Homecoming
If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.
~Orson Welles
Jack took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders, and ran a nervous hand through his hair before he entered the flat. He'd been gone far longer than he'd expected, even though it had only been three days in this timeline. He was still certain his partner would notice immediately, and there would be explaining to do, which Jack never looked forward to, no matter how understanding his partner was after six years of learning to adapt to all sorts of things.
Placing his hand on the bio-lock, he stepped quietly into the modern, 26th century flat he'd called home for several years now. The wall of windows opposite the door gazed out over a large green bay, not entirely unlike the one Jack had left behind in Wales, only this vista was of an alien world, with exotic buildings and low flying aircraft filling the indigo sky. The open living area was, of course, impeccably neat and tidy, and the smell of food—was that pizza?—wafted from the ultra-modern kitchen. Checking his watch, Jack did a few quick calculations in his head and realized it was well past dinner time, but there didn't appear to be anyone around to eat.
He moved through the living room to the hallway that led toward the bedrooms in the back. A small dog rushed out to meet him, wagging his tail furiously and jumping up and down in circles before placing his paws on Jack's legs. Jack laughed as he leaned down, feeling at home for the first time in weeks. "Hey buddy, where's—"
"Right here," answered a familiar baritone voice from the bedroom doorway, sounding amused. Jack stood up and hurried over, claiming a long, intense kiss. He hadn't seen the other man for weeks, and despite what others thought about him and his flirtatious activities, Jack had only had his right hand (and sometimes his left as well) for company while he'd been gone. But it was more than sex he'd missed. He'd missed his partner's voice, the clean scent of him after a shower, the way his eyes crinkled with affection when he smiled at Jack, and the feel of his lips as they kissed once more.
"Welcome back," said Ianto, stepping back with smile. His hair was wet from the shower, and he hadn't shaved since Jack had left; Jack found the new look incredibly attractive, especially after not seeing him for so long. "You're just in time for dinner."
"I noticed," Jack laughed, following him toward the kitchen. "Pizza? Really?"
Ianto frowned. "Why not? I haven't had pizza in months, and the new place finally opened on the square so I picked one up on the way home."
"Only I've had my fill for the next decade," Jack murmured. Ianto set out food for the dog, whom they'd somehow ended up naming Untitled, then went to the oven to pull out the pizza. He grinned unapologetically as he set it on the counter.
"Well, since you didn't say when you would be back, you can either share without complaining or make yourself something else. Glass of wine?"
"It's fine," Jack laughed with a nod. "Cardiff pizza is still…well, Cardiff pizza!"
A wistful look crossed Ianto's face as he opened a bottle of red wine and poured them each a glass. "I'd love to have a Cardiff pizza, you know."
Jack leaned over and kissed him. "I'll bring you back some next time. Love the beard, by the way."
"Thanks," Ianto replied with an embarrassed roll of his eyes. "So do you want some of my pizza or not? And what's this about next time? Are you going back?"
"Of course I want some," Jack said. "When have I ever turned down food? And yes, I'll have to go back."
Ianto was quiet as he took out plates, served them each several slices, and inclined his head toward the living room. Jack was glad, as he didn't feel like eating in the kitchen, seated across from one another and separated by the table. He grabbed his plate and wine glass and followed Ianto to the sofa, where they could sit side by side.
Even though they were living in the 26th century, it was remarkable how some things never changed. It was not that different than being back Cardiff, sitting with Gwen and Rhys and Anwen, eating fish and chips in the living room of their 21st century home. Furniture styles were different, and technology was light years more advanced, and the view was far more spectacular, but food was food, and sometimes he preferred eating with his hands on the sofa, enjoying one another's company.
"So how long were you gone?" Ianto asked after a few bites. "You said a few days, but you look like you were gone much longer."
Jack raised an eyebrow. He'd suspected Ianto would notice, but that didn't mean he couldn't give the man a hard time. "How can you even tell something like that? I'm immortal. It's not like a few weeks away is going to give me wrinkles and gray hair."
