A/N: Hello my lovely, lovely readers! I am BACK! I had a little trouble with the concept for this chapter too so I apologize for the shorter two chapters! I promise that the next one will be much longer. (And might I say that I am overly excited to finish season 1 of Torchwood next chapter!) I know that some of you expect the relationship between Iris, Ianto, and Jack to settle down, but it's not quite over. It is pretty slow, I admit, but with so much happening to Iris and the migraine and tremors, it's bound to prevent her from thinking straight.

Eleana666: Hahahaha, thank you so much! I promise you that there will be much more affection among some of the characters here! Not much, because I know I'm not good at that, but enough (hehehe). Thank you so much for the review! I know I haven't been able to do much with the relationship between the characters, but I'll try harder!

But please be reminded that I only own my OCs and not Torchwood or Doctor Who itself. Any references and overarching tv show belong to respective owners. But please, leave me reviews and let me know what you want with how the pairing goes!

Chapter 11: Captain Jack Harkness

Iris looked at the screen of the TV and did only that. She wasn't sure what to feel. Fear? Joy? Anticipation? It felt like all three. It was Christmas night and lo and behold, there was the ship of the Empress of the Racnoss, in the sky. She just stared as she saw the tanks roll in and shut it down, while the Thames was drowned.

Jack was at her home, they had planned to quietly just spend Christmas with hot chocolate, presents and good food with TV. And then this had happened. Jack came from the kitchen holding a mug of hot chocolate when he saw her frozen staring at the TV screen. He saw what was there and gently set the mug down to go by her side as he listened to what was being said.

"Care to explain?" Jack asked gently.

"It's you-know-who" Iris replied.

"He drowned the Thames?" Jack asked.

Iris nodded and said,

"You better get ready for some heavy paperwork."

Jack looked confused and Iris sighed as she said,

"He did it in a former Torchwood location."

Jack cursed and said,

"When can we stop cleaning some of his messes?"

Iris then laughed darkly and said, "Never."

Jack returned to the Hub because Iris said that she had separate things to do on her own. When he left, he had heard the name Harold Saxon and saw Iris flinch quite visibly. He wasn't sure why that name had caused her to look so scared, but he didn't ask for questions, knowing that somehow, that man would be involved with something they did in the future.

Once that was dealt with, there seemed to be a bit of peace within Torchwood. Although they did have to lie their way around and clean up after what the Doctor had done, they didn't have much to do. Except for Iris. In secret, Iris had began preparing information on Harold Saxon and Martha Jones and her family. She also knew that it wouldn't be long until they would see the Doctor from their perspective. And that honestly ate at her nerves more than she had thought it would.

Bit by bit, she began preparing the information so that when the time came, the team would see the information and prepare themselves from the Toclafane. But what she also prepared for was another scenario.

If she didn't survive until the Doctor appeared.

She was never too sure whether she would be able to regarding the upcoming events for the team.

Days passed without any incident and then suddenly, there was blip on a location. She pulled a picture and took in a breath to calm her nerves but it didn't do much.

It was the Ritz. This was the episode about the real Captain Jack Harkness. It was the day that they had to open the Rift.

Jack and Toshiko had gone to the site of Rift activity while the rest of the team was at the Hub. Owen had decided to take a nap after a long night while Gwen had decided to read a magazine. Ianto was brewing Iris some coffee. Iris on the other hand nervously rubbed her wrists with a distant look on her face as she just stared at nothing.

Then a loud alarm went off, prompting Owen to jump awake from the sofa.

"What the hell is that?" Owen said, clearly tired as he rubbed his mouth to clean any drool that might have come out.

Iris looked at her computer as she snapped out of her daydream state and frowned as she said,

"Tosh's Rift monitor program. She set it to alert us if there were any further movements. The Rift's been opening more and more recently."

Owen nodded as he responded with,

"Yeah, well, I've noticed that. Doesn't take a genius."

