A/N: I love Ianto and Jack! Damn those script writers! Damn America too, for ruining season 4! This takes place during the Doctor Who episode with the eleventh doctor, titled The Wedding of River Song. It's about what our beloved Torchwood characters were doing during this time. They couldn't have just been sitting around, could they? Apparently, John Barrowman, was actually supposed to guest star in the Doctor Who episode, but couldn't due to filming of Miracle Day. Why? Just… why? I would have preferred him in one episode of Doctor Who, than 10 episodes of Miracle Day!
Disclaimer: Did Tosh and Owen finally get to be together? Did Gwen really ever stop her obsession with Jack? Did Jack ever wake up and realize what an amazing man was right in front of him? Obviously not, therefore, none of this is mine.
"I can't just sit here and do nothing!"
"You have too!"
"He'll need my help!"
"He has me!"
"Are you immortal?"
"Well… no, not anymore."
"See? You need me!"
"Jack, listen to me!" shouted a woman. Her eyes ablaze in a mix of fury and pity, she glared at the man in the blue greatcoat standing before her. As she spoke, her blond, curly hair jumped and coiled.
The man would have found her incredibly attractive, if he had not already known that she was also incredibly taken.
She sighed, taking a deep breath, after the long shouting match between the two.
"Jack, you know the whole reason he avoided you in the first place was because you're a fixed point in time. Look around you Captain! The entire problem here is too many fixed points! You being near him won't solve anything. It will make the situation that much worse."
The man closed his eyes, visibly trying to calm himself down. His expression was one of defeat.
"Damn it River! Don't you think I don't know that already?" he shouted back. His face was young, but eyes were old, pull of sadness, and loss… so much loss. "I just don't know what to do, okay?"
River Song sighed, she knew better than most how Jack felt. Lost, confused, like the people around you were just hollow bodies. But she couldn't make an exception. Her Doctor's life depended on it.
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah right." Jack scoffed
"No, really. You think you're the only one who feels alone all the time?" she said softly "How do you think I feel every day without him? My life goes backwards. The man I love knows me less and less the more I see him. The people I'm forced to be around all think that I'm a murdering psychopath! I was imprisoned for something that I won't even remember. Of course, the way things are looking, I might never get imprisoned after all. Gods! Time is so fucking confusing!"
A silence filled the room
"I'm sorry." Jack finally said. He looked down, fiddling with the buttons on his coat.
"Don't be." River said with a bitter laugh "I blame Rose Tyler, even if she didn't know what she was doing."
"Why? What did she do?"
"The day she made you immortal, she absorbed the soul of the TARDIS, before the Doctor saved her from the pressure. She saw everything those few minutes, and I think she inadvertently messed up my meeting times with the Doctor."
"Nice theory you got there."
"Can I ask you something Jack?"
"That depends. But give it a go."
"Would you give it back?"
Startled out of a relaxed state, Captain Jack Harkness stared up at the shocking blue eyes of River Song.
"Excuse me?"
"Would you give it back, the immortality?" she clarified "If you could go back and make different choices, would you find a way to avoid becoming like this?"
"I don't know. I've thought about it every once and a while, but I try not to dwell on things I can't control." He sighed. "If I were being completely honest with myself… no."
His eyes closed, his face slackened as got lost in memories.
"There are so many things that I've seen. Not just bad things, good things, beautiful things. And I met wonderful people, the most amazing, incredible, fantastic people who I wouldn't have missed for anything."
River looked like she wanted to ask something, remembering the team that the Doctor told her Jack once had, but the look of longing and pain on his face made her stop.
"That answer your question?" he asked bitterly
"Yes"
"So what is it exactly that you want me to do, if it's not help the Doctor?"
"Well you could do what you always do." She suggested
"What's that? Suffering, dark and moody?"
"No." she said, rolling her eyes "Fight aliens."
"But you just said – "
"Not the ones near him, the ones everywhere else." She insisted
"I think you just brought out the problem. They are everywhere! The world is in chaos. What could I do? Where would I even start?" he asked
"Start anywhere."
"And I'm supposed to take on all of Earth's aliens on by myself, am I?"
"What about that team of yours? Torchwood?"
He growled. "Torchwood is over. I disbanded it. All but one died."
She looked confused "But now that you're here… I thought you'd be happy – "
"Essentially, there's only Gwen and I left now. I doubt we could do much. And that's assuming I can even find her; that she even remembers anything of the other world. You've seen the people out here. They're different, have different jobs, and personalities. Why would Gwen be any different?"
"For the same reason as you and I." River said "We remember, and the Doctor remembers. His companion, Amelia Pond, remembers most everything. I've even heard that a certain Mrs. Martha Jones is having dreams of a blue box."
"How is that possible?"
"Because of the TARDIS. Being around large energies of time and space tends to give people advantages in matters of time and space. That Rift of yours in Cardiff, back when it still existed, had many of the same readings as the TARDIS. I'm willing to bet that Gwen will at least, start to remember."
Jack started to look hopeful, when something a memory hit him.
"It doesn't matter, not anymore."
"What is wrong with you? This is not how the Doctor described you!"
"Well what does the Doctor know about me anymore, huh? He left me alone for so long, we both changed. So don't you go around and try to tell me what I'm like. You don't know anything about me!"
His face red, his chest heaving, and tears in his eyes, Jack stood up from the chair, slamming his hands on the desk in front of River.
"They're dead. All of them." He said, his voice dropping to a soft whisper. "He's gone."
Abruptly, River realized why Jack was so upset. A small smirk played across her lips.
"You think he's gone?"
"I know he's gone." He snapped "He died in my arms during the 456 attack, and died again closing the Rift in the House of the Dead."
"Wow, dying twice, not something many humans can claim."
He grunted.
"But you know what else is totally and irreversibly dead?" She asked him, her face now sporting an ear splitting grin. "Pterodactyls."
"What does that have to do with – "
Suddenly, a loud shriek, pierced the air, a shadow turned the room dark. Jack turned towards the window in time to see a large creature resembling his missing pteranodon, Myfanwy, fly around the building.
River smirked as she watched the wheels in Jack's head turning.
Without warning, Jack turned on his heels, sprinting for the doorway, his clear head having identified something his depressed self, had previously missed.
He called out over his shoulder to River as he ran. "You don't have to worry about me and the Doctor anymore!"
"And why's that?" she called back as he disappeared from the room, already knowing the answer.
Jack peeked his head back through the doorframe, giving River a grin that hadn't been on his face in years.
"I'm going to find Ianto Jones."
