Disclaimer: Standard still applies.
A/N: Hope you like this. It was an idea I just had to get out of my head. I hope I put a decent twist on it? Well, I of course don't own Torchwood (as said in disclaimer) but I own the original character here. Trust me. I love him, he is mine. Well, this story amused my housemate so it's getting posted. Hope you enjoy!
27. Foreign
Jack was following his PDA, well, Ianto's PDA, to where the rift surge was. He figured it was hopeless, but he so badly wanted it to be good news. It was probably another Hoix. He sighed as he went closer to where it was. The PDA said that there were two beings covered in the rift energy and that they hadn't moved.
As he got closer, he could hear the two talking before he could see them.
"…if we're not there I get a turn to try it." Welsh accent. Jack walked quicker, he knew that voice, not Ianto though.
"Oh, you think you'll have better luck." Another Welsh accent. Jack began to run, he could swear that was Ianto, "Bit difficult to get this thing to work when neither of us have any idea how to work it or to put it in English."
"Yeah, you're right." the first one sighed, "I just miss Gwen. And rugby." He chuckled, "I even miss your Jack."
"I know." The Ianto voice said, "Okay." There was a pause, "It looks a bit like Earth, and it could be our time period."
"You know that doesn't mean anything." The other voice chided, "Remember, what was it? New New Earth? We were lucky to find someone who understood English let alone 21st century dialect."
Jack came around the bend then, and he skidded to a stop. There was Ianto and Rhys. New clothes and Ianto had a big gun. Which Jack found staring at him as Ianto had heard the rocks skid along with Jack's feet. Ianto's eyes grew when he saw Jack but he didn't lower his gun, "What year is this?" His voice shook with emotion.
"Ianto." Jack almost fell to his knees, "You-you're back." He glanced at Rhys, "Gwen will be glad to know you're both back."
Ianto lowered his big gun, "We made it?"
"You've been gone a week and a half." Jack answered.
"Week and a half?" Rhys asked, voice hysteric, "You're kidding!"
The two guys had grins on their faces and they hugged before turning back to Jack, grins still in place. "Been a bit longer for us, it has."
Jack called Martha to come and have a look at them, she was the only doctor he trusted to do it. If either of them had something from wherever they'd been it wouldn't be good to be in a regular hospital. He had called Gwen and said that they were back and going to the Hub where they'd have to stay until Martha checked them out. Gwen understood about that but was just happy to have her husband back.
Gwen was clinging to Rhys on the sofa and Jack was watching Ianto closely, standing as near to him as he could. Everyone seemed happy that everyone was home. "So, what happened?" Jack asked, staring at Ianto as if taking his eyes off him meant he'd leave again.
"We know the rift took you," Gwen looked from Rhys to Ianto and back again, "and you both had been drunk. Rugby game and all."
"Well, when we woke up I was completely lost." Rhys said, dipping his head a bit, "Ianto here was lost only for a bit before he helped me up and we looked around."
"Where were you?" Jack asked.
"Apparently sometime in the 51st century." Ianto looked at Jack, "We found a guy who had also been taken by the rift, but not as far as us. He had been taken backwards five years but while he was in the rift something happened to him and he could understand and speak all the languages. Ever." He paused, "Or so he claimed. So he understood us when we spoke English."
"Nice guy that Pretend." Rhys smiled, "Bit wordy."
"Pretend?" Jack asked, brow furrowing.
"Pretend Heist." Ianto said, "He taught language at the Academy."
"Time Agent Academy?" Jack's eyes grew as the two nodded, "Mr. Heist." He grinned, "He did teach us languages. We all had to go through a class of his before we went to the different time. That way we'd be able to speak the language." He paused, "Shape shifter too."
"He did tell us that was his job." Rhys nodded.
"Then what?" Gwen asked.
"Well Ianto here knew more about the Time Agency than I did," Rhys started, "So I did what he told me."
Ianto sighed, "Basically I decided I needed to get ahold of a wrist strap." He lifted his arm and pulled his sleeve down, a wrist strap that looked a bit newer than Jack's was attached to him.
Jack looked at it, "It's a later model than mine."
Ianto nodded, "I knew that they could travel in time and thought this is what I could use to get us back. Only I knew we wouldn't be able to join the Academy to get one because, well-"
"We weren't from around that time and there was no record of us." Rhys finished.
"Right so, I decided to steal a wrist strap." Ianto said, "And Pretend found out, he was keeping an eye on us, so he over heard the plan. Told us it was a bad idea."
"Well, he said that if we did it we'd be caught but he could get us one." Rhys added, "We of course didn't want him to get into trouble but-"
"He was a shape shifter." Jack grinned, "He could go in as someone else and get it to you." He chuckled, "He had always said his last name was Heist for a reason." He paused, "But when I found you two you were talking about whether or not you were home."
"I can't read the language the strap is in." Ianto shrugged, "Pretend told me the basics of it but he didn't know if it had an English setting. So all of our time jumps were guess work."
"Couldn't Pretend set it for you?" Gwen asked.
"He'd never gone through the class to learn how. He could only guess."
"So, the big gun?" Jack asked.
"Not all the places we went to were kind." Rhys frowned, "First place was dark - no stars out and where we landed all the people had guns in our faces. We held up our hands and for some reason we had to show our teeth." He paused, "But they still didn't trust us. Ianto told me to grab a gun while he tried the wrist strap again. When we were somewhere new I gave the gun to Ianto."
"Then what happened?" Gwen asked, worried about what Rhys had went through but glad that he was home.
"Took a few tries. A few places looked like they could be home and we'd ask where we were. If they didn't speak English we knew we didn't make it. Needed the gun in a few so I'm glad I had told Rhys to get it." Ianto said, "Then we ended up here."
Jack frowned, "You said it was a bit longer than a week and a half for you."
"We were around the Academy for a while." Rhys answered, "Trying to think up a way to go home. Pretend was nice enough to let us stay with him."
Ianto smirked, "Nice enough? Never met someone who was nicer."
"Bit absentminded though." Rhys and Ianto looked at each other before breaking out in laughter.
Martha showed up the next day and gave both Ianto and Rhys a check up, saying they seemed healthy enough to her, had a bit of the special radiation you get from traveling in time, but that wouldn't hurt them. After all, she and Jack both had that. And things got back to normal. Well, slight differences. Ianto and Rhys were much closer and would sometimes talk about events that happened during their time away but Ianto put on suits and went to work and was glad to have Jack while Rhys went and ran Harwood's Haulage while making sure Gwen was okay at the end of the day and being himself for her, to keep her grounded.
Pretend meanwhile got away with stealing a wrist strap even though everyone knew he had done it, they just couldn't prove it.