Doomsday: Post Apocalypse
a Torchwood story
by RoadrunnerGER
Dislaimer: Oh, really! They're the BBC's.
Summary: Ianto comes to Cardiff for a week to help with the archives, but is it as simple as that? Jack/OC, Jack?Ianto
Suspense/hurt/comfort – T – Ianto Jones & Jack Harkness
A/N: Thank you for all your comments, the alerts and the favourites. :-) xoxo
Chapter 38 – Mixed conversations
Something had happened, though. Ianto could not deny it. As soon as they had finally disposed of the bodies and climbed into the SUV, his attention was not captured by the task at hand anymore and he could feel the difference in his perception of the other team members as well. Apparently, his hypersensitivity had lessened. When he concentrated on ignoring the others, his sense of their emotions was almost back to normal.
Is it actually gone or do I have more control now? After being overloaded for days, I'm just glad that it's not muddling my mind anymore.
On their way back to the Hub, Jack stopped off at an Italian restaurant to buy dinner for everyone. He did not take no for an answer and came back to the SUV laden with plastic bags full of food containers. They returned to their base where they left the special weapons at the armoury and freshened up before they gathered at the boardroom for dinner.
Ianto's mouth watered at the promising smells of fresh tomatoes and the typical Italian herbs. In the middle of the table piled boxes with different pastas and pizzas as well as some salad for the ladies. Jack distributed plates and cutlery. The whole scene felt bizarrely domestic. Ianto helped himself to small portions of scalloped tortellini with bacon and peas in cream sauce, lasagne, and spaghetti aglio e olio, and dug in.
Slowly, the tension of the mission ebbed away and an amicable conversation developed over dinner. Jack told them about his meeting with Constable Andy Davidson and that the young police officer would act as sort of a liaison with the police from now on. At some point, the subject returned to Canary Wharf and the cyber invasion. Focussing on his food, tasting every bite and chewing thoroughly, Ianto tried to ignore the exchange but then a snippet caught his attention.
"How did you get to a parallel world anyway?" Toshiko asked. "And when?"
"That was when Alex still was the boss," Jack explained. "We once had an artefact that came through in the 1930s and looked like a mirror. Instead of your own reflection it showed you parallel realities, though… and you could step through."
"Step through?" Toshiko echoed.
Jack nodded. "If you touched it, it sent you to the other side."
"Wow," Owen was impressed. "You said had an artefact. Does UNIT have it now?"
"No," Jack shook his head. "It was destroyed in the earthquake."
"When we were on that fruitless alien hunt in the middle of nowhere?" Owen queried.
"Yeah."
Thinking back to those days, a chill ran down Jack's spine. He much rather wanted to be in Cardiff, but he knew that staying there might entail disaster. For over a century, he had waited for the Doctor, and it would have been a way too big temptation for him to sit down in the Hub, knowing that the Timelord was parking his TARDIS right atop their base, fuelling off the Rift, and the Slitheen causing the earthquake in her attempt to ride home to Raxacoricofallapatorious on her tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator. Jack could not cross his own timeline and so he faked an alert, took his team, and spent two days chasing a couple of aliens that never existed.
His reply was met by Owen's groan, "Don't remind me of that chaos."
"I don't remember you cleaning it up," Suzie quipped.
"Right, you were too busy sorting your med bay," Toshiko took the same line.
"Which wasn't even affected," Suzie hissed.
"It needed sorting," Owen defended himself.
"Which wouldn't have been necessary if you learned to keep order in your workspace," Jack threw in.
"Look who's talking," Ianto muttered before he could even think about it. Shocked by his own indiscretion, he stared at their boss, a faint blush colouring his cheeks.
Instead of being affronted, though, Jack laughed, "Guilty as charged. But that's what we have you for now, right?"
Seeing the hopeful glint in Jack's eyes, Ianto felt a stab of guilt in his gut. Rather than offering reassurance, though, he said, "God knows your archives desperately need sorting."
No mention of the duration of his stay with Torchwood Three. Jack noted it with regret while Ianto felt like a traitor at sensing how crestfallen Jack was.
"Speaking of the archives," Toshiko piped up, "we haven't examined those gel packs yet that we took from One. And there's the contact lenses as well. You said I'd be thrilled. Can we examine those now or do they go straight into the archives?"
"Well, archiving them would be a horrible waste of resources," Jack told her with his mouth still full.
"Sir," it escaped Ianto.
