Chapter Two:
I still feel guilty about the
night we brought Ianto back.
The
music pounded like the steady beat of a ritual drum as I walked into
the club. I scanned the club, to see if I could find Jack but after I
had a quick sweep of the room I couldn't find him. I felt like an
idiot for wearing those 'contact lenses' because my eyes were
still hurting like mad from hours earlier when I finally managed to
get them in. I moved to the floor to dance while I wait for Jack and
I found myself quickly approached by a guy.
"You
alright love? Fancy a dance with The Daddy?" He asked, his words
slurred due to the amount of alcohol he had ingested. I was ready to
give him some attitude when a figure came up from behind me and
punched him. I jumped back as he landed in a slump on the
floor.
"Can't
you do one thing without getting into a drama?" the familiar voice
whispered in my ear. The accent was, and probably still is, mainly
American but with the faintest touch of Scots, I decided that I
wouldn't even going to bother asking him where it came from because
I knew he won't tell me. He always was a man of mystery, and to
this day I still believe that he always will be. No one admitted it
but we liked it like that- there was always something else to
discover.
The
man on the floor shot me a dirty glance. "You could've told me
had a boyfriend." He glanced icily at my saviour, who was in fact
my former legal guardian. I also stared at Captain Jack Harkness, and
burst out laughing.
"First
of all, he's not my boyfriend" I turned and looked at Captain
Jack "You know I love the drama Captain. Oh and one last thing
love, I suggest you move on because I don't wanna dance with 'The
Daddy' tonight. You just go play. We adults have important things
to discuss, coming Jack?"
I
shot another glance at him and watched as he gave 'The Daddy' a
final glare.
"You
hit on her again and she'll be the last thing you ever hit on."
Jack's blue eyes blazed with an intensity I hadn't seen in so
long I had almost forgotten what it looked like. At least when Owen
died he left me in the care of the most amazing man in the world.
We
turned and left, heading towards a quiet corner of the club. We sat
down and ordered our drinks. I looked Jack square in the eye to let
him know that it's time we got down to business.
"I
can't believe she threw me out, Jack. We've spent the past two
years figuring out how to bring back all the Thames House victims and
she throws me out. You saw it Jack, you saw with them bloody lenses.
All I said was that Ianto wasn't dead. You said the plan would
work, so what went wrong?"
"I
thought that she would have gotten over the things that happened with
the resurrection gauntlets, but obviously not, I need her, Sophie
she's one of the best. Surely you have a plan? If anyone knows how
to play dirty it's you. You learnt from Owen how to blackmail so
surely you've got a few tricks up your sleeve?"
"I
do not disappoint, Captain Harkness; you said if it didn't work I
had to do whatever's necessary to make Gwen a part of the team. I
sent a virus to Torchwood three and I got in touch with Torchwood two
and told them that Lois and Gwen were no longer in charge in Cardiff
as Captain Jack Harkness was back and that I was his second in
command. The best part is Gwen and Lois won't discover any of this
until we have taken over their warehouse."
"Sophie
, how on Earth did you come up with this plan? It's..."
"Genius,
yeah I know and yes I do also know that it's a lot to take in right
now and I was hoping that threatening to tell Rhys about Owen would
be enough but it wasn't, Jack you know I hate playing
dirty..."
"Okay
now let's get back to discussing what we actually got together to
discuss: Ianto Jones. When can we go through with unburying him?
"
"Well
Jack, as you know I have been getting a bit friendly with the man who
works there, and you owe me for that Jack. I should be able to get us
in tonight."
"Sophie,
have I ever told you that you're a star? Because you are you
know."
"Do
you know something, I don't think you have and you've called me
many things Jack Harkness."
During
the conversation, Jack and I had been leaning closer to each other
and now we were so close that I could look straight into his eyes and
see that they looked more alive than they had in years. Jack looked
back at me and I knew that I was doing the right thing getting Ianto
back.
We
were in the graveyard staring at the stone that declared Ianto Jones
dead. We stood there looking at each other once again. For the first
time since I had started work on the antidote I wasn't eager to get
the body from its 'final' resting place.
"Jack
I can't do this. I knew Ianto... he was always nice to me... even
when Owen had been a complete dick to him. I want to bring him back
but I don't want to do this. Don't make me do this." I'm
agitated and I know it but the thought of seeing Ianto so
vulnerable... it makes my stomach turn.
