Fic: Reverse
Author Name: amyross
Recipient: hel_bee
Pairing: Jack/Ianto only.
Summary: A rogue piece of alien tech turns Jack and Ianto’s world upside down, and suddenly the future looks very different indeed. The 21st century is when everything changes? You bet it is!
Rating: NC17
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and am making no money.
Warnings: Ever-so-slight DW crossover.
Word Count: 15,819
Author’s Notes: I really want to thank my recipient for the amazing prompts, because this was such brilliant fun to write. I tried to include as many of them as I could!
Betas: Anonymous, Anonymous, and Anonymous, who were patient, brilliant, and not the least bit put off by my weirdness. Thanks, you guys (and sorry about the deadline squeeze!)
Chapter One
“Oh, for fuck’s sake …”
Gwen’s howl of frustrated outrage rang clearly through the Hub. She was sitting at a computer terminal and - judging by the sorry state of her usually neat hair - seemed to be moments away from causing some very expensive damage.
“What seems to be the problem?” Immaculate and composed as ever, Ianto came up behind her and peered over her shoulder at the screen.
“Oh, it won’t work. It never seems to work any more. I need this data about the Hub infrastructure, but as soon as I plug this component in, the whole system freezes!” She turned to Ianto, smiling entreatingly. “You’re good with the network; d’you think you can make it cooperate?”
Ianto picked up the component she’d connected to the computer, examined it, and frowned. “No. Sorry. This is Jack’s area.”
“What?” Gwen now looked confused, as well as stressed-out.
“We’ve worked out a division of labour. I deal with issues relating to software, and the network.”
“And this?”
“Alien or futuristic technology. Which is entirely Jack’s problem.” Ianto picked up an empty coffee cup from Gwen’s desk and walked off towards the kitchen. Gwen stared after him, slightly incredulous.
“Wait. The data relating to Hub infrastructure’s on a device with alien or futuristic origins?”
Ianto turned and looked at her in mild disbelief. “Of course. You … didn’t know that?” His eyes flickered briefly around the Hub, wondering if any of it could’ve come from contemporary sources. Except, of course, for the plumbing system, which hadn’t even reached modern standards; in fact, it was positively medieval. He’d have to get around to doing something about that one day. It couldn’t be good for your health, having stagnant water standing around the place.
*~*~*
In the tiny kitchen area, Ianto brewed a fresh pot of coffee and carried a cup up the stairs to Jack’s office. Seeing that the door was open, he walked straight inside and placed the cup on the desk. Jack smiled at him, brushing his hand against Ianto’s.
“Thanks. What’s the matter with Gwen?”
“Technological difficulties.”
“My problem or yours?”
“Oh, definitely yours.” Ianto grinned, and Jack sighed deeply. “Jack,” Ianto said slowly. “It raises a good point. Sooner or later we are going to have to start looking for someone to handle the computer stuff.”
Rubbing his face with his hands, Jack nodded. “I know. You’re right. We can’t afford to be letting this stuff slide. We’re just lucky the Rift’s been so quiet, or the chances are we’d be in serious need of a medic.”
Ianto picked the coffee cup off the desk and handed it to Jack. “Want me to start investigating candidates?”
Jack looked at him, slightly surprised, then shook his head. “No, I’ll do it. It’s better that way.”
Ianto watched as he took a sip of his drink, and saw the usual contented expression spread over his face. “Need anything else?”
Jack looked up at him in interest, tilting his head. “Is that a new shirt?”
“Mmm. Bought it a few weeks ago, but the cuffs had to be altered.” He noticed the expression on Jack’s face. “Why, do you like it?”
“Are you kidding me? Is there a shade of red you don’t look good in?”
“Well, there was that colour my face turned in the restaurant last night, just after you started making your little, erm, suggestions about what we could do with the dessert. I don’t think that was my perfect shade.”
Jack stood up and grinned broadly. “I don’t know … I thought that shade was gorgeous …” Pretending not to enjoy the compliment, Ianto sat down on the desk. Jack stood close to him and pulled him into a hug, Ianto’s head tucking neatly into Jack’s shoulder, as Jack ran his fingers up Ianto’s arm and through his hair. Ianto closed his eyes and breathed deeply, enjoying the moment’s peace.
This had been their life for the past few weeks. Jack’s adventure with the Doctor had changed very little between them; he had promised to return, and Ianto had believed him. And now … they still joked, they still flirted, but the priority now was to comfort each other through a difficult time. The wounds inflicted by their losses were still raw, and only healing very slowly.
*~*~*
An hour later, the computer problem appeared to have been solved. Jack was alone in the main Hub; Ianto had disappeared into the archives, and Gwen was out. In the aftermath of the explosions Gwen had finally been able to take on the role she’d always wanted, acting as liaison between Torchwood and the police. Jack was grateful to her; contact with the authorities had become inevitable, given the scale of the most recent disasters, and he certainly didn’t want to deal with them. And with the Rift behaving so nicely, he’d even had some spare time on his hands. When Ianto was unavailable, he’d been trying to teach Myfanwy to play fetch, but without much success.
Her work with the police definitely seemed to be therapeutic for Gwen. It helped her to have something to do; something that she was good at, and that got her out of the Hub. And, of course, she went home to Rhys at the end of every day. She had her escape routes.
For Jack and Ianto, there had been no escape. They practically lived in the Hub, and they ate and slept Torchwood. And the only ones they had to turn to were each other, but neither seemed to want it any other way.
Mindful of this, Jack made his way down to the archives. He found Ianto rummaging through the LU-MA files, and silently led him by the hand up the stairs to sit on the couch. He loosened Ianto’s tie and undid the top few buttons of his shirt, slipping his hand inside and lightly stroking his chest. Ianto leaned against him, unresisting, apparently happy to be taken care of.
It had, all too often, been easy for Jack to forget how young Ianto was … and how short a time he’d been with Torchwood. Life here was never exactly easy, but the harshest moments brought the sharpest reminders of his youth and innocence. The terrible times - the tragedies - used to tear Ianto apart; Jack had seen him break down more than once. Ianto was brave in the most dangerous of situations, and could bring a degree of humour to their blackest hours, but grief and loss brought out his vulnerability. But ever since its earliest days, Torchwood had brought a coldness, a remoteness, to everyone associated with it. And, as much as he hated to see Ianto hurting, a part of Jack had hoped Ianto would never lose that sensitivity. But it was coming, that hard distance, just like it came to all the others. He no longer broke down, no longer made his grief plain for all to see, but to Jack he was still visibly hurting.
It might have seemed shallow, physical intimacy to combat emotional pain, but it worked, and Jack wasn’t going to argue. Resting on his knees, he straddled Ianto and kissed him deeply, feeling strong hands grasp his back a moment later. The temperature of the air seemed to rise instantly, and he felt Ianto’s hands untucking his shirt and tugging it up over his head, pulling his t-shirt with it. He undid Ianto’s buttons more carefully - that shirt really was a work of art - and then wrapped his arms back around Ianto’s body, pressing their bare chests together. He heard a moan and wasn’t sure who it came from, so he went straight to work on his own belt. Soon, two pairs of trousers joined the shirts on the couch, and Jack lowered his body onto Ianto’s, grinding together. Kissing him harder, Jack braced his arms on the wall above the sofa, feeling Ianto’s hands grasping his arse, pulling him even closer.
“Jack …”
“I’m here.”
Jack could feel the tension fade, even as the excitement, and the desperation, rose higher. There was a time for slow and tender, and there was a time for hard and deep. But there was also a time for quick and desperate, when all that was really needed was to find some shared comfort, some release. This was one of those times. He could’ve taken it further, but they were both so close, and they needed his so much …
Jack came first, but Ianto was mere moments behind.
Neither spoke for a minute or two, still panting hard, recovering. In the end, Jack rolled sideways, giving Ianto more room to breathe. Ianto sat up, reaching for his clothes. “Better get this place cleaned up. Don’t think Gwen’ll be impressed if she comes back to this mess.”
Jack grinned and lightly whacked Ianto’s arse. “She should just be glad she didn’t catch us in action - again. Although, I’m still not convinced she really minded the first time …”
Ianto stood up, rolling his eyes, but as he walked away towards the shower he bent down and kissed the top of Jack’s head. “Thank you.”
Jack smiled to himself. It worked, and not just for Ianto; it was mere hours since his partner had done the same for him. Sometimes he wasn’t even sure who was consoling who; he’d gone looking for Ianto today because he thought he sensed the other man’s pain, but perhaps it had simply been his own. He could never voice his own need for comfort, but perhaps this was his way of asking. Maybe it didn’t matter. They understood implicitly, and comforted each other in a way no-one else could.
*~*~*
Chapter Two
It was on the morning that Jack first suspected that maybe, just maybe, things were getting back to normal, that he received an unexpected phone call.
“Hello?”
“Jack, it me. It’s Martha.”
“Martha Jones! The prettier face of UNIT! What can I do for you?”
“I need to make a visit.”
Jack was surprised; it hadn’t been that long since he’d seen her. “Sure. When will you be here?”
“Oooh, about forty seconds?”
“What?”
He heard her laugh. “Jack, I’m outside. Can you let me in?”
“Of course.” He hung up the phone and turned to face Ianto, who was watching him questioningly. “She’s here. Martha’s here. I’d better go let her in.”
“Must be important.”
“Yeah, you’d think …” The alarms sounded as Jack rolled back the cog door.
*~*~*
“So, is the world ending?” When Martha said outside, she meant outside. The wind flapped Jack’s coat around his legs; summer, it seemed, wouldn’t be coming to South Wales this year. She was dressed more casually than Jack had seen her for a while, but strangely, she didn’t look any more relaxed. She smiled when she saw him, but she appeared tense.
“Don’t know. But I have a message for you.” She held out a scrap of yellow paper, folded into triangular quarters.
Jack took it and turned it over in his hand, but didn’t open it. “From him?” He raised his eyebrows. “That’s strange: the Doctor sending notes. The Doctor’s usual mode of communication, I was once told, was to blow up your place of work.”
“Of course. Aren’t you going to open it?” She glanced around her, biting her lip.
“Aren’t you going to come inside? You look good, by the way.” He gestured behind him, in the direction of the invisible lift, the note still held between his fingers.
“No time for that. I just needed to give you the note. And now … I have to go.”
“What?” Jack’s expression turned completely serious. This wasn’t just an understandable overreaction from someone who’d seen far too much in recent times. Something was badly wrong.
She sighed, and pushed the note more firmly into his hand. “You need to read that. Now.”
“Why?”
“Because whatever’s going to happen … is going to happen in the next three minutes.” She checked her watch, apparently to confirm this odd prediction.
“What?”
“Oh, you know what he’s like. Nothing’s any fun unless it’s done at the last minute. And now, it’s two minutes and fifty seconds. Open the note.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek, and then she was gone.
*~*~*
Jack,
How are you, nice to see you, and all of that. And now, on to the point. I’m afraid I’ve got us all into a spot of bother with the Sontarans - my fault; one of their battles was threatening to overwhelm several small worlds, and I had to steer them off course - but I think the worst of it could end up coming your way. See, I accidentally led them too close to a Rift - not your Rift, but just like yours, and possibly connected- and they’ve been doing experiments. Now, I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen (I’d anticipate some fairly nasty objects coming through, myself), but it’s going to happen soon. Any second now. Sorry I can’t help you out, but I’m going to have to pay a visit to the Rutans, even things out a bit. So, I’m leaving this in your capable hands. Best of luck!
