Epilogue

Ianto woke to a hand shaking his shoulder. He was slumped over his computer station, resting on his arms. His head was sore and his mouth tasted like cotton. Disoriented, he tried to blink away the confusion as feeling slowly returned to his tingling hands.

"Jack?" he said, glancing up and finding the other man standing there gently waking him. "What's going on? Did I actually fall asleep at my computer?"

"Tosh must have got to the couch first," said Jack, and whereas normally he would have grinned and taken every opportunity to give Ianto a hard time for it, this time Jack looked serious for some reason. "And I woke up in your bed."

"Wait, what?" Ianto sat up straighter and tried to focus through his confusion. Jack looked as rumpled and bewildered as Ianto felt. Something strange was going on. "What were you doing at my flat?"

"I have no idea," Jack shrugged. "Considering you weren't there. Maybe you were supposed to meet me?"

"You don't remember?" Ianto asked, and Jack shook his head, glancing around the Hub as if looking for answers. Ianto felt a chill go through him.

"Neither do I." He took a deep breath and turned toward his computer. Logging in, he pulled up all the computer records from the last twelve hours, but was dismayed to see that the security cameras had been off for most of the night. Bringing them back online, he checked to make sure there were no hidden intruders or other emergencies.

"Everything looks clear," he said, "except for a Rift spike earlier in the night, down in autopsy. And a smaller one about an hour ago, right around here." He heard the uncertainty in his voice and knew Jack felt it as well from the way the man was standing behind him, leaning forward and frowning at the screen.

"Something's not right. I remember that first one, but nothing after that."

"I do too," Ianto replied. "Tosh caught it. What do you think happened?"

"I don't know," said Jack, arms crossed as he stood up straight and continued to frown at the screen. "Log in as me."

Ianto gave him a sideways glance. "What's your password?"

"You know it," Jack replied with a roll of his eyes. "And I know you know it, so just go ahead and do it."

Ianto hid a grin as he turned to another monitor and logged into Jack's system.

"Check the CCTV footage. See if anything was deleted."

Ianto went into the files and quickly found what he was looking for. "Yes, it appears a few minutes were deleted, but they can't be recovered. Whoever deleted them knew what they were doing."

Jack glanced over at Tosh, who was still sleeping on the sofa with a cold pizza on the table nearby. Ianto shook his head, knowing perfectly well Tosh wasn't the only one who could wipe the computer records like that; he'd learned to do it right after botching it with Lisa. "She's not the only one, you know."

"What the hell is going on?" Jack muttered.

"I remember going to get the pizza," Ianto replied, leaning back and running a hand through his hair as he struggled to piece together fuzzy images from the night. "And I remember we were going to go Weevil hunting—that Rift spike must brought them out—only you stayed behind with Tosh." His hands stopped as he found a sore spot in the back of his head. "Apparently I didn't do so well with the Weevils. Must have been hit fairly hard."

"But I didn't go with you," Jack said. "So I didn't get hit, and I don't remember anything after that either. Why don't I remember anything?"

An alert sounded on the computer.

"You've got email." Ianto paused. "From me, about an hour ago."

"Maybe you emailed me to tell me what's going on."

"I doubt it, as I'm fairly certain I was unconscious," Ianto replied dryly. "And I certainly don't know what's going on."

"Well, let's see it then," Jack said, and Ianto opened the mysterious email he had apparently sent Jack in the middle of the night.

Jack,
If anything should happen to me, I want you to take the stopwatch. I'll be counting on you to find me. Don't be late. Time is eternity.
IJ

Jack turned and stared at Ianto. "That almost sounds like a will. Why would you write something like that? And what does it mean?"

"I have no idea what it means, Jack." Ianto just stared at the screen, completely confused by the message. "I don't remember writing it at all."

"It does sound like you, though," Jack said. "Do you still have the watch?"

"Always," said Ianto, and he pulled it from his pocket. Yet as his hands touched the normally smooth metal, he felt something different on the back.

"There's something here," he said softly, turning it over. "This wasn't there when I put it in my pocket. I've never seen it before."

"What is it?" asked Jack.

Ianto stared at the watch. "Some sort of inscription, with today's date." He held it out to Jack, who turned it over in his hands.

Time is Eternity
19-3-2009
05:30

"What do you think it means?" asked Ianto. Jack was staring at the watch, then at the Rift, then at the computer.

"I think we might have had some visitors tonight," he said.

"Then why don't we—ahh," said Ianto, nodding. "We've been Retconned."

Jack nodded, still frowning at the watch. "Most likely. Check your email, maybe you have a note from me that will tell us more."

Ianto turned back to his own monitor and found that he did have an email from Jack. He opened it and his jaw went slack. Turning away so that Jack couldn't see his face, he let Jack read it over his shoulder.

Ianto,
One day I will keep the stopwatch, and I will find you. I promise. Time is eternity.
JH

Jack just stared at the screen before he turned Ianto's chair around to face him. "I don't think we sent those emails," he said slowly, and Ianto nodded in agreement, since neither made any sense to him. "Someone else did…and I think it might have been our future selves. That second spike was small enough to be a vortex manipulator harnessing some extra Rift energy."

"What?" asked Ianto, struggling to understand. "You think our future selves were here, tonight? Wouldn't that change the timeline, especially leaving us…" He gestured at the computer, at a loss for words. "…notes about the future?" Jack shook his head.

