Fanfic - Sixty Minutes An Hour 4/4 [Torchwood: Jack/Ianto]
Since this is the last part - I just wanted to thank all of you for reviewing. You've made me far happier than any person has a right to be while staring at spreadsheets all day.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Ianto noticed the rock on Gwen’s finger. He also noticed that it hadn’t stopped her from flirting with Jack. And unlike Jack, she didn’t flirt just for the fun of it. Jack was right - she flirted with intent. It was peculiar, and Ianto wasn’t sure he liked what it said about her, but unless it got in the way of her doing her job, he wouldn’t bring it up to Jack.
Toshiko was more comfortable with computers than people, and Owen appeared to live in a constant state of snippiness. Nothing annoyed him more than the fact that Ianto never reacted to his jibes, unless it was to put him down with a well-timed one-liner. They were definitely a bunch of misfits, but they worked well enough together. Ianto wasn’t positive he’d find the same easy camaraderie here that he’d had at the university, but with time, he thought they’d become good friends.
The pteranodon remembered him (or his chocolate, anyway), which was a bit of a surprise. He could still recall the way he’d spotted the massive creature lumbering along an alley, looking as confused as a prehistoric creature could. He’d lured it to a warehouse with chocolate, then called Jack for help… which had been all sorts of ridiculous fun.
Feeding the creatures in the Vaults was fairly simple, and didn’t take more than half an hour each day, once he’d settled into the routine. It helped that the cells were usually empty (except for Janet, the resident lab-rat/Weevil; the only reason she was there was because the other Weevils always attacked her for some reason). Torchwood wasn’t in the habit of locking up aliens anymore. There were safe-houses for alien visitors all across Britain, run with the help of UNIT. Ianto thought he might offer to take some of that work off Jack’s shoulders, but he’d wait and see how he coped with his current workload first.
Because, oh god, the archives were a mess.
It took a week just to clean up the place enough so that he didn’t feel like he’d contract a disease just breathing the air. Then he got down to the real work. With Jack’s help, he was able to hash out the general categories that things tended to fall into. Starting with the most recent work, he began to sort all the archival data and items into those categories, simultaneously ensuring that all the information was digitised as well.
It was a lot of work, not all of it pleasant, but Ianto found himself enjoying it even more than he’d enjoyed his work at the university. The kinds of information he now had access to! It made him positively giddy with excitement.
Then Gwen’s fiancé found out about them.
“She won’t do it,” Ianto said, the moment the alarms had fallen silent. Gwen had just taken the Retcon and left, heading after Rhys.
“No?” Jack asked, leaning back in his chair.
“No,” Ianto said with certainty. Toshiko and Owen were looking between the two of them with ill-disguised curiosity.
“That means,” Jack said. “That I’ll have to either let Rhys keep his memories, or Retcon both of them.” He looked over at the other two. “Thoughts?”
“Why wouldn’t she do it?” Toshiko asked. “I mean, it’s our safety and security at risk here.”
“That’s not what she’s thinking of,” Ianto said. “Trust me. She won’t do it.”
“Then what’s she thinking of?” Owen asked sceptically.
“Forget that for now,” Jack broke in. “Say Ianto’s right. Which route do you think we should go?”
“We’re stretched thin enough as it is,” Owen said. “Can’t really afford to lose another field agent, unless tea-boy wants to join us on the field.”
“No!” Jack blurted out, then looked away hurriedly. “No, he won’t.”
Ianto smiled slightly. “I think I’m rather more suited to Hub work,” he said diplomatically.
“Then we can’t lose Gwen,” Owen said. “Not without finding someone else first.”
Toshiko shrugged. “As long as Rhys doesn’t tell anyone, I don’t think it’s a problem. And he did think on his feet with those people. I think he’s safe.”
“We could always put him under surveillance,” Ianto added. “Just to be safe.”
Jack nodded. “That’s what I was thinking,” he began, but was interrupted by the blare of the entrance alarms. They all looked up to see Gwen running towards them.
“You don’t have to do it,” Jack said, before Gwen could get a word out. That drew her up short, blinking in surprise. “Ianto here,” Jack went on. “Guessed that you wouldn’t want to Retcon Rhys. We’ve talked about it. You don’t have to do it, but make sure he knows he’s not allowed to talk to anyone about it, even your houseplants. He talks, and both of you are Retconned and out of here.”
Gwen beamed and flung her arms around Jack, kissing his cheek. “Thank you!” she cried, and took off again, presumably back to Rhys.
“Hurricane Gwen,” Ianto muttered under his breath. Toshiko stifled a giggle.
“Okay,” Owen said. “How’d you know she wouldn’t do it?”
Ianto sighed. “The short version,” he said. “Is that she sees Rhys as a link to a normal, alien-free life. She needs that, but at the same time she hates that she can’t talk to him about what she does. What she wants is someone who knows what’s going on, but isn’t personally involved - and now that she’s got that in Rhys, she doesn’t want to give it up. Is that clear enough?”
“Crystal,” Jack said. “I don’t get it though - does it make a difference whether your partner’s involved with Torchwood or not?”
“Not to me,” Ianto said. “Frankly, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me whether I’m in or out of Torchwood, and I doubt any partner I had would care, not about that. But it seems to be important to her.”
“How do you know all that?” Toshiko asked slowly.
“I know everything,” Ianto deadpanned.
“He really does,” Jack said, bumping Ianto’s knee affectionately.
“I like people-watching,” Ianto added, since Toshiko still looked confused. “I’m decent at reading them. And Gwen does tend to wear her emotions on her sleeve.”
Owen snorted. “Now, that, I’ll buy,” he agreed. “Are we done here?”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Go on home, you lot. You both did good today.”
Owen’s eyes were shuttered. “You think so?” he asked.
“You did good, Owen,” Jack said, his face serious. There was a pause before Owen shrugged and turned to leave.
“Ianto, could I borrow you for a minute?” Jack asked. “I’ve got UNIT coming down to the warehouse to help us clean up - it’s too big for us to do on our own. Could use you in dealing with the paper trail.”
“Certainly, sir,” Ianto agreed.
Clean-up took hours, and at the end of it, Ianto was more than happy to let Jack drive them home and take care of him. They showered together, Jack washing Ianto and not letting him do a jot of work. Then Jack got a couple of quick meals together and after eating, they went straight to bed.
Ianto suspected that Jack stayed awake and watched over him that night. He didn’t particularly mind.
The other three were in the kitchenette. That was the sole reason Ianto had given in to Jack’s pouting and kissed him. Naturally, that was the moment when the rest of the team chose to return.
“Oh, god,” Owen groaned. “And here I thought you had some sense, tea-boy.”
“Owen!” Toshiko cried, red-faced. Gwen was looking between Jack and Ianto with a betrayed look on her face.
Ianto broke away from Jack’s lips, giving Owen an even look. “I do indeed,” he said. “Nice of you to acknowledge that.”
“I’m taking it back,” Owen said flatly. “You really went and gave in to him?”
“Gave in?” Ianto repeated. “You have any idea how hard it was getting him to move in on me?”
Jack frowned. “Hey, I did eventually.”
“After ages,” Ianto said, poking Jack in the side. Jack yelped.
“You want this?” Owen said. “He flirts with everyone!”
“Tell me what you really think, go on,” Jack said dryly.
“I know he does,” Ianto said. “But he doesn’t follow through on anyone else.”
“You’re ruining my reputation,” Jack said. “They all think I go home and have wild, kinky sex every night.”
“You do,” Ianto retorted. “It’s hardly my fault they think you do so with a different person every night.”
Jack just grinned and mimed zipping his lips shut.
“You’re… together then?” Toshiko asked hesitantly.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “And Ianto has thus far refused to fulfil my fantasy of office sex. Except that once -”
Ianto gave Jack his best quelling look. Jack subsided.
“Hang on,” Owen said. “When you said you’d known Ianto for a while…”
Jack sighed. “I’ve known him for years,” he said. “We’ve been together since -” He frowned, then looked at Ianto in supplication.
“Um,” Ianto said, trying to think back. “I don’t know. I think it was - oh yes, just before my birthday, right?”
“I remember your birthday,” Jack said, eyes glazing over slightly.
“My twenty-first,” Ianto said. “In… 2004. Which means we’ve been together, what, four years?”
“Give or take,” Jack said, shrugging.
“Actually,” Ianto said suddenly. “It was after I was invited to the research team and before my birthday, which means it had to have been in July.”
“Hey, it’s our anniversary month,” Jack said. “Now if only one of us can remember what date it was.”
Ianto shook his head. “Don’t expect miracles of me,” he said. “I remember the day we met. That’s good enough.”
Jack grinned and turned back to the team. “Any other questions?” he asked.
“Four years?” Gwen asked incredulously. Ianto shifted slightly; he’d been wondering why she was being so quiet. Well, it wasn’t so much wondering as it was wishing he was wrong about her… but he knew he wasn’t.
“Yep,” Jack said. “Around that.”
“Cradle-robber, much?” Owen asked.
“Don’t even,” Ianto said. “The amount of work I had to put into convincing him it was all right.”
“You did no such thing!” Jack protested.
“Well, not overtly,” Ianto agreed. Jack thought about that for a moment, then began to laugh.
“You totally played me, didn’t you?”
Ianto managed to convey smugness through a single raised eyebrow.
“How long have you known each other, then?” Toshiko asked, the redness only just beginning to fade from her face.
“Longer than I’ve known any of you,” Jack said, shrugging. “We’ve been living together since he started university. So, eighteen?”
“Thereabouts,” Ianto agreed.
“I never even suspected,” Toshiko said, looking at Jack. “You never gave any indication you were in a relationship.”
Jack shrugged again. “My life, my business,” he said. “Besides, I didn’t want any unfriendlies using him against me.”
“Fair enough,” Toshiko conceded.
“While we’re on the topic of true confessions,” Ianto added. “I should probably say that I knew exactly who you were, Tosh, when I came by the Tourism Office that one time. With the flower, I mean.”
“What?” she asked, startled.
Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto’s waist. “My Ianto was checking up on all of you,” he said. “Just to make sure you were doing all right without me.”
“So, what, you stalked me to the bar?” Owen asked grumpily.
“No,” Ianto lied easily. “But I did make sure you got home safe those times that I saw you there.”
“Oh,” Owen said, abashed.
“You’ll be glad to know that, even when drunk out of your mind and asked several leading questions,” Ianto said. “You said nothing about Torchwood or the nature of your job.”
“Well, good then,” Owen said.
“Excellent, in fact,” Jack said, raising an eyebrow. “I’d hate to have to go on a Retcon spree.”
Ianto thought it best not to mention that he’d Retconned Owen himself.
Jack flopped onto the bed. Ianto’s arm snapped out to hold his stack of books in place, stopping them from bouncing off.
“Problems?” he asked.
“Gwen,” Jack said, voice muffled by dint of the fact that he appeared to be trying to suffocate himself with his pillow.
“What about Ms Cooper?” Ianto asked.
Jack shifted, a single blue eye peeking up over the pillow at Ianto. “She’s been asking me about you. And me. Us.”
Ianto nodded, thoroughly unsurprised. “And?”
“And she’s getting married in four months,” Jack complained, rolling over onto his back. “Why’s she still acting like she’s got a thing for me?”
“Because she does,” Ianto said.
“Why?” Jack asked sulkily.
“Well, she might not if she could see you now,” Ianto said dryly. “She sees you as a hero, sir. Which you are, but that’s not all of you. She just doesn’t see the rest, doesn’t see you as just a person. Maybe eventually she will, but right now she’s got that hero-worship going on that’s blinding her to everything else. Everyone else.”
Jack sighed mournfully and slid closer to Ianto. “Whatcha reading?” he asked.
“Top ten ways to unsubtly change the subject,” Ianto told him, and got a light slap to his thigh in response. “Ow. Parallel Worlds.”
Jack let his hand wander over Ianto’s leg, moving up his inner thigh. “Sure you want to be reading that now?”
