Jack’s and Ianto’s Private Archives - Season 2 -19/28 part 3 - 07/08
Title: Jack’s and Ianto’s Private Archives - Season 2 -19/28
Fandom: Torchwood
Part 3: A Matter of Trust 07/08
POV: from Jack’s point of view.
Characters/pairings: Jack/Ianto and Owen.
Rating: PG-15
Summary: Jack asked Owen to run a full check up on Ianto and invited Syphide, an old friend, to join them. (This part is related with the last three chapters of my Doctor Who fic: A Matter of Trust)
Disclaimer: The usual, I don’t own what you’ll be able to recognize, the rest is all mine.
Beta: czarina_kitty
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“What exactly is that?” Ianto asked with a grimace.
“It's your brain,” Owen replied very dubiously.
They were both standing behind Jack and looking over his shoulders at the screen of Tosh's workstation. The Captain had again brought up to study, via mainframe, scans and other tests Owen had subjected Ianto to.
“It doesn’t look like a brain to me. I‘m not a doctor, but I can tell that isn’t a brain,” Ianto retorted.
“Of course, we never said it was a picture of your brain. In fact, it’s a map of your brain waves,” Jack explained.
“Oh, I might have guessed... but it still doesn’t look right.”
“Structurally, your brain is completely normal,” the doctor said.
“Structurally?” Ianto repeated. “Why don’t I like you using that word?”
“Normally, Humans use only a fraction of their brain, especially first generation Humans,” Jack began to explain.
“Why do I feel you don’t include yourself in that lot?” Owen dropped looking sharp at the Captain.
“Because you're far from stupid. I am actually a second generation Human.”
“How much more of your brain... do you...?” Ianto asked.
“A little more...”
“But not as much as that,” Ianto deduced, a little worried.
“Nope! Far from it. Very far from it... in fact.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” Ianto asked. “What’s wrong with me?”
Owen was still trying to find meaning in what he was looking at.
“This is the result of alien blood contamination. It turned on dormant areas...”
“But how did this happen? I couldn’t have been more than 4 years when it started...”
“You were infected in utero. Sylphide confirmed the fact,” Jack said.
“?”
“Who is this Sylphide?” Owen asked.
"A doctor from the forty third century who fell through the rift. She’s an alien and she contaminated Ianto,” Jack explained.
“Contaminated, but how?” Owen asked puzzled.
“The Kethans are highly compatible with Humans. Sometimes even more compatible than Humans are with each other. It was a blood transfusion.”
“Is she the guest we’re expecting? The one you wanted me to compare the DNA with?”
“Yes.”
“What DNA are you two talking about? You said earlier I was fully human...” Ianto said, totally at loss.
"The Kethans are a highly psychic species. Usually their blood activates only known areas of the brain... but in your case, it goes much further...”
“I don’t understand. Owen do you understand what that means?”
“Not a clue, mate.”
“Sylphide is mainly Kethan. She would be responsible for the empathic part. But there is much more here. On the other hand, she had a Human great-grandmother who flirted with a strange traveller of an unknown species... When he left her, she was pregnant... his DNA was never identified. It could be the cause of this over-activation...”
“I don’t get it, where does that leave us? Owen?”
“Completely dropped,” the doctor replied before turning to Jack. “The sample you gave me is partly Human, did you know that?”
“Yes, and it could be a bit foolish. In fact, I’m probably wrong. It’s just something Sylphide told me in the old days about her great-grandmother. It nagged at me but, at that time I couldn’t check it. If I’m right it would explain a lot about you, Mister Jones.”
..................................................
Jack left Owen and Ianto alone in the Hub and went to the airport to get Sylphide. He wanted to have a word in private with her. The last time they had met, he was still under Torchwood’s control. Now he was the boss.
“I never thought one day I’d come back here,” she said.
Another way to say she never expected to see him take charge of Torchwood. And it was rather clear she wasn’t at ease with it. Normally, for her, Torchwood was the enemy. Or, at least, had long been.
