Miracle Day

The New World

Chapter One
The calendar marked two years since the 456 incident. The incident had affected the entire world and the Torchwood team had spent five days on the run – though it had felt like a lot longer with Owen's constant complaining – so the date wasn't exactly one Ianto could forget in a hurry. Things had calmed down again following the 456 incident, thankfully, and eventually things had returned to normal. Well, as normal as weevil hunting and alien artefact hunting could be. Jack had understandably closed himself off following the death of his grandson. Tosh had convinced Ianto to give him time, and he did despite the urge to press him and attempt to draw him out of the weird trance he'd fallen into. But Tosh, as always, had been right. Given time, Jack returned to his normal, flirty self and their relationship had returned to its usual uncommitted status.

In fact, two years after the 456 incident, not much had changed. Except, of course, Gwen. When Anwen had been born, Jack convinced Gwen to take a few years off from Torchwood to spend time with her daughter. It made sense, considering the number of close calls all four team members had experienced during the five days battling the 456, but Ianto had been very surprised when Gwen had actually agreed to Jack's proposal. The biggest of surprises, however, had come when Gwen popped into the hub one day to announce that Rhys had convinced her to temporarily move to an isolated farmhouse in the middle of the Welsh countryside until she returned to Torchwood. Ianto could only presume Rhys had suggested it to prevent Gwen from being tempted back to Torchwood whenever something suspicious occurred in Cardiff.

Ianto placed a mug onto his coffee machine; something else that had changed in the two years after his previous one had been blown up with the original hub. In fact, the whole hub was new, not that there was any obvious difference. Jack had been very insistent, during the long rebuilding process, about it looking exactly the same as the old one, including the old sewer look. Ianto rolled his eyes: and people said he was obsessive. Ianto's eyes flicked back up to the calendar as he pressed the button on the machine to fill the cup. Two years. Whilst Ianto had found himself in many dangerous situations across his last four years at Torchwood Cardiff, the 456 incident was the closest he'd ever come to death without being in any immediate danger. Jack had saved him…

"Jack!" Ianto called after the other man, who was almost at the warehouse door by this point. "Jack!" He repeated after Jack ignored him. Ianto was positive he was shouting loud enough for him to hear him, and yet Jack continued to walk. Ianto resorted to a run, grabbing on to Jack's shoulder just as Jack reached for the handle of the warehouse door. "Will you stop?"

Jack spun on his heels, finally turning to face Ianto as their blue eyes met. "What?" He questioned, his voice colder than usual. Ianto knew it wasn't aimed at him: Jack's family had been taken and when combined with the guilt Ianto knew Jack must be feeling with the reminder of his actions years ago, Jack was obviously stressed, even if he was trying not to show it.

"Let me come with you," Ianto suggested. He didn't like the idea of Jack facing the 456 alone, especially since they'd dredged up the past he wanted to forget. "I can help you."

"I need to do this alone," Jack shook his head. "Besides, I need you here with Gwen."

"Why?" Ianto challenged. "Gwen can handle MI5 by her own." Ianto sighed. "First you unnecessarily sent both Owen and Tosh with Rhys to protect a leverage video. Now you're leaving both me and Gwen here. Why are you blocking us all out?"

"This is my fault. I'm putting an end to it," came Jack's growled response. Ianto opened his mouth to respond but before he could say anything, Jack was out the door, door banging shut behind him.

"Shit," Ianto muttered as a burning sensation on his hand brought his attention back to the coffee he was meant to be focusing on. Instead, his lapse in concentration had resulted in the hot liquid overflowing straight onto his hand. Flicking the machine off, Ianto went straight for the cold tap where he proceeded to hold his hand under the cold flowing water.

The frustration he felt as a result of the burning sensation in his hand wasn't too dissimilar from the frustration he'd held towards Jack following their short conversation almost two years ago now. That frustration had turned to a weird mixture of relief and worry when he'd heard of the Thames House poisoning. It hadn't hit him until he and Gwen had entered the room filled with the victims of the poisoning, identities covered by red sheets. That could have been him. It was Jack. And what if that had been the time that his luck had run out? What if Jack had died? Every time Jack died, the same thought crosses Ianto's mind. What if that's it? What if Jack can die? Surely he will one day? No one can live forever, can they? What if… one day… Jack's immortality just… disappears?

TWMD

A sudden blaring of alarms caused Ianto to jerk awake, Jack doing the same next to him. They didn't make a tendency of sleeping in the hub anymore. Ianto's flat had, at some point over the past two years, turned into Jack's permanent place of residence. Which also meant the place was never tidy anymore. On this particular occasion however, Jack had gotten especially handsy as they were planning to leave for home and they'd never actually gotten to the cog door of the underground base.

Now, as Ianto forced himself out of bed to follow Jack who'd immediately leapt up and made a run for the computers, he couldn't help but wish that they'd managed to make it home. At least, then he would have been woken up by this obnoxious blaring. "What's going on?" Ianto asked, rubbing his eyes as he reached the workstations Jack was running around. How the guy had that much energy immediately after being woken up in the dead of night, Ianto had no idea.