Ianto closed his book, added it to the pile, and moved the whole lot off onto the bedside table. “I do love frustrated sex.”
Jack laughed.
They lost two days. Ianto didn’t know how it happened, and unlike the rest of the team, he didn’t particularly care. He had a feeling he was better off not knowing.
Besides, they’d all tested positive for Retcon, and since they were the only people with access to the drug, it stood to reason that they’d Retconned themselves. And if that were the case, surely something had precipitated that action, and they shouldn’t go digging too deep?
In the end, none of the others found anything anyway, so it didn’t really matter. Ianto just relegated it to the category of ‘don’t want to think about’ and moved on.
“What did I do?” Jack mumbled into Ianto’s neck.
“What you thought you had to,” Ianto replied, running his hands over Jack’s wide back, palms flat against warm skin. Up, down, across, in broad, sweeping motions.
“Owen hates me,” Jack said with certainty.
“Probably,” Ianto conceded, and Jack sighed. “He’ll move on, sir. Eventually. He knows you didn’t have any ill intentions in mind.”
“Shouldn’t have done it,” Jack said. “It’s just - he was -”
“A son,” Ianto filled in.
“It was too soon,” Jack said.
“It always is,” Ianto replied.
Days fell into a routine for Ianto. From eight to nine, he fed any aliens (and the pteranodon) currently residing in the Hub. At nine, he popped up to make a round of coffee for everyone, and get the latest paperwork from Jack. Sorting those out usually took another hour, after which he’d spend about three hours working on the archives. Lunch was always a hasty ten-minute affair, after which he retreated to the (newly-updated) tourist office with backlogged paperwork. If any civilians walked in, it only took moments to hide the papers, so he was able to keep up the front while still working.
Of course, all that was barring any major Rift emergencies. When those happened and the full team was needed out in the field, Ianto would close up the Information Centre and retreat down into the Hub to coordinate for them. It was a remarkably efficient system, and after just a few months, the team was dealing much more capably with what came their way.
Owen was coping, though not always well. Once Jack had agreed to let Owen out into the field again, the griping was moved out of Ianto’s earshot, so it didn’t really bother him. Apparently, being allowed to work again was helping to relax Owen, though. It was just the long periods of enforced insomnia that were getting to him.
Ianto bought a few video games and installed them onto Owen’s computer. The expression on Owen’s face when he’d realised they were there, was priceless.
All in all, life at Torchwood wasn’t nearly as hectic as Ianto had feared it might be. Since he only did Hub work, venturing out solely to aid in clean-up, he actually had a semblance of normal work hours… if eight to nine each day was normal. Still, at least it was a kind of set pattern, which was more than the others got. And Ianto, unlike them, never had to suffer the indignities of midnight call-outs.
Jack did, though, and he was taking more and more of those night calls on himself, till he was spending more nights awake than asleep. Ianto thought it was as if he was trying to do penance, and then realised that that was exactly what he was doing.
And that Jack couldn’t go on like that too much longer.
Something had to break. As it turned out, that something was Ianto.
“-ome back, don’t do this, don’t do this, please baby, don’t leave me,” and on and on the litany of words running into and through each other, syllables slurred through tears. Ianto struggled to open his eyes, his entire body spasming with pain.
“Got a pulse!” Owen said triumphantly. “Back the fuck up, Harkness, I need to listen to his heart.”
Heart? Pulse? What had happened?
It came back in fits and spurts, but Ianto finally remembered - that odd little box he’d seen on Jack’s table when he came in for the paperwork. He hadn’t touched it, he knew he hadn’t, but somehow it had reacted to him anyway. Mustn’t have been properly contained.
“Okay, he’s going to be okay,” Owen said. “Near as I can tell, it’s pretty much like an electrocution - stimulates all the nerves - but doesn’t do damage to them. What was that thing?”
“Geksucian torture device,” Jack said. “It was my fault - I found it yesterday and I hadn’t deactivated it yet -”
“That’s not like you,” Toshiko said quietly.
“I messed up,” Jack said, and Ianto could feel a familiar hand against his face. “I know.”
“Punishing yourself again,” Ianto said hoarsely. “You have to stop doing that.”
Jack didn’t say anything.
Ianto managed to force his eyes open. There were tears streaking Jack’s face and they hadn’t stopped yet. Jack was still crying silently, his eyes blood-shot and his cheeks flushed. And yet, he remained so unnaturally still, staring at Ianto like he was trying to memorise everything about him.
He was in the med bay, Ianto realised. Probably shouldn’t sit up. Instead, he tilted his head so that his cheek rubbed up against Jack’s hand, nuzzling against him with a minute sigh.
“It was my fault,” Jack said.
“Yep,” Ianto said, hearing the sharp intakes of breath around him.
“Ianto, surely - Jack, it wasn’t,” Gwen began.
“It was your fault,” Ianto interrupted, calmly looking up at Jack. “We have containment procedures for a reason. You failed to follow them.”
Jack took a deep breath, but stayed silent.
“So what now, sir?” Ianto asked.
Jack leaned down and kissed Ianto. He tasted like salt. “I’m going to get some sleep,” he said at last. “And when I’m done, I’ll get a start on that paperwork I’ve been neglecting.”
“Good,” Ianto said. “UNIT’s calling at two, don’t forget.”
Another feather-light brush of lips against his forehead, and Ianto closed his eyes again, smiling.
Jack was clingy for a few days after the accident, but Ianto didn’t mind since Jack was also starting to piece himself back together. He rather thought that after so long, his immortal lover might have learned some healthier ways of dealing with guilt and grief.
Evidently, he hadn’t. Ianto took it upon himself to make life a little more fun for Jack, starting with wearing his collar to work every day.
Jack… liked that. And since his collar was usually partially hidden by his shirt, and what was visible easily passed for a choker, he didn’t get questioned about it. It was an easy way to get Jack’s mind off his guilt and on to more pleasant thoughts.
The archives progressed. Ianto calculated that if he was able to maintain his current rate of work, he’d be finished organising and updating them in another year or so. After that - they’d have to see what he could do. He rather thought that Jack would be more than happy to hand off all the paperwork responsibilities to Ianto.
Except maybe for Flat Holm.
“Sir? Do you have a minute?”
“’Course I do,” Jack said, happily dropping his pen. “What is it?”
“These expense reports you filed yesterday,” Ianto said, displaying them. “I was wondering what these here were for.”
Jack stilled. “It’s a safe-house,” he said after a moment.
“I checked the listing,” Ianto observed. “It wasn’t there. It’s not an official one, then?”
“Nope.”
“Should I know?” Ianto asked warily.
“I don’t want you to,” Jack admitted slowly.
Ianto studied him for a moment, then took a seat. “But you do.”
Jack sighed. “Look, the Rift - sometimes it takes people.”
Ianto smiled wryly. “I’m aware.”
“And sometimes it gives them back,” Jack said. He looked at Ianto. “Not all of them are as lucky as you, Ianto. Some of them - they’re deposited in places - horrible places, they see horrible things, and when they come back, they’re… damaged.”
Ianto took a deep breath and let it out slowly, sinking back in the chair. “That’s what this is for.”
“When I started here, I realised they were keeping some people in the Vaults,” Jack said. “Disfigured and traumatised, too damaged to enter society again, so naturally the only thing to be done with them was stick them in the Vaults.”
“You set up a safe-house for them,” Ianto filled in.
Jack nodded. “They’re too broken even for Retcon, and there’s no way they’d be able to survive outside the safe-house. Look, I don’t want you to go there, Ianto. I don’t want that to touch you.”
Ianto thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. “So long as you let me help you,” he said.
Jack smiled faintly. “You do.”
“Honey, I’m home,” Jack sang out as he entered their flat. Then he fell silent, catching sight of the human-sized lump on the sofa. Smiling to himself, he locked the door quietly, shrugged out of his greatcoat and went over to Ianto.
“Hey,” he said, shaking Ianto lightly. A discontented grumble came from the blanketed lump. “Wouldn’t the bed be more comfortable?”
Blue eyes peered up blearily at Jack. “Mmf,” Ianto said intelligently, and sank back into his cocoon.
Jack laughed and scooped Ianto up, startling him awake. “Come on, baby,” he said. “Bed.”
Ianto sighed and rested his head against Jack’s shoulder. “Everything all right?” he mumbled.
“Yeah,” Jack said, depositing Ianto on the bed. He began to untangle the blankets and was pleasantly surprised to find Ianto naked under them. “Didn’t even get scratched.”
“Good,” Ianto said, yawning.
“You have a good night out?” Jack asked, peeling off his own clothes and crawling in next to Ianto.
“Mm-hmm,” Ianto said, curling contentedly against Jack’s side. A cat in disguise, Jack thought, and petted Ianto’s hair. “Was nice catching up with the research team.”
“Bet it was,” Jack said, smiling. “Get some sleep now.”
“Mmkay,” Ianto said, already dropping off again.
Jack stayed awake a while longer, watching Ianto sleep. Then he fell asleep as well.
Ianto perched on the edge of the counter, watching as Jack put their dinner together. He’d just finished cutting up the meat and tossing it in with the sliced greens.
“What are the chances of getting through this meal without being interrupted by a call?” he asked idly.
“I’ll put it at forty percent,” Jack said, pouring out some olive oil and mixing in a healthy dollop of mustard. He added salt, pepper and white wine vinegar, then taste-tested the dressing, chewing on his bottom lip all the while. “Do you mind?” he finally asked. He sounded as if he wasn’t certain of the answer, which Ianto thought quite ridiculous.
“Nope,” Ianto said. “Besides, I’m used to it.”
“My poor baby,” Jack said, wandering over and stealing a kiss from Ianto. “You’re always waiting on me, aren’t you?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ianto said, shrugging. “You always come back.”
Jack smiled and ghosted another kiss across Ianto’s neck before moving back to the food. There was a little bounce to his movements as he tossed the dressing through the chicken salad. Ianto hugged Jac the plushie closer.
“Do you mind,” he said tentatively. “If I tell my family about us?”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “No,” he said. “But you’ll have to come up with a reason why I don’t age. We can only pull it off for a few years before they start asking questions.”
“They’re not the most observant lot,” Ianto said. “I’ll tell them, see how they take it.”
Jack dished out the food and picked up the plates, heading for the table. Ianto hopped off the counter and followed him. “Good luck,” Jack said. “I think they’ll be all right. They seemed open-minded enough.”
Ianto shrugged. “It’s always different when it’s family,” he said. “But yes. Hopefully.”
Jack pulled Ianto down into the chair next to him. Ianto settled Jac on the edge of the table. “There’s always here,” he said.
“I know,” Ianto said.
Ianto’s family was surprised, but took the news fairly well. Johnny was a tad uncouth about it, but Ianto left Rhiannon to deal with her husband and went back home to tell Jack the good news.
A week later, Jack came over to meet the Joneses. It might have been his natural good looks, but Ianto thought that Jack had rather managed to charm the entire family. It was a nice break from work and from Gwen’s nerviness about her upcoming wedding.
And if every time a wedding was mentioned, Jack got a particularly broody look on his face, Ianto wasn’t commenting.
Gwen’s wedding was an unmitigated disaster. After the Nostrovite had been taken care of, Ianto drove out to help with the clean-up - which in this case meant Retconning all the guests and staff, and getting rid of the gunk formerly known as a Nostrovite. The bullet holes in the walls were a little harder to hide, but Jack plastered them over and they decided it was good enough.
The music was still playing when they got back to the ballroom. For some reason, Gwen and Rhys hadn’t retired yet, and were talking quietly at a table. Ianto could only imagine the topic of that conversation. Owen and Toshiko appeared to be having a heated discussion about the relative merits of video games and movies.
Jack slipped an arm around Ianto’s waist. “Well, it was definitely a Torchwood wedding,” he said.
Ianto smirked. “Why is it always Torchwood?” he asked rhetorically.
“Don’t know,” Jack said. “Always bad luck.” He eyed Ianto up and down. “Well, maybe not always.”