The Doctor
Jack was already on the move, back into the Hub, when all the sirens went off. He found Ianto standing in front of one of the terminals.
“Rift activity?”
“Rift activity.” Ianto’s fingers were flickering over the keyboard, and Jack watched the picture steadily zoom in, from South Wales, to Cardiff, to an area just north of the city, where it finally stopped … and a glowing red dot highlighted the exact location. “Got it. It’s in … oh, wonderful …”
“What?” Jack’s eyes narrowed, Ianto’s sarcasm not lost on him.
“The centre of the disturbance is in the middle of a bloody landfill.” He glanced down at his attire, wrinkling his nose slightly. “Have I got time to change?”
“Nope,” Jack answered immediately, with a wicked, slightly smug look. “No time at all.”
Ianto sighed, then followed Jack up through the Hub, picking up the keys to the SUV on the way.
*~*~*
As Ianto steered the SUV expertly through the Cardiff traffic, Jack spoke briefly to Gwen on the comms, letting her know that they had gone to deal with an episode of Rift activity and didn’t know when they’d be back.
“So, I take it Martha couldn’t stay. Why was she here?”
“She wanted to give me a note. A note telling me that there would be major Rift activity within three minutes.”
Ianto took his eyes off the road for a split second, to flash Jack a look of surprise. “So, you knew that would happen?”
“Yeah. The note was from the Doctor, saying that the Sontarans have been experimenting with a Rift somewhere else in the universe, and the nasty side-effects were likely to wash up here.”
“Right. Okay.” Ianto guided the car through a busy roundabout. Jack knew Ianto still had questions about the Doctor, but it wasn’t his way to cause a big scene in the middle of an operation. For now his mind would remain firmly fixed on the task at hand. It was one of the things - one of the many things - Jack admired about him. He knew Ianto had no idea how good a field agent he really was. Twice now, the Hub had coped - and the team had survived - in Jack’s absence, but he sometimes wondered whether the whole enterprise would crumble into dust if Ianto were to turn his back. They’d all come to rely on him so much.
*~*~*
Jack’s heart sank as he regarded the huge waste tip in front of him. Finding a Sontaran technological experiment in this mess was going to be … well, it was going to be like finding a small piece of unknown machinery in the middle of the biggest landfill in South Wales. As he stood and surveyed the scene, Ianto opened up the back of the SUV and retrieved a small device with a data screen and multiple aerials. “Well, this should give us a starting point. Any object comprised mainly of elements with extraterrestrial origins will be identified. Of course, there’s no proof that whatever we’re looking for will match that description …”
“… but it’s a reasonable assumption.” Jack finished for him, taking the device and activating it. Immediately the aerials began to twitch, and an intermittent humming noise filled the air. The noise became more regular - and more insistent - as they approached the giant pile of rubbish, and they did a full circuit before deciding on the best place to begin making inroads.
“Here’s as good as place as any, I guess.” Ianto kicked at the rubble in distaste, and then ploughed ahead anyway. Jack followed, holding his breath, wishing he’d had the foresight to leave his coat in the car.
“Well, there’s definitely something here.” Ianto nodded towards the device in Jack’s hands. “Of course, this is Cardiff; it’s entirely possible it’s not the same thing that’s just come through the Rift.”
“Well, let’s find out what it is, anyway.” Jack swung the device around, watching to see which direction caused it the most excitement. As he turned left, the humming noise heightened to a constant whir. He followed it, then stopped abruptly, poking through the junk with his toes, finally kicking up an oblong item with a dull metal surface. The machine in his hand beeped once, as if in confirmation, and then switched itself off.
Ianto reached down to pick the strange object up, but Jack stopped him, holding his wrist tightly. “Don’t. I think I recognise that thing.” He crouched down and peered at it more closely. He touched it once or twice with his fingers, as if he were testing it somehow. Then, when he finally seemed satisfied, he picked it up with both hands.
“Well?”
Jack opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped. A look somewhere between horror and resignation crossed his face. “It’s a … well, it’s like a bomb. But different. They were crude in my time … didn’t even have a proper name; we’d just have called it a Hostile Reversal Mechanism.”
“Reversal?” Ianto tilted his head as he looked at the metallic object, about the size of a shoebox. He didn’t sound particularly worried, but Jack expected that he could change that.
“They were designed as … what’s that dramatic little term you people use? A ‘weapon of mass destruction.’ The idea was that they’d reverse some fact, some situation, in their environment - but with hostile intent. So, they’d reverse the percentages of the elements in the air, or some development in evolutionary history. But they never quite got that far … mostly they’d just change the colour of your eyes, or turn your jacket inside out.”
“So, we shouldn’t worry?” It was a question; Ianto knew Jack very well, and could tell that he hadn’t said all he knew.
“Oh, they could still be nasty. I knew one girl - fantastic soldier, more medals than she had space to wear them - had the positions of her organs reversed. All of her insides on the outside of her body. Of course, you can’t live like that, and we couldn’t operate fast enough. Horrible way to die.”
“So … what has it reversed here?”
“Nothing. It hasn’t detonated. But it is armed and activated.”
“How can you tell?”
“Give me your hand.” Ianto looked at him, doubtfully. “Really, it’s okay. Give me your hand.” Jack took Ianto’s hand in his and rested it on the device, so that he could feel what Jack had been detecting.
“What? I can’t … oh.” Ianto took his hand away, and then replaced it on the surface. “It’s sort of … pulsating. Like it’s alive.”
“It’s not alive, but it is counting down. And we don’t know what time this has come from - these weapons may have been crude in the 51st century, but who’s to say they don’t go on to perfect them? We need to get this thing back to a secure vault, now.”
*~*~*
Jack drove back to the Hub, and Ianto held the mechanism carefully in his hands, the way his brain automatically told him to handle something that was effectively a bomb. Once they were inside, he handed it to Jack and led the way into the vaults. He opened a door that could be sealed completely, and went inside, closing the door once Jack had followed him in. Jack placed the item on a shelf, then turned to face Ianto.
“There. Should be completely safe, now. And in a few days, once it’s detonated, we’ll be able to get it out and have a closer look.”
“Right. Seems a bit anticlimactic, somehow. You know, with all the notes and emergency meetings. I mean, this is the sort of thing we handle every day.”
“Not recently, though. We haven’t had anything like this for weeks. And then this turns up. I suppose the Doctor thought it was better to be safe than sorry.” Jack shrugged, this reasoning apparently enough for him.” And we don’t know if that’s an end to it. If the Sontarans really are playing about with a Rift, that might be merely an opening shot. We’ll have to keep a look out for the next few days.”
Ianto looked as if he were about the say something, then changed his mind. One hand on Jack’s shoulder, he pushed him gently towards the door. “Come on. Lunch.”
They nearly made it. They were almost at the door when a faint popping noise sounded behind them. A look of pure horror appeared on Jack’s face. He ran back to the machine, pressing his hand to the surface to feel for the telltale pulse, but none was to be found.
“Oh, shit! It happened … it detonated! How could I have been so stupid? I thought by the spacing of those pulses we’d have hours yet …” His eyes frantically searched the small room for signs of any changes, and then he ran to the door, looking out into the main vaults, still looking, and still clearly panicked.
Ianto came to him and held him by both arms. “Jack. Calm down. You don’t seem to have noticed, but … I don’t think it worked. We’re both still here. We’re still breathing. And all of our organs are clearly still where they belong.”
Jack ran a hand through his hair. “I … I guess. I mean, they always had some effect. Maybe … I don’t know. Maybe the Sontarans damaged it in their experiments. Or maybe that technology just doesn’t like being flung through a Rift in space and time …”
Ianto nodded. “Or maybe it was targeted at some physical attribute humans don’t possess. The Sontarans were fighting the Rutans, weren’t they? I’ve seen pictures of Rutans … aren’t they sort of like jellyfish?”
Finally, Jack laughed. “Yeah, they are. Well, whatever the reason, we’ve been lucky. Come on.”
*~*~*
Back in the main Hub, Ianto made lunch, and they were still eating when Gwen returned from the police station.
“Here you go, Jack. I came in through the tourist office. There was some post for you.” She threw to Jack over the top of Ianto’s head, but missed and hit the computer terminal. The machine went up in a shower of sparks; it had been somewhat temperamental since the disturbances resulting from the planet’s little voyage to the Medusa Cascade. Rolling his eyes at the inconvenience, which had become an irritatingly frequent occurrence, Ianto took refuge halfway up the stairs and calmly waited for the sparks to die down. Gwen shrieked and flapped at the smoke with her jacket, avoiding the accusing glances from her colleagues.
“Okay, I’ve had it with these machines!” Jack pulled the panel off the back of the computer and pushed his hand inside. A moment later he bellowed in pain and withdrew his hand. It was bleeding badly, his thumb almost severed. In a flash, Ianto grabbed a cloth and wrapped it tightly around Jack’s hand. “Are you going to be all right?”
Grimacing, Jack nodded and rested his bound hand on his lap. “It’ll be fine. Superficial wound. It’ll heal fast.”
Gwen found her voice. “It’ll heal fast? Jack, you just about cut your hand off -“
“Not my hand,” Jack corrected her, tersely. “Just my thumb. Anyway, cuts and grazes … once you’ve survived life-draining demons and psychotic Time Lords - not to mention a stray javelin - you kind of gain a little perspective.”
Jack’s version of ‘perspective’ wouldn’t allow Gwen or Ianto to tend or dress his injury. “I’m telling you, it’ll be better than ever. Half an hour, at the most. It’ll just be a nice little scar that Ianto can kiss better.”
The post turned out to be an advert for a new Indian restaurant. “Where do these people get my address?” Jack asked, as he threw it - carefully - into the bin. Ianto made coffee and recounted their landfill excursion to Gwen.
*~*~*
Hours later, Jack’s hand was still bleeding profusely. Ianto had removed the first cloth and replaced it with another one … and then another. “It’s all … all … all right, Ianto. Leave it.”
Ianto tilted Jack’s head back and looked at his eyes. His speech had started slurring a little while back, and he suspected it was due to loss of blood. “Come on. You’re coming down to the medical bay. We need to get that cut sorted.” It was at times like this when the lack of a medic, as well as a tech expert, was felt most strongly. Owen, Ianto recalled with a wry smile, wouldn’t have paid the slightest attention to Jack’s claims of rapid healing. He’d have had stitches in that wound in less than five minutes. Without him, Ianto was facing the discouraging prospect of taking a less than lucid Jack to the local A&E.
Still, a light-headed Jack allowed himself to be led down to the medical bay, where Ianto could at least clean him up and apply a proper dressing. If anything, he was even more alarmed by Jack’s sudden acquiescence, and afterwards led him to the sofa to rest. Most distressingly, Jack fell asleep almost instantly. Ianto shrugged off his own suit jacket and covered Jack’s sleeping form.
On the other side of the room, Gwen had disconnected the malfunctioning computer and was tidying the mess it had created. She stood upright when she saw Ianto.
“How is he?”
“Sleeping. He’s … sleeping.”
“He told me once that he doesn’t sleep.”
“He doesn’t, not very much. Tosses and turns … gets up in the small hours. But he’s lost so much blood.” He slumped onto one of the stools, loosening his tie and top button. “He’s right, you know. He usually heals quickly. The first time I met him, a Weevil bite on his neck healed up, right before my eyes. What’s different this time?”
Gwen sat down opposite him. “D’you think it was something to do with that alien artefact you found?”
