Title: Children of Earth: Amendum.

Author: SoLeo

Pairing: Jack/Ianto duh.

Spoilers: YES! for COE, so read at your own risk.

Notes: This one was a little tougher then I thought it would be. … Well the Gwen stuff was anyways.

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Chapter 4

As soon as the helicopter was out of sight the soldier escorts marched them back to their car and back into the back seat. Jack looked at Ianto. If felt like there was so much he wanted to say to him, but that seemed to be a normal response for him every time he looked at the other man's face. "You're not scared, are you?" he asked.

Ianto turned to face him, not really sure what he should say. There were lots of things he could say. 'Yes of course, since I always thought I was too delicate to end up in prison.' Or maybe 'Not when I'm with you.' would also have worked, but he was sure Jack didn't need to hear this. "I would have been more scared in Cardiff, sir," he told him with a smile.

They remained silent the rest of the way to the holding facility. Police lead them down to the cells and opened two, side by side. "Captain Harkness, Mr. Jones if you'd step inside." They aren't let out of the handcuffs until they do.

Jack is telling himself that what he's doing is for the best, and everyone will be safer if he just stays out of the way. He's glad Ianto is with him, but also feels very guilty that he has taken away any resemblance to a normal future from him. 'Maybe this is where I've always belonged.'

Jack is surprised when he hears Lois Habiba call out to him from the cell across from his. He should have known they would be treating him like a national criminal, same as her. He ignored her, hoping she would give up calling out to him. It was his fault she was even locked up in that cell. Didn't she hate him for that? Couldn't she see it would have been better for her if she had never heard of Captain Jack Harkness or the Torchwood Institute?

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They got out quickly as the helicopter touched down, and ran towards P.C. Andy. Somehow Jack had arranged it for him to be their contact on arrival. If John Frobisher had wanted them locked up after all this was over he was going to be sorely disappointed. Andy greeted Gwen warmly and gestured them into the car.

They drive in silence, but only briefly, because Andy's curiosity just can't seem to be contained. That was one of the reasons Gwen liked Andy and hated him at the same time. After she had joined Torchwood he always wanted to know everything that was going on, and she just couldn't tell him. She had to keep silent for his protection.

Andy finishes talking and asks Gwen the one question she just didn't want to answer "What's going on?" What would he do? What could he do, if he found out? 'Absolutely nothing, that's what.' She thinks, but would never say. Instead she says "I can't tell you." It had never really worked in the past to stop his questions, but it's a familiar answer, and she takes strength from sticking to the familiar.

Andy seems outraged. Gwen was always giving him shoddy answers like that, but she couldn't really tell him. She never could give him the truth, not all of it at least. "I am the police." She wished he would just be quiet and leave the subject alone.

"Right now Andy, I need you to drive this car. And if I told you …" She couldn't finish. The whole situation just seemed ridiculous. All those children were going to be taken away very shortly. The government was just giving up, Jack was just giving up. She was angry at Jack and at herself for letting everyone down. She didn't even know if she could save even just a handful. She thought of Ianto. There was no way she would be able to face him again if she failed to save at least his family. Gwen ignores Andy as he gets more frustrated with her. She has more important things to worry about

It gets quiet in the car after Rhys lets Andy in on their not so world shattering news. Gwen hadn't thought anything could surprise Andy, but she had been wrong about so many things recently. She had thought that the government cared about her people. She had thought, despite everything, Jack would keep on fighting to the bitter end. She had thought Torchwood was so powerful it could stop any true alien threat. She couldn't do anything, and more importantly she could no longer trust the world she lived in.

Gwen broke the silence. "It's Torchwood. That's what did it. They give you retcon, and chemicals and radiation and god knows what. Bloody pill didn't stand a chance. That's what Torchwood does, ya see. It ruins your life." By showing her how beautiful the universe could be it accentuated how filthy her own world was. All she wanted to do was save one portion of her world, and if she couldn't even do that then how could she dare bring another life onto this horrible planet.

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Being locked in a cell gives a person an awful lot of time to think about things. Ianto was taking this time to try to let his mind wander. He had been trying to think about what had happened in Thames House, but the more he focused on it the more it slipped away like dream fragments after waking. So now he was trying a different tactic. If he tried to not think about it he was sure the details would come back. It had happened before after all, when he had been trying his best to not think about Brecon Beacons, or every time he tried so desperately to not think about Lisa. So Ianto Jones sat in his cell not thinking about yesterday and everything that had happened in Thames House.

Ianto hadn't made much progress when there was movement outside his cell. Bridget Spears was not someone he had expected to see any time soon. Apparently she wasn't there to talk to Jack or himself, but to Lois stuck in a cell across from them. He went back to not thinking. If Bridget wanted to talk to him after she was done with Lois he would tell her in his most polite way to 'shove it.'

He concentrated on his breathing. Slowly he took one breath in, then out. In, out. In, out. He thought back to the night after Brecon Beacons. Jack had been there to wake him from a nightmare and told him 'Just keep breathing. All you can do is keep breathing.' It had helped lull him back to sleep that night, and for quite a few after as well.

Ianto had almost fallen asleep sitting up when he could remember clearly hearing Jack say 'Don't speak, save your breath.' Jack had sounded so desperate, calling out his name, pleading even. 'When had this happened?'

Ianto shuddered. It could only be the memory he was blocking from himself. He had died up there. Jack had watched him die, unable to do anything to save him. Ianto chuckled to himself. 'The bastard. He didn't even tell me he loved me. How very Jack.' He vows to himself then that the next time he has Jack all to himself he won't hesitate to tell him those three words again. Only this time not because they were in a life or death situation, but because he wanted to. It no longer mattered to him if Jack was unwilling, or unable, to tell him the same.

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A/N: Did you like it? I'm looking forward to the next chapter where Gwen and Andy meet Rhiannon.