"But they didn't really tell us anything we'd understand, did they? Or if they did, they Retconned us so we don't remember. This is just something important we need to know in order for the future to play out the way it's supposed to for them. I have to keep the stopwatch someday—"

"—in order to find me." Ianto paused to let it sink in. "I wonder what happens."

"I have no idea," Jack murmured, gazing into Ianto's eyes. "But it couldn't be that bad, could it? I promised I would find you."

"It sounds like we're, well…" Ianto couldn't look away; his heart was racing.

"Close," murmured Jack.

"Very close," said Ianto, and Jack cocked his head slightly, a small smile on his lips.

"I could live with that," he replied, and he began to move lean in toward Ianto.

"So could I," Ianto murmured back before Jack bent down to kiss him. Ianto felt it immediately, the difference in this kiss, and he knew Jack felt it as well because he pulled away as if surprised, breathing quickly but still grinning. He laid his forehead against Ianto's.

"We should go. Figure it out later."

"Right," said Ianto, hurriedly turning off the computer screens as he tried to calm his own racing heart. Out of the corner of his eye he spied Tosh beginning to stir on the sofa. "What about Tosh? We can't just leave her here. She's obviously been Retconned as well."

Jack turned and glanced at her fondly. "Then we'll drop her off at home and explain it to her as best we can."

"Explain what?" asked Ianto, because he still wasn't entirely certain what had happened.

"I'm really not sure," replied Jack slowly. "But for once I think I'm okay with that. Something important happened here tonight. We'll just have to wait for time to catch up with itself before we figure out what it was."

"And if we don't?" Ianto asked, standing and rubbing bleary eyes. It was almost too complicated to think about, with his head still hurting and the effects of the Retcon working its way out of his system. He felt like he should be more concerned about whatever had happened in the Hub that night, but he wasn't. Some instinct told him it was all right not to worry.

To his surprise, Jack took his hand and pulled him close for another kiss. "We will, one day. I think our future selves proved it by coming here tonight."

Ianto rolled his eyes with a small smile. "That makes no sense, Jack, but I'll trust you. Apparently I already have. Or I will."

"I said I'd find you," Jack replied, unusually serious as he held Ianto's gaze. "And I believe that, Ianto. No matter what happens to either of us, we will find each other. I promise."

Tosh stirred again, distracting Ianto from the lump forming in his throat. He did not want to be lost, in order to be found. And he did not want to lose Jack, though he would do anything to find him if that day ever came. It felt strange, suddenly realizing something he had been feeling for a while, but had never given real thought to, let alone been forced to acknowledge. Yes, he and Jack had some sort of intimate, personal relationship. There were dates and talking, long nights spent together and great sex. He had not really thought it would develop into anything more, though, knowing Jack as he did. Yet, just like that, it had.

He loved Jack. And deep down, he knew Jack loved him, in Jack's own, complicated way. The echoes of whatever had happened to them in the future had rippled through to the past, and Ianto knew without a doubt that one day Jack would find him, whatever happened. The realization almost terrified him, but he squeezed Jack's hand in response.

"I know," he said, his voice low and choked. He cleared his throat. "I know that, Jack. But right now, tonight, let's just live this life, this day, and not worry about what happens in the future."

"I couldn't agree more," Jack replied, his voice equally as husky. "But not here. Let's go."

As they shut down the Hub, setting the Rift monitors to remote, Ianto glanced around and wondered once more just what had really occurred there that night. They woke Tosh and tried to explain things as best as they could, but she was still groggy and slept most of the way back to her flat. Helping her inside, they assured her once again everything was all right before they headed back to Ianto's flat together.

It wasn't that they hadn't spent nights there before, yet somehow this felt different, just as when they had kissed. Jack seemed unusually quiet and contemplative as he entered the flat. Ianto headed immediately into the kitchen, his first impulse to make tea. Apparently he had already made some earlier that night, perhaps when Jack had been there? Two empty cups sat in the sink. It was a note on the table, however, that drew his immediate attention.

It was his handwriting, though he did not remember writing it.

Time is eternity.
And it's worth it.

Closing his eyes against a sudden influx of swirling emotions, Ianto took a deep breath to steady himself. He left the tea unmade and hurried back to where Jack was standing against the doorway to the bedroom, gazing at the unmade bed with a thoughtful look on his face. Wrapping his arms around Jack from behind, Ianto simply held him tight, pressing a kiss into the crook of his shoulder. He felt Jack sigh and knew he was smiling, before he turned to kiss Ianto, quickly pulling him toward the bed.

And in that moment, Ianto did not worry about anything—about Jack, about the Rift, about the future. Whatever happened would happen the way it was meant to happen, he believed that now.

And he also knew that it would be worth it.

Author's Note:

The End!

Thank you so much for reading this story. Your reviews have given me tremendous support. Time travel is so hard, I hope I've done it justice!

If you are still wondering about anything, feel free to ask. As for the Night Travellers, did you notice the second spike? The one Jack thought could be a vortex manipulator? Maybe that triggered it. Or maybe Ianto triggered it when he came back. Or maybe it was neither and just a random event. But it still happens—canon girl here—which was why the Reapers didn't appear. I think. I'm so brain dead now I need to write some fluff. Unfortunately, most of my other ideas are just as complicated. But there will be more. I love this show and these characters too much to not keep them alive a bit longer.

Thank you again for reading and for all the lovely reviews!