"Hello, Jack." Yvonne said with a fake smile. "Haven't seen you in a long time."
"Yvonne."
"What're you doing in here? You know me, Jack; I don't like it when people play with my toys."
"We weren't stealing anything…"
"You were found in a highly restricted area!" she snapped. Her eyes flicked to Ianto and she frowned, taking him in. "Well, I must say; I always knew you were unorthodox but employing children, Jack?"
"He's not an employee."
She raised an eyebrow. "Well then what were you doing in this locked room together? In the dark. alone." she smirked. "I wonder what this would do to your reputation, Harkness?"
Ianto felt anger bubble in the pit of his stomach and started forwards, but Jack's hand on his arm kept him back.
"We don't have any of your artefacts, Yvonne, so just let us go."
"Oh I don't think so. Breaking and entering a secure government facility? It's within my jurisdiction to have you both arrested and held. Without trial."
"Run." Jack hissed suddenly in Ianto's ear, face turned slightly away so Yvonne couldn't see.
"What?"
"I'll distract them. You've got the car keys, so run. Get back to the Hub. Tell the others."
"I'm not leaving you here…"
"Steven, it's not a request, it's an order. Now when I give the signal, you run."
Ianto swallowed. "Ok."
"So, you've got me Yvonne." Jack said cheerfully with a disarming smile, stepping in front of Ianto with his arms held wide. "Well done."
She frowned suspiciously at him. "Don't think you're going to be able to charm your way out of this one, Harkness. You've been given far too much rope already, I'm just glad I'm around to see you hang yourself on it."
"See the thing about me, Yvonne." Jack said, walking towards her with a grin. "Is that it doesn't matter how many times I hang myself, I'm going to keep coming back good as new."
"Well, we'll see about that, wont we?"
"Yes. We will." quicker than Ianto would have thought possible, Jack jabbed his elbow backwards into the nose of one of the guards and snatched his gun, waving it at the others.
"Steven! Run!"
Ianto didn't need telling twice. He shot off as fast as he could, but not fast enough that he was out of earshot of Jack's yell of pain as the guards got him under control.
"Get after the other one!" he heard Yvonne snap, and felt his blood run cold.
Run. Hide. Get away. Ianto's heart thudded in his chest as he ran; trying to be as quiet as possible so the guards wouldn't hear him. What the hell had he been thinking, coming to Torchwood 1? He should have let Jack go by himself…ok, so he would never have done that, but still. If he was caught by Yvonne and her cronies, that was it. It was all over. She'd hold him for longer than the allotted time, and then not only would he probably die back in the present day, but she'd witness his re-awakening and his telling her his real name. Which would mean he'd never end up working for Torchwood. Which would mean he would never be around to have the accident in the first place, which would mean he was never here for Yvonne to find out who he was…basically it would seriously mess up the timeline. And probably cause some sort of implosion of reality.
He ducked into an empty room and pulled the door to, peeking out through a crack as he watched two of the guards run past. He breathed a sigh of relief, but he was well aware he wasn't out yet. He turned round to see where he was, and swore quietly.
He was in a monitoring station; one of the many rooms which captured video feed from around Torchwood Tower 24/7. It was in this very room that in the future Ianto Jones and two other Torchwood employees would hide from the Cybermen invasion. It had been from here that he'd seen them take Lisa; it had been the last thing he saw before they disabled the cameras. Even thinking about it, Ianto realised he had tears running down his face. He wiped them away hurriedly.
No. There wasn't time for this. He could remember Lisa later, right now what he needed to do was find a way out and back to the SUV.
Ianto scanned the CCTV screens. He could see the guards Yvonne had sent after him. There were four in total, patrolling in pairs. Only four? Obviously Yvonne hadn't thought him much of a threat.
Ianto smiled, in spite of the adrenaline coursing through his system. Well, this would teach her not to underestimate people. Especially when so much rested on getting out.
Ianto wasn't stupid; he knew he had to leave Jack behind. He'd find a way to get out even if he had to be legit about it. But he, Ianto, had to get out and he had to do it now. He planned a route out in his head. He had two choices; either take a very long route out and risk being spotted on CCTV, or try and get out via the door they'd come in through, which was a lot closer to the SUV, but that plan had the risk of having to get past 2 of the guards.
He licked his lips nervously. The fate of the entire universe could rest on this decision. Ianto suddenly understood Jack's fear of crossing timelines. What should be a simple decision was suddenly almost unbearably stressful…and was made worse when Ianto noticed the other pair of guards was now approaching the room in which he stood. He made a split-second decision and ran, opting for the shorter route and hoping his small size would give him an advantage against the gun toting men before him.
He scurried down several corridors, keeping an eye out for anyone he'd have to avoid. He hurried round a corner and almost ran slap bang into a couple of men, only just managing to duck back round the corner and into an alcove before they saw him. Where the hell had they come from? Ianto had been sure the guards were no-where near here, there was no way they could have gotten here so fast unless…
Oh, crap.
They weren't guards. They were just ordinary Torchwood employees, which meant the new work day had begun.
It also meant that instead of 4 people Ianto had to get past, he was now up against 400.
Shit.
Ianto bit his lip nervously. If he was in his normal body this would make getting out a lot easier. But a teenage boy in a facility like Torchwood was going to stick out horribly. And all it would take would be for someone to get suspicious and grab him and it would all be over.
Literally.
Pulling his hat down low over his face, he walked as casually as he could towards the sudden stream of Torchwood personnel. As he walked, he began to realise that perhaps the crowd of people was a blessing rather than a curse. No-one even glanced at him, too busy catching up with colleagues and thinking about how they could get out of doing that report that was due.
