STRANGE NEW WORLD (1/3)
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: Mild PG for inference of relationship
Spoilers: Mild for Exit Wounds
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to the BBC.
Summary: Jack and Ianto wake up in unfamiliar surroundings.
Jack slowly surfaced from what he realized was genuine sleep. He lay where he was for a moment with his eyes closed; trying to figure out what was going on. The last thing he remembered was his telling Ianto to go home and then settling back on the couch, wondering where he was going to get the strength to keep going when all he wanted to do was lie down and refuse to acknowledge a world that never seemed to tire of ripping his heart to shreds. He also had hazy memories of strange dreams, where a woman leaned over him, her eyes filled with compassion before they filled with a silver blue-light that spilled out and fell on him like electrifying rain.
Now he was obviously lying in a bed, while there was a familiar weight resting on his chest. When he finally risked opening his eyes, he wasn’t surprised to find that Ianto was in the large double bed with him. Morning sunshine was pouring through the large windows, illuminating the room as Jack stared around himself with increasing bewilderment. He had been to Ianto’s flat and knew that this bedroom wasn’t a part of it. The room was generously proportioned, with high ceilings and a window on either side of the bed. One wall was taken up by a set of fitted wardrobes made out of what looked like beech wood. There were two doors, one in either one of the other two walls. There was no other furniture apart from a large bookcase and two chests of drawers. The room was all pale wood, soft green walls and a dark green fitted carpet on the floor. On the walls were a couple of paintings, one of which was a landscape which Jack knew he normally kept in storage back at the Hub.
Shifting his head, Jack caught sight of a photo frame resting on the cabinet next to his side of the bed. He saw that it was a photo of him and the entire team that had been taken when they had spent a rare moment of relaxation at the Winter Wonderland last Christmas. His eyes widened as he knew he had put that photo away after Tosh and Owen had died. His attention switched back to the man in his arms as Ianto started to stir, turning his face into Jack’s chest and making Jack chuckle involuntarily as he felt the younger man’s stubble scratch and tickle at his skin.
“Mmm, Jack?” Ianto opened sleepy eyes to blink up at Jack. After a couple of seconds, he also seemed to realize that he wasn’t in his flat and stared around him in growing confusion. “What? Where are we?”
Jack shrugged. “Haven’t a clue. Doesn’t look familiar to me, either.”
He chivvied Ianto into moving off him and got out of the bed, idly noting that there was no evidence of sexual activity, even though both he and Ianto were naked. He caught sight of the clothes he had been wearing earlier on tossed on the floor, along with Ianto’s shirt and trousers. It looked so ordinary and he normally wouldn’t have thought twice about it, apart from the fact that he didn’t know how they had reached this place and where it was.
“That’s odd.”
He turned around to see that Ianto had shifted aside one of the curtains to look outside. “What is?”
“The street outside,” Ianto said absently. “Something about it looks familiar, but I can’t place it.” He looked around and went over to one of the chest of drawers, opening one of the drawers. Shaking his head, he moved over to the next one, giving a pleased sound when he opened the drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers. Pulling them on, he tossed a look over his shoulder to Jack. “Your stuff is in that first chest of drawers,” he said as he made for the door.
Jack blinked and went to investigate, finding that Ianto was correct. The top two drawers were filled with underwear, socks and braces, while the remaining four long drawers contained t-shirts and undershirts. He went over to the wardrobes and found more of his clothes in there, mainly trousers, shirts and jumpers, plus his old World War II Air Force uniform and a couple of dress suits he had bought when he had started to date Ianto. The other half of the wardrobe-wall was taken up with Ianto’s clothes.
Hastily pulling on some old jogging bottoms, Jack went to investigate the other door and found that it was an en-suite bathroom with some of the most up-to-date and luxurious fittings he had seen outside of luxury hotels. He smiled with pleasure, then noticed that - once again - there was a mixture of his and Ianto’s things in the room. Shaking his head in bemusement, he turned to follow Ianto out of the room, only to tense as he heard the thunder of footsteps that preceded Ianto bursting into the room.
“Jack! I’ve figured out why this place seems familiar! It’s the house I grew up in!”
Jack blinked. “What?”
“This house!” Ianto gestured around himself in excitement before grabbing at Jack and yanking him out of the door. Jack found himself on a small landing with several doors opening into other rooms. “It’s a little bit different from the way I remember it, which is why it took a while for it to hit home. Most of the décor’s completely different and that room-“ he gestured towards the door nearest to them, “-is half the size I remember it being.”