Ianto pointed to the side of Jack's head. "There's one right there."
Jack's hand flew up, but Ianto laughed, and Jack knew he'd been had. Shaking his head with a fond smile, he answered. "Yes, it's been about three weeks," he said. "And with the way things are going, I'll have to go back."
Ianto set down his half full plate with a sigh. "I see. I wish I could go with you," he murmured. Jack set his plate down as well and pulled Ianto toward him.
"I do too," he said. "But to them you're dead, and we know from history that it stayed that way." Though the files from the mid-21st century were often incomplete, the Doctor had assured them that Ianto had indeed remained deceased. It had been a difficult conversation and a hard time for Ianto, but he had eventually accepted both his fates—in the past and in the future.
"I know," Ianto said. "It's just that…well, sometimes I miss them. My family, Gwen, even Rhys…and now you get to go back and see them, while I'm stuck here."
"I'm sorry," Jack murmured. "I know it's hard, but something's happening in Cardiff, and they need my help."
"I understand, I really do," Ianto replied, then pulled out of Jack's arms and turned toward him instead, leaning on his hand against the back of the sofa. "Tell me about it."
Jack told him about his trip to Cardiff—about Gwen and her efforts to restart Torchwood with all the strange things going on in the city. About the councilman who'd supported her, and the new team they'd somehow scrapped together. About the new threat Cardiff faced, something Jack still hadn't found in the vague history files from that year. Ianto picked up his plate and began eating again, listening closely as Jack talked.
"So, PC Davidson finally got to hook up with Torchwood," Ianto mused when Jack stopped to take a break and continue eating his dinner. "Sometimes I find it hard to believe he's survived so long, being entangled with Torchwood like he is."
"Me too," Jack laughed. "Apparently he had quite the run in with Norton Folgate. That should have been his doom for sure."
Ianto pulled a face. "He's definitely got friends in higher places if he made it through that. And Rhys? How's Rhys?"
"Still putting up with Gwen," Jack said. Ianto laughed, but Jack shook his head. "I mean it. She's like a dog who won't let go of its bone when it comes to Torchwood, and he's still there, watching her bully her way with anyone and everyone."
"Sounds like that sort of persistence is exactly what's needed," Ianto pointed out. "Considering she did bring it back." Jack nodded in reluctant agreement.
"Yes, right now it is. But at the same time, she has a family to think of, and I worry about them. Anwen is a good kid who shouldn't be wrapped up in Torchwood life…" He trailed off, not wanting to think about that scenario, of children being dragged into things they shouldn't see and experience.
"Maybe that's exactly what Gwen's thinking about," Ianto said, tapping him on the knee and bringing him back from his thoughts of the past. "Protecting her family in the way she knows best. She's strong, and perhaps a bit wiser from experience. I know she can be difficult, but I also know how much you admire that strength."
"She's a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure," Jack replied dryly. They ate silently for a few minutes before Ianto hesitantly asked his next question.
"And these new team members? How are they working out?"
Jack blew out a breath and went for deflection. "Well, there is a cute guy in a suit," he started, then withered under Ianto's dry stare. "But he's not Welsh, so definitely not my type."
"Good to know," Ianto murmured, rolling his eyes. No, Ianto Jones was the only one Jack wanted in a suit—or out of one. "But I wasn't asking if they were attractive or fashionable. Can they do the job?"
Jack thought about it. He still wasn't sure, but then, he hadn't been sure about Tosh or Owen even Ianto at the beginning. And Gwen—god, she'd been a disaster during her first few weeks on the job. He told Ianto a little about each new hire, and Ianto listened with an open mind, occasionally adding a comment or suggestion, but Jack could tell it was starting to bring Ianto down, not being a part of the new team, so he stopped. Finishing his wine, he took Ianto's hand and squeezed tight.
"It's not the same," he said quietly.
