Author Note: Hello my lovely readers! I am BACK. I am skipping the episode with Eugene because… well… I think most of us can agree that it was mostly for Gwen's development and I will keep it that way. I will be mentioning that episode within the beginning of this chapter, but we know that the episode itself wasn't that too great compared to all the other episodes from season 1. And anyways, I cannot really do much when the whole episode was from the perspective of a dead person (:D)
YolandaLiao: Thank you so much for your reviews on every chapter! I absolutely appreciate it so much! I know Gwen is a tough character to like from season 1 and 2, but I hope that something changes? Maybe? Hahaha, I know that the last chapter ended in both confessing, but… hey, I wouldn't really say that it's quite the ending to the love triangle just yet…. Hehehe… Who knows? Maybe Ianto might do something too?
XoXoXo: OMG thank you so much for your love. I am trying my best to find the right ground for the team's relationship with Iris, but not only is she still growing, but the team is as well. I have much to do until they all realize what they are to each other.
Minho'sgirl15: Thank you so much! I didn't get to thank you earlier, but I hope it's not too late to say thank you. I will update asap (Whenever I have time in the busy life of mine) but thank you for your love and support.
WRose: You lovely, lovely person. Thank you so much for your criticisms and love and the feels you leave in the reviews, I absolutely melt when I read your reviews. Please continue to support me through this story!
TheGravekeeper: Thank you so much for your love! I absolutely love reading the reviews, because they mean so much to me as a writer.
Anyway… please enjoy and maybe follow or favorite? Please? (oh, and leave reviews or messages so I know what to do in the future!)
Chapter 9: Out of Time
The team had just come back from the incident with Gwen being saved by Eugene. It was funny, really that they had never noticed that the item that Gwen was investigating actually led to his spirit saving her. They never thought that Gwen would be so adamant about an investigation, but it finally happened, and they felt a little bit more comfortable with her around them. For some reason, this case helped her finally grow up in the realm of working in Torchwood.
Jack saw Tosh and Owen head over together to Iris's room. She had been discharged a while back, but he and Owen had suspended her from field work since she was still recuperating. However, they realized that the medication that Owen had increased the dosage of, was slowly not helping her headaches. She wasn't deathly ill. She could still function and work, but her mood increasingly became unstable, and they could not approach her as naturally as they did before until she finally snapped.
With that, Jack also noticed how Iris avoided him altogether after that time when he confessed. He wasn't sure why she was avoiding him, but he decided to wait. He was in his office when he noticed Iris coming up to the Hub, carrying a bowl of pasta in her hands as she came in.
With nothing much to do, she had resorted to cooking and whatever distracted her. Being stuck in the past, she sometimes vented her anger out by furiously ranting about anything that got in her way. It was actually funny to watch her rant at a poor box of pizza when it had been lying on her desk because Owen had placed it there momentarily.
Jack smiled, and got up, saying,
"Hey Iris, how were you?"
Iris looked up, and quickly ducked her head, mumbling,
"Miserable."
Owen frowned a little. He had also noticed how Iris avoided long conversations with Jack. What had the man done? An awkward silence filled the Hub until Ianto coughed a little and said to Iris,
"How about, we watch that movie you talked about?"
Iris looked up at Ianto and smiled. She nodded and bounded back towards her room, leaving the team there. Owen and Tosh looked back and forth from Jack and Ianto, aware that there was a type of love triangle going on. Gwen was the only one who was not aware of it from the entire team, and thank goodness she didn't know. If she had, the gossip would have been difficult to bear.
Ianto, slowly made his way to Iris's room to watch the movie. Jack on the other hand, went to his office to bury himself in work, slightly dejected from Iris avoiding him again. Once he was out of sight, Toshiko and Owen sighed heavily from the tension. They glanced at each other when they realized how ridiculous the situation had become, and giggled a little. They couldn't believe their eyes at first when they both realized how the two men fell for Iris. And now, behind the scenes, they would giggle and act like a fangirl and fanboy, trying their best to hide from internally screaming with feelings when the trio acted a certain way.
