AN: This story is AU. It disregards Exit Wounds. It happened, brought the team closer together but didn't kill Tosh and Owen. Owen is not undead in this story either, it was a close call but as we all know Martha is a fantastic doctor.
Except for that it's canon up until The Stolen Earth/Journeys End -except Tosh and Owen was there.
Set sometime around season 6 Doctor Who, after The Wedding of River Song.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Amy/Rory, Eleven/River, Gwen/Rhys, Martha/Mickey, Rose/Ten (duplicate)
Characters: Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Pond, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Rhys Williams, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, River Song, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor (duplicate)
Genre: Romance/Drama/Humour/Angst/friendship/family
Chapter one – Preserving Timelines
The Doctor had known it would come to this. Known it from the moment he'd spotted the pilot of the spaceship. It didn't mean he liked it. At all. Sometimes necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows, he thought to himself, correcting his bow tie. No wait, is the mother of all inventions. Wait. That doesn't make any sense what so ever.
Damn the bastard for making him think of strange bedfellows.
He looked around at the others in the TARDIS. They stared back. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"
"Yes you did," Amy confirmed, leaning against a railing.
"It's fine, sweetie, we're all used to it by now." And there she was, the reason he really didn't want to go where they needed to go, standing on the other side of the control panel with her wonderfully fluffy hair. The Doctor wished his hair would bounce like that.
"I," he cleared his throat. "River, 21h century. 2008-9ish." He quickly pulled the wobbly leaver and pushed the red button before typing in their destination. He smiled brightly at nothing in particular, because really, no matter his reservations it was always nice to visit an old friend. "We're going to visit Jack!" he cheerfully exclaimed.
-'-'-
"We're here!" The Doctor patted the console lovingly. "Good girl," he whispered.
"So, what are we doing here?" Amy asked in an insolent tone. "And where is here?"
"I told you." The Doctor flicked her nose with his finger as he skipped past her. "We're here to see Jack. Which means we're popping by to visit Torchwood." The Doctor glanced at River, then promptly pretended he hadn't.
"What's Torchwood?" Rory asked curiously.
"Top secret organization, so naturally I know everything about them. Outside the government, beyond the police. Tracking down alien life on Earth, and arming the human race against the future." He drummed his fingers against his lips, pondering.
"You quoted that last part," Rory said knowingly.
"I- might have done that. Anyways! Let's go see Jack!" he enthused, then snapped his fingers, running down a corridor. "Not too much of Jack," he called as he rummaged through a big pink box that he really had no idea how it had ended up in the TARDIS. "We will see too much if Jack has his way. 51th century humans, not really big on personal boundaries. Aha!"
"Right. Sounds fun," Rory snarked. He snarked a lot. The Doctor liked him anyway. Donna had been snarky. His precious crazy – sometimes scary - Donna.
"Bring your umbrellas!" The Doctor advised as he put his newly recovered fez on. "And welcome to Cardiff!"
"Cardiff? Please tell me you're kidding," Amy complained.
-'-'-
He should have known Jack would be standing outside the TARDIS, pouring rain or no.
"Hello Doctor!" Jack grinned, pulling him into a wet hug. "Regenerated again, I see. No less gorgeous." He made a show of inspecting him, the Doctor admittedly feeling a bit flattered. Amy let out an amused sound. "What's with the...?" Jack gestured above his own head.
"That's a fez. It's a thing. It's my thing. Fezes are cool," the Doctor said, correcting it on his head. He forcefully shielded himself against the wrongness, as much as he was able to anyways. He moved away from the door, still holding on to it. "This is Amy Pond and Rory the roman," the Doctor rattled off as Amy and Rory stepped out, hand in hand, curiously watching Jack. "Aaand River is going to stay in the TARDIS," he quickly added, closing the door just as River was about to step out. Amy and Rory turned to gape at him, the Doctor studiously ignoring them both.
About three and a half seconds later River materialized next to him, eyebrow raised as if to say 'really, sweetie? You thought that was going to work?'
"I thought you wanted to stay in the TARDIS?" the Doctor lied badly. Eyebrow. "No? Well then, let's do what we came for!" He somehow by weird coincidence wound up standing between her and Jack.