"You love it anyway," Ianto replied, but the levity sounded forced.
"I missed you," Jack said. "More than anything, I missed you by my side, and everything you did for us. I think Gwen misses you too. She said the same thing: it's not the same."
"It's something new," Ianto pointed out. "A new place to work, a new team, a new case. Like all this is still new to me some days." He waved his hand in the air, gesturing vaguely at what Jack assumed was Ianto's life in the 26th century. "Life moves on, and new doesn't mean better or worse, only that it's different. So, it's a new, very different chapter for Torchwood."
"Which I knew going in," Jack sighed. "Only I didn't think it would be so hard."
"Torchwood needs you," Ianto replied softly. "If it doesn't succeed in the past, there's no future for us." He patted Jack on the knee in encouragement. "So, what's your plan?"
"I'll stay here for a few days, catch up and make sure things are going smoothly with the Archive set up." Ianto raised not one but two eyebrows at that, and Jack couldn't help but laugh. "I know you have it under control—you took over the project from right under my nose years ago. Everyone thinks I'm in charge when it's actually you!"
"Of course I am," Ianto replied. "Because I know what I'm doing."
"And I like to fly by the seat of my pants," Jack replied cheerfully. "But I want to stay here, with you, see what you've been up to the last few days. How about for moral support?" Ianto rolled his eyes again but nodded, so Jack continued. "Then I'll jump back to Cardiff. I'll try to come back every few weeks my time, but it should only be a few days your time. This could take a while, so there will probably be several jumps."
"Weeks, months, years?" Ianto asked. Jack thought about it, but he wasn't sure yet how long he might be needed in the 21st century.
"Months, I'd say," he answered, coming to a decision. "And once it's settled, then I can turn it all over to Gwen, leave her my number, and come back for good."
"And here I thought you liked time travel," Ianto offered.
"I like being linear now," Jack replied.
"You literally skipped several hundred years of linear time, Jack."
Jack made a face, since it was true, then grinned and wagged his eyebrows. "I like being linear with you."
"How romantic," Ianto drawled. "I'd almost think you were trying to get me into bed or something."
"Is it working?" Jack asked. "It's been three weeks for me, after all!"
"I think I can help you out," Ianto laughed. "But tell me first—do you think it's the Rift? Could the Rift be opening again?"
"I have no idea," Jack replied, falling back against the sofa. "The records from that decade are unclear. Tosh would've known, but no one else knows the Rift as well as she did, and we haven't got the right equipment for it yet anyway." He blew out a frustrated breath. "Sometimes I hate that damn rift in time."
"I wouldn't be here without it, you know," Ianto said quietly, staring out the windows as if lost in a memory. Jack was pulled into the flashback as well, remembering the night Ianto's life had changed forever, even if they hadn't realized it at the time.
It had been a cold March evening, and he and Ianto had gone out to retrieve a piece of active tech that had fallen through the Rift. They'd been searching through the grass at Pontcanna Fields late at night when Tosh had shouted over the comms that there was a powerful Rift spike practically on top of them. Ianto had been a hundred yards away from Jack, holding a small wooden box in his hands as the Rift ripped open a blazing portal right behind him, tendrils of energy swirling out to surround him. Jack had shouted Ianto's name, running faster than he ever had, desperate to save his lover. For decades he thought he'd only imagined what he'd seen next: Ianto, screaming in pain as he was pulled through the Rift with the box still in his hands, and yet Ianto, also screaming in pain and collapsing on the wet grass in front of the portal, his hands empty. The Rift had crackled and popped and slammed shut the moment Jack arrived at Ianto's side, leaving the night as dark and quiet as it had been mere minutes earlier.
Ianto was alive but unconscious, and had remained comatose for almost two days. When he'd finally awakened, he'd remembered nothing after finding the box they'd gone out to retrieve. Owen had pronounced him unharmed however, and Jack had filed away the vision of Ianto being pulled into the Rift as a product of his panicked imagination.
