Jack and Ianto

1
An old stone well waited in the center of a small meadow with a hanging bucket and rope coiled over a pulley. Ianto Jones followed a cobblestone path through the tall grass and stopped to look over the edge. A salmon circled. Coins glittered underneath. The water swirled as the fish swam until it formed a small, female form. A voice rippled from the fountain. "Follow the path through the garden to the fountain. Ask the hazel trees for their secrets."
A blue light flickered filtering upward through the coins. The water rippled, and the figure splashed down on the surface before the light exploded outward. A burst of blue filled the meadow. When it cleared, the well was gone and a transparent woman paced.
Jack's immobile figure appeared at Ianto's feet. He dropped one knee and reached for Jack's hand.
"You're free," the angry ghost declared.
Ianto moved between her and Jack. "Let him go."
She stopped suddenly and glared at him. "Why? He won't stay with you. He doesn't take men seriously."
Energy tingled over Ianto's skin, and his anger swelled. "Let Jack go."
The ghost crossed her arms. "He married a woman, regretted not marrying another, and Gwen is simply a matter of time."
Blue light danced over Ianto's skin and radiated outward. "That is Jack's past. I am his present and future."
She eyed the light. "You would challenge me and risk Lewella's wrath?"
"Let him go!"
"No!"
Ianto reached toward her, and the area exploded in blue.

Monday, January 18, 2021
Jack Harkness drove Ianto's new car on the M4 headed toward London. The drive would take hours. While motivated by a case, it would give them some time alone. Since Christmas Eve, life had been one shock or crisis after another. The flashbacks during the hub attack were short thankfully. Anger flared instead of jealousy or paranoia. Jack hoped it progressed.
Security remained tight, but they were no longer living at the hub. With Mrs. Purcell and Wynne vacationing in Nova Scotia, and Teleri and Sarah staying at Four, the stress lessened. Dmitri agreed to spend more time with Michael until the PTSD symptoms faded.
"Where are we going?" Ianto sounded agitated.
"A small town north of London. The mayor called about a cemetery."
"How do you know him?"
"Her. I knew Rina Finney's brother Reg in the 1980s." Jack gave it a moment. "He died evacuating an embassy."
"You stayed in touch?"
"No. Rina saw the video of Braith Roberts and the Weevil. The article included a picture of me."
Ianto turned back to the window. Everything from Dawn's death to taking care of Michael took a toll. He missed Kylia more. The note she sent about her wedding had the opposite effect.
"We could take a couple of days in London." Jack set a hand on Ianto's leg.
He hesitated. "I need to turn your office into a room for Michael."
That was a bad idea, Jack thought. "A problem with Ken?"
"Yeah." Ianto set his hand on Jack's. "I think he's leaving John. Something changed after the coma."
If Ken left, John would be a mess. "Michael will be old enough for daycare soon. He can go with Trevor to your sister's."
"He's a baby, not an inconvenience."
Jack waited a few minutes. "What's wrong?"
"I saw Lisa's sister and her daughters at St. David's Mall. The girl Kylia looks like is seventeen or eighteen." Ianto squeezed Jack's hand.
Jack wondered if he'd misread Ianto's anger. A year earlier he lashed out because he was mad at himself. "Okay."
Ianto hesitated. "There is this waitress at the pirate restaurant. Jestina. She's taking university classes toward a business degree."
"Jestina's cute?" Jack asked trying to follow Ianto's train of thought.
"Yeah."
"Is that why you're angry?" Jack softened his tone.
"I get on your case about flirting. You don't realize you're doing it half the time."
Which indirectly answered Jack's question. "Do you want kids?"
"It's not an option."
Jack wasn't sure how to respond.
"I actually flirted with her." Ianto set his head on the car window.
"I flirted with Niall this morning."
"The seventy-year-old who moved in with his grandson next door?" Ianto asked incredulously.
"Yeah. He was out for a walk this morning." Jack nodded. "He says I'm too young for him."
"I didn't need that image." Ianto closed his eyes.
"The next time we go to the restaurant, you can introduce me to Jestina. She'll flirt with me instead."
"I'd probably be jealous." Ianto sighed.
"We could go with what Nessa would suggest."
Ianto made an unhappy sound. "We are not picking up women."
Jack slid his hand up Ianto's leg. "We could spend a couple of days in London. Dinner, a theater performance and a nice hotel."

