| Home | Most Recent | Categories | Authors | Titles | Help | Search | Log In | |
| Torchwood | |
What If? Day Five by Sistine [Reviews - 5]  Author's Notes: The plot to most of this came to me a week ago while I was driving. Part of it is fairly cliched in this fandom but I'm hoping that the new spin to it makes it enjoyable to read anyway! | |
//He picked up the small child, smiling as the little boy greeted him with a smile. “Hey, Phoenix,” he said, his own smile not quite reaching his own eyes.
“Dadada,” the year-old baby babbled, gazing at the man with intense blue eyes.
“That’s right. I have some very sad news for you.” He paused, tears appearing in his eyes. He had known it was going to happen for many, many years and yet to be here and tell his son about it… it was like it had happened only yesterday. Which, in a way, it had. “Your mummy won’t be coming home.”
Phoenix just stared at him with a serious expression.
“It’s weird. I know what’s going to happen to you because it’s already happened, which is why I know that I have to be here to take you somewhere so that we’ll meet in the past - well, my past, your future. You’re going to see a lot of death and destruction in your life and I’m sorry for that but you’ll also find two people whom you’ll love deeply.” He paused and another smile passed over his face. “We’ll find each other again when you discover the reason why we named you Phoenix. Your mum always thought that strange but I couldn’t tell her what was going to happen to her or to you. Just remember that I will always love you.”
Phoenix gurgled happily when he was kissed on the forehead, unaware of what lay in store for him in the future.//
**********
13.
14.
The numbers their bodies had been assigned.
In Chinese numerology - something he had learnt a long time ago to impress someone, he couldn’t remember who - together they meant a whole lifetime or forever. However, separately, thirteen apparently meant - if one took the numbers separately - one lives while fourteen meant one dies. Not a very good omen but very appropriate under the circumstances.
Jack barely held himself together as he looked down at Ianto’s still face. He had been too late; there hadn’t been enough life left in him to transfer into his lover to save him. He had failed yet again. This was all his fault and he would never forgive himself.
Ignoring Gwen’s presence, Jack leaned over and kissed Ianto’s still slightly warm lips, a tear escaping to fall on the pale cheek. “I love you,” he whispered. “And I’m sorry.” He brushed the tear away from Ianto’s cheek, took a deep breath and then walked away, leaving Gwen to pull the sheet back up. He would get this mission done and then he was going to leave Earth so that he wasn’t reminded of his guilt or grief.
**********
No-one was around several hours later to notice the strange orange wisp of energy that escaped from one of the body bags, travelling through the plastic even though nothing else could. Nor did anyone notice when there was movement inside that same bag.
**********
It was like waking from a dream. Ianto took a deep breath and opened his eyes. It was dark; he couldn’t see a thing. Something brushed his face and he lifted his hand to touch plastic. What the…? He pushed it upwards and it fell away, and he realised what it was.
It was a shroud.
He was dead.
Or at least, he had been thought dead because he was pretty certain, going by what Owen had said, this wasn’t it. The fact that he was breathing was also a good argument in favour of being alive. So - what was going on?
They had gone in to confront the 456 and instead of making it leave, they had provoked it into releasing a deadly virus. Ianto had died in Jack’s arms, receiving confirmation - not through direct words but by his lover’s reaction - that he was truly loved, and it had made him briefly happy. Then he had known nothing until a minute ago. So the question was, why had he woken up from what should have been a permanent sleep?
Ianto pushed the sheet away and then sat up. From what he could make out from the faint glow of the side lights, he was surrounded by dead bodies under red sheets. Given that it was dark, he had been lying there for at least several hours, and he assumed that if Jack had been there, he would be long gone by now. In fact, judging from the lack of a body next to him, Jack had died too. But where had he gone now?
He stood up and headed for the door. He needed to find Jack and see if he could shed any light on what had occurred. As he carefully and slowly made his way through the room, he tried to ignore comparisons to after the Battle of Canary Wharf. Then, there had been hundreds of bodies, some the size of Cybermen and others, the bags had hidden the horrible mutilations. At the time, he had been numb to the sight, still in shock over the whole thing. Now, it was disconcerting to know that he had been lying there, one of the many dead.
Once he was out of the room, he stopped and took a deep breath. He needed to find out what floor he was on and then make his way down to the ground floor (if he wasn’t already there) before finding a way out. Unless there were people still working, the building was likely locked up so therefore, perhaps a window would serve.
Wishing that not only did he have a flashlight but that he had examined the floor plan of Thames House yesterday, Ianto cautiously made his way down the hallway to his right. Eventually, he came to the end and found it was a stairwell. The sign on the wall read ‘basement’, which made sense - put the dead away from everyone else. So, he needed to go up.
At the ground floor, he eased out into the hallway, keeping alert both for any guards that might be on duty and a way out. He tried doors as he passed them, trying to find one that was unlocked. Partway down the long hallway, he finally had some luck.
It was the men’s bathroom. Ianto took the time to splash some water over his face - he felt like he hadn’t had a shower in days. Wait… he hadn’t. No time for that now anyway. At the other end of the bathroom, was a small window, though Ianto figured it was just large enough for him to get through. He went over, opened it, and then pulled himself up and through.
He managed to land on his feet on the other side, though it was a close thing. After regaining his balance, he looked around; there was no-one about. The whole city sounded quiet and that was a bad thing. It meant that the alien threat still hung over the world.
Forming a plan of action, Ianto headed out onto the street, aiming to find a taxi. He needed to get to the temporary Hub and find out exactly what had happened. If there was no-one or nothing there, if UNIT had found them and taken Gwen and the computers, then he would need to find the information another way. And there was only one way he could think of doing that.