"Right," Jack said, amusement obvious. "If the danger isn't imminent...?" He made it into a question to which the Doctor shook his head. "Really? Huh." He looked surprised.
"Why do you always assume mortal danger when I drop by for a visit?" the Doctor demanded.
"Because you never just visit me," Jack said lightly. "Not that I'm complaining." He winked at Rory. "Rory was it?"
"Husband. Mine." Amy raised her finger. Jack looked from one to the other speculatively. "Nu-huh, not sharing." She grabbed Rory's arm, ignoring his weak protest "I'm not a piece of meat, you guys."
Jack snorted. "Too bad, always been very fond of Romans. Dated this centurion once-" the Doctor cleared his throat forcefully. Jack rolled his eyes at him. "Let's save that story for later then. Might as well get back to the Hub and discuss the potential end of the world." He glanced at the Doctor, as if daring him to deny the 'end of the world' bit.
"In that case I want tea," the Doctor said, trying to ignore the sting of guilt, planning to drown it in tea. "And nine Jammie Dodgers. And and apple. No, I don't like apples. Don't give me apples. I want an orange. No, I really do want an apple, Jack can I have an apple? Say I can!"
"You can have tea and maybe a cupcake," Jack negotiated, smiling fondly. He waited a few steps before opening his mouth again. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" he asked, trying to get a better look at River as they walked towards the Hub, Amy and Rory in tow. The Doctor had to admit he was a bit nervous about River being uncharacteristically quiet. She hadn't even complained about his fez. Shouldn't have tried to lock her in the TARDIS.
"River this is Jack. Jack, River. There is no need to say hello Jack, a quick wave will suffice. Lot's to do, earth to save, pteryodactyl to meet." If he leaned forward when Jack did, remaining in his line of vision therefore blocking River from view, it was absolutely unintentional.
"Did you say pteryodactyl?" Rory asked sceptically.
"I love dinosaurs," the Doctor said happily, clapping his hands silently in excitement.
"Her name's Myfanwy," Jack supplied. "Here we are," he continued. The Doctor amused himself by looking at his companions questioning looks. "Close together, nice and comfy," Jack instructed. They all shuffled closer. Jack pressed a button on his vortex manipulator and the 'invisible elevator' began descending.
"Is River your first name?" Jack asked, somehow having managed to stand next to her. Not that the Doctor had actively tried to stand between them, he just wasn't sure how he'd ended up standing between Rory and Jack.
Probably Amy's fault. Her evil smirk as he glared at her answered that question.
"Yes. River Song," River smiled sweetly, holding out her hand, Jack grabbing it with both his.
"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack introduced himself, smiling brilliantly, blue eyes boldly meeting hers. His white teeth were very white, the Doctor concluded, slightly dazzled before snapping out of it. "That is a beautiful name. Most fitting for such a beautiful woman."
"Are your hands stuck?" the Doctor snapped, playing with his screwdriver, sonicing his fez and Rory's left foot.
"Are you jealous, sweetie?" River asked innocently, eyes sparkling.
"No," the Doctor sulked, hopping off the lift. "Where's my tea? I was promised tea!" he complained.
"There's coffee," a man in a blue shirt, standing by one of the workstations, offered. He looked very formal, wearing a black three piece suit. The Doctor recognized him mainly from the Christmas card Jack had somehow managed to send him, featuring the entire Torchwood team, all of them wearing green Christmas sweaters and red christmas caps, none of them looking happy about it except Jack who was beaming enough for all of them.
"Coffee? Coffee?" the Doctor ranted. "I thought you were English-"
"I'm Welsh," the man snapped indignantly. Rory's cough was definitely badly disguised laughter. Jack didn't bother disguising his.
"Wait a minute," Amy suddenly said. "Isn't that-"
"-someone who looks very Welsh, yes it is!" the Doctor quickly interrupted. The man just gave him A Look, turning back to his screen.