After the movie ended Iris came back out immediately and started washing the dishes, making sure to take turns with Ianto every time they did so. At this point in time, Owen, Tosh and Gwen had already gone home, so the only other person left in the Hub was Jack. She tried to distract herself by not thinking about the incident from the hospital. She clearly remembered saying
"I love you."
back at Jack, but she immediately apologized and told the man to think nothing more of it. Since then, she has been avoiding him in part because she was terrified of what should happen and what she wanted. Even then, she wasn't entirely sure about what she wanted. She had never really felt this way towards a man before. Jack had given her space, and she noticed that he had backed off, but something kept making her feel guilty. As if she didn't deserve this. And as if it would all come to an end for her before she had the chance. So why hurt Jack at all if she was not sure of the future?
But what she and the team didn't know, was that her thoughts, emotions, and judgment were all becoming muddled due to her headaches.
Couple days later, the Rift had been active again. Iris pinpointed the location to be at a certain airfield and got them cleared to receive the people who were to arrive. Iris took a glance at Owen, knowing that the man could get too attached to Diane in this version of reality. It didn't sit well with her to do what she planned, but she was ready to do it. For Owen. She remained at the Hub, waiting patiently for the team, still trying to get her mind sorted.
By the time Jack, Owen, Gwen, and the people who stepped into the wrong time arrived, Iris sighed and got up to welcome them. As she stood up, she heard the alarm blaze to indicate their arrival, which was then followed up with,
"There's no need to be frightened." By Jack.
She heard the man ask who they were, which Jack replied with,
"The least you know about us, the better. Meet the team."
Iris noticed how Jack looked at her, nodding in her general direction. She introduced herself.
"Hello, I'm Iris."
Then the rest of the team introduced themselves along with the three people. Iris took a sidelong glance at Owen, who seemed to be slightly disinterested in Diana. Iris frowned when Diane tried flirting on Owen, but only got some sort of 'help me' look he gave towards Tosh.
"Tosh, is there something going ono between you and Owen?" Iris whispered.
Tosh looked at Iris a little nervously and said,
"I asked him out on a date…. Well, a beer really. We just got a bit closer, and I finally seem to have gained a little courage… that's all. Don't. Make. Anything. Out. Of. This!" Tosh said, blushing a little.
Iris smirked and said, "Don't worry. I won't tell a soul about this."
Tosh shook her head, knowing that somewhere in Iris's mind, a little version of Iris was screaming in joy, just like she almost had when Iris had first met Torchwood.
Iris looked at the conference room to find that Jack was talking with their visitors. She wasn't sure what to feel about the new course of development. Everything seemed to change bit by bit, and she was beginning to feel out of place. She especially didn't want to involve herself in the conversation that the visitors seemed to have with the other members. The talk about being out of time was getting at her.
Ianto noticed how distraught Iris seemed to be getting as she was actively avoiding helping the people who had fallen through the Rift. It wasn't really like Iris to ignore anyone. Within the time the team got to know Iris better, she always seemed to jump in place to help people out. But after the incident with Suzie, Iris looked almost like she was haunted.
There were clearly black circles under her eyes and she wasn't eating as much for the past few days. She was slowly losing weight and became more withdrawn to herself. She no longer really talked to them much, and enjoyed being alone more than ever. The once lively and curious Iris had disappeared. It hurt Ianto that she seemed to be holding everything in. All the knowledge of their futures along with probably suffering from the trauma of almost dying multiple times. He wished he could help, but he didn't know quite what to say to her. He had hoped that Jack would ask her questions or if he hadn't, that the captain would notice the change in Iris. But nothing seemed to take place.
Suddenly, the team stopped talking to Diane, Emma and John when Iris spoke up.
"Emma and Diane can stay at my place."
Jack looked at her in surprise and asked,
"When did you buy a place to stay in?"
Iris looked at him calmly, and quietly replied with,
"After… getting out of the hospital."
The team carefully looked at Jack to notice a look of hurt flash across his face before it completely disappeared.
"But that was a while back…"
Iris looked downwards and said, "I didn't get to move yet. But I managed to scrounge up a bed, sofa, and some other necessary furniture. The decorations are not done yet, but I can take them and how them around. It is a woman's house, so I'm not sure if John wants to stay with them since it's a small place."
Jack just looked at Iris calmly with an unreadable face and said,
"That should be better for all of us for a while as they settle down. That way, we can find better places for them to get adjusted to."
With that, Iris helped the women out with Ianto. The man had volunteered, and Jack knowingly agreed. If anybody else were to stand by Iris's side, Jack wanted it to be Ianto.