Ianto came up and handed the cup of coffee to Iris, which she thanked him for. Ianto warmly smiled at her as he leaned down to look at the computer screen as he said,

"Tosh reckons the equations are forming some sort of pattern. I should call her. She may have readings on her end and this is over my head."

Iris looked at the man and said, "I'm not sure what equation Tosh used since she really didn't have a chance to explain it to me either."

Owen looked between the two people and frowned with concern as he asked,

"Er, why wasn't I told about this?"

Iris looked at him as she said,

"Well, she said that she wasn't quite sure if the results were finalized, and she wanted to make sure that it was accurate before telling you so that she made you proud about it."

Owen's confused facial expression immediately softened and Iris swore that she might have seen Owen blush a little.

Ianto stepped aside as he first contacted Gwen to go down to Sage Street.

Iris frowned as she couldn't get in contact with Jack while Ianto came back still talking to Gwen,

"The Rift monitor sounded. She's with Jack but both their phones seem to be dead and we can't access her files."

Iris immediately started to see if she could access Tosh's files on her own. However, Tosh must have put another set of safety measures in her computer as it didn't easily happen. Iris was working on it when moments later, she finally got in. She called the Owen and Ianto over.

"Hey, I've managed to get into Tosh's files. All her reports and stuff."

Owen and Ianto looked over her screen and noticed all the dates of Rift activity, concern clearly marking their faces as they were not sure what to expect. Then they heard Gwen communicate to them as she reported,

"The SUV's here. They must be here somewhere."

Iris frowned and began quickly to type in her own computer, which was to connect whatever information Tosh received to be automatically saved on her computer.

Owen then reported to them about the information of the Ritz.

"Right, the Ritz dance hall opened in 1932, shut down in 1989. Due to be demolished in one week. Now, the reported music is from the 1940s."

Ianto looked through the images of the Ritz on Tosh's computer, which included photographs from roughly that time period.

Owen frowned in concern and looked towards Iris in concern,

"Why is a ghost job taking them this long? Do you know anything about it?"

Iris looked up from her program and sighed as she said,

"I do. And it's still spoiler material. It's complicated right now. Whatever happens here reflects what needs to happen to play out what I know."

Owen sighed, frustrated, but relented as he went back to reading more of the information. Suddenly, Ianto 's eyes widened as he said,

"Guys, look there!"

He pointed to the man Bilis had that included the picture of the 51st century man, Toshiko and the real Jack Harkness.

Iris looked at the photography and had to admit that the real captain was also pretty much good looking and felt a tugging sensation in her heart that it was pivotal for the man to die in order for Jack to get his identity.

They were trying to find more information when Gwen reported in,

"I heard music earlier. If I can hear them, maybe they can hear me. They've got to come back."

With that, those at the Hub heard Gwen yell Jack and Tosh's name. However, nothing seemed to come back and then Iris was about to give more directions to Gwen when Owen spoke up.

"Ok, I know this is a wild idea, but maybe we can use Tosh's information to open the Rift and bring them back."

Ianto's eyes darkened as he said,

"We can't. Half the equation's missing."

Owen looked a little desperate and upset as he said,

"It can't be. It must be somewhere else. Let me try."

Ianto shook his head, wishing that Iris was paying attention to what Owen was trying to do as he said,

"It's not there. It might be in her laptop."

Owen looked up at Ianto when the man's face blanched a little as he muttered out,

"Which she never goes anywhere without."

Owen immediately yelled out, "Shit. Shit!" clearly stressed about having Tosh potentially stuck in another time zone.

Iris kept status with Gwen, who muttered,

"I've had a good look around but most of the doors are locked."

Then Iris finally heard the voice through Gwen's communicator, it was Bilis.

"Can I help you? I'm the caretaker Bilis Manger, at your service."

Gwen, surprised, responded politely with,

"Hello. Could you open it all up for me? I think some of my coworkers got locked in."

Bilis responded with, "Yes. Follow me."