“Hm,” Ianto said absently. “This music is kind of terrible.”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Dance with me?”
Ianto raised an eyebrow.
“Dance with me,” Jack repeated. “I know it’s terrible music. Doesn’t matter. I just want to relax for a bit.”
“Well, we are done with work,” Ianto conceded, turning to face Jack. They slipped into position effortlessly and began to move to the beat.
It had been Jack who’d taught Ianto how to dance. Those first, fumbling steps in their living room had since morphed into an easy familiarity with each other’s bodies, with the way they each moved. Ianto ignored the fact that the others were watching and let Jack dance them around the ballroom, seamlessly upping the tempo when the next song, a faster one, came on.
“My Ianto,” Jack whispered.
“Yes, sir?” Ianto replied. The collar around his neck felt reassuring.
“If I proposed, what would you say?” Jack asked, then spun Ianto around so that he couldn’t reply immediately.
“When?” Ianto asked breathlessly, once he was facing Jack again.
“When am I proposing?” Jack asked, frowning.
“No,” Ianto said. “When’s the soonest we can get married?”
Jack’s face lit up, impossibly bright.
It was strange how much alike the ring and the collar felt. Ianto couldn’t quite stop himself from touching the ring every so often, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. They were planning on a civil ceremony sometime within the year. With any luck, nothing too terrible would happen on that day, although after Gwen’s fiasco of a wedding, Ianto wasn’t holding out much hope.
The team had taken the news… interestingly.
“Oh my god,” Toshiko breathed. “Congratulations!”
“Has hell frozen over?” Owen wondered out loud.
“This is brilliant,” Gwen exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Have you planned what you’re going to do?”
“Nothing fancy,” Ianto said hurriedly, recognising the look in her eyes. “Just a small civil ceremony, maybe refreshments later. It’s really only family and you lot, plus a few other friends.”
“You sure you don’t want to do a big reception or anything?” Gwen asked.
“Positive,” Ianto and Jack said at the same time.
Gwen looked disappointed.
“So who exactly are we inviting?” Jack asked.
“Tosh, Owen and Gwen. Eleri, Geraint, Rhiannon, and… it’s probably only polite to add Johnny and the kids to that,” Ianto said. “Let’s hope they behave.”
“Who, the kids?” Jack asked.
“I’m more worried about Johnny,” Ianto said. “What about on your side?”
“I’ll invite Alice and Stephen,” Jack said. “Don’t know if she’ll want to come though.”
Ianto nodded. “I’ll put them down anyway,” he said, adding the names to the list. “Anyone else for you?”
“Martha, Tish, Francine, Clive,” Jack said. “And Leo, I guess, since I’m inviting the rest of his family. Um, Alistair. That’s all.”
“Done,” Ianto said. “I’m putting Jerry and Mabel down. Plus ones for all the singles, and… I think that’s it.”
“Thought about what you’re going to wear?”
“I’ll wear a suit if you’ll wear a tux,” Ianto said. “Will you let me sew them both?”
“Sure,” Jack said. “You did your sister’s wedding dress, right?”
“Yep,” Ianto said.
“It was gorgeous… And you make half your own clothes, which are also gorgeous,” Jack said thoughtfully. “Yeah, you’ve got good taste. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.”
Ianto smiled. “All right,” he said agreeably. “No preferences for colours or cuts?”
Jack shook his head and caught Ianto’s eye. “I trust you.”
Ianto stretched lazily as he returned to his desk after seeing out a tourist. They’d had an easy few days, which in his experience meant that something big would probably happen soon. He wondered what it would be, and when it would happen.
He flipped through a paper idly, and an advertisement caught his eye. The old Electro was apparently being refurnished. Maybe he should go check it out - there might be something interesting there.
He’d asked the others if they wanted to come along, but Jack had been busy and no one else had been up for it. Ianto simply shrugged and went off on his own. He didn’t think they’d be particularly interested anyway.
Opening night was very sparsely attended, Ianto thought to himself as he took a seat. The owner made a thoroughly uninspiring speech, and then the reel began to play.
It started out innocently enough. Then the circus acts began.
Ianto couldn’t quite repress the shudder that ran down his back. Just a normal circus, he told himself firmly, really, it’s quite foolish to have a phobia of circuses, of all things. He glanced over at the owners, then shifted uneasily when he realised they looked annoyed - hadn’t this been part of the film?
He looked back at the screen just in time to see a familiar face peering out at him.
“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” Ianto nearly sobbed into his phone.
“Yeah?” Jack asked.
“It’s the Ghostmaker!” Ianto blurted out. “Jack, it’s the Ghostmaker, I saw him on the film they’re screening here, there were shadows, something’s wrong, I need you please!”
“You’re at the Electro, right?” Jack asked. Ianto could hear things clattering in the background. “I’m on my way.” Just before the line went dead, Ianto could hear Jack yelling for the rest of the team.
He hung up and desperately tried to stop shaking.
Jack skidded over to Ianto, catching him in a tight hug. “You weren’t hurt?” he asked, anxiously checking him over.
“No,” Ianto said, clutching at Jack’s coat.
“Ianto, love, what happened?” Gwen asked in concern.
“You said it was the Ghostmaker,” Jack said. “Where?”
“The film,” Ianto said, shaking violently. “It wasn’t what they were supposed to be showing, but they were playing these images of a - a travelling fair, Jack, it was exactly the same!” He was dimly aware that his voice was very nearly hysterical, but he couldn’t quite control it.
Warm lips covered his and the scent of aniseed and cloves broke through the panic. Jack pulled back just far enough to speak, breath misting between them. “Calm down, my Ianto. I won’t let them hurt you again.”
Ianto nodded jerkily.
“They were on film?” Jack asked.
“It was the wrong film, I’m sure of it,” Ianto said. “The owner looked furious when he saw the circus footage.”
“All right, what’s going on here?” Owen broke in, exasperated. “And what’s got tea-boy so scared?”
“Something from his past,” Jack said grimly.
“After - after it ended,” Ianto said. “These… shadows went past me.”
“What kind of shadows?” Jack asked.
“Don’t know,” Ianto said. “It wasn’t clear. But it -” he shuddered. “It felt like them. Felt like him.”
Jack slipped his hand through Ianto’s. “Stay with me,” he whispered.
Ianto pressed up close behind Jack in response, silently deciding that he wasn’t going anywhere else.
“Owen, Gwen,” Jack said. “Talk to these people, see if anyone else saw the shadows. See what you can get out of them. Ianto and I will go talk to the film guy. Meet back at the SUV when we’re done.”
Owen and Gwen still looked thoroughly confused as to what was happening, but shrugged and followed directions. Jack turned to kiss Ianto one more time before leading him away.
They took the canisters of film from Jonathan, though Ianto was more than apprehensive about getting near them, let alone touching them. Then Toshiko, who was coordinating from the Hub, picked up traces of Rift activity nearby.
Ianto felt distinctly uneasy as they set off.
“Want me to drop you off home?” Jack asked as they drove.
“I think I need to see this through,” Ianto replied, reflecting that the statement would sound a lot better if his hands would stop shaking.
“Any time you want to stop, let me know,” Jack said.
“You want to tell us what’s going on, now?” Owen asked archly. “Gwen and I weren’t able to find out anything. No one thought anything had happened other than the film not working right. Same scenes over and over again is all.”
“Later,” Jack said. “When we get back to the Hub.”
The girl was sitting there, lips cracked, face dried out. Ianto had a terrible feeling he knew what had happened to her.
“Now do we get explanations?” Owen demanded.
“You’ve been putting it off long enough, Jack,” Gwen added. “What’s going on?”
Jack glanced at Ianto, who was hunched in on himself. He looked, for a moment, like the terrified thirteen-year-old boy Jack had found in the woods all those years ago. “Hang on a minute,” he said, tugging Ianto away from the others. “Are you wearing your collar?”
Ianto shook his head mutely.
“Is it at home?” Jack asked.
“No,” Ianto whispered. “My bag. I always have it with me.”
“Go get it and put it on,” Jack told him, and kissed his lips gently. “Then we’ll have to tell them the truth, okay?”
Ianto nodded miserably and trudged off to his bag. Jack watched him go, thinking that it had to be a sign of how scared Ianto was that he didn’t even bother to put the collar on in private. Instead, he wrapped it around his neck in plain view of the others, then returned to Jack’s side.
He was already looking a lot calmer, Jack noticed in relief, rearranging Ianto’s shirt so that the collar sat snugly under it.
“Okay,” he said, leading Ianto back to the team. “Explanations. There’s something you should know about Ianto, first off.”
“What?” Toshiko asked, puzzled.
“When he was born, for one,” Jack said dryly.
“Nineteenth of August, 1983,” Toshiko rattled off promptly, then blushed when Jack threw a questioning look her way. “I looked him up when you said he was joining us.”
“Nice to know my forgery skills were good enough to pass muster,” Jack said, smiling. “But Ianto was actually born about two centuries ago.”
There was a moment of silence.
“What?” Gwen finally said, faintly.
“He was taken by the Rift,” Jack said. “Fell through into 1996… like John, Diane and Emma. I found him and set him up.”
“That’s how you know each other,” Toshiko said slowly.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Thing is, Ianto was running away from something when he fell through the Rift.”
“From?” Owen asked.
“The Night Travellers,” Jack said. Ianto leaned into his side and Jack put an arm around him, tucking him in close. “I searched for them back in the 1920s, but I never did come up with anything. After I found Ianto, I tried looking again, but still - nothing. Until now.”
“Who are they?” Gwen asked.
“It was a tale that was around then,” Jack said. “The 1920s, I mean, and obviously before that as well. A… ghost story. A travelling fair that left a trail of damage and sorrow wherever they performed.”
“They came from out of the rain,” Ianto whispered.
“That’s always how they’re described,” Jack said, glancing at Ianto. “But we don’t know anything about them. All we know is, they appear and then people go missing, villages are devastated. And they’re who Ianto saw on that film.”
“But it’s just a picture,” Gwen said. “It can’t do anything.”
“You didn’t feel the shadows,” Ianto insisted. “Once you’ve felt them, you never forget them. There were these - shadows that ran past after the film ended. It felt exactly like them. When he touched me -”
Jack kissed Ianto’s shoulder. “Ianto was lucky to escape them,” he said. “I suspect the two victims we found today weren’t so lucky. Now - Tosh, could you get that film set up? I want to see what we’re dealing with.”
It didn’t take long for Ianto to realise that the Ghostmaker and his assistant had disappeared. Farfetched as it seemed, they suspected that the shadows Ianto had seen running past him had actually been those two, escaping their prison of film.
And now they were loose in Cardiff.
Jack set Owen and Gwen on researching and Toshiko on monitoring the city. Then he grabbed Ianto and brought him into the conference room.
“Baby,” he said, kneeling down in front of Ianto. “Are you absolutely positive you want to work with us on this?”
Ianto nodded. “I have to,” he said. “They - I know what happened to Tad. These people now, if there’s any chance -”
Jack kissed the backs of Ianto’s hands gently. “Then promise me you’ll stay with me always,” he said.
Ianto very nearly laughed at that. “You might have trouble prying me away.”
“Call from the hospital, Jack,” Toshiko said. “New victims - a family of four. Same symptoms. Heartbeat, no breath.”
“We need to find out more about the Night Travellers,” Gwen said. “Exactly what they do. Owen and I’ve found some old articles, but I’m not sure they’re helpful.”
“What are they?” Jack asked.
Owen displayed a few articles and summed them up. “He reckoned his wife’s last breath had been taken and put in a flask,” he finished.
“A silver flask,” Ianto said quietly, staring at his hands.
“Think you could try and remember?” Jack asked, moving over to Ianto. “What exactly did they say and do?”
Ianto sighed. “I’ve spent a long time trying to forget,” he said. “I might not be remembering correctly.”
“Right now, you’re our only living witness,” Jack said. “Something’s better than nothing.”
