Chapter thirty-six: Thinking till it hurts
"Okay." Owen came around the corner, determination on his face as he began typing on Tosh's computer. "So we use Tosh's information to open the Rift and bring them back."
Jackie's head shot up. "What? No!"
"We can't do that Owen." Ianto pointed out. "Half of the equation's missing."
"It can't be." Owen said. "It must be somewhere else." Owen nudged Ianto aside. "Let me try."
"It's not there." Ianto said.
"Thank God." Jackie exhaled in relief. "As I said, the two with the brains aren't here. Ordinarily I'd suggest we check Tosh's laptop, except there's one gigantic problem with that idea."
"And what is that?" Owen demanded.
"Tosh never goes anywhere without it." Ianto pointed out slowly. Owen blinked and then began cursing. "Not so colorful Owen, please."
Jackie exhaled. "What else do we have?" she shook her head. "Why am I saying this? We are not opening the rift."
"We have," Owen growled out. "to get them back."
"You don't need to tell me that!" She said firmly. "I want Jack back in one piece and I won't allow opening the rift."
"There are no more photographs of Jack and Tosh after that night." Ianto said out of the blue. A quick glance showed that he was now talking to Gwen.
"Yeah," Owen said dryly. "unless the bombs got them."
Jackie shot him a glower and opened her mouth to shoot off a remark, but Ianto beat her to the chase. "I'm sure they're fine." He glowered at Ianto. "Don't go worrying Jackie." At Owen's probing glower, he turned back to the screen. "The manager," Jackie turned on her earpiece and tuned it to Ianto's channel wave, so she could listen in. Ianto leaned forward so he could read the screen, causing his shoulder to brush hers. Jackie stepped away and avoided his questioning gaze. "Bilis Manger, kept them for posterity."
Bilis Manger? That's the name of the caretaker.
"Can't be the same guy, can it?"
Not old enough. Then, Gwen's voice trailed off a bit as she thought for a moment. Although he does look a bit out of his time.
"How so?" She questioned Gwen.
He wears a cravat.
Jackie glanced at the photo and her heart paused as she realized that it was the same man. She didn't even blink before ordering. "Get out of there! Now! Cravats were popular in the 1940s, helped that way by actors such as Fred Astaire!"
"Gwen," Ianto said in a much more controlled voice. "he's in the photo with Jack and Tosh."
"He's the answer." Owen hissed at them. He then barked at Gwen. "He's come through the Rift. Find out what he's doing."
"No!" Jackie and Ianto shouted in unison.
"Get out, Gwen." Ianto ordered. "Wait for backup."
"We can't lose him." Owen said.
"And we can't lose Gwen." Jackie shouted. "This could be a trap!"
Ianto nodded in agreement with her. "He could be sucking us back through time one by one. Get out of there, Gwen. That's an order."
"I'm sorry," Owen shouted at Ianto. "but who exactly put you in charge?"
"Ianto, Gwen and I are in charge at this moment!" she shouted at him. "You are not as you are not thinking clearly!"
"And you-
"Am Jack's girlfriend," she shouted. "so that puts me clearly in a higher bracket than you! Ianto has been here just as long as you, so clearly, your ranks are tied!" Owen let out a strong curse and stomped towards a grill in the floor and began pulling it up. She turned to Ianto. "He's lost it."
"I'll handle this." Ianto said as he walked towards Owen as he leaned into the hole he'd created and began pulling at wires. "What are you doing?" No response. Ianto knelt by him and spoke again. "Owen."
"We haven't got the missing numbers." Owen's voice came out sounding strangled due to his upside down state. "We'll have to improvise with the Rift Manipulator."
"We can't." Ianto protested as Jackie shook her head. "It's risky enough with the equation. If we don't do this properly, anything can happen."
"Bombs are falling." Owen pointed out. "They're stuck in the middle of the Cardiff Blitz. It's our duty to get them out." he grabbed a hose and began pulling it towards Tosh's computer.
Jackie stepped in front of him. "We can't do this at all."
"Get out of my way!"
"Jack is my boyfriend and Tosh is my best friend. I want them back too! But I want them back safely and without endangering the lives of thousands of others!"
"Listen to her." Ianto pleaded. "If we open the Rift now and the whole world could suffer. We could all get sucked in. Who knows what will come out?" He shouted at Owen, who stomped by them. "This is about Diane, isn't it?" Owen didn't even turn around to face him. "When will you accept she chose to leave you?"
That low blow caught Owen's attention and held it. He spun around and faced Ianto, his eyes flashing darkly as he spat at Ianto. "Whereas your cyber-girlfriend stuck around, of course. Not that she had a choice, wired up in the cellar."
"That was different." Ianto whispered.
"Yeah, it was." He said sarcastically. "Mainly because Diane didn't try and kill us, and oh yeah, she also happened to be a human being."
"Enough!" Jackie ordered.
"Not some screwed up metal monster."
"She was forcibly turned into one!" She snapped. "She was a human being once! Don't fault her for something that she had no control over!" she growled out. "Ianto was her fiancée! They were planning on getting married one day! It was his job to protect her!"
"You only knew Diane for a week." Ianto snarled out. "That wasn't love. It couldn't have been. It was lust; cheaply and simply."