Until the Doctor had called, hundreds of years later.
It turned out that Ianto had been pulled through the Rift, while somehow also remaining in Cardiff. The Doctor theorized that the Welshman had been torn into two equal parts on the event horizon of the Rift opening, one version of Ianto remaining in Cardiff, comatose as his body recovered from the temporal trauma, the other version found unconscious and clutching the wooden box hundreds of years in the future on an alien planet thousands of light years from Earth.
Jack had never believed in miracles, or in the benevolent nature of the universe, or even in coincidences, but the moment he met Ianto Jones again, five hundred years after the Welshman had died in his arms, Jack had believed.
Once again, Ianto pulled Jack from his memories, literally putting his arm around Jack's shoulder and leaning back, rearranging them so that they were laying together on the sofa. He didn't say anything, and Jack let himself enjoy the quiet closeness he had missed for so many weeks as he'd worked in Cardiff.
"I may hate that rift," Jack said, breaking the silence, "but I will always be grateful that it brought you back to me."
Ianto did not reply for a long time, and Jack felt a familiar sense of unease. He often worried about Ianto's comfort and happiness so far from his own home, his own time. Although they'd talked about it over the years, Jack still wondered if Ianto was as glad to be there as Jack was to have him. He squeezed Ianto's hand, resting on his stomach. "Hey, you all right?"
"Yes," Ianto replied. Jack was lying with his back to Ianto's chest and couldn't see his face, but he could hear something—fear, insecurity, sadness—in the Welshman's voice. "I'm worried, though," he admitted. "That whatever's happening in Cardiff could be dangerous. That something might happen to Rhi and the kids, to Gwen, to you…" He trailed off with a sigh. "And I can't be there to do anything about it."
Jack took a deep breath. "Would you rather be there? Back on Earth?" he asked. He'd asked it before, and Ianto had always assured him that no, he wanted to be with Jack. Not for the first time, Jack feared the Welshman's answer.
Ianto, however, chuckled, and Jack felt him shake his head. "Jack, every time you ask me that I tell you the same thing: I'm glad to be here with you, to have this second chance with you. I wish you'd stop doubting me."
"Sorry," Jack murmured. "But I know what it's like to be out of your time. When I was stranded on Earth, there were times I'd have given anything to be back in my own time. Especially after being in Cardiff, I'd understand if you wanted to go back. It was your home, your time."
"Even if I did want to go back, I couldn't," said Ianto, his voice sad. "And I still wouldn't if I could. I know that this is where I'm meant to be now, what I'm meant to do."
"Bringing Torchwood to the stars?" Jack teased.
"By your side," Ianto replied with determination. "And I know you believe it too. I was meant to be in that park that night, to find that box, to be taken by the Rift. This is where and when I'm supposed to be now, and I'm happy here, Jack." He took a deep breath and continued. "But that doesn't mean I don't miss my old life, especially since you're now living it again."
Jack heard the bitterness and knew that his time in Cardiff would be difficult for them both. He could not become too involved with Torchwood Three and his new team back on 21st century Earth. It had only ever led to heartbreak for him, after all, and it would be difficult for Ianto to watch as well, when he couldn't be a part of something he'd once lived and breathed.
"Maybe I can turn it over sooner," Jack offered, knowing he'd be refused, but meaning it. He would do anything for Ianto, no matter the cost. "Let Gwen take over and handle whatever's happening in Cardiff."
"No," Ianto said, sitting up straighter. "No, you need to be there. This wasn't in the books, as far as we know, so you need to find out what's happening and make sure it doesn't change history. If Torchwood doesn't survive this, there won't be anything for us to preserve in the Archive."
"We don't know that," Jack argued. "Maybe it wasn't a big deal after all, not even worth noting. Maybe the files were lost, or they wiped it from history for some reason. Maybe Torchwood pulls through it without me and I don't need to do this."