Jack
comes up to me and wraps his arms around me. "Sophie I figured you
wouldn't be able to and that's okay, I've sorted it." I
glance around him and see that a group of burly men had started
digging in Ianto's grave, searching for the box where he was
resting in the earth.
"What...
But... How? Who are these people?" I step away from Jack feeling
betrayed that he left me out.
"I
went to talk to Rhiannon, Ianto's sister, and unlike Gwen, she's
more than happy for us to bring Ianto back. She offered to get us a
few helping hands. How are we going to get him into the
warehouse?"
"Don't
you worry about that, I've got it all sorted out. Apparently all we
have to do is stand here and wait. Have you got the car ready?"
"Do
you honestly think that we're going to fit Ianto into a convertible
Porsche?"
"Don't
go there. You can say what you want about me but don't go dissing
my car. It was a gift off my father and you know how rare they are.
Anyway I brought a different car, I found a big, black SUV that
reminded me of the old Torchwood one, I thought it would be
ideal."
"Okay
but how long do we have?"
"Not
long, about an hour. I'm sorry I couldn't get any longer but we
still have to get him in the warehouse and we have to set up the
medical equipment and then we have to jump start his heart, I don't
get how something so complex could have such a simple answer."
"The
answer was hiding in plain sight and the fact that you found it is
what makes you so clever."
"Excuse
me mate, but we've finished." Jack and I spin around and are
shocked to find that there is a coffin on the ground. We both know
what the other is thinking and we both set to work.
"Umm...
If you can just put the box in the car then we'll be off. Thanks
for your help." We climbed into the new SUV and hurriedly put on
our seatbelts. The sense of expectation was building like sparsely
packed thin ice as we drove through Cardiff at lightning speed. We
arrived at the warehouse in what seemed to be seconds but what must
have been at least a half an hour.
I
took the keys from my jacket pocket and slipped them into the door.
The door opened noisily but the alarm didn't go off- I had disabled
it earlier, just before I met up with Gwen. I turned around and saw
that Jack had already opened the boot of the SUV and was trying to
slide the coffin out of it. I looked back at the doorway wondering
how long it would take me to get together all of the medical
equipment when I heard a crash. I turned to see poor Ianto on the
floor.
"Well,
if that's how you treat your lovers Jack, I'd hate to be your
enemy," I deadpanned. "What? Don't give me that look Jack; you
know that I'm immune to your charms."
"As
if I would try it on you Sophie, now give me a hand. Let's take him
out it will be easier to carry him." We slowly opened the lid on
the coffin, heaved the immobile Ianto out of it and carried him
inside as gently as we could. It took me a while but I managed to
find the necessary equipment and we prepped Ianto.
"Jack,
can you bring me the crash trolley, please?" I shouted over to him.
He looked at me for a moment but then he rushed around doing as I
asked because it would lead to the safe return of Ianto Jones. It
felt remarkably peaceful, acting like the Puppet Master,
"Here
you are, now if you don't mind, I'm the only person who's going
to be ripping off Ianto's clothes," he looked at me and I was
pleased to see that laughter had returned to his eyes. He hadn't
looked so happy in seven years and I'm just glad that he trusted me
two years ago when nobody in UNIT would.
"I
don't particularly care who rips his clothes off as long as I can
use the defibrillator on him," I looked Jack in the eye again
because it was something no one has had the courage to do since the
incident with the 456, but I wanted him to know that I always had
faith in him and that it didn't matter what he did then but what he
did from that very moment onwards.
"Okay...
Shocking at 360 and you have to remember that this doesn't always
work the first time," I said as I placeed the paddles on Ianto's
chest and pressed the button. Ianto's body momentarily left the
trolley as the shock shot through his body. We stared at the screen
for a moment, hoping for a blip, something that would tell us that we
were on the right track. But it continued to flat-line.
"Okay,
we'll try again," I said as I fiddled with the defibrillator.
"Charging 360, and Jack move your arse away from him- you can hug
him when he wakes up." I placed the paddles on Ianto's chest a
second time and pushed the button.
Ianto's
body catapulted into the air and came back down in a fraction of a
second, landing on face-first on the floor. The machine stopped
flat-lining and Ianto gasped back into life.