2
After an early lunch at a small restaurant, they met the mayor at a small cemetery that wasn't on the map. Ianto Jones knew as Jack drove through the gate there was a problem with the energy. It reminded Ianto of a nightmare from weeks ago. He'd had a few bad ones since Dawn died.
"The energy is off."
Jack released his seatbelt. "Lewella?"
"No. Closer to a death omen."
"Another exploding cemetery?"
"No. I think something woke up." The disquieting feeling felt similar to Roberts' B&B and increased outside the car. It wasn't Lewella or a death omen. The research found a lot of superstition but nothing solid. All of what he knew about Lewella came from experience.
"Be careful." Jack strode across the frozen ground toward Rina Finney and her dark-colored sedan.
Ianto looked around at the aged tombstones. The remains of an old stone wall near the edge of the clearing drew his attention, and he walked the opposite direction. It made him think of a well although it didn't look like one. A large crow eyed him, perched on a nearby tree.
Without thinking, Ianto brushed his hand over the light gray stone. Energy flowed up his arm and triggered memories of a strange dream. A fish told him to "ask the hazel trees for their secrets." He had no idea what that meant.

Jack Harkness waited while Rina stared at him. They hadn't seen each other in forty or fifty years, and he looked nearly the same. He didn't remember Reginald Finney and had to look him up after Rina called. From what Jack could piece together, they met during a Torchwood project that coordinated with the military. He thought they'd been friends rather than lovers and hoped Rina didn't expect him to answer questions.
"Jack." She sounded as tired as she looked. "Thank you for coming."
"It's not a problem."
"I guess I should begin with the basics." Rina sighed. "The history of this cemetery is uncertain. It's likely several people died here. There are a lot of ghost stories and urban legends told by bored teenagers or ghost hunters." She took a moment. "Vardy, a family in town, are blamed for crimes spanning two hundred years ago. People claim the Vardy are involved witchcraft. Historical documents suggest it started with a love triangle that ended with three people dead." She shook her head. "Anything strange, or immoral, is the Vardys' fault. Ghost sightings, unexpected crimes, crop failure, marital problems."
"They're different?"
"No. It's superstitious bullshit. Ethel Vardy is in the medical journals for having an immunity to two major diseases. I don't remember which ones. She was a nurse that survived working epidemics. After realizing she wouldn't get sick, she volunteered to work on the wards. She was quarantined more than once for fear she was a carrier." Rina paused. "She was blamed for illness outbreaks. Even after her death. People actually believe she made a pact with the devil for protection."
That was puzzling. Nurses working epidemics were saints. "Why?"
"Ignorance." She exhaled. "I asked you here because of a hole. It looks like something big dug it's way out. I found out this morning that James Vardy and his girlfriend Kensleigh Windell disappeared the night before the hole appeared."
"Romeo and Juliet."
"I hope not. I don't want a pile of bodies." Rina took a moment. "I contacted a couple of Reg's military buddies in London. Spooky has two kids at Scotland Yard. I'm hoping Jimmy and Kensleigh are safely in a motel or with friends somehow. They're eighteen. I just want to know they're safe."
Jack nodded. He didn't remember Spooky from his research. "One of my investigators has contacts in law enforcement. I need details to send her."
Rina nodded."What worries me is Kensleigh's father. If he found out about the relationship, especially if it's sexual, he could have reacted extremely. Windell and his friends are looking for the kids armed with hunting rifles."
The timing made him wonder. Ianto said something woke up. It could have woke as a response to the kid's disappearance. "We need as much genealogy on the Vardys and Windells as you can find."
Rina nodded.
"Where's the hole?"

3
Ianto Jones waited next to Jack as Rina Finney returned to her car. The burrow had an exit the size of a manhole cover. Ianto crouched next to it. There was no indication of warming. He touched the disturbed soil; a similar energy permeated the clearing.
Draugr came to mind as he stood. Zombie-like creatures associated with Yules. The animated corpses were left to guard treasure. He doubted it was undead. The circumstances were different. But it could be a protector.
"Ideas?" Jack ran a hand lightly over Ianto's back.
"I think we have more than one problem. Whatever dug its way out is probably a guard and not the source of the cemetery's negative energy."
Jack explained about the missing teenagers.
"We need genealogy information."
"I asked."
Ianto nodded. "There is something here. When we met the death omen, you received information from local law enforcement. It had nothing to do with me."
"This does?"
"Yeah." It connected to a nightmare or possibly more than one. Ianto turned back toward the piece of wall. "We need to walk. Whatever we need to find is that direction?"