Half an hour later, after finally finding a taxi and getting to the warehouse, Ianto found that UNIT had indeed been there. All the computers were gone, and so was Gwen. So, no help there then. However, there was a wallet with some cash in it lying just under the couch; it must have fallen down when everything else was being taken. Armed with that, Ianto went back outside and got in the taxi again. “13 Bannerman Road, Ealing, please.”
“You got it.”
**********
When the taxi pulled up at the address, Ianto glanced at his watch in the dim streetlight. Three in the morning; still a while to go before dawn then. “Thanks,” he said to the taxi driver, handing some money over.
The man accepted it and a few seconds later, Ianto was out of the car and staring up at the dark house. He hated to have to go in there, especially at this time of morning, but he didn’t know who else to ask.
After he rang the doorbell, he stepped back and waited, knowing that it may take a minute or so for someone to answer. He rang again when it appeared no-one was waking up, and nearby a light was switched on. Soon he heard footsteps and the front door opened. “Sarah Jane Smith?” Ianto asked.
“Yes?” Sarah Jane blinked the sleep out of her eyes and took a good look at the man who was standing there. He seemed familiar but she couldn’t think of a name.
“We met earlier this year when the Earth was stolen. I’m Ianto Jones. I’m with Torchwood Cardiff.”
Sarah Jane’s eyes widened; now she remembered. “You’re a long way from Cardiff, Mr. Jones.”
“I’ll explain everything if I can come inside,” Ianto stated.
“Of course.” She stood back to let him in and then closed the front door. “Follow me.”
Ianto was led into a cosy living room that reflected the small family that lived here. He sat on the couch and when Sarah Jane was likewise seated, he started in on his tale.
Sarah Jane listened quietly as Ianto spoke of the Hub being blown up, of UNIT trying to kill Torchwood members, of the 456 who wanted to take ten percent of the Earth’s children, and of waking up in the morgue. She had been trying to monitor the alien situation but there was only so much her computer, Mr. Smith, could do. “How did you survive?”
“I don’t know,” Ianto replied honestly. “And right now, that’s not important. I need to find out where Jack and Gwen are, and a way to stop the aliens.”
“The first part will be easy.” She led him upstairs into her ‘work’ room. “Mr. Smith, run a trace on Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen…”
“Cooper,” Ianto supplied, assessing the computer. It didn’t look like much but he knew it was capable of as much as the Hub computers had been. “I was thinking on my way here, that if we knew where the alien ship was, then we might be able to somehow send a bomb up to them,” he said to Sarah Jane.
“There’s two problems with that plan.”
“Only two?” Ianto dead-panned, raising a small smile from the older woman.
“Where were you planning on getting the bomb from? And how do you intend to send it up there?” she asked, liking his humour.
“I figure that after all UNIT’s done, they should be able to do something helpful,” he replied. “As for getting it there… if we fire it at the ship, the aliens will just destroy it before it gets there.”
“Agreed. So we need to ‘beam’ it up, as they say.”
“Right.” Ianto thought about it some more. If Jack had been around, and still had his wrist strap, then they could have used that but… wait. “Project Indigo.”
“What?” Sarah Jane hadn’t heard of that.
“Martha used it to get around during the whole Dalek thing,” Ianto explained. “If UNIT still have it or a prototype around somewhere, then it could be attached to the bomb and sent directly to the ship.”
Sarah Jane smiled; no wonder Jack had been so proud of this young man when she had talked to him on the TARDIS. “It’s worth a try. Mr. Smith, can you locate the alien ship?”
“Try on frequency 456,” Ianto suggested. “It’s what they use to communicate through the children with.”
“Attempting to locate now,” Mr. Smith replied in his formal-sounding voice. “Captain Harkness and Gwen Cooper have been arrested for treason,” he reported.
“What?” Ianto couldn’t believe that. “By who?”
“It is in a UNIT report.”
Ianto sat down in disbelief. Of all the stupid things… first UNIT try to kill them and now they arrest them? Why? All Torchwood had been trying to do was help. Still, he had other things to worry about now. If Jack and Gwen weren’t able to do anything, then it was up to him.
“I have located the alien ship.” Mr. Smith displayed the co-ordinates on the screen.
“Brilliant!” Sarah Jane enthused. “So, do we contact UNIT now?”
Ianto took a deep breath and tried not to think about his friends being in prison. Especially Jack, who would be grieving over Ianto’s death. Jack might not have said ‘I love you’ in return, back in that room, but Ianto had known the moment the older man had told the 456 that he took it all back. He had never seen Jack back down like that and he knew that it wasn’t because other people would die. It was because he was going to die. Some people might consider that egotistical but Ianto knew. Somehow, he just knew the truth.
“I’ll call them. I don’t want them to come after you,” he continued when he saw Sarah Jane about to protest. “We can scramble the phone line so they can’t trace it back here, and they might not believe you anyway.”
“Won’t they think you’re dead?” Sarah Jane pointed out.
“Probably. It’ll give them something to think about while they’re preparing the bomb,” Ianto said casually. “Phone please?”
Sarah Jane handed the cordless phone over and then ordered Mr. Smith to scramble the signal.
Ianto dialled the number from memory. When someone on the other end answered, he stated, “This is Ianto Jones from Torchwood. I have some important information for whoever’s in charge of the 456 situation.”
**********
A few minutes later, he ended the phone call. “That went well,” he commented dryly.
“Did they believe you?” Sarah Jane asked anxiously. She had only heard one end of the conversation and it seemed like Ianto had been doing a lot of repeated explaining. Of course, she had missed some of it when Luke had come in to see what was happening. She had sent him back to bed; one less thing to worry about.