"Do you believe that?"
Jack sighed. "No. I think something else is going on, something big."
"Then you need to see it through." Ianto's arms wrapped themselves tighter around Jack. "But please come back," he whispered in Jack's ear.
Jack turned in surprise, only to have Ianto duck his head. "I'll come back." Ianto didn't respond. "Ianto, I will always come back for you."
"No matter the temptation?" Ianto asked lightly, going for casual and failing.
"You are my temptation now," Jack replied. "I have spent the last several hundred years without Torchwood. I've spent the last six years with you. Why would I give up one for the other?"
Ianto met his eyes and nodded. Jack kissed him, then turned back to his former comfortable position against Ianto's chest. "Besides, I'm more worried about you. I know it will be hard, watching me jump back in time but not being able to be there."
"Will you tell them?" Ianto asked after a moment. "Tell Gwen? About you, about me?"
"I can't give her future knowledge," Jack pointed out. He knew exactly how Ianto would respond, though.
"You'd be giving her peace of mind," Ianto said. "Not to mention the truth. You know how much she hates secrets."
Jack sighed and shook his head. "She's come a long way, seen so much and done so much, but I still think there are some things she might not handle well. Knowing that I'm actually several hundred years older and shacking up with you may be one of those things."
"Shacking up?" Ianto said, then laughed. "Yes, how scandalous! Jack Harkness shacking up with his dead coworker on another planet five hundred years in the future."
"You're more than a coworker," Jack replied, shaking his head at Ianto's continued reluctance to label them as anything more, even if they had been together ever since Jack had found him again. Ianto still had his doubts about Jack and his feelings, and often claimed he wasn't even sure how things like relationships worked in the future anyway. "You can say the words now, you know. Partner, boyfriend, couple—I'm not afraid of them anymore."
Ianto waved him off, clearly more interested in staying on track than rehashing old topics of hurt and anxiety. "I know. But what if she starts asking questions? About your personal life? About you being gone?"
"I'll kindly point out that my business is my business," Jack replied, then shook his head as he realized the futility of that plan when it came to Gwen Cooper. "Which never worked before, so I don't know. I'll try not to slip, keep my time away to a minimum. Jump back here at night, try to make it back to Cardiff in the morning."
"What if something happens while you're gone? And your wrist strap isn't always accurate either," Ianto pointed out. "I understand that, but she's bound to ask questions if you return a few hours too late."
"I know," Jack replied. "But it's better since the Doctor tweaked it. He said he didn't want me unintentionally mucking about with the timeline."
"She really is naïve sometimes, isn't she?" asked Ianto, sounding exasperated. "And how old is she? Older than you now?"
"Not yet," Jack replied. "I've still got that to hold over him. Her. Whatever." Even after several years, Jack was still trying to get used to the Doctor's newest regeneration. Then again, when he occasionally ran into past regenerations as well, it was hard to keep track of things like gender and age.
"I think you should tell her," Ianto said after a moment.
"The Doctor?" Jack frowned. "Tell her what?"
"I meant Gwen. Tell her when you're from, what you're doing." He paused. "Tell her about me."
Jack sat up and turned toward Ianto. "I still don't know if it's a good idea."
"Look, I won't pretend that I'm her favorite person and she's still mourning my untimely death," Ianto started, then apologized at the look on Jack's face. "Sorry, but it was and it's true. I would, however, like to think she'd be happy to know that I am, in fact, alive and living five hundred years in the future while I set up the galactic archive for the very organization she's fighting so hard to restart." He shrugged. "I think she'd like to know that what she's doing matters. And it'd be nice for someone to know my life wasn't a waste either."
"Ianto!" Jack exclaimed. "Your life on Earth wasn't a waste. It was a bright spark of brilliance that made a difference in countless other lives, including my own."
Ianto snorted. "How poetic, in a completely morbid way."
"And true. You mattered then, and you matter now. I couldn't do this without you. And I've told you a hundred times, those were some of the darkest days of my life, the months after losing you."