Swallowing pointedly, Jack grinned widely and went on, "Chula tech is compatible with ours. With the right interface, the lenses will be an invaluable tool of surveillance or recon. If you're up to date with everything else, you can perform the standard tests tomorrow."
Toshiko beamed at him with joy. Like Suzie, she enjoyed experimenting with the artefacts they collected. Right now, though, Suzie was anything but thrilled.
"What about my research?" she pushed.
Jack's amused grin fell off his features and he fixed his former second in command with a stern look, "You need me to repeat myself?"
"I need you to explain yourself," Suzie told him angrily. "Those lenses may be useful, but what are they compared to an artefact that can resurrect?"
Waiting for his response, Ianto eyed the captain furtively. In his opinion, Jack showed a great deal of restraint by answering her so diplomatically. Ianto did not need his empathic talent to detect the tension that sprung up between them. The whole situation threatened to become really awkward, so he refrained from interfering in any way. A sideways glance at Toshiko showed him that she intently picked at her pasta, and even Owen kept his mouth shut.
"Adequate."
"Pardon?" Suzie queried incredulously. Her indignation was bound to push Jack's borders.
Knowing why Jack reacted sensitive to the subject, Ianto anxiously waited for an eruption. To his astonishment, it did not come. Instead, Jack sounded sad when he spoke.
"You should not be so arrogant as to assume that you have the right to wield such a power," the captain explained. "That's what One's directorate did, and look where it got them. They unleashed a force that they could not control and if it would not have been for the Doctor it would have destroyed this planet."
"You can hardly compare one with the other," Suzie argued.
"But it already corrupted you!" Jack thundered, and a lot of his anger was caused by hurt. "It enticed you to go behind my back! I have to protect you, Suzie. From yourself as much as from alien threats."
Drawing in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Suzie crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair.
Hope I gave her something to think about.
Actually, Jack was not under the impression that he could make her see reason. Judging by her posture she was only suppressing her anger about Jack's terminating the glove research. With every second that he waited now without a comment or order, Jack just knew that he was losing her a little bit more. Unfortunately, he did not know how to connect with her. At some point I must have lost touch with her. Just like with Alex. And when I realized what had happened, it was too late. Why didn't I see it coming? Didn't I learn anything?
Caught up in his dark musings, Jack did not pay attention to his surroundings anymore until something touched his shin. Something soft. Just for a second, he thought that it was Yvonne who smoothed against his leg, but then he realized that it was toes.
Ianto's toes!
The heat shooting into his system at the realization astonished him.
"Tosh," Ianto said in a conversational tone as his eyes glided briefly over to Suzie, "didn't you say that those other things you found also are recon tools?"
Confused, Jack tried to make sense of Ianto's words versus action. His toes were still sliding along Jack's leg, but there was nothing teasing about the touch. Brushing lightly against his shin, the toes soothed him rather than excited.
"You mean the spider bots?" Toshiko asked back. "Yes, they scared half of Rookwood hospital to death before I could figure out how to call them back to their base."
Give her something new to focus on!
Encouraged by his revelation, Jack said, "Both the lenses and the spider bots sound interesting, but you can't examine them all on your own, Tosh. Suzie, I want you to test the spider bots."
An unwilling snort coming from the technician stirred his anger and he shot a dark glare at Suzie.
"A sad substitute for the glove," Suzie spat. "If you want to make amends, you should give me the lenses."
"Just pretending that it was your place to question my decisions," Jack darkly returned, "I would tell you that you get the fancy technology because you are the technician, and Toshiko gets the Chula surveillance system because it requires an intuitive computer program for the interface and she's the computer wizard."
"If you know so much about their technology you should help me," Toshiko suggested.
"I'd love to," Jack told her, "but I only know how to use Chula tech, not how to recreate it."
"But that would already help a lot!" Toshiko argued.
"I already told you all that I know!" Jack laughed. "You need an interface, that we don't have… yet, to read the lenses' transmissions and they work with body heat."
"How do I have to imagine that? You mean, you don't need to recharge them?"
Jack nodded.
"That would be brilliant!"
"Are they safe?" Owen asked in a tone aimed to curb her enthusiasm.
"I don't know of any side effects," Jack shrugged, "but you can conduct your own tests to be on the safe side."
