I decided, in my fit of buying and watching Doctor Who DVDs, that TYTNW wouldn't have been how it was. I mean, TW 3 were sent on a mission and they stayed the whole year? Not likely. Sure, they could easily have been killed, and all the painful 'kill Ianto in front of Jack' scenarios just don't work if he's killed on the Valiant because the body would be kept in the same state as everyone who remembers.
Un beta'd, so please excuse any mistakes. Please enjoy! I know it's long, but hopefully it's well worth the read
Disclaimer: I sadly don't own the situation or any of the characters, they belong to Russel T. Davies and the BBC
The Year That Never Was - Part 1
It had been one year since the election of Harold Saxon and Torchwood Three were coming.
--
"Tosh, there is absolutely no alien tech up here!" Owen yelled at the woman, it being her turn to try and justify their mysterious trip that the newly elected Prime Minister had sent them on. At the time, they'd questioned his motives, seeing as he wasn't officially in office yet and Whitehall rarely contacted them on business - they were beyond the government, after all. Somehow, they hadn't twigged what was going on until it had already happened.
"I know, Owen, I just don't want to sit in this refugee camp any longer!" Tosh was at her wit's end – she'd been away from the Hub and her computers for far too long, She felt extremely vulnerable with only her little scanner left.
"There's nothing else we can do, Tosh." Owen finally admitted, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, letting her lean her head on his shoulder. Whilst the two of them argued almost constantly, it was really more brainstorming. Between them, they'd come up with enough excuses and cover stories to get all four of them into the series of camps they'd been moving through.
Right now, they were sitting in one on the outskirts of Belgium. For the past two weeks, they'd been lying low after catching a television broadcast from the Master, his first one in three weeks, in which he did a two hour long special on 'Ways to Kill Captain Jack Harkness'.
Gwen couldn't watch more than one, Tosh turned away after ten minutes and even Owen couldn't stomach the sound of Jack's screams after the seventeenth time. Only Ianto had watched it the whole way through, teeth gritted and fists clenched as the Master reduced Jack to a sobbing mass, twenty six deaths after he started.
Jack had been so brave at first, flirting with the cameras, with the Master, with his guards, laughing off the pain each time he came back, but as the methods got worse, his spirit fled him and it was all he could do not to let his mind break as well as his body.
Ianto hadn't spoken more than three words since the broadcast and the rest of the team respected that, Gwen handling the talking for him, playing the role of his older sister whilst Tosh and Owen disguised themselves as husband and wife. The two couples had met on the road from London all those months ago, fleeing the Toclafane in search of what little peace could still be found on earth.
They had no idea how Jack had ended up on the Valiant, as they'd still been up in the mountains, searching for whatever Saxon had sent them there for. The didn't know anything until they began to descend, three weeks later to find the world on fire, the cities and villages deadened. The first time they'd seen a Saxon Broadcast was one in which he sat with an incredibly aged Doctor, mocking him.
The next was to introduce the world to his friend. To introduce the world to the man who could never die. They hadn't stayed to watch that broadcast. None of them could stand to see Jack chained up for longer than a second. They'd turned and fled France, not wanting to be anywhere near where Saxon might come looking for them.
It was that night though, as the four of them sat in the little Belgian refugee camp, that the traveller arrived, slipping into the group of tents like a shadow, now much practiced at the art of it. The whispers spread like an oil slick through the camp and the whispers rose to mutterings and excited babble finally broke out.
"I think it's that girl, you know, Martha?" Gwen whispered in awe. Everyone had heard the story of the woman who was travelling the world, looking for the pieces of the ultimate weapon, the one person who could kill the Master and free the human race.
"She's not real, Gwen. There's nothing that can stop him, not now." Owen muttered, rubbing Tosh's arm as she nodded in agreement with him, her eyes sad and her expression hopeless.
"There's still a chance, Owen. There's always a-" Gwen started, turning to Ianto to direct her words, but finding his place empty. She jumped up, scanning around her and saw him, moving off into the heart of the crowd. "Ianto, Ianto wait!"
She hurried after him, pushing through the people thronging together until she found a jacket she recognised, the black material meeting battered jeans at the waist. She grabbed the arm and hauled on it, but Ianto wouldn't move.
"Is it true? Can you really kill him?" One man yelled, his accent thick and his voice panicked.
"Can you save us?" Came another cry, English shouting above the babble of foreign voices. People form all over Europe were there, not just Belgians.