He turned the corner and felt relief wash over him. He was at the exit, he'd made it! Breaking into a fast trot, Ianto sped towards the door…
"Oi! You!"
Shit! Ianto thought desperately, looking over his shoulder to see two of the guards sprinting towards him. He quickly shoved the door open with his shoulder and ran, well aware that the two men were following him.
"I said stop!"
Ianto ducked instinctively as he heard a gunshot behind him. The bastards were shooting at him! He ran on, aware that the first shot had probably been a warning and next time they wouldn't hesitate to actually hit him. He almost laughed in relief when the black SUV came into sight. Fumbling in his pocket he had a moment of blind panic when he couldn't find the keys. Had he dropped them? He felt weak with relief when he felt them in his jacket pocket. Yanking open the drivers door he climbed in, adjusting to the weird feeling of everything being slightly higher than he was used to. He'd had a late growth spurt at 17 and had shot up about 3 inches.
Shaking his head to clear it, he jammed the key into the ignition and floored the accelerator. He heard yells behind him, and then several bullets smacked harmlessly into the rear windscreen. Once ricocheted off the wing mirror and slammed into the window on the driver's door, right beside Ianto's head. If he'd been in a normal car rather than the bullet proof SUV, it would have killed him instantly.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was only when he'd been driving for half an hour, with no sign of anything following him, that Ianto began to relax. He'd got away. He was safe.
Of course, there was still the problem that Jack needed rescuing, but it should be fairly easy to sort that out. Although technically Yvonne was well within her right to hold Jack, the captain was a Torchwood employee, and so they could easily go through official channels to get him released. He hadn't actually broken the law, after all.
Ianto blinked slowly at the door to the tourist office, feeling suddenly exhausted. The adrenaline he'd been running on had well and truly worn out, and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a warm bed and never get up again. With a sigh, he walked through and was surprised to find it empty. He wondered briefly where everyone was, then shrugged and pressed the button allowing him entry into the Hub.
Where everyone was became evident as soon as he walked past the cog door. The three Torchwood members were watching him, and he could tell from the unnatural feeling silence that he'd walked in on a conversation.
"Steven!" Ben yelled, almost angrily. "Where the hell have you been?!"
"Steven?" Josie asked quietly.
"Steven what's going on, where's Jack?" Samina demanded.
"London."
There was an awkward pause. "Ok…care to explain that one?"
"We went over to Torchwood 1 to have a look at that arch thing. Only…Yvonne caught us."
"So, what, you just left him there? Escaped on your own?" Ben sounded furious.
"Or course not!" Ianto shot back at him. "He told me to go. I already had the car keys because he was still weak from having touched the arch so when she came in…"
"Hold on - Jack touched the arch?"
"Yeah. So?"
"So he didn't die! He must have figured out a way to save you!" Samina exclaimed in excitement.
Ianto felt his stomach drop. Oh shit. He'd said too much. "Er…no, because…he…he said he couldn't remember anything."
Samina frowned suspiciously. "Nothing at all?"
"I…I asked him. He said he couldn't remember anything. Sorry."
Samina nodded, looking disappointed. "Never mind, hey? Ben, get on the phone to Hartman, demand she give us our captain back. Josie, check Steven over. He looks a bit peaky."
"Right. Come on, Steven."
Ianto followed her into the medical bay, perching on the table.
"Bad news for you about Jack."
"Yeah."
"Bet you're gutted."
"Totally. Yeah."
Josie shone a light into his eyes. "Do you actually want to go home?"
"Of course! Why the hell wouldn't I?"
"Because I saw your face when Samina realised Jack had touched the arch and survived. I was the only one looking at you and I've gotta say…you looked terrified. And you're not a very convincing liar in a crisis. Jack didn't forget what happened, did he?"
"It's not that."
"So something else must have terrified you, because no-one looks like that for no reason. So did you lie about what happened in London?"
Ianto looked at her, assessing the situation. "Can I trust you?"
"That depends on what you're about to say."
"Seriously Josie. You can't tell the others, especially Jack."
"Timelines?"
"Timelines." Ianto agreed.
Josie sighed. "You know, you could use that as an excuse to tell me anything and you know I wouldn't repeat it in case you were telling the truth."
Ianto winked at her. "So can I trust you?"
"Yes."
Ianto licked his lips. "Have you ever seen Jack take down a Weevil?"
"Of course." she said, puzzled.
"Ever wondered how he can stand on roofs so high, so close to the edge, and not feel any fear? Ever wondered how he knows so much but reveals barely anything?"
"Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't?"
"Jack can't die."
Josie stared at him for a beat, then laughed uncertainly. "What?"
"He can't die. The man you know is, at the moment," Ianto did some quick calculations, "166 years old. In my time he's almost 2000 years older than that."
"You're kidding, right?"
"I sometimes wish I was."
"He's over 2000 years old."
"Yes."
"How?"
Ianto sighed and his eyes became distant, unwanted memories of Jack screaming and crying in his sleep, holding him as he clung to Ianto tightly, knowing even as he whispered that everything was alright that there was nothing he could do to ease his lover's mental torture. "Trust me; you really don't want to know."
"But it's why he's…" she pointed towards the morgue. "Yes?"
Ianto nodded. "You can't mention this. I could have screwed things up just by telling you."
She looked around. "Well we're still here and unexploded, so you can't have screwed up that badly." she sighed. "I won't say anything. And I'll try not to treat him differently…but hold on, that didn't answer my original question."
"Which was?"
"Why did you look so scared?"
"Because Jack did die, Josie. He died, but then he came back. The others cant know."
"Oh. Wasn't that a bit…creepy?"
Ianto shrugged. "I'm used to it." As Josie watched his eyes became distant again. "Sometimes I think I'm probably too used to it."