“I don’t think they had much choice,” he replied, relaxing into the nearest chair. “At first, they thought I was joking about who I was, and then they wanted to know how I survived. It took a lot to get them focused on the task instead of me.”
“What did you agree to do for them?” She had heard something that sounded like a deal.
Ianto sighed heavily. “That they get to examine me once the 456 are gone, see if they can figure out why I survived.” Surely Jack’s immortality hadn’t rubbed off onto him… had it? “They think it will take them about eight hours to get the bomb and the transporter organised.”
Sarah Jane glanced at the clock. “So about half eleven?”
“Something like that. And I’ll have to go back to Thames House for it,” Ianto stated. “I need to make sure that the alien dies after it’s cut off from the ship.”
“You can take my car,” Sarah Jane offered the young man.
“Thank you.” At least he wouldn’t have to take a taxi again.
“You look like you need some sleep. I’ll show you to the spare room,” she offered.
Ianto nodded, grateful for the gesture although he didn’t think he was going to be able to sleep. Surprisingly though, when he lay down on the bed, his mind shut down and he slept for six hours.
**********
While Ianto was sleeping, Jack was in a prison cell, staring at the opposite wall but not seeing it. He couldn’t erase the image of Ianto lying on the red sheet, his features pale and at peace, from his mind. It wasn’t supposed to have happened. Ianto wasn’t supposed to have died. And the fact that he did was all Jack’s fault.
There had been two occasions recently where Ianto had tentatively mentioned being around for Jack to see him in old age, and the older man had thought that was tempting fate. Oh, there had been some Torchwood members who had survived their tenure and lived into old age but they were few and far between. Deep down, he had known that Ianto would die young but he hadn’t accepted that it would actually happen.
And now it had. Ianto was gone. The only person who accepted him for who he was would no longer be there to keep him in line. No more would he hear those beautiful Welsh vowels, or wake up next to him after a good night’s sleep. Tears silently fell down Jack’s cheeks as his heart ached. Once again he had rushed in when he should have planned, and Ianto had paid the price.
Well, that was it. He was done. He wasn’t going to sit around on Earth and watch Gwen die too, or Alice or Steven. Once they let him out of the cell, he would leave Earth and travel the galaxy for a couple of hundred years until he felt ready to risk heartbreak again.
And there was nothing that could change his mind.
**********
Ianto had a long shower, ate the breakfast that Sarah Jane offered him and then contacted UNIT again to find out about what progress they had made. Upon receiving an update estimate of the delivery time, he thanked Sarah Jane for all her help and set out for Thames House. The streets were practically deserted today, so he arrived nearly an hour early. There was nothing he could do but wait and try not to imagine what his reunion with Jack would be like.
**********
Close to the appointed time, Ianto saw a dark van pull up. Several UNIT soldiers got out of the back, and following them… No. It couldn’t be. Why were they taking Jack into the building? Plus a woman and child? What was UNIT up to now?
Not pausing to think, Ianto silently and quickly followed the group into Thames House.
Jack quietly seethed as he and his family were led into the building which now held such bad memories for him. He didn’t know what the woman - Johnson, he had discovered her name was - was up to but it couldn’t be much good considering the number of times she had already tried to kill him. The fact that she had brought along Alice and Steven as hostages for his behaviour bode even worse.
“Hey!”
Ianto spun around to see a middle-aged bloke in a suit staring him at them. So much for stealth, he thought.
Behind him, everyone else turned as well and Jack’s jaw dropped. Is that… no, it couldn’t be. I watched Ianto die. It must be someone who looks similar. But his heart started to leap with joy at the possibility that somehow, miraculously, his lover had survived.
“What’s going on?” the suit demanded, stalking forward.
The female agent raised her gun and aimed it at the suit. “We’re going to Level 13. If you try to stop us, I’ll shoot you.”
Ianto refrained from rolling his eyes at the clichéd line as he moved out of the way of the gun. As he did so, he caught Jack’s gaze and froze. The older man was just staring at him in disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. Ianto could understand that; he’d had a similar moment the first time he had realised that Jack couldn’t die.
The man backed down and disappeared the way he had come. Then Ianto found the gun trained on him. “You’re supposed to be dead,” the woman said.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Ianto replied, his expression dead-pan.
“How did you survive?” she persisted.
“We’ve got other slightly more important things to worry about right now,” Ianto stated, glancing at his watch again. “Please tell me you weren’t going to try storming the room and killing the alien.”
“Not exactly.”
“Well, I would recommend against going in there at all. In less than five minutes, UNIT is going to transport a bomb on board the alien ship,” Ianto explained, his eyes flicking over to Jack. He noted that the disbelief had turned to joy and wished he could go over to greet Jack properly.
“How are they going to do that?” Jack asked, overwhelmed with relief at seeing Ianto alive but still able to follow the conversation. Ianto was alive! Not only that, but he had obviously been doing a lot of work since Jack had seen him last.
“Project Indigo.”
Jack nodded, knowing exactly what Ianto meant, but everyone else was baffled. “Did they have to rebuild it?”
“Apparently they were already in the process of doing that, so it was only going to take about six hours. They also had to find a suitable bomb as well.”
Uncaring of what anyone thought, Jack strode away from his armed guards and went over to kiss Ianto thoroughly. “You are a genius,” he said when they parted for air. “How did you find the co-ordinates?”
“Sarah Jane.” Ianto fought the urge to blush when he became aware of everyone’s eyes on him. Instead, he just focused on Jack, who was grinning broadly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you but…”
Jack nodded; there wouldn’t have been any way of doing that. He held Ianto to him, not wanting to let go; if he did, he might find that he was hallucinating or something. “You’re alive,” he whispered. “You’re really alive.”