Jack Harkness lead into the trees. He preferred it. Ianto's connection to Lewella sounded too good to be true. Everything in Jack's experience had a cost and limitations. The car accident suggested the protection's limits. With Morpheus and his brothers, they protected their dreamers for selfish reasons. Lewella had yet to ask for anything. Ianto either provided something he didn't realize, or she'd reveal her intentions at some point.
Leafless trees rose on either side of them, and the frozen ground crunched beneath their feet as they walked. A gust of wind rattled the trees, and a crow took flight overhead. The quiet made Jack uneasy. Other than the crow, he hadn't seen any signs of life. While January was not a good month for wildlife, they should have seen or heard something.
Jack stopped and waited until Ianto stood next to him. "What are we looking for?"
"Hazel trees."
"What do they mean?" Oaks were doorways and had some connection to druids. Cut hawthorn smelled like decay.
Ianto shrugged. "Hazel contains knowledge and hazelnuts cause visions."
When they returned to the hub, he would find someone who understood ancients and wasn't afraid to talk. Colina Dove had knowledge, but it made her nervous. Nessa would answer questions but had limited knowledge. Walking into situations blind was never a good idea. Misunderstanding ancients cost Estelle her life. It was likely that Lewella, whatever she was, had more power and reach than the so-called fairies.
A broken fence separated the trees from another clearing. Jack offered Ianto a hand stepping over the remaining fence near the ground. Ianto glared at him, refusing the help. Then he tensed and looked around.
"What?" Jack asked.
"I don't know."

The uncertainty added to Ianto Jones uneasiness. Whatever waited for him was not directly connected to Lewella. Unfortunately, that didn't tell him what it was or wanted. They never resolved the situation with the man in the hardware store. Shane Boone asked about Lewella. He hadn't thought about it, but she probably had enemies. His connection could potentially be an opportunity.
"Is the energy the same here?" Jack asked.
"No. Darker. Angry."
Something across the clearing caught Ianto's attention, and he walked toward it, faintly hearing Jack follow. The field faded and walked through a transparent three-dimensional image of what once stood there. Decades or more had passed since the foundation crumbled and weathered away. He passed through the house and stopped next to an old shed. Blue light flickered between the wooden door and stone frame.
Ianto crouched near the edge of the image and touched the ground beneath. A dim illumination seeped through the rotten wood revealing an entrance. He looked around for something to pry open the panel.
When Jack's hand touched Ianto's shoulder, the ghostly images disappeared. "Find something?"
"An old cellar."
"The creature?" Jack sounded skeptical.
"No. It's the other energy."
"I'll check it."
Jack quickly found a rusty piece of metal. He insisted Ianto stay back. Using a small rod, Jack pried the warped trapdoor open. The remains of a decaying rope ladder hung from just inside the opening. It smelled earthy. With sunlight reaching into the dark space, he easily identified the remains of two people in the corner.
Sudden fear overwhelmed Ianto, and he stumbled backward. The transparent buildings returned with the addition of two young women. He could see them huddled together, trapped in the dark. "She won't stay with you. Her father found her a husband. You'll never see her again." He remembered the voice. The angry spirit radiated anger. "You're free."
"Let him go." Ianto lost his balance and hit the ground. "Let him go."
"Ianto," Jack said softly, "Listen to my voice. I'm right here." As Ianto felt Jack's hand, the ghostly images faded, replaced by Jack crouching in front of him looking worried. "What happened?"
"I don't know." Ianto accepted Jack's offer to help stand. "We need to get out of here."

