto's an alien. We're trying to convince you of that."
"What do you mean, Ianto is an alien?"
"Who's on first?" Jack's voice floated over to them. "What's on second, and I Don't Know--"
Jack's words were cut off by a loud wailing coming from the Rift monitoring machine, and it didn't matter that Ianto was an alien, or if Gwen believed him, because a tear in the Rift had opened up in Llandough and Torchwood had more important things to do.
~~~
The reunited Torchwood held off the crab-walking cacti from invading planet Earth until the hole in the Rift closed, Retconned the curious crowd, and piled back into the SUV to drive back to Torchwood, tired and annoyed.
"Walking plants?" Owen said for the third time as the team clattered down the stairs. "Who thinks up these things?"
"They probably evolved the same way we did," Gwen pointed out. "Over millions of years."
"Don't knock sentient plants," Jack put in. "I've met some lovely dryads in my day."
At the back of the pack, Ianto frowned as everyone was suddenly three inches taller and he opened his mouth to call attention to this fact but his foot caught on the grating and he gracelessly tumbled into Jack's back and careened down the steps to land in a heap at the bottom. There were loud exclamations and helpful hands and then Jack hauled Ianto to his feet.
"I'm fine," Ianto said automatically when the spinning of the room slowed.
"Like hell you are," Jack said. "You normally have a better sense of balance than I do. Come on."
Ianto let Jack drag him up the stairs and deposit him on the sofa. The rest of Torchwood followed, with Owen breaking off from the group to grab his medical gear.
Jack dropped to the couch beside Ianto. "Now, what happened?"
Ianto tried to squirm out of the way as Owen reappeared to stick a thermometer in his ear, but Owen grabbed Ianto's arm to keep him in place. "The floor moved, that's all," Ianto admitted.
Owen glanced at the thermometer's reading with a frown on his face. "You're still at sixteen degrees," he said. "I really wish you knew what was normal for your species."
"I feel fine," Ianto tried again.
"Except for the earth moving for you," Jack said with only a hint of lascivious intent. "Has that happened before?"
Ianto gave Jack a look.
"Don't make me get out the hose."
Ignoring Gwen's gagging noises in the background, Ianto shook his head to dislodge Owen from pointing a penlight in his eyes. "Earlier this afternoon. And when the Weevil got me in the alley."
"Your responses are fine," Owen announced. "I should do a brain scan."
"That's been your answer for everything this week," Ianto reminded him.
"Because your brain is just so fascinating," Owen said. "Although I suppose it's good that there's a physiological reason for your big head."
"You really feel fine?" Jack asked, as Owen stood up and Gwen took his place, holding a stethoscope.
"Perfectly." Ianto frowned as Gwen put the stethoscope chest piece against his shirt. "What are you doing?"
"Listening to the radio," Gwen said. She moved the stethoscope to the other side of his chest. "What do you think I'm doing?"
Jack gripped Ianto's shoulder hard, just for a moment, then stood. "We need to get the flamethrowers out of the car before fuel leaks all over the seats," he said. He pushed Ianto back to the sofa when the man made to stand. "The last thing we need is you taking a tumble with your arms full of incendiary device. Stay. Gwen, keep an eye on him."
"Why can't I stay?" Owen asked.
"Consider it a late wedding present to Mrs. Williams," Jack said. "Come on. You're not getting any older."
"You're a bloody riot, you know that?" Owen complained out the door behind Jack. Tosh followed, shaking her head the whole time.
Gwen was still listening to Ianto's hearts, fascinated. "That is so cool," she said after a minute, ducking her head on her wide smile. "You being an alien and all that."
"It's sticking with you this time?" Ianto asked. Owen had explained about Ianto's nature no less than seven times on the way to the hole in the Rift, but Ianto's perception filter seemingly had a greater effect on Gwen than the others.
"I hope so," Gwen said. She placed the stethoscope on the table. "Plus, I've got it written down now." She held up her hand. On her palm were the words, Ianto is a good alien. Then, below that, No, really. Owen's not being a tosser.
Ianto couldn't stop the chuckle of laughter. "He might just be that, though."
"Well, true." Gwen smiled along with Ianto. "Are you really feeling okay?"