“Not to break up the touching reunion,” Johnson said sarcastically before Ianto could respond, “but didn’t you say something about a bomb?”
Ignoring her, Jack stared at his lover, thinking things through, his mind once again on business. “What do you think will happen to the alien here once the ship blows up?”
“I don’t know. But I was thinking that the atmosphere in the tank has to be pumped into it,” Ianto replied, still focused on Jack. “If we could destroy the pump, or perhaps reverse it, then the alien would die.”
Slowly and in pain - Jack liked that idea. “Did we see some gas tanks in the room when we were in there?”
“Back left-hand corner.”
“We need to time this right,” Jack stated. “Once the ship is destroyed, the alien might try to poison everyone again. I’ll go in and you can seal the doors and air vents once I’m inside. Then you can keep watch on the security monitors and when it dies, unseal everything.”
“Jack…” Ianto didn’t want to watch his partner die alone; besides, this was his plan, therefore he wanted to see it through.
“No arguments, Ianto. I’m not watching you die again,” Jack ordered softly, his eyes revealing the pain he had been through in the past day.
Ianto nodded his agreement; he didn’t particularly want to die again either. “Where’s Gwen?” He had noted that she wasn’t amongst the group.
“She and Rhys are in Cardiff. I told them to protect your family.” Jack’s voice was soft, thinking about why he had ordered Gwen to do that.
Rhiannon would, by now, think him dead too. Ianto hated that but it wasn’t something he’d had any control over. If he hadn’t somehow woken up… “I’ll have to call her as soon as possible then.”
“When this is over,” Jack agreed, kissing Ianto lightly on the lips again. “For now, take everyone and get to the security room.”
Ianto’s lips twitched into a smile. “Yes, sir.” He stepped back out of Jack’s arms, feeling the loss immediately, and turned to the group of people who were unashamedly staring at them. “I need everyone to come with me now.”
“What makes you think we’re going to follow your orders?” Johnson demanded.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll shoot you myself,” Jack said as he strode past her and grabbed a gun out of the hands of the nearest guard. “Follow Ianto and in a few minutes, this will hopefully be all over.” With that, he continued down the hallway.
Alice, who had been watching everything with wide eyes as she hugged her son to her side, headed over to Ianto. Obviously, this young man was someone important to her father, which didn’t really encourage her to trust him. However, she didn’t want to stay with the others either.
Ianto nodded, acknowledging her support, and then looked at the agent. “If you want to stay here, that’s fine. But if you want to see the alien die, come with me.” He turned and walked off, Alice and Steven following him. A few moments later, he heard several more sets of footsteps and he smiled smugly to himself.
**********
Everyone crowded into the security centre. Ianto immediately took charge, finding the camera that was watching the Level 13 room and switching it to the main viewer. Then, upon seeing Jack, enter the room, ordered all the doors and vents sealed. When the security guard seemed hesitant, Johnsons reiterated the order in a more menacing way. The guard called the order through and soon, Jack and the alien were sealed off from the rest of the building.
Ianto watched impatiently as Jack stood and stared at the alien. He couldn’t tell whether his lover was talking or not but it was unlike Jack to be silent if he wasn’t brooding. Finally, the alien started thrashing around. Ianto looked at his watch: half eleven on the dot. UNIT had done it. They, of course, would end up taking the credit for the idea but that didn’t concern Ianto. All that mattered was that the aliens wouldn’t be taking any of the Earth’s children.
On screen, Jack ran over to the gas tanks and started fiddling with the controls. Soon, it became apparent that he had reversed the pump and that the poisonous atmosphere in the glass tank was clearing. It wasn’t long before everyone could see the alien creature in its death throes, slowly suffocating because of the lack of breathable air. Out of the corner of his eye, Ianto saw Alice shielding Steven from the sight and couldn’t blame her; this wasn’t something that a child should watch.
It was ten more long minutes before the tank was completely clear and the alien lay still on the ground. Ianto watched Jack enter the tank and poke it to make sure it was dead. Then he saw the older man carefully pull the emaciated child from the creature, severing the connections, and cradle it in his arms. The child was dead too, no doubt, and Ianto felt a twinge of guilt of having helped cause that. But, he reasoned with himself, it was better than the living death it had been subjected to for the last forty-four years.
Once Jack gave the all clear, Ianto ordered that the lockdown be lifted and then sprinted out the door. It didn’t take long for him to meet up with Jack.
The older man’s face was full of grief and guilt as he held the child - a boy - tenderly. “I did this.”
“You had no choice,” Ianto rebutted softly but firmly. “If it hadn’t been you, they would have found someone else. And you stood up to them this time.”
Jack shook his head; he didn’t know how Ianto could forgive him so easily for leading him to his death. “But my words meant nothing, did they? As soon as they threatened you, I caved. Begged them not to kill you. And it didn’t work. Nothing got solved. And you died.”
Ianto reached up, over the child’s body, to cradle Jack’s face in his hands. “I’m here now. And we won.”
“Because of you.” If Ianto hadn’t somehow come back to life, Jack had the feeling that the outcome would have been vastly different.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Johnson and her armed guards. “What are you doing with that?” she asked Jack, disgust in her voice.
Ianto rounded on her, eyes blazing. “It is a child, not an alien! Treat him with some respect or leave!”
As Johnson glared back at him, one of the guards stepped forward. “I’ll take him, sir.” Ianto’s glare turned to him but he didn’t back down. “I have a son of my own.”