4
Returning to the car was tense. Jack Harkness held onto Ianto unsure of what would happen if he let go. From what he'd seen, Ianto couldn't interact with reality while affected. Jack fastened Ianto's seatbelt before jogging around the car.
It was one of those rare situations where he had no idea what the situation was or how to approach it. Jack started the car and left the cemetery as fast as he could. He parked in the middle of Mayor Finney's small community near her office.
"Are you all right?" Jack set a hand on Ianto's leg.
"No." Ianto placed an unsteady hand on Jack's. "I know what the spirit or entity is doing."
"What?"
Ianto hesitated. "It's challenging me."
Jack flipped his hand and twined their fingers together. "It got into your head."
"Yeah," Ianto said weakly. "It's not like Adam."
"That's good."
"No." Ianto looked at Jack with haunted eyes.
"Tell me."
Ianto closed his eyes. "It targets couples and preys on their insecurities, trying to convince them that their relationship is doomed. I'm remembering the dreams. The goal is to convince one of the lovers to betray the other in self-defense. When that happens, the entity feels justified killing them."
"We're good."
Ianto looked at Jack. "No."
"Did you meet Jestina before or after the dreams started?"
"I don't know."
Jack squeezed Ianto's hand. "Do you want to leave me?"
"No."
"Then we're good."
"It doesn't feel like it."

Waiting in the mayor's office gave Ianto Jones too much time to think. He needed to focus on the spirit, but his thoughts kept replaying every regret. He couldn't help but think the entity's approach meant something. It forced him to question his feelings. Most of his previous anxiety had been concerns about Jack.
What is your motivation? Ianto wondered. Lewella was a puzzle. The death omen taught lessons through shock value. The energy at Roberts' B&B wanted to help. They didn't know a lot about ancients. The fairies protected their own. Morpheus and his brothers protected the source of their power. What do you get from terrorizing lovers?
Jack sat next to him. "I need to get you out of here."
"It wouldn't help." Ianto reached for Jack's hand. "The answer is figuring out what the spirit wants. If it's not a vengeful ghost, it gets something specific from what it's doing."
"What powers it's abilities?"
"What's the history of the cemetery?"
Jack repeated what Rina Rinney told him.
"Maybe it's not an ancient. The creature that dug the burrow is potentially a guardian. If it's similar to a Draugr, it was created by a person to protect something or someone. To prepare a solution, the person had to know there was a problem."
"It's a curse."
Ianto nodded. At some point that became plausible. "If it targets the Vardy, one of the girls in the cellar is related." That meant James and Kensleigh weren't safely in London. "We need information on the Windells. Unless someone created the guardian to protect the Vardy, or James specifically, it's connected to the family that caused the situation."
"Why would it affect you?"
Ianto shrugged. "I don't know. Since I met Lewella, I've researched my family. There is no connection to this area."
Jack ran a hand lightly over Ianto's back. "Ethel Vardy was protected. One immunity is rare. Two is unlikely."
"The spirit mentioned Lewella in one of the dreams. It said I was risking her wrath. Except she commented on our relationship in her cryptic words the day we met her. Lewella knows what you mean to me."

The mayor handed Jack Harkness a laptop logged into the local historical society. He quickly skimmed the historical information. It fit what they already suspected. The love triangle involved the Windell and Vardy, families. Both women reportedly loved a Welshman that came from London looking for a job. Jack could relate. Accounts varied on the morbid tale. One version, with an anonymous author, said the women used ancient magic to determine which one of them the man should marry.
That potentially explained the spirit. Jack quickly searched for information about the unnamed Welshman and discovered accusations of witchcraft. The Windell family blamed the Vardys, claiming corruption. Jack found it odd that they were blaming each other instead of the man accused. The Welshman reportedly died with the women in the cemetery.
"What is that?" Ianto asked, looking over Jack's shoulder.
The small graphic looked like a fountain. Jack clicked it. Two pictures sat side-by-side. On the left was a painting depicting how an area probably looked. The one on the right was a photograph of a fountain surrounded by an overgrown rose garden with hazel trees in the background.
"'Follow the path through the garden to the fountain. Ask the hazel trees for their secrets,'" Ianto recited quietly. "We need to go there."
Jack wanted more than contradicting details. "Rina," he said, "Did you find any missing person reports?"
"Unfortunately," Rina said from behind her desk. "Myrtle Gover and Evelyn Sledge. They disappeared at the same time in the seventies. I actually knew them and hadn't realized the mystery remained. " She shook her head. "Myrtle was Ethel Vardy's distant cousin."
"Were they a couple?" Jack asked.
"I don't know."