"Not bigger on the inside, but rather impressive nonetheless," Jack said, making an all-encompassing gesture. It was rather cosy, if you liked that dungeon-y feel. The water tower was a nice touch. The Doctor tried to decide what he wanted to do first: play with the rift manipulator, have the very important meeting to discuss the spaceship hovering above Cardiff or pet the dinosaur. He really liked dinosaurs, then again, the rift manipulator looked suspiciously like a really cool and rather mysterious thingy. He loved cool and rather mysterious thingies. He bet it had loads of buttons too.
"Hello." A woman with brown hair carrying a cup looked them quizzically. "Jack?" she inquired.
"Doctor, Amy, Rory the roman and River Song," Jack said, shooting River a dazzling smile and quite unnecessarily winked at her. And really, did she have to wink right back?
"Oh, all right." The woman shrugged, like weird stuff happened every day. As she worked for Torchwood, they probably did. "I'm Gwen," she offered, smiling. She had a nice smile. In fact, Gwen simply oozed niceness. It made the Doctor slightly suspicious, she was Torchwood after all. From what he remembered, Torchwood was more 'we're gonna steal your TARDIS and imprison you' than 'nice smiles with fascinating gaps between the front teeth'. Then again, this was Jack's Torchwood.
He'd bet his fez the staff parties were interesting.
"Hallo Gwen." The Doctor quickly walked up to her, kissing the air on each side of her face. She blinked at him, looking momentarily confused then smiled. "Right!" the Doctor turned around, clapping his hands together. "We have a sliiight situation," he began.
"Suit-guy is in a spaceship over Cardiff," Amy supplied unhelpfully.
"Ianto Jones. And what?" Ianto stared at her.
"Yeeeah," the Doctor stalled for a few seconds. "You don't belong in this timeline though. Well, that you doesn't, you belong here just fine," the Doctor assured a gobsmacked Ianto. He turned to Jack. "So! As we don't want to create a paradox, you have to go up there and tell his future self to go away."
"But, why am I in a spaceship?" Ianto asked, frowning. The Doctor was generally all for asking questions. As long as it was him doing the asking. Or at least as long as people wasn't asking him. He decided on a political approach.
"That," the Doctor said. "Is a very good question."
"Why does it have to be Jack?" Gwen wondered. "Why can't you do it?"
Humans, the Doctor thought exasperated. How can they not se the logic? Then again, I am brilliant. He smiled smugly.
"Doctor," Amy poked him in the ribs, making him giggle, taking a few sideway steps. "You're doing it again."
"What?"
"The talking out loud thing," she smirked.
"Oooh. Oops?" He startled when River snatched the fez from his head, throwing it up in the air. With a minor screech the pteryodactyl ate it. "That was completely uncalled for!"
"I tolerate the bow tie, sweetie. Don't push it."
"Can we get back to the fact that my future self is in a spaceship over Cardiff?" Ianto asked, voice surprisingly calm. Right, Torchwood, the Doctor reminded himself. Weird stuff. Living above a rift in time and space.
"Yes. Of course," the Doctor said, trailing off for a few seconds. "Figured it would be best to send Jack up as you already know him. I could go myself, yes, but I'm not sure if I will know you in the future. And if I will, will you like knowing me? Or will you not like me at all? Though I don't understand why you wouldn't like me, I am quite likeable. At least I think so. Then again, I would think so, wouldn't I? Don't answer that," he held up his hand. "What I meant to say is that you like Jack. People tend to like Jack, according to Jack it's because of the jawline. Personally, I believe it's his white teeth. People like white teeth." He ran his tongue over his own, tapping them with his index finger.
"O-kay," Ianto said, glancing at Jack, undoubtedly trying to decide if he liked the jawline or the teeth better.
"So, Jack goes," the Doctor repeated. "We can go with him, I suppose. Not you though!" he said sharply, raising a finger at Ianto, still standing by his workstation. "Paradox. You knowing you are up there is already creating a minor paradox, but if we're fast we should be fine. Probably. Most likely. Let's just hurry, yeah?"
"Let's go then!" Jack said, sounding cheerful. "Gwen? You coming?"
"Of course," she grinned. "Never been aboard a space ship before!"
"I think I'll stay here," Rory said. "If you don't mind?" he asked Ianto.