Jack stepped forward and handed the dead boy to the guard, seeing the compassion in the man’s eyes. “Take care of him.”
“Yes, sir.” The guard held the child carefully and took him away.
Jack’s eyes followed him for a few moments and then he visibly donned his business persona. “Agent Johnson, I believe you were about to call your superiors and call of the kill order for all Torchwood members. Since we just saved the world and all.”
Johnson said nothing but got out her mobile phone. She held a quiet and hurried conversation with whoever was on the other end, and after she disconnected the call, she turned to Ianto. “Colonel Oduya thanks you for your idea, Jones, and reminds you of the deal you made.”
“What deal?” Jack demanded to know. What had Ianto had to agree to in order for UNIT to listen to him?
“I agreed that they could examine me to see why I survived,” Ianto told him calmly.
“No.” Jack’s response was swift and firm.
“Jack, it’ll be okay,” Ianto started to reassure him but was cut off.
“No.” Jack led Ianto away a little so that no-one else could overhear them. “What if they find something and they decide to experiment on you?”
“Then I fully expect a rescue from you,” Ianto replied with no hint that he was joking. “I’ll be fine.”
Jack stared at him for a minute and then turned to say loudly at Johnson, “The only way I’m agreeing to this is if Martha Jones does the examination.”
“You don’t get a say in it, Captain,” Johnson shot back. “Jones made the deal.”
The quiet clearing of a throat from behind everyone stopped the argument in its tracks. Heads swivelled to see an old man in a suit that screamed ‘lawyer’ standing there calmly, a briefcase in one hand and an envelope in the other. “Ianto Jones?” the man queried.
“Yes?” Ianto said.
“I was told to give you this at exactly this time,” the man continued. “I was told it would explain everything.” He held the envelope out.
Ianto walked slowly over to him and took the envelope. “Who is it from?” he asked curiously. Who would know to send him something at precisely this time?
“I can’t reveal that, sir. But the answer is in there.” The lawyer nodded towards the envelope. “I suggest you read it.” He bowed slightly and then left.
“Curious,” Jack murmured, coming to stand right next to Ianto. His thoughts echoed his partner’s - who would know… A suspicion began to dawn on him. “We need some privacy. Excuse us,” he said to Johnson as he took Ianto’s free hand and led him away.
“Wait, we…” Johnson trailed off, resigning herself to having to wait. “Keep an eye on them,” she order two of her guards. “Don’t let them leave.”
Jack led Ianto into one of the large empty rooms and then let go of the younger man’s hand. “Read it,” he urged. If it was from who he thought it was from…
Ianto sat down at the large wooden table and opened the envelope. He pulled a sheet of paper from inside and unfolded it. The paper was covered in beautiful handwriting and his curiosity increased.
He began to read:
//Ianto,
By now you’ll have stopped the 456 from taking Earth’s children - brilliant plan, by the way. Then again, with your heritage, it’s not surprising. But you’ll probably be wanting to know how you came back from the dead, am I right? It’s a long story, and rather involved, so pay attention.
Oh, and you can tell Jack all about this too. After all, he’s the one who’s going to have to tell me later on so I know about it in the first place… but I’m getting ahead of myself.
One day, in the far future and in one of my future regenerations, I met a wonderful woman named River Song. We fell in love and one day she fell pregnant with our child. Nine months later, a beautiful baby boy was born. Because River loves mythology, and because I knew what happens to him, we called him Phoenix.
When Phoenix was a year old, River went on a journey to a planet that is one giant library. There, she met the regeneration that you have seen and that Jack knows, and together they battled the evil they found there. Only she didn’t return. Her body died there but her mind lives on in the library’s intelligent computer.
However, that left poor Phoenix alone, motherless. It was at this time that, already knowing what happened to River, I took him to Earth and left him with a lovely family that desperately wanted a baby boy of their own. It broke my heart to do it but I already knew, from what Jack will tell me, that it was part of history and had to happen.
That baby boy was you, Ianto Jones. You are part Time Lord and part human. If you’re wondering why it’s never shown up on scans, that’s because your physiology is more human than Time Lord, except that now, you’ll find that you have two hearts. The second one has always been dormant but when you died - incidentally, that was a foolish plan and you can tell Jack that I said so. What were you both thinking of, going in there unprotected?
Anyway, when you died, the dormant heart realised something was wrong and started beating. Even though your appearance didn’t change, your body regenerated itself and you revived. Unless the second heart is damaged, this means you will be able to live for a very long time.
However, you cannot let anyone other than Jack know. Oh, and eventually your family if they start to wonder why you don’t age like they do. But the likes of UNIT would be thrilled to get their hands on you, which is why you can’t let them. That’s why - hopefully - this letter will reach you before you go with them. Ask Jack about the portable perception filter; if one survived the explosion, then you can use that to mask the non-human parts of you. If not, well, I’m sure you’ll both be able to think of some excuse.
I’m looking forward to meeting you in this regeneration now you’re an adult. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you any more about that - timey-wimey stuff - but know this: I am so proud of you. I have seen you grow up, always watching from a distance so as not to interfere. You inherited my hair and eyes, but the rest is your mother. I only wish that she could have seen you now - one day you might find a way to make that happen.
Well, I’d better end this letter. Keep Jack in line for me, and I’ll see you soon. Well, when I say soon…
Anyway, good luck, Ianto Jones. Don’t ever forget that you’re brilliant.
From your father,
The Doctor.//
Ianto stared at the letter for a long time after finishing, trying to absorb what he had just learnt. His father… was the Doctor? The man he had been jealous of because of Jack’s love for him - which Ianto had never totally understood given the way the Doctor had treated him - had fathered him? In the distant future?
