Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter nor do I own Torchwood. Though I wish I did.
Spoilers: For the most part this chapter will lead up until Cyberwoman. However the main bulk of the story will take place after Cyberwoman. This will obviously be AU. Chapter 15 is ignoring the episode Captain Jack Harkness.
Plot: Ianto Jones has more secrets that go past Lisa. He didn't even exist until he was eighteen. For the first seventeen years of his life, Ianto Jones was Harry Potter. Now the Wizarding World wants their savior back. Something Ianto isn't sure he wants to be. But how does he make the team believe that he did for them just as much as him. Ianto cannot stand to be broken one more time. He needs his soulmate to fix him. And he turns out to be…the flirty Captain in the RAF greatcoat?
A/N: Hi all! Happy Sunday! It's about 2:30. I should be in bed but I got on a roll typing just as I was about to quit for the night. Nothing much has happened this week. I took my learners permit test and failed. I was sooo close too! Question 17!!! UGH!
Also I have seen the stopwatch scene in high definition. I can now die a happy woman. On another note, I need to find something good to read fanfiction wise. I got a helluva a lot of regular books to get through but I was wondering for when I'm on the site. Is there anything good you can recommend?
Anyways enjoy the chapter! I really enjoyed writing this one!
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'Love is watching someone die.' –Death Cab for Cutie
'The illuminable, silent, never-resting thing called Time, rolling, rushing on, swift, silent, like an all-embracing oceantide, on which we and all the universe swim like exhalations, like apparitions which are, and then are not: this is forever very literally a miracle; a thing to strike us dumb, for we have no word to speak about it.' –Thomas Carlyle
Chapter 21
Of Death, Time, and Love
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"He did what?" laughed Ianto into the phone. Tears of mirth poured out of his bright blue eyes. He hoped that his contacts would stay in today.
"I told your Captain not to go near it! Even I have no clue about what goes on in about a fourth of the TARDIS," defended the Doctor. Ianto roared with laughter. Jack poked his head in seeing his boyfriend laughing with the person that could be called his best mate over the telephone. He smiled happy at the sight. Little did he know the actual conversation going on between the two.
"Y'know these embarrassing stories about Jack are just great, Doctor. Do you have pictures?"
"You bet I do!"
"Seriously he was purple?"
"With fur and neon green polka dots."
Ianto chuckled into the receiver. He looked up and saw Jack staring at him. He smiled into the phone as he whispered.
"The jig is up."
The Doctor laughed a little bit at that. "I should go, too. My newest companion is looking for me anyway. Nice talking to you, Mister Jones."
"Same to you, Doctor."
Ianto slid his phone shut. He looked up at Jack with a grin that was anything but trouble.
"So purple fur huh?" Jack just smirked and Ianto cursed his lover's inability to get embarrassed. He will get him one day.
"I'll have you know that once I shaved it off I was completely fine."
Ianto raised an eyebrow at the Captain. The amused look on his face was too much for the Captain to take. He straddled Ianto's lap and kissed him passionately. The younger man moaned into the Jack's mouth suddenly glad that the blinds were pulled down.
Jack untied the silk tie from around Ianto's neck with skill. The younger man shuddered underneath the Captain's touch loving, burning touch. His hands reached out to explore the well toned muscles hidden under the older man's t-shirt. Jack began to nibble on Ianto's ear. Eyes began to grow dark with a mixture of love and lust at each other.
Then the phone rang.
"Ignore it," murmured Jack. Ianto kissed the other mans nape. The phone kept on ringing. The two men cursed and pulled away. Jack reached over the archivist to pick up the phone. Ianto slid out from under the Captain and began to fix himself up.
"We got a case!" said the Captain with a bit of a smile. Ianto chuckled ever since Tommy had to go back to 1918, everything was suspiciously quiet. Tosh still seemed a bit down about it though. The younger man licked his lips patting his pocket with a gift for her in it.
The younger man disappeared into the tourist office to grab his waistcoat.
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Ianto leaned against Jack's desk after Gwen went home to Rhys.
"Jack," he said. The Captain raised his head.
"Maybe we should just let her tell Rhys."
Jack shook his head in the negative, "Torchwood policy states…"
"Policy can stuff it. Nearly all Torchwood employees are single or they married each other. Policy could not have predicted this."
"I don't think I ever heard you say that policy can stuff it," said Jack amused. His bright blue eyes shone mischievously in the artificial light.
"I was quite the rebel rouser in school," stated Ianto dryly. Jack started to snort a little bit. The Captain and tea-boy began to laugh.
"Jack? Ianto?" asked Tosh as she came into the office. The pair looked up at the alien tech expert. She grinned a little bit.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"You're not," assured Ianto with good humor. Jack pouted a little bit.