Ianto looked up at her slowly, wondering. But he never got chance to answer. Jack had leapt up from the sofa and was staggering around the room, apparently struggling to maintain his balance.
“Where is it? Where is it, I can’t find it …”
Ianto rushed to his side, trying to steady him. “What? Jack, what are you looking for?”
“My gun … where’s my gun?”
Letting go of him in surprise, Ianto asked “Your gun? What for?”
“I can’t … stand … it any more. Just give me my gun. I’ll come back … everything’ll be fine!” Jack’s eyes were wide, his voice higher than usual.
Ianto watched in silent horror, but Gwen ran forward. “Jack, don’t be stupid! You’re not going to kill yourself over a cut hand!”
“No, it’ll work. Damn it, where did I leave my gun?”
“Now, listen, Jack. You’ve lost a lot of blood but Ianto and I are going to fix that. Then you’re going to go to bed, and have a nice long rest, and when you’re feeling better … then we can look for your gun. Okay?” She was using that tone, Ianto noticed; the tone that was mollifying, in a patronising sort of way. It sounded a little like she was talking to an infant, but still, it usually worked. Not this time, though. Not with Jack.
Jack stopped for a moment and looking appealingly at Ianto. “Ianto? Tell Gwen to shut up for a minute, will you?” He turned around. “Right. Here it is.” He found his gun holster and extracted the weapon.
“Jack, stop! How do you know you’ll come back? You can’t even heal from a cut hand … how do you know you won’t just die?
“Of course I’ll come back … I always come back …”
Gwen brought both hands to her face and started to sob, until a strong but quiet voice interrupted her.
“Please don’t.”
Gwen turned to look at Ianto, then spun back around to face Jack. Ianto’s quiet appeal had, at least, stopped Jack in his tracks. He dropped the gun on the couch and came over to Ianto, wrapping his arms around his neck, and almost collapsing on him. It looked to Gwen as if he was crying.
“Gwen … will you give us a minute?”
Pulling herself together, Gwen walked away. As soon as she was gone, Ianto pulled back from Jack and looked him in the face. “Come and sit down.”
“No, I …”
“Come and sit down.”
After moving Jack’s gun well out of both their reaches, Ianto sat down on the couch. A second later, Jack slumped down next to him. “It would’ve been okay, you know.”
“What would?”
“I would’ve come back. Ianto, you know I would’ve come back.”
Ianto’s tone was harsh. “No, I don’t. But even if I did, do you think I like watching you die? At that time - in that moment - it doesn’t matter that you’re coming back. There’s always doubt. And I’m watching you die and it’s hell … and I’d never put you through that.”
His words seemed to have the desired effect, and it was a more serious, sober Jack who turned to face him. He reached over and wrapped his good hand around Ianto’s. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. And you’ve lost a lot of blood. But it’s not like it’ll never heal. Gwen and I will take you to Casualty and you’ll get stitches like the rest of us, and you can stop being such a bloody child about it!”
Finally, Jack laughed, shattering the tension.
*~*~*
As it turned out, the hospital hadn’t been as bad as Ianto had anticipated. Jack had been on his best behaviour, and in the end the customary five-hour wait for treatment had been the worst thing about the experience.
While Jack was in with the nurse, Ianto had a word with Gwen. “On the way back, can you drop us off at my place and go back to the Hub for a couple of hours?” It was already almost three in the morning, and as Ianto was there at six every morning, it didn’t seem like too much to ask.
“Of course.”
“I just want to get him away from there for a couple of hours. He’ll sleep better at my place.”
Gwen raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.
“Is that okay?”
“Yes. I’ve never seen him in such a state before. You never said … do you think it is connected to the device you found today?”
Ianto leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I don’t know. But if it isn’t, it seems like a remarkable coincidence.”
Eventually, Jack was patched up and released with care instructions and a date for having the stitches out. Apparently still weak, he made only the slightest protest when Gwen dropped them both off outside Ianto’s flat, and allowed himself to be led inside and laid straight down on the bed. Ianto went to fetch a glass of water. When he returned, he found Jack somewhat recovered, sitting up and grinning wickedly.
“I don’t have any jim-jams.”
Smoothly, Ianto placed the glass on the cabinet and replied, “That’s quite all right. You can borrow some of mine.”
“But where’s the fun in that?”
“Jack, don’t even think about it.” Ianto told him, in his most no-nonsense tone. “You’ve been injured and lost a lot of blood. Let’s concentrate on getting your hand better. Other parts of your anatomy can wait.”
“But they’re not very good at waiting …”
“Oh, I know they’re not. But they’re going to have to learn. I’m serious. You need to rest. Do I need to go and sleep on the sofa?”
Apparently weakening, Jack fell back on the bed, growling in frustration. “Oh, I suppose you’re right. But you’d better be prepared to make it up to me tomorrow night.”
Laughing, Ianto went to the chest of drawers and found a t-shirt and a pair of shorts for Jack to change into. But when he crossed back towards the bed, Jack was already asleep. Smiling, Ianto bent down and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight, Jack. Sleep tight.”
*~*~*
Chapter Three
Ianto woke early the next morning. Jack was still fast asleep beside him, still dressed in his clothes. Ianto rose, stretched, and headed off towards the shower, stopping in the kitchen to boil the kettle. He showered, dried off, and went into the bedroom to get dressed. Amazingly, Jack was still asleep. After dressing, Ianto went and set down on the bed next to him. He stroked Jack’s face with the side of his hand.
“Jack? Come on, Jack. Time to wake up …”
Groaning, Jack rolled onto his back, then yawned. “Morning, gorgeous. I just love waking up in your bed.”
“I see you’re feeling better.”
“Definitely. I can’t remember the last time I slept so well.” He sat up, and looked down at himself. “Well, clearly the solution is that I need to sleep in my clothes more often. Uh … what happened?” His tone was light, but it sounded forced.
“You remember …” Ianto prompted him, gently. He really didn’t want to have to tell him about his behaviour the previous day.
Jack shot a look at his hand, and groaned again. “Oh, yeah. Was I really in a hospital?”
“Yep. The nurse said you were a brave little soldier.” Ianto’s voice was deadpan, but there was a telltale sparkle in his eyes. “Now, come on. We need to get back to work. Gwen’s been there on her own since three. I don’t imagine that she’ll be in a very good mood …”
*~*~*
Gwen was, in fact, in a surprisingly agreeable mood. “I’m fine. But listen, I got a phone call from Andy at just after five this morning, and another one about half an hour ago. A couple of people have reported seeing deformed men with animal teeth running around the place …”
Ianto sighed. Weevil sightings. Just what they didn’t need this morning.
“Anyway, I told him we’d be there as soon as we could. So I think Ianto and I should go. And Jack? You can coordinate from here.”
“What? No way. I’m fine this morning. I’ll go.”
Gwen shot a look at Ianto, who turned to face Jack.
“Jack, just do this one thing for me. Stay here this morning. It’s only a Weevil, we’ll be fine. Indulge me.” He dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned closer to Jack. “I’ll even add that to the list of things I’m making up to you tonight …”
“Fine. But you keep your comms on the whole time.” Both of them nodded, and started away towards the door. “And Ianto? Tonight better be good!”
*~*~*
Thankfully, there was just the one Weevil, although it put up quite a struggle. It appeared to be one of the ones that was developing a resistance to the Weevil spray, and it woke up several times on the journey back to the Hub. It took both of them to drag it inside.
Jack was waiting by the door. “Whoa, that’s a feisty one!”
“They’re definitely developing an immunity to the spray, Jack. We’re going to have to think of an alternative.” Gwen dodged as the Weevil made a grab for her throat. The movement unbalanced Ianto, and the Weevil broke away, dashing through the Hub.
“Quick, after it!”
Jack and Gwen chased the creature halfway up the stairs while Ianto watched from the bottom. Its hands were cuffed, but it seized a cable in its teeth and bit through it. The severed cable sizzled and sparked, and the ends fell into the water below. Ianto, standing in the merest half-inch-deep puddle, cried out, and fell.
“Ianto!”
Both Jack and Gwen rushed towards his unconscious form. Jack stopped to immobilise the Weevil, so Gwen got there first. She checked his wrist and neck for a pulse, and found nothing. “Jack, I think … I think he’s …”
“No. Don’t say it. He’s not. He can’t be.” Jack’s tone was flat, emotionless. Instant denial.
“Jack, there’s no pulse …”
“Be quiet.” Jack dropped down beside him and rested Ianto’s head on his lap. “You can’t go. Not now. It’s not time. No. No, no, no …”
Gwen sat quietly, until the urge to speak became too much. “Oh, my God. I … Jack, I …” Her voice broke as she spoke, recent pain still evident.”
When he spoke, his voice was hollow. “Go and get me a blanket. Now”
She made a visible effort to pull herself together, but her voice still shook. “Of course.” She walked away, touching his shoulder as she went. Jack heard her footsteps all the way to the other side of the Hub. And then he got the biggest shock of his life. Ianto gasped, and his eyes flew open.
“Jack?”
*~*~*
“Ianto? Ianto, we thought you were …”
Ianto pulled himself upright and looked around. “I’m fine. A bit wet, but other than that … you thought I was dead?”
Gwen, walking back towards them, had stopped a few feet away in pure amazement. The woollen blanket she had been carrying fell to the floor.
“Someone said they couldn’t find a pulse!”
“I … I couldn’t find a pulse! Or hear breathing … or anything!”
Ianto took off his sodden jacket and stood up. “You know, Jack, we probably shouldn’t be counting on Gwen’s medical abilities. We’re going to have to find a new doctor sooner rather than later, otherwise one of us is going to end up in cold storage while we’re still alive. And shouldn’t somebody put that Weevil in a cell?”
Jack laughed; Gwen seemed caught between irritation and relief. Jack took the blanket from Gwen’s arms and wrapped it around Ianto. “I think, just this once, we can blame it on overwork. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, Gwen? We’ll call you if we need you.”
*~*~*
After Gwen had gone, and the Weevil was safely imprisoned, Jack and Ianto sat quietly together.
“Ianto … d’you realise what this means?”
“Yes … I think so.”
“The Reversal device worked. It transferred my immortality from me to you.”
Ianto frowned. “But how does that work? That’s not really a reversal, more of a … transference.”
Jack shook his head. “No, it reversed the situation. It made the mortal person immortal, and the immortal, mortal.”
Ianto smiled tightly. “Try saying that when you’re drunk.”
“But … you understand?”
Sighing heavily, Ianto nodded. “Yes. You can die now.”
“And you can’t.
They fell back into silence.
*~*~*
Ianto reacted to this revelation in the way that seemed most natural to him: he buried himself in his work, disappearing once more into the archives. Quietly furious, and at a loose end, Jack tried to practice fetch with Myfanwy but ended up slinging the oversized dog toy they’d been using across the room, almost hitting a lamp. He sat on the floor; angry, frustrated, and exhausted. Myfanwy, delighted at escaping another round of fetch, perched on the railing above his head and made soothing noises.
“You know, I’d just about come to terms with the whole thing. Living forever … never finding peace … always losing the people I care about.” Pushing his braces from his shoulders, he sighed. “I’d got used to the idea of not dying. It’s a shock to find I can. But it’s twice as bad, this way. Not only am I going to die, but I’ve inflicted this … this curse … on Ianto.” He got to his feet and paced around; Myfanwy watched him with a beady eye.