"Socializing with a somewhat sane person would be a welcome respite," the Welshman said dryly.
"Hey!" Jack called, raising his fist in mock-anger. Ianto merely rolled his eyes at him.
"Ditto," Rory said. They shared a moment of understanding. The Doctor was sure he should feel a bit insulted, then again, Rory probably meant Amy so maybe not.
"Oi!" Amy smacked her husband's arm, Rory grabbing her hand.
"Be careful," he asked her silently, kissing the hand in his.
"Aren't I always?" She gently touched his face, giving him a quick kiss.
"That's not very reassuring," Rory pointed out.
Amy winked at him. "I'll be back before you know it, Mr Pond."
"River?" the Doctor asked, seeing his wife Oh my god I've got a wife! study the Rift manipulator curiously while keeping an eye on Myfanwy. Great minds think alike and so on.
"I'll just poke around here for a bit. Try not to miss me too much."
-'-'-
Ianto turned back to his screen for a few moments, trying to calm down. The entire situation was unsettling to say the least.
"Hey," Jack squeezed his shoulder. Ianto smiled back at him, letting out a deep breath, willing his body to relax.
"I'm fine, Jack," he tried to assure him.
"We'll fix this fast," Jack promised. "Then, I though we could take the night off and go to that Italian place you like?"
Ianto nodded. "Good plan." Jack shot him a grin, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before dashing off to join the others - who had unashamedly watched the, for Ianto, very intimate scene - on the lift. Stop blushing, you're not a fourteen year old girl.
He cleared his throat as the lift ascended. "As you've undoubtedly seen weirder stuff than the Torchwood hub, would you like to get out of here and grab some lunch?" he suggested.
"Sure." Rory stretched. "I'm starving to be honest."
"River?" He felt a bit unsure about leaving her here alone, but Jack hadn't said anything, so... Besides, she reminded him a bit of his partner boyfriend significant other employer. He wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
"I'm good." She waved them off. "Do bring back some Jammie Dodgers, would you?" She smiled to herself, watching Myfanwy as she flew back and forth over their heads.
"Of course." Ianto hesitated before making a quick detour to the kitchen. "Here," he said, handing her the emergency chocolate bar he kept hidden under the sink. At her quizzical look, he gestured towards the dinosaur. "It's her favourite."
"Us girls and our chocolate," River laughed, taking a bite before going back to focusing on the pteryodactyl.
-'-'-
"You see anyone but Ianto on the ship?" Jack asked quietly, looking around the often missed TARDIS. The Doctor had re-decorated. Jack decided he kind of liked it. He smiled at Gwen's excitement as she walked around, carefully touching the walls and railings.
"No. Scanned it for lifeforms, only him. Or else I would have brought more backup." Jack nodded tensely. He backed away while the Doctor pulled some levers, frowned at a screen and stomped the floor twice. He was worried. He wasn't ready to lose Ianto yet. They'd only just settled into this thing, this 'we're sort of a couple but let's not talk about it yeah?' thing. They'd been out with the team having dinner and drinks a few weeks ago when Jack had casually laid his arm on the backrest of Ianto's chair. The others had undoubtedly noticed but hadn't batted an eyelash. Ianto had seemed uncomfortable at first, but relaxed when the others hadn't made a fuss.
Surprisingly, Owen had casually walked into his office the day after, hands in his pockets, quietly observing: "He's been broken enough times, don't you think?" to which Jack had only nodded shortly, acknowledging the classical 'hurt him and I'll hurt you' speech. In all honesty, it was kinda heartwarming he'd gotten it from Owen.
The TARDIS materialized in the hold of the small ship. Jack peered out and seeing nothing life-threatening, he opened the door and stepped outside, closely followed by the Doctor, Amy and Gwen. He wished River had come with them, she intrigued him. There was something about her, something... different. She reminded him of something or someone.
And seeing the Doctor practically black-eyed with jealousy was very entertaining.
"Off we go!" the Doctor ordered, screwdriver in hand. This one was larger than the past versions of him had had. Jack wanted to make a comment about the Doctor compensating or something similar, but he felt uncharacteristically insecure around this regeneration, unsure how much he'd changed this time.