"I was able to track the meat suppliers," said Tosh with a small grin still on her face, "It's about a half an hour drive from here. We should be able to stop them rather easily. The area is pretty abandoned."
Jack grinned, "Tosh what will we do without you?"
"I'm fairly certain the Hub would've blown up several times at this point," answered Tosh dryly. Ianto grinned at her. He was such a good influence on the shy technician.
"I'll go get a couple things from the archives," said Ianto as he breezed his way out. Tosh smiled at Jack before following out her friend. She walked to her desk and saw an envelope with her name on it written in Ianto's handwriting. Curious she opened it.
She pulled out a note and a pass to a spa day. Her eyes went wide as she sat down.
Tosh-
You have had the worst luck with love lately. I know you. I know you are not feeling beautiful. Tosh, you deserve to feel like a princess, a queen. So I cleared it with Jack and barring alien invasion (which I highly doubt since I arranged this for a Tuesday and not a Thursday) then I want you to use this pass and be pampered. Because you need to be pampered.
If you don't use this Tosh, then I will be very upset.
Yours,
Ianto
A small silly grin broke out over the woman's face. She ran over to Ianto, who was coming out of the archives, and gave him a huge hug. Her heart felt lighter than it had in weeks.
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"Well this is unprecedented the fiancé finding out," stated Ianto dryly as he took a swig of his beer. He let his head fall back against the wall.
"Mainly because we're all either sad and single or together," said Tosh with a small smile on her. Ianto took a glance up at Jack, who was looking down at him from the office.
"It helps when you're sleeping with someone you work with," stated the tea-boy dryly. Jack smiled at him slightly before turning back to a phone conversation.
"Only we know what we do, tea-boy," said Owen downing the rest of his drink in quick gulps before walking away. Ianto rolled his eyes and sat next to Tosh.
"We'll get him."
Tosh looked up at her friend and smiled, "How are you so sure about that, Yan?"
A sad smile was on her best mate's face, "You two remind me of Ron and Hermione way too much. I could tell from first year that they would end up together. They verbally barbed each other but at the same time…they were there for each other. You could feel it in the air as they got older. They were both way too thick to realize it until they were sixteen."
"What happened?" asked Tosh desperate to know about the girl that Ianto said reminded him of her. A silly yet broken grin bloomed on his face.
"I nicked their wands, locked them in a closet, and refused to let them out until they talked about their feelings."
Tosh began to giggle in her glass of wine. Ianto grinned a bit wider. His eyes were glassy thinking about Hermione yelling at him through the door.
It felt good to talk about the past. Especially when someone you cared for was listening to you talk about it.
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Rhys Williams was someone Ianto could honestly say that he never met before in his life. Still something about him was familiar.
He was having a feeling of déjà vu. He had seen Rhys Williams somewhere before. He knew it. He just could not place the Welshman for the life of him.
And he was normally very good with faces.
He stared at the Welshman intently. Where on Earth did he know him from? The tea-boy chewed on his lips watching as Rhys berated Jack.
"Well if you stopped and ASKED me what I saw in there instead of showin' off!"
Jack glanced at him, "Do I show off?"
He nodded, "Just a bit."
"You'd know that I got out by telling them I wanted a job as a delivery boy, so rather than cock things up, I found you a way to get in. But if you can't handle that, big boy, you can stuff it!"
Rhys and Jack were so close together it looked like their lips would touch. Ianto moved closer preparing to do some damage control. He moved quicker when Jack turned to Gwen and stated.
"This is quite homoerotic."
Both Gwen and Ianto moved to their respective lovers at the same time and gently parted them away from each other. Once a suitable distance apart, Jack looked at Rhys and said.
"Tell us what happened."
Ianto felt physically ill when he heard that the creature was still alive. How could someone do that to an innocent creature? Granted most aliens they dealt with were not innocent by any means. It still broke his heart every time he heard about unnecessary suffering. Those men were no better than the cannibals. Jack also looked vaguely disgusted.
The tea-boy sighed internally. It had been awhile since he had found out about Jack's brother. He was hoping that the talk about Jack's past was fast coming.
"Ianto we're going to the boardroom. Can you make some of your delicious coffee?"
The younger man nodded with a slight smile before disappearing downstairs to make what was basically Torchwood's life blood.
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"We're going to save it. We're going to bring it back here. And the next time the Rift opens; we'll send it back."
Ianto's head snapped up at that. He stared at Jack in shock for a few moments before taking a long sip of his coffee.
"Guess who will be taking care of it in the meantime?" he asked. Tosh, Gwen, Rhys, and even Owen winced in sympathy for the tea-boy. He was too busy wondering where the hell he could hide the bleeding thing to notice their collective sympathy.
He was fairly certain that this was not in his contract.
The Jack had to go all adamant and leader-like. Damn him. He sighed and stood up.
"I'll go stock up on plankton," he paused for a couple moments, "Where do you buy plankton?"