"Other than being a little embarrassed at being unable to navigate the stairs, yes," Ianto said. "I'm getting a bit tired of everyone looking at me like I'll collapse into a heap."
"I think Owen's just glad to have someone else the centre of attention," Gwen said. She patted Ianto's knee. "How about I make us a nice cup of tea?"
Ianto wanted to ask her why she didn't just go home, to her new husband and her cozy flat, but he suspected that there were things he didn't want to know the answers to; or rather that Gwen didn't want to address. "Tea sounds nice," Ianto said, regardless of the fact that it was almost midnight.
"I'll be right back."
Ianto watched Gwen bounce down the stairs, then he went back to staring at the pillar in the centre of the Hub, at the water sliding down over the surface in its benevolent chaotic patterns, no two drops ever sliding the same way.
And then the water slid the same way as the wave before it. And again.
Gwen came up the stairs, holding tins in her hands. "What do you think, Ianto?" she asked, her gaze drifting over him. "Do you think we'll have the etiquette police on us if we have a pot of Irish breakfast at this time of day? The only other option is cassis flavour. Who drinks that?"
"Suzie did," Ianto said. "Where did you find it?"
"In the back of the cupboard," Gwen said as she moved towards her desk. "Right, that's going in the bin."
Ianto's gaze moved away, across Tosh's computer, over the fountain, to the man standing on the other side of the Hub.
Ianto was staring at himself.
Gwen came up the stairs, holding tea tins in her hands. "What do you think, Ianto?" she asked, her soft dark gaze drifting over him. "Do you think we'll have the etiquette police on us if we have a pot of Irish breakfast at this time of day? The only other option is cassis flavour. Who drinks that?"
"Suzie did," Ianto said, mouth dry. "Where did you find it?"
"In the back of the cupboard," Gwen said, pulling a face as she moved towards her desk. "Right, that's going in the bin."
Ianto's gaze moved away, across the Rift monitoring program on Tosh's computer, over the repeating flow of the fountain, to the man standing on the other side of the Hub, staring back.
Ianto was staring at himself.
Gwen came up the stairs, holding two tea tins in her hands. "What do you think, Ianto?" she asked, her soft dark oblivious gaze drifting over him. "Do you think we'll have the etiquette police on us if we have a pot of Irish breakfast at this time of day? The only other option is cassis flavour. Who drinks that?"
"Suzie did," Ianto said, mouth dry and hearts trying to pound their way out of his chest. "Where did you find it?"
"In the back of the cupboard," Gwen said, pulling a revolted face as she moved towards her desk. "Right, that's going in the bin."
Ianto's gaze moved away as Gwen passed him, across the play of the Rift monitoring program on Tosh's computer, over the whispering repeating flow of the fountain, to the man standing on the other side of the Hub, staring back at him with wide eyes.
Ianto was staring at himself.
He pushed himself off the couch and tried to run across the Hub to his other self, then the world yawed and Gwen came up the stairs, holding two tea tins in her hands. "What do you think, Ianto?" she asked, her alarmingly oblivious gaze drifting over him on the sofa. "Do you think we'll have the etiquette police on us if we have a pot of Irish breakfast at this time of day? The only other option is cassis flavour. Who drinks that?"
"Suzie did," Ianto said, the words dragged out of a dry mouth by forces unknown. "Where did you find it?"
"In the back of the cupboard," Gwen said, turning a blind eye on Ianto as she moved towards her desk. "Right, that's going in the bin."
Ianto's gaze moved away as Gwen passed him, across the play of the Rift monitoring program on Tosh's computer, over the whispering repeating flow of the fountain, to the man standing on the other side of the Hub, staring back at him with wide eyes.
Ianto was staring at himself.
He pushed himself off the couch and tried to run across the Hub to his other self, moving as fast as he could, grasping and tearing and not letting go and then he was where his other self had been, but he was alone. He turned around, gasping, in time to see Gwen moving up the stairs. "What do you think, Ianto?" she asked, looking at the couch. "Do you think we'll have the etiquette police on us if we have a pot of Irish breakfast at this time of day? The only other option is cassis flavour. Who drinks that?"
"Suzie did," Ianto heard someone say. "Where did you find it?"