Once everything was settled down, Ianto drove them to Iris's new home. Curiosity seemed to spark questions from Diane and Emma. But Iris visibly flinched when Emma asked,
"Where are you from Iris?"
Ianto felt nervous, waiting for Iris to break down. But Iris gave Emma a sad smile and replied with,
"I come from a different time and place too."
Emma and Diane looked shocked and they pried a bit with more questions.
"Are you from the past too?"
Iris shook her head in reply with, "No, I'm from the future. I seem to have come to Cardiff from the United States."
"Wasn't it difficult to get adjusted to the past then?"
Iris once again shook her head, saying "Not really. I grew up in this time. It's just the fact that I'm living in Cardiff from scratch that caught me by surprise."
"But wouldn't your current existence clash with your past self?" Diane finally asked.
Iris' eyes dimmed a little, almost as if her life was snuffed out for a moment. Ianto genuinely became worried when a glint came back and she smiled again, responding with,
"I'm not from this universe. I… come from a different Earth. A parallel universe. I don't know why… and maybe, once the right man comes along, he could explain it to me. Even if a little."
Suddenly, Iris chuckled a little, as if she was just exhausted, as she continued,
"But then again. I highly doubt that he will figure it out until it's a little too late…"
Ianto, at this point, wanted to genuinely stop the car and hug her so that he could comfort her. But considering how fragile Iris's mental state seemed to be as time passed, he wasn't sure if that was a good idea. It seemed that Diane and Emma caught on with the tension in the car that the topic was not a great one. Here they were, struggling with the concept of traveling out of their own time. But in front of them, there was a woman who was ripped out of her own universe, in a different time, different place, living every day, not complaining.
Diane and Emma stayed with Iris as she helped them out. It seemed that Ianto had been helping Iris move without letting Jack know. So instead of heading back to the Hub, Iris stayed at the house she had bought while John was given a place of his own in a hostel as of now.
Iris looked at the women's reactions as they looked around the house. Awe was clearly written in their faces. The place had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one spacious living room, one office room, one living room and a kitchen with a small table. Originally, Iris intended to get a smaller place, but considering her relationship with the team, if somebody became too drunk, they would need another place to stay where she might be able to look after them. Although, she wasn't sure if she had the strength to be able to do that anymore.
"I'm sorry that it's not completely furnished yet. I got the basic stuff that I needed, and thankfully, I got a place with two bedrooms."
Diane looked at Iris and smiled warmly, saying
"It's great. Compared to when we've slept in barracks, this can be considered heaven."
Iris smiled and allowed them to choose the room they wanted.
"I can sleep on the sofa for the night. It's comfy and it was meant to allow people to sleep on it, so don't worry about that. If you need anything, wake me up or look around the house. I haven't really settled in so there's not much. We can go shopping for whatever we need soon."
Iris said, looking at Emma, who was taking out her stuff with a sad look in her eyes. She noticed a white floral dress with pink stripes and said,
"That's a really pretty dress."
Emma looked at her as she put some of her clothes into the rack nearby meant for clothes and replied with,
"Thank you. I made it myself."
Iris looked at her and then asked,
"Sorry, I didn't catch what happened in the Hub. If it's not rude to ask, where are you from?"
Emma cautiously said, "Bristol."
Iris then further asked,
"What were you going to Dublin for?"
Emma responded,
"Auntie Nora's ill and Uncle Finn can't manage the children. It'll be good practice for when I have children of my own, Mum says."
Emma's voice trembled ever so slightly as she continued with,
"She's gone next door so Uncle Finn can telephone. She'll know I'm missing by now."
Iris noticed how Emma truly looked younger than she did as Emma hugged her teddy bear. It wasn't something easily noticeable, but the girl's innocence truly seemed to reflect how much time has changed the women's roles in the world. Iris remained silent, unsure of what to say when Emma spoke again.
"What will she think happened? It must have been like one of those murders where they never find the body."
Iris cautiously replied with,
"They seemed to think the plane went down in the sea…"
Emma noticed how Iris looked utterly depressed for a moment and saw the girl rubbing her wrist again, as if she was doing it absent-mindedly. Then, as if she woke up from a trance, Emma saw Iris smile and quickly help out Diane with her things.