“What is it?” Jack inquired, recognising that Ianto wasn’t actually reading any more. “What does it say?”
Wordlessly, Ianto handed the letter over for Jack to read. His world had just been turned upside down. A chuckle escaped him as he remembered what he had told Jack about his - apparently adopted - father, that he was a master tailor. That lie was no longer needed, at least for Jack.
He wondered whether Rhiannon remembered or even knew that he was adopted. She had never treated him as such, and they did look alike, so it was no wonder that no-one had ever mentioned anything.
After a few minutes of silence, Jack spoke up. “That explains a lot,” he stated as he put the letter down.
Ianto looked at him in surprise. “What?”
“Your fondness for stopwatches,” Jack said with a small grin. “And your brilliant ideas.”
“You believe this?” Ianto asked before he could stop himself. Of course Jack would believe it; it was written by his beloved Doctor.
“Don’t you?” Jack noted the stunned expression Ianto was wearing and realised that the younger man had just been told his heritage was something completely different to what he believed it had been. He went over to his seated lover and put his arms around his shoulders. “The Doctor isn’t prone to jokes like this.”
“I know.” Everything he had read about the Doctor had given him that impression.
“You’re his son.” Under his hands, he could feel Ianto’s double heartbeat. His lover was part-Time Lord and could potentially live for hundreds of years. That was much better than knowing that the younger man would only be around for a handful more. Jack didn’t know whether their relationship would be able to last for centuries but he was certainly willing to give it a try. The pain would be worse in the long run but there was definite advantages in having someone constant in his life who accepted him for who he was.
“I…” Ianto was at a loss for words. He couldn’t even begin to comprehend his potentially extended life span - barring accidents that his physiology couldn’t regenerate from. A random thought struck him. “Did you notice that he didn’t say we could tell Gwen?”
“Yeah, I did.” He had taken that to mean that Gwen wouldn’t survive long enough to notice that Ianto was aging slowly.
Ianto heard the implication in Jack’s voice and remained silent for a minute. The foreknowledge that Gwen would die young didn’t sit well with him but he realised that he would have to get used to it; like Jack, he could now outlive everyone he knew by hundreds of years.
“You’re not to go taking extra risks though,” Jack continued, changing the topic slightly. “Not even the Doctor has unlimited regenerations.”
“You shouldn’t either,” Ianto countered, standing and turning in Jack’s embrace. “I keep wondering if one day you won’t come back.”
“I’m a fixed point,” Jack reminded him. “I’ll always keep coming back. Somehow.” He didn’t know how his body had come back together after being blown apart; it was enough to know that it did. “To you, if you’ll have me.”
“What, my dying words weren’t enough?” Ianto said, only a hint of teasing evident. This Jack, the one no-one else saw, had a fear of being left behind to face eternity by himself. “I’m not going anywhere either.”
Jack smiled with relief. Even though he knew that Ianto loved him, he couldn’t help but wonder whether his new status would change that. Obviously it wouldn’t. Yet.
A sudden pounding on the door halted any further discussion. “Come on, Harkness, we haven’t got all day!”
The two men grinned at each other. “Impatient, isn’t she?” Jack commented.
“How am I going to get out of the medical? Do you have that perception filter the Doctor mentioned?” He wasn’t going to call the Doctor ‘father’, not yet.
“No, but I do have a hidden store of Retcon,” Jack replied. “We’ll go with them, then we’ll retcon them before the tests and forge the results.”
That sounded like a good plan, except… “How are you going to get the Retcon?”
“Easy. We’ll just ask them to make a quick stop on the way.” Jack’s grin grew wider. Time to have some fun.
**********
Three hours later, the tests results had been forged as the attending doctor slept soundly, and Jack and Ianto were on their way back to Cardiff. They had called Gwen earlier - Jack had borrowed one of UNIT’s phones - and informed her of Ianto’s unexplained resurrection, and asked her to tell his family that there had been a mistake. Ianto didn’t want to do it himself over the phone as he needed to see how much Rhiannon knew about his adoption.
As they drove, the two men shared their stories of the previous eighteen hours. Jack was simply amazed at how Ianto had thought of the solution, while the latter was both touched and annoyed that his partner had seemingly given up. He would be discussing that with Jack later.
Neither of them wanted to talk about the dead child that Jack had separated from the 456, nor about Ianto’s death. Those were topics for talking about late at night when they couldn’t see each other; talking about personal or upsetting things was easier that way.
When they pulled up at the Davies’ home, Rhiannon was waiting impatiently for them, anxious to see for herself that her brother was really alive; her kids were upstairs, sleeping off their ordeal, and Johnny was watching over them so that she could speak to Ianto without interruptions. Those few hours that she had thought him dead had been horrible. She immediately rushed over to him and hugged him as soon as he got out of the car.
Awkwardly, Ianto returned the hug, himself pleased at seeing her again. Then he yelped as Rhiannon hit the back of his head. “What was that for?”
“That was for making me worry about you!” she replied. “I thought for hours that you were dead and then suddenly I get told that you’re not.”
“I’m sure Gwen explained that there was a mix-up,” Jack interjected smoothly.
“And that’s the other thing,” Rhiannon continued, barely giving Jack a glance. “Why didn’t you call me yourself? Couldn’t you be bothered?”
“Because there’s something that I need to talk to you about, something I couldn’t ask over the phone,” Ianto replied, resigning himself to a long afternoon.
“Well, in that case, you’d better come in.” Now Rhiannon turned her attention to the other bloke. She finally noticed his good looks and realised that this was Ianto’s boyfriend. “You must be Jack.”