“You know, I haven’t changed my tune, I’m the same guy,” he said with a grin while he opened the passenger door of the SUV.
“It's still weird, let’s talk about the kid...”
“You must know he grew up... and now that kid work for me,” he said.
“Jack, it's really not possible. I can’t believe it.”
“Same for me. I don’t know how this is possible but I know it is. My physician performed a MatQ scan on him, and the results are quite unexpected.”
"A MatQ scan? Here? In the twenty-first century...? Well, I'd rather not know,” Sylphide gasped.
“Over 70% of the brain’s connections are activated,” Jack finished.
“70%? You're going to say I repeat myself, but it can’t be...”
“Yeah, but I can understand,” he acknowledged. He’d seen a lot more than she ever would and sometimes, things still surprised him.
In fact, if Jack had never met and travelled with the Doctor, and if had he not been intrigued by Sylphide’s strange ancestor (from what Sylphide had told him about her, Sylphide's great-grand-mother was the perfect companion) it would probably have been as hard to believe...
“I think your mysterious great-grand-father could be the missing link,” he said.
“???”
“I would like to compare your DNA to a sample that I have in storage...”
“What do you expect to do with it? My people compared it with all known DNA and never found anything matching. And the current means are ridiculous, you wouldn’t be able to tell my daughter isn’t fully humans with them,” she argued
“The MatQ scan isn’t the only nice little toy the rift has brought me,” he replied with his mischievous grin. “Oh, and before I forget: my doctor is kind of a zombie...”
“!”
“Just to let you know. He is a bit touchy on the subject,” he added driving the SUV into the car park. Sylphide herself being empathetic, like all her species, it was better to let her know. Although she was, naturally, better equipped than Ianto to deal with it...
“Jack, if I may?”
“Yes?”
“Your psychic defences aren’t nearly as tight as in the past... he is vulnerable...”
“You're right about my defences. As for Ianto, however, he is not nearly as vulnerable as he should be. Believe me.”
They found Owen sitting in front of Tosh’s terminal. He barely looked up when they arrived.
“Where's Ianto?” Jack asked, casting an eye toward the kitchenette.
“With Myfanwy!” Owen replied, indicating the heights of the Hub.
“Myfanwy?”
“Our pterodactyl.”
As always, Jack couldn’t help but enjoy the way people reacted to their pet.
“A pterodactyl?”
“Tamed by your protégé,” he added.
That fact did raise Owen’s interest.
“Protégé?”
“Long story,” Jack cut him off. Having both Owen and Sylphide stunned made him feel exhilarated. Ianto would surely say this was childish, but it felt so good.
Ianto finally came back. He was a bit defensive, but Sylphide went to hug him and he let her do so. Then she pulled him closer, putting her forehead against his.
“Shhhh,” she whispered. “Let me look at you,” she added softly.
But Ianto didn’t and she met the full force of his mental barrier before Jack had time to react... She was pushed away as if an invisible force had struck her. Jack and Owen rushed to help the woman to her feet while Ianto shrank back against the nearest wall, shaken by his own reaction...
“Not so vulnerable, indeed,” Sylphide commented, regaining her balance.
“What was that?” Owen asked, concerned.
“A mental shield, a very powerful one... How...? Who taught you that?”
“You,” Ianto replied.
“No! Never. Nothing close to it. I only taught you how to protect yourself, this is much more. It’s a counter attack.” Perplexed, she turned toward Jack. ”Jack, did you?”
“Oh no, I can somehow stand up against a psychotic Time Lord, but I can’t send him a backlash.”
“A what?” the two doctors asked in unison.
“Long story,” Ianto replied. “And anyway... out dated,” he added, addressing a small smile to Jack.
Jack wasn’t going to tell how Ianto had blocked the Master from trying to get into his mind as efficiently as he just did with Sylphide. But knowing Ianto remembered was something he needed to keep in mind and get used to.
First chapter of the Archives season one here on LJ and Master list of both seasons here
To be continued...