Already far more grave than normal, Jack’s tone dropped even more. “He has no idea what it means … not yet. But he will. He’s so sharp … it won’t take long. He’ll soon realise.” He sat back down, feeling defeated. “He said he doesn’t like to see me die. One day soon, he’ll have to. For good. And not just me … all of us. Oh, God, not him. Not him.”
Unable to stand it any more, Jack grabbed his coat and ran out of the Hub, as fast as the cog door would allow him to.
*~*~*
After walking in circles for a long time, Jack finally ended up in a bar. He hadn’t intended to drink so much, but one had become two, which became five, and soon he was more drunk than he’d been in centuries. It had been so long, he didn’t even realise what the idiot shouting at him was saying. He just recognised the angry, hostile tone in the man’s voice and lashed out, pouring all of his pain and frustration into that one punch. Moments later, he found himself out on the street.
The cold night air had a sobering effect. He turned and looked back at the establishment from which he had just been ejected with interest. “Well, it’s a long time since I’ve been thrown out of a bar.” He started to walk away, and eventually found himself at the railings overlooking the Bay. He didn’t know how long he had been standing there, when a quiet voice from behind interrupted him. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Ianto, it seemed, was dealing with the bombshell a lot better than he was. He was pale, and perhaps his eyes were a little wider than usual, but he appeared calm and composed. He stood, still and steady, between Jack and the lights of the city. Jack stared at him for a long time - he noted, in a detached sort of way, that Ianto had changed his shirt, and was now wearing a dark blue one - and he felt some degree of calm returning. He strode over to Ianto and wrapped him in a tight hug.
“We’ll fix this. We’ll get this sorted … I swear we will.”
Ianto returned the hug, holding Jack tightly in his arms, but when he spoke his tone was rueful, almost reproachful. “Now, we know that’s not true. You tried everything to get rid of it. Even the Doctor couldn’t help.”
Holding tighter, Jack spoke fiercely. “I’ll try harder … for you, I’ll try harder.”
Ianto finally released him. “Okay. Okay, I know you will. But … until then, we’re both still here. And when you had to deal with this, you had to face it alone, without anyone who understood. But I … I’ve got you.”
Jack took a deep breath and stood back, looking at Ianto as if he were seeing him for the first time. “You know, I don’t think anyone understands how strong you are.”
“Who? The human race? Torchwood? The good people of Cardiff?”
Jack laughed, shaking his head. “No. You. Ianto Jones. Nobody realises. You’re amazing.”
Ianto smiled at him. “Come on. You’re drunk. I think we should get you home.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t mean I’m not right, though.” Jack took Ianto’s hand in his and walked back towards the city.
“There he is, look. Over there!” A loud, rude voice interrupted the quiet moment.
Both men turned around in the direction of the voice. Two men, young and shaven-headed, approached them.
“Jack? Do you know this gentleman?”
Groaning, Jack nodded. “We had, ah, we had a little … disagreement in the bar back there.”
“About?”
“I honestly can’t remember.” He took a step towards the two men, who had clearly also consumed more than was good for them. “Guys, you’re out of your league. Now, be good boys and go on home.”
The thugs only snarled in response. Ianto seized Jack’s arm and pulled him back, looking anxious. “Ianto, don’t worry. These two are … well, they’re not exactly Abaddon, are they?”
“No. And I’m not saying you can’t fight them. But you’ve got to be careful. Now, the one on the right - the one wearing the leather jacket - he’s got a knife. You go after the other one.”
“What?” There was only the slightest note of resistance in his voice; the rest was confusion.
“Just do it.”
Jack waited for the smaller of the men to swing a punch at him, then spun him to the ground, holding his arms behind his back. Another moment, and the man’s arms were cuffed behind his back. Now, Jack turned his attention to Ianto.
He wasn’t all that surprised to see that Ianto had achieved much the same, but his attacker appeared to be unconscious, the knife lying useless, several feet away. Ianto appeared to be unharmed, but then he turned his head and Jack saw a nasty gash down his left cheek.
Jack rushed over to him. “Oh, I hate when they go for the face. It doesn’t matter how many times you face death, you never lose your fear of scars.”
Ianto touched his fingers to his face. “No one could ever accuse you of having distorted priorities, Jack.” He started to laugh, but the action caused him pain. He lifted himself to his feet and pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket, dabbing gingerly at his cheek.
“Ianto … wait.” Jack was staring at him closely.
“What?” Ianto grimaced at the blood on the handkerchief, before he looked up at Jack.
“It’s healing. It’s nearly gone.”
Ianto’s fingers flew to his face, but, unwilling to believe their diagnosis, he strode over the bus shelter and stared at his reflection in the glass. Jack was right. The wound was gone. “But …”
“That’s how it works. Non-fatal injuries usually heal instantly. The fatal ones … well, you know.”
Ianto was silent for a moment. “But this means …”
“It means you can’t be killed. Not permanently. It means you don’t have to be afraid in the face of danger … but it means you can’t escape, either. You survive the battle, but there’s always another one. And another.” Looking at Ianto’s stunned face, he couldn’t bring himself to say how, eventually, you’d end up fighting all alone.
But Ianto was shaking his head. “No. No, this means … I won’t have to leave you. And I can protect you. I can protect … you.”
And then it was Jack’s turn to be stunned.
*~*~*
Chapter Four
Jack stood for a long time. Eventually, Ianto pulled himself away from the reflection and stood close to Jack, letting his body reassure him. Even as they stood there, the sky seemed to break into watery morning colours, the first sign of dawn.
Feeling more composed, if not much better, Jack heard a dull crackling over the comms, and then Gwen’s voice came through. “Jack, are you there?”
He sighed. “Yes, I’m here.”
“Jack, the Rift monitor’s going crazy. It looks like something big’s coming through.” Ianto’s eyes met Jack’s, mirroring his own horror. But a part of Jack, at least, was almost relieved at the interruption. He pushed aside the chaos in his head, and when he spoke, his voice was confident and businesslike. “Gwen, where’s all this happening? If it’s another landfill, Ianto’s going to have a fit.” He shot Ianto a cheeky grin, and Ianto rolled his eyes.
“No, it’s …” she trailed off, and Jack heard hurried typing. “It’s a farm. Not too far away, just outside Cardiff.” Ianto was already walking away, back towards the Hub, and Jack ran to catch up, listening as Gwen gave them the address of the farm. “Jack, I think we need to get out there, right now!”
Without missing a beat, Jack replied, “Yeah. Ianto and I are heading back to pick up the SUV, then we’ll go straight there. You stay there - we may need help.”
“But, I …”
“Just this once, Gwen, do as I say. I’ll talk to you when we’re in the car.” He broke off the conversation as they reached the SUV. He started to open the driver’s door, but Ianto put a firm hand on his arm.
“No way, Jack. You’ve been drinking. I’m not letting you drive.”
“Oh, come on …”
“Just this once, Jack, do as I say.” Ianto gave him a knowing smile, then pushed him gently away from the car.
“Hey, I do as you tell me. I did everything you told me last Thursday night.” He walked around the back of the vehicle as Ianto slid behind the wheel and started the engine. He opened the door and grinned at Ianto. “In fact, it was a pleasure.”
“Anyway, if I’m too intoxicated to drive, why are you letting me go to deal with this?” Jack challenged.
“Because I know, from experience, that your ‘obedience’ only extends so far. I don’t think you’d listen if I tried to send you back to the Hub. Besides, I think you’ll be fine by the time we get there.” Making his prediction all the more likely, Ianto pressed a button and both front windows slid down into the doors. Cool, damp air hit Jack in the face. It was a grey, dismal day, and though the sun had risen, it hadn’t really seemed to get light. Summer was, once again, living up to its local reputation. Jack took a deep breath, and, feeling his head clear, thought that Ianto was probably right.
Never taking his eyes off the road, Ianto asked, “So, what do you think’s happening at this farm?”
Jack shrugged. “No idea.”
“Will it be connected to that reversal device?”
“Could be. Chances are it’ll be the same creatures who were responsible for it. But this experiment could be completely different. Sontarans have no imagination, except in matters of destruction. In war, they’re masterminds.”
“Well, that’s reassuring,” Ianto replied sarcastically.
Jack laughed, thinking that perhaps he and Ianto didn’t see the world so differently after all. A thought struck him. “Would Gwen be able to find any information using the equipment at the Hub?”
“I doubt it,” Ianto replied, taking one hand away from the steering wheel and running it through his hair. “There’s a programme that can bring up positional, temporal and chemical data on any object that falls through the Rift, but by the time she figured it out, we’d be there. And she won’t be able to get a visual - this far out, there’s not much CCTV.”
He was right. They were still within sight of the city, but the landscape quickly became more rural, and Ianto brought the SUV to a stop outside a small dairy farm. As Ianto got out of the vehicle, Jack spoke to Gwen. “Gwen, we’re at the farm. There’s no immediate sign of Rift activity, but we’ll keep you posted.
There was a pause, and then … “Jack, be careful.”
Jack ignored that, and, after checking to make sure Ianto wasn’t looking, he opened the glove compartment and rummaged inside. He found what he was looking for - a plain, ordinary, mobile phone - and slipped it into his pocket. Then he got out of the SUV, slamming the door behind him. Ianto had the boot open, and was loading his gun. Jack turned around and gazed at the farmhouse, which lay at the bottom of a gentle hill. “Come on. We’d better start looking.”
They walked together towards the farmhouse. Jack knocked at the door as Ianto peered through the window.
“I think they must be away, Jack.”
“Why?”
Ianto pointed through the window. “Because there’s a fortnight’s worth of post on the doormat.”
Jack nodded and laughed, briefly breaking through the tension. “Okay. Good. That makes it easier.” He walked along the path, away from the house, and started to climb up the hill. Ianto followed him but, as they turned the corner, Jack reached out behind him to stop Ianto coming any closer.
Ianto moved slightly to the side, looking past Jack at the grassy hillside.
What is that?” he asked, disgust evident in his voice. They were looking at an object that had - as any idiot could tell - been recently deposited there from another planet. It could only be described as a seething, wrinkled balloon, somewhere between green and yellow in colour … and about the size of a small car.
“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t get too close.” Jack lifted his gun and aimed it at the unsightly object, but if he was planning to shoot, he never got the chance. The thing exploded, its rubbery shell turning to dust, revealing some of the ugliest life-forms Jack had ever seen. Vaguely humanoid, the creatures had mottled, dark brown skin, but their most noticeable characteristics were the sharp, jagged metal spikes protruding from their skin on every part of their bodies. They were tangled, wrapped up in a heap of limbs and spikes and ragged clothing, and they were grunting aggressively.
His curiosity apparently overpowering his disgust, Ianto took a step forward, before turning back to face Jack. “What are they? Have you ever seen anything like that before?”
“No. Well, not exactly like that. I really, really hope they aren’t, but …” he trailed off, shuddering. “I think they might be the result of a Sontaran genetic experiment.”
Even as he spoke, four of the creatures managed to pull themselves free, and sprang away towards the farmhouse. Jack’s eyes followed them, then returned to the rest of the pack, and to Ianto.
Ianto nodded in the direction of the escapees. “Go. Don’t let them get away.” He raised his eyes towards the rest of the creatures, who were steadily disentangling themselves. Ever so slightly, he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, and Jack recognised the signs. He turned to go, then turned back just as quickly. Grabbing Ianto’s shoulders, he pulled him in for a quick, desperate kiss. Then he turned and ran, coat billowing behind him
Ianto called after him. “Jack, be careful.”
Jack didn’t stop, but his reply reached Ianto anyway. “I’ll try.”