Everyone was silent. Ianto sighed as he left. "Fine I'll improvise or something. If the bad guys have any; we're taking it. If we're using a bloody lorry than we are damn well using it."
He took another glance at the table daring them to test the Wrath of Ianto for various reasons. Tosh thought the whole thing was amusing. Owen needed to be kept stocked up on good coffee. Gwen knew how scary Ianto could be when mad. Rhys just had an instinctive feeling not to say anything.
Jack knew Ianto had tremendous willpower. Also that he can and will withhold sex.
The tea-boy turned on his heel and left the office.
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His breath quickened. He could feel the cool steel of the gun against his neck. Ianto really did not like dying and reviving. Jack did it so very often that everyone knew.
Ianto was more careful with his life. He hated dying and coming back. It was always so painful and he always woke up alone or in a worse situation than before. He worried his lip as he tried to untie the ropes around his wrists. Come on Jack just distract them a couple more minutes.
Almost there…almost there…aha! He got it! He bit his lip and smirked as it fell undone.
He spun on his heel and began to wrestle the gun away from the man. The other man came up from behind him. He delivered an elbow to the gut. Then he wretched the gun away from the man that held him hostage. He aimed it at his head.
The whale began to react violently to the situation. The men took their opportunity to escape. Ianto took his stun gun and ran after them. His waist coat billowing behind him like a cape as Jack yelled for Owen to hurry up with a sedative for the whale.
He followed the men like a ghost. The thrill of the fight filled his blood like a drug. His blue eyes turned darker at the thought of seeing Rhys get shot.
Where on Earth did he know him from?! The tea-boy shook his head to clear out any thoughts other than the chase, the hunt.
He was a warrior. He was a soldier. He was a fighter. He was a weapon. The thrill of the hunt will always sing its siren song to him. Now the warrior made the choice to indulge it with a relish like he hasn't felt in years.
Slowly he entered the room where the two men are. He gets the first one in the chest with the stun gun with precision. He slowly turned to his second wrong-doer.
However before he even gets close enough to stun him, the gun discharges two rounds into his face.
Ianto Jones was dead before he hit the floor.
The other man stood there shocked before he grabbed the cash and began to run off.
He would not get very far. Torchwood disabled all the cars engines just in case.
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Ianto sighed as he looked around the unending darkness. He hated dying. He hated the land of the dead. Mainly due to the fact that he had to wait to come back and the secondary issue was that he got incredibly bored rather fast. He cursed softly as he waited for the pull back to the living.
"Hello Ianto," a soft female voice called to him. The young man's head snapped up to attention.
A woman with a golden light that surrounded her stood before him. She had long curly wild dirty blonde hair that was currently pulled away from her face. Her skin was tanned and her full lips were pulled into a smile. Her pure gold eyes glittered with promises of adventure and life. She was dressed in heavy combat boots, ripped jeans, and a white silky peasant top. This was the most powerful of the Fates.
Ianto bowed before her, "Lady Time."
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Jack bent his head down as the space whale went into the dark abyss of death. Tosh had her arms around Owen comforting the object of her affections and her friend. Gwen was holding onto Rhys for dear life. He looked around for Ianto.
Where did he go?
"Ianto?" called the Captain softly into his comm piece. When Ianto did not answer, Jack felt a coldness grow inside of his gut.
"Ianto? Answer me?" Instead of long lovely Welsh vowels, all the Captain got was soul crushing static. Panic began to rise. He felt absolute horrible emptiness inside of him.
It was like someone froze his insides. It was like the universe collapsed on itself. He reached out for Ianto on their shared mind link.
Nothing. There was a blank space where Ianto's feelings of love, courage, and quiet happiness once was. His stomach clenched.
Oh God no. Please…not him. Not Ianto.
"IANTO!" screamed the Captain as he ran out.
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"Why are you here my lady?" questioned the Welshman. The most powerful deity of all chuckled quietly.
Time was the most unassuming looking of all the deities. While there beauty was almost supernatural, hers was natural. You could run into Time on the street and all you would think is 'what a pretty girl', then move on with your life never realizing what happened.
"I came to keep you company, Ianto. Plus I come with my thanks."
"Thank you, my lady. But what have I done to deserve such an honor."
Time smiled at one of her favored children. He was always so inquisitive, always so kind, always helping people, always trying to strive for a good that may never be reached.
"You are taking care of my Captain and my Doctor. Two of my favored champions of the universe."
"Oh well geez you're welcome, Lady Time. But the Doctor is my friend and Jack is my soulmate. Of course I would do anything for them."
Time smiled and walked over to him.
"You misunderstand Ianto. I am always closer to the Doctor than you believe. I created the Time Lords but I choose one to be my champion, to help the universe. All I am resides near him at all times."
