PART 3: Stop All The Clocks

1.

The Hub at night had its own atmosphere and Jack had gotten very used to it over the decades. The soft humming caused by electricity being pushed through the old cables, the slight chill in the air that didn't quite register during the day, the smell of stale air. Jack had become so attuned to it all that he could feel the slightest change. It was sometimes a better warning system than their security measures. At the moment, though, everything was peaceful.

Jack's fingers traced patterns on Ianto's by now clearly pregnant belly, trying to rouse any sort of reaction from within and getting none. Ianto had told him that he could feel slight movement from time to time. Jack knew it would take a bit longer until he could, too. The bunker underneath Jack's office was quiet, the warmth underneath the blankets made it cosy. Five months along by now, Ianto was unable to leave the Hub without arousing attention. Nobody would suspect that he was pregnant of course, but Jack wanted to make sure. They slept in the bunker. Since it had become harder for Ianto to descend the ladder, Jack had pushed the closet to the side that, until now, had hidden an old door leading inside from one of the corridors. He'd never used it before – it was much easier to access his quarters through his office.

All in all, Ianto was easily tired out, but content. And Jack had to admit that he felt the same. But there was much work to do: they would have to forge papers declaring a woman as the birth mother and Ianto as the father – and they'd have to forge a death certificate for the woman, so that Ianto would have full parental rights. Ianto would need a new flat.

Owen knew the gender of the baby by now, Ianto and Jack had refused to be clued in, but given him consent to tell Gwen and Tosh if they wanted to know. Tosh was intending to let it be a surprise … Gwen hadn't lasted five minutes, making her and Owen the only ones to know.

Jack looked up at Ianto and noticed that he'd fallen asleep. Jack smiled. It had taken them awhile to work out the problems in their relationship. Things had gotten better since they'd started anew, both of them agreeing to take the relationship slow and serious. Jack hadn't moved in with Ianto, but with Ianto spending all his time in the Hub, that was kind of redundant at the moment. They hadn't agreed yet on how to handle the time after the birth, but Jack was sure that they would think of something.

Jack settled down and closed his eyes. They would think of something. But if he was honest with himself: at the moment, moving in together sounded like a good idea.

xxx

Rhys awoke in his and Gwen's bedroom, gasping for air and sitting up. Gwen turned towards him, rubbed her eyes sleepily and put a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?" she asked softly.

Rhys could just about make out her worried face in the light the streetlamps threw through the window. "Bloody nightmare," Rhys answered and fell back on the bed.

"What was it about?" Gwen asked, cuddling up to his side.

"It was our wedding," Rhys said, "and I was walking down the aisle – pregnant." Gwen laughed. Rhys gave her a playful shove. "It's not funny. Knowing Torchwood, that'll happen."

Gwen kissed his cheek. "I should have never told you about Ianto." She giggled again.

"I don't know how he handles it," Rhys replied, settling down to fall asleep again. "Pregnant. Knocked up by Jack bloody Harkness."

Gwen sighed deeply, getting comfortable. "Well, there wasn't much knocking up involved, really."

"Spare me the details."

"I think you would look gorgeous pregnant," Gwen teased.

"Shut up," Rhys grumbled. "You're giving me nightmares." He buried his nose in Gwen's hair and breathed in deeply. "Are we really getting married in two weeks?"

"We're really getting married." She paused. "Oh, I almost forgot. Jack's going to bring the Eye 5 contact lenses. They enable someone to watch what's going on in real time through Jack's eyes. That way, Ianto can watch the wedding."

Rhys nodded. "Great. Alien technology at our wedding. I bet Torchwood will find a way to mess everything up – like always."

"Everything's going to be just fine," Gwen answered.

Rhys sighed. "I hope so."

xxx

Jack would have brushed the soft sounds off as Myfanwy waddling around the work stations looking for crumbs, but his instincts screamed at him. Somebody was in his very secure base. Someone had broken through the defences. And Jack had Ianto here with him. He sat up carefully, his mind running through the possibilities. The main entrance was too much of a risk since whoever was in here, they were in the main Hub, and the corridor leading to the garage was only accessible via the main Hub and through the main entrance. There was an emergency shaft with various entrances all throughout the base leading through the watertower up towards the surface but it was narrow and Ianto would quite probably not be able to climb up all the way. Plus, it would take forever to crawl out. The shaft hadn't been build for a quick get-away. Jack guessed that Ianto could hide somewhere. The corridor leading to his bedroom was only adjoined by a few storage rooms and the guest quarters before reaching the main Hub. Sure, it was possible that Jack would have dealt with the situation in a matter of minutes but it could just as well take hours. Maybe he needed help. And his mobile was in his coat, in his office – which was in plain sight of the main Hub. Nevertheless, there was his desk which would provide some protection.

His decision made, Jack got out of bed and grabbed his Webley from the nightstand. He shook Ianto's shoulder gently. Ianto sighed sleepily and opened his eyes slowly. Before he could complain, Jack said, "Intruder." Ianto's eyes widened. Jack whispered, "Don't know who, don't know how many. Stay here. If I'm not back in two minutes to tell you I was wrong, go and hide."

Ianto frowned, clearly not happy with that plan.