"It looks like every single United States Government agency has just received emails containing the Torchwood name," Jack answered him as he furiously typed away on the keyboard at Tosh's workstation.

"So much for Torchwood being a secret organisation," Ianto muttered. "First Cardiff, now America."

"Get onto that computer. Start deleting all mention of Torchwood. Use the Retcon malware," Jack ordered, not even looking Ianto's way as his focus was entirely taken by the computer screen. Ianto didn't waste time in moving to the computer at Owen's workstation, more awake at this point. "Let's at least try and keep Torchwood as a local secret."

"Yep. The last thing we need are Americans bossing us around," Ianto smirked as he set to work on Owen's computer. He received nothing more than a playful glare in response to his comment.

"I want to make sure we haven't gained any unwanted attention," Jack spoke his intentions out loud as he continued to type away at Tosh's computer. "Of course the CIA has nothing better to do than to try and figure out what random email messages mean," Jack muttered a few minutes later.

"I've deleted all mention of Torchwood," Ianto told him as he stepped back from Owen's workstation, frowning when he glanced at Jack's screen and realising it looked like he was buying plane tickets. "Let them try and fail."

"Archives," was all Jack had to say for Ianto to catch on. It was far too early in the morning for all this, and he didn't even know what time it was. Written records were a pain. He should know, he spends half his time organising Torchwood's own records. "Ianto Jones! Care to accompany me to the great land of America?" Jack grinned, offering his arm to the younger man.

"Only if you let me sleep on the plane," Was Ianto's response after stifling a yawn before he proceeded to walk straight past Jack, heading straight for the exit of the hub.

"Hey!" He heard Jack call behind him, followed by the quick movement of feet as Jack ran to catch up with him.

TWMD

Owen Harper groaned as he heard his phone go off. Was his alarm really going already? He squinted at the digital clock to the side of his bed, the red numbers flashing 2.30am. That wouldn't be his alarm. He reached for his phone as he heard Tosh stir in the bed next to him. It was just over three years since the pair of them had nearly died: he'd narrowly avoided getting trapped in a nuclear power station only to find Tosh had been shot by Jack's brother. It had been touch and go but Tosh had eventually recovered and Owen had wasted no time in making sure they'd actually gone on the date they'd been talking about for months. Though he wasn't sure he would have believed anyone if they'd told him then that he'd still be with her three years later.

Owen glanced at the caller ID on the screen before deciding whether to answer or not. The ID read 'teaboy' and Owen groaned before hitting answer. After all, the world could be in serious danger. For Ianto's sake, the world had better be in serious danger. "This better be something that couldn't last until morning, Ianto," Owen growled down the phone. Tosh sat up beside him. The only time they got calls from Jack or Ianto so late was when they were getting called into the hub. She nudged Owen's side and he pulled the phone away from his ear, putting Ianto onto speakerphone.

"Jack and I are heading to the airport-" Was all Ianto managed to get out before he was interrupted.

"Is there an alien invasion there?" Tosh questioned, eyes wide and pretty much ready to jump out of bed.

"What? No!" Ianto's voice came through the phone. Owen could tell the other man was only half awake himself. "I'm going to America with Jack-" Once again, Ianto got cut off before he could finish.

"Doesn't sound like something that couldn't last until morning, Ianto," Owen muttered down the phone.

"The CIA have been tipped on- JACK! THAT WAS A RED LIGHT!"

"It's an emergency."

"Being late for a plane is not an emergency. It's called bad time management."

"It was either a 3.30 flight or an 8.30 flight. The CIA will already have an eleven hour head start."

"Whatever. Where was I?" Ianto attempted to return his attention back to his conversation with Owen but his tiredness wasn't helping.

"Something about the CIA," Tosh prompted, very interested in finding out just what was going on.

"Oh yes. The CIA received an email tipping them off about Torchwood. We deleted all mention of Torchwood online but they're going to have written records in America. We're hoping to get to them before the CIA does," Ianto reported what had happened to Owen and Tosh, trying to keep it short. The speed Jack was driving at, they'd be at the airport any minute. If they didn't crash, that was. "Anyway, I just needed to let you know before we got on the plan that you've got the hub to yourself. Jack says you can cope with the minor stuff yourself but anything big happens to the rift whilst we're gone; he expects a phone call. I sent Tosh a text about making sure Myfanwy is fed as well as instructions on how to use the coffee machine. You're banned from using it Owen. I don't need another blown up coffee machine. Tosh only. Anyway! Got to go. Jack's got us to the airport in record time. I won't be surprised if you get a few speeding tickets come through to the hub whilst we're away."

"Oi!" Was the last thing Tosh and Owen heard from Jack and Ianto before the call disconnected.

"Well that was worth being woken up at two in the morning for," Owen muttered as he lay back down on the bed.