Gwen thanked the man and they seemed to chat as Bilis questioned the woman, who had kept her communicator on live.

"Why were your coworkers in here anyway?"

Gwen didn't answer immediately, but she did say,

"Just business. Somebody reported in some trouble and we're part of this investigation."

Iris listened intently as she heard Bilis say, "You look worried, dear. I'll make you a nice cup of tea."

Later, it seemed that Bilis and Gwen were both in the man's office as Bilis said,

"Is anyone expecting you?"

Gwen then replied with, "Yes."

Bilis didn't seem to respond until a moment passed as he said,

"Perhaps you should call them, otherwise they may think you've disappeared too. I'll put the kettle on."

Gwen then whispered to Iris,

"Anything your end?"

Iris quickly looked at Ianto, who had been looking through some of the photographs quickly as he replied with,

"There are no more photographs of Jack and Tosh after that night. That's encouraging."

Owen muttered as he continued to look for more information regarding the second half of the equation

"Yeah, unless the bombs got 'em."

Ianto quickly said,

"The manager. Bili Manger, kept them for posterity."

They all heard Gwen gasp a little as she whispered,

"Bilis Manger? That's the name of the caretaker."

Ianto and Owen looked at Iris whose face darkened as Ianto asked,

"Can't be the same guy, can it?"

They heard Gwen pause and say,

"Not old enough. Although he does a look a bit out of his time. He wears a cravat."

Iris stayed silent as she heard Ianto voice his concern,

"Gwen, he's in the photo with Jack and Tosh."

Owen then quickly added in,

"Then he's the answer. He's come through the Rift. Find out what he's doing."

Ianto shook his head as he gently said,

"No. Get out, Gwen. Wait for backup. It's better if we head over there to help."

Owen shook his head, his fear for the rest of the teammates getting a little too desperate as he said,

"We can't lose him."

Ianto grabbed Owen's shoulders as he looked at the man and said,

"We can't lose Gwen too. Maybe this is a trap. He could be sucking us all back through time one by one. Get out of there, Gwen. That's an order."

Owen shoved Ianto away as he looked at Iris and Ianto as he said,

"I'm sorry, but who exactly put you in charge?"

Iris heard Gwen whisper that she was heading out of the office while Ianto and Owen began to argue even more. Then she stood up in shock as Owen violently opened a grill in the floor and pulled a rope.

Ianto yelled out,

"What are you doing Owen?"

Owen responded to the Welsh man, saying,

"We haven't got the missing numbers. We'll have to improvise with the Rift Manipulator."

Ianto panicked, saying

"We can't. It's risky enough with the equation. If we don't do this properly, anything can happen."

Owen was clearly upset as he said,

"Bombs are falling. They're stuck in the middle of the Cardiff Blitz. Tosh needs me. Jack needs you guys. It's our duty to get 'em out."

Iris immediately started to tell Gwen where to go so they could quickly get the second set of equations. But Owen and Ianto started to argue even more heatedly.

Ianto said,

"Open the Rift now and the whole world could suffer. We could all get sucked in. Who knows what will come out? This is about Tosh, isn't it? You're not thinking straight because she's stuck there right now."

Owen glared at Ianto as he said,

"Whereas your cyber-girlfriend stuck around, of course. Not that she had a choice, wired up in the cellar."

"Owen!" Iris yelled, not liking where this was going.

Ianto stayed quiet as Owen looked at Iris, finally realizing how emotional he had become. Then he sighed out loud as he then muttered,

"Maybe the Manipulator can calculate the missing figures."

And then without the chance for Iris and Ianto to stop him, Owen plugged wire into the Rift.

They held their breath in when nothing seemed to happen. Owen frowned in frustration again as he complained,

"It isn't working."

Ianto let out a breath of relief, not sure what to do as he said,

"Good. Jack would never have wanted us to use it this way."