He dragged Jack inside what was more like a box room. It had been set up as a home office, with two complete sets of shelves, computer desk and filing cabinets across from one another. Jack nodded as he saw the odd proportions and the way the window was so close to the furthest wall.
“There’s an en-suite bathroom attached to the bedroom we were in. My guess is that part of this room was sacrificed so-“ He paused and shook his head. “Why do I care?” he wondered out loud.
Ianto had gone to the neater of the two desks and switched on the computer. He typed in a password and snorted when the computer gave him access. “Same password I use at the Hub. That’s sloppy.” He quickly opened up the Explore option and skimmed through the options. “Household accounts, general stuff, some research and-“ He paused, which attracted Jack’s attention. He saw Ianto’s Adam’s apply bob up and down as he swallowed. “Photos,” he whispered.
Jack moved across to look over Ianto’s shoulder as he clicked on the folder marked ‘My Photos’ and watched as it expanded to show several subfolders. “Work, Family, General, Jack…” he murmured to himself. He watched as the cursor hovered over the Family folder. “Ianto?”
“My… my family died when I was fifteen,” Ianto said softly. “My father, mother and sister. It was a car accident. I was in the car but thrown clear and just had a couple of broken bones. I… sort of went off the rails after that. Made life hell for every foster family who were nuts enough to take me on. I’m not sure…”
“Then don’t,” Jack pointed out, but it was too late. Whether from some masochistic urge or genuine curiosity, Ianto had already clicked on the folder. For a split-second the screen went dark and then displayed a stylized silver spider in the middle of a black screen. Then it cleared and nearly a dozen other folders appeared and Ianto gave a small gasp as he saw there was one titled 1990s and another called 2000s.
“But they’re dead!” he muttered under his breath before clicking on the 2000 folder.
Jack should have told him to leave it. He should have reminded him that these photos couldn’t possibly be genuine. Instead he smiled faintly when even more subfolders appeared, the grin widening slightly as Ianto grunted in frustration and picked one at random that was marked ‘Valencia trip’. The next moment and Ianto had pulled in a shuddering gasp as several dozen photos loaded which showed a man and a woman who were very much on holiday. Looking closely, Jack could see familial similarities between Ianto and the two of them.
“They’re dead!” Ianto sounded bewildered and worried with a strong thread of yearning. “They’re dead but this… I think this is what they would look like if they had lived.”
Both individuals looked to be in their mid- to late fifties. The woman was short but elegantly dressed, her dark hair streaked with grey. The man was taller but showing a slight thickening around the midriff, although his clothes had been cut to conceal that. His hair was also graying and he wore a pair of glasses. Both of them were smiling brilliantly at the camera and looked like they didn’t have a care in the world.
Jack glanced across at the other computer, putting two and two together. Logging on, he found a similar mixture of the familiar and the unsettling. His Photo folders contained his old stuff, plus a folder containing photos of the Team. His heart leapt into his throat when he saw that one of the folders was titled ‘Gray’ but when he opened it, he found it was empty apart from the same stylized image of a spider. For some reason he remembered the woman with the shining eyes and felt an inexplicable lessening in his confused alarm. Shaking his head, he closed the computer down and turned back to see that Ianto was sitting at ‘his’ desk and running through some more of the database.
“According to this I’ve had this house for three years. I bought it off my parents when they decided to retire and move to the Gower.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I have contact numbers for them and for my sister. She lives in Trethomas and works at the National Museum. She… she always said she wanted to be an archaeologist.”
“Ianto…” Jack said warningly.
Ianto turned eyes that were blinded by tears. “I know! I know it’s some kind of trick, but it feels so real, Jack! There are photos of her at a dig on Gozo and links through to articles she’s written about the contacts between Neolithic cultures. There was even a YouTube clip of her on Wales Today and she looks so much like the Non I remember, just older.”
Jack bit his lip. “Ianto, what do you remember last before you woke up in that bed?”
Ianto blinked, then visibly collected himself. “Um, you sent me home. I didn’t want to go; the flat is so empty when I’m on my own and I can hear other people with their lives through the walls and I get….” He caught at himself and looked away in embarrassment. “I remember eating the takeaway I’d picked up on the way back and then showering and going to bed. I figured I’d read for a while but I think I fell asleep right away.”
“Is that all?” Jack pressed.