He'd left Cardiff, and then Earth, and finally the 21st century altogether after spending years tracking down any form of illegal time travel technology he could find, until he'd finally managed to get himself jumped to the 24th century. After getting his wrist strap repaired—only the teleport function, of course—he'd started to make a living for himself among the stars again, slowly coming back to life after all the losses he'd suffered on Earth. He always kept an ear out for word on the Doctor, hoping he'd run into the enigmatic Time Lord again. When he had, he'd spent several years once again traveling through time, always making sure to avoid himself now that there were so many versions of him living in different timelines. He'd eventually decided to move to a respectable little planet when he'd grown tired of all the traveling and running and dying. The Doctor had given Jack his number, a way to reach him on the Tardis, connecting Jack's wrist strap so that he might contact Jack as well.
Jack hadn't heard from him for over a century, though. Life went on. He'd eventually settled down, taking a chance on things like love and family again when tragedy struck. Just like his time on Earth, he'd lost everything in one fell swoop. His adopted planet, destroyed; his new life, in ruins. And he'd broken, again, and fled, as he had before, only this time he'd gone searching for a way to solve his problems and end his eternal torment. Forever, no matter what it took.
Which was when the Doctor had called, her new voice strange and unrecognizable until he picked up the familiar cadence of the Doctor's speech patterns, that same turn for language the other regenerations had had. And then any surprise at learning that the Doctor had regenerated as a woman had been lost to shock as the Doctor revealed his reason for calling: Ianto Jones, alive and well and on the TARDIS.
It had taken three days for the TARDIS to arrive, some of the longest of Jack's life. When Jack had stepped inside, Ianto had been standing there, alive, as tall and handsome as Jack remembered, dressed in casual clothes and looking as nervous as Jack felt. It was a moment he'd remember forever, being reunited with someone he'd loved and lost, a man he'd mourned for years. It was like something from a fairy tale; such things didn't happen, and yet it had, and as Jack listened to the Doctor—now an extremely attractive forty-ish looking woman—tell Ianto's story, Jack realized that it was his story as well, his happy ending. He'd had a few over the years, but this one was the one he wanted to last forever.
"I'd like Gwen to know," Ianto said, breaking into his thoughts once more. "Not to give her hope or anything like that, but I'd like to…I don't know, perhaps exchange letters? I'd like to see a picture of Anwen, hear about things in Cardiff. My family." He held up a hand. "And no, I don't want you stalking my family to find out how they're doing."
"They're doing fine," Jack replied. "House looks good, the kids are doing well in school. I think your brother in law still has a job, and your sister seemed happy and healthy."
Ianto's eye widened in shock. "Did you talk to her?"
"Of course not," Jack said, shaking his head with a fond smile. "I stalked them for you."
Ianto huffed. "Anyway. Gwen can keep a secret, right?" Jack snorted. "Rhys will make sure. He kept her head on pretty straight while I was around. Besides, Gwen can keep an eye on you for me." He grinned. "And on that new teaboy."
Jack laughed and threw up his hands. "Fine! I see where this is going. I should probably be offended, but I'll tell her. Write her a letter and I'll take it when I jump back. Throw in some coffee and maybe she won't try to kill me."
"Thank you," Ianto murmured. The dog came bounding into the living room then, and after nudging them for a quick pet, settled himself on the floor beside the sofa. Jack sighed contentedly and closed his eyes, leaning back against Ianto. It was the perfect homecoming: Ianto, the dog, their flat in the future. It was the life he thought he'd never have with Ianto, and he couldn't be more grateful for the second chance.
"We should go somewhere, when this is all finished," Jack said, the thought suddenly occurring to him. "I have a feeling we'll both need some time to recover, reconnect."
