Chapter Eleven
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood
Summery: Ianto Jones isn't an ordinary Human. He needs answers. Only the right kind of Doctor can give him those answers. AU Cannon based season 2
Couples: Jack/Ianto, Tosh/Andy, Gwen/Rhys, Owen/Kathy, Martha/Tom,
Authors Notes: As I'm almost completely rewriting Dead Man Walking, this is going to be split into two parts.
"Two minutes twenty" Tosh fumbled, sniffling slightly not even trying to hide her tears. Ianto moved away from Jack stunned.
"Look, I'm not using the glove," Ianto said making it look as obvious as he possibly could. He had no idea what was going on. The girl had warned him not to use it but he'd just wanted to say goodbye was that so bad?
"But I'm still here," Jack pointed out turning his head to look steadily at Ianto, causing Ianto to back away slightly.
"Oh, here we go again," Owen muttered. Ianto took off the glove shuddering slightly as he felt a slight zap and chucked it down at the ground causing it to fall down near Gwen's feet who jumped and backed away slightly. Jack sat up on the autopsy table panting which made Ianto turn his head to him. He didn't know what was going on.
"Maybe, I cheated it somehow, maybe, I'm not meant to die yet." Jack suggested looking around the team before his eyes fell on Ianto, "maybe, I'm being kept alive for some reason. As much as I love being naked around you lot could one of you pass me my pants please, woah!" Ianto followed Jack's eyes down to his gunshot wound which hadn't healed yet.
"It's okay, I hate to say it but… you get used to it." Ianto tried to comfort Jack with his shock even though he really didn't know what was going on as his gunshot wounds had normally healed by now.
After giving Jack privacy to get dressed Ianto found himself back in the autopsy bay as Owen and Martha tried to check the Captain over but found he was interfering with the investigation as Jack tried to find his heartbeat.
"Wow, that's amazing no heart beat."
"Yeah, you're a zombie congratulations Jack. Now would you let us get on with the investigation?" Owen snapped, while Martha and Ianto shared a look.
"I'm just trying to help-" Jack pointed out.
"Well you can't help. You're the subject of the investigation and your dead." Martha pointed out trying to pacify The Captain.
"Are you sure about that?" Jack questioned and Ianto had to concede he had a point. He had no idea what was going on here.
"Yes, we're both sure" Owen piped up. Jack pointed at Gwen's computer monitor where Gwen back away from him slightly and Ianto nearly snorted. Oh, how things change in a matter of moments. Ianto thought to himself.
"Well, according to that I'm okay. Look there's electronic activity in my brain." Jack pointed out.
"That shouldn't be possible." Martha admitted looking at the screen and Owen nodded behind her. Ianto knew that they were both right.
"Well, I'm still here" Jack spoke up and he paused, "and actually I feel amazing. I haven't felt this good in years"
"So, where's the power coming from?" Owen questioned and Ianto bit his lip. He had no idea and he had a feeling that what was coming next they weren't going to like.
"You know, when Suzie survived she was draining energy from me." Gwen spoke up and Ianto looked over at her, "perhaps Jack could be doing the same to Ianto?" Ianto then felt all eyes on him and he concentrated for a few moments.
"I feel fine." He said honestly. He didn't feel tired but he also knew that he hardly ever did feel tired so they needed to do more testing. Tosh seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she brought over the philemon filter.
"The philemon filter detects biochemical energy" Owen explained to Martha as Tosh waved it over Ianto and he noted that Jack was cleaning up some blood off his face, "it's how we detected that Suzie was draining Gwen." Ianto bit his lip as Tosh showed Owen the results.
"And?" She prompted.
"There is a faint connection between the two however it's been there far longer than today and it's not the same energy as it was between Gwen and Suzie. There's nothing to that extent between them both. However it is interesting to note what this energy source is however…" Owen trailed off and looked between the two. Ianto bit his lip having his suspion. He reluctantly started to talk.
"When Lisa…" He hesitated a bit but Jack looked at him giving him encouragement, Ianto swallowed, "when Lisa was loose in the hub Jack was seriously injured. I can… sort of do a" Ianto paused and could feel his cheeks heating up.
"Just spit it out tea-boy!" Owen said and he could feel Jack's smirk on him.
"All right! If I kiss them I can spread some nanogenes to them." He snapped, "happy now?" Ianto watched as Owen and Martha exchanged a look.