"In the back of the cupboard," Gwen said, continuing towards her desk. "Right, that's going in the bin."
As Gwen cleared out of the way, Ianto saw the man on the couch move his head around the room, over the computers, the fountain, until he saw Ianto.
Ianto was staring at himself.
"I thought you'd gone through the cupboards," Gwen said as she dropped the offending tin into the rubbish bin. "Got rid of all Suzie's stuff when she died the first time." She turned to the couch, then looked around the room. She frowned when she saw Ianto on the far side of the Hub. "How did you get over there so quick?"
Ianto grabbed at the railing, solid and reassuringly cold under his hands, and tried to breathe around the panic in his throat.
Something was very wrong at Torchwood indeed.
~~~
"And you're sure that you don't know what started this?" Jack demanded. They were in the conference room this time, seated in their customary chairs, and Ianto wasn't sure he could handle much more of the attention.
"I don't know," Ianto repeated. "Things have been acting strange for a few days, but I thought it was nothing."
"And now you almost got caught in a time loop in the middle of the Hub," Jack shot back. The man's voice was rather harsher than Ianto thought the situation warranted.
"Why didn't I see the same thing Ianto did?" Gwen asked. She still held the tea tin in her hands, worrying it back and forth between her fingers.
Jack pushed his hair back from his face with both hands, resting his elbows on the table. "If Ianto's the only one picking it up, it's most likely temporal in nature," he muttered.
"But the computer didn't pick anything up," Tosh argued. "Not any of the times when Ianto's perception changed."
Jack picked up the remote and hit a button to show the internal camera footage of the Hub. The grainy footage showed Ianto on the couch and Gwen walking past him with the tea tins in her hands. For a brief instant, two Iantos appeared on film, then Ianto on the couch vanished and Ianto on the walkway grabbed the railing.
Jack hit pause. "And yet, it happened, so we know it's not just Ianto going crazy."
"Thank you, sir," Ianto said with as much irritation as he could muster.
"But the computers didn't pick anything up!" Tosh repeated.
"Maybe because they were caught in the temporal loop as well?" Jack suggested. "If the computers didn't pick it up, then we have to rely on the one thing we do have."
"Which is what?" Gwen asked.
Jack pointed a finger in Ianto's direction. "We ask him."
"He said he doesn't know what's going on!"
Jack turned all his attention to Ianto. "He just needs to think about it."
Ianto bit down any number of annoyed comebacks. "I'm not intentionally being unhelpful."
"I know." Jack's voice softened, giving the impression that it was just the two of them, that the rest of Torchwood wasn't hovering on every word. "Ianto, I need you to concentrate and think, about any detail that you might have seen that would give us a clue about what's going on."
"Like what?"
Jack's lips twisted into a wry smile. "You tell me."
As much as he didn't want to relive the vertigo of repeating the same instant over and over, Ianto sat back in his chair, idly wondering about the alacrity with which he obeyed Jack's commands.
"How long is this going to take?" Owen asked.
"Owen, stop helping," Jack said.
Ianto lowered his gaze to the table and pushed his memory back to those repeating minutes. "Everything happened the same way, at least until I ran across the room," he said after a minute. "Gwen came up the stairs asking about the tea, I mentioned that one tin had been Suzie's, and she went to throw that tin out."
"Then what?"
"I looked across the Hub and spotted myself."
"Was everything always the same?"
Ianto reached into his pocket and pulled out his watch without thinking about it. He popped open the cover to stare down at the tiny second hand spinning relentlessly.
Gwen had always asked the same question. Even though he hadn't wanted to reply to her question, not after the first time, he hadn't been able to stop himself from saying the words. Hadn't been able to stop himself from looking over Tosh's computer monitor, at the fountain, at the--
Wait.
Stop.
Go back.
Ianto closed the watch cover with a snap. "The Rift monitoring program changed! Everything else was the same, but every time I looked at Tosh's computer, the monitors were showing a different reading."
"Do you remember what they showed?" Tosh asked.
"Yes, I think so." Ianto pocketed his watch, its familiar weight settling back in place and holding him to earth. "Hand over your laptop."
"How could the Rift be acting differently if everything else was the same?" Gwen asked. "It doesn't make sense."
