Title: Fires of Gallifrey

Author: Caz251

Characters: Ianto, Jack, Tosh, Gwen, Owen, 10th Doctor, with mention of John Hart, Rhiannon Davies, Ianto's mother and OMC!Aeske

Pairing(s): Jack/Ianto

Rating: pg-15

Type of Ianto: Phoenix

Spoilers: Spoilers for the Doctor Who Series 4 Episodes 12 & 13 and Series 6 Episode 4. General character spoilers for Torchwood: Owen never died in Reset and he and Tosh were both saved by Ianto during Exit Wounds.

Artist (cover): the_silver_sun – her artwork is amazing, thank you so much, it was exactly what I was looking for. http:/the-silver-sun . livejourna l. com/ 179593 . html (take out the spaces)

Word Count: 10130

Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or Doctor Who.

Summary: Ianto Jones' search for answers isn't going well, he knows what he is, now he needs to know how that is possible and who his father is. His search gets interesting with the appearance of a message thrown from the rift, a look through his mother's belongings, and a visit from the Doctor, who believes that Gallifrey is the answer to everything.

AN: This fic is written for the longliveianto big bang and is set in my phoenix!Ianto verse after Firebird and Yule Fire.

Chapter 1

Ianto stared at his monitor, hoping that the mess on the screen would clarify itself for him. He was trying to make sense of his own existence and so far it was proving rather problematic. All the research he had done over the years had been geared towards finding out what he was. Now though he knew that, what he was trying to understand was how he existed as a half human, half phoenix. Sure he had researched cross-breeds, he had known that he was half human, but he had never known of the possibility of a phoenix and a human mating. To be honest the whole thing creeped him out, this was his parent's and he was trying to figure out how they managed to conceive him. It was dangerous territory for any mind.

He had been hoping that with figuring out what he was it would suddenly answer all his questions. It was a naïve thought, but it was one that he had been carrying around with him since he was a teenager. He closed the file on his computer, he wasn't going to get anymore work done on it today. Grabbing his mug he made his way to the kitchenette, making a fresh round of coffee for everyone, he delivered them, leaving Jack's till last. Jack was sat with his chair side-on to his desk his feet on the edge, a pen between his teeth reading a file.

"Busy?" Ianto asked as he entered the office, closing the door behind him. Upon his entry Jack had pulled his feet from his desk immediately, causing Ianto to smile at him. He moved to stand at the edge of the desk and handed Jack his coffee.

"I'm never too busy for you." Jack replied as he practically started to inhale the coffee in a way that made it hard to tell whether he had meant Ianto or the coffee.

Ianto leant against Jack's desk watching his lover for a few moments before speaking again, "What are you working on? Can I help?"

"Expense forms." Jack answered glumly, placing his coffee on his desk. "You can help if you want, but I doubt you'll enjoy it. What's happening with your project? You've been rather tense lately."

Ianto just sighed he didn't know how to explain to his lover what he was feeling, especially as he wasn't too sure himself. Instead he settled for a small smile, telling Jack without words that he'd be okay as he explained that his mind was completely frazzled trying to work out the mechanics of his conception.

"We could do some practical research" Jack suggested, wrapping his arms around Ianto's waist as he stood from his desk.

Ianto smiled moving further into Jack's embrace, wondering what his lover would suggest. Before he could ask Jack what he had in mind a claxon began to sound throughout the hub and Toshiko looked up from her desk sheepishly, calling out apologies as she grabbed her jacket. She had been working on the rift alerts and had managed to increase the alert volume. Ianto sighed, wondering what it was that had come through the rift this time and how long whatever situation they were about to get themselves embroiled in would take. He held Jack's coat out for him, helping his lover put it on, he did love that coat, before leaving the office. He wasn't sure whether or not he would be going along with them on this mission or staying back to coordinate, but was pleasantly surprised to find that Gwen was going to stay in his stead.

Ianto wasn't going to complain though, he really didn't mind going out into the field with the team, especially since he had begun to understand his powers. His abilities now that he was a bit more confident with them allowed him to protect the team that much more than before, if things became too dangerous he could flame them out of there if they were all close together. The drive out to the site of the rift alert was pleasant; Owen was behaving himself for once and had not mentioned the name feathers, teaboy or any other variation of them in his conversation. Toshiko was working away trying to find out the specifics of whatever had come through the rift and Jack was trying to kill them on the way there with his driving. All in all it was a pretty normal trip out for them.

The retrieval was not however, arriving in one of Wales many quarrys they began to search for what Toshiko had determined to be something small, probably an object rather than a creature. Gwen was directing them using the more precise programs tuned into the rift monitor and they soon found themselves at the site that the object had arrived in, a large section of quarry that had a burnt area around its boundary. Toshiko did a scan and declared at the same moment as Jack did, "Psychic energy".

Ianto immediately strengthened his mental defences, knowing that the others would be doing the same. He was suddenly very glad that Gwen had decided to stay at the hub, as while Tosh and Owen had basic instruction on protecting their minds, Gwen had no such lessons. He really needed to bring that up with Jack, he'd offer to teach Gwen and give Owen and Tosh a few refresher lessons as Jack had never managed to teach any of them. After a quick discussion they decided that they would split into two groups, Jack and Owen and Ianto and Tosh and search the area for whatever it was that had come through the rift.

The search itself didn't take too long, they knew that whatever had burnt the ground was at the epicentre of the scorched ground. They just had to take extra care and search the path inwards in case it was a creature that had come through the rift and moved from where it arrived. The further they got towards the centre of the charred area the harder it was for Ianto to maintain his mental shields. He checked with each of the others, knowing that his shields were stronger than both Owen and Toshiko's and on par with Jack's. Nobody else seemed to be having a problem though, whatever it was that they were dealing with was attacking his shields, and only his shields.

They all reached the centre of the square at roughly the same, by which point Ianto was trying frantically to reinforce his shielding to no avail. The closer he got to the object, which turned out to be a small red square inside a larger clear square, Ianto was hearing faint whispers and what seemed like warnings in his head. Despite what felt like warnings, his own mental thoughts, and Torchwood protocol, when he reached the object he picked it up.

As soon as he touched the box it burnt his hand and he heard a scream inside his head, most likely his own as his mental shields cracked and collapsed. Mercifully he passed out as the little psychic box relayed its message into his mind. Once the box had relayed its message it went cold, falling from Ianto's limp hand. Toshiko reached for it using tongs, placing it in a containment box as Owen and Jack rushed to check if Ianto was alright.