"Ianto, please." Gwen begged, fear in her eyes. She didn't want to be caught, she didn't want any of them to be caught. They needed to stay safe, for Jack. The man remained silent though, watching the slight woman sitting on a table only a few feet away from them, looking around, meeting their eyes briefly before she began her story.
"I can stop him. Eventually, I can stop him." She finally said, her accent soothing and familiar to Ianto. She's from home, she's from London, from Britain, he thought with a slight smile. "But I've still got a long way to go. You see, I was travelling… I was with this great man, The Doctor, and we went to the end of the universe! We didn't mean to, but we sort of picked up a hitcher."
She laughed slightly as a memory flickered across her face. "If any of you have seen the broadcasts recently, you'll know him – Captain Jack Harkness, the man who can't stay dead." Beneath Gwen's hands, Ianto had tensed, but when she glanced at the young man's face, it was still a mask of polite intrigue and interest for the traveller's story.
"Well, me and the Doctor, we'd travelled to so many places, we've seen so many amazing sights! But more often than not, he's here, saving your lives time after time and none of you even know he exists." Her expression dropped a little as she gazed at the floor. "Because that's who he is – the Doctor. He never asks for recognition or thanks, he just does and that's what makes him so amazing. He means the earth to me and the Earth means everything to him!
"He sent me out here, he sent me to get rid of the Master. Three months ago, he sent me out here and I've travelled all the way across Europe, visiting hundreds of places just like this. You're not alone out there! The Doctor can't help us now but without him, none of this would be possible… Without him, we'd already be dead and gone, nothing more than a shadow of a thought in the whole history of creation. That's what he's protecting, giving his life for. He never stops, he never stays, but he never abandons us."
The murmuring rose up again as one of the woman's guards came to call her across to her tent for the night, apologising to the crowd and asking her to get some rest. Before Gwen could stop him, Ianto was pushing his way through the crowd again, heading for the woman who'd spoken of Jack and the Doctor.
Gwen blinked and she'd lost him. In a panic, she ran back to the others. She didn't hear what Ianto had to say.
--
"Excuse me, you can't come in here, she needs to sleep." The man was saying, blocking the entrance to the tent. He was as tall as Ianto, but heavier built, muscles standing out under his clothes. Ianto, in comparison, was a twig. They'd all lost weight since they'd started running, but none so much as Ianto.
"I have to talk to her, you don't understand!" Ianto growled, speaking for the first time in a very long time. It felt strange yet thrilling to use his voice, soothing almost to hear his accent again.
"Jeremy, what's going on?" The woman asked, coming to the door and looking over the man's thrust out arm at Ianto, meeting his eyes. Ianto just looked at her calmly, though he was sure that his eyes betrayed his desperation. "It's okay, let him come in if he needs to talk."
Jeremy reluctantly let him pass ad the woman gestured him through into the dimly lit tent, offering him one of the camp chairs whilst she sat on the bed, watching him carefully.
"Are you Martha Jones?" Ianto asked, suddenly unsure of what he wanted to say. Or maybe he was unsure of whether he wanted to hear the answers he was looking for or not.
"Yes, I am." She smiled and sat back, looking carefree for a brief moment. "If I'm not mistaken, you're Welsh… correct?"
Ianto simply nodded, looking away from her face, concentrating on something else. Martha was dressed all in black, combat stuffed into leather boots, pockets filled with devices, wrist straps… Ianto did a double take. Only one person in this day and age had anything like that and he would recognise it anywhere.
Without thinking, he leaned forwards and pulled the leather free, not registering that Martha didn't object, merely watched him with interest. He gingerly ran his fingers across the battered leather and he felt his heart break.
"How did you get this?" He whispered after a long silence.
"I was on board the Valiant and a… one of my companions gave it to me, so I could teleport off." She replied quietly, her voice catching at her words.
"He gave it to you…" Ianto trailed off, lost in the security that such a simple object brought to him. It was a reminder that the world hadn't always been this terrible. It had once been full of Jack Harkness, laughing at him, flirting and joking with him… kissing him.
"Hang on." Martha suddenly spoke again, her voice excited and almost relieved. "Hang on, I know you! I know who you are, he spoke about you all so much, but you in particular. You're Jack's… well, he never really put a name to it, but you're Ianto. Ianto Jones?"
Ianto nodded slowly, a little dumbstruck that Jack had spoken about him, about any of them.