"Will do," Owen mumbled around a mouth full of pizza with pepperoni, sausage, ham, chicken, salami, and miniature meatballs. Then he swallowed with an audible gulp and added, "But no one wears them until I am sure they're properly sterilized, and Jack, you'll have to decide who gets to be the number one guinea pig until I can formulate a cleaning solution that's a hell of a lot better than anything on the market right now, 'cause I ain't treating everybody for conjunctivitis every two weeks. As sensitive as they are, the eyes are surprisingly filthy. Add to that sticking bits of plastic that everybody and his brother has handled in your eyes, and it's a corneal abscess waiting to happen."
"Owen, that's disgusting!" Toshiko gasped.
"Yeah?" Owen said with all the mischievous delight of a twelve year old grossing out his sister, "If you think that's bad, you should read up on fungal keratitis. Mould growing on the cornea. About a third of the time, the patient requires a corneal transplant, if they can get rid of the infection."
"Thank you, Owen, I think you've made your point," Jack said. "We'd like to finish our dinner, so maybe you can put the rest of the risks associated with sharing contacts in your report when you finish your safety tests."
"Did you know there's even a viral strain of pink eye that is contracted from faecal matter?" he continued gleefully. "What I want to know is, who takes a shit, wipes their arse, and then puts in their contacts without washing their hands?"
"Owen!" the other four shouted almost in unison, and there was an audible thump as Suzie kicked him in the ankle under the table.
"Ow!" he yelped. "All right! I'll shut up. It's all right for Tosh to bore us to death with computer mumbo jumbo, but just let me try to educate you lot with information that could save your sight and what do I get for it? Abuse. It's bloody unfair if you ask me!"
"We didn't," Ianto deadpanned. "Eat your pizza."
"Y'know, if you had just gone to Jubilee Pizza, this would have only cost half as much."
"True, but there wouldn't have been anything for the grownups to eat."
"Who's grown up here?" Owen asked with irritation, favouring the younger man with a sceptical look.
"I never claimed I was," Jack chuckled roguishly.
"And you're working hard to prove that," Suzie taunted.
"Nothing wrong with that," the captain shrugged, stuffing a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth that dangled over his chin like a goatee until he slurped it up.
Everyone laughed at his demonstration except Ianto.
"Somehow I feel like I'm the only grown-up sitting at this table," the Welshman earnestly stated. "And I'm the youngest one."
"You look like you're fresh out of school," Owen huffed.
"I shave."
"Seriously?" Owen laughed past a bite of pizza. "Where?"
"I did at your bathroom, actually," Ianto deadpanned. "Though I had to search for the razor… you don't need it often, do you?"
"You used my razor?" Owen gasped, losing some pizza crumbs. "Mate, I seriously wish you would have asked before you did that."
"Oh, really?"
"Really, Ianto. I don't just use it on my face, you know?"
"What?" Toshiko gasped. "You mean to say you shave your legs?"
Owen just smirked and shook his head.
"Your chest then?" Suzie assumed, though she knew better.
"No, but I have found that when you can get a girl to go down on you, it's ever so much more exquisite if you're bare down there," he said.
Incredulously, Jack looked at him, thinking that that was a good idea.
"What?" Toshiko asked in a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
"He's saying he shaves his bollocks," Suzie confirmed.
"Really?" Toshiko blurted out.
"Hell, no!" Owen told her. "But I knew the look on the teaboy's face would be priceless if he thought I did."
But when Owen was looking at Ianto now, he could not find a trace of disgust in his features.
"Maybe we should all test ourselves for infection after sharing dinner with you," Ianto remarked dryly. "And for your information, I never used your razor. You just had it coming, asking such a childish question."
Pouting, Owen put his slice of pizza back down, coming back to his previous subject, "If someone were to fart on a pillow, and you lay on that pillow, and they were carrying a virus for pink eye, you could become infected very easily..."
"Ewwww! Owen, that's just gross!" Suzie complained, shoving her plate away.
"Good that we were about finished anyway," Toshiko sighed.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Ianto smirked, leaning back in his chair.
"Actually, it should," Owen lectured, "because all odours are particulate in nature, so when you smell shit, you're actually inhaling tiny little pieces of…"
"Owen!" Toshiko and Suzie all but shrieked and scooted back with their chairs.
"…faeces," Owen unapologetically finished his sentence.
"Eeeewwwww," said Toshiko and fled the boardroom.
"Doctor, you're disgusting," Suzie stated and followed her colleague.
Ianto just measuredly shook his head.
