Authors Note. The Reality Jack has jumped into in this chapter was created by Aviv_b for her excellent story 'Ianto's Journey' reproduced here with kind permission.
All unique and specific elements related to Ianto's Journey are copy righted to Aviv_ b.
Ianto's Journey can be found on Fanfiction dot net and LiveJournal
Winner 'Children of Time Award' Best Romance 2010
Chapter Twenty Nine
Waking Ianto felt every muscle in his body ache. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. A ten ton truck that had hit him then reversed and rolled over him again few times just for the hell of it. His tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. He could swear the inside of his mouth felt like old carpet and it tasted like it too. He opened his eyes to see a concrete wall. Confused he reached out to touch it. 'Yes it was a concrete wall'. He couldn't think where the hell he was so he groaned and sat up.
Trying to focus he found he was on a bed, in what appeared to be a cell but one with a clear Perspex front. He fought to clear his vision as he tried to figure out why he was in such a place when he heard a voice.
"Oi sleeping beauty, over here." He twisted to see to see Owen, Gwen and Tosh standing outside the cell with their arms crossed looking at him.
"Meet Tosh, fastest stun gun in West Wales." Owen pointed to Tosh who smiled as she pulled out the gun she had used on Ianto.
"And I'm the woman with the double digit IQ," Gwen said unfolding her arms and placing her hands on her hips.
"And I'm Mr Predictable," Owen said finally as Ianto leaned forward and ran his hands over his face then looked up, closed his eyes in embarrassment as he now remembered the altercation and groaned as he recalled the insults he had thrown at them and wanted to sink into the ground.
"You're will be feeling a bit groggy because as well as zapping you with a stun gun, I filled you with enough sedative for you to sleep for the last twenty hours," Owen told him.
"What?" Ianto said, standing saw he was just in his boxers and grabbed a blanket.
"You took my clothes! " He burst out then went bright red.
"Yeah the girls had lots of fun stripping you down, double checking you had no other equipment on ya," Owen said gleefully
"Well, of the electronic kind," Gwen said raising her eyebrows looking at his crotch as he pulled the blanket in closer. She nudged Tosh who was nodding in agreement.
"Now this is how this is going to play out Ianto," Owen continued on a more serious note.
"You can come out on the following conditions," Gwen said now folding her arms again.
"One, you take a shower, shave and change your clothes," Tosh told him.
"Two, you are to sit down and eat something solid," Owen said
"Three, you agree not touch any of the following equipment," Gwen told him.
"Computers, mobiles, laptop, e-pad, tablets or similar equipment we deem non- appropriate," Owen advised.
"Access to the main Hub area will only allowed on the understanding you are accompanied by two of us at any given time," Tosh warned him
"And finally you will keep a minimum distance from the Manipulator of two meters. Tosh has marked out the distance and painted a nice yellow line around it at exactly this distance, so there's no confusion," Owen told him.
"We wouldn't want to zap you by mistake because we have stun guns and we are not afraid to use them," Tosh warned as Ianto groaned as he fell back on the bed and lay looking at the ceiling, his hand covering his forehead.
"And we will be armed at all times Ianto," Gwen warned him as she pulled out her stun gun so was no mistaking their intent.
"I need coffee, I feel terrible," Ianto moaned, pulling up the blanket.
"That's another thing; I'm going to limit your intake, cause it's not helping," Owen told him as he saw a look of outrage on Ianto's face who sat bolt upright on hearing his statement. "I'm restricting you to pints of coffee rather than gallons." Ianto glared at him.
"We know this is painful Ianto, we know how powerless you feel, but you need to know, that we care enough to stop you, so don't test our resolve," Gwen warned as she leaned forward narrowing her eyes. "And after what you said about my coffee, I'm itching to have my resolve tested."
"So do we have an agreement or should we leave you down here for a bit longer?" Owen asked him as Ianto mumbled something.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to speak up Ianto cos we didn't hear that" Owen pointed out tilting his head.
"Yes," Ianto agreed sullenly pulling up the blanket which had slipped a bit.
