Title: Time Heals All Wounds (2/3)

Summary: Does time really heal all wounds? Depends on what you do to time.

Rating: M for adult themes

Characters: Jack and Ianto

Warnings: Prostitution, some foul language

Word Count: 1658

Spoilers/Timeline: Four years post-CoE. MD has no place here.

Beta: czarina_kitty. Thank you for all your help. Your insight helped tie everything together in a nice little bow

Chapter 2

Now that the alcohol and drugs were no longer altering Jack's perception of things, he realized that they might not ever have been skewed. 'Fuck.' Jack muttered to himself as he stared in the familiar set of blue eyes he never thought he would see again.

"Hello,"Jack said, trying to hide how freaked out he was.

"Hello?" Ianto voice cracked in disbelief. "You were dead and then you came back and you just hello me like nothing happened. What did you do to me? How do you know my name?" He didn't bother to use a fake accent anymore. He was scared, confused and a bunch other things Ianto could not comprehend.

Jack knew he should not be amused by this, but it was just like Ianto to scold him for his nonchalantness and this one did not even know him. He knew he had to keep his cool despite how bad the situation was. "How could I have died and come back to life? That is not possible." Jack's heart skipped a beat at the eye roll. "Coincidence?" Jack did not remember calling out Ianto's name, but he must have.

As much as he would have loved to stay forever in Ianto's lap, Jack knew he had to fix the situation before there was irreparable damage to the time line.

"Coincidence?" Ianto did not sound convinced as he watched the older man get out of the bed and put as much distance between them as possible.

"Yes. It's not like you are the only one with that name." Jack could not meet Ianto's eyes. It tore at his soul to act as if Ianto was not one of a kind, even if he was only talking about names. "My mouth is feeling a bit dry. Is yours? Do you want something to drink? Water good for you?" Jack was truly a master of distraction and prayed there was still some Retcon in his pocket.

"Water is good." Ianto's eyes carefully studied the man who was getting stranger by the second. "So your dead boyfriend has the same name as me?"

"Yeah. You got a problem?" Jack hid how it hurt to act disinterested. He bent down and picked up his trousers, which he used as a chance to grab the Retcon from his coat pocket.

"No. No problem." The younger Ianto was not sure of the assertion. He felt the older man was holding something important back and gave Jack a hard glare, not yet knowing how effective it was on Jack, but he did not see it as all Ianto saw was the well-toned rear disappearing into the bathroom.

"Tell me a bit about yourself, Ianto." Jack already knew most of the story, but he just wanted to hear the intoxicating voice one last time.

"I'm not much of a talker, sir. I don't want to spill my story to a stranger even if he paid for my services," Ianto fidgeted, debating if he should run. It would take time to put his clothes back on and something told him that the man would give chase.

Jack laughed to himself, having heard the same line on several occasions especially when Jack tried to coax a bedtime story out of the exhausted Welshman.

"Please, just a small little story. Pretty please." Jack put on his best pleading face.

"Jack, I'm exhausted. I'm not much of a talker as you know, so stories aren't my thing. Can we just go to bed now?" Ianto whined and yawned to show how tired he was.

"Just one little short one. I'll make it worth your while," a wild grin lit up the dark room and Jack's hands mapped out the body it knew so well.

Ianto groaned, biting his lip and rolling his eyes. "You are incorrigible. Okay a short one." He swore Jack was a child at times as his eyes lit up with glee when he got his way. "There once was this sexy captain who refused to let his better half get any sleep. Then the sexy captain became grumpy because coffee and sex left the land until he let the prince get some sleep. The end."

Jack teared up at the lost memory that suddenly came to the surface. He quickly dried any hint of shed and unshed tears as the last of the Retcon dissolved.

"One glass of water as ordered." Jack handed over the Retcon laced drink.

"Thank you, sir," Ianto said nervously as he took the glass and slowly sipped from it. "I'm not sure this is right...doing this."

"It's not," Jack answered quickly. You are capable of so much more.

The more Ianto drank from the glass the odder he felt, as if the drink was drugged. "Oh, God. You poisoned me." Tears started to fall as Ianto's legs went wobbly. "Please don't kill me." Ianto dropped the empty glass onto the floor. He was supposed to live past his eighteenth birthday. "Nice birthday gift. Tell my family I love them." His eyes started to close.

"I could never kill you. I love you." Jack knew his words would come off as if he was crazy.

"I don't even know you. Please don't do this." Ianto stumbled as he tried to walk to the door.

Jack caught Ianto before he fell. "You aren't going to die. You just can't remember tonight. We aren't supposed to meet until five years from now. I can't change the timeline no matter how much I still need you in my life." He placed a kiss on Ianto's lips just before he lost consciousness. Jack could only pray that nothing would trigger what he revealed before he knew he had accidentally picked up a younger Ianto.

Jack carried the unconscious teenager to the bed and place him down gently. "Everything is going to be okay now." Against better judgment, Jack climbed into bed. He wanted to give himself one last chance to hold the love of his life. It did not take long for Jack to slip into a restful slumber. The first one in many years.

When Jack woke the next morning his head was pounding and his head a bit fuzzy. It was not just the previous evening that was fuzzy. He wondered if this was the after effects of the drugs and hypervodkas. Despite the fact that mixture on top of sex gave him a heart attack and his system was clean of the substances. His last clear memory was Rhys telling him and Ianto the beans were almost done. There was only one thing to explain the fuzzy memory. Retcon? Had he retconed himself and this was the result? It was as if everything else was in flux.

"No." He shook his head. "You retconed him," Jack whispered to himself as he watched the sleeping form in the bed. Preservation of the timeline was most important no matter how much it hurt. "I'll always love you, my precious Ianto. If I don't say it to you in the future, I hope you know I always did and always will. You are a one in a trillion find."

Jack knelt down beside the bed as tears rolled down his face. Saying goodbye was not going to be easy. It was not easy the first time and the second time was worse. He gave the love of his life one last kiss, making it memorable. "I'll never forget you." Jack stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes.

There was one thing Jack needed to do before he left. He transferred some money from one of Torchwood's hidden accounts to set up a scholarship for Ianto, anonymous of course. In his mind, he was not altering the timeline, but fulfilling it. There was no way this Ianto would end up being the man he knew if he kept down this dangerous path. The lost teenager needed a small nudge in the right direction and Jack's heart could not let him stand idly by as its other half suffered.

When he was ready to leave, Jack flipped open his wrist strap and his fingers took over as they punched in his destination back to the freighter he had left the previous evening. It was time to numb the excruciating pain he had caused himself. The unsteady man closed his eyes as the vortex pulled him in. Once the sensation stopped, Jack slowly opened his eyes after not hearing anything. Something was not right. It was too quiet to be a bar and the sight before him confirmed that.

"Nooooo!" Jack gasped. "Not Cardiff. Anywhere but here." Confused as ever, Jack took in his surroundings. He was in a very large flat; with floor to ceiling windows, that over looked the bay. He wondered why his vortex manipulator bought him here and not back to the freighter. Jack was sure he put in the right time/space coordinates to return him to where he was before his trip into the past. Further investigation revealed baby bottles on the kitchen counter. Jack was sure he was going to be met with the confused and possibly armed owner of the flat and knew he needed to get out quickly. As Jack turned on his heel to leave, the world around him started to spin and he gripped the counter to keep himself from falling.

He did not hear the bedroom door open and someone approach, so when a hand was placed on his back; Jack nearly jumped out of his skin and on instinct and drew his Webley.

"Where the hell have you been? Put that away." The gun was pulled from Jack's limp hand and slammed on the counter. "You're gone for three days and finally come home and pull a gun on me. What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jack was on the receiving end of a hard slap across the face.

To be continued. Last chapter up tomorrow!