Ianto closed his eyes. “They came from out of the rain,” he began. “At night, they came to the village. I’d been watching Huw all day,” he said, a faint smile touching his lips. “Mam had gone to the next village to sell quilts - she made them herself, they even bought them up at the garrison. When she got back, I had to go help Tad with the mending. It’d been a long day. Long week. So when the travelling fair came, Tad decided we’d both go as a treat.”
Ianto licked his lips nervously. “It was fine at first,” he said. “There was music, all sorts of acts.”
“And then?” Jack pressed.
“Then I saw him,” Ianto said. “He was talking to Tad. He took Tad’s shoulder and put something to Tad’s mouth. Then he turned around and when he moved out of the way, I couldn’t see Tad anymore.
“And then,” Ianto went on, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. “He came to me.”
“What did he say?” Jack asked.
“He - he asked me if I’d like to join the show,” Ianto said haltingly. “He was holding a flask in his hand, a silver flask. I asked him who he was.”
“The Ghostmaker,” Jack said, and Ianto nodded.
“He wanted me to be part of his audience,” Ianto said. “That’s what he said. ‘You can travel with us forever.’ I tried to get away from him, but he grabbed my shoulder and it hurt so badly -”
“But something distracted him,” Jack said.
Ianto took a deep breath and nodded. “A woman called to him. He let go of me and I ran. Then, apparently, I fell through the Rift. And met you,” he added, looking up at Jack.
Jack leaned down and kissed Ianto. “Thank you,” he whispered before straightening and turning to the team, unconsciously drawing Ianto closer in a protective gesture.
“The last breath of each victim,” Jack said. “That’s how he makes his ghosts.”
“So if we can find the flask…” Owen said.
“We can save them.”
“Film of a film,” Ianto said. “And if we overexpose it -”
“Blank them out,” Jack said. “Get rid of them. It’s worth a shot.”
Ianto nodded. “Come on, we’ve got to get back there.”
Running back to the SUV, Jack found the time to reach out and squeeze Ianto’s hand.
Ianto felt his nerves settling almost immediately.
“One,” Ianto said, tears making his voice catch. “I think we saved just one.”
Jack hurried over to him, shoving the camera in his pocket.
“I hear it, Jack,” Ianto cried as Gwen gingerly capped the flask. “I heard it. Something inside. Calling out to me.”
“Okay,” Jack said soothingly, running his hands down Ianto’s arms. If Ianto was still calling him by his name - as he had been throughout this whole ordeal - then things were even worse than he’d thought. “We saved one,” he said, drawing Ianto into his arms. “But which one?”
“What’s in there?” the nurse asked suspiciously, as Jack tilted the flask forward, to the little boy’s lips. Daniel Adam Evans, that was his name. Daniel, who hadn’t woken up, might never wake up. Or might wake up to find himself an orphan and everything he knew gone.
Ianto knew what that felt like.
“Something that belongs to him,” Jack said. “His last breath.”
A wisp of something floated out from the flask. Ianto hovered anxiously as it entered Daniel’s mouth. There was a moment of stillness, and then Daniel gasped, coughing as life flooded his body again.
“What have you done?” the nurse yelped in alarm.
“It worked,” Ianto said, tears standing in his eyes. One soul. They’d only managed to save one soul, but -
“Welcome back,” Jack said, smiling down at Daniel.
“They could still be out there,” Ianto said. “All those forgotten reels of film. Waiting. Until someone plays them and sets them loose again.”
“Could be,” Jack said. “But we know what to do now. And we’ll stop it if it ever happens again.”
Ianto nodded, unconvinced. His gaze fell on the flask and he looked away. “I’m going to go to the hospital,” he said. “Daniel must be confused about what’s going on.”
“All right,” Jack said. “I’ll join you in a bit.”
Ianto smiled weakly and left. Jack picked up the silver flask and put it away, in his safe. For just a moment, he thought he heard a hurdy-gurdy play a few notes, but when he focused, the sound was gone. A chill ran down his spine. He really hoped he’d imagined that.
But there was nothing else he could do now. Nothing but become the supportive lover again, try and help Ianto through the nightmare he’d just relived.
“Something’s on your mind,” Jack said, sliding Ianto’s shirt off his shoulders.
“Something’s always on my mind,” Ianto replied.
“Something in particular,” Jack said. “Has been bugging you for the past week.” He tapped the tip of Ianto’s nose. “And you think it’s something that will bother me, so you’re not talking.”
Ianto dropped his gaze to the floor.
“Tell me,” Jack said firmly, even as he unbuckled Ianto’s belt.
“I want to adopt Daniel,” Ianto blurted out.
“I don’t have to ask why,” Jack said, not sounding at all surprised. Daniel’s only surviving family member was an aunt who frankly was a bit of a troll. “Are you sure you’re ready for the responsibility of a kid?”
“Is any parent ever ready?” Ianto retorted, then took a deep breath. “I know the theories, and I also know the theories usually go out the window with actual parenting. But I think I could be a good dad and I want to try.”
“With Torchwood?” Jack asked sceptically, pushing Ianto down onto the bed and pulling off his trousers and pants together. That left him naked except for his collar and socks. “It’s not exactly conducive to raising a kid.”
“Not if I was a field agent,” Ianto said. “But I’m not. Out of all of you, I’ve got the most regular hours. I could shave a couple of hours off my usual time, leave earlier so I can spend evenings with Daniel. He’d have school half the day most of the time anyway, and Mrs Gracie’s said she’d be happy to take him in when neither of us is home.”
“Been talking to her about this, have you?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. He settled down on the floor beside Ianto’s legs, teasing a sock off without looking. His eyes were fixed on Ianto’s.
Ianto coloured slightly. “We were actually talking about her kids,” he said defensively. “And I happened to mention I’d like to adopt, and she knows we have irregular hours and she said if we’ll be home late, or we have to pull overnighters, she’d be happy to baby-sit.”
Jack ducked his head so that Ianto wouldn’t see him smile. Off came the other sock, and Ianto wriggled his toes in freedom. “Have it all figured out then?”
“Yes,” Ianto said. “Except -”
“Except for me,” Jack said, looking up with a neutral expression on his face.
Ianto’s face fell a little as he saw Jack’s look. “Um, yes,” he said hesitantly. “It was just an idea I was kicking around,” he said. “We - obviously, we don’t have to -”
“Just kicking around,” Jack repeated solemnly, squeezing the heel of Ianto’s right foot. Ianto sighed into the slow massage. “All that planning and forethought was just kicking it around?”
Ianto started to turn red. He didn’t say anything.
“You’ll be such a great dad,” Jack said affectionately, leaning against Ianto’s legs.
“Um,” Ianto said.
“You’re silly sometimes, you know that?” Jack said, glancing up once so that Ianto could see the amusement on his face, before returning his attention to the massage. “I don’t mind at all, Ianto. I’ve had kids before, and Daniel’s pretty sweet.”
Ianto’s toes curled in delight. “You mean that?”
“That Daniel’s sweet?” Jack asked guilelessly, and was promptly smacked in the head. “Ow! Yes, yes, I mean it. We’ll adopt him. Hey, we’re Torchwood - should be useful for little things like getting past the usual red tape and questioning about whether a gay couple can actually raise a kid.” Jack rolled his eyes.
Ianto beamed, his toes wriggling happily. Jack bit down a laugh.
“Do you want to have more, after Daniel?” Jack enquired.
“Might be nice,” Ianto said. “If we can handle Daniel all right, first of all.”
“We can have our own,” Jack said.
“What, with a surrogate mother or something?” Ianto asked, puzzled. “Donor egg?”
“No,” Jack said, drawing out the word. “We get Martha to call the Doctor, then we get the Doctor to swing by the 51st Century and pick up a round of pills and supplements, then I take those pills and start producing eggs which we’ll fertilise with your sperm and then implant in my artificial womb. Easy. Of course,” he added thoughtfully. “I’ll have to be on maternity - or is that paternity? - leave for nine months. Can’t risk dying while carrying the baby, you know. And either Owen or Martha will have to do the IVF and deliver the baby. Can you imagine me going in for a C-section at a public hospital?”
Jack looked up at Ianto expectantly, then winced. Ianto was staring at him in slack-jawed disbelief.
“Or not,” he added hurriedly.
“You want a baby?” Ianto asked.
“Maybe,” Jack said. “Eventually. Um. After Daniel’s settled in. And when he’s old enough to know how to hold his tongue about daddy being pregnant.”
Ianto laughed incredulously. “Oh, sir,” he breathed. “That’s amazing.”
Jack peered up at him. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” Ianto said fervently. “Yes.”
“This is where we live,” Ianto said, switching on the light. Daniel clung to Ianto’s leg, but at least he was looking around in interest.
“Where’s Jack?” he asked, looking up at Ianto.
“At work,” Ianto said, ushering Daniel in. “Remember, I told you Jack’s work means he’s got to go out at odd times, whenever there’s something important?”
Daniel nodded, wandering over to the sofa.
“Go on,” Ianto said. “Just don’t bounce on it. Don’t want you to crack your head open.”
Daniel giggled and clambered onto the sofa.
“This room over here will be yours,” Ianto said, indicating what had once been his old bedroom. “Jack and I will be in this room here. Rule is, if you want to go into someone else’s bedroom, you have to knock and wait for permission first, okay?”
“For me too?” Daniel asked.
“Most of the time,” Ianto said. “If you’re just sulking, I might come in without permission.”
“What if you’re sulking?” Daniel asked immediately.
“Then Jack will come in and talk some sense into me,” Ianto said, grinning.
“Okay,” Daniel said agreeably.
Ianto heard the keys jangling a moment before the lock turned and the door opened. He turned to watch Jack hang up his greatcoat and stride towards them.
“Uncle Jack!” Daniel squealed, sliding off the sofa and running over to hug Jack’s legs.
“Hey, sport,” Jack said, scooping up the little boy and hugging him before setting him back down. “Had the grand tour yet?”
“Not quite,” Ianto said. “We just got back ourselves. Danny hasn’t seen his bedroom yet, have you, Danny?”
“Nope,” Daniel said cheerfully, running over to Ianto and tugging on his hand. “Come on, let’s see!”
Jack laughed. “Hang on, kiddo,” he said teasingly, then leaned in to kiss Ianto.
“Mm,” Ianto sighed contentedly when they broke apart. “Welcome back.”
“Good to be home,” Jack said, smiling. Then he looked down, the smile widening at Daniel’s impatient tugs on both their trousers. “But I’m thinking we have some exploring to do now. Don’t we?”
“Yeah!” Daniel cheered, racing to the bedroom. Jack was right on his heels, scooping him off the floor again to prevent him from ‘winning’ the race.
Ianto followed at a more sedate pace. He foresaw a lot of running around in his future. And a lot of chaos, and noise, and unpredictability, all those things he didn’t like having in his life.
Jack appeared to be trying to tickle Daniel to death. He looked up, catching Ianto’s eyes for just a moment, and smiled.
Ianto smiled back. Somehow, the impending chaos didn’t bother him one whit. This was his family, odd as it was, a trio of broken people who’d lost their own families, pulling together to make the best of their lives.
And he wouldn’t change that for the world.
~fin
CC much appreciated!
POLL:
I’m planning on posting a one-shot before I leave for a short trip overseas. Problem is, I can’t decide which one, so I’ve decided to let you lot pick! All I’m giving you are the titles, pairings, genres and length, so choose wisely. Here are your options:
1) Sweet As Love - Ianto/Lisa, minor Ianto/Jack; Angst; 5 pages.
2) a clearer light - Jack/Ianto; Angst, Hurt/Comfort (happyish ending; 5+1 format); 7 pages.
3) A Hundred and Fifty Years - Jack/Ianto; General (crossover with Doctor Who); 10 pages.
4) On the Origin of Purple Dinosaurs (might be retitled) - (Very) Minor Jack/Ianto; Humour (crack, really); 4 pages.
5) The Colonisation of Captain Jack - Gen; Humour (also crack); 7 pages.