Ianto shrugged. “Just weird dreams.”
Jack pricked up his ears at that. “What kind of dreams?”
Ianto looked more than a little embarrassed. “Stupid ones. They didn’t make any sense.”
“Ianto, tell me about the dreams! Was… was there a woman in them?” He saw the startled look the younger man gave him. “Please, Ianto, it might be important.”
“I… I just remember waking up and she was sitting on the bed, looking at me. I thought I ought to grab the gun under the pillow but she made me feel so safe. She smiled and stroked my forehead and then her eyes started to glow. They got brighter and brighter until there was just the light. I heard her say something about seeing the spider and knowing it was her and safe and then the next thing I remember is waking up in bed with you.”
“Spider?” Even as he asked, Jack remembered hearing a throaty voice telling him much the same thing. When you see the symbol of the spider, dearest, it will mean it is my work and is something good. “We’ve seen a spider symbol a couple of times already,” he said slowly.
“When I clicked on the folders for my parents,” Ianto remembered. “And the copy of the deeds to the house has a wax seal with a spider emblem on it.”
Jack remembered the spider symbol that had appeared when he had clicked on the folder marked ‘Gray’ but he said nothing. There had been nothing in the folder and part of him had been glad, not wanting anything that would bring the grief crashing back. He worried away at this latest puzzle, wondering just what was going on.
“Some kind of plot to distract us from Torchwood business?” Ianto hazarded.
“Except it isn’t doing a very good job,” Jack pointed out. “We both remember Torchwood.”
“But we’re not in the Hub,” Ianto pointed out gently.
The same thought had occurred to Jack at the same time and he exchanged a look of consternation with Ianto. They both made for the bedroom and quickly dressed before charging down and out of the house. It was a relief to find their usual coats hanging from the hatstand in the hall and Ianto automatically scooped up the keys from a black lacquer bowl on the console table standing against the wall next to the coats. There were three sets - one with a keyring of a red-dragon motif and ‘Member of the Taffia’ and the other with a die-cast spitfire which Ianto tossed to Jack as he locked the door behind him. The third set were car keys but not those of the SUV. As they walked down the path towards the road, Ianto saw that there was a jet black Jaguar XJR Portfolio directly in front of the gate. Jack gave a soft whistle.
“Think that’s ours?”
“Only one way to find out,” Ianto said and lifted the key remote, pressing it. The responsive beep from the Jaguar told its own story and the two men exchanged a somewhat helpless look before Ianto handed the keys to Jack and he slid reverently into the driving seat, pausing for a moment to savour the car as Ianto settled into the passenger seat beside him.
“Whoever she is, she has good taste. I remember wishing I could afford something like this when I watched the Top Gear episode where they test-drove it,” Ianto commented.
“That’s what’s worrying me,” Jack admitted as he started the car and drove in the direction of the Hub. “So far this has all been one long list of our wishes come true, which makes me a very paranoid Captain.” He realized that Ianto had given him a sharp look as he spoke. “What?”
For a moment he didn’t think Ianto was going to answer. Finally: “Our wishes?”
Jack was silent for a moment, concentrating on driving the unfamiliar car through the quiet morning streets. “Yeah, our,” he said eventually. “After everything that’s happened, waking up like that was something to cherish.”
Ianto said nothing but he reached across a hand to rest it on Jack’s arm and squeeze it lightly. “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing?” he offered a little tentatively. “Maybe it’s what it looks like and we got lucky?”
“We never have before,” Jack said, fighting the insidious thread of hope that kept trying to worm its way into his heart.
“I did,” Ianto said, so quietly that Jack had to struggle to hear him under the smooth purr of the engine. “When you came back.”
Jack swallowed the lump that suddenly threatened. He could still remember how nervous he had been when he had returned to his team. The worry that he would be rejected by them and told to leave had been a small one and easily ignored. What had loomed large on his horizon had been the fear that Ianto would have decided to give him up as a bad job and move on from him emotionally. He’d been lucky and Ianto had given him that precious second chance, but it was still so difficult for Jack to open his mouth and say the words that technically should have been so easy. The sound of his mobile going off rescued him from floundering in a mess of half-sentences and he shifted slightly to dig it out of his pocket while he drove one-handed, handing it to Ianto to answer.