Ianto stared at her for a couple minutes. Sudden realization dawned upon the tea-boy. He stared at her in awe.
"You're the TARDIS."
Time threw back her head and laughed brightly. "Yes my clever, brave champion. The Doctor and Jack I have chosen to be my champions of the universe. They will do fantastic things."
"And me?"
Time grinned and kissed his cheek, "You have the most important job of all. You give them their humanity back. That is how I convinced my husband for us to give you the precious gift of immortality."
Ianto's face flushed. Time chuckled gently.
"I see great things for you, Ianto Jones. You better get back to our Captain. I need to get back to my Doctor."
"Good bye my Lady Time."
The familiar pull to Life tugged him back.
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Jack stared in horror. He rushed to kneel by Ianto's cold body. Two bullet wounds were clear to all. One in his forehead, the other through his eye socket. Jack let out a strangled sob over his lover's body.
Was this how Ianto felt every time that he died? This feeling of utter worthlessness? This terrible darkness that grew in his insides? This coldness in the back of his head and heart that he knew should be occupied by the empty shell of a vibrant person in front of him?
If that was the case, then Jack was going to be more careful about dying from now on. The rest of the team came in a couple minutes later to see their strong brave leader crumbling to pieces over his love's body. Jack was openly sobbing. He was openly showing weakness.
Even the strongest people have a breaking point.
Tosh was sobbing into Owen's shoulder. The doctor stared at the corpse of his best friend. He could not even make his feet move. Gwen hid her face in Rhys' good shoulder.
A silence descended on the group.
"Why does it feel like a bloody funeral in here?" croaked out a Welsh voice. Everyone's collective heads snapped up to attention. Ianto's bright blue eyes were staring into Jack's. A strangled sob of happiness overtook the Captain.
Owen ran off to grab the bastard that did this to their tea-boy.
Nobody fucks with Torchwood especially their immortal tea-boy. The rest of team was forcibly reminded of this today.
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Jack would not let go of Ianto's hand, even as Owen stitched up Rhys after his whole hero bit. Ianto looked as good as new albeit a wee bit exhausted. He tilted his head again staring at Gwen's boyfriend.
Then it came to him.
"Rhys!"
Rhys looked up at Ianto as he walked over with a huge smile on his face. Ianto's bright blue eyes were glittering with happiness.
"You're Neville's cousin!"
"You know Neville?"
"Went to school with him in fact. I was wandering where I saw you from. It was in his family album!"
"Oh so you're one of those magic folks eh?"
Ianto nodded happily. "Tell Nev I send my love okay? I'll leave you with your fiancée."
Gwen stared at Rhys slack jawed. It was the first time either man saw her speechless. Ianto decided to clear up matters for Gwen.
"It's the Ministry's rule. You would have found out after you were married."
Gwen shook her head and went to Rhys. She was willing to let this slide for today. All she wanted to do was be with her big lug of a hero.
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Ianto went home early that night. He gave a tired to kiss to Jack and made the trek back to his apartment by himself. He took a shower, changed into his most comfortable pajamas, and crashed on the bed for the some well deserved rest.
For the most part, he did get the well deserved rest. Five hours later, he was woken by the opening and closing of his closet door. He opened a tired eye to see the figure of Jack in the sliver of bright moonlight that flooded the room.
"Jack?" croaked out the tea-boy tiredly. The Captain jumped startled and turned around. Ianto yawned again.
"What are you doing here?"
"…Moving in," answered the Captain in his best nonchalant voice. Ianto nodded tiredly.
"Can I ask why?" inquired the tea-boy not moving his head from the pillow.
"Because I realized today that I want to be here with you all the time. Ianto, when you were dead, it felt like I lost the one place where I belonged. Is that how you feel after I die?"
Ianto nodded in the affirmative. Jack quietly crawled into bed and held Ianto tight. He kissed his lover's hair.
"I promise I won't die as often."
"Can we have the serious talk in the morning? I'm still exhausted."
Jack kissed Ianto's lip. Two bright green eyes stared up at him.
"Jack? Just remember that home is where and who you make it with. I'm glad you made me your home just like I made you mine."
And with that the tea-boy fell back to sleep. Jack guarded his lover fiercely with a huge silly grin on his face.
He truly was home.
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H.N.: So how was it? Was it horribly sad? I shamelessy did Ianto whumping in this chapter. It was fun. I find I like it. Anyways! I have a poll posted on my profile page! Nothing to do with the fic but with a bet between me and my friend. If I win I get a box of chocolates and to choose the next two movies we go see at the cinema. If I lose then I have to go out to a resturant in a dress with full makeup and she chooses the next two movies. So please please please vote and prove her wrong!!!!!
Also a shoutout to my most consistent anonymous reviewer: tardisfanboi. I feel bad that I can't answer his reviews so he gets a special shoutout in this chapter. But I love you all!!!