"Still true," Owen shrugged, stuffed the last piece of pizza in his mouth, grabbed another box of pasta, and hurried out on the other side.
Once the others had left the boardroom, Ianto just sat for a moment, thinking, before he gathered the dishes on a tray to take them back to the kitchenette. Jack watched him with a heavy heart, because it already felt so familiar to see him perform this task.
"Ianto, please wait a moment," Jack said. "Take a seat."
Dreading what was to come, as he was certain that Jack wanted to talk him into staying, Ianto sank down in the chair next to the captain.
"I hope you won't take this wrong," Jack muttered, "but… I contacted UNIT on your behalf to arrange Lisa's release."
It was all Ianto could do not to gape at Jack as this came unexpected. He had tried already to make UNIT comply and send his fiancé's remains to a funeral parlour, only to be put off over and over again.
"I'm sure you'll understand that she, due to her condition, had to be cremated," Jack went on, fumbling something out of a waistcoat pocket, "but I made sure that she's going to be taken to this firm," with that he put the card down on the tabletop in front of Ianto, "They know that you'll contact them in order to arrange the details."
Before Ianto could even think about a reply, his throat corded up. Battling emotions drove tears into his eyes.
"What did I do wrong?" Jack asked anxiously.
"Nothing," Ianto croaked. "It's just… I wanted to see her before… They wouldn't let me."
Jack's expression was full of compassion.
"I'm sorry."
"So… it's too late now?"
Now Jack bit his bottom lip. "I'm afraid so."
For a long moment, Ianto did nothing but sit and stare at an undefined spot at some point between the wall and his memory. Breathing still was hard with anxiety and grief cording up his lungs.
"Can I help?" Jack softly asked when the waiting began to wear him down.
"No, thanks," Ianto shook his head. "I just need a moment."
The moment became so long that it really tried Jack's patience. Still, the captain remained sitting with Ianto. He knew grief only too well and how it could petrify even the strongest men.
Out of the blue, Ianto broke the silence, hoarsely saying, "This… well, it's just… It's so thoughtful. Thank you."
The relief and compassion rolling off Jack almost took Ianto's breath away. With a small effort, he toned down what he received. His gaze drifted to the glass walls, but he could not see the others from where he was sitting.
"They don't really know that side of you, do they?" he softly queried. Jack seemed surprised. "Maybe that's why Suzie's resenting me."
"What exactly are you talking about?"
Ianto shrugged. "I can't label it. It's just… I'm under the impression that you're… different around me."
More at ease maybe? Jack thought. It still amazed him that he felt so acquainted with Ianto. What they had shared at Canary Wharf certainly played a role in it, but it was not the only reason.
"I don't know how I could possibly repay you," Ianto muttered.
"Well, there is something…"
"Don't!" Ianto cut him short, dreading to know that it was a date that Jack wanted to suggest. He could feel the fleeting mischief in the captain and hoped that was not what he intended to say.
"I would like to attend the funeral," Jack told him instead.
"Oh." Ianto was caught on the wrong foot. "Do you think that's a good idea?" At once he realised that Jack took this personally, so he rushed to assure him, "Once more bringing Torchwood into focus, I mean."
At that, Jack smirked broadly.
"I wasn't aware that the others have already corrupted you into thinking that I couldn't behave myself," he teased.
"They say that about you?" Ianto asked back with genuine concern. "That you can't behave yourself, I mean."
"All the time," Jack nodded gravely. "The twenty-first century is so inhibited."
Hearing amusement return into the captain's words reassured Ianto a little. The remark led him to another question, though, that he had mulled over for some time already.
"Jack," he carefully began, "I didn't mean to downright ask, but now that you're talking about the present like this… When were you born?"
At his query, Jack's smile got a sad touch and he leaned back in his chair. Ianto was prepared for him to change the subject, but then he answered.
"A long time ago in the fifty-first century."
Ianto did not need to ask how he came to Earth, having relived it through Jack's memories, but he yearned for another fact to be revealed.
"I have to admit that I was tempted to look it up in your file," he said, giving his words what he hoped was an amused note as if the mere idea was ridiculous, "and you don't need to answer, but…"
"But you'd like to know how long I've been living here," Jack completed his sentence. He sighed. "I came to Earth in 1869."
"Eighteen si…" the words got stuck in Ianto's throat.
"Yeah," Jack groaned. "I used my vortex manipulator to escape the game station, but it took me to the wrong century, burning out."
"Stranding you."