Don’t have a paid account, so I can’t make one of those nifty click-one-button-and-you’re done polls. Would appreciate you letting me know your choice in your comments; you’re not obliged to review, though I’d love that too, of course. =D
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Ianto noticed the rock on Gwen’s finger. He also noticed that it hadn’t stopped her from flirting with Jack. And unlike Jack, she didn’t flirt just for the fun of it. Jack was right - she flirted with intent. It was peculiar, and Ianto wasn’t sure he liked what it said about her, but unless it got in the way of her doing her job, he wouldn’t bring it up to Jack.
Toshiko was more comfortable with computers than people, and Owen appeared to live in a constant state of snippiness. Nothing annoyed him more than the fact that Ianto never reacted to his jibes, unless it was to put him down with a well-timed one-liner. They were definitely a bunch of misfits, but they worked well enough together. Ianto wasn’t positive he’d find the same easy camaraderie here that he’d had at the university, but with time, he thought they’d become good friends.
The pteranodon remembered him (or his chocolate, anyway), which was a bit of a surprise. He could still recall the way he’d spotted the massive creature lumbering along an alley, looking as confused as a prehistoric creature could. He’d lured it to a warehouse with chocolate, then called Jack for help… which had been all sorts of ridiculous fun.
Feeding the creatures in the Vaults was fairly simple, and didn’t take more than half an hour each day, once he’d settled into the routine. It helped that the cells were usually empty (except for Janet, the resident lab-rat/Weevil; the only reason she was there was because the other Weevils always attacked her for some reason). Torchwood wasn’t in the habit of locking up aliens anymore. There were safe-houses for alien visitors all across Britain, run with the help of UNIT. Ianto thought he might offer to take some of that work off Jack’s shoulders, but he’d wait and see how he coped with his current workload first.
Because, oh god, the archives were a mess.
It took a week just to clean up the place enough so that he didn’t feel like he’d contract a disease just breathing the air. Then he got down to the real work. With Jack’s help, he was able to hash out the general categories that things tended to fall into. Starting with the most recent work, he began to sort all the archival data and items into those categories, simultaneously ensuring that all the information was digitised as well.
It was a lot of work, not all of it pleasant, but Ianto found himself enjoying it even more than he’d enjoyed his work at the university. The kinds of information he now had access to! It made him positively giddy with excitement.
Then Gwen’s fiancé found out about them.
“She won’t do it,” Ianto said, the moment the alarms had fallen silent. Gwen had just taken the Retcon and left, heading after Rhys.
“No?” Jack asked, leaning back in his chair.
“No,” Ianto said with certainty. Toshiko and Owen were looking between the two of them with ill-disguised curiosity.
“That means,” Jack said. “That I’ll have to either let Rhys keep his memories, or Retcon both of them.” He looked over at the other two. “Thoughts?”
“Why wouldn’t she do it?” Toshiko asked. “I mean, it’s our safety and security at risk here.”
“That’s not what she’s thinking of,” Ianto said. “Trust me. She won’t do it.”
“Then what’s she thinking of?” Owen asked sceptically.
“Forget that for now,” Jack broke in. “Say Ianto’s right. Which route do you think we should go?”
“We’re stretched thin enough as it is,” Owen said. “Can’t really afford to lose another field agent, unless tea-boy wants to join us on the field.”
“No!” Jack blurted out, then looked away hurriedly. “No, he won’t.”
Ianto smiled slightly. “I think I’m rather more suited to Hub work,” he said diplomatically.
“Then we can’t lose Gwen,” Owen said. “Not without finding someone else first.”
Toshiko shrugged. “As long as Rhys doesn’t tell anyone, I don’t think it’s a problem. And he did think on his feet with those people. I think he’s safe.”
“We could always put him under surveillance,” Ianto added. “Just to be safe.”
Jack nodded. “That’s what I was thinking,” he began, but was interrupted by the blare of the entrance alarms. They all looked up to see Gwen running towards them.
“You don’t have to do it,” Jack said, before Gwen could get a word out. That drew her up short, blinking in surprise. “Ianto here,” Jack went on. “Guessed that you wouldn’t want to Retcon Rhys. We’ve talked about it. You don’t have to do it, but make sure he knows he’s not allowed to talk to anyone about it, even your houseplants. He talks, and both of you are Retconned and out of here.”
Gwen beamed and flung her arms around Jack, kissing his cheek. “Thank you!” she cried, and took off again, presumably back to Rhys.
“Hurricane Gwen,” Ianto muttered under his breath. Toshiko stifled a giggle.
“Okay,” Owen said. “How’d you know she wouldn’t do it?”
Ianto sighed. “The short version,” he said. “Is that she sees Rhys as a link to a normal, alien-free life. She needs that, but at the same time she hates that she can’t talk to him about what she does. What she wants is someone who knows what’s going on, but isn’t personally involved - and now that she’s got that in Rhys, she doesn’t want to give it up. Is that clear enough?”
“Crystal,” Jack said. “I don’t get it though - does it make a difference whether your partner’s involved with Torchwood or not?”
“Not to me,” Ianto said. “Frankly, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me whether I’m in or out of Torchwood, and I doubt any partner I had would care, not about that. But it seems to be important to her.”
“How do you know all that?” Toshiko asked slowly.
“I know everything,” Ianto deadpanned.
“He really does,” Jack said, bumping Ianto’s knee affectionately.
“I like people-watching,” Ianto added, since Toshiko still looked confused. “I’m decent at reading them. And Gwen does tend to wear her emotions on her sleeve.”
Owen snorted. “Now, that, I’ll buy,” he agreed. “Are we done here?”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Go on home, you lot. You both did good today.”
Owen’s eyes were shuttered. “You think so?” he asked.
“You did good, Owen,” Jack said, his face serious. There was a pause before Owen shrugged and turned to leave.
“Ianto, could I borrow you for a minute?” Jack asked. “I’ve got UNIT coming down to the warehouse to help us clean up - it’s too big for us to do on our own. Could use you in dealing with the paper trail.”
“Certainly, sir,” Ianto agreed.
Clean-up took hours, and at the end of it, Ianto was more than happy to let Jack drive them home and take care of him. They showered together, Jack washing Ianto and not letting him do a jot of work. Then Jack got a couple of quick meals together and after eating, they went straight to bed.
Ianto suspected that Jack stayed awake and watched over him that night. He didn’t particularly mind.
The other three were in the kitchenette. That was the sole reason Ianto had given in to Jack’s pouting and kissed him. Naturally, that was the moment when the rest of the team chose to return.
“Oh, god,” Owen groaned. “And here I thought you had some sense, tea-boy.”
“Owen!” Toshiko cried, red-faced. Gwen was looking between Jack and Ianto with a betrayed look on her face.
Ianto broke away from Jack’s lips, giving Owen an even look. “I do indeed,” he said. “Nice of you to acknowledge that.”
“I’m taking it back,” Owen said flatly. “You really went and gave in to him?”
“Gave in?” Ianto repeated. “You have any idea how hard it was getting him to move in on me?”
Jack frowned. “Hey, I did eventually.”
“After ages,” Ianto said, poking Jack in the side. Jack yelped.
“You want this?” Owen said. “He flirts with everyone!”
“Tell me what you really think, go on,” Jack said dryly.
“I know he does,” Ianto said. “But he doesn’t follow through on anyone else.”
“You’re ruining my reputation,” Jack said. “They all think I go home and have wild, kinky sex every night.”
“You do,” Ianto retorted. “It’s hardly my fault they think you do so with a different person every night.”
Jack just grinned and mimed zipping his lips shut.
“You’re… together then?” Toshiko asked hesitantly.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “And Ianto has thus far refused to fulfil my fantasy of office sex. Except that once -”
Ianto gave Jack his best quelling look. Jack subsided.
“Hang on,” Owen said. “When you said you’d known Ianto for a while…”
Jack sighed. “I’ve known him for years,” he said. “We’ve been together since -” He frowned, then looked at Ianto in supplication.
“Um,” Ianto said, trying to think back. “I don’t know. I think it was - oh yes, just before my birthday, right?”
“I remember your birthday,” Jack said, eyes glazing over slightly.
“My twenty-first,” Ianto said. “In… 2004. Which means we’ve been together, what, four years?”
“Give or take,” Jack said, shrugging.
“Actually,” Ianto said suddenly. “It was after I was invited to the research team and before my birthday, which means it had to have been in July.”
“Hey, it’s our anniversary month,” Jack said. “Now if only one of us can remember what date it was.”
Ianto shook his head. “Don’t expect miracles of me,” he said. “I remember the day we met. That’s good enough.”
Jack grinned and turned back to the team. “Any other questions?” he asked.
“Four years?” Gwen asked incredulously. Ianto shifted slightly; he’d been wondering why she was being so quiet. Well, it wasn’t so much wondering as it was wishing he was wrong about her… but he knew he wasn’t.
“Yep,” Jack said. “Around that.”
“Cradle-robber, much?” Owen asked.
“Don’t even,” Ianto said. “The amount of work I had to put into convincing him it was all right.”
“You did no such thing!” Jack protested.
“Well, not overtly,” Ianto agreed. Jack thought about that for a moment, then began to laugh.
“You totally played me, didn’t you?”
Ianto managed to convey smugness through a single raised eyebrow.
“How long have you known each other, then?” Toshiko asked, the redness only just beginning to fade from her face.
“Longer than I’ve known any of you,” Jack said, shrugging. “We’ve been living together since he started university. So, eighteen?”
“Thereabouts,” Ianto agreed.
“I never even suspected,” Toshiko said, looking at Jack. “You never gave any indication you were in a relationship.”
Jack shrugged again. “My life, my business,” he said. “Besides, I didn’t want any unfriendlies using him against me.”
“Fair enough,” Toshiko conceded.
“While we’re on the topic of true confessions,” Ianto added. “I should probably say that I knew exactly who you were, Tosh, when I came by the Tourism Office that one time. With the flower, I mean.”
“What?” she asked, startled.
Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto’s waist. “My Ianto was checking up on all of you,” he said. “Just to make sure you were doing all right without me.”
“So, what, you stalked me to the bar?” Owen asked grumpily.
“No,” Ianto lied easily. “But I did make sure you got home safe those times that I saw you there.”
“Oh,” Owen said, abashed.
“You’ll be glad to know that, even when drunk out of your mind and asked several leading questions,” Ianto said. “You said nothing about Torchwood or the nature of your job.”
“Well, good then,” Owen said.
“Excellent, in fact,” Jack said, raising an eyebrow. “I’d hate to have to go on a Retcon spree.”
Ianto thought it best not to mention that he’d Retconned Owen himself.
Jack flopped onto the bed. Ianto’s arm snapped out to hold his stack of books in place, stopping them from bouncing off.
“Problems?” he asked.
“Gwen,” Jack said, voice muffled by dint of the fact that he appeared to be trying to suffocate himself with his pillow.
“What about Ms Cooper?” Ianto asked.
Jack shifted, a single blue eye peeking up over the pillow at Ianto. “She’s been asking me about you. And me. Us.”
Ianto nodded, thoroughly unsurprised. “And?”
“And she’s getting married in four months,” Jack complained, rolling over onto his back. “Why’s she still acting like she’s got a thing for me?”
“Because she does,” Ianto said.
“Why?” Jack asked sulkily.
“Well, she might not if she could see you now,” Ianto said dryly. “She sees you as a hero, sir. Which you are, but that’s not all of you. She just doesn’t see the rest, doesn’t see you as just a person. Maybe eventually she will, but right now she’s got that hero-worship going on that’s blinding her to everything else. Everyone else.”
Jack sighed mournfully and slid closer to Ianto. “Whatcha reading?” he asked.
“Top ten ways to unsubtly change the subject,” Ianto told him, and got a light slap to his thigh in response. “Ow. Parallel Worlds.”
Jack let his hand wander over Ianto’s leg, moving up his inner thigh. “Sure you want to be reading that now?”
Ianto closed his book, added it to the pile, and moved the whole lot off onto the bedside table. “I do love frustrated sex.”
Jack laughed.