“It’s Gwen,” Ianto announced tersely as he accepted the call. “Gwen, what’s the matter?” He listened for a moment, his expression changing from concerned to worried. “Gwen… Gwen! All right, we’re on our way. Just don’t do anything until we get there, okay? Right. Yeah, ten minutes.” He rang off and gave Jack a worried look. “I’ve never heard her that hysterical. All she kept saying was that it wasn’t possible and she couldn’t take this any more.”
Jack nodded. “Knew it was too good to be true,” he said tersely as he floored the accelerator.
They got to the Hub in record time. Everything seemed the same as they remembered it as they left the garage and made for the Main Hub. They heard Gwen before they saw her and Jack cursed softly as he heard the note of barely-controlled hysteria in her voice. Gwen had seen and endured a lot in the time since she had become a member of Torchwood but Jack had never heard her sound so… desperate. He belatedly realized that he didn’t have his gun with him and hesitated, then decided he needed to find out what was happening more than anything else. Motioning at Ianto to fall back, Jack took a deep breath and then breezed into the Main Hub.
“Good morning, Gwen! Anything interesting I need to know about?”
Gwen was standing just inside the cog door, her gun out and pointing at the intruders she had found waiting for her when she had arrived that morning. Gwen Cooper had gone through a hell of a lot recently and sometimes she felt like she was one raw open wound that never really stopped bleeding. She was certain she would have gone mad if it hadn’t been for Rhys, who might not understand exactly what she was going through but who had an infinite capacity for a loving acceptance that allowed her to scream and rail against the world without making her feel that she was somehow weak or selfish for doing so. It had been a conscious effort of will to leave him that morning and come here, and the last thing she had needed was to find….
She threw a helpless look in Jack’s direction. Part of her was relieved to see him while another part resented the fact that she felt that relief. She should be able to stand on her own two feet and deal with this herself, but she couldn’t. Not this. Not so soon. She belatedly realized that he was staring at the two intruders, a look of intense shock on his face and a wave of mortification passed through her when she remembered that he was also grieving and he would be just as stunned to see what had happened.
“They were here when I got in this morning,” she explained through a throat tight with the effort of keeping the tears at bay. “I called you right away.”
“And while I know what you’re seeing is probably blowing what few brain cells you have,” Owen said with belligerent sympathy, “I really hope that teaboy’s around here somewhere because I’m somehow alive again and I could really, really murder some coffee!”
Next part of the story is here
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: Mild PG for inference of relationship
Spoilers: Mild for Exit Wounds
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to the BBC.
Summary: Jack and Ianto wake up in unfamiliar surroundings.
Jack slowly surfaced from what he realized was genuine sleep. He lay where he was for a moment with his eyes closed; trying to figure out what was going on. The last thing he remembered was his telling Ianto to go home and then settling back on the couch, wondering where he was going to get the strength to keep going when all he wanted to do was lie down and refuse to acknowledge a world that never seemed to tire of ripping his heart to shreds. He also had hazy memories of strange dreams, where a woman leaned over him, her eyes filled with compassion before they filled with a silver blue-light that spilled out and fell on him like electrifying rain.
Now he was obviously lying in a bed, while there was a familiar weight resting on his chest. When he finally risked opening his eyes, he wasn’t surprised to find that Ianto was in the large double bed with him. Morning sunshine was pouring through the large windows, illuminating the room as Jack stared around himself with increasing bewilderment. He had been to Ianto’s flat and knew that this bedroom wasn’t a part of it. The room was generously proportioned, with high ceilings and a window on either side of the bed. One wall was taken up by a set of fitted wardrobes made out of what looked like beech wood. There were two doors, one in either one of the other two walls. There was no other furniture apart from a large bookcase and two chests of drawers. The room was all pale wood, soft green walls and a dark green fitted carpet on the floor. On the walls were a couple of paintings, one of which was a landscape which Jack knew he normally kept in storage back at the Hub.
Shifting his head, Jack caught sight of a photo frame resting on the cabinet next to his side of the bed. He saw that it was a photo of him and the entire team that had been taken when they had spent a rare moment of relaxation at the Winter Wonderland last Christmas. His eyes widened as he knew he had put that photo away after Tosh and Owen had died. His attention switched back to the man in his arms as Ianto started to stir, turning his face into Jack’s chest and making Jack chuckle involuntarily as he felt the younger man’s stubble scratch and tickle at his skin.
“Mmm, Jack?” Ianto opened sleepy eyes to blink up at Jack. After a couple of seconds, he also seemed to realize that he wasn’t in his flat and stared around him in growing confusion. “What? Where are we?”