“I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Jack gave her his most charming smile.
“We’ll see.” Rhiannon still had reservations about someone who obviously was leading Ianto in dangerous situations.
Ianto and Jack shared a look as Rhiannon turned away to lead them inside. “Obviously, genetics aren’t needed for some things,” Ianto mused at the failure of the Harkness charm.
“Hey,” Jack protested but without any rancour. Ianto’s ability to stand firm in the face of charm was one of the reasons he loved the man. Still, he followed his lover inside, an amused expression on his face.
Once in the living room, Rhiannon whirled around to face the men, hands on hips. “What happened, Ianto? And tell me the truth.”
Jack spoke up first, having already worked out a good story. “He was in a coma after the poison gas attack in Thames House. There were so many casualties that he was misdiagnosed, as were a couple of others who weren’t affected as strongly. It wasn’t until this morning that he and the others woke up, and we realised what had happened. After that, Ianto and the others went through some medical tests to determine why they had survived.”
Rhiannon wasn’t entirely sure that she believed him but it sounded plausible and Jack seemed sincere. “And what did the tests find?”
“They were inconclusive.” Ianto hated lying to his sister but she wouldn’t believe him if he said that he was part-alien.
“And where were you while all this was happening?” Rhiannon turned to Jack again, hands on hips.
“I was like Ianto, in a coma, only I woke up first,” Jack replied, thinking quickly. “They took me away and then they arrested me for treason. I’m sorry we couldn’t tell you sooner but once Ianto was awake, then we were a little busy saving the world.” By the end of his speech, there was a hint of sarcasm evident.
“Jack,” Ianto warned; that was not the way to win Rhiannon over. Focusing on his sister, he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t even know that Gwen had come here until a few hours ago when I met up with Jack again. We got a message to you as soon as we could.”
Rhiannon wanted to remain mad at her brother but she just couldn’t. It sounded like he had been through a terrible ordeal over the past few days, what with being caught up in that explosion on the Plass, having people trying to kill him, and then almost dying from poison gas. “And you helped get rid of whatever was controlling the children?”
“It was all Ianto’s idea,” Jack stated with a proud grin.
“So what was controlling the children?” Because whatever it was, it hadn’t been good, and those hours hiding from the soldiers had been, thinking that Ianto was dead, had been the most terrifying of her entire life.
“Would you believe aliens?”
“Aliens,” Rhiannon echoed Jack sceptically. “And I suppose you’ll be telling me next that you’re both secret agents that fight against alien threats to Cardiff.” When the two men shared a look, she exclaimed, “Oh, you’ve got to be joking!”
“Would it make it easier to accept if we just say that we’re part of a task force that deals with threats to Cardiff and occasionally, the world?” Jack asked. “And that there was a group who wanted to destabilise the main governments of the world by seeing if they would hand over ten percent of the children and when they agreed, to step in after the riots and control everything?”
Rhiannon narrowed her eyes. That made a lot more sense than aliens but somehow, she felt that she was being patronised. “Is that true?” she questioned her brother, who had been remaining very quiet.
“To a certain extent,” he replied.
“Ianto found out where they were hiding and was able to send the location to a military group who were then able to destroy their headquarters,” Jack added.
“While he was in a coma?” The question was full of sarcasm.
“Before,” Ianto quickly invented. “I sent them the co-ordinates beforehand and while I was in a coma, they were working on getting the bomb to that location.”
She still wasn’t sure that she entirely believed them but Rhiannon decided that maybe she didn’t want to know the full story. “So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?” she queried, finally relaxing and sitting on the couch.
Ianto sat down next to her while Jack opted for the nearby chair. “While this was all going on, I got a letter from someone claiming to be my birth father. Basically, I want to know whether you remember anything about me being adopted or not.”
Rhiannon’s expression became thoughtful as she tried to think back that far. “I know there aren’t any photos of you before your first birthday,” she replied after a moment. “There’s… I think I remember when you arrived. I’d come home from school and there you were, and you definitely hadn’t just been born because you could crawl. But I don’t remember them saying anything about adoption, just that you were my new brother.” She had only been seven at the time, so she hadn’t questioned it.
That confirmed it. Even though Rhiannon had never heard the term ‘adoption’ in relation to him, the fact that he had been around a year old when she had first seen him meant that he hadn’t been born into the Jones family. Also, by the sounds of it, the Doctor had come straight to the family while Rhiannon was away and just given him to them. Too bad his parents weren’t around to ask them more about it.
“That might explain why you always thought Dad pushed you too hard,” Rhiannon mused.
Jack silently agreed with that. Maybe Ianto had subconsciously known that he didn’t belong and had rebelled against his father.
“He did push me too hard, Rhi,” Ianto pointed out; from his perspective, that was the way it had happened.
“If he did, it was only because he wanted better for you,” Rhiannon countered. “And look where you are now. If he hadn’t done what he did, would you have moved to London and got that swish job? Or come back to Cardiff to work with your special organisation?”
Ianto had to admit that she had a good point.
“So, tell me about this letter. Who sent it?” Rhiannon leaned forward, eager to hear this piece of news.
“A doctor by the name of John Smith,” Ianto replied, using the alias that he knew the Doctor used. “From London.”
Rhiannon’s eyes widened. “You mean, your name is the same as his but the Welsh equivalent?”
“I…I hadn’t thought of that.” Ianto wondered whether the Doctor had planned it that way. A glance at Jack told him that his lover was just as surprised as he was.
“Are you going to meet him? Did he tell you why you were adopted?” She wanted all the gossip - not that she would tell anyone else.