They lost two days. Ianto didn’t know how it happened, and unlike the rest of the team, he didn’t particularly care. He had a feeling he was better off not knowing.
Besides, they’d all tested positive for Retcon, and since they were the only people with access to the drug, it stood to reason that they’d Retconned themselves. And if that were the case, surely something had precipitated that action, and they shouldn’t go digging too deep?
In the end, none of the others found anything anyway, so it didn’t really matter. Ianto just relegated it to the category of ‘don’t want to think about’ and moved on.
“What did I do?” Jack mumbled into Ianto’s neck.
“What you thought you had to,” Ianto replied, running his hands over Jack’s wide back, palms flat against warm skin. Up, down, across, in broad, sweeping motions.
“Owen hates me,” Jack said with certainty.
“Probably,” Ianto conceded, and Jack sighed. “He’ll move on, sir. Eventually. He knows you didn’t have any ill intentions in mind.”
“Shouldn’t have done it,” Jack said. “It’s just - he was -”
“A son,” Ianto filled in.
“It was too soon,” Jack said.
“It always is,” Ianto replied.
Days fell into a routine for Ianto. From eight to nine, he fed any aliens (and the pteranodon) currently residing in the Hub. At nine, he popped up to make a round of coffee for everyone, and get the latest paperwork from Jack. Sorting those out usually took another hour, after which he’d spend about three hours working on the archives. Lunch was always a hasty ten-minute affair, after which he retreated to the (newly-updated) tourist office with backlogged paperwork. If any civilians walked in, it only took moments to hide the papers, so he was able to keep up the front while still working.
Of course, all that was barring any major Rift emergencies. When those happened and the full team was needed out in the field, Ianto would close up the Information Centre and retreat down into the Hub to coordinate for them. It was a remarkably efficient system, and after just a few months, the team was dealing much more capably with what came their way.
Owen was coping, though not always well. Once Jack had agreed to let Owen out into the field again, the griping was moved out of Ianto’s earshot, so it didn’t really bother him. Apparently, being allowed to work again was helping to relax Owen, though. It was just the long periods of enforced insomnia that were getting to him.
Ianto bought a few video games and installed them onto Owen’s computer. The expression on Owen’s face when he’d realised they were there, was priceless.
All in all, life at Torchwood wasn’t nearly as hectic as Ianto had feared it might be. Since he only did Hub work, venturing out solely to aid in clean-up, he actually had a semblance of normal work hours… if eight to nine each day was normal. Still, at least it was a kind of set pattern, which was more than the others got. And Ianto, unlike them, never had to suffer the indignities of midnight call-outs.
Jack did, though, and he was taking more and more of those night calls on himself, till he was spending more nights awake than asleep. Ianto thought it was as if he was trying to do penance, and then realised that that was exactly what he was doing.
And that Jack couldn’t go on like that too much longer.
Something had to break. As it turned out, that something was Ianto.
“-ome back, don’t do this, don’t do this, please baby, don’t leave me,” and on and on the litany of words running into and through each other, syllables slurred through tears. Ianto struggled to open his eyes, his entire body spasming with pain.
“Got a pulse!” Owen said triumphantly. “Back the fuck up, Harkness, I need to listen to his heart.”
Heart? Pulse? What had happened?
It came back in fits and spurts, but Ianto finally remembered - that odd little box he’d seen on Jack’s table when he came in for the paperwork. He hadn’t touched it, he knew he hadn’t, but somehow it had reacted to him anyway. Mustn’t have been properly contained.
“Okay, he’s going to be okay,” Owen said. “Near as I can tell, it’s pretty much like an electrocution - stimulates all the nerves - but doesn’t do damage to them. What was that thing?”
“Geksucian torture device,” Jack said. “It was my fault - I found it yesterday and I hadn’t deactivated it yet -”
“That’s not like you,” Toshiko said quietly.
“I messed up,” Jack said, and Ianto could feel a familiar hand against his face. “I know.”
“Punishing yourself again,” Ianto said hoarsely. “You have to stop doing that.”
Jack didn’t say anything.
Ianto managed to force his eyes open. There were tears streaking Jack’s face and they hadn’t stopped yet. Jack was still crying silently, his eyes blood-shot and his cheeks flushed. And yet, he remained so unnaturally still, staring at Ianto like he was trying to memorise everything about him.
He was in the med bay, Ianto realised. Probably shouldn’t sit up. Instead, he tilted his head so that his cheek rubbed up against Jack’s hand, nuzzling against him with a minute sigh.
“It was my fault,” Jack said.
“Yep,” Ianto said, hearing the sharp intakes of breath around him.
“Ianto, surely - Jack, it wasn’t,” Gwen began.
“It was your fault,” Ianto interrupted, calmly looking up at Jack. “We have containment procedures for a reason. You failed to follow them.”
Jack took a deep breath, but stayed silent.
“So what now, sir?” Ianto asked.
Jack leaned down and kissed Ianto. He tasted like salt. “I’m going to get some sleep,” he said at last. “And when I’m done, I’ll get a start on that paperwork I’ve been neglecting.”
“Good,” Ianto said. “UNIT’s calling at two, don’t forget.”
Another feather-light brush of lips against his forehead, and Ianto closed his eyes again, smiling.
Jack was clingy for a few days after the accident, but Ianto didn’t mind since Jack was also starting to piece himself back together. He rather thought that after so long, his immortal lover might have learned some healthier ways of dealing with guilt and grief.
Evidently, he hadn’t. Ianto took it upon himself to make life a little more fun for Jack, starting with wearing his collar to work every day.
Jack… liked that. And since his collar was usually partially hidden by his shirt, and what was visible easily passed for a choker, he didn’t get questioned about it. It was an easy way to get Jack’s mind off his guilt and on to more pleasant thoughts.
The archives progressed. Ianto calculated that if he was able to maintain his current rate of work, he’d be finished organising and updating them in another year or so. After that - they’d have to see what he could do. He rather thought that Jack would be more than happy to hand off all the paperwork responsibilities to Ianto.
Except maybe for Flat Holm.
“Sir? Do you have a minute?”
“’Course I do,” Jack said, happily dropping his pen. “What is it?”
“These expense reports you filed yesterday,” Ianto said, displaying them. “I was wondering what these here were for.”
Jack stilled. “It’s a safe-house,” he said after a moment.
“I checked the listing,” Ianto observed. “It wasn’t there. It’s not an official one, then?”
“Nope.”
“Should I know?” Ianto asked warily.
“I don’t want you to,” Jack admitted slowly.
Ianto studied him for a moment, then took a seat. “But you do.”
Jack sighed. “Look, the Rift - sometimes it takes people.”
Ianto smiled wryly. “I’m aware.”
“And sometimes it gives them back,” Jack said. He looked at Ianto. “Not all of them are as lucky as you, Ianto. Some of them - they’re deposited in places - horrible places, they see horrible things, and when they come back, they’re… damaged.”
Ianto took a deep breath and let it out slowly, sinking back in the chair. “That’s what this is for.”
“When I started here, I realised they were keeping some people in the Vaults,” Jack said. “Disfigured and traumatised, too damaged to enter society again, so naturally the only thing to be done with them was stick them in the Vaults.”
“You set up a safe-house for them,” Ianto filled in.
Jack nodded. “They’re too broken even for Retcon, and there’s no way they’d be able to survive outside the safe-house. Look, I don’t want you to go there, Ianto. I don’t want that to touch you.”
Ianto thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. “So long as you let me help you,” he said.
Jack smiled faintly. “You do.”
“Honey, I’m home,” Jack sang out as he entered their flat. Then he fell silent, catching sight of the human-sized lump on the sofa. Smiling to himself, he locked the door quietly, shrugged out of his greatcoat and went over to Ianto.
“Hey,” he said, shaking Ianto lightly. A discontented grumble came from the blanketed lump. “Wouldn’t the bed be more comfortable?”
Blue eyes peered up blearily at Jack. “Mmf,” Ianto said intelligently, and sank back into his cocoon.
Jack laughed and scooped Ianto up, startling him awake. “Come on, baby,” he said. “Bed.”
Ianto sighed and rested his head against Jack’s shoulder. “Everything all right?” he mumbled.
“Yeah,” Jack said, depositing Ianto on the bed. He began to untangle the blankets and was pleasantly surprised to find Ianto naked under them. “Didn’t even get scratched.”
“Good,” Ianto said, yawning.
“You have a good night out?” Jack asked, peeling off his own clothes and crawling in next to Ianto.
“Mm-hmm,” Ianto said, curling contentedly against Jack’s side. A cat in disguise, Jack thought, and petted Ianto’s hair. “Was nice catching up with the research team.”
“Bet it was,” Jack said, smiling. “Get some sleep now.”
“Mmkay,” Ianto said, already dropping off again.
Jack stayed awake a while longer, watching Ianto sleep. Then he fell asleep as well.
Ianto perched on the edge of the counter, watching as Jack put their dinner together. He’d just finished cutting up the meat and tossing it in with the sliced greens.
“What are the chances of getting through this meal without being interrupted by a call?” he asked idly.
“I’ll put it at forty percent,” Jack said, pouring out some olive oil and mixing in a healthy dollop of mustard. He added salt, pepper and white wine vinegar, then taste-tested the dressing, chewing on his bottom lip all the while. “Do you mind?” he finally asked. He sounded as if he wasn’t certain of the answer, which Ianto thought quite ridiculous.
“Nope,” Ianto said. “Besides, I’m used to it.”
“My poor baby,” Jack said, wandering over and stealing a kiss from Ianto. “You’re always waiting on me, aren’t you?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ianto said, shrugging. “You always come back.”
Jack smiled and ghosted another kiss across Ianto’s neck before moving back to the food. There was a little bounce to his movements as he tossed the dressing through the chicken salad. Ianto hugged Jac the plushie closer.
“Do you mind,” he said tentatively. “If I tell my family about us?”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “No,” he said. “But you’ll have to come up with a reason why I don’t age. We can only pull it off for a few years before they start asking questions.”
“They’re not the most observant lot,” Ianto said. “I’ll tell them, see how they take it.”
Jack dished out the food and picked up the plates, heading for the table. Ianto hopped off the counter and followed him. “Good luck,” Jack said. “I think they’ll be all right. They seemed open-minded enough.”
Ianto shrugged. “It’s always different when it’s family,” he said. “But yes. Hopefully.”
Jack pulled Ianto down into the chair next to him. Ianto settled Jac on the edge of the table. “There’s always here,” he said.
“I know,” Ianto said.
Ianto’s family was surprised, but took the news fairly well. Johnny was a tad uncouth about it, but Ianto left Rhiannon to deal with her husband and went back home to tell Jack the good news.
A week later, Jack came over to meet the Joneses. It might have been his natural good looks, but Ianto thought that Jack had rather managed to charm the entire family. It was a nice break from work and from Gwen’s nerviness about her upcoming wedding.
And if every time a wedding was mentioned, Jack got a particularly broody look on his face, Ianto wasn’t commenting.
Gwen’s wedding was an unmitigated disaster. After the Nostrovite had been taken care of, Ianto drove out to help with the clean-up - which in this case meant Retconning all the guests and staff, and getting rid of the gunk formerly known as a Nostrovite. The bullet holes in the walls were a little harder to hide, but Jack plastered them over and they decided it was good enough.
The music was still playing when they got back to the ballroom. For some reason, Gwen and Rhys hadn’t retired yet, and were talking quietly at a table. Ianto could only imagine the topic of that conversation. Owen and Toshiko appeared to be having a heated discussion about the relative merits of video games and movies.
Jack slipped an arm around Ianto’s waist. “Well, it was definitely a Torchwood wedding,” he said.
Ianto smirked. “Why is it always Torchwood?” he asked rhetorically.
“Don’t know,” Jack said. “Always bad luck.” He eyed Ianto up and down. “Well, maybe not always.”
“Hm,” Ianto said absently. “This music is kind of terrible.”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Dance with me?”
Ianto raised an eyebrow.