Jack shrugged. “Haven’t a clue. Doesn’t look familiar to me, either.”
He chivvied Ianto into moving off him and got out of the bed, idly noting that there was no evidence of sexual activity, even though both he and Ianto were naked. He caught sight of the clothes he had been wearing earlier on tossed on the floor, along with Ianto’s shirt and trousers. It looked so ordinary and he normally wouldn’t have thought twice about it, apart from the fact that he didn’t know how they had reached this place and where it was.
“That’s odd.”
He turned around to see that Ianto had shifted aside one of the curtains to look outside. “What is?”
“The street outside,” Ianto said absently. “Something about it looks familiar, but I can’t place it.” He looked around and went over to one of the chest of drawers, opening one of the drawers. Shaking his head, he moved over to the next one, giving a pleased sound when he opened the drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers. Pulling them on, he tossed a look over his shoulder to Jack. “Your stuff is in that first chest of drawers,” he said as he made for the door.
Jack blinked and went to investigate, finding that Ianto was correct. The top two drawers were filled with underwear, socks and braces, while the remaining four long drawers contained t-shirts and undershirts. He went over to the wardrobes and found more of his clothes in there, mainly trousers, shirts and jumpers, plus his old World War II Air Force uniform and a couple of dress suits he had bought when he had started to date Ianto. The other half of the wardrobe-wall was taken up with Ianto’s clothes.
Hastily pulling on some old jogging bottoms, Jack went to investigate the other door and found that it was an en-suite bathroom with some of the most up-to-date and luxurious fittings he had seen outside of luxury hotels. He smiled with pleasure, then noticed that - once again - there was a mixture of his and Ianto’s things in the room. Shaking his head in bemusement, he turned to follow Ianto out of the room, only to tense as he heard the thunder of footsteps that preceded Ianto bursting into the room.
“Jack! I’ve figured out why this place seems familiar! It’s the house I grew up in!”
Jack blinked. “What?”
“This house!” Ianto gestured around himself in excitement before grabbing at Jack and yanking him out of the door. Jack found himself on a small landing with several doors opening into other rooms. “It’s a little bit different from the way I remember it, which is why it took a while for it to hit home. Most of the décor’s completely different and that room-“ he gestured towards the door nearest to them, “-is half the size I remember it being.”
He dragged Jack inside what was more like a box room. It had been set up as a home office, with two complete sets of shelves, computer desk and filing cabinets across from one another. Jack nodded as he saw the odd proportions and the way the window was so close to the furthest wall.
“There’s an en-suite bathroom attached to the bedroom we were in. My guess is that part of this room was sacrificed so-“ He paused and shook his head. “Why do I care?” he wondered out loud.
Ianto had gone to the neater of the two desks and switched on the computer. He typed in a password and snorted when the computer gave him access. “Same password I use at the Hub. That’s sloppy.” He quickly opened up the Explore option and skimmed through the options. “Household accounts, general stuff, some research and-“ He paused, which attracted Jack’s attention. He saw Ianto’s Adam’s apply bob up and down as he swallowed. “Photos,” he whispered.
Jack moved across to look over Ianto’s shoulder as he clicked on the folder marked ‘My Photos’ and watched as it expanded to show several subfolders. “Work, Family, General, Jack…” he murmured to himself. He watched as the cursor hovered over the Family folder. “Ianto?”
“My… my family died when I was fifteen,” Ianto said softly. “My father, mother and sister. It was a car accident. I was in the car but thrown clear and just had a couple of broken bones. I… sort of went off the rails after that. Made life hell for every foster family who were nuts enough to take me on. I’m not sure…”
“Then don’t,” Jack pointed out, but it was too late. Whether from some masochistic urge or genuine curiosity, Ianto had already clicked on the folder. For a split-second the screen went dark and then displayed a stylized silver spider in the middle of a black screen. Then it cleared and nearly a dozen other folders appeared and Ianto gave a small gasp as he saw there was one titled 1990s and another called 2000s.
“But they’re dead!” he muttered under his breath before clicking on the 2000 folder.
Jack should have told him to leave it. He should have reminded him that these photos couldn’t possibly be genuine. Instead he smiled faintly when even more subfolders appeared, the grin widening slightly as Ianto grunted in frustration and picked one at random that was marked ‘Valencia trip’. The next moment and Ianto had pulled in a shuddering gasp as several dozen photos loaded which showed a man and a woman who were very much on holiday. Looking closely, Jack could see familial similarities between Ianto and the two of them.