"He said you made the best coffee in the world." She smiled fondly and reached forwards to squeeze his hand gently. "He's going to be okay, Ianto. I'm going to get them out."
No sooner had she said that when there came a commotion from the doorway, three familiar voices joining the fray as two guards got increasingly more frustrated.
"You can't go in there! She needs to rest, she's got a long day tomorrow." Jeremy was saying heatedly. Ianto could almost see Owen rolling his eyes at the authoritarian tone.
"Look, mate. Face a hoard of cannibals, have your boss die to save everyone and stay dead for an alarmingly long six days or then have him disappear. Then tell me she has a long day ahead of her." Owen said, surprisingly calmly. Martha got up and smiled at Ianto, who quickly hid the Vortex Manipulator.
"Jeremy, they can come in too." She said, placing a hand on the man's shoulder and gesturing for the others to join herself and Ianto.
"Don't you ever do that to me again, you hear me?" It was Gwen this time, storming towards Ianto and standing with her hand son her hips, glaring at him. He cringed away from her and looked to Martha for help.
"It's okay, we were just talking about someone we both know." She said mysteriously, taking her place on the bed again.
"You said you knew Jack, that he travelled with you." Gwen said quietly, looking over at Martha.
"Yep. We were in Cardiff, powering up the TARDIS and he just came charging across the plass at us!" Martha laughed at the memory of the Doctor's face. "He clung to the outside of it the entire way. The TARDIS was trying to shake him off and we ended up at the end of the universe, one hundred trillion years in the future."
"That sounds like Jack alright." Owen said moodily, though they could all tell he was glad to hear the story, glad to hear about their estranged Captain. They all smiled and Gwen sighed with relief, but Tosh stayed tense, noticing the way Martha shifted, obviously needing to say something to them.
"Listen, I've heard a rumour, a rumour about what goes on up on the Valiant." Martha's voice dropped conspiratorially and she leaned in, obviously not wanting anyone else to hear her. "I've heard that he likes to change his staffers on a regular basis, as the mood takes him. He's been through blondes, brunettes, Londoners, Scots… Anything he thinks might mean something to the Doctor. I can't let this spread because it would send panic through everyone, my plan would never work if I drew that much attention to myself."
"But why're you telling us?" Gwen asked cautiously, her hand resting on Ianto's shoulder both to calm herself and to keep him there. She didn't want to risk him running off at something Martha might say.
"Because his next move is to get to the Doctor through Jack." Martha replied quietly. "There's a rumour going around that next time, he's taking people from Cardiff."
"Then we're going back." Ianto said suddenly with a harsh tone to his voice. The others looked at him in surprise, half concerned yet half glad that he was talking again.
"You need to disguise yourselves. If he know he's found two members of Jack's team, he'll just shoot you cold… most likely in front of Jack." Martha said with warning. Gwen and Tosh both flinched at the thought of Jack having to watch any of his team die.
"That's not going to be a problem." Ianto said casually, the usual dry confidence returning to his voice a little. "None of us look anything like how he would know us – we dropped off the radar a long time ago and he hasn't picked us up again."
"Hang on, that still only covers the two of you, he's not going to pick us up if we're not Welsh." Owen said, a little annoyed to be out of the planning.
"I'll need escorts once I reach the border. This patrol can't take me any further." Martha said quickly. "You're the doctor on the team, right?"
"Yeah, but I still-" He began, but she cut him short.
"Only Doctors can travel in vehicles from here out, so I'll need you to take me." She said with a brief smile and Owen nodded, impressed. "Toshiko?"
"Yes, but how do you know my name?" She asked quietly, still a little confused.
"Jack didn't shut up about you, any of you. Whilst the Doctor was making us these-" She lifted up a key on a string.
"A perception filter! It's weak, but incredibly useful… so that's how you're getting past the Toclafane." She murmured, nodding to herself.
"He said you were a genius." She grinned at the woman, who smiled back at her. "He also said you spoke most of the main languages, including Cantonese and Japanese. I'll need a translator when I get there."
Tosh nodded and with that, the five of them began to plan their attack, covering both angles, trading advice and wisdom with how to deal with their separate tasks. There didn't seem to be enough hours in the night and before any of them knew it, light was beginning to filter through the door flap and they were splitting up into two groups, tears from both sides as Tosh squeezed Ianto goodbye and wished him and Gwen luck.
The final thing Ianto did was hand the Vortex Manipulator back to Martha. She would need it more than they would.