"Obviously a shift in the temporal axis that moderates the Rift's socio-economic position in Wales," Ianto deadpanned. Gwen scowled at him. "None of this makes any sense, Gwen. Mostly how I'm sure I threw away all of Suzie's possessions."
"Maybe it's an evil tea tin," Owen said.
He was joking, but even so, Jack climbed to his feet. "Keep working, I'll be right back."
"He's about as subtle as a brick to the head," Owen said, watching as Jack made a beeline for the rubbish bin.
"We're a top secret alien fighting organization that has its name written on the side of its transportation," Ianto said absently. "We're not into subtle."
"Did you seriously just use a quote from Gilmore Girls in conversation?"
Ianto, Gwen and Tosh all looked at Owen with varying levels of incredulity.
"What?"
"You watch Gilmore Girls?" Gwen asked, sounding as if all her Christmases had come at once. "Gilmore Girls?"
Owen glared at Ianto. "Bite me, alien boy."
Ianto bent his head over the laptop, trying very hard to not smile.
Some days, it was the little things that made life worth living.
~~~
Four hours later, they were interrupted by the screech and wail of Tosh's Rift monitoring program. Myfanwy landed on top of the lift stone and with wings spread, took up the piercing cry.
They all ran in various directions; Tosh and Jack and Gwen to the computers, Owen to the police scanner, and Ianto to Myfanwy's new perch. The others spoke loudly, but Ianto had to focus on not being decapitated by the pteranodon and missed most of it.
After a few minus, Myfanwy let out a screech to raise the rafters and launched herself into the air, retreating to her ceiling perch.
"What was all that, then?" Ianto called after her.
"Ianto!" Jack snapped. Reluctantly, Ianto joined him at Tosh's computer.
"There are tiny little cracks opening and closing all over town," Tosh said, pointing. "I can't tell if things are coming through or not, but..." Her fingers flew over the keyboard. "There, that's odd."
"Because none of the rest of this is?" Gwen questioned.
"There, it's like..." Tosh frowned at her readings. "There's a drain on the Rift?"
Jack slowly straightened. "It can't be," he said under his breath. Then, louder, "Can you bring up the CCTV cameras in the area?"
"I could, but the Rift--"
"Do it!" Jack ordered.
Mildly affronted, Tosh quickly pulled up the CCTV footage Jack wanted. The whole area lay covered in shadows and darkness, but in one tiny pool of light, Ianto saw the corner of a small blue box, very similar to the one in which Jack had disappeared the year before.
Gwen must have seen it too, for she slapped her hand down on the desk. "Not again!" she exclaimed.
"No, this is good," Jack insisted, an almost feverish smile on his face. "He can help us--"
"You are not leaving again!"
"Leave?" Jack asked.
"Leave?" Jack asked, surprised.
"Leave?" Jack asked, sounding rather surprised.
"Leave?" Jack asked, sounding rather hurt and surprised.
Ianto stumbled back, grasping the railing as hard as he could, knocking over a cold cup of tea on Gwen's desk in the process. The cup shattered as it hit the concrete below, and there was stillness.
"It happened again," Ianto said in response to Jack's alarmed silence. "Just now."
"How many times?" Jack demanded, his mysterious man in the blue box forgotten for a moment.
"Four times." Ianto blinked hard. Portions of the Hub shifted to the left, moving Gwen to stand inside Owen, and then things were right again. "What's going on?"
Jack came over to Ianto, cupped Ianto's face with his hands, his touch soft and rounded and worried. "I don't know," Jack said quietly. "But maybe he knows."
"Your Doctor," Ianto said, not a question.
"Yeah." Jack ran his thumb over Ianto's cheek. Ianto wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and let Jack hold him, but that wasn't exactly something done at work, regardless of one's employer, and Owen would tease him forever. Ianto made himself stand straight, gently touching Jack's wrist to let the man know that yes, I'm all right.
"Jack," Tosh said suddenly. "The power drain on the Rift is causing very strange things to happen."
Jack released Ianto, moving and not minding that he was in two places at once for a brief instant. "Define strange."
"Energy pulses are being released, like..." Tosh stopped, at a loss for a simile. "Like steam coming off a boiling kettle."