"That's probably the faint energy source then," Owen said, "but it's not what's keeping Jack alive now. It's not strong enough. Plus if it was Jack's gunshot wound should have healed by now and it's not."
"So what's keeping me ticking then?" Jack questioned. Out of the corner of his eye, Ianto saw Tosh put the philemon filter on her desk and get the glove and bring it fourth.
"This glove is different to the other one," Tosh said studying it, "maybe different gloves do different things?" She suggested.
"Gloves?" Martha echoed, "Just how many are there?"
"Well… Gloves do come in pairs" Ianto pointed out feeling a slight sense of de ja vu as he did. He glanced at Jack and he thought he could see a slight twinkle in his eyes as well.
"Right," Martha said rolling her eyes.
"We fished the first one out of the harbour at…" Ianto paused to look at Jack, "what was it about two months before Gwen came on?" Jack nodded.
"That would be about right."
"But where did it come from originally?" Martha persisted and Ianto paused for a moment.
"That's a good question." He admitted, "I don't think we ever found out." he noticed Gwen getting up and moving away causing him to roll his eyes slightly. He knew she should be leading this with Jack sort of out of commission however; she didn't seem to be stepping up.
"Tosh, why don't you do an analysis and try to see if you can find that question out." Ianto suggested.
"I thought I was in charge here." Jack spoke up. Ianto paused to look at him, not entirely sure what he was going to say thankfully Owen stepped in.
"Jack, mate, I don't need to tell you you're under quarantine do I?" Owen questioned, Ianto couldn't help but thank Torchwood protocols for once.
"You don't, yet you still do." Jack muttered. The team (minus Gwen) exchanged a look, however they continued on with their tasks while Ianto excused himself down stairs to see if he could find any archived information on the gloves.
Ianto had been down in the archives for about ten minutes when Martha's call came over the coms as he ran back up the stairs he wondered what he was going to do. Jack loved him. Or at least at the time of his death he had loved him. Ianto quite honestly didn't know what to do. He knew it wasn't in Jack's character to admit that he had but it had been when he was dying so perhaps that was why.
He didn't know, when he found Martha and Owen steadying Jack he looked at the two confused.
"What's going on?" He demanded not realising that Gwen was asking the same thing, as Jack stumbled Ianto rushed forward to stop him from falling and was surprised to see Jack clutching on to him.
"Don't let me die-"Jack pleaded with him, struggling slightly.
"We were talking and he just well… collapsed." Martha explained, "Jack, can you hear me? It's Martha. Calm down." Ianto noted that Jack stopped struggling in his arms and he tried to relax his grip on the Captain only to find him still clutching.
"What happened, Jack?" Ianto asked softly.
"I don't know. Whatever it was though- it was waiting for me" Ianto bit his lip not realising he had started rubbing circles on Jack's back. He heard a slight sob and Ianto started to feel his least favourite emotion come forth- guilt.
"This way," he said softly, his Welsh accent sounding heavy even to his own ears.
They had moved to the conference room and on the way Jack had calmed down significantly. After a brief power struggle with Gwen, Ianto found himself at the head of the table. Jack hadn't said anything which had worried him slightly as he fell into place on the left side of him, Gwen had moved to Ianto's other side while Martha sat next to Jack then Owen next to her while Tosh sat next to Gwen.
"So what have we got?" Ianto demanded looking at them all steadily. He was going to put this right. He had to.
"Jack's body is undergoing some sort of transformation." Martha spoke up, "His cell's aren't decaying like they're supposed to- they're transforming."
"Into what?" Ianto and Gwen both asked as one and Ianto chose to ignore Gwen's glare, this was his fault and he had to know what was going on to fix it.
"An energy Martha and I can't identify." Owen said looking around the team, he found Owen's eyes fall on him, "it's not the same energy that falls around you when you heal yourself Ianto. However, the energy is growing all the time. Presently he's about… 40% something else" Owen explained. Jack looked slightly confused.
"I don't feel any different." Jack stated looking steadily at the table while he was speaking and Ianto couldn't help but feel concerned for him. Jack wasn't his normal self.
"We need to find out where this energy is coming from," Gwen spoke before Ianto could and he shot her a glare.