5
Several minutes later, Ianto Jones closed the laptop. They knew where to go and needed to leave. Whether or not he was related to a man two hundred years ago didn't matter. Two teenagers lives were in danger. At least two more had already died. While Jack argued, his motivation wasn't research.
Walking back to his car heightened the tension. By the time they'd fastened their seat belts, they were avoiding each other. Jack gripped the keys but didn't reach for the ignition. Ianto reached for Jack.
"We know what it wants. We stay together, and focus on the present." Ianto squeezed Jack's hand.
"I don't want to lose you."
"We can do this." Ianto wished he felt as confident as he sounded.
Reluctantly, Jack started the car. Mayor Finney gave them direction to the long abandoned property shown in the pictures. The only connections between the families and the location were the dreams. It could be a trap, but Ianto suspected there was something else involved.
Everything he knew about Lewella tied in with Celtic myths and legends. Both salmon and hazel trees were associated with understanding and creativity. Oak trees were doorways. Hawthorns were contradictions. They had beautiful blooms and thorns. Herbalists used them for healing. But when cut they smelled like decay. Owls taught lessons using unexpected methods. Cats were guardians of the underworld. Some were the same. Some weren't.
As they neared the access road, the dream became a vivid memory. A symbol of wisdom swam in a wishing well that gave advice before a confrontation. He had power in the dream as he had and used at Roberts' B&B. Except lashing out in angry at an aggressive, manipulate spirit didn't make sense to him. Ianto wondered about alternatives.
He felt the energy as Jack turned the car passed an oak onto a bumpy, poorly maintained road. It reminded him of the blue power and the guardian from the cemetery. While he had no idea what they were facing, he knew it had to end. Descendants of the original trio had found their way to the final confrontation. One way or another, it would be over soon.
The road ended with a crumbling stone wall and an old metal gate on the ground. Jack insisted on taking Ianto's hand after they climbed from the car. Energy tingled over his skin as Jack lead through the gate. The remains of a stone path lead over the frozen ground, around stark bushes, and through a grove.
Ask the hazel trees for their secrets, echoed through Ianto's mind. He stopped in the middle of the trees, wondering if he needed to find something among the tangled branches.
"Ianto."
"There's something here, Jack. I don't know what." The energy was different and possibly unrelated. "It can wait."
Beyond the trees, a marble angel stood, wings stretched, in the center of the weathered fountain. Although faded with age, it remained intact. The painting of the location was beautiful but inaccurate. As the tingling increased, he could vividly picture how it had once been.
The shimmering image of a man appeared next to the fountain. He wore outdated work clothes and a resigned expression. Energy radiated from the specter. His ancestor had somehow turned himself into the guardian.
"Are James and Kensleigh safe?"
Although it didn't speak, he felt a response. The teenagers were safe for the moment. That was more than he could say for himself as an image of the past wrapped itself around him. The eternal spring was colder than any winter he'd ever felt. After the man had faded, two women approached wearing two-hundred-year-old fashions. One woman was the same as the spirit from his dream. The other he suspected was the voice from the well. Anger and emotional pain filled the area around the found and them.
"Finally," the angry woman said.
"Why are we here?"
"Your mistake," she declared, her words translating from her time to contemporary English.
The other woman sighed. "We're trapped here."
"Why?"
"We asked for the impossible." The angry woman paced.
"What did you ask for?"
The angry woman stopped and crossed her arms. "Proof of love."
"For two hundred years, you've terrorized lovers."
She tilted her chin up defiantly. "They lie."
"This has to stop."
The other woman approached. "We cannot. We're trapped here until we find proof."
"How do you prove love?"
"It doesn't exist."
"I love Jack."
The angry ghost groaned. "You want a wife and children. He's attracted to everything."
"Love is complicated. We accepted the past, live in the present and hope for future."
"You question him!"
Ianto countered, "I question myself more."
She stalked toward him. "And Lisa? You said you loved her."
"I did." The tears welled in Ianto's eyes as he remembered how Lisa died. "I couldn't save her. I have to live with that."
"Liar!"
The answer came to him as the angry ghost glared at him. "He loved you both. You demanded he choose and he couldn't. Unable to accept that, one or both of you tried to force it. You wanted something he couldn't give you."
A wave of anger hit him, and he stumbled backward.
"You need to forgive him for being unable to choose."
The other ghost walked over and placed a hand on the angry one's shoulder.
"He still loves you. Forgive him."
The spring garden shifted back to winter. A fading blue energy danced over his skin. Ianto turned and embraced Jack. The pain and anger filling the garden faded.
"What happened?" Jack held Ianto close.
"The short version? Romeo and Juliet as a Stephen King novel."
Jack kissed the top of his head. "Is it over?"
"I think so."