"Or smoke coming out of a volcano," Owen added. "If the box is making things worse, might it not be a good idea to stop it?"
"This has never happened before," Jack said, poking at the computer. "Any of the times the Tardis was here, we never had any strange Rift activity."
"The Rift was acting up before the box got here," Gwen reminded Jack. "For days."
Jack tapped on the keyboard some more, centering the CCTV cameras on the blue box. He was quiet for a long moment, then said, "Ianto stays here, in case he gets caught up in any more time loops. Gwen, stay with him. Owen and Tosh, with me.
"What? No!" Gwen exclaimed.
Jack whirled on her. "I don't have time to argue about this. You were caught in the time loop with Ianto and that might mean something. And, you can read these monitors. Stay on comm with us in case anything else happens."
"You were caught in the time loop too, the second one," Gwen pointed out. She was going to say more, but the hard expression on Jack's face stopped her protest, stopped all of their protests.
"We're leaving now," Jack said to the room. "Channels open at all times, so if anything changes, we're on it."
Although 'on it' might have been a little optimistic; Owen and Jack seemed as bright as undead daisies, but Tosh looked dead on her feet and Gwen wasn't far behind. Ianto checked his watch. Twenty minutes to five in the morning. "Drive carefully to miss the bread trucks," he said. At the raised eyebrows, he added, "The blue box is near the Hansdown bakeries. They start delivering at five in the morning."
"Look at the bright side," Gwen said with only a modicum of sarcasm. "If the box vanishes, at least we have breakfast all wrapped up."
"Don't get caught in any more time loops!" Jack yelled on his way out the door, Owen and Tosh in tow. "And if you do, get stuck in front of the Rift monitoring machine!" The door rolled closed on his voice.
Gwen made a strangled noise. "I can't believe I came back early from my honeymoon for this!"
Ianto looked at Gwen out of the corner of his eye. "I thought you said your plane landed early."
"It did," Gwen said, too quickly. "That's what I meant."
Ianto picked up his earpiece and slid it on, too tired to drag himself into an argument with Gwen. He opened the general team channel in time to hear Owen make a few outrageous statements about Ianto's fashion sense. The general tirade continued for a few minutes, mildly entertaining as Ianto tidied the office space.
Gwen, with her own earpiece on now, slumped on the sofa and watched Ianto as Owen switched topics to Ianto's taste in music. "Aren't you going to tell him that you can hear him?" Gwen asked after a while, interrupting Owen.
Ianto stood with a handful of mislaid reports. "I was rather hoping he'd get to my coffee making skills before long."
"Men," Tosh muttered under her breath. "Now that we've been childish, can we please get back to work?"
"What's the status of the Tardis?" Jack asked.
"Depends," Gwen said. "What's a Tardis?"
"Time and Relative Dimension in Space," Jack rattled off. "Long name, pretty spaceship. Looks like a certain blue police box."
Ianto sat down at Tosh's computer. "It's still there," he said. "It's a rather small spaceship."
"It's bigger on the inside," Jack said. "Long story. Has anyone come out?"
"No." Ianto enlarged the view of the box. "Although if they leave it there like that for long, some nationalistic teenagers are going start spattering Heddlu De Cymru on it."
"The Rift is doing something weird," Tosh interrupted.
"What is it doing?" Jack demanded.
"Nothing."
"How is that weird?" Owen asked.
"Because the Rift is always doing something," Tosh said. As she spoke, Ianto turned to the monitoring program and was confronted with a black screen, the tiny blinking light in the bottom corner the only clue that the monitor wasn't totally off. "Think of it like a person. Even asleep, there is body heat being emitted, brain wave activity, everything."
"Maybe it's dead?" Gwen suggested.
"It can't be dead," Jack said. The background whine in the SUV increased in pitch as Jack accelerated. "It can't be closed, can't be stopped, it's a fact and facts don't just pack up and leave, not like that."
"So what do we do?"
"I have no idea," Jack said quietly. In the din from the speeding car, Ianto wondered if he was the only who heard Jack.
Slowly, the stillness permeated Ianto's bones. Since he could remember, living in Cardiff, the vibrations from the earth had accompanied him. Even at Oxford and London, the trace vibrations were there when Ianto went to sleep. The Rift vibrated in Ianto's head, underlying temporal movement accompanying his every breath.