Those words made Owen more furious as he threw another huge section of hose over his shoulder. "And it wasn't enough. Maybe the Manipulator can calculate the missing figures." He looked at Ianto. "And don't you dare tell me about what love is or isn't! You claim to have loved Lisa….while you fantasize about having Jackie in your bed!"
"You sick, unimaginable, bastard!" Jackie shouted, causing both men to stare at her in shock. She groaned and rubbed her head. "I can't believe I just said that." She shook her head. "No! I can't believe you just said such a sick thing, damn you!"
"Strong words coming from you!"
"Cursing with words from the 1600's" Ianto said. "that aren't very strong at all, don't qualify as cursing."
Owen plugged the hose in and turned a crank a few times. Jackie stepped towards him, but Ianto took her head and stopped her with a slight shake of his head. She opened her mouth to protest when Owen said. "It isn't working."
"Good." Owen said as he released her and walked back towards Owen. Jackie exhaled in relief. "Jack would never have wanted us to use it this way."
"There's a piece missing." Jackie held her breath as Owen looked around. She had a hunch it was in Jack's safe, but she wasn't going to reveal that. "We've got to find it."
"It could be anywhere." She pointed out as Owen pushed past her.
Ianto reached and grabbed Owen's sleeve, earning him a murderous look. Ianto, patient as ever, tried to talk some sense into Owen. "Maybe you should go home."
"You don't have any power over me." Owen stated. He hesitated though, locking eyes with Ianto as the two of them had a silent battle. Jackie placed her hand on her hip, casually by her gun in case a fight broke out. If necessary, she'd shoot a hole in the floor. "Okay, Ianto, we'll play it your way. Safe and boring."
He shook his head disapprovingly before turning to stomp out of the room. Jackie exhaled and sank into a chair. "I can't believe this is happening. I was supposed to be going with Tosh to a wedding this afternoon. And now…they're trapped in the era of my dreams and I have to get them out which is what I don't want." Ianto smirked at her before turning back to the security screens. "Anything on the CCTV?"
"No." he turned towards her. "So…now we're alone. Now what do we do?"
She glowered at him. "We're going to try to figure out a way to get those two out of that time period before Owen comes back with another reason for us to use the rift manipulator."
Ianto exhaled. "You're right…as always. Still, we'll have to talk about those allegations of Owen's sooner or later."
"And you will tell him that you are working on conquering some unfortunately, troublesome emotions that are inconvenient."
"And what if I have no desire to do that?"
She blinked once. "Then you will find that you'll be holding onto emotions causing your torment, for they won't be returned, no matter how persistent you are." She exhaled and turned to the CCTV. "Anything yet?"
"Nothing." Ianto shook his head. "No sign of Bilis leaving the area." Owen came charging down the stairs, grabbed his coat and head to the exit. Surprised that he'd actually considered going home, Ianto asked him. "Owen, where are you off to?
"The dancehall." He snapped as he shoved his arms into the dark leather jacket. "Bilis's office. He must know how the Rift works. Maybe we'll find a clue there." He shot them a look of disgust. "If you're going to shag her Ianto, better do it now while Jack's stuck in the 1940's."
Jackie's blood boiled and she stomped her foot as Owen ran around the corner and door slammed behind him. "Honestly! People are such idiots!" She shoved her hair out of her face and spun on her heel. "Gwen? Are you outside?"
Yes. Are you alright?
"No! I'm mad, but that's beside the point. We can't talk about this now anyway, we'll discuss it later. Did you see Billis again? Did he follow you outside?"
No. was it Owen? Gwen questioned. Did he say something?
"It doesn't matter. Owen's heading over there, don't let him go inside and collect more equations." She said firmly. "We can't do this."
"I actually need more of those equations, Gwen." Ianto said, surprising her. "If we can't come up with an alternative number, we need the correct numbers, or Owen will try whatever numbers."
"Traitor!"
"I'd rather be prepared than sorry!" he snapped at her. "If Owen tries to use the vortex manipulator, we need to have the right numbers handy, or the consequences are going to be devastating."
He's right Jackie.
"Jack wouldn't allow it."
"They're leaving equations for us." Ianto pointed out. "There must be a reason for it!"
"It could just be a piece of a puzzle for us to create! You know Jack would never approve!" she and Ianto stared at each other, breathing heavily. "I'm going to go make some tea. It helps me think."
"Tea is a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin." At her frown, Ianto said. "It's just the thing for healing the synapses."
"Don't get all fancy termed with me. I won't understand it."
As she stalked away, Ianto said. "You are worried about Jack, aren't you?"
She paused. "About never seeing him again, yes, I am. But about him getting hurt, no, I'm not. I'm more concerned about Tosh."
She crossed her arms and turned to face him. "That's an odd thing for a girlfriend to say."
"I'm Jack's girlfriend. He's an odd man and he picked an odd girlfriend, but he loves what he's got." She cleared her throat. "Can we please stop talking about this now? It's not appropriate."
"Jack isn't here." He said as she walked away. "I don't know when I'm ever going to get a chance to talk to you like this again without being disturbed again." She turned and walked away. He had a very valid point, but she wasn't going to encourage this. "I wish, we could turn things back and I took the chance to tell you how I felt. I was wrong."
"You're too late Ianto."
"Nothing…is ever too late." She paused as she reached for the door. "What are you thinking of Jackie? Tell me…honestly and truly."
She exhaled and turned. "This…was too late Ianto and I'm sorry…you are too late."