"Yeah."
Sensing Jack's mood drift into gloom, Ianto decided to try and change the subject, incredulously saying, "You lived through the Victorian Era… and you say the twenty-first century is inhibited?"
Jack smirked.
"If you knew the fifty-first, you wouldn't be asking that question," he chuckled. Favouring Ianto with a challenging look, he accompanied his next words with a lewd grin, "We would be at it like rabbits instead."
Embarrassed, Ianto realized that he gaped. With an effort, he schooled his features back into an earnest expression.
"See? Exactly what I mean," Jack snickered before Ianto could think of a come back. "There's love and sex and commitment, and where we see clear differences, you throw it all in one pot and call it marriage."
Ianto frowned.
"What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing," Jack shrugged. "I just have trouble reconciling your labels with what I grew up with."
Ianto had similar problems. "What's love for you then?"
"Very important," Jack answered without hesitation. "Still I refuse to adopt the misbelief that you can love only one person truly. That's just not true. We all have so much love to give and it's wrong to reserve it just for one person."
"We don't," Ianto argued. "We may have one partner, but we love so many people. Our families, our friends, our children…"
"Which is not what I'm talking about," Jack softly interrupted. "Are we still talking about my beliefs in general or certain persons in particular?"
Thoughtfully, Ianto chewed his bottom lip. While he was curious, he still was reluctant to be so forward to ask. Jack did not seem to have any such qualms.
"I love them all, you know," he went on, "Suzie, Toshiko, Owen, Ydris... you." Pausing, Jack eyed the Welshman intently. "You asked how I could court one while shagging the other. To you it seems to be an oxymoron, right? For me it's as natural as breathing to love more than just one person."
With bated breath, Jack waited for Ianto's reaction.
"Sorry, but that sounds callous."
"Far from it," Jack argued. "I think that it's a very honest form of a partnership to be open about all relationships that you have."
"So you wouldn't mind if your partner had other sexual relationships?" Ianto queried.
"Of course not," Jack shrugged. "It's healthy and if I was in a committed partnership I'd know that none of the others would be a challenge."
"Hmmm."
Thinking hard, Ianto leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You don't agree," Jack stated.
"What about reliability?" Ianto asked. "Let's take a couple as example where he's abroad, serving his country. How can she trust him to remain faithful?"
Scooting forward in his chair, Jack issued a challenge, "How can she begrudge him fulfilling an elemental biological need?"
"How can you commit to a partner without intending to be faithful?" Ianto shot back. "Isn't such a relationship condemned to fail?"
"No."
"But, Jack…"
"My parents never were married," Jack cut him short, "but they lived in a committed partnership for almost forty years. Dad often was away for months, which would have been very lonely if he would not have loved other partners."
"You're using the word love very lightly," Ianto accused.
"And I say that having sex with someone without loving him would be abuse," Jack countered. "Besides, didn't you just tell me you love many people?"
"But we don't make love to all of them!" Ianto said, growing frustrated.
"Well, we don't make love to our close relations either," Jack told him. "That's just bad genetic hygiene. But in my time, we're also a lot more physical in our affection. Where you might offer a handshake, we would go for a hug. If you were to offer a hug, we would probably throw in some seriously deep and passionate kissing. And physical intimacy between friends, the simple joy and comfort of another human's touch, doesn't make you unfaithful to your partner, if that partner is willing to let you give and receive love from others. Infidelity has nothing to do with sharing your heart. Infidelity is abandoning the one you promised to be faithful."
(28.06.2014 02:14:08) As the captain talked, his tone became wistful, and Ianto began to realize how lonely he must be, living in this time where people were possessive of their partners and jealous of their rivals when he was raised in a world where people were free to express the full depth of their affection for everyone they loved.
Taking a deep breath, Ianto thought about his next question.
"During all the time you spent on Earth… did you ever love someone enough to commit to him?"
"Her," Jack replied. "But the marriage failed."
"So she didn't trust you?"
"She did," Jack stated, getting up from his chair, "but she couldn't live with the fact that I don't age."
Obviously, their conversation was finished. Ianto did not mind. His head was swimming from the quantity of information. Slowly standing himself, he decided to part with a statement to the original subject.
"I trust you to be professional, sir," he said, "I'll let you know when the funeral will be."
"Okay," Jack murmured as he strode to the door to the catwalk.
"Fine," Ianto muttered and left toward the kitchenette.
tbc…