Title: Restoration (1/10)
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Doctor, Martha
Spoilers: CoE
Summary: When Ianto returns to life, what will become of his relationship with Jack? And will Torchwood survive?
Disclaimer: Not mine. Obviously.
AN: This has been posted on LJ since the week after CoE aired, and I'm only now posting it up here. Bad me! It's unbeta-ed, I'm afraid, so any mistakes are my own. It is complete, so I'll be posting regularly - probably every few days or so, certainly no more than a week between updates. It has a sequel, Continuance, which is still a WIP, and may become part of a longer series called with the working title of 'Endless Hereafter'. This is, I'm afraid, shameless self-indulgence, but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway. Please R&R, reviews are love :-)
Chapter 1
Gwen is terrified. Is this it? Is she the only one left? First Tosh and Owen. Then Ianto, god, poor Ianto. And now Jack. Because he might not be dead, but had can't really be described as alive, either. He just sits there. Catatonic. As if as soon as the threat was over he just shut down and refused to go on. Like he couldn't face life without Ianto but couldn't - can't ever - find true death either.
She doesn't know what to do. She and Rhys have brought Ianto back to the temporary base Torchwood has been granted, and all Jack has done is sit there, beside him, gaze full of pain but still not really there.
Eventually, she calls Martha. It might be her honeymoon, but she would want to know. She flies over immediately, and her eyes are dark and full of pain and sympathy. She had liked Ianto, and she hates to see Jack this way. Together, they try to bring him out of it, but it doesn't work. Ianto died less than three days ago. Jack's vigil beside him is much like Gwen's own over him two years previous, but there is no hope this time. Ianto is dead, and he will remain so.
'I'm going to call the Doctor,' Martha says finally. 'He'll - he'll know what to do.'
So she calls him and he arrives within moments, the sound of the TARDIS impossibly loud in the silence. Jack doesn't even flinch.
The Doctor, when he steps out, looks serious. He lacks his usual vibrant energy, although he hugs Martha close and even Gwen receives a quick embrace. Then his gaze turns to Jack and it looks like he's grieving even as he steps close.
'Oh Jack,' he murmurs. 'Poor, poor Jack.'
He falls silent and Martha asks, 'Doctor?', voice hesitant, like she doesn't really want the answer.
He turns to face them, expression grim. 'Could I see Ianto's files?'
Gwen brings them, and as the Doctor reads them his face becomes even more sober. He looks up. 'Did you know that he tested highly in psychic ability? Especially empathy ...'
'No. What difference does it make?'
'Jack tests highly too. Well, average for his own time. Apparently they've created a psychic bond. By accident, presumably.'
'What does that mean?'
'Psychic bonds link two people together, strongly. When one dies, the other follows. If it's very strong they die almost simultaneously. Otherwise they waste away, usually quite quickly, or commit suicide. Jack can't do any of that, so he's shut down instead.'
She frowns, confused. 'But Jack died a lot. And Ianto always seemed alright; maybe a little shaken.'
'My guess is that because he knew and saw before and during the bond's development that Jack can't die he was able to control and suppress his reaction, although I suspect it always affected him much more than he let on.'
'So ... what can we do? Can we do anything?' Oh god, she hopes so.
'There might be something. I shouldn't, probably, but Jack doesn't deserve this.'
'You have to try. Please, Doctor. You have to try.'
'I will.'
'What are you going to do?' Martha, her face serious but with a glimmer of hope.
'I'm going to use their link, Jack's life force, and a piece of Time Lord technology for energy transference.' There is none of the usual babble and excitement accompanying his explanation, and he looks them both in the eye when he says, 'This might not work.'
'You have to try,' Gwen repeats.
He nods then, and goes into the TARDIS, emerging several minutes later carrying a little crystal surrounded my metal wires, forming a mesh sphere around it.
'Right then.' The Doctor sits between the two men, Gwen and Martha watching apprehensively as he puts Ianto's hand into Jack's, the sphere held within the joint grasp. Then he places the fingers of his left hand onto Jack's temple, the fingers of his right onto Ianto's.
He looks to the two women, regret etched into his features. 'I'm sorry, but ... one of you needs to kill him.'
There is a long pause as they look at each other. Finally, Gwen says, 'I'll do it. I should be the one.'
Her hands tremble only slightly as she draws her gun and places it against his chest, right over his heart. 'I'm sorry, Jack.' And then she pulls the trigger. The shot is loud, ringing, seeming to linger in the air, but Jack dies instantly.
The Doctor closes his eyes, frowning in concentration, and Gwen can only watch, helpless and hating it. For several seconds nothing can be seen, but then the crystal is glowing golden, light spilling between Jack and Ianto's entwined fingers. The light continues to grow until it is almost blinding in its intensity. And then Jack jerks and gasps, the sound harsh but wonderful.
'Ianto?' The word is desperate, plaintive, and Gwen is suddenly scared again, absolutely petrified. What if it hasn't worked? How can she bear to see Jack return to that awful catatonia? She doesn't think she could.
The Doctor is leaning close, holding onto Jack. 'Jack? Jack, you're fine. You hear me? You're fine.'
'Ianto's dead.' The words are utterly broken.
'Jack. You need to go to him. Hold him.'
It is too late for that though because there is another sudden gasp and Ianto, still pale but inescapable alive, surges upright.
Jack stares at him, a single, shocked 'What?' falling from his lips before he leaps forward and pulls Ianto to him, clinging tight, repeating his name over and over.
Finally, 'Jack?' It is a hoarse word, confused, but it pushes aside all doubt, even as he continues. 'I died. Didn't I die?'
'You did. Oh, god, you did. But you're alive now.' He pulls back suddenly, gaze fierce and intense, holding Ianto's face in his hands. 'I love you, Ianto Jones.' And then their lips are crushed together, hard and hot, lips and tongues and the faint graze of teeth.
There is only joy, and the knowledge that they are alive.