Part Two
Recipient: hel_bee
Pairing: Jack/Ianto only.
Summary: A rogue piece of alien tech turns Jack and Ianto’s world upside down, and suddenly the future looks very different indeed. The 21st century is when everything changes? You bet it is!
Rating: NC17
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and am making no money.
Warnings: Ever-so-slight DW crossover.
Word Count: 15,819
Author’s Notes: I really want to thank my recipient for the amazing prompts, because this was such brilliant fun to write. I tried to include as many of them as I could!
Betas: Anonymous, Anonymous, and Anonymous, who were patient, brilliant, and not the least bit put off by my weirdness. Thanks, you guys (and sorry about the deadline squeeze!)
Chapter One
“Oh, for fuck’s sake …”
Gwen’s howl of frustrated outrage rang clearly through the Hub. She was sitting at a computer terminal and - judging by the sorry state of her usually neat hair - seemed to be moments away from causing some very expensive damage.
“What seems to be the problem?” Immaculate and composed as ever, Ianto came up behind her and peered over her shoulder at the screen.
“Oh, it won’t work. It never seems to work any more. I need this data about the Hub infrastructure, but as soon as I plug this component in, the whole system freezes!” She turned to Ianto, smiling entreatingly. “You’re good with the network; d’you think you can make it cooperate?”
Ianto picked up the component she’d connected to the computer, examined it, and frowned. “No. Sorry. This is Jack’s area.”
“What?” Gwen now looked confused, as well as stressed-out.
“We’ve worked out a division of labour. I deal with issues relating to software, and the network.”
“And this?”
“Alien or futuristic technology. Which is entirely Jack’s problem.” Ianto picked up an empty coffee cup from Gwen’s desk and walked off towards the kitchen. Gwen stared after him, slightly incredulous.
“Wait. The data relating to Hub infrastructure’s on a device with alien or futuristic origins?”
Ianto turned and looked at her in mild disbelief. “Of course. You … didn’t know that?” His eyes flickered briefly around the Hub, wondering if any of it could’ve come from contemporary sources. Except, of course, for the plumbing system, which hadn’t even reached modern standards; in fact, it was positively medieval. He’d have to get around to doing something about that one day. It couldn’t be good for your health, having stagnant water standing around the place.
*~*~*
In the tiny kitchen area, Ianto brewed a fresh pot of coffee and carried a cup up the stairs to Jack’s office. Seeing that the door was open, he walked straight inside and placed the cup on the desk. Jack smiled at him, brushing his hand against Ianto’s.
“Thanks. What’s the matter with Gwen?”
“Technological difficulties.”
“My problem or yours?”
“Oh, definitely yours.” Ianto grinned, and Jack sighed deeply. “Jack,” Ianto said slowly. “It raises a good point. Sooner or later we are going to have to start looking for someone to handle the computer stuff.”
Rubbing his face with his hands, Jack nodded. “I know. You’re right. We can’t afford to be letting this stuff slide. We’re just lucky the Rift’s been so quiet, or the chances are we’d be in serious need of a medic.”
Ianto picked the coffee cup off the desk and handed it to Jack. “Want me to start investigating candidates?”
Jack looked at him, slightly surprised, then shook his head. “No, I’ll do it. It’s better that way.”
Ianto watched as he took a sip of his drink, and saw the usual contented expression spread over his face. “Need anything else?”
Jack looked up at him in interest, tilting his head. “Is that a new shirt?”
“Mmm. Bought it a few weeks ago, but the cuffs had to be altered.” He noticed the expression on Jack’s face. “Why, do you like it?”
“Are you kidding me? Is there a shade of red you don’t look good in?”
“Well, there was that colour my face turned in the restaurant last night, just after you started making your little, erm, suggestions about what we could do with the dessert. I don’t think that was my perfect shade.”
Jack stood up and grinned broadly. “I don’t know … I thought that shade was gorgeous …” Pretending not to enjoy the compliment, Ianto sat down on the desk. Jack stood close to him and pulled him into a hug, Ianto’s head tucking neatly into Jack’s shoulder, as Jack ran his fingers up Ianto’s arm and through his hair. Ianto closed his eyes and breathed deeply, enjoying the moment’s peace.
This had been their life for the past few weeks. Jack’s adventure with the Doctor had changed very little between them; he had promised to return, and Ianto had believed him. And now … they still joked, they still flirted, but the priority now was to comfort each other through a difficult time. The wounds inflicted by their losses were still raw, and only healing very slowly.
*~*~*
An hour later, the computer problem appeared to have been solved. Jack was alone in the main Hub; Ianto had disappeared into the archives, and Gwen was out. In the aftermath of the explosions Gwen had finally been able to take on the role she’d always wanted, acting as liaison between Torchwood and the police. Jack was grateful to her; contact with the authorities had become inevitable, given the scale of the most recent disasters, and he certainly didn’t want to deal with them. And with the Rift behaving so nicely, he’d even had some spare time on his hands. When Ianto was unavailable, he’d been trying to teach Myfanwy to play fetch, but without much success.
Her work with the police definitely seemed to be therapeutic for Gwen. It helped her to have something to do; something that she was good at, and that got her out of the Hub. And, of course, she went home to Rhys at the end of every day. She had her escape routes.
For Jack and Ianto, there had been no escape. They practically lived in the Hub, and they ate and slept Torchwood. And the only ones they had to turn to were each other, but neither seemed to want it any other way.
Mindful of this, Jack made his way down to the archives. He found Ianto rummaging through the LU-MA files, and silently led him by the hand up the stairs to sit on the couch. He loosened Ianto’s tie and undid the top few buttons of his shirt, slipping his hand inside and lightly stroking his chest. Ianto leaned against him, unresisting, apparently happy to be taken care of.
It had, all too often, been easy for Jack to forget how young Ianto was … and how short a time he’d been with Torchwood. Life here was never exactly easy, but the harshest moments brought the sharpest reminders of his youth and innocence. The terrible times - the tragedies - used to tear Ianto apart; Jack had seen him break down more than once. Ianto was brave in the most dangerous of situations, and could bring a degree of humour to their blackest hours, but grief and loss brought out his vulnerability. But ever since its earliest days, Torchwood had brought a coldness, a remoteness, to everyone associated with it. And, as much as he hated to see Ianto hurting, a part of Jack had hoped Ianto would never lose that sensitivity. But it was coming, that hard distance, just like it came to all the others. He no longer broke down, no longer made his grief plain for all to see, but to Jack he was still visibly hurting.
It might have seemed shallow, physical intimacy to combat emotional pain, but it worked, and Jack wasn’t going to argue. Resting on his knees, he straddled Ianto and kissed him deeply, feeling strong hands grasp his back a moment later. The temperature of the air seemed to rise instantly, and he felt Ianto’s hands untucking his shirt and tugging it up over his head, pulling his t-shirt with it. He undid Ianto’s buttons more carefully - that shirt really was a work of art - and then wrapped his arms back around Ianto’s body, pressing their bare chests together. He heard a moan and wasn’t sure who it came from, so he went straight to work on his own belt. Soon, two pairs of trousers joined the shirts on the couch, and Jack lowered his body onto Ianto’s, grinding together. Kissing him harder, Jack braced his arms on the wall above the sofa, feeling Ianto’s hands grasping his arse, pulling him even closer.
“Jack …”
“I’m here.”
Jack could feel the tension fade, even as the excitement, and the desperation, rose higher. There was a time for slow and tender, and there was a time for hard and deep. But there was also a time for quick and desperate, when all that was really needed was to find some shared comfort, some release. This was one of those times. He could’ve taken it further, but they were both so close, and they needed his so much …
Jack came first, but Ianto was mere moments behind.
Neither spoke for a minute or two, still panting hard, recovering. In the end, Jack rolled sideways, giving Ianto more room to breathe. Ianto sat up, reaching for his clothes. “Better get this place cleaned up. Don’t think Gwen’ll be impressed if she comes back to this mess.”
Jack grinned and lightly whacked Ianto’s arse. “She should just be glad she didn’t catch us in action - again. Although, I’m still not convinced she really minded the first time …”
Ianto stood up, rolling his eyes, but as he walked away towards the shower he bent down and kissed the top of Jack’s head. “Thank you.”
Jack smiled to himself. It worked, and not just for Ianto; it was mere hours since his partner had done the same for him. Sometimes he wasn’t even sure who was consoling who; he’d gone looking for Ianto today because he thought he sensed the other man’s pain, but perhaps it had simply been his own. He could never voice his own need for comfort, but perhaps this was his way of asking. Maybe it didn’t matter. They understood implicitly, and comforted each other in a way no-one else could.
*~*~*
Chapter Two
It was on the morning that Jack first suspected that maybe, just maybe, things were getting back to normal, that he received an unexpected phone call.
“Hello?”
“Jack, it me. It’s Martha.”
“Martha Jones! The prettier face of UNIT! What can I do for you?”
“I need to make a visit.”
Jack was surprised; it hadn’t been that long since he’d seen her. “Sure. When will you be here?”
“Oooh, about forty seconds?”
“What?”
He heard her laugh. “Jack, I’m outside. Can you let me in?”
“Of course.” He hung up the phone and turned to face Ianto, who was watching him questioningly. “She’s here. Martha’s here. I’d better go let her in.”
“Must be important.”
“Yeah, you’d think …” The alarms sounded as Jack rolled back the cog door.
*~*~*
“So, is the world ending?” When Martha said outside, she meant outside. The wind flapped Jack’s coat around his legs; summer, it seemed, wouldn’t be coming to South Wales this year. She was dressed more casually than Jack had seen her for a while, but strangely, she didn’t look any more relaxed. She smiled when she saw him, but she appeared tense.
“Don’t know. But I have a message for you.” She held out a scrap of yellow paper, folded into triangular quarters.
Jack took it and turned it over in his hand, but didn’t open it. “From him?” He raised his eyebrows. “That’s strange: the Doctor sending notes. The Doctor’s usual mode of communication, I was once told, was to blow up your place of work.”
“Of course. Aren’t you going to open it?” She glanced around her, biting her lip.
“Aren’t you going to come inside? You look good, by the way.” He gestured behind him, in the direction of the invisible lift, the note still held between his fingers.
“No time for that. I just needed to give you the note. And now … I have to go.”
“What?” Jack’s expression turned completely serious. This wasn’t just an understandable overreaction from someone who’d seen far too much in recent times. Something was badly wrong.
She sighed, and pushed the note more firmly into his hand. “You need to read that. Now.”
“Why?”
“Because whatever’s going to happen … is going to happen in the next three minutes.” She checked her watch, apparently to confirm this odd prediction.
“What?”
“Oh, you know what he’s like. Nothing’s any fun unless it’s done at the last minute. And now, it’s two minutes and fifty seconds. Open the note.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek, and then she was gone.
*~*~*
Jack,
How are you, nice to see you, and all of that. And now, on to the point. I’m afraid I’ve got us all into a spot of bother with the Sontarans - my fault; one of their battles was threatening to overwhelm several small worlds, and I had to steer them off course - but I think the worst of it could end up coming your way. See, I accidentally led them too close to a Rift - not your Rift, but just like yours, and possibly connected- and they’ve been doing experiments. Now, I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen (I’d anticipate some fairly nasty objects coming through, myself), but it’s going to happen soon. Any second now. Sorry I can’t help you out, but I’m going to have to pay a visit to the Rutans, even things out a bit. So, I’m leaving this in your capable hands. Best of luck!