“They’re dead!” Ianto sounded bewildered and worried with a strong thread of yearning. “They’re dead but this… I think this is what they would look like if they had lived.”
Both individuals looked to be in their mid- to late fifties. The woman was short but elegantly dressed, her dark hair streaked with grey. The man was taller but showing a slight thickening around the midriff, although his clothes had been cut to conceal that. His hair was also graying and he wore a pair of glasses. Both of them were smiling brilliantly at the camera and looked like they didn’t have a care in the world.
Jack glanced across at the other computer, putting two and two together. Logging on, he found a similar mixture of the familiar and the unsettling. His Photo folders contained his old stuff, plus a folder containing photos of the Team. His heart leapt into his throat when he saw that one of the folders was titled ‘Gray’ but when he opened it, he found it was empty apart from the same stylized image of a spider. For some reason he remembered the woman with the shining eyes and felt an inexplicable lessening in his confused alarm. Shaking his head, he closed the computer down and turned back to see that Ianto was sitting at ‘his’ desk and running through some more of the database.
“According to this I’ve had this house for three years. I bought it off my parents when they decided to retire and move to the Gower.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I have contact numbers for them and for my sister. She lives in Trethomas and works at the National Museum. She… she always said she wanted to be an archaeologist.”
“Ianto…” Jack said warningly.
Ianto turned eyes that were blinded by tears. “I know! I know it’s some kind of trick, but it feels so real, Jack! There are photos of her at a dig on Gozo and links through to articles she’s written about the contacts between Neolithic cultures. There was even a YouTube clip of her on Wales Today and she looks so much like the Non I remember, just older.”
Jack bit his lip. “Ianto, what do you remember last before you woke up in that bed?”
Ianto blinked, then visibly collected himself. “Um, you sent me home. I didn’t want to go; the flat is so empty when I’m on my own and I can hear other people with their lives through the walls and I get….” He caught at himself and looked away in embarrassment. “I remember eating the takeaway I’d picked up on the way back and then showering and going to bed. I figured I’d read for a while but I think I fell asleep right away.”
“Is that all?” Jack pressed.
Ianto shrugged. “Just weird dreams.”
Jack pricked up his ears at that. “What kind of dreams?”
Ianto looked more than a little embarrassed. “Stupid ones. They didn’t make any sense.”
“Ianto, tell me about the dreams! Was… was there a woman in them?” He saw the startled look the younger man gave him. “Please, Ianto, it might be important.”
“I… I just remember waking up and she was sitting on the bed, looking at me. I thought I ought to grab the gun under the pillow but she made me feel so safe. She smiled and stroked my forehead and then her eyes started to glow. They got brighter and brighter until there was just the light. I heard her say something about seeing the spider and knowing it was her and safe and then the next thing I remember is waking up in bed with you.”
“Spider?” Even as he asked, Jack remembered hearing a throaty voice telling him much the same thing. When you see the symbol of the spider, dearest, it will mean it is my work and is something good. “We’ve seen a spider symbol a couple of times already,” he said slowly.
“When I clicked on the folders for my parents,” Ianto remembered. “And the copy of the deeds to the house has a wax seal with a spider emblem on it.”
Jack remembered the spider symbol that had appeared when he had clicked on the folder marked ‘Gray’ but he said nothing. There had been nothing in the folder and part of him had been glad, not wanting anything that would bring the grief crashing back. He worried away at this latest puzzle, wondering just what was going on.
“Some kind of plot to distract us from Torchwood business?” Ianto hazarded.
“Except it isn’t doing a very good job,” Jack pointed out. “We both remember Torchwood.”
“But we’re not in the Hub,” Ianto pointed out gently.
The same thought had occurred to Jack at the same time and he exchanged a look of consternation with Ianto. They both made for the bedroom and quickly dressed before charging down and out of the house. It was a relief to find their usual coats hanging from the hatstand in the hall and Ianto automatically scooped up the keys from a black lacquer bowl on the console table standing against the wall next to the coats. There were three sets - one with a keyring of a red-dragon motif and ‘Member of the Taffia’ and the other with a die-cast spitfire which Ianto tossed to Jack as he locked the door behind him. The third set were car keys but not those of the SUV. As they walked down the path towards the road, Ianto saw that there was a jet black Jaguar XJR Portfolio directly in front of the gate. Jack gave a soft whistle.