Once Emma seemed to have fallen asleep, Diane was surprised to see a brown, glass bottle being handed to her.
"Here, it's not really that alcoholic, but this is what I can stomach without grimacing much."
Diane here Iris say.
She looked at the label and the drink turned out to be alcoholic apple cider. She raised an eyebrow with a silent question.
"I don't know about what you would like, but it seemed that you wanted alcohol. I don't really drink, so this is all I have."
Diane smiled a little bit and graciously took the bottle and drank from it, noticing the sweet taste of the apple cider. She enjoyed the flavor and calmly drank it. She noticed Iris not drinking anything but water.
"You're helping us out… why?" Diane asked.
Iris looked up at Diane and hesitantly replied.
"I… I guess I understand a part of what you are feeling. The major differences between us being that I come from the future, but to a time I'm familiar with and a different universe while you guys came from the past to the future, in which everything just seems vastly… different from what you may be used to."
Diane looked at her and asked further,
"But that's not the only reason. You could have just been nice to us and let us stay at the hostel with John, but you insisted we stay here."
"Because I know how terrifying it is to start from scratch in a place where you don't really exist."
Diane looked up at the younger girl in shock. She really didn't expect that reply.
"Tell me about your universe. How different is it?"
With that, Iris indulged the woman with information about her world, avoiding the part that this universe was part of her favorite tv show. The woman had just traveled through the Rift and they didn't need any more stressful information about how they were not real from the place she came from.
Once Diane excused herself for the night, Iris sighed almost in exhaustion and relief together. Her hands trembled uncontrollably as she tried to stand up from the sofa. She barely managed to hoist her body weight up. Sifting through her bag, she found her medications that she had packed for the night and took the pills. She quickly plopped down to the sofa, lying on her back trying to calm down. From time to time, Iris noticed that her condition was getting worse. Occasionally, her hands would tremble as they do, or her temperature would go up and her body about to give out. Owen had forbidden her from going outside onto the field when he first found out after a couple of days she had been discharged. The two of them were working late when he saw her hand tremble uncontrollably. He immediately redid her health physical and realized just how useless the pain medications for her migraines had become.
Now, Iris just merely continued living with the ever-continuously throbbing migraine with new medications to help her overall body to stabilize and lessen the effects. She had forced Owen to keep this a secret between the two of them. That was why the team thought that she was suspended from field work because she was recuperating. This was another reason why she had been avoiding Jack. Her wish to be with him was overshadowed by her uncertainty that she would even be able to live through this season.
It honestly scared her. She didn't really want to die. But another corner of her mind terrified her even more. The word Zagreus haunted her with nightmares. She wasn't sure why she heard Rassilon's voice reach out to her and call her Zagreus. Why of all times, did she hear that when she had momentarily died? That encounter left her even more desperate to meet the Doctor. But even then, doubt crept into her mind as she thought,
'How can I even ask him about this? Am I insane?'
Iris sighed out loud, feeling frustrated and terrified as the medication kicked in and lulled her to sleep.
The next day, Ianto picked all three women up from Iris's place and drove them to the Hub. Once they arrived, Ianto led Diane and Emma to talk with Gwen and Jack while Iris headed straight towards Owen.
He noticed how Iris quickly grabbed Owen's arm and dragged him out to talk with him in secret. Ianto frowned and looked at Jack, noticing that as he conversed with the three people who held their new passports, Jack was glancing towards the area Iris and Owen had went with an unreadable expression.
"Iris? What's wrong?"
Owen asked, worry creeping into him.
"This! This is happening. Again." Iris bit out as she showed Owen her trembling hands.
Owen looked at Iris's hands and didn't know what to say.
"The medications stopped working…didn't it?"
Iris nodded and slammed a fist to the wall in frustration. Owen tried to comfort her when she said,
"I'm scared Owen…"
Owen looked at Iris and hugged her, feeling utterly useless. Why couldn't he find a way to help her? It was his job as the Torchwood medic to be able to help her, but she was physically deteriorating right in front of his eyes.
They stayed like that for a moment, before Iris breathed in and out a couple of times and headed back to the Hub. Her trembling had passed and she tried to act like nothing had happened. Owen warily watched her go before heading to the autopsy area.