Iris quickly went back to her computer, warily eyeing the two men as she asked Gwen about the location of the second half of the equation. She then talked to the two men as they seemed to just glare at each other.

"Look, there's still the second half of the equation. I know where Tosh put it, and Gwen is on her way to get it. If there's anything to rely on to safely get those two back, it's that part of the equation. Stop fighting and help me with this!" Iris said, almost in a scolding manner.

Ianto quickly headed to his desk and looked at the CCTV footages outside the Ritz to check on Bilis. Owen decided to help Iris with her various tasks that she had taken on.

Ianto spoke up as he said,

"No sign of Bilis leaving the area."

Owen looked at Iris for a moment and decided to grab his jacket and head out to help Gwen. Ianto looked at Iris as she shook his head to stop him from stopping Owen. She just mouthed the word 'Ritz' and Ianto continued to look at the CCTV footages.

When Ianto spotted Owen's car, he talked to Gwen

"Be careful, Gwen. Bilis is still around."

Gwen then asked,

"Owen where are you?"

Owen responded quickly with,

"I'm in the building Where's Bilis's office?"

Gwen replied to the question, recalling where it was

"It's at the far end of the corridor. I'll keep looking out here."

Iris and Ianto waited for any sign of the location of the second equation when they heard Owen swear and say,

"I didn't find any equations. Er, I'll er, get back to the Hub."

Gwen huffed in frustration as she said,

"Fine. I'll keep looking here, then."

While Owen was on his way back to the Hub, Gwen finally found the coffee canister that held the second half of the equation and she contacted the team, saying,

"Ianto? Iris? Yeah, it's me. I've found it. It's written in blood."

Ianto looked up at Iris, not sure what to say when he found Iris staring off into space again.

"Iris?" He gently asked as he came to her.

Iris jumped out of her seat, almost like she had not known he was there and said,

"I'm fine."

Ianto looked at her, concerned, but he didn't push it, knowing that this was not the best moment to push her.

Then Owen ran in, which made Ianto quickly fill the man in on what they found.

"Gwen's found the rest of Tosh's readings."

Owen then approached Iris's computer as he hurriedly, but hopefully asked,

"What's she got for us?"

Iris requested for a picture via phone, and quickly typed it in, but quickly swore when she realized that she was missing the last bit of the equation. Then she remembered that only one man could have done it. Then Gwen finally read out the last part of the paper that had been cut out.

"Owen… Tosh wrote a message at the end. It says, 'tell my family I love them. Owen, I love you'."

The Torchwood medic almost looked like the world fell apart around him and Ianto wasn't' sure what to do.

Iris gently and quietly looked at the team and said,

"I tried everything I can, but it still won't work. There's a piece missing."

Owen then froze as he said,

"Bilis had it all along."

Ianto responded with,

"What are we going to do?"

Owen looked up and said,

"Maybe the machine can work it out."

Iris realized what Owen had pulled out and tried to stop him, but it was too late. He already put the piece he found from Bilis' office and turned it. Luckily, nothing happened.

Owen kicked the ground as he rapidly said,

"There must be something in the safe. The piece fits. We just need better instructions."

Ianto shook his head adamantly, knowing the consequences would be terrible if they opened the Rift. He said,

"You can't open the safe. You've no right."

Owen yelled at both Iris and Ianto as he said,

"I am second in command! I have got every fucking right."

Ianto tried to stop Owen as he said,

"There's stuff in there we don't know about. That's the way Jack likes it."

Owen shirked Ianto's arm off his shoulder as he spit through his teeth,

"I'm not going to play with his toys, Ianto."

With that, Iris saw Ianto try to follow Owen and stop him from finding the blueprints for the Rift. Iris didn't stop Owen from going. She was split between letting the Rift open or to stop Owen. What was the right choice? Did she have to let it open to let the future she knew play out or did she do what Jack would want? As she struggled with herself, she felt a chill go down her back.

Iris turned around to only find herself looking at someone.

Someone that looked like her, but with short, curled hair and dyed a light brown at the tips. The woman was wearing black jeans, a white shirt, and black leather jacket. She had red lipstick and black eyeliner, giving her an edgy look. But what really stood out was how the woman looked only slightly older than her, but drastically older in the eyes.

Iris took in a breath and closed her eyes and opened them again. The person was still there. She looked like her, but Iris had never looked like the person across from her ever. Iris stood up a little bit and saw the woman smirking. The woman finally spoke,

"I know what you're thinking. It's creepy, I know, but I'm not really here."

"What?" was all Iris could really say.

"I'm here to tell you that despite what you want to do, you have to let the Rift open. Let the events take place. There's only so much you can change and this is supposed to be happen."

The person said.

"Who are you?" Iris asked.

The woman stopped talking and shook her head, sad smile forming on her lips. That was when Iris knew who this was.

It was herself.

She was looking at a future version of her. And despite all the questions that floated through her head, she couldn't speak.

The older version of Iris then spoke up again,

"I'm not really here, but I also can't hold this connection between you and I much longer. Make sure the Rift opens and the events that you plan go as you wish for. The Rift must be opened."

Iris was confused, but the woman disappeared from her sight as Ianto and Owen rushed back out with the blueprint.

Owen spoke out loud, bringing Iris back to the situation at hand.

"There's instructions in here. This isn't some random act of madness."

Ianto shook his head, still trying to stop Owen,

"It's a trap. Bilis wanted you to find it."

Owen looked up and asked the man, "Why?"

Iris replied with,

"To provoke the Rift and bring a horrible creature from within it."

Owen looked at her and then back to Ianto and said,

"I'm tired of being in awe of the Rift. I'm also not going to lose Tosh or Jack. I'm actually really tired of living with Jack's secrets. Other than Iris here, the rest of us don't even know who he is."

Ianto shook his head and said,

"He's our leader."

Owen paused, and then Iris saw a gleam of determination in his eyes settle in as he kicked Ianto and said,

"Not any more. Get out of my way Ianto."

Iris then gasped when Ianto pulled out a gun and pointed it at the medic as he dangerously spoke,

"Put the key down. Or I'll shoot."

Owen looked at Ianto for a moment but ran towards the Rift Manipulator and started it. Ianto shot Owen in the shoulder, causing Iris to scream and the central column of the Rift slowly began to move up and down just like the Tardis console's time rotor would. Iris saw Owen hold his shoulder in pain as the reality of the shot hit him. She rushed over to help the man so that he wouldn't get worse.

Meanwhile, Ianto looked at the Rift Manipulator in horror as he muttered out,

"What have you done?"

As Owen was trying to explain his actions, Iris looked back at the spot where she had seen her future self. Something about her future-self scared her more. It was as if future Iris looked almost haunted. Then she looked back at Owen and began to help to remove the bullet from his shoulder.

Owen looked at Iris and whispered,

"I knew we did the right thing, opening the Rift."

Iris didn't respond. The trio were silent and while Iris was finishing up bandaging Owen's shoulder, they heard Tosh speak.

"But it was wartime, I know, but it was beautiful."

Owen quickly stood up as he bolted to Tosh and hugged her tightly. Tosh looked decently surprised and looked to see what was going on, but she only found Iris and Ianto's dark faces.

Jack said out loud,

"There were angels dancing at the Ritz."

Iris looked at the man who came back and wasn't sure what to say. They met eye contact, but Iris saw a look in Jack's eye. But the man just silently went into his office and Iris froze on spot.

Tosh looked at Iris and said,

"Let me." Following the captain into his office.

Ianto looked at Iris, who looked a little hurt. He went up to her and hugged her, but felt her breathe out. Her shoulders shuddered and then he realized how tightly Iris hugged him.

"Iris?" Ianto asked, concern flowing into his body again as he felt her not let him go.