“Think that’s ours?”
“Only one way to find out,” Ianto said and lifted the key remote, pressing it. The responsive beep from the Jaguar told its own story and the two men exchanged a somewhat helpless look before Ianto handed the keys to Jack and he slid reverently into the driving seat, pausing for a moment to savour the car as Ianto settled into the passenger seat beside him.
“Whoever she is, she has good taste. I remember wishing I could afford something like this when I watched the Top Gear episode where they test-drove it,” Ianto commented.
“That’s what’s worrying me,” Jack admitted as he started the car and drove in the direction of the Hub. “So far this has all been one long list of our wishes come true, which makes me a very paranoid Captain.” He realized that Ianto had given him a sharp look as he spoke. “What?”
For a moment he didn’t think Ianto was going to answer. Finally: “Our wishes?”
Jack was silent for a moment, concentrating on driving the unfamiliar car through the quiet morning streets. “Yeah, our,” he said eventually. “After everything that’s happened, waking up like that was something to cherish.”
Ianto said nothing but he reached across a hand to rest it on Jack’s arm and squeeze it lightly. “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing?” he offered a little tentatively. “Maybe it’s what it looks like and we got lucky?”
“We never have before,” Jack said, fighting the insidious thread of hope that kept trying to worm its way into his heart.
“I did,” Ianto said, so quietly that Jack had to struggle to hear him under the smooth purr of the engine. “When you came back.”
Jack swallowed the lump that suddenly threatened. He could still remember how nervous he had been when he had returned to his team. The worry that he would be rejected by them and told to leave had been a small one and easily ignored. What had loomed large on his horizon had been the fear that Ianto would have decided to give him up as a bad job and move on from him emotionally. He’d been lucky and Ianto had given him that precious second chance, but it was still so difficult for Jack to open his mouth and say the words that technically should have been so easy. The sound of his mobile going off rescued him from floundering in a mess of half-sentences and he shifted slightly to dig it out of his pocket while he drove one-handed, handing it to Ianto to answer.
“It’s Gwen,” Ianto announced tersely as he accepted the call. “Gwen, what’s the matter?” He listened for a moment, his expression changing from concerned to worried. “Gwen… Gwen! All right, we’re on our way. Just don’t do anything until we get there, okay? Right. Yeah, ten minutes.” He rang off and gave Jack a worried look. “I’ve never heard her that hysterical. All she kept saying was that it wasn’t possible and she couldn’t take this any more.”
Jack nodded. “Knew it was too good to be true,” he said tersely as he floored the accelerator.
They got to the Hub in record time. Everything seemed the same as they remembered it as they left the garage and made for the Main Hub. They heard Gwen before they saw her and Jack cursed softly as he heard the note of barely-controlled hysteria in her voice. Gwen had seen and endured a lot in the time since she had become a member of Torchwood but Jack had never heard her sound so… desperate. He belatedly realized that he didn’t have his gun with him and hesitated, then decided he needed to find out what was happening more than anything else. Motioning at Ianto to fall back, Jack took a deep breath and then breezed into the Main Hub.
“Good morning, Gwen! Anything interesting I need to know about?”
Gwen was standing just inside the cog door, her gun out and pointing at the intruders she had found waiting for her when she had arrived that morning. Gwen Cooper had gone through a hell of a lot recently and sometimes she felt like she was one raw open wound that never really stopped bleeding. She was certain she would have gone mad if it hadn’t been for Rhys, who might not understand exactly what she was going through but who had an infinite capacity for a loving acceptance that allowed her to scream and rail against the world without making her feel that she was somehow weak or selfish for doing so. It had been a conscious effort of will to leave him that morning and come here, and the last thing she had needed was to find….
She threw a helpless look in Jack’s direction. Part of her was relieved to see him while another part resented the fact that she felt that relief. She should be able to stand on her own two feet and deal with this herself, but she couldn’t. Not this. Not so soon. She belatedly realized that he was staring at the two intruders, a look of intense shock on his face and a wave of mortification passed through her when she remembered that he was also grieving and he would be just as stunned to see what had happened.
“They were here when I got in this morning,” she explained through a throat tight with the effort of keeping the tears at bay. “I called you right away.”
“And while I know what you’re seeing is probably blowing what few brain cells you have,” Owen said with belligerent sympathy, “I really hope that teaboy’s around here somewhere because I’m somehow alive again and I could really, really murder some coffee!”
Next part of the story is here