“He said that my mother died and he… he couldn’t look after me,” Ianto told part of the truth. “I don’t know whether I’ll meet him yet. Probably though, at some point.”
“Well, you’re still my daft little brother,” Rhiannon said, grabbing his hands and holding on tightly. “And you’re not to get yourself into any dangerous situations again, okay? I don’t want to go through that again.”
“I can’t promise that. But I’ll do my best,” Ianto vowed; he didn’t particularly want to go through that again either.
“And I’ll protect him as best I can,” Jack put his two cents worth in. He knew that every time he died, it hurt Ianto and now that the situation could be reversed, that the younger man could die and regenerate, Jack knew he would feel the same.
“You’ll have to do a better job of it,” Rhiannon threatened, “or I swear your life won’t be worth living.”
Jack nodded, taking the threat seriously; he knew what family bonds meant.
“So,” Rhiannon decided to change the subject and embarrass her brother at the same time, “you’re Ianto’s boyfriend. Should I ask what your intentions are?”
Ianto groaned and sank back into the corner of the couch. He couldn’t believe she had just asked that of Jack! After he had said not to mention anything about it!
Jack simply took it in his stride. “I want to be his partner for as long as he’ll have me,” he stated honestly.
The siblings stared at Jack, both stunned but Ianto more so than his sister. That was the closest Jack had ever come to admitting his feelings since that night before Tommy had left.
“I’ll just go check on the kids,” Rhiannon said after a few moments, sensing that the men might need to be alone for awhile.
Ianto barely noticed; he was too busy staring at Jack. “You… you want to be my partner?”
“Didn’t I make that clear earlier?” Jack asked to cover up his nerves. He thought they had sorted this out after saving the world.
“You did, I just… I don’t think I took it in,” Ianto explained. He had just had a large shock upon learning that the Doctor was his father; obviously, the status of their relationship was something that he had missed. Seeing the nerves that his lover was trying to hide, Ianto leaned over and kissed him, long and lingering. “Thank you.”
“What for?” Jack kept his fingers entwined with his younger lover’s.
“I know you don’t like labels.” The fact that Jack was willing to admit they were partners in an intimate sense spoke volumes to Ianto. Part of the older man’s reluctance to commit to relationships was his fear of losing his current partner, and now that Ianto might not die for a very long time, Jack obviously figured that he was safe from loss for the time being.
“Well, we need something that people can refer to us as,” Jack stated, relieved. He tugged on Ianto’s hand and pulled him to kneel over his thighs. Then he slid both hands around to cup Ianto’s buttocks, thrilled that he would get to do this for a long time yet to come. “Did I mention how glad I am that you’re alive? Because if I didn’t, I’m saying it now.”
“I’m glad to be alive,” Ianto replied, his breathing quickening at Jack’s proximity. They probably shouldn’t be doing this here but… He started to lean in again but stopped when he heard footsteps running down the stairs.
“Uncle Ianto!”
He barely had time to move away from Jack before his niece Mica ran into the living room and hugged him, while his nephew David hovered nearby, too old for such displays. Ianto didn’t quite know what to do. Hugging his family wasn’t something he was used to.
“The lady told us you were dead,” Mica said, “but I knew she was wrong. We had to hide from the soldiers and there was lots of shouting and stuff but I wasn’t scared. David was.”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
“Alright, that’s enough, Mica,” Rhiannon stated as she followed her children into the room. “Leave Uncle Ianto alone. He’s had a rough week.”
Mica pouted, then turned her attention to the strange bloke nearby without letting go of her uncle. “Who are you? Are you Uncle Ianto’s boyfriend?”
“Yes, I am,” Jack admitted, already deciding that Mica was a handful and he was glad that she wasn’t his.
“Are you going to live with him and have babies?” she asked innocently. “My friend Sian’s got two mums and they live together and they’ve got a new baby now.”
Jack grinned as Ianto blushed. “I don’t know yet, we’ll have to wait and see.” Having a baby together - that was doable.
“That’s enough of that,” Rhiannon said, pulling Mica off Ianto. “You and David go outside and play for awhile.”
“Actually, we’d better get going,” Ianto said, not wanting to get involved in another conversation with his sister; that was best done in small doses. “Thanks for all your help.”
Rhiannon pulled him in for a hug and then did likewise with Jack when the latter stood. “Now don’t be a stranger, Ianto. You can come here anytime, and you can bring Jack with you. He’ll certainly liven up the neighbourhood.”
Ianto resigned himself to becoming the source of gossip for the next few weeks and smiled his agreement.
“Just try and stop me,” Jack stated, liking Ianto’s family. Once they had recruited some new people to Torchwood, doing normal couple things like eating with family could be fun.
A few minutes, they were on their way home, having informed Johnny that his car was still in London as it had been impounded by UNIT (that had not gone down well). Both men wanted a shower, a change of clothes, and to have sex - not necessarily in that order.
“So… everything sunk in yet?” Jack asked as they walked up to the front door.
“Not really.” Ianto didn’t imagine that it would for a few days at least. “Too many things have happened.” He closed the door behind them.
“In that case, let me help you stop thinking for awhile,” Jack leered as he backed Ianto against the door, unzipped his trousers and pulled down the briefs, then took the eager erection in his mouth.
It didn’t take long for Ianto climax into Jack’s mouth; he had missed this so much. Jack stood and led Ianto along the hallway towards the bedroom, desperate for more.
Ianto went willingly. After the past few days, he needed this. And as he walked, he absently thought that this would be the worst possible time for the Doctor to show up…
Script for this archive provided by eFiction. Contact our archivists at help@whofic.com. Please read our Terms of Service and Submission Guidelines.