9.

The cold sea air relieved Ianto of the last side effects of the Tiramin and let his headache subside somewhat. It had stopped raining but the black night sky was still covered with deep-gray clouds. Far away, the lights of Cardiff, Penarth and Cosmeston glittered on one side of Bristol Channel, mirrored by the lights of Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon on the other side. The black sea separated Wales and England.

They had left the facility in silence and were now armed with two flashlights, on their way over the little island down to the jetty where Bobby was waiting for them with the boat. Ianto hadn't expected Jack to explain what had happened immediately, but he was surprised when Jack started telling his story as they walked.

"No matter where the Doctor, Rose and I went, everywhere, we met the words 'Bad Wolf'. Graffiti in London and Cardiff, the name of a nightclub on Vegja 7, the name of the company owning Satellite 5 ... and apparently, these words were following Rose and the Doctor around long before I met them."

"Blaidd Drwg," Ianto said softly. "There were plans to build a nuclear power station in Cardiff with that name. But a journalist could uncover errors in the design and the mayor disappeared before she could answer questions about it."

"We made her disappear." Jack smiled. "It's a long story but she was an alien." He sighed. "Another encounter with the words. We didn't realize it ..." Jack stopped walking. He looked at Ianto seriously in the glow of their flashlights. "Until we met the creature."

Ianto raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Bad Wolf?"

"It was time. Or more specifically, the time vortex. Bad Wolf ... is responsible for what I am."

"Immortal."

"Yeah."

"How do you know that?"

Jack shook his head. "I can't explain it. I ..." For a moment, he seemed to hesitate but then he said, "There was a battle – humans against Daleks. The Doctor, Rose and I were fighting on the humans' side. I died in that battle. And then it was like ... I heard singing. A melody. And then I woke up. No one has explained it to me but ... I just knew that Bad Wolf caused my immortality. I hope the Doctor can explain it to me some day."

Ianto frowned. "What Bleddyn said: canu. It means 'to sing'." He swallowed. "He asked about the lonely God. Where he can find him. He was calling you 'Immortal'."

"The lonely God is the Doctor."

Ianto stared out to sea. "How can Bleddyn know all this? How does he know that you have traveled with the Doctor? That you can't die? How does he know of the song ... and Bad Wolf?"

Jack turned away, frustrated. "I don't know." He let out a breath. "But I would have noticed if he had tried to rummage around my mind." He turned to Ianto and eyed him critically. "Are you okay?"

"Tired," Ianto answered.

Jack nodded. "Bobby is waiting with the boat." It was an offer. So far, they hadn't discussed whether Ianto would come back to Cardiff with Jack.

Ianto was too tired to reject the offer. "Sounds good." He set off again to the narrow staircase that led down to the jetty. "What do we do with Bleddyn?"

Jack sighed deeply. "We took precautions. The only alternative to Flat Holm would be the Hub but I don't want to take him there."

"Right." Ianto rubbed his forehead absently.

Jack's hand closed around his elbow as they began to walk down the steep, wet wooden steps to the landing stage. "Don't worry about it right now, okay? We have security measures. We can talk about everything else in the morning. You're exhausted."

The old wood of the landing stage creaked under their feet. The small boat was bobbing on the turbulent waves. Bobby stood leaning against the outside wall of the cabin, dressed in a yellow raincoat and with a dark woolen hat pulled deep over the old face. He smiled at Ianto as he got into the boat. "Mr. Jones, glad to see you're okay."

"Thank you," Ianto answered.

Jack nodded to Bobby. "Let's go home."

While Bobby started the engine of the boat, Ianto dropped into a seat on the bench that was afixed to the front of the boat. Jack sat next to him as the boat headed for Cardiff.

Ianto rubbed his eyes. "I'm drained, but I ... I don't think that I can sleep."

"Nervous energy?" Jack asked.

"Too many thoughts running around in my head. Between the Bleddyn situation, and everything I've got to get done at the Hub, and the suicide cases ..." Ianto trailed off with a sigh.

