The dreams of the Blue Box had ceased long ago for Jack. His dreams were mostly empty, or dark. The thing he dreamt of most was here with him. The one who seemed to know all the secrets before he said them. The one who understood how he had taken Torchwood Three from nothing and made it what it was a very long time ago. The one who had been hunted, hated, and was now worthy of love.
Think of me, think of me fondly,
when we've said goodbye.
Remember me once in a while -
please promise me you'll try.
Jack Harkness watched Ianto Jones sleeping on the CCTV footage. His body was often restless in the nights and Ianto understood he didn't sleep as much as humans normally did. The Doctor had taken a few brief moments, after calling him unnatural, to explain that he too would no longer require many hours to be refreshed. He went into a long explanation with many hand gestures as to why. After "absorbing the power of the Time Vortex thanks to Rose", Jack had tuned him out. Anything to do with Rose gleaned into an even longer lecture, usually ending with a fond memory.
When you find that, once again, you long
to take your heart back and be free -
if you ever find a moment,
spare a thought for me
He tended to tune in for that part. Jack liked the memories he had with the Doctor and Rose and even caught himself enjoying a few guilty moments as the leader of Torchwood. Often, he would look back on that dingy file in the Archives listing him in the Top Five criminals of the galaxy, just three spaces below the Doctor. All this for being unnatural, immortal, and a just plain oddity. It had taken fifty years of well-spent resources but he had seduced the very first technician of Torchwood, namely one Everest Anders. And Everest, the mountain, not the man, would have been proud.
"What are you thinking of?"
Jack had failed to notice, in all of his daydreaming, that he was absentmindedly holding a file and hadn't looked up to see Ianto no longer sleeping with a slight peace to him.
"How lucky I am."
"I know. To have hair that naturally messy..." Ianto moved away quickly as Jack went to swat him with the manila folder in his hands.
"That's not what I meant. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"I was awoken by thirst. Care for a cup of coffee?"
"Sometimes I think I can't love you anymore and then you utter those magic words."
"You mean coffee? Must be the Welsh vowels. Americans go mad for the Welsh vowels."
"I'm not American."
"I know." Ianto with Jack was cheeky and spoke in more veiled whispers than Jack cared to count. They knew each others buttons after such a long time. The only reason they continued to actually talk was that they like each others stories and the sound of the other man's voice. Intelligence and charisma made a perfect pairing.
"You smell like..."
"Soap? Aftershave? Your blessed pheromones?"
"Costa Rican blend."
"You dirty mind, you."
As his hand titled forward, Ianto was dully aware that it was near 3:30 in the morning and he hadn't yet brushed his teeth. Like that would ever stop Captain Jack Harkness from attaining his usual kiss, full of bravado and love. He was even doing it now in front of Gwen. Ianto suspected he was covering his pain in losing Tosh and Owen. The thoughts that ran through his mind mirrored what Ianto had thought in those days he had been trying to save Lisa. The days before Jack saw the ugly side of the loyal young Welshman.
We never said our love was evergreen,
or as unchanging as the sea -
but if you can still remember
stop and think of me
Kisses often led to control. Oh, one might think Ianto was Jack's lover and subsequently the "woman" of the relationship, but Ianto often had more control than either he or Jack would acknowledge. He knew every crease of the older man's brow; he knew each breath and where the pattern led. He knew which finger to press into which part of the body. He knew Jack Harkness in ways that, as much as Jack postured, not many had known him. And with a subtle flick of his eyebrow, he could win.
Think of me, think of me waking,
silent and resigned.
Imagine me, trying too hard
to put you from my mind.
The ground began to shiver and the kiss was broken by Myfanwy shrieking from her nest. She had been gone several days and had just returned from a hunt, in Scotland was Ianto's guess. The shiver turned into a resonating groan throughout the Hub. While the place had been built as an underground train terminal, and had been reinforced several times since against natural and man-made disasters, earthquakes often meant a shift in Rift activity. They hurried to the computers, Ianto and Jack facing each other at two of Tosh's former terminals.
Recall those days
look back on all those times,
think of the things we'll never do -
there will never be a day,
when I won't think of you . . .
"We've got weevil sighting in the Brecon Beacons, Round stone Wood, the factory district, shopping district. Jack, weevils are dropping from the sky like plagues or a bad 80s song!"
"Now, we can't lose our heads just yet. Weevils aren't hard to control. We just have to find that right frequency, enable the weevil whistle, right?"
"I suppose. Lucky for us Tosh had the presence of mind to copy the frequency."
"No, I'm patching through to you what I'm looking at." Ianto flicked on a second screen and gasped as he watched various parts of Cardiff being dissected in various shades of color.
"Jack, it's impossible!"
"No, it's not. Five types of alien ships outside the atmosphere and all with cloaking devices that are setting down Weevils."
"Should we call Gwen?"
"Let her sleep. I'm sending a transmission to the Arken third-class cruiser. Slightly more updated than the last one in our airspace."
"Jack, two have just left or have greater cloaking devices than our systems can manage. I'm initiating the Weevil whistle now."
There was a shudder through the base as the whistle went off and connected to the monolith, reverbing the signal throughout the city. Weevil sightings began to disappear nearly immediately, but a varied few began to resist the signal. Then there was silence and darkness. The power in the Hub was disintegrated, the back-up generator fried.
"What the hell happened?!"
"I don't know. But I'm restoring enough power to relay the Lift up. I'm going to the surface to see what's going on."
"You can't do that."
"Going soft on me, Jack? We're both immortal! What's the worst that could happen? You have a headache for a few days and I lose a pinky?"
"But I like your pinkies."
"Come on." Ianto rolled his eyes as he finished patching in the power. "I've left enough food for you, pet, we'll see you soon! Cheers." He smiled at Myfanwy as she settled in for a snooze.
Flowers fades,
The fruits of summer fade,
They have decisions, so do we
but please promise me, that sometimes
you will think of me!
C/N: I'm not RTD or Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Only you can guess what that means! (that I'm a fanboy, among other things I suppose). Further, this is going to expand the world Executioner Deirdre mentioned in Broken Bridges. (You read Someone and Broken Bridges right?) We're going to get to meet Othello and an old friend might be dropping along the way. All set to the Phantom of the Opera! How awesome is that?