“Dance with me,” Jack repeated. “I know it’s terrible music. Doesn’t matter. I just want to relax for a bit.”
“Well, we are done with work,” Ianto conceded, turning to face Jack. They slipped into position effortlessly and began to move to the beat.
It had been Jack who’d taught Ianto how to dance. Those first, fumbling steps in their living room had since morphed into an easy familiarity with each other’s bodies, with the way they each moved. Ianto ignored the fact that the others were watching and let Jack dance them around the ballroom, seamlessly upping the tempo when the next song, a faster one, came on.
“My Ianto,” Jack whispered.
“Yes, sir?” Ianto replied. The collar around his neck felt reassuring.
“If I proposed, what would you say?” Jack asked, then spun Ianto around so that he couldn’t reply immediately.
“When?” Ianto asked breathlessly, once he was facing Jack again.
“When am I proposing?” Jack asked, frowning.
“No,” Ianto said. “When’s the soonest we can get married?”
Jack’s face lit up, impossibly bright.
It was strange how much alike the ring and the collar felt. Ianto couldn’t quite stop himself from touching the ring every so often, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. They were planning on a civil ceremony sometime within the year. With any luck, nothing too terrible would happen on that day, although after Gwen’s fiasco of a wedding, Ianto wasn’t holding out much hope.
The team had taken the news… interestingly.
“Oh my god,” Toshiko breathed. “Congratulations!”
“Has hell frozen over?” Owen wondered out loud.
“This is brilliant,” Gwen exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Have you planned what you’re going to do?”
“Nothing fancy,” Ianto said hurriedly, recognising the look in her eyes. “Just a small civil ceremony, maybe refreshments later. It’s really only family and you lot, plus a few other friends.”
“You sure you don’t want to do a big reception or anything?” Gwen asked.
“Positive,” Ianto and Jack said at the same time.
Gwen looked disappointed.
“So who exactly are we inviting?” Jack asked.
“Tosh, Owen and Gwen. Eleri, Geraint, Rhiannon, and… it’s probably only polite to add Johnny and the kids to that,” Ianto said. “Let’s hope they behave.”
“Who, the kids?” Jack asked.
“I’m more worried about Johnny,” Ianto said. “What about on your side?”
“I’ll invite Alice and Stephen,” Jack said. “Don’t know if she’ll want to come though.”
Ianto nodded. “I’ll put them down anyway,” he said, adding the names to the list. “Anyone else for you?”
“Martha, Tish, Francine, Clive,” Jack said. “And Leo, I guess, since I’m inviting the rest of his family. Um, Alistair. That’s all.”
“Done,” Ianto said. “I’m putting Jerry and Mabel down. Plus ones for all the singles, and… I think that’s it.”
“Thought about what you’re going to wear?”
“I’ll wear a suit if you’ll wear a tux,” Ianto said. “Will you let me sew them both?”
“Sure,” Jack said. “You did your sister’s wedding dress, right?”
“Yep,” Ianto said.
“It was gorgeous… And you make half your own clothes, which are also gorgeous,” Jack said thoughtfully. “Yeah, you’ve got good taste. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.”
Ianto smiled. “All right,” he said agreeably. “No preferences for colours or cuts?”
Jack shook his head and caught Ianto’s eye. “I trust you.”
Ianto stretched lazily as he returned to his desk after seeing out a tourist. They’d had an easy few days, which in his experience meant that something big would probably happen soon. He wondered what it would be, and when it would happen.
He flipped through a paper idly, and an advertisement caught his eye. The old Electro was apparently being refurnished. Maybe he should go check it out - there might be something interesting there.
He’d asked the others if they wanted to come along, but Jack had been busy and no one else had been up for it. Ianto simply shrugged and went off on his own. He didn’t think they’d be particularly interested anyway.
Opening night was very sparsely attended, Ianto thought to himself as he took a seat. The owner made a thoroughly uninspiring speech, and then the reel began to play.
It started out innocently enough. Then the circus acts began.
Ianto couldn’t quite repress the shudder that ran down his back. Just a normal circus, he told himself firmly, really, it’s quite foolish to have a phobia of circuses, of all things. He glanced over at the owners, then shifted uneasily when he realised they looked annoyed - hadn’t this been part of the film?
He looked back at the screen just in time to see a familiar face peering out at him.
“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” Ianto nearly sobbed into his phone.
“Yeah?” Jack asked.
“It’s the Ghostmaker!” Ianto blurted out. “Jack, it’s the Ghostmaker, I saw him on the film they’re screening here, there were shadows, something’s wrong, I need you please!”
“You’re at the Electro, right?” Jack asked. Ianto could hear things clattering in the background. “I’m on my way.” Just before the line went dead, Ianto could hear Jack yelling for the rest of the team.
He hung up and desperately tried to stop shaking.
Jack skidded over to Ianto, catching him in a tight hug. “You weren’t hurt?” he asked, anxiously checking him over.
“No,” Ianto said, clutching at Jack’s coat.
“Ianto, love, what happened?” Gwen asked in concern.
“You said it was the Ghostmaker,” Jack said. “Where?”
“The film,” Ianto said, shaking violently. “It wasn’t what they were supposed to be showing, but they were playing these images of a - a travelling fair, Jack, it was exactly the same!” He was dimly aware that his voice was very nearly hysterical, but he couldn’t quite control it.
Warm lips covered his and the scent of aniseed and cloves broke through the panic. Jack pulled back just far enough to speak, breath misting between them. “Calm down, my Ianto. I won’t let them hurt you again.”
Ianto nodded jerkily.
“They were on film?” Jack asked.
“It was the wrong film, I’m sure of it,” Ianto said. “The owner looked furious when he saw the circus footage.”
“All right, what’s going on here?” Owen broke in, exasperated. “And what’s got tea-boy so scared?”
“Something from his past,” Jack said grimly.
“After - after it ended,” Ianto said. “These… shadows went past me.”
“What kind of shadows?” Jack asked.
“Don’t know,” Ianto said. “It wasn’t clear. But it -” he shuddered. “It felt like them. Felt like him.”
Jack slipped his hand through Ianto’s. “Stay with me,” he whispered.
Ianto pressed up close behind Jack in response, silently deciding that he wasn’t going anywhere else.
“Owen, Gwen,” Jack said. “Talk to these people, see if anyone else saw the shadows. See what you can get out of them. Ianto and I will go talk to the film guy. Meet back at the SUV when we’re done.”
Owen and Gwen still looked thoroughly confused as to what was happening, but shrugged and followed directions. Jack turned to kiss Ianto one more time before leading him away.
They took the canisters of film from Jonathan, though Ianto was more than apprehensive about getting near them, let alone touching them. Then Toshiko, who was coordinating from the Hub, picked up traces of Rift activity nearby.
Ianto felt distinctly uneasy as they set off.
“Want me to drop you off home?” Jack asked as they drove.
“I think I need to see this through,” Ianto replied, reflecting that the statement would sound a lot better if his hands would stop shaking.
“Any time you want to stop, let me know,” Jack said.
“You want to tell us what’s going on, now?” Owen asked archly. “Gwen and I weren’t able to find out anything. No one thought anything had happened other than the film not working right. Same scenes over and over again is all.”
“Later,” Jack said. “When we get back to the Hub.”
The girl was sitting there, lips cracked, face dried out. Ianto had a terrible feeling he knew what had happened to her.
“Now do we get explanations?” Owen demanded.
“You’ve been putting it off long enough, Jack,” Gwen added. “What’s going on?”
Jack glanced at Ianto, who was hunched in on himself. He looked, for a moment, like the terrified thirteen-year-old boy Jack had found in the woods all those years ago. “Hang on a minute,” he said, tugging Ianto away from the others. “Are you wearing your collar?”
Ianto shook his head mutely.
“Is it at home?” Jack asked.
“No,” Ianto whispered. “My bag. I always have it with me.”
“Go get it and put it on,” Jack told him, and kissed his lips gently. “Then we’ll have to tell them the truth, okay?”
Ianto nodded miserably and trudged off to his bag. Jack watched him go, thinking that it had to be a sign of how scared Ianto was that he didn’t even bother to put the collar on in private. Instead, he wrapped it around his neck in plain view of the others, then returned to Jack’s side.
He was already looking a lot calmer, Jack noticed in relief, rearranging Ianto’s shirt so that the collar sat snugly under it.
“Okay,” he said, leading Ianto back to the team. “Explanations. There’s something you should know about Ianto, first off.”
“What?” Toshiko asked, puzzled.
“When he was born, for one,” Jack said dryly.
“Nineteenth of August, 1983,” Toshiko rattled off promptly, then blushed when Jack threw a questioning look her way. “I looked him up when you said he was joining us.”
“Nice to know my forgery skills were good enough to pass muster,” Jack said, smiling. “But Ianto was actually born about two centuries ago.”
There was a moment of silence.
“What?” Gwen finally said, faintly.
“He was taken by the Rift,” Jack said. “Fell through into 1996… like John, Diane and Emma. I found him and set him up.”
“That’s how you know each other,” Toshiko said slowly.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Thing is, Ianto was running away from something when he fell through the Rift.”
“From?” Owen asked.
“The Night Travellers,” Jack said. Ianto leaned into his side and Jack put an arm around him, tucking him in close. “I searched for them back in the 1920s, but I never did come up with anything. After I found Ianto, I tried looking again, but still - nothing. Until now.”
“Who are they?” Gwen asked.
“It was a tale that was around then,” Jack said. “The 1920s, I mean, and obviously before that as well. A… ghost story. A travelling fair that left a trail of damage and sorrow wherever they performed.”
“They came from out of the rain,” Ianto whispered.
“That’s always how they’re described,” Jack said, glancing at Ianto. “But we don’t know anything about them. All we know is, they appear and then people go missing, villages are devastated. And they’re who Ianto saw on that film.”
“But it’s just a picture,” Gwen said. “It can’t do anything.”
“You didn’t feel the shadows,” Ianto insisted. “Once you’ve felt them, you never forget them. There were these - shadows that ran past after the film ended. It felt exactly like them. When he touched me -”
Jack kissed Ianto’s shoulder. “Ianto was lucky to escape them,” he said. “I suspect the two victims we found today weren’t so lucky. Now - Tosh, could you get that film set up? I want to see what we’re dealing with.”
It didn’t take long for Ianto to realise that the Ghostmaker and his assistant had disappeared. Farfetched as it seemed, they suspected that the shadows Ianto had seen running past him had actually been those two, escaping their prison of film.
And now they were loose in Cardiff.
Jack set Owen and Gwen on researching and Toshiko on monitoring the city. Then he grabbed Ianto and brought him into the conference room.
“Baby,” he said, kneeling down in front of Ianto. “Are you absolutely positive you want to work with us on this?”
Ianto nodded. “I have to,” he said. “They - I know what happened to Tad. These people now, if there’s any chance -”
Jack kissed the backs of Ianto’s hands gently. “Then promise me you’ll stay with me always,” he said.
Ianto very nearly laughed at that. “You might have trouble prying me away.”
“Call from the hospital, Jack,” Toshiko said. “New victims - a family of four. Same symptoms. Heartbeat, no breath.”
“We need to find out more about the Night Travellers,” Gwen said. “Exactly what they do. Owen and I’ve found some old articles, but I’m not sure they’re helpful.”
“What are they?” Jack asked.
Owen displayed a few articles and summed them up. “He reckoned his wife’s last breath had been taken and put in a flask,” he finished.
“A silver flask,” Ianto said quietly, staring at his hands.
“Think you could try and remember?” Jack asked, moving over to Ianto. “What exactly did they say and do?”
Ianto sighed. “I’ve spent a long time trying to forget,” he said. “I might not be remembering correctly.”
“Right now, you’re our only living witness,” Jack said. “Something’s better than nothing.”
Ianto closed his eyes. “They came from out of the rain,” he began. “At night, they came to the village. I’d been watching Huw all day,” he said, a faint smile touching his lips. “Mam had gone to the next village to sell quilts - she made them herself, they even bought them up at the garrison. When she got back, I had to go help Tad with the mending. It’d been a long day. Long week. So when the travelling fair came, Tad decided we’d both go as a treat.”