Now that vibration was gone and Ianto wondered if this was what going mad felt like.
The squeal of brakes pierced Ianto's ears. He glanced at the CCTV footage to see the SUV stopped beside the blue box. Jack popped out of the driver's door and stalked up to the door. He pounded hard on the wood. "Doctor!"
"Maybe they're at the movies," Owen suggested.
"It's five in the bloody morning," Gwen said.
"Then maybe they're sleeping."
Jack kicked and slapped at the door. "Doctor, open up!"
The door swing inward, and Jack almost punched someone in the face. "Oi, watch it!" the woman said, her voice thin over Jack's comm. "We're not buying, thanks." She made to close the door again, but Jack's hand was in the way.
"Where's the Doctor?" he demanded.
"What's it to you?" the woman asked.
"Big temporal emergency on the Rift and the Tardis might be the cause." Jack's back was to the camera, but Ianto could still see the tense set of his shoulders. "Who the hell are you?"
"Donna," the woman said. "Who do you think you are?"
"Captain Jack Harkness."
"Never heard of you."
"Ditto. Where is the Doctor?"
Indistinct noise from deeper in the box drew Jack's attention. Ianto strained, but couldn't make out the words.
"I'm not stalking you!" Jack exclaimed. "Look, we have a serious problem--"
More muttering.
"It will be your problem if the planet explodes because of the problem with the Rift!"
As he was concentrating so hard on the conversation, Ianto almost missed the beginning of the slight rumble under his feet.
"--didn't do this, why should I care?" came a new voice into the equation. A man popped into the Tardis doorway beside Donna. Ianto knew with certainty that he had never seen the man before, but he seemed so familiar that Ianto's hearts almost stopped.
"Because!" Jack exclaimed, throwing up his hands. "It's just... it's complicated. You have to come with us."
The man appeared to consider that for less than a fraction of a second. "No." He glanced over Jack's shoulder and frowned. "Dr. Sato? Is that you?"
"Doctor!"
"I don't work with Torchwood, Jack," the man went on. "Didn't we have this conversation?"
"You have to come," Jack said again, begging, which was strange because Jack never begged. "You'll understand when you do, please..."
Jack may have said more, but the rumble in the Hub grew louder, stronger, and Ianto finally realized what the stillness meant.
The water had been drawing back before the tsunami.
"Jack," Ianto said, shooting to his feet. "Problem."
All of Jack's attention was instantly on Ianto's voice. "What's wrong?"
"The Rift, it's..." The earth gave a lurch, sending both Ianto and Gwen careening to the floor. Nothing else in the Hub moved. "Whatever is happening, it's happening now!"
"Ianto, can you--" The comms burst into static on Jack's words, then went dead. It hardly mattered, as the air around Ianto crackled and shattered and burned.
He had to get to the Rift manipulator, had to try something before the whole place blew apart. Or maybe he should initiate a lockdown, try to contain the damage. Possibilities and options sorted themselves in Ianto's mind, each jostling for place and pulling him away from decision.
Gwen got to her knees and crawled to Ianto. "We have to get out of here!" she shouted, taking hold of Ianto's arm. "Come on!"
Ianto shook his head, over and over. "We have to stop this!"
"How?" Gwen hauled Ianto to his feet and down the steps to the walkway. "If we get out now now now now now--"
The brief time loop caught them both, slowed their feet, then exploded outwards in a hail of deadly light. The edges of the explosion caught Gwen and flung her across the room into the metal bars at the entrance. Her head hit the metal so hard that blood spattered on the wall behind. She dropped the concrete in a motionless heap.
Ianto tried to go to her, tried to move, tried to think, but the waves crashed over him and dashed him to pieces on the rocks. The waves pounded all around him, drowning with power and vibration and possibilities.
Time caught on the inert Rift manipulator, looped back on itself, dragging at the edges of the Rift and ripping into the fabric of reality until what lay beneath moved, shifted, lived, and reached for Ianto.
He couldn't move, couldn't look away.
He looked into what lay beneath the Rift.
He stood there for eternity.
He could see forever.
~~~
Continue to Part Four