Ianto hummed noncommittedly; he sounded half asleep. "I know some great get-away planets, and in this century, too," Jack continued, imagining all the places he wanted to take Ianto. They'd been working hard on the Archive project and deserved a break from that as well as Jack's jumps to Cardiff. "I'd really like to take you."
"Does it require being naked and eating fruit all day?" Ianto asked. Yes, he was definitely dozing off. Either it had been a long day in the archives, or he was feeling as content as Jack. Jack smiled and let himself enjoy the feeling.
"Both, and more," he replied.
"It's a date," Ianto said. He wrapped his arms around Jack and kissed his neck. "And I'll hold you to it, so be careful in Cardiff."
"I will. Thank you for understanding why I have to go."
He could feel Ianto smile against him. "Just come back after you've saved the world, like you promised."
Jack nodded. They laid together for several minutes, simply enjoying one another's company in silence, until Ianto's hands began to gently stroke his belly, and then roam lower; perhaps Ianto wasn't as tired as he seemed. Jack shivered with anticipation as he let Ianto explore, enjoying the seductive touch and looking forward to more.
Yes, Jack was excited about Torchwood, about going back to Wales and leading a new team to deal with whatever was happening in Cardiff, but he couldn't do it without knowing he had someone to come home to, five hundred years in the future. This was where he belonged, living the life he'd never had a chance to live on Earth with the man he loved. He couldn't do anything without Ianto Jones by his side once more.
Author's Note:
Every time someone wonders how Ianto Jones might be brought back into the Torchwood universe, alive and drinking coffee, I smile to myself. Many people are skeptical, but there are so many ways to bring him back that all it takes is a good imagination and some knowledge of the broader Whoniverse (and sometimes temporal physics, too.) Even better is that it's also entirely possible to bring him back without negating anything that happened in Children of Earth. What happened to Jack and Ianto in that story mattered, and I agree that some fix-its rob that scene of its power and purpose. Not that I don't love just about any story where Ianto survives, but if we are to acknowledge the canon impact of Ianto's death—no matter how poorly thought-out that death was—then quick fix-its don't really work. But something where Jack doesn't find Ianto for decades, if not hundreds of years later? Absolutely. They worked with alien technology on a rift in time, and there are any number of scenarios where something may have happened before CoE that could have affected Ianto and are only realized later; or perhaps something happens after, such as when he returns in The House of the Dead (see my story Time is Eternity for a play on that scenario.) And the Rift is only one possibility. Don't forget the nanogenes Jack once let loose from a Chula ship, or his connection to the Time Vortex (See Past Imperfect if you'd like to read one of those scenarios.) Or the Miles repair kit that Twelve used, or the Doctor's ability to time travel (You'll find a bit of the latter in Sacrifice.) Or chameleon arches, clones, and gangers. See? Infinite possibilities.
For me, it almost always comes down to the Rift, often with some intervention from the Doctor. There is obviously another story here, in which Ianto stood on the edge of the Rift and was torn in two, resulting in one Ianto remaining in Cardiff and dying at Jack's side in Thames House; but also resulting in a second Ianto, flung out of the Rift hundreds of years into the future to be eventually found by the Doctor and reunited with Jack. This Ianto, of course, did not die at Jack's side in London, and in fact has no knowledge of that, though I'm sure Jack eventually told him. This Ianto meets a Jack hundreds of years older and broken by even more losses. So nothing in CoE is negated; Ianto still died and Jack still left Earth. But I want to believe in my heart of hearts that these two men meant enough to one another than hundreds of years later they get the chance to be together again and they take it. And they set up the galactic Torchwood Archive while they're at it.
Will I ever write that other story? Probably not. I wrote this story back at the beginning of May, as my own personal head-canon and fix-it for things happening in the Torchwood universe. I shared it with a few friends, and now, on the anniversary of Ianto Jones's death at Thames House, I'm sharing it here. Perhaps as Jack returns to Torchwood to save the world once more, you will also come to believe that Ianto Jones is waiting for him back home at their flat, alive and well. Thank you for reading!