Later, Ianto and Iris took John, Diane and Emma to the supermarket nearby. When they got out of the car, Ianto said,
"I'd suggest you use 25 pounds for your food and then 20 pounds for luxuries like cigarettes, magazines…"
Emma cut in with,
"My dad only made 10 pounds a week."
Ianto glanced at Iris with a gentle smirk and said,
"Things are a lot more expensive now."
The automatic doors opened and Diane gaped at the doors in wonder as she asked,
"How did it do that?"
Iris replied with, "It's automatic. It knows you're there."
Diane looked at her and asked, "But how?"
Iris began to reply with, "There are wave bouncing detectors which emit radio waves and then look for reflections-"
Diane saw a pile of bananas and she and Emma ran into the supermarket with excitement as Diane exclaimed
"Bananas!"
Iris pouted a little, her cheeks puffing up with air and a look of disappointment on her face. Ianto didn't miss that look and laughed, as he said jokingly,
"Of course, bananas are far more interesting. Ow!"
Ianto muttered a little when Iris punched him in the arm with exasperation and stormed off, huffing and muttering about how everyone but her seems to like bananas and that it's all some doctor's fault. He chuckled a little and watched her follow Diane and Emma, until he realized that John looked at him for a moment with a knowing look. Ianto coughed a little when John said,
"Look at all this. We'd just come off rationing in '53."
Ianto looked at the man and replied with,
"Yeah, sorry. We are a consumer society."
"It's bloody fantastic." John said, as he pat Ianto on the shoulder and headed off to look around.
Emma was looking around the candy aisle glanced at Iris and asked,
"How much money have I got left?"
Iris momentarily scanned Emma's basket and said, "15 pound 40."
Emma smiled widely and then started shoving various chocolates and sweets into her basket and Iris shook her head, laughing as she said,
"12 pounds ten. You'll ruin your teeth."
Emma playfully glared at Iris and responded with, "You sound like mum."
"I've heard that plenty of times." Iris said, still laughing.
Once Emma was done shoving her basket with sweets they locked arms and headed towards Diane, who was scanning the DVDs as she said,
"They sell films in boxes and you can watch them at home."
Emma had a dreamy look on her face and said, "I love going to the pictures."
That seemed to prompt Diane to look at Iris, and Iris looked at her with surprise at the puppy eyes the woman seemed to make. Groaning, Iris scanned the contents in Diane's bag, and said,
"You have enough money. Go ahead."
Excitedly, the two women chose the movies they wanted to watch and put it into their respective baskets. Emma then saw makeup and quickly pranced over, grabbing Iris by the arm. Emma looked very excited and pulled the very same puppy face that Diane had made earlier as she said,
"Super Excel Waterproof Luscious Lashes Mascara. I've got to have that!"
Iris just looked at how big Emma's eyes became, and groaned again, falling for the trick as she just nodded. Emma hugged Iris with what seemed like super strength and said,
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Iris huffed a little, trying to act like she was not happy about it. But inside, she was happy. Something about Emma sparked happiness into Iris that she seemed to have lost in the past few days.
As Iris was helping to bag the contents of Emma's sweets and other items, she glanced up to see Diane's perplexed face as she asked Iris and Ianto,
"What does that mean?"
Iris looked at the box of cigarettes Diane was holding up for them and almost laughed out loud at what the it said: Smoking Kills.
Ianto looked at Iris for help with the situation and noticed how Iris was trying hard not to laugh out loud. She was trying to hold it all in and Ianto looked back at Diane's puppy face and couldn't pick up the courage to tell her everything. Eventually he just waived it off as best as he could.
Once they were back in the car, Ianto drove them all back, noticing how Iris gave up the passenger seat to John and sat in the back with Diane and Emma, talking with them about trivial things. When he was driving by the Millennium Stadium, John asked Ianto to stop, saying,
"I'm just going to take a look at the stadium. You girls stick together now. I'll be back for supper."
They all then decided to drop John's things off at the hostel first. Emma then met up with a few girls. Emma asked her if she could talk and hang out with the other girls, Iris remembered from the show as ones that introduced Emma out to the modern world more, and agreed.
"Call me if you're going out though. I want to know where you're going, just in case something happens."
Emma smiled and nodded. Iris then led Diane to the Hangar. Diane ran over to her plane and patted it, happy to be with what she loved best.
"Hello, old girl. Did you miss me?"
