Title - Start Me Up - Prologue
Disclaimer - I own nothing of Torchwood, unfortunately. If I did I would be a very happy woman.
Rating - T
Pairings - Eventual Jack/Ianto
Summary - When Ianto's body disappears from the Torchwood vault after rift activity, Jack's at a loss at what to do. But when The Doctor shows up with a new companion, things change forever. Post CoE
AN: Hope you guys like this! This is going to be the first multi chapter story that I actually finish writing. This is just a little introduction to the plot, things will get more interesting in the next chapters!
When Ianto had died, Jack had cried with Gwen, but there had been no time to properly grieve. They had to deal with stopping the 456, at all costs. Even if it cost Jack his grandson. There had been no time, speed had been essential in order to stop the 456 from taking all those children.
It was for Ianto.
That's what was running through Jack's mind when he destroyed the 456 and his grandson. Alice may not talk to him ever again. Bu Jack wasn't going to let Ianto, and all of those other people in Thames House, die for nothing.
'Don't forget me.' That was what Ianto had asked of him.
It was never going to happen. Jack would never forget Ianto. A man who had loved him so purely, Jack was sure he didn't deserve the Welshman.
The clean up operation after the 456 had been a tedious and messy situation. Jack didn't care what the government did, as long as they didn't endanger any more lives. He just cared about the lives lost. Ianto's life.
After the 456, there was time to grieve.
Like with all dead members of Torchwood, Ianto's belongings were packed up and placed in storage. Jack had been the one to do it. Gwen couldn't be doing any heavy lifting, and it was his way of finally saying good-bye to Ianto.
Cleaning out the man's flat, he wouldn't need to hide the tears, he wouldn't need to hold back his emotions.
Things at Ianto's flat had been unsettling to say the least. There were things planned for the future. Things Ianto would never get to do. There was a receipt for dry cleaning to be picked up. Dirty sheets lay in a basket waiting to be put in the washing machine.
Everything smelt of Ianto. Jack had taken his time clearing out the apartment. He had cried over his favourite shirt of Ianto's and packed away the man's things with care.
When he was done, and Ianto's life was in boxes in storage, Jack dealt with the body. Properly signed off, updated Ianto's file in the Torchwood database and said good-bye to him for one last time.
Ianto's body was going to be stored in the UNIT morgue in Cardiff until a new Torchwood hub was built.
They were also using a temporary base of operations until the more suitable building was done. The most important thing to finish first was the new vault. When it was ready, Ianto's body would be moved from the UNIT morgue to Torchwood property.
Then at least Ianto would be at home, and able to rest in a secure place.
The majority of things had been destroyed in the explosion, but they managed to salvage what they could. The Torchwood mainframe was still accessible, so they still had all their files. It was just the technology, alien and human that they had lost.
The new Torchwood hub was going to be built near Cardiff bay again, in an old warehouse that had some underground storage. It would be a new home, but never quite like the old Torchwood hub.
But things needed to carry on, they always did.
Al the people Torchwood had lost. Suzie, Owen, Tosh and now Ianto. Life just, had to continue. But with the two of them it was going to be hard. Especially with Gwen being pregnant.
It had been hanging at the back of Jack's mind now for a couple of days and it was Gwen who finally addressed the situation.
"Jack…" she said, having knocked on his temporary office door and walking into the room.
She looked tired. It was obvious Gwen wasn't sleeping well. And it looked as though she had been crying.
"Yes Gwen?" Jack was tired as well, he spent most of his nights awake, afraid to close his eyes and see Ianto's face.
"We need to start looking for new… new recruits." She said slowly, trying to gauge Jack's reaction.
"Yes, yes you're right." He noticed a pile of papers in the woman's hand. "What have you got?"
"A couple of computer specialists. A doctor who works for UNIT… a few others…" She handed over the files as she spoke. "I knew you'd want to go through them carefully… before making any decisions."
Jack glanced over the files and nodded. "Thanks Gwen. Why don't you go home early? Get some rest?" I'll let you know if anything comes up."
Gwen had thought to protest, but guessed that Jack probably wanted some time to himself, and whispered a thanks before leaving the office to go home.
When Gwen had left, Jack reluctantly looked over the files with more detail. He noticed that Gwen hadn't put any recruits in with archive skills, or 'good coffee making' skiils. It seemed as though neither of them could bear to replace Ianto.
Not yet anyway. It was too soon. They needed time to heal before bringing in someone new.
It was 5 weeks after the end of the 456 that the new Torchwood Hub was finally useable. There was still some work going on, but it was mainly moving furniture in and final touches to the decoration and electronics.
Jack had moved Ianto's body in there as soon as he could, not liking the idea of the man's body being in the UNIT morgue for any longer than it needed to be.
Ianto was the first body in the vault. The first of many, Jack reasoned. It wouldn't be long before the alien bodies started to arrive in the vault. Hopefully it would be a while yet before they had to store a dead friend.
Jack's office was modelled such that it was very similar to his previous ones. When he'd first seen it set up, with the room beneath it, he'd gotten very nostalgic.
That night, he'd silently cried himself to sleep as he remembered all the times he and Ianto had shared in the old Hub.
After they had settled in the new Hub, Jack had reluctantly told Gwen who he thought would be good and they started to selection process. It was going to be painful for both of them, bringing up old and fresh wounds from friends long gone.
Eventually it was decided on a computer specialist named Gareth from North Wales, a woman called Victoria with a medical background and a graduate who had been working for UNIT for the past 15 months called Colin.
They needed five people on the team, especially with it being more risky for Gwen to go out in the field.
After a couple of weeks of the new recruits, Jack decided that he had made the right choices, and life at Torchwood slowly seemed to return to normal.
Normal that was, except Jack's heart was still bleeding.
Bleeding for the man he loved, and hadn't loved enough.
Some nights when Jack was feeling particularly lonely, and everyone else had gone home he would open the vault just to look at Ianto's face.
He could almost pretend that Ianto was still alive. That he was just sleeping.
Other times it brought back too many memories of watching Ianto die and knowing he could do nothing to save him.
Captain Jack Harkness knew that this would be one thing that would take a long time to mend. It wouldn't be a simple case of reviving and everything being normal again.
He could come back from death as many times as he could, and the only thing that wouldn't be new again would be his heart.
All he wanted was Ianto Jones back in his life. And he knew that it would never happen.
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