"Very well. I will bring you a coffee with some industrial strength painkillers because those stun guns have got one hell of a nasty kick and your muscles will be as sore as hell. Once you have drunk that down I will let you out. You will then follow Gwen to the locker room where I will supervise you having a shower. There you will shave and change your clothes. Tosh and Gwen will escort you to the sofa and you will eat at least four sandwiches, six if you can manage it." He looked at Ianto who had a pout worthy of Jack, "Any deviation from our agreement and we will put you in the cells for the duration."
"So are we all in agreement?" Owen asked as he saw Ianto nod.
As they entered the Hub Gwen went to pour out a coffee while Owen went to get some pain killers.
"Well that went better than expected," she said as Owen took the coffee mug on his return.
"As I have always said you get more cooperation with a kind word and a length of four-by-two than you can with just a kind word," he told her as he started to head back to the cells. A thought came to him and he turned to Gwen and Tosh who were preparing some sandwiches.
"Don't for think for one minute I'm fooled. So we watch him like a hawk, because as bad as Ianto is to deal with it will nothing compared to the reaction if Jack gets back here and finds Ianto gone," he said.
"Agreed," Gwen and Tosh replied together as he went down the steps.
twtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtw
Feeling a lot better Jack dressed, noting his clothes were all freshly laundered. He was buttoning up his shirt when he heard a knock and he indicated they should come in.
He turned to see it was Ianto. "If you're up to it there's a few people you might like to meet," Ianto said smiling.
"Sure," he said as he followed Ianto through the door, down the gantry steps and saw the main Hub area. It all looked very similar the only difference he could see right now was that one area to the far left were several whiteboards laid out end to end up filled with equations. In front of them were three people arguing and gesticulating in debate. He stepped down and Tosh moved over to greet him.
"Jack good to see you up," she said with some relief as a young woman who had been at the whiteboards came over and Tosh introduced her.
"I would like you to meet Dr. Yoome Ito she is working currently working at Cambridge University as a theoretical physicist." she offered her hand and Jack shook it.
"This is Dr Denis Francis his speciality is chaos theory," she told him as the older man who was part of the group arguing came over.
"I am very pleased to meet you, not every day you meet living proof from an alternate reality," he said giving Jack's hand a good shake.
"And finally Olga Kogan, her field is quantum field theory," she told him as she pointed over to an older woman who had remained at the whiteboards.
Tosh led him over the sofa and they another mug of coffee was placed in his hand. "From what I've seen from the Rift data you've now jumped three times. The first one was random. The next two times the reality you were in recalibrated the Rift Manipulator using the equation your reality sent. But each time instead of jumping back to your home reality, you've arrived somewhere else," Tosh summarised the situation as Jack nodded. "We think we've worked out what went wrong."
"The equation sent is a combination of elements from three theories and is extremely complex. It holds your reality signature, plus another incomplete equation. It was clear that the reality you are in has to complete it and then adjust the Rift Manipulator settings based on the ones sent."
"So what's missing?" Ianto asked
"Our reality's key signature. That's what everyone here is trying to work out, but that has highlighted another problem."
"What does that mean?" Jack asked as he watched the three specialists now returned to the whiteboards.
"Do you have 'Star Trek' as a television show in your reality?" Tosh asked him
"Sure, the adventures of the Star Ship Solaris, where Captain Jasey Kirk goes where no-one has gone before, with her intrepid crew of misfits screwing their way through every being in the known galaxy. Their five year mission is to seek out new ways of having sex," Jack told her wondering why she wanted to talk about a late night porn show.
"It's a kidult science show here, where Captain Jamie Qwirk goes to different places around the galaxy to find out different technologies based on children's ideas who send in suggestions and see how possible it would be able to re-create them, " Ianto explained as he tried to contain his amusement at Jack's reply.
"The show has a transporter. You stand on a pad and you punch in your destination. Within a millisecond you're there. Basically what happened is the Rift Manipulator has been turned into a transporter between realities," Tosh explained.
"So instead of arriving home I end up somewhere else because each reality I was in kept putting in the wrong address," Jack reflected back his understanding.
