Torchwood: Divergence
Book One: Dychwelyd

Chapter 20

Jack could feel Ianto trembling against him, the spreading warmth on his thigh proof that the Changeling was still weeping.

"I told you before," he murmured. "If you want to see your family again, I will find a way to explain things."

"No…" Ianto whispered, his voice slightly muffled by his arm. "Safer for everyone if they believe I'm dead. I'm sorry about Alice and Steven. I sort of remember hearing you talk about what happened, but I think it was when I first came back and it didn't really register till Gwen told me again just now. You protected them for so long… it's not fair to lose them like that. You never should have had to make that kind of sacrifice. But she was right that we have a kind of family in Torchwood… and we have each other. I know that's not the same. I'm not blood kin or your wife… I'm just… here…"

"You're not just here," Jack countered firmly. "You're here because you were willing to endure two years of unspeakable torture in Hell to come back to me from beyond Death. Losing Alice and Steven isn't what shattered my world. And it may make me a cold-hearted bastard, but if I was given a choice of who I could have back in my life, them or you… I'd choose you, Ianto, every time.

"Yes, they were my blood relation and it destroyed a tiny part of me to sacrifice Steven and lose Alice because of it. But I always expected to watch them disappear in the passage of years knowing their loss would hurt for a while then fade like it always has before. I figured the same would happen with you at some point. But after Thames House, waking up and seeing your body, facing the fact that I'd let you die, that I'd as much as killed you with my own hands. Knowing I'd never hear your voice, or see your smile ever again because of it… that I hadn't told you I loved you too or how much I needed you. I may have been breathing, but I was dead inside. In all the years I've lived, I never felt that way before when I lost someone. I'd never once considered bargaining with the fate of the entire world to save a single life. No until it was you."

He carefully urged the young Welshman to sit up, squarely met his tear blurred gaze.

"We're better than family," Harkness stated, his expression leaving no room for doubt. "And if the Shadows that brought you back are right, we're forever. So don't worry about it anymore. We'll look after your sister and all just like the rest of Wales, the rest of the world, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ianto nodded, taking a deep shuddering breath.

Jack used the fingers of his non-sling bound hand to gently wipe away the tears on his lover's face, then leaned in close to give him a solidly comforting kiss.

"Better?" he smiled when he drew back.

Ianto managed a small but genuine smile, taking another deep breath and blowing it out slowly. He carefully shifted to climb to his feet, grimacing in pain as the still healing damage to his side advertised it presence again. Once he was steady on his feet, the immortal twenty-six-year-old offered the Captain a helping hand up off the floor. They started for the lift back to the main Hub together, Jack keeping a firm grip on the other man's hand.

"You're still putting off a tonne of heat," he frowned. "And you barely touched lunch. Are you sure you're healing okay?"

"Knitting just fine," Jones reassured quietly. "Don't worry... I'll be fighting fit by the time the team leaves. I think I just need to drink some more water or juice, and find something irritating to do that will keep my heart rate up but not put any strain on the damage."

"We'll see what we can find for that," the older man chuckled as they came out into the less used passage that led to the walkway past the kitchenette. "Maybe have you show me that file on the Doctor you referred to. I knew Torchwood had information on him from way back, but what I read was pretty sketchy. How did you come across something I wasn't aware existed?"

"Oh, that would be because you never had access to it before," Ianto explained simply. "It was part of the files off the server blades I salvaged from the Torchwood-London debris recycling sites, when you sent Tosh and me there to investigate that energy arc from the Rift. The ones I thought you and the others would have pulled on your first scavenge. I'd only found time to put it on flash drives and get the files all downloaded into Mainframe a few days before Johnson stuck a bomb in your stomach. Sorry..."

"So, what you're telling me is that the She-Bitch of the Universe who ran Canary Wharf had been holding out on me for years," Harkness complained. "Since way before I cut ties and started gearing Torchwood to actually do the job it was designed for. Well, my heart rate's pretty high now. That stupid, self-centred, over confident, short-sighted cow."

"Wow..." the young Welshman beside him breathed, raising both brows. "Okay... But that was actually more the Future Actions Committee than Yvonne herself. Don't get me wrong, she did have a good number of high-handed moments that were less than brilliant. To her credit though, she still maintained her dedication to Queen and Country even after they put her brain in a Cyberman body. Actually turned on the others and managed to buy your Doctor time to stop the dual invasion... gave me a chance to get to Lisa and make it out alive. And I truly enjoyed the span I spent as her PA... just enjoyed the Archives more."

"That I didn't know," Jack admitted as they came down the stairs near the workstations, honestly surprised.

"Didn't know what?" Gwen asked as she and the others appeared from the area of the Boardroom.

"Just swapping Canary Wharf war stories," the not really American immortal replied. "Ianto needs a job to do that's aggravating enough to accelerate his heart rate, but doesn't require actions that might put any stress on his wounds. Suggestions?"

"I'd say take him to your room and do a striptease," Gwen smiled wickedly. "But the bandages sort of dampen the atmosphere and having your arm drop off would totally ruin the mood."

"You are an evil woman, Gwen Cooper," Harkness laughed. "And I'm serious. He heals major damage better if his heartbeat's cranked, but we can't risk exacerbating the wounds or it's pointless."

"We've got a load of 999 calls needing linked to possible Rift activity from before the Scieron gummed the works," Turlough pointed out. "UNIT never logged anything specific, so I've been trying to match their records with the police recordings and associated files."

"Ianto?" Jack queried uncertainly. "Irritating enough?"

"It'll do," Ianto nodded, and then added a whisper as he headed for the workstation in the curve past the medical bay. "Till your arm won't drop off and 'totally ruin the mood'."

Only his partner was close enough to hear the last bit, so the rest of the team was left wondering why the Captain was chuckling as he strode toward his office.

"Right then," Gwen pronounced briskly. "Let's get back to work."

Lois headed for the lift to return to the desk upstairs, Turlough went to show Ianto the 999 files, and Cooper resumed the monitoring of the Rift readings. It was just a matter of time until another spike occurred, and the team could only hope that whatever came through wasn't as nasty as the uninvited guests they'd already faced in the morning hours.

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AN: Seems like the calm before the storm to me…

Sandysan2013 – I try to write Gwen more like I wished her character would have been, make her a better person than what we were saddled with in the series, present her as not so manipulative and self-centred. But that too often doesn't ring true because of how the character was always written for the screen and novels. So I'm afraid that those annoying flaws (see "Gwen needs to learn to appreciate what she has, that not every man who lays eyes on her wants/has to sleep with her, to keep her nose out of the private lives of her co-workers, that the Universe does not revolve around her and she won't always get what she wants, to show a little compassion and her 'heart and humanity' to her team mates, and to stop thinking she knows more than those who have been at the job for years." or "Just kill her for Pete's sake!") will still rise to the surface in my story, but won't be allowed to run rampant and consume the plot the way they did in the hands of RTD and the BBC. Thanks for reviewing.

Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM