AN: Thank you to my beta Inusagi. She has had a crazy week and she still helped me make this a perfect chapter. I love this chapter, simply because of the drama between Ianto and Owen. Anyway, I would like to take a second and thank all those who have followed and favorite this story and my other ones as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood.
Spoiler: Captain Jack Harkness.
Warnings: Cussing.
SAN: Taamar has looked through this now as well.
Ianto walked into the Hub on the morning of January 21st. He would be happy when the month changed, so that when he looked at the date he wouldn't instantly know the number of days it had been since he had watched his future wife die.
He seemed to be the only one present that morning. Well, that was a lie. Owen was passed out on the couch, but he didn't count. He was hardly even at the Hub anymore, too busy trying to dull the pain of losing Diane with drink. Ianto was pretty sure the doctor was abusing prescription pain killers, as well.
He wanted to comfort the angry man, just as Owen had done for him, but every time he tried Owen would let loose at him with venomous words. Sometimes he allowed it, just to let the man have some sort of outlet.
The sound of Tosh's Rift monitor pulled Ianto from his worried thoughts. He walked over to Tosh's computer and pulled up the program to see if he could figure out the issue.
"What the hell is that?" Owen groaned, waking from his sleep.
"Tosh's Rift monitor program; she set it to alert me if there were any further movements." Ianto explained, staring intently at Tosh's computer. "The Rift's been opening more and more recently."
"Yeah, well, I've noticed that. Doesn't take a genius," Owen yawned in his now ever present arrogant tone.
Ianto ignored him and continued to explain. "Tosh reckons the equations are forming some sort of pattern."
He decided that whatever the monitor program was trying to tell him, he wasn't going to figure it out without Tosh. "I should call her. She may have readings on her end, and it's a bit over my head."
"Erm… Why wasn't I told about this?" Owen asked as Ianto pressed the mobile to his ear.
"Well, you've been off, haven't you?" Ianto replied. He got a disconnect signal on the other line. "The line's dead."
Ianto tried Jack's phone. It was dead as well.
Ianto went to Jack's office to see if he could find a clue about where he and Tosh were. He smiled when he saw a small post-it note attached right to the spot where Ianto would place Jack's coffee every morning.
Ianto,
Tosh and I went to check out a haunted dance hall on Sage St., shouldn't be long.
~CJH.
Ianto called Gwen.
"Hello," her voice said cheerfully when she answered.
"Gwen, can you get down to Sage Street?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"We need to get ahold of Tosh. The Rift monitor sounded off. She's with Jack, but both their phones are dead and we can't access her files," Ianto explained.
"Okay, I'll get down there now," Gwen chirped, then ended the call.
Ianto walked back towards Tosh's computer only to find Owen messing with it.
"Hey, I've got into Tosh's files," he informed Ianto, sounding more excited than he had in a while. "All her reports. See there," he pointed to the screen, "December 24th. That's when Diane flew through the Rift."
Ianto understood the excitement now.
"I had to let her go," Owen continued, now sounding a bit sad at the memory.
Ianto decided now would be a perfect time to try and get Owen to open up again, "You were in love with her, weren't you?" he asked gently.
Owen paused for a minute, then went on speaking as if Ianto hadn't said anything. "If Tosh knows a way of opening the Rift, maybe we can get Diane back."
"Jack would never allow it. Opening the Rift could devastate the city."
Owen glared at him and walked away.
"The SUV's here, they must be here somewhere." Gwen's voice said over Ianto's comm unit. He didn't respond to her. He decided instead to do a little research on the haunted dance hall.
TW-TW-TW
"Right, the Ritz Dance Hall. Opened in 1932. Shut down in 1989. Due to be demolished one week from now. The reported music is from the 1940s," Owen stated, reading off a paper Ianto had printed out.
Ianto was staring at the various pictures of the dance hall he'd pulled up on the monitor in the conference room.
"Why is a ghost job taking them this long?" Owen mused.
"All those young soldiers," Ianto whispered, more to himself than to the other man. He watched the different pictures appear on to the screen and then disappear. Suddenly, one caught his eye. "Owen, look. There."
Ianto pointed in horror at a picture on the screen that showed Jack and Tosh. In 1941.
"What the fuck?" Owen shouted, coming up to stand in front of the screen.
"How are we going to get them back?" Ianto whispered.
TW-TW-TW
Ianto stared at Tosh's computer, willing it to give him the answer. It just stared blankly back at him.
Owen walked up behind the Welshman. "Okay, so we use Tosh's information to open the Rift and bring them back," the doctor suggested as if he was deciding which film to see that day.
Ianto could hear that deranged bit of excitement in the man's voice again.
"We can't—half the equation is missing."
Owen's excitement faltered. "It can't be. It must be somewhere else!" He pushed Ianto away from the computer. "Let me try."
Ianto took a deep breath and tried not to snap at the grieving man. If anyone understood the effects grief could have on one's personality, it was Ianto.
"It's not there. It might be in her laptop," he stated calmly.
"What?" Owen started looking around frantically for the personal computer.
"Which she never goes anywhere without," Ianto added, a bit angry because that was something Owen should know about Tosh.
"Shit." Owen growled under his breath. "Shit!" he yelled, and stalked off. It seemed to be a recurring theme with him today.
"I've had a good look around, but most of the doors are locked," Gwen's voice explained from Ianto's comms.
Ianto rolled his eyes. He had already informed her that their coworkers were in 1941, what did it matter if the doors in the hall were locked?
He sighed. He was worried about Tosh most of all. If for some reason they failed today and were unable to bring Tosh back, she would grow old and die before she was even born. Jack, on the other hand, would be back looking just as young and dashing as he did when he left the Hub this morning. The only worry he had about Jack was personal and selfish, so he kept it pushed down, deciding it was best not to dwell on it.
TW-TW-TW
Ianto looked at the pictures of the dance hall in the conference room.
"Anything on your end?" Gwen's voiced asked in his ear.
He bit his lip slightly and pressed the button on his ear piece to reply. "There are no more photographs of Jack and Tosh after that night. That's encouraging."
"Yeah, unless the bombs got them," Owen stated.
Ianto ignored Owen's unhelpful comment and continued. "The manager, Billis Manger, kept them for posterity."
"Billis Manger, that's the name of the caretaker," Gwen interjected.
"Can't be the same guy, can it?" Ianto asked rhetorically. There was no way it was the same guy.
"Not old enough," Gwen answered anyway.
Not dead enough, he thought.
"Although, he does look a bit out of his time. He wears a cravat," Gwen continued.
It was in that moment, as Ianto looked at the picture of an old man wearing a cravat, that Ianto remembered he worked for Torchwood and would live on throughout space and time forever. Everything was possible.
"Gwen, he is in the photo with Jack and Tosh." Ianto warned quickly.
Owen came bounding into the room, full of excitement again. "He's the answer! He's come through the Rift!" he bellowed almost happily. "Find out what he's doing."
"No, get out, Gwen. Wait for backup!"
"We can't lose him!" Owen spat.
"We can't lose Gwen!" Ianto spat back. "Maybe this is a trap. He could be sending us back through time one by one."
"Get out of there, Gwen. That's an order!" Ianto demanded through the comms.
"I'm sorry, but who exactly put you in charge?" Owen questioned.
Both men glared at each other for a few moments before Owen, in a valiant attempt not to disappoint fans of his earlier tantrums, stomped out of the room.
Ianto's personal mobile rang before he could follow the grown man, who was behaving like a stroppy teenager.
"Ianto Jones," he snapped into the phone.
"Cranky?"
"Jace, I don't have time right now."
"You called me Jace again."
Ianto rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"
"I was going to ask you to lunch," Jason said hopefully.
"Well, I would, but you know, I am actually doing work. You know, unlike yourself. We don't all have minions to do our bidding," Ianto snapped.
"What are you doing, cleaning up alien guts?" Jason teased.
"No, I'm trying to save the world from a grieving, angry, and bitter doctor!" Ianto yelled and disconnected the call. He was tired of being underestimated.
TW-TW-TW
"What are you doing, Owen?" Ianto questioned when he found Owen messing with the Rift Manipulator.
"We haven't got the missing numbers. We're going to have to improvise with the Rift Manipulator." Owen explained as he continued to pull wires out of the floor.
"We can't. It's risky enough with the equation. If we don't do this properly, anything could happen." Ianto tried to explain.
"Bombs are falling! They're stuck in the middle of the Cardiff Blitz. It's our duty to get them out!" Owen yelled.
"Open the Rift now and the whole world could suffer! We could all get sucked in, and who knows what will come out?" His temper was flaring.
"This is about Diane, isn't it? When will you accept that she choose to leave you!" Ianto growled.
"Whereas your cyber-girlfriend stuck around the course! Not that she had much choice, wired up in the cellar!" Owen spat.
"That was different."
"Yeah, it was. Mainly, because Diane didn't try and kill us all. And, oh yeah, she also happened to be a human being—" Owen sniped.
"Stop it," Ianto warned.
"—Not some screwed up metal monster!" Owen finished.
"I thought she was still Lisa! I loved her! You only knew Diane for a week," Ianto growled, anger taking over his usual calm.
"And it wasn't enough!" Owen shouted. He paused for a minute. "Maybe the Manipulator can calculate the missing figures." he said, plugging in a final wire.
Ianto sighed when nothing happened.
"Isn't working," Owen complained.
"Good. Jack would never want us to use it this way," Ianto reasoned, finding his calm again.
"There's a piece missing. We've got to find it." Owen was fretting like an addict looking for his next fix.
Ianto decided at that moment that Owen was in no shape to be at work. "Maybe you should go home."
Owen looked up at the now in-control Welshman. "You don't have any power over me." he insisted, taking a step closer to Ianto, trying to intimidate him.
Ianto stood his ground.
"Okay, Ianto. We'll play it your way. Safe and boring."
To no one's surprise, he marched off angrily again.
TW-TW-TW
Ianto sat at Tosh's computer and typed in the equations Gwen was reading off to him.
"I need more equations, Gwen," he said when she had finished and he still didn't have enough numbers.
"Okay, I'll continue to search." She responded. He switched off his comm.
He was stressed out because Owen had decided to go to the dance hall too. All he could think about was both Owen and Gwen getting sucked back in time, leaving him alone to deal with whatever Billis Manger was planning. He'd already decided he'd be calling in help from Jason if that were to happen.
As if Jason had sensed the Welshman was thinking about him, Ianto's phone rang.
"Ianto Jones," Ianto snapped, irritated.
"Is there real danger, Yanni? Do I need to be calling in the troops?" Jason asked.
"I don't know," Ianto sighed, sitting down on the couch. "I don't know what to do, Jace." His voice was barely a whisper now.
"Hey, why do you sound like a man giving up? My charges never give up, so don't you dare do it," Jason urged with encouragement.
"Jason, there is a possibility that the Rift will be opened today. Forcefully."
"Well, don't let that happen." Jason simplified.
"Okay, yeah, thanks for that advice." Ianto snaked, rolling his eyes. "Look, Owen wants to open it. Jack isn't here to prevent it. Owen is second in command, what am I supposed to do?"
"Remember that you are a Child of the Rift. You protect her!"
"It is not a god, Jason," Ianto responded slowly.
"Yes it is, Ianto." Jason replied, just as slowly.
"Regardless," Ianto snapped. He wasn't in the mood to discuss religion at the moment, "You're right. I have to prevent it from being opened."
"Okay, I am going to start taking precautions here. Umm, if it does happen, I hear it's painful for us. I've never experienced it but…" Jason sounded a bit nervous now.
"Alright, I will keep you informed." Ianto whispered.
"I love you, Ianto."
Ianto bit his lip. If things did go wrong, it could be the last time he talked to his guardian in this life. "I love you, too." he whispered and then ended the call.
"Ianto," Gwen's voice came over the comms.
Ianto switched his comm back on. "Yeah," he said, standing up and walking back to Tosh's computer.
"Yeah, it's me I've found it. It's written in blood," Gwen said right as Owen came back into the Hub.
"Gwen found the rest of Tosh's readings," Ianto called to him.
"What's she got for us?" Owen asked, crazy excitement back. He took over at the computer.
"Cos, sine, square, axcx equals x over 2." Gwen read.
"No, I need at least three more numbers, Gwen. They must be somewhere else," Owen growled, frustrated again.
"No, they're not." Gwen said simply.
"Well, how do you know?" Owen asked with annoyance.
"Somebody's scraped out the final numbers."
TW-TW-TW
"It still won't work, there's a piece missing," Ianto explained with irritation as he watched Owen messing with the Rift Manipulator again.
Owen pulled something out of his duffle. "Billis had it all along."
"We still don't have all the equation," Ianto tried to reason.
"Well, maybe the machine can work it out," Owen suggested. He went to place the missing piece in the machine.
"Owen!" Ianto yelled.
Owen put the piece in place. There was a pop and Ianto felt a sharp pain in his head, then as fast as it happened it was gone.
Owen was on his way to Jack's office before Ianto could register what was happening.
"There must be something in the safe. The key fits, we just need better instructions," Owen explained, that annoying excitement in his voice again.
"You can't open the safe! You've no right!" Ianto insisted. Owen began to look through the drawers of Jack's desk.
"I'm second in command! I've every fucking right!" Owen spat.
"There's stuff in there we don't know about! That's the way Jack likes it!" Ianto snapped.
"I'm not going to play with his toys, Ianto!" Owen growled. He pulled out a small book that Ianto knew held the passwords to the safe.
Ianto ran a hand through his hair. He wanted to stop Owen, he needed to, but a small selfish part of him wanted the doctor to succeed. He pushed that part down.
"Rhea Silva, the god of war's missus and a nine digit number. Not so clever, Jack." Owen said. He walked towards the secure archives. "Move!" he yelled at Ianto.
Ianto watched as Owen opened the safe and pulled out artifact after artifact. He was praying he wouldn't find anything useful.
"Blueprints to the Rift machine!" Owen exclaimed as he opened the last container.
Ianto lunged at him, but Owen was too fast and he was out of the office and headed to the Rift Manipulator. Ianto raced after him.
"There's instructions in here. This isn't some random act of madness!" Owen yelled, sounding beyond mad.
"It's a trap! Billis wanted you to find it!" Ianto shouted, trying to get the doctor to see reason.
"Why?" Owen asked in disbelief.
"To provoke the Rift! To incite total chaos and destruction! All reports of the haunted dance hall were anonymous. What if it was him? Please, listen to me!" Ianto begged.
"I'm tired of being in awe of the Rift! I'm tired of living with Jack's secrets! We don't even know who he is!" Owen yelled.
"He's our leader!" Ianto cried.
"Not anymore! Get out of my way," Owen growled, heading towards the Rift machine.
Ianto jumped him. They struggled for a minute until Owen got the upper hand, elbowing Ianto hard in the stomach then standing up and kicking him in his groin. Ianto felt his breath leave him. Jason was right. He needed a refresher course in combat.
Ianto was going to have to go with the last resort. Once he was able he raced into the armory and grabbed a gun. Then he ran back to the Rift Manipulator where Owen was just about to place the key into the machine.
"Put the key down…" Ianto warned, pulling up the gun, "Or I'll shoot."
Owen turned around and stared in shock at the office boy, as if he couldn't believe the man was defying him.
"You have to let Diane go! Like I did with Lisa," Ianto exclaimed, trying not to shake.
"Don't compare yourself to me. You're just a tea-boy." Owen spat.
"I'm much more than that. Jack needs me!"
"In your dreams, Ianto. In your sad wet dreams when you're his part-time shag maybe. That Rift took my lover and my captain! So if I die trying to beat it, then it will all be in the line of duty."
Owen didn't know what that Rift had done to Ianto, and for some reason that pissed him off beyond belief and he pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed into Owen's shoulder, but the doctor didn't let it stop him from pushing the key into place.
A pain shot through Ianto's head, sharper and stronger than the pain from before. "You don't know what you've done!" Ianto yelled.
He walked away, leaving the doctor bleeding on the ground. He had to get away; the pain was overwhelming. He quickly made his way to the toilets, where he vomited until his stomach was empty and his abdominal muscles ached. It was like a migraine from hell.