"Not allons-y?" he teased.
"Allons-y," the Doctor repeated, drawing the word out. "Used to be very fond of that word. Also used to wear a celery..." He snorted softly. Jack exchanged an amused look with Gwen.
"Let me guess, celeries are cool?" Amy drawled. The Doctor made an non-comitting noise.
"They're rather nutritious," he said vaguely."Great when you're stranded on an ice-planet with two bunnies hooked on Bloody Mary. Here we are." He soniced the door in front of them.
-'-'-
Jack wasn't sure what he was expecting to find on the other side of the door. Ianto handing him a cup of coffee was rather unexpected.
"Thanks?" he said unsurely, glancing at the Doctor who was looking around the room. On their right was a simple black couch and a small table laden with cups, a kettle and a plate of biscuits. On the opposite side of the door was the cockpit, pretty standard though Jack instantly recognized the time manipulators.
"By all means," Ianto said, smiling tiredly. "Hello Doctor, Gwen, Amy. I got you some tea and some Jammy dodgers."
"Ooh, thank you," the Doctor enthused, instantly picking a cookie off the plate while Gwen studied Ianto carefully, most likely trying to gauge if it really was him, much like Jack himself.
"What are you doing here?" Jack asked him quietly. Ianto didn't look older than the version of him still at the Hub, though Jack thought he seemed older somehow.
Ianto looked very sad for a moment. "I knew I'd be here so I had to come," he said simply, glancing out the window.
"Preserving timelines?" Jack guessed. Ianto nodded. There really was something different about him, but Jack couldn't put his finger on what. He reached for his hand, squeezing it, checking to see if it had the right texture and temperature. Sensing nothing wrong he wasn't sure if he felt relieved. If this was in fact a future version of Ianto it meant the current version would somehow end up here rather soon. In his peripheral vision he could see the Doctor stuffing two cookies into his mouth while sneaking a couple of more into his pocket, Amy slapping his hand, frowning disapprovingly.
"The question is, what and who are you really?" the Doctor said, mouth still full, crumbs flying everywhere as he spoke. "Sorry," he muttered, swallowing, pulling out his screwdriver.
"What do you mean," Jack asked sharply, withdrawing his hand, reaching for his gun, Gwen doing the same.
"It has to happen. I'm so, so sorry, you have no idea how sorry, Jack," Ianto said just as there was an explosion of light outside.
-'-'-
Rory liked Ianto. He was rather quiet, but after dealing with the Doctor's constant babbling the quiet was nice. Besides, it was a comfortable silence. They'd gotten coffees and sandwiches at a small café near the plass, sitting across from each other by one of the windows. It was so wonderfully perfectly ordinary.
"It's weird," Ianto suddenly said. "Even by Torchwood standards, to have a future version of myself over my head in a spaceship. I'm sure there's a surprisingly reasonable and even logical explanation to this. There usually is. Still." He nibbled his tuna and sweetcorn sandwich, glancing at the sky thoughtfully.
"I've met myself briefly. Slight mishap in the TARDIS. I had two Amy's for awhile there." Rory's smile turned wistful as he remembered. Then again, having one Amy was quite a handful most days. Still... Rory shook his head, turning his attention back to the present. "You know, since I met the Doctor, I've started to see unbelievable stuff as perfectly ordinary."
"Must be interesting, travelling with the Doctor."
"Yeah, I guess. I, ah, haven't been around the entire time," Rory confessed. It was kinda cool to be able to talk about the Doctor and their adventures with someone who wasn't Amy.
"Oh?" Ianto enquired.
"Well," Rory began, taking a deep breath. "I've been dead. Then I got accidentally erased from time. Or, well, I died and woke up as a Roman. Turned out I was plastic." Ianto stared at him for a few seconds then shrugged.
"Sounds like a normal day at the office," he said, keeping a straight face.
Rory sipped his coffee. "Remind me to never-"
And then everything drowned in a bright light.
-'-'-
AN: Don't forget to review. As this is WiP, I'd like to remind you that reviews and favorites makes the author work faster ;)