"... and Torchwood 4," Jack added, his voice strangely distant.

Ianto looked at him from the corner of his eye. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Jack gave him a weak smile.

"I won't ask," Ianto said.

Jack nodded slowly, and then he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on Ianto's lips.

xxx

Rain drummed against Ianto's bedroom window and the street lamps threw orange blurred circles against the bright curtains. Ianto watched as Jack got dressed in the light of his bedside lamp. Jack gave him a smile as he buttoned his shirt. "Are you going to be able to sleep now?"

Ianto smiled and stretched. "The odds are certainly better." He pulled the covers up and turned on his side.

Jack threw on his coat. "Glad to hear that," he said with a grin. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ianto nodded. "Tomorrow."

xxx

Jack watched Owen for about half an hour from his office via CCTV, as he sat quietly in the cell with the Weevils, then he got up and went downstairs. At night, the vaults were even colder than usual and Jack wished for a moment that he'd thought of taking his coat. He entered the vaults slowly so he wouldn't upset Anita. She gave him a long, skeptical look, but he held his hands out to the side to show her they were empty. When he stopped at the cell, he looked at Owen who was still sitting motionless near the door, watching the Weevils. Jack noticed that one of the babies was huddled in the corner alone, away from Anita and its siblings, and suddenly, he understood why Owen was still here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping in the guest quarters. But it wasn't just the Weevils that kept Owen awake. That much, Jack could deduce from the expression on his face. He shoved his hands into his pockets and asked, "What's the problem?"

Owen looked up at him. "How did you know that there is a problem?"

Jack shrugged. "I know that look."

"Scary."

Jack smiled. "So, what's going on?"

"One of the babies," Owen answered and looked at the Weevils, "seems a bit weak to me. It doesn't drink and it seems to have lost contact with the family."

"Natural selection," Jack replied. He watched the lonely Weevil baby cowering alone near the wall. Anita made no effort to tuck it closer. The other three babies were huddled by her mother.

"You could see it that way, of course," Owen said.

"That's how you have to see it," Jack said gravely. "It's late. Go to sleep."

Owen sighed and nodded. He sat up, stretched briefly and left the cell. While he carefully locked the door and checked the scanners which would keep an eye on the vital signs of the Weevils for him, he asked, "Is Ianto okay?"

"He's at home – asleep."

"What was the problem?" Owen seemed to be trying to sound disinterested, but he didn't quite succeed.

Jack couldn't suppress a slight smile about that. He shook his head.

Owen rolled his eyes. "Does he need a doctor? I'm still responsible for him, you know?"

"He doesn't need a doctor. He's okay. He'll come in for work tomorrow morning as usual. You can annoy him then if you want to."

Owen snorted. "If you say so."

"I do." With that, Jack nodded at Owen and headed back to his office.

xxx

She was pretty. Blonde long hair, dark eyes, a wide smile that brightened her young face ... he knew her from somewhere. A memory as weak as a dream. She seemed so friendly ... but her soul ... he recoiled. Bad Wolf.

"I create myself."

He pressed himself against the wall behind him, saw that he was crouched in a corridor, under a table, white, bare walls, a lot of doors ... it was vaguely familiar, but it all seemed a little blurry and he couldn't say why he knew this place ...

Her smile was gentle and she held out a hand in his direction. "You don't have to afraid of me."

'Of course not,' he thought. She was so pretty, so kind, he didn't have to be afraid ...

He flinched when, suddenly, another person appeared in front of him. A young man – dark skin, an earnest face, close-cropped black hair. "Who's that?" he asked, looking around as if he was afraid of being discovered. By whom?

"I don't know, Mickey," she answered. "Someone who works here, I guess."

Mickey narrowed his lips impatiently. "We don't have time for this."

"He's scared. He's so young." She held out her hand.

He crouched down, he didn't know much, just one thing: She was Bad Wolf and she couldn't be allowed to touch him. He didn't know what it meant or how he knew who she was but he trusted his instincts. "Stay away from me," he whispered. She dropped her hand, taken aback.