The Doctor
Jack was already on the move, back into the Hub, when all the sirens went off. He found Ianto standing in front of one of the terminals.
“Rift activity?”
“Rift activity.” Ianto’s fingers were flickering over the keyboard, and Jack watched the picture steadily zoom in, from South Wales, to Cardiff, to an area just north of the city, where it finally stopped … and a glowing red dot highlighted the exact location. “Got it. It’s in … oh, wonderful …”
“What?” Jack’s eyes narrowed, Ianto’s sarcasm not lost on him.
“The centre of the disturbance is in the middle of a bloody landfill.” He glanced down at his attire, wrinkling his nose slightly. “Have I got time to change?”
“Nope,” Jack answered immediately, with a wicked, slightly smug look. “No time at all.”
Ianto sighed, then followed Jack up through the Hub, picking up the keys to the SUV on the way.
*~*~*
As Ianto steered the SUV expertly through the Cardiff traffic, Jack spoke briefly to Gwen on the comms, letting her know that they had gone to deal with an episode of Rift activity and didn’t know when they’d be back.
“So, I take it Martha couldn’t stay. Why was she here?”
“She wanted to give me a note. A note telling me that there would be major Rift activity within three minutes.”
Ianto took his eyes off the road for a split second, to flash Jack a look of surprise. “So, you knew that would happen?”
“Yeah. The note was from the Doctor, saying that the Sontarans have been experimenting with a Rift somewhere else in the universe, and the nasty side-effects were likely to wash up here.”
“Right. Okay.” Ianto guided the car through a busy roundabout. Jack knew Ianto still had questions about the Doctor, but it wasn’t his way to cause a big scene in the middle of an operation. For now his mind would remain firmly fixed on the task at hand. It was one of the things - one of the many things - Jack admired about him. He knew Ianto had no idea how good a field agent he really was. Twice now, the Hub had coped - and the team had survived - in Jack’s absence, but he sometimes wondered whether the whole enterprise would crumble into dust if Ianto were to turn his back. They’d all come to rely on him so much.
*~*~*
Jack’s heart sank as he regarded the huge waste tip in front of him. Finding a Sontaran technological experiment in this mess was going to be … well, it was going to be like finding a small piece of unknown machinery in the middle of the biggest landfill in South Wales. As he stood and surveyed the scene, Ianto opened up the back of the SUV and retrieved a small device with a data screen and multiple aerials. “Well, this should give us a starting point. Any object comprised mainly of elements with extraterrestrial origins will be identified. Of course, there’s no proof that whatever we’re looking for will match that description …”
“… but it’s a reasonable assumption.” Jack finished for him, taking the device and activating it. Immediately the aerials began to twitch, and an intermittent humming noise filled the air. The noise became more regular - and more insistent - as they approached the giant pile of rubbish, and they did a full circuit before deciding on the best place to begin making inroads.
“Here’s as good as place as any, I guess.” Ianto kicked at the rubble in distaste, and then ploughed ahead anyway. Jack followed, holding his breath, wishing he’d had the foresight to leave his coat in the car.
“Well, there’s definitely something here.” Ianto nodded towards the device in Jack’s hands. “Of course, this is Cardiff; it’s entirely possible it’s not the same thing that’s just come through the Rift.”
“Well, let’s find out what it is, anyway.” Jack swung the device around, watching to see which direction caused it the most excitement. As he turned left, the humming noise heightened to a constant whir. He followed it, then stopped abruptly, poking through the junk with his toes, finally kicking up an oblong item with a dull metal surface. The machine in his hand beeped once, as if in confirmation, and then switched itself off.
Ianto reached down to pick the strange object up, but Jack stopped him, holding his wrist tightly. “Don’t. I think I recognise that thing.” He crouched down and peered at it more closely. He touched it once or twice with his fingers, as if he were testing it somehow. Then, when he finally seemed satisfied, he picked it up with both hands.
“Well?”
Jack opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped. A look somewhere between horror and resignation crossed his face. “It’s a … well, it’s like a bomb. But different. They were crude in my time … didn’t even have a proper name; we’d just have called it a Hostile Reversal Mechanism.”
“Reversal?” Ianto tilted his head as he looked at the metallic object, about the size of a shoebox. He didn’t sound particularly worried, but Jack expected that he could change that.
“They were designed as … what’s that dramatic little term you people use? A ‘weapon of mass destruction.’ The idea was that they’d reverse some fact, some situation, in their environment - but with hostile intent. So, they’d reverse the percentages of the elements in the air, or some development in evolutionary history. But they never quite got that far … mostly they’d just change the colour of your eyes, or turn your jacket inside out.”
“So, we shouldn’t worry?” It was a question; Ianto knew Jack very well, and could tell that he hadn’t said all he knew.
“Oh, they could still be nasty. I knew one girl - fantastic soldier, more medals than she had space to wear them - had the positions of her organs reversed. All of her insides on the outside of her body. Of course, you can’t live like that, and we couldn’t operate fast enough. Horrible way to die.”
“So … what has it reversed here?”
“Nothing. It hasn’t detonated. But it is armed and activated.”
“How can you tell?”
“Give me your hand.” Ianto looked at him, doubtfully. “Really, it’s okay. Give me your hand.” Jack took Ianto’s hand in his and rested it on the device, so that he could feel what Jack had been detecting.
“What? I can’t … oh.” Ianto took his hand away, and then replaced it on the surface. “It’s sort of … pulsating. Like it’s alive.”
“It’s not alive, but it is counting down. And we don’t know what time this has come from - these weapons may have been crude in the 51st century, but who’s to say they don’t go on to perfect them? We need to get this thing back to a secure vault, now.”
*~*~*
Jack drove back to the Hub, and Ianto held the mechanism carefully in his hands, the way his brain automatically told him to handle something that was effectively a bomb. Once they were inside, he handed it to Jack and led the way into the vaults. He opened a door that could be sealed completely, and went inside, closing the door once Jack had followed him in. Jack placed the item on a shelf, then turned to face Ianto.
“There. Should be completely safe, now. And in a few days, once it’s detonated, we’ll be able to get it out and have a closer look.”
“Right. Seems a bit anticlimactic, somehow. You know, with all the notes and emergency meetings. I mean, this is the sort of thing we handle every day.”
“Not recently, though. We haven’t had anything like this for weeks. And then this turns up. I suppose the Doctor thought it was better to be safe than sorry.” Jack shrugged, this reasoning apparently enough for him.” And we don’t know if that’s an end to it. If the Sontarans really are playing about with a Rift, that might be merely an opening shot. We’ll have to keep a look out for the next few days.”
Ianto looked as if he were about the say something, then changed his mind. One hand on Jack’s shoulder, he pushed him gently towards the door. “Come on. Lunch.”
They nearly made it. They were almost at the door when a faint popping noise sounded behind them. A look of pure horror appeared on Jack’s face. He ran back to the machine, pressing his hand to the surface to feel for the telltale pulse, but none was to be found.
“Oh, shit! It happened … it detonated! How could I have been so stupid? I thought by the spacing of those pulses we’d have hours yet …” His eyes frantically searched the small room for signs of any changes, and then he ran to the door, looking out into the main vaults, still looking, and still clearly panicked.
Ianto came to him and held him by both arms. “Jack. Calm down. You don’t seem to have noticed, but … I don’t think it worked. We’re both still here. We’re still breathing. And all of our organs are clearly still where they belong.”
Jack ran a hand through his hair. “I … I guess. I mean, they always had some effect. Maybe … I don’t know. Maybe the Sontarans damaged it in their experiments. Or maybe that technology just doesn’t like being flung through a Rift in space and time …”
Ianto nodded. “Or maybe it was targeted at some physical attribute humans don’t possess. The Sontarans were fighting the Rutans, weren’t they? I’ve seen pictures of Rutans … aren’t they sort of like jellyfish?”
Finally, Jack laughed. “Yeah, they are. Well, whatever the reason, we’ve been lucky. Come on.”
*~*~*
Back in the main Hub, Ianto made lunch, and they were still eating when Gwen returned from the police station.
“Here you go, Jack. I came in through the tourist office. There was some post for you.” She threw to Jack over the top of Ianto’s head, but missed and hit the computer terminal. The machine went up in a shower of sparks; it had been somewhat temperamental since the disturbances resulting from the planet’s little voyage to the Medusa Cascade. Rolling his eyes at the inconvenience, which had become an irritatingly frequent occurrence, Ianto took refuge halfway up the stairs and calmly waited for the sparks to die down. Gwen shrieked and flapped at the smoke with her jacket, avoiding the accusing glances from her colleagues.
“Okay, I’ve had it with these machines!” Jack pulled the panel off the back of the computer and pushed his hand inside. A moment later he bellowed in pain and withdrew his hand. It was bleeding badly, his thumb almost severed. In a flash, Ianto grabbed a cloth and wrapped it tightly around Jack’s hand. “Are you going to be all right?”
Grimacing, Jack nodded and rested his bound hand on his lap. “It’ll be fine. Superficial wound. It’ll heal fast.”
Gwen found her voice. “It’ll heal fast? Jack, you just about cut your hand off -“
“Not my hand,” Jack corrected her, tersely. “Just my thumb. Anyway, cuts and grazes … once you’ve survived life-draining demons and psychotic Time Lords - not to mention a stray javelin - you kind of gain a little perspective.”
Jack’s version of ‘perspective’ wouldn’t allow Gwen or Ianto to tend or dress his injury. “I’m telling you, it’ll be better than ever. Half an hour, at the most. It’ll just be a nice little scar that Ianto can kiss better.”
The post turned out to be an advert for a new Indian restaurant. “Where do these people get my address?” Jack asked, as he threw it - carefully - into the bin. Ianto made coffee and recounted their landfill excursion to Gwen.
*~*~*
Hours later, Jack’s hand was still bleeding profusely. Ianto had removed the first cloth and replaced it with another one … and then another. “It’s all … all … all right, Ianto. Leave it.”
Ianto tilted Jack’s head back and looked at his eyes. His speech had started slurring a little while back, and he suspected it was due to loss of blood. “Come on. You’re coming down to the medical bay. We need to get that cut sorted.” It was at times like this when the lack of a medic, as well as a tech expert, was felt most strongly. Owen, Ianto recalled with a wry smile, wouldn’t have paid the slightest attention to Jack’s claims of rapid healing. He’d have had stitches in that wound in less than five minutes. Without him, Ianto was facing the discouraging prospect of taking a less than lucid Jack to the local A&E.
Still, a light-headed Jack allowed himself to be led down to the medical bay, where Ianto could at least clean him up and apply a proper dressing. If anything, he was even more alarmed by Jack’s sudden acquiescence, and afterwards led him to the sofa to rest. Most distressingly, Jack fell asleep almost instantly. Ianto shrugged off his own suit jacket and covered Jack’s sleeping form.
On the other side of the room, Gwen had disconnected the malfunctioning computer and was tidying the mess it had created. She stood upright when she saw Ianto.
“How is he?”
“Sleeping. He’s … sleeping.”
“He told me once that he doesn’t sleep.”
“He doesn’t, not very much. Tosses and turns … gets up in the small hours. But he’s lost so much blood.” He slumped onto one of the stools, loosening his tie and top button. “He’s right, you know. He usually heals quickly. The first time I met him, a Weevil bite on his neck healed up, right before my eyes. What’s different this time?”
Gwen sat down opposite him. “D’you think it was something to do with that alien artefact you found?”