"I… I want to stay a little bit like this if it's ok?" Iris asked, her face in his chest as she was significantly shorter than him. He hugged her gently, rubbing his hand on her back to calm her down and said,

"It will always be ok. Iris, I promise you that we will work this out together."

Iris tugged herself closer, having many thoughts go through her head.

One was that Jack had met the man who had influenced him the name he currently went by. It was a special name for him now, and she wasn't sure what took place. And honestly, she also felt a bit hurt that Jack didn't come to hug her or say anything. He had seemed truly upset about something and she wasn't sure what it was about. Next thing she thought was that now, she truly didn't know what would take place. How Bilis would react to meeting her next.

Iris separated herself from Ianto, and looked up. She saw that Ianto was clearly upset with what happened. He quietly looked at her and asked,

"Did you know?"

Iris could only nod. Then, a thought came to her head and she said,

"Ianto, can you keep a secret?"

Ianto looked down at the woman in front of him in surprise and nodded.

"What I'm going to tell you is something you have to keep until the moment is right."

Ianto didn't feel good about how she was saying this.

"What is it?"

Iris looked around and then pulled Ianto to her computer and whispered,

"I'm going to tell you what will happen and what I'm going to do."

"What?" Ianto said, not sure that if he wanted to hear this.

"Iris, no, I don't think that's wise."

Ianto shook his head and didn't want to hear it. Somehow, the look she was giving him was as if she was leaving him instructions before she ran to her death.

"Ianto, you have to listen. I'm not sure if I will always be there to help you out. You need to listen to me."

Ianto froze. He knew that he had to listen. But he didn't want to. It felt like he was going to lose Iris. He didn't want to do that. He hadn't even told her what he felt about her yet.

Almost choking out tears, he whispered,

"What is it?"

Iris looked at his blue eyes, making sure he was ready to hear it, then slowly said,

"The Rift is open now and things will start going out of control. Things from the past, future, things not from Earth will start pouring in. We can't stop that. And like you suspected, this is all because of Bilis…"

"Then we can stop him from doing any-" Ianto began, not sure what to do with such knowledge that she was providing him with.

"Ianto! Listen to me!" Iris hissed.

Ianto quickly stopped and she went on.

"There's nothing we can do, but I planned something I know you're not going to like it, but this is where the secret between us starts." Iris said, waiting for Ianto to react.

Ianto hesitantly nodded.

"I'm going to make a deal with Bilis…"

"Iris!" Ianto said, dreading what she was going to do.

"I can't tell you what that entails, but you'll know when the deal is done. When it happens, Jack's going to stop whatever Bilis releases from the Rift. When that happens, I don't know exactly what will happen, but Jack will be dead for a few days and then come back."

Ianto looked confused, but Iris shook her head,

"Jack's human, but he can come back from dying. Don't ask why, I don't have time to explain…" she said as she glimpsed towards Jack's office, her eyes softening with sadness a little before the look of determination settled back in. She continued speaking,

"but when he does, we're most likely going to go after the Doctor. We'll be gone. That's when you have to go to my computer and read the files I've saved there. The moment you notice that we disappear, you have to do that. Otherwise, there's nothing I can do to help you guys here."

Ianto stayed silent a moment, not sure what to say before asking,

"Will you be safe?"

Ianto didn't miss Iris's guilty look and he grabbed her shoulders, wanting to shake her.

"Why? Why would you do this! You promised…"

Iris looked up at him, her heart breaking as she saw the heartache that was threatening to break Ianto.

"Because I think I know what my migraines are…"

Ianto blinked a little and trepidation dug in deeper into his stomach as he whispered,

"What?"

Iris hesitated before saying,

"The drums…"

Ianto looked down at her, and he didn't understand and was about to ask further when Iris continued,

"Please, don't mention this. Keep this a secret until the right moment comes."

Ianto looked into her dark brown, almost black eyes and said,

"I will…"

With that, Ianto hugged Iris, making sure that whatever happened, he will honor her words as if they were her last wish.