"I am the Bad Wolf."

A man stared at her pleadingly, his bright eyes sad and feverish. "Rose, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now!"

"Rose," Mickey said. "We have to leave."

Rose ... that was her name. It was familiar, he'd heard it before ...

She looked up at Mickey. "We need to find the Doctor."

"I want you safe. My Doctor."

Rose and Mickey ran away, leaving him alone in a world he didn't understand and, yet, seemed so familiar ...

"It's like ... there was this singing ..."

Ianto woke up, panting and sweating. His trembling hand found his mobile on the bedside table and before he thought about it, he'd dialled Jack's number. He gasped, trying to calm his breathing as he waited for an answer.

"Ianto," Jack said.

Ianto swallowed. "I had a dream."

Jack laughed. "Martin Luther King?"

"I saw Bad Wolf. It was Rose."

Jack's laughter stopped and suddenly, there was silence. Then Jack said, "I'll be right there."

And he rang off.

xxx

"It was Canary Wharf," Ianto said. The living room was lit only by a standard lamp in the corner and the furniture cast long, eerie shadows. Ianto turned his eyes away from them and focused instead on Jack, who was standing at the window with crossed arms, staring into the dawning morning. "I couldn't see much, but I knew ... I just knew that the Cybermen and Daleks were everywhere." Jack looked at him searchingly, as if looking for some sign of a lie. Ianto grabbed his coffee cup tighter. "And I wasn't myself ... that wasn't my experience. Rose was there ... and this boy ... Mickey. And they were looking for the Doctor. But they found me first and Rose tried to calm me down. I was afraid of her because she ... she was Bad Wolf. I don't know how I knew ..." He paused. "And there were scraps of another memory. Mostly just words. I couldn't make much sense of it."

Jack stepped closer slowly. "Did you ever meet Rose?"

Ianto shook his head. "No, but in Scotland, you shared memories of her with me. That's how I know her."

Jack put a hand on Ianto's neck. "Look at me." Ianto obeyed. Jack's blue eyes were serious and decisive. "I'm going to take a look at your mental barriers, okay?"

"They're still here."

"Humour me," Jack said.

Ianto swallowed. He didn't like the feeling of another consciousness in his head. Not even when it was Jack. But he trusted Jack and he knew that he wouldn't suggest something like this easily. "Okay."

Only a moment later, Jack's mind slid against his mental barriers, looking for damages and evidence that someone had broken into his mind and manipulated his thoughts. But finally, Jack pulled back and sighed in relief. "Okay. Your barriers are intact."

"I know," Ianto replied. He frowned quizzically. "Jack?"

"Bleddyn. He wasn't in your head but he did something. Perhaps he projected his memories. It's not necessary to break through mental shields to do that, since no control of another consciousness is required."

"Do you think ..." Ianto's eyes widened. "All the things he did ..."

"The fact that I know the Doctor, that Bad Wolf followed us, the voice I heard during my resurrection ... Bleddyn got all that from Rose. He must have met her in Canary Wharf and read her mind and Rose ..." Jack shook his head. "She didn't even notice because she has no mental training."

"He also knew that you're immortal. That memory couldn't have come from Rose."

"She must have known subconsciously. Bad Wolf is the time vortex and for a little while, it was in her head. She could see everything – what happened, what will happen. To me, too. She must have forgotten it when the time vortex left her," Jack said. He sank down on the couch next to Ianto and put his head in his hands. "So it was her? She made me immortal?"

"What for?"

"I wish I knew. But that's not the question we need to ask ourselves." Jack shoved his hands through his dark hair in frustration. "Bleddyn was found walking the road between Cardiff and Newport, shortly after Canary Wharf. He came all the way from London and straight here – why? Where did he get his mental abilities and why is he projecting his memories to you? Why did he attack you, after he had the same chance to do it to me for several months? What does he want from you?" He looked at Ianto. "Who the hell is this guy?"