Ianto licked his lips nervously. “It was fine at first,” he said. “There was music, all sorts of acts.”
“And then?” Jack pressed.
“Then I saw him,” Ianto said. “He was talking to Tad. He took Tad’s shoulder and put something to Tad’s mouth. Then he turned around and when he moved out of the way, I couldn’t see Tad anymore.
“And then,” Ianto went on, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. “He came to me.”
“What did he say?” Jack asked.
“He - he asked me if I’d like to join the show,” Ianto said haltingly. “He was holding a flask in his hand, a silver flask. I asked him who he was.”
“The Ghostmaker,” Jack said, and Ianto nodded.
“He wanted me to be part of his audience,” Ianto said. “That’s what he said. ‘You can travel with us forever.’ I tried to get away from him, but he grabbed my shoulder and it hurt so badly -”
“But something distracted him,” Jack said.
Ianto took a deep breath and nodded. “A woman called to him. He let go of me and I ran. Then, apparently, I fell through the Rift. And met you,” he added, looking up at Jack.
Jack leaned down and kissed Ianto. “Thank you,” he whispered before straightening and turning to the team, unconsciously drawing Ianto closer in a protective gesture.
“The last breath of each victim,” Jack said. “That’s how he makes his ghosts.”
“So if we can find the flask…” Owen said.
“We can save them.”
“Film of a film,” Ianto said. “And if we overexpose it -”
“Blank them out,” Jack said. “Get rid of them. It’s worth a shot.”
Ianto nodded. “Come on, we’ve got to get back there.”
Running back to the SUV, Jack found the time to reach out and squeeze Ianto’s hand.
Ianto felt his nerves settling almost immediately.
“One,” Ianto said, tears making his voice catch. “I think we saved just one.”
Jack hurried over to him, shoving the camera in his pocket.
“I hear it, Jack,” Ianto cried as Gwen gingerly capped the flask. “I heard it. Something inside. Calling out to me.”
“Okay,” Jack said soothingly, running his hands down Ianto’s arms. If Ianto was still calling him by his name - as he had been throughout this whole ordeal - then things were even worse than he’d thought. “We saved one,” he said, drawing Ianto into his arms. “But which one?”
“What’s in there?” the nurse asked suspiciously, as Jack tilted the flask forward, to the little boy’s lips. Daniel Adam Evans, that was his name. Daniel, who hadn’t woken up, might never wake up. Or might wake up to find himself an orphan and everything he knew gone.
Ianto knew what that felt like.
“Something that belongs to him,” Jack said. “His last breath.”
A wisp of something floated out from the flask. Ianto hovered anxiously as it entered Daniel’s mouth. There was a moment of stillness, and then Daniel gasped, coughing as life flooded his body again.
“What have you done?” the nurse yelped in alarm.
“It worked,” Ianto said, tears standing in his eyes. One soul. They’d only managed to save one soul, but -
“Welcome back,” Jack said, smiling down at Daniel.
“They could still be out there,” Ianto said. “All those forgotten reels of film. Waiting. Until someone plays them and sets them loose again.”
“Could be,” Jack said. “But we know what to do now. And we’ll stop it if it ever happens again.”
Ianto nodded, unconvinced. His gaze fell on the flask and he looked away. “I’m going to go to the hospital,” he said. “Daniel must be confused about what’s going on.”
“All right,” Jack said. “I’ll join you in a bit.”
Ianto smiled weakly and left. Jack picked up the silver flask and put it away, in his safe. For just a moment, he thought he heard a hurdy-gurdy play a few notes, but when he focused, the sound was gone. A chill ran down his spine. He really hoped he’d imagined that.
But there was nothing else he could do now. Nothing but become the supportive lover again, try and help Ianto through the nightmare he’d just relived.
“Something’s on your mind,” Jack said, sliding Ianto’s shirt off his shoulders.
“Something’s always on my mind,” Ianto replied.
“Something in particular,” Jack said. “Has been bugging you for the past week.” He tapped the tip of Ianto’s nose. “And you think it’s something that will bother me, so you’re not talking.”
Ianto dropped his gaze to the floor.
“Tell me,” Jack said firmly, even as he unbuckled Ianto’s belt.
“I want to adopt Daniel,” Ianto blurted out.
“I don’t have to ask why,” Jack said, not sounding at all surprised. Daniel’s only surviving family member was an aunt who frankly was a bit of a troll. “Are you sure you’re ready for the responsibility of a kid?”
“Is any parent ever ready?” Ianto retorted, then took a deep breath. “I know the theories, and I also know the theories usually go out the window with actual parenting. But I think I could be a good dad and I want to try.”
“With Torchwood?” Jack asked sceptically, pushing Ianto down onto the bed and pulling off his trousers and pants together. That left him naked except for his collar and socks. “It’s not exactly conducive to raising a kid.”
“Not if I was a field agent,” Ianto said. “But I’m not. Out of all of you, I’ve got the most regular hours. I could shave a couple of hours off my usual time, leave earlier so I can spend evenings with Daniel. He’d have school half the day most of the time anyway, and Mrs Gracie’s said she’d be happy to take him in when neither of us is home.”
“Been talking to her about this, have you?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. He settled down on the floor beside Ianto’s legs, teasing a sock off without looking. His eyes were fixed on Ianto’s.
Ianto coloured slightly. “We were actually talking about her kids,” he said defensively. “And I happened to mention I’d like to adopt, and she knows we have irregular hours and she said if we’ll be home late, or we have to pull overnighters, she’d be happy to baby-sit.”
Jack ducked his head so that Ianto wouldn’t see him smile. Off came the other sock, and Ianto wriggled his toes in freedom. “Have it all figured out then?”
“Yes,” Ianto said. “Except -”
“Except for me,” Jack said, looking up with a neutral expression on his face.
Ianto’s face fell a little as he saw Jack’s look. “Um, yes,” he said hesitantly. “It was just an idea I was kicking around,” he said. “We - obviously, we don’t have to -”
“Just kicking around,” Jack repeated solemnly, squeezing the heel of Ianto’s right foot. Ianto sighed into the slow massage. “All that planning and forethought was just kicking it around?”
Ianto started to turn red. He didn’t say anything.
“You’ll be such a great dad,” Jack said affectionately, leaning against Ianto’s legs.
“Um,” Ianto said.
“You’re silly sometimes, you know that?” Jack said, glancing up once so that Ianto could see the amusement on his face, before returning his attention to the massage. “I don’t mind at all, Ianto. I’ve had kids before, and Daniel’s pretty sweet.”
Ianto’s toes curled in delight. “You mean that?”
“That Daniel’s sweet?” Jack asked guilelessly, and was promptly smacked in the head. “Ow! Yes, yes, I mean it. We’ll adopt him. Hey, we’re Torchwood - should be useful for little things like getting past the usual red tape and questioning about whether a gay couple can actually raise a kid.” Jack rolled his eyes.
Ianto beamed, his toes wriggling happily. Jack bit down a laugh.
“Do you want to have more, after Daniel?” Jack enquired.
“Might be nice,” Ianto said. “If we can handle Daniel all right, first of all.”
“We can have our own,” Jack said.
“What, with a surrogate mother or something?” Ianto asked, puzzled. “Donor egg?”
“No,” Jack said, drawing out the word. “We get Martha to call the Doctor, then we get the Doctor to swing by the 51st Century and pick up a round of pills and supplements, then I take those pills and start producing eggs which we’ll fertilise with your sperm and then implant in my artificial womb. Easy. Of course,” he added thoughtfully. “I’ll have to be on maternity - or is that paternity? - leave for nine months. Can’t risk dying while carrying the baby, you know. And either Owen or Martha will have to do the IVF and deliver the baby. Can you imagine me going in for a C-section at a public hospital?”
Jack looked up at Ianto expectantly, then winced. Ianto was staring at him in slack-jawed disbelief.
“Or not,” he added hurriedly.
“You want a baby?” Ianto asked.
“Maybe,” Jack said. “Eventually. Um. After Daniel’s settled in. And when he’s old enough to know how to hold his tongue about daddy being pregnant.”
Ianto laughed incredulously. “Oh, sir,” he breathed. “That’s amazing.”
Jack peered up at him. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” Ianto said fervently. “Yes.”
“This is where we live,” Ianto said, switching on the light. Daniel clung to Ianto’s leg, but at least he was looking around in interest.
“Where’s Jack?” he asked, looking up at Ianto.
“At work,” Ianto said, ushering Daniel in. “Remember, I told you Jack’s work means he’s got to go out at odd times, whenever there’s something important?”
Daniel nodded, wandering over to the sofa.
“Go on,” Ianto said. “Just don’t bounce on it. Don’t want you to crack your head open.”
Daniel giggled and clambered onto the sofa.
“This room over here will be yours,” Ianto said, indicating what had once been his old bedroom. “Jack and I will be in this room here. Rule is, if you want to go into someone else’s bedroom, you have to knock and wait for permission first, okay?”
“For me too?” Daniel asked.
“Most of the time,” Ianto said. “If you’re just sulking, I might come in without permission.”
“What if you’re sulking?” Daniel asked immediately.
“Then Jack will come in and talk some sense into me,” Ianto said, grinning.
“Okay,” Daniel said agreeably.
Ianto heard the keys jangling a moment before the lock turned and the door opened. He turned to watch Jack hang up his greatcoat and stride towards them.
“Uncle Jack!” Daniel squealed, sliding off the sofa and running over to hug Jack’s legs.
“Hey, sport,” Jack said, scooping up the little boy and hugging him before setting him back down. “Had the grand tour yet?”
“Not quite,” Ianto said. “We just got back ourselves. Danny hasn’t seen his bedroom yet, have you, Danny?”
“Nope,” Daniel said cheerfully, running over to Ianto and tugging on his hand. “Come on, let’s see!”
Jack laughed. “Hang on, kiddo,” he said teasingly, then leaned in to kiss Ianto.
“Mm,” Ianto sighed contentedly when they broke apart. “Welcome back.”
“Good to be home,” Jack said, smiling. Then he looked down, the smile widening at Daniel’s impatient tugs on both their trousers. “But I’m thinking we have some exploring to do now. Don’t we?”
“Yeah!” Daniel cheered, racing to the bedroom. Jack was right on his heels, scooping him off the floor again to prevent him from ‘winning’ the race.
Ianto followed at a more sedate pace. He foresaw a lot of running around in his future. And a lot of chaos, and noise, and unpredictability, all those things he didn’t like having in his life.
Jack appeared to be trying to tickle Daniel to death. He looked up, catching Ianto’s eyes for just a moment, and smiled.
Ianto smiled back. Somehow, the impending chaos didn’t bother him one whit. This was his family, odd as it was, a trio of broken people who’d lost their own families, pulling together to make the best of their lives.
And he wouldn’t change that for the world.
~fin
CC much appreciated!
POLL:
I’m planning on posting a one-shot before I leave for a short trip overseas. Problem is, I can’t decide which one, so I’ve decided to let you lot pick! All I’m giving you are the titles, pairings, genres and length, so choose wisely. Here are your options:
1) Sweet As Love - Ianto/Lisa, minor Ianto/Jack; Angst; 5 pages.
2) a clearer light - Jack/Ianto; Angst, Hurt/Comfort (happyish ending; 5+1 format); 7 pages.
3) A Hundred and Fifty Years - Jack/Ianto; General (crossover with Doctor Who); 10 pages.
4) On the Origin of Purple Dinosaurs (might be retitled) - (Very) Minor Jack/Ianto; Humour (crack, really); 4 pages.
5) The Colonisation of Captain Jack - Gen; Humour (also crack); 7 pages.
Don’t have a paid account, so I can’t make one of those nifty click-one-button-and-you’re done polls. Would appreciate you letting me know your choice in your comments; you’re not obliged to review, though I’d love that too, of course. =D