"I know," Jack said, "but you have the baby to think of." He pecked Ianto's lips and climbed the ladder. He peeked into his office. Nobody was here, nobody was in range. His eyes followed shadows thrown against the wall of the main Hub and he cursed silently. There was definitely someone in the Hub. He gestured for Ianto to use the door and watched him get up hastily and leave the bunker. Then Jack pulled himself up into his office and closed the hatch. First, he had to call in his team. He made his way towards his coat and got out his mobile. He hid behind his desk while he sent the emergency code to their mobiles. Then he straightened carefully and used the back entrance of his office to get to the main Hub.

He descended the stairs quietly. His eyes fell on the door to the armoury which was located in one corner of the main Hub. He locked it every evening and it looked like nobody had broken in. That was a relief. Jack pressed against the cold concrete wall and carefully approached the working area.

A tall, athletic man with short, brown hair was standing in the middle of the room, his back to Jack, looking up the watertower to the high ceiling. Something about the way he held himself, something about the jacket he wore – dark brown leather – was familiar. Jack pushed that thought aside and focussed on the situation at hand. The man wouldn't be alone here. Jack suspected that there were more. He couldn't see anyone else, though. He crept towards a secure position and pointed his gun at the guy's head. "Alright. Hands up and turn around slowly. Who are you?" The man put up his hands, turned around and Jack's breath stuttered in his chest. "Rick!"

Richard Carson seemed just as surprised to see him. His dark eyes narrowed and then recognition dawned on his sharp features. "Brian?"

Jack didn't lower his weapon but he relaxed his stance. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same," Rick answered. "After you left the Time Agency, there were rumours that you were dead. We all thought it was true. All of us except John of course. Then he said he found you – about half a year ago. I gotta say, I was surprised."

Jack looked at Rick closely, noting the wrinkles around his eyes that hadn't been there when he'd last seen him on the day he'd resigned from the agency, leaving two years of his memories behind. He slowly walked towards Rick. "What is your business here? You can't be here for the Time Agency, John said it's gone."

Rick's eyes narrowed. "I'd like to know what you are doing here first."

"This is my base. My home."

Rick shook his head and snorted. "Earth? 21st century? You can't be serious, Brian."

"It's Captain Jack Harkness now." As a Time Agent, he'd taken on several different names over the years. Nobody there worked under their real name, there was too much of a risk of upsetting time by using the identity of someone who wouldn't be born for decades or had been dead for years. Jack had shed his last Time Agent identity – Brian Jackson – as soon as he could. He'd run into some trouble and had had to vanish. Three names later, he'd stuck with Captain Jack Harkness. It was the name the Doctor knew him under, it was the name he'd given Torchwood. By now, over a hundred years later, it really had become his name.

"Jack," Rick corrected himself.

"Why did you break in here? How did you break in here?"

"There's an unsecured gate in the ceiling."

Myfanwy's hatch. Tosh had installed a lock that would allow the pteranodon to go out and fly at night. It was triggered by a scanner recognizing Myfanwy on her way out and in. It had taken Ianto a while to train her to come back in the early morning hours. Myfanwy had been the reason for some very inventive cover stories until she'd learned what the rising sun meant. But the hatch only opened for her. Jack narrowed his eyes. "It's not unsecured."

Rick held up his arm where his vortex manipulator was to be seen under the hem of his leather jacket. "Unsecured enough." He smiled weakly and zipped open his jacket. He wore a dark jumper underneath. His handgun – a powerful, small weapon – was tucked into his chest holster. He didn't reach for it, still eyeing Jack's Webley nervously. His hands went into his jeans pockets. He looked around as if taking in the main Hub for the first time. "So, what? This is your place?"

"You could say that," Jack answered.

Rick looked at the Webley. "Come on now, Jack, I know things between you and the agency ended badly, but I had nothing to do with it."

Slowly, Jack lowered the gun. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Sophia."

Jack's gun raised again. It was too much of a coincidence. John turning up, them finding out that Sophia had been a prisoner of Torchwood One and now Rick's arrival. Damn, he shouldn't have trusted John. "She's not here." Pain exploded in Jack's chest and he cried out. The Webley fell from his hand and hit the metal grating with a clatter. Jack coughed, feeling winded. It took him a moment to figure out that he was now lying on the floor of the Hub, staring at the ceiling. Rick was kicking aside his gun while one more figure appeared in Jack's line of sight. Kenya Stevenson, a dark-skinned beauty who wore her hair shorter than the last time Jack had seen her, was pointing her silver stun gun at him. She'd been the one who had shot him. She'd always preferred stun guns over deadly weapons. Jack groaned, feeling his muscles relax slowly. The pain lessened.

Rick shrugged. "I don't believe you." He casually put his foot on Jack's neck, his boot pressing down on Jack's windpipe, starting to choke him. "We followed the last signal of her vortex manipulator here. Tell me where she is, right now, or I will kill you."

Jack chuckled hoarsely. "You think that scares me."

There was a shuffling noise and Rick looked away towards it. "Maybe not," he said, grabbing a fistful of Jack's t-shirt and forcing him around on his knees, so that he could see towards his office. Lance Hensley, a resolute-looking man with red, short hair, was just about to manhandle Ianto towards them from out of the corridor leading to Jack's quarters, holding a gun to his side. Rick's fingers grabbed Jack's hair. "But I could kill him."

"You wouldn't. He's pregnant," Jack said grimly.

"I don't care about that sort of thing." He crouched next to Jack. "So … what will it be?"