Ianto looked up at her slowly, wondering. But he never got chance to answer. Jack had leapt up from the sofa and was staggering around the room, apparently struggling to maintain his balance.
“Where is it? Where is it, I can’t find it …”
Ianto rushed to his side, trying to steady him. “What? Jack, what are you looking for?”
“My gun … where’s my gun?”
Letting go of him in surprise, Ianto asked “Your gun? What for?”
“I can’t … stand … it any more. Just give me my gun. I’ll come back … everything’ll be fine!” Jack’s eyes were wide, his voice higher than usual.
Ianto watched in silent horror, but Gwen ran forward. “Jack, don’t be stupid! You’re not going to kill yourself over a cut hand!”
“No, it’ll work. Damn it, where did I leave my gun?”
“Now, listen, Jack. You’ve lost a lot of blood but Ianto and I are going to fix that. Then you’re going to go to bed, and have a nice long rest, and when you’re feeling better … then we can look for your gun. Okay?” She was using that tone, Ianto noticed; the tone that was mollifying, in a patronising sort of way. It sounded a little like she was talking to an infant, but still, it usually worked. Not this time, though. Not with Jack.
Jack stopped for a moment and looking appealingly at Ianto. “Ianto? Tell Gwen to shut up for a minute, will you?” He turned around. “Right. Here it is.” He found his gun holster and extracted the weapon.
“Jack, stop! How do you know you’ll come back? You can’t even heal from a cut hand … how do you know you won’t just die?
“Of course I’ll come back … I always come back …”
Gwen brought both hands to her face and started to sob, until a strong but quiet voice interrupted her.
“Please don’t.”
Gwen turned to look at Ianto, then spun back around to face Jack. Ianto’s quiet appeal had, at least, stopped Jack in his tracks. He dropped the gun on the couch and came over to Ianto, wrapping his arms around his neck, and almost collapsing on him. It looked to Gwen as if he was crying.
“Gwen … will you give us a minute?”
Pulling herself together, Gwen walked away. As soon as she was gone, Ianto pulled back from Jack and looked him in the face. “Come and sit down.”
“No, I …”
“Come and sit down.”
After moving Jack’s gun well out of both their reaches, Ianto sat down on the couch. A second later, Jack slumped down next to him. “It would’ve been okay, you know.”
“What would?”
“I would’ve come back. Ianto, you know I would’ve come back.”
Ianto’s tone was harsh. “No, I don’t. But even if I did, do you think I like watching you die? At that time - in that moment - it doesn’t matter that you’re coming back. There’s always doubt. And I’m watching you die and it’s hell … and I’d never put you through that.”
His words seemed to have the desired effect, and it was a more serious, sober Jack who turned to face him. He reached over and wrapped his good hand around Ianto’s. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. And you’ve lost a lot of blood. But it’s not like it’ll never heal. Gwen and I will take you to Casualty and you’ll get stitches like the rest of us, and you can stop being such a bloody child about it!”
Finally, Jack laughed, shattering the tension.
*~*~*
As it turned out, the hospital hadn’t been as bad as Ianto had anticipated. Jack had been on his best behaviour, and in the end the customary five-hour wait for treatment had been the worst thing about the experience.
While Jack was in with the nurse, Ianto had a word with Gwen. “On the way back, can you drop us off at my place and go back to the Hub for a couple of hours?” It was already almost three in the morning, and as Ianto was there at six every morning, it didn’t seem like too much to ask.
“Of course.”
“I just want to get him away from there for a couple of hours. He’ll sleep better at my place.”
Gwen raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.
“Is that okay?”
“Yes. I’ve never seen him in such a state before. You never said … do you think it is connected to the device you found today?”
Ianto leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I don’t know. But if it isn’t, it seems like a remarkable coincidence.”
Eventually, Jack was patched up and released with care instructions and a date for having the stitches out. Apparently still weak, he made only the slightest protest when Gwen dropped them both off outside Ianto’s flat, and allowed himself to be led inside and laid straight down on the bed. Ianto went to fetch a glass of water. When he returned, he found Jack somewhat recovered, sitting up and grinning wickedly.
“I don’t have any jim-jams.”
Smoothly, Ianto placed the glass on the cabinet and replied, “That’s quite all right. You can borrow some of mine.”
“But where’s the fun in that?”
“Jack, don’t even think about it.” Ianto told him, in his most no-nonsense tone. “You’ve been injured and lost a lot of blood. Let’s concentrate on getting your hand better. Other parts of your anatomy can wait.”
“But they’re not very good at waiting …”
“Oh, I know they’re not. But they’re going to have to learn. I’m serious. You need to rest. Do I need to go and sleep on the sofa?”
Apparently weakening, Jack fell back on the bed, growling in frustration. “Oh, I suppose you’re right. But you’d better be prepared to make it up to me tomorrow night.”
Laughing, Ianto went to the chest of drawers and found a t-shirt and a pair of shorts for Jack to change into. But when he crossed back towards the bed, Jack was already asleep. Smiling, Ianto bent down and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight, Jack. Sleep tight.”
*~*~*
Chapter Three
Ianto woke early the next morning. Jack was still fast asleep beside him, still dressed in his clothes. Ianto rose, stretched, and headed off towards the shower, stopping in the kitchen to boil the kettle. He showered, dried off, and went into the bedroom to get dressed. Amazingly, Jack was still asleep. After dressing, Ianto went and set down on the bed next to him. He stroked Jack’s face with the side of his hand.
“Jack? Come on, Jack. Time to wake up …”
Groaning, Jack rolled onto his back, then yawned. “Morning, gorgeous. I just love waking up in your bed.”
“I see you’re feeling better.”
“Definitely. I can’t remember the last time I slept so well.” He sat up, and looked down at himself. “Well, clearly the solution is that I need to sleep in my clothes more often. Uh … what happened?” His tone was light, but it sounded forced.
“You remember …” Ianto prompted him, gently. He really didn’t want to have to tell him about his behaviour the previous day.
Jack shot a look at his hand, and groaned again. “Oh, yeah. Was I really in a hospital?”
“Yep. The nurse said you were a brave little soldier.” Ianto’s voice was deadpan, but there was a telltale sparkle in his eyes. “Now, come on. We need to get back to work. Gwen’s been there on her own since three. I don’t imagine that she’ll be in a very good mood …”
*~*~*
Gwen was, in fact, in a surprisingly agreeable mood. “I’m fine. But listen, I got a phone call from Andy at just after five this morning, and another one about half an hour ago. A couple of people have reported seeing deformed men with animal teeth running around the place …”
Ianto sighed. Weevil sightings. Just what they didn’t need this morning.
“Anyway, I told him we’d be there as soon as we could. So I think Ianto and I should go. And Jack? You can coordinate from here.”
“What? No way. I’m fine this morning. I’ll go.”
Gwen shot a look at Ianto, who turned to face Jack.
“Jack, just do this one thing for me. Stay here this morning. It’s only a Weevil, we’ll be fine. Indulge me.” He dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned closer to Jack. “I’ll even add that to the list of things I’m making up to you tonight …”
“Fine. But you keep your comms on the whole time.” Both of them nodded, and started away towards the door. “And Ianto? Tonight better be good!”
*~*~*
Thankfully, there was just the one Weevil, although it put up quite a struggle. It appeared to be one of the ones that was developing a resistance to the Weevil spray, and it woke up several times on the journey back to the Hub. It took both of them to drag it inside.
Jack was waiting by the door. “Whoa, that’s a feisty one!”
“They’re definitely developing an immunity to the spray, Jack. We’re going to have to think of an alternative.” Gwen dodged as the Weevil made a grab for her throat. The movement unbalanced Ianto, and the Weevil broke away, dashing through the Hub.
“Quick, after it!”
Jack and Gwen chased the creature halfway up the stairs while Ianto watched from the bottom. Its hands were cuffed, but it seized a cable in its teeth and bit through it. The severed cable sizzled and sparked, and the ends fell into the water below. Ianto, standing in the merest half-inch-deep puddle, cried out, and fell.
“Ianto!”
Both Jack and Gwen rushed towards his unconscious form. Jack stopped to immobilise the Weevil, so Gwen got there first. She checked his wrist and neck for a pulse, and found nothing. “Jack, I think … I think he’s …”
“No. Don’t say it. He’s not. He can’t be.” Jack’s tone was flat, emotionless. Instant denial.
“Jack, there’s no pulse …”
“Be quiet.” Jack dropped down beside him and rested Ianto’s head on his lap. “You can’t go. Not now. It’s not time. No. No, no, no …”
Gwen sat quietly, until the urge to speak became too much. “Oh, my God. I … Jack, I …” Her voice broke as she spoke, recent pain still evident.”
When he spoke, his voice was hollow. “Go and get me a blanket. Now”
She made a visible effort to pull herself together, but her voice still shook. “Of course.” She walked away, touching his shoulder as she went. Jack heard her footsteps all the way to the other side of the Hub. And then he got the biggest shock of his life. Ianto gasped, and his eyes flew open.
“Jack?”
*~*~*
“Ianto? Ianto, we thought you were …”
Ianto pulled himself upright and looked around. “I’m fine. A bit wet, but other than that … you thought I was dead?”
Gwen, walking back towards them, had stopped a few feet away in pure amazement. The woollen blanket she had been carrying fell to the floor.
“Someone said they couldn’t find a pulse!”
“I … I couldn’t find a pulse! Or hear breathing … or anything!”
Ianto took off his sodden jacket and stood up. “You know, Jack, we probably shouldn’t be counting on Gwen’s medical abilities. We’re going to have to find a new doctor sooner rather than later, otherwise one of us is going to end up in cold storage while we’re still alive. And shouldn’t somebody put that Weevil in a cell?”
Jack laughed; Gwen seemed caught between irritation and relief. Jack took the blanket from Gwen’s arms and wrapped it around Ianto. “I think, just this once, we can blame it on overwork. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, Gwen? We’ll call you if we need you.”
*~*~*
After Gwen had gone, and the Weevil was safely imprisoned, Jack and Ianto sat quietly together.
“Ianto … d’you realise what this means?”
“Yes … I think so.”
“The Reversal device worked. It transferred my immortality from me to you.”
Ianto frowned. “But how does that work? That’s not really a reversal, more of a … transference.”
Jack shook his head. “No, it reversed the situation. It made the mortal person immortal, and the immortal, mortal.”
Ianto smiled tightly. “Try saying that when you’re drunk.”
“But … you understand?”
Sighing heavily, Ianto nodded. “Yes. You can die now.”
“And you can’t.
They fell back into silence.
*~*~*
Ianto reacted to this revelation in the way that seemed most natural to him: he buried himself in his work, disappearing once more into the archives. Quietly furious, and at a loose end, Jack tried to practice fetch with Myfanwy but ended up slinging the oversized dog toy they’d been using across the room, almost hitting a lamp. He sat on the floor; angry, frustrated, and exhausted. Myfanwy, delighted at escaping another round of fetch, perched on the railing above his head and made soothing noises.
“You know, I’d just about come to terms with the whole thing. Living forever … never finding peace … always losing the people I care about.” Pushing his braces from his shoulders, he sighed. “I’d got used to the idea of not dying. It’s a shock to find I can. But it’s twice as bad, this way. Not only am I going to die, but I’ve inflicted this … this curse … on Ianto.” He got to his feet and paced around; Myfanwy watched him with a beady eye.