TWMD

Ianto gagged, eyes wide in terror, knife held to his throat. Jack falling to the ground dead, electricity still passing through him. Tosh, lying unconscious in a hospital bed, not even a bandage stopping the blood from leaking out of her gunshot wound. Owen, pale skinned and stone dead on the Torchwood morgue table. Rhys, stabbed, in a pool of his own blood.

Gwen Cooper woke with a start, gasping for breath as she sat up in bed. Her jerk as she woke must have woken Rhys for she jumped when she suddenly heard his voice in the darkness. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Don't know. Just, bad dream," Gwen explained as she struggled to gather her thoughts.

"What about?" Rhys questioned through the dark.

"Oh, what do you think? Torchwood." Gwen answered him before she leaned back against the headrest of the bed. She loved Torchwood. Loved her job. It was exhilarating. The people she got to work with weren't too bad either. But how long until someone got killed?

TWMD

When they'd reached the airport, the rush for the plane had very much reminded Ianto of Home Alone, except their running had been constantly stopped by security checks. Ianto had given himself a moment of amusement when they'd reached passport control. The realisation on Jack's face that he hadn't picked up his passport had been quite amusing and Ianto had left Jack to unsuccessfully attempt to blag his way through using his rank as a Captain. It was when Jack adapted his usual technique of flirting his way out of a bad situation that Ianto pulled Jack's passport out of his pocket, remaining completely silent as he held it out for the other man to take.

The flight was not exactly relaxing. Ianto had hoped to catch up on some sleep during the eight and a half hour plane ride. He should have known that was never going to happen realistically when sat next to Jack. It certainly didn't help that a family with six children were sat in front of them. It was nearing the end of the flight when Ianto finally felt himself falling off to sleep. The feeling of a finger poking his side made his eyes snap open and he turned to Jack, tired, grumpy and unamused. "What?"

"I need to get to the toilet," Jack told him as he stood up.

Ianto sighed, unbuckling his belt. "This is why I said you should take the aisle seat," he reminded Jack. Jack had refused without giving Ianto a real reason why. By this point, Ianto was convinced that Jack had planned all along to keep him awake throughout the flight. He probably even bribed the kids in front to keep having temper tantrums. "Just hurry up," he said as he moved into the aisle to let Jack out.

"How about you come with me?" Jack suggested, a smirk on his face. Ianto was far too tired to entertain Jack's suggestive comments.

"It's far too small," Ianto turned him down before collapsing into Jack's seat, leaving Jack with no choice but to take the aisle seat on his return. Hopefully with Jack going to the toilet, he could actually get some sleep.

When Jack returned, Ianto had just fallen asleep, his head dropping forward so that his chin was inches from his chest.

"That bathroom would have been a perfect size," Jack spoke near Ianto's ear, his voice low, as he sat down in the aisle seat. Ianto jerked awake, far from near the deep sleep stage, and glared at Jack.

"I was asleep!" Ianto exclaimed, trying his best not to shout. He wasn't going to be responsible for waking up the entire plane.

"Maybe on the way back, you won't make me think I don't have my passport," Jack replied, smiling and looking very pleased with himself. Which did nothing to help his case, only annoying Ianto further.

"You haven't let me sleep because of that?" Ianto scoffed. Jack really was unbelievable sometimes. The other man just shrugged in response, neither confirming or denying Ianto's statement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: we are beginning are descent."

"So much for sleeping on the plane," Ianto muttered to himself.

And as they got off the plane, Ianto could have sworn he saw Jack handing over packets of sweets to the temper tantrum kids in front of them.

TWMD

By 8am, the images of death Gwen had experienced that night had been forgotten, replaced by the normality of feeding her baby daughter. She loved Anwen and Rhys, of course, but she grew bored of the mundane routine of each day. At least with Torchwood, every day was different, there was no normal when it came to Torchwood and so, she found herself sat in their kitchen, feeding Anwen, whilst recounting old stories of her days at Torchwood.

Rhys wasn't so keen on that when he overheard her. He was convinced their lives in Cardiff had become a nightmare. They didn't argue much, but when they did, returning to Cardiff and their old lives was often the reason for it. A knock at the door prevented them from getting into a full blown argument about it. Instead, Gwen and Rhys stared at each other, the latter deciding it would be helpful to point out the obvious by saying someone was at the door.

Upon more knocks, the pair jumped into action, heading straight for the armoury they'd installed upon moving into the house. Eventually, gun in hand, Gwen pulled the door open to the sight of some hikers who immediately started talking away. Gwen was too relieved to listen properly to what they were saying.

"It's private property. I'm busy," she told them bluntly before slamming the door shut on the pair. How close had she come to shooting them?

"Get off my land," Rhys mimicked her with a smile, lowering the gun he was holding.

"I could have shot them!" Gwen snapped. Torchwood was really enjoying messing with her today apparently. She'd rather just go back to Cardiff. At least then, there wouldn't be any uncertainty about whether anything bad was going on. She'd be in the loop, getting the alerts whenever they came in.

"Hey, hey. We're safe , sweetheart. No one knows we're here. We've left all that behind for now. No more Torchwood, right?"