"Presumably, it's the same place as the glove." Tosh said, "which judging from its atomic makeup, isn't anywhere local" She bit her lip, "Jack said, he went somewhere else where he collapsed. Could the energy and the glove be from the same place?" she questioned and this caused Ianto to bite his lip.
"What are we talking about here? Another dimension? Parallel universe?" Could the glove come from the same universe that Rose was in? Ianto suddenly found himself wondering as he studied Jack who he could tell wasn't thinking along the same lines as he was.
"Yes, guys I'm still here." Jack spoke up.
"Sorry, Jack" Ianto apologised and turned the conversation to him, "okay, you said that there was something in the darkness waiting for you."
"Yeah, I felt it. I didn't see anything though," Jack clarified. Ianto wondered what Jack was thinking. He swallowed trying to keep his brain on track.
"Where do you think it went?" Gwen questioned before Ianto could and Ianto could feel himself growing more and more irritated with her. Although, he knew he couldn't blame her as she should be in command, his brain rationalized with him he still thought he should be in control of the investigation due to the mistakes that he himself made.
"I don't know." Jack admitted softly.
"So what now?" Martha questioned as they gathered their things and left the conference room moving into the hub.
"Tosh, check our internal system readings for any dimensional anomalies in the last hour," Ianto ordered and while she shot an unsure look at Gwen she gave a nod.
"Will do," She said heading off to her desk.
"Owen, give Martha the notes on the other glove, perhaps a new fresh of eyes can give us something else," Ianto suggested and Owen nodded, "meanwhile I want you to go over your notes again on the other glove and compare them with this one. There could be something similar we're not picking up."
"Ianto can I talk to you in my office?" Jack questioned and Ianto wondered if he was going too far in ordering people about causing him to nod.
"All right, Jack." They started to head towards Jack's office, he was a couple of steps ahead of Jack when Gwen's voice stopped them both.
"Jack-" Ianto decided not to turn around knowing that he should possibly continue as this was a moment between Jack and Gwen however he simply found he couldn't, "What I said before, when I thought you were dying-"
"I'm not dying. I'm dead." Jack said bluntly, stunning Ianto slightly, "I'm a headless chicken, I just haven't stopped running around yet."
"Well, when I told you I-" Gwen trailed off almost as if she realised that she had an audience in Ianto.
"Yeah, you didn't mean it. I know" Jack stated and Ianto half wondered if jack knew what he was talking about.
"You do?"
"Yes, um… I mean, you didn't say anything before, and then, suddenly I'm dying and it's like 'I love you' That's not love, Gwen. That's grief. You have Rhys. You're losing something so suddenly that you desperately desire it. Textbook response." Ianto could see the truth in his words and wondered if that had been what Jack had been thinking when he'd said it to him.
He bit his lip. Maybe he'd been wrong about the entire thing, maybe it was Jack just wanting him now, maybe it was him wanting Jack now.
"Yeah but Jack-" Gwen started to protest.
"Gwen, I want to talk to Ianto. You have Rhys. Go and ring him or something" Jack suggested and Ianto decided this was his cue to continue up to the office, wondering what on earth Jack was actually going to say to him next.
"Ianto-" Jack started to say when they had reached his office and Jack sat at his desk motioning for Ianto to sit opposite him.
"Sir" Ianto found himself saying trying to avoid looking back at him, his mind going a million miles a minute analyzing the conversation that Gwen and Jack had just had.
"I wanted to talk to you about what I said when I-"
"When you died," Ianto said bluntly. His voice sounding hollow, "I realise it was grief talking, sir." He didn't realise how much it actually hurt to say that. He thought he had managed to build a wall to protect him from things like this over the years but apparently he had let Jack break it down.
"Ianto-" He wasn't sure what Jack was going to say back but he knew he had to put that wall firmly back up again.
"You never said it before," Ianto said softly parroting Jack's words back to him fully aware that he was admitting that he had ease dropped on the conversation, "suddenly you saying you love me? That's not love Jack. That's grief over what could have been." He bit his lip trying to keep his mask in place, "If you excuse me sir I better get back to work and figure out what I've done." Ianto turned around and started to leave.
"Ianto don't go-" Jack protested
"Jack, I have work to do." With that Ianto turned and left the room, if he had looked back he would have seen Jack looking longingly at him however he didn't choosing to close the door firmly behind him.
To Be Continued