Already far more grave than normal, Jack’s tone dropped even more. “He has no idea what it means … not yet. But he will. He’s so sharp … it won’t take long. He’ll soon realise.” He sat back down, feeling defeated. “He said he doesn’t like to see me die. One day soon, he’ll have to. For good. And not just me … all of us. Oh, God, not him. Not him.”
Unable to stand it any more, Jack grabbed his coat and ran out of the Hub, as fast as the cog door would allow him to.
*~*~*
After walking in circles for a long time, Jack finally ended up in a bar. He hadn’t intended to drink so much, but one had become two, which became five, and soon he was more drunk than he’d been in centuries. It had been so long, he didn’t even realise what the idiot shouting at him was saying. He just recognised the angry, hostile tone in the man’s voice and lashed out, pouring all of his pain and frustration into that one punch. Moments later, he found himself out on the street.
The cold night air had a sobering effect. He turned and looked back at the establishment from which he had just been ejected with interest. “Well, it’s a long time since I’ve been thrown out of a bar.” He started to walk away, and eventually found himself at the railings overlooking the Bay. He didn’t know how long he had been standing there, when a quiet voice from behind interrupted him. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Ianto, it seemed, was dealing with the bombshell a lot better than he was. He was pale, and perhaps his eyes were a little wider than usual, but he appeared calm and composed. He stood, still and steady, between Jack and the lights of the city. Jack stared at him for a long time - he noted, in a detached sort of way, that Ianto had changed his shirt, and was now wearing a dark blue one - and he felt some degree of calm returning. He strode over to Ianto and wrapped him in a tight hug.
“We’ll fix this. We’ll get this sorted … I swear we will.”
Ianto returned the hug, holding Jack tightly in his arms, but when he spoke his tone was rueful, almost reproachful. “Now, we know that’s not true. You tried everything to get rid of it. Even the Doctor couldn’t help.”
Holding tighter, Jack spoke fiercely. “I’ll try harder … for you, I’ll try harder.”
Ianto finally released him. “Okay. Okay, I know you will. But … until then, we’re both still here. And when you had to deal with this, you had to face it alone, without anyone who understood. But I … I’ve got you.”
Jack took a deep breath and stood back, looking at Ianto as if he were seeing him for the first time. “You know, I don’t think anyone understands how strong you are.”
“Who? The human race? Torchwood? The good people of Cardiff?”
Jack laughed, shaking his head. “No. You. Ianto Jones. Nobody realises. You’re amazing.”
Ianto smiled at him. “Come on. You’re drunk. I think we should get you home.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t mean I’m not right, though.” Jack took Ianto’s hand in his and walked back towards the city.
“There he is, look. Over there!” A loud, rude voice interrupted the quiet moment.
Both men turned around in the direction of the voice. Two men, young and shaven-headed, approached them.
“Jack? Do you know this gentleman?”
Groaning, Jack nodded. “We had, ah, we had a little … disagreement in the bar back there.”
“About?”
“I honestly can’t remember.” He took a step towards the two men, who had clearly also consumed more than was good for them. “Guys, you’re out of your league. Now, be good boys and go on home.”
The thugs only snarled in response. Ianto seized Jack’s arm and pulled him back, looking anxious. “Ianto, don’t worry. These two are … well, they’re not exactly Abaddon, are they?”
“No. And I’m not saying you can’t fight them. But you’ve got to be careful. Now, the one on the right - the one wearing the leather jacket - he’s got a knife. You go after the other one.”
“What?” There was only the slightest note of resistance in his voice; the rest was confusion.
“Just do it.”
Jack waited for the smaller of the men to swing a punch at him, then spun him to the ground, holding his arms behind his back. Another moment, and the man’s arms were cuffed behind his back. Now, Jack turned his attention to Ianto.
He wasn’t all that surprised to see that Ianto had achieved much the same, but his attacker appeared to be unconscious, the knife lying useless, several feet away. Ianto appeared to be unharmed, but then he turned his head and Jack saw a nasty gash down his left cheek.
Jack rushed over to him. “Oh, I hate when they go for the face. It doesn’t matter how many times you face death, you never lose your fear of scars.”
Ianto touched his fingers to his face. “No one could ever accuse you of having distorted priorities, Jack.” He started to laugh, but the action caused him pain. He lifted himself to his feet and pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket, dabbing gingerly at his cheek.
“Ianto … wait.” Jack was staring at him closely.
“What?” Ianto grimaced at the blood on the handkerchief, before he looked up at Jack.
“It’s healing. It’s nearly gone.”
Ianto’s fingers flew to his face, but, unwilling to believe their diagnosis, he strode over the bus shelter and stared at his reflection in the glass. Jack was right. The wound was gone. “But …”
“That’s how it works. Non-fatal injuries usually heal instantly. The fatal ones … well, you know.”
Ianto was silent for a moment. “But this means …”
“It means you can’t be killed. Not permanently. It means you don’t have to be afraid in the face of danger … but it means you can’t escape, either. You survive the battle, but there’s always another one. And another.” Looking at Ianto’s stunned face, he couldn’t bring himself to say how, eventually, you’d end up fighting all alone.
But Ianto was shaking his head. “No. No, this means … I won’t have to leave you. And I can protect you. I can protect … you.”
And then it was Jack’s turn to be stunned.
*~*~*
Chapter Four
Jack stood for a long time. Eventually, Ianto pulled himself away from the reflection and stood close to Jack, letting his body reassure him. Even as they stood there, the sky seemed to break into watery morning colours, the first sign of dawn.
Feeling more composed, if not much better, Jack heard a dull crackling over the comms, and then Gwen’s voice came through. “Jack, are you there?”
He sighed. “Yes, I’m here.”
“Jack, the Rift monitor’s going crazy. It looks like something big’s coming through.” Ianto’s eyes met Jack’s, mirroring his own horror. But a part of Jack, at least, was almost relieved at the interruption. He pushed aside the chaos in his head, and when he spoke, his voice was confident and businesslike. “Gwen, where’s all this happening? If it’s another landfill, Ianto’s going to have a fit.” He shot Ianto a cheeky grin, and Ianto rolled his eyes.
“No, it’s …” she trailed off, and Jack heard hurried typing. “It’s a farm. Not too far away, just outside Cardiff.” Ianto was already walking away, back towards the Hub, and Jack ran to catch up, listening as Gwen gave them the address of the farm. “Jack, I think we need to get out there, right now!”
Without missing a beat, Jack replied, “Yeah. Ianto and I are heading back to pick up the SUV, then we’ll go straight there. You stay there - we may need help.”
“But, I …”
“Just this once, Gwen, do as I say. I’ll talk to you when we’re in the car.” He broke off the conversation as they reached the SUV. He started to open the driver’s door, but Ianto put a firm hand on his arm.
“No way, Jack. You’ve been drinking. I’m not letting you drive.”
“Oh, come on …”
“Just this once, Jack, do as I say.” Ianto gave him a knowing smile, then pushed him gently away from the car.
“Hey, I do as you tell me. I did everything you told me last Thursday night.” He walked around the back of the vehicle as Ianto slid behind the wheel and started the engine. He opened the door and grinned at Ianto. “In fact, it was a pleasure.”
“Anyway, if I’m too intoxicated to drive, why are you letting me go to deal with this?” Jack challenged.
“Because I know, from experience, that your ‘obedience’ only extends so far. I don’t think you’d listen if I tried to send you back to the Hub. Besides, I think you’ll be fine by the time we get there.” Making his prediction all the more likely, Ianto pressed a button and both front windows slid down into the doors. Cool, damp air hit Jack in the face. It was a grey, dismal day, and though the sun had risen, it hadn’t really seemed to get light. Summer was, once again, living up to its local reputation. Jack took a deep breath, and, feeling his head clear, thought that Ianto was probably right.
Never taking his eyes off the road, Ianto asked, “So, what do you think’s happening at this farm?”
Jack shrugged. “No idea.”
“Will it be connected to that reversal device?”
“Could be. Chances are it’ll be the same creatures who were responsible for it. But this experiment could be completely different. Sontarans have no imagination, except in matters of destruction. In war, they’re masterminds.”
“Well, that’s reassuring,” Ianto replied sarcastically.
Jack laughed, thinking that perhaps he and Ianto didn’t see the world so differently after all. A thought struck him. “Would Gwen be able to find any information using the equipment at the Hub?”
“I doubt it,” Ianto replied, taking one hand away from the steering wheel and running it through his hair. “There’s a programme that can bring up positional, temporal and chemical data on any object that falls through the Rift, but by the time she figured it out, we’d be there. And she won’t be able to get a visual - this far out, there’s not much CCTV.”
He was right. They were still within sight of the city, but the landscape quickly became more rural, and Ianto brought the SUV to a stop outside a small dairy farm. As Ianto got out of the vehicle, Jack spoke to Gwen. “Gwen, we’re at the farm. There’s no immediate sign of Rift activity, but we’ll keep you posted.
There was a pause, and then … “Jack, be careful.”
Jack ignored that, and, after checking to make sure Ianto wasn’t looking, he opened the glove compartment and rummaged inside. He found what he was looking for - a plain, ordinary, mobile phone - and slipped it into his pocket. Then he got out of the SUV, slamming the door behind him. Ianto had the boot open, and was loading his gun. Jack turned around and gazed at the farmhouse, which lay at the bottom of a gentle hill. “Come on. We’d better start looking.”
They walked together towards the farmhouse. Jack knocked at the door as Ianto peered through the window.
“I think they must be away, Jack.”
“Why?”
Ianto pointed through the window. “Because there’s a fortnight’s worth of post on the doormat.”
Jack nodded and laughed, briefly breaking through the tension. “Okay. Good. That makes it easier.” He walked along the path, away from the house, and started to climb up the hill. Ianto followed him but, as they turned the corner, Jack reached out behind him to stop Ianto coming any closer.
Ianto moved slightly to the side, looking past Jack at the grassy hillside.
What is that?” he asked, disgust evident in his voice. They were looking at an object that had - as any idiot could tell - been recently deposited there from another planet. It could only be described as a seething, wrinkled balloon, somewhere between green and yellow in colour … and about the size of a small car.
“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t get too close.” Jack lifted his gun and aimed it at the unsightly object, but if he was planning to shoot, he never got the chance. The thing exploded, its rubbery shell turning to dust, revealing some of the ugliest life-forms Jack had ever seen. Vaguely humanoid, the creatures had mottled, dark brown skin, but their most noticeable characteristics were the sharp, jagged metal spikes protruding from their skin on every part of their bodies. They were tangled, wrapped up in a heap of limbs and spikes and ragged clothing, and they were grunting aggressively.
His curiosity apparently overpowering his disgust, Ianto took a step forward, before turning back to face Jack. “What are they? Have you ever seen anything like that before?”
“No. Well, not exactly like that. I really, really hope they aren’t, but …” he trailed off, shuddering. “I think they might be the result of a Sontaran genetic experiment.”
Even as he spoke, four of the creatures managed to pull themselves free, and sprang away towards the farmhouse. Jack’s eyes followed them, then returned to the rest of the pack, and to Ianto.
Ianto nodded in the direction of the escapees. “Go. Don’t let them get away.” He raised his eyes towards the rest of the creatures, who were steadily disentangling themselves. Ever so slightly, he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, and Jack recognised the signs. He turned to go, then turned back just as quickly. Grabbing Ianto’s shoulders, he pulled him in for a quick, desperate kiss. Then he turned and ran, coat billowing behind him
Ianto called after him. “Jack, be careful.”
Jack didn’t stop, but his reply reached Ianto anyway. “I’ll try.”
Part Two