Hi again! Right, so second chapter. Wow. How am I supposed to know what to write in these things?
Disclaimer: If I owned Torchwood, Jack and Ianto would have realised they were made for each other earlier. Much earlier. But it doesn't. It belongs to Russell T Davis and the mighty BBC. Ah well. A girl can dream…
Odderer and Odderer
The next morning was uneventful. Jack got out of bed early, and without waking Ianto, which in itself was an art form. When he had got into the main part of the Hub, he remembered they had a visitor, aided by the barely audible mumblings from the med bay.
Ally was slumped halfway up the steps, very out of breath.
"For goodness sake," She was panting to herself. "Battle of the Somme, can deal with, but a few steps, oh no-"
"First sign of madness." Jack commented, peering down at her.
"I'm already mad, so that's alright." She twisted to face him. "So, how-"
"Don't you want to get out of there first?"
Ally shrugged. "I'll manage eventually." Her eyes raked his face. She groaned again. "I suppose you'll want some answers."
"Would be nice, yeah." He relented. "But I've waited all those years; another half an hour whilst you eat breakfast isn't going to change anything."
"Jack..?" A sleepy welsh voice issued from Jacks office. "Who're you..?" Ianto wandered out, wearing a towel. He turned a funny shade of raspberry, as he noticed the girl. Ally hastily averted her eyes.
"Morning." She said to the wall, as Ianto made a hasty retreat, presumably to find some clothes. "You finally found someone!"
"You bet. I suppose asking you…"
"Would be a waste of time, yeah."
"Come on, then." Jack pulled Ally up, and half helped half carried her to the sofa. Seeing her breathing become more laboured, he felt a wave of guilt crash over him. "Look, about yesterday…I'm sorry. I didn't think-"
Ally cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Doesn't matter. I'm fine now."
"I'll judge that, thanks." Owen had arrived, setting off all the appropriate alarms, but apparently unnoticed by them.
Ianto reappeared, after dressing at top speed, in his usual ensemble of suit and waistcoat.
"I'd better put the coffee on. Don't want you lot in caffeine withdrawal." Ianto was avoiding their eyes. Jack grinned.
…
"So you were in the First World War. The Second World War. How?" They were in the boardroom, Tosh had joined them as Ally, Jack and Ianto had been eating breakfast. Owen had been standing nearby, giving Ally grief for not telling them about her asthma, and Gwen had arrived during Owens examination. She was right, it turned out. She was, as far as possible, fine.
Ally fiddled with the cuffs of her t-shirt. "I don't really know how to explain it…"
"Try."
Ally looked at Jack for a moment and gave in.
"I…sort of… Pinged there."
"You 'sort of pinged' there." Jack sounded incredulous. "What does that mean?"
Ally shrugged. "One minute I'm there, the next I'm, PING! Anywhere." She looked slightly annoyed for a second "Usually in war zones for some reason."
"So you haven't been here consistently?" This came from Gwen, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet
"Nope."
"And do you know where you are now?"
Ally looked as if she was having a revelation. "Torchwood, isn't it?" She bit her lip. "Although…I don't actually know where Torchwood is any more…"
"Cardiff." Ianto supplied. "Roald Dahl Plass. Wales." He added when Ally still looked confused. "You know, Britain, Europe, planet earth, the universe?"
"Cool. Never been to Wales before." Ally tucked her knees up to her chest and hugged them. "I suppose Wales would be far too close to home." Gwen looked slightly concerned. Owen looked at her. Ally peered at her feet.
"So… where else have you been?" Owen asked curiously.
"Erm… World War One, World War Two," She nodded to Jack "The Crimean war, worked under Florence Nightingale, I did. Absolute slave-driver, that woman, but her methods worked, which was more than they did before… I dunno. Bit of Victorian England…" Ally shrugged, suddenly defensive. "Does it matter?"
Tosh cut in. "We'll try to establish a pattern, and from there correlate that with the rift, see if that has anything to do with it. Then we can try to go steps towards stopping it, always assuming that's what you want, and from there we can try to find you a place to stay permanently." She began to tap away in earnest. "If you could tell me the date you left here-"
Ally grinned. "Who said I was from here?"
There was silence
"Kidding." Ally added hastily. "Seriously."
Jack looked at her.
"So, the date?"
Ally thought hard. "November… maybe the 11th or 15th?" She took in Owen's sceptical look, Gwen's concern, Jack's intrigued gaze and Ianto's neutral appearance, before continuing. Tosh tapped away some more on her PDA. "It's a bit hazy. I wasn't in the best of moods."
"Have you ever visited the future?" Owen asked, curious.
"No, at least, not that I know of."
"Would you know?"
"Dunno." She shrugged "Possibly. I know when I'm home."
…
Three painstaking hours later, Jack recognised the signs that Ally was probably going to lose it of she didn't get out of there soon. One thing she'd always, always, always hated was being questioned about things she didn't know much about. He assigned his team jobs to do, Tosh categorising some artefacts they'd found a week ago and never got around to sorting, Gwen and Owen, admin. Ianto had made himself scarce towards the end of the questioning; Jack was willing to bet anything that his archivist and lover had noticed the warning signs before he had. Ianto was perceptive like that. He took Ally out to look at the bay.
"So this is Cardiff."
"Yes it is." There was a companionable silence.
"You know Ianto?" Ally said after a while.
"Maybe. I believe he may be on our, as you have seen, extensive staff… some sort of coffee genius I think-"
Ally didn't smile. "I recognise him. Battle of Canary Warf. So much blood and death… creatures killing everyone and everything in their path." She met Jacks eyes, seriously. "Did he save Lisa?"
Jacks blood ran cold. "How do you know about her?"
"Well… I bumped into him. He was running into the danger, instead of away from it. He was saying 'Have to find Lisa'. I went with him in the end, but I never made it out of the building. Only to see her."
"She was a cyberwoman. She tried to destroy us."
"But she was still human. She was screaming. Cybermen don't scream. Do they?" Jack shrugged.
"She's dead now, either way."
"Poor Ianto. What that must have done to him…" Jack deliberated. If he told her he was fine, she'd never believe it. He settled for the full truth.
"He was ripped apart. He tried to commit suicide twice, but I stopped him. He hates me for that sometimes, I think." The words were difficult to say.
"Then its my fault."
"What, Ally? No. You couldn't have stopped it, you weren't even there."
"I told him to save her. I said she might still be alive. I told him there was a chance. It's my fault." She took a deep breath. "Did anyone… get hurt?"
"Ally, It wasn't-" she cut him off mid-protest.
"Who died, Jack?"
He gave in. he couldn't really lie to her. She could always tell. "A doctor… and a pizza delivery girl. Annie, I think her name was."
"And you."
"I never said that."
"But it's true." Jack looked out onto the bay.
"Yeah."