"Exactly," Tosh replied. "However your being here has also highlighted a glaring problem."
" Problem?" Ianto queried as Tosh looked serious.
"Jack is not alone in jumping to the wrong reality. Currently there may be an infinite number of individuals doing exactly the same. This is compounded by the fact that if they don't get back it could damage the continuum."
"That sounds bad," Ianto typed in.
"It could be. We need to fix this by sending Jack home," she saw a smile creep hesitantly onto Jack's face.
"Okay great for me but what about all the others?" he queried thinking about the thousands of other individuals lost and far from home.
"If we can get you home using the key signatures then we will know the fix is right. If it is we then send out a general message with the solution," she continued
"How will you know I've made it?" Jack asked as he felt hopeful for the first time.
"You send a message back," she replied
"Message back?" Ianto repeated.
"Nothing complicated a sort of electronic thumbs up," she told them both. "Once we received it we will then send out a mass mail out, like the first series of messages but with a 'to whom it may concern" header," she chuckled. "Within it will be our solution plus enough information to allow each reality to work out the solution along with the steps required to work it out,"
"Rift white pages," Ianto typed in.
"More like a cooking recipe with a list of ingredients and step by step instructions," she corrected him.
"That's very domestic," Jack commented, thinking cooking was something he didn't normally associate with her. In fact her cooking was so bad he once heard Gwen comment she shouldn't be let near a toaster let alone a stove.
"Well I am married with two small children," she retorted as Jack's eyes widened in surprise.
"Married, with two small children," Jack repeated not sure if he had heard correctly.
"Owen," Ianto told him. Jack nodded his understanding, thinking maybe the Tosh and Owen in his reality had some interesting times ahead.
He was about to ask more when he saw Aaron had come back into the Hub. Seeing a gathering on and around the sofa he came over to join them. As he approached Aaron nodded and Ianto smiled giving him the thumbs up then moved off to get a coffee for him.
Seeing Tosh was being beckoned over to the whiteboards Aaron now came over and replaced her, sitting next to Jack.
Ianto returned and was about to hand him the mug when Aaron reached into his pocket. "I have something for you," he pulled out a jeweller's box and handed it to Jack.
Taking the box opening he saw a fob watch seated inside. It was not identical but close. Removing and opening the case he now found it had been inscribed with the same message from the destroyed watch.
"I know it's not exactly the same but..." Aaron was about to say more when Jack gave him a huge hug. "I can't thank you enough you have no idea what this means to me," he said as he recovered and pulled back from Aaron.
"I think we do," Ianto said with the emotion showing on his face, "I hope this goes some way to make up for what Penny did."
"I hope he says yes, if he does he will be very lucky man to have you in his life," Aaron said squeezing Jack's knee.
Caressing the watch case Jack spoke softly as he placed it carefully back into the box, "I'm the lucky one. I'm privileged that he wants to be part of my life," he told them honestly.
"I'm sure it goes both ways," Ianto added as Tosh came back to join them.
"I think we are almost there," she told the group as Jack felt a wave of fear and anticipation tinged with desperation and hope surge through him.
"How long?" he asked her as he stood.
"We just need to translate our key reality signature to Rift settings and work out the message but that's not something we need to be concerned for right now", she told the group then saw the box in Jack's hand.
"Wonderful, you know we are very sorry for what happened. I hope when you get back you won't think too badly of us." She saw him shake his head.
"You have all been amazing," Jack said seriously as she now moved off and began working on the Rift Manipulator. As she did he saw Ianto smile and begin to type something into his Blackberry.
"I'm starving there's a small restaurant just across from here and I think we have enough time for a bite to eat and you can tell us how you met your Ianto," Ianto said as Jack nodded placing the jeweller's box into his trouser pocket.
"We're off to get something to eat," Aaron told Tosh as they passed her working on the Rift Manipulator.
"Well, it happened like this: the Rift was really quiet…"
Working at adjusting the dials Tosh smiled as they headed off. She prayed this would work, if this didn't she wasn't too sure what would. If this didn't work the damage she predicted would be massive. She took a deep breath as she continued to work.