Iris smiled softly, a little jealous of how Diane had something so dear left with her in this strange setting.
Iris then curiously asked while Diane tuned up her plane,
"So, how did you get interested in flying?"
Diane looked at her and said,
"Ferried planes during the war. Of course, when it was over, we were supposed to revert to being dutiful wives and daughters. But I'd got a taste for it. No pig-headed man tells me what to do."
"Damn straight." Iris replied, smiling a bit more. And then out of curiosity, she asked again,
"Sky Gipsy?"
Diane looked at her plane again and replied with,
"After the engine. The De Havilland Gipsy Six, a work of genius. Tuned with a higher compression ratio so it can squeeze far more energy from its air fuel mixture."
Diane then looked back at Iris with her puppy-eye face again, asking the younger girl,
"Can I take her up?"
Iris grimaced a little and shook her head as she responded,
"Unfortunately, not yet. Torchwood hasn't organized anything with you yet to get a modern license. The thing with flying is that there are more commercial and private flights that need to be tracked more for safety measures. If something goes wrong, you could get arrested and that would complicate things even further. Torchwood can't cover everything, sadly."
Diane looked a bit crestfallen at that information as she said, "Oh…. Bugger."
Iris then said,
"But we can get started on helping you out with that license as soon as possible. That's what we are here for. After all, now you get less insults for being a pilot as a woman."
Diane gently smiled, disappointment still clear in her eyes as she said,
"Well then, we should start that thing soon. I want to learn all about this new world."
Iris smiled and helped her get back to a restaurant for a meal. The food and options surprised Diane a little bit, since Iris took her to a buffet. Diane had stuffed herself in awe and joy and Iris laughed a lot, seeing how Diane resembled a hamster trying to fit as much food into its mouth at once. Iris had then dropped Diane off back at her place. She was helping sort more of Iris's stuff out in the home when Iris got a phone call from Jade, one of the girls back from the hostel about Emma fighting with John.
Iris looked up at Diane, who was cleaning some of the cutlery, and said,
"I'm really sorry, but I have to fetch Emma from the hostel. She and John seem to be fighting."
Diane looked up at her with concern in her eyes and said,
"You should get her before anything bad happens. Emma seems like a delicate girl."
Iris nodded and quickly grabbed her keys and headed for the car Ianto had left behind for her. She quickly drove over to find Emma demanding to John,
"And why should I listen to you?"
Iris quickly called out to her, "Emma."
The girl ignored her as she fumed at John, losing her temper.
"Only my dad gets to talk to me like that, and I'm never going to see him again, am I? Or my mum, or my best friend, or my dog. And I miss them. And I hate this filthy, stinking place!"
Emma tried to storm out, but Iris quickly grabbed her arm and whispered to the fuming girl,
"Emma, we're going to go back to my place, but you have to gather up whatever you have here. Ok? Go, to the front, I'll meet you there and we can drive over."
Emma nodded and hurried out.
Iris looked at John, who muttered to her,
"I never had this sort of trouble with my son."
Iris then said,
"You all are having a tough time. It's a strange new world for you all and getting used to all this? Well, it's not easy. You lose everything you knew and believed in and it's going to take time. It might never end, the pain of losing all of it at once in such an unbelievable way. But this is it. John, you have to let her go. The time is different, she has to make sure she can grow up and live on her own now. Not even Torchwood can support her for the rest of her life. She has to make her own life here in this new time and place. And you trying to implement your beliefs onto another person won't help either of you."
John glared at her and questioned her with,
"How would a girl like you know?"
John shivered a little at the sudden change in demeanor Iris had. The girl's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed, as she calmly and coldly said,
"Because what you are going through is nothing like the pain I feel. I not only fell through time, but I also fell through another universe. A world where all of this is impossible. Where I could have turned a blind eye to everything and not risk my life for any of the people here. But I didn't. I don't expect anybody to understand what that's like to not even be known by a single person in a whole new universe. I don't expect to lose that pain. I live with it daily, the throbbing pain in my head? That's a daily reminder that I'm not from here. That I'm never going to be truly home. Because this is where I'm not supposed to be. But you? All you did was fall through time. You existed. You can turn a blind eye to everything here. So, stop whining."
With that, Iris calmly left the hostel building with Emma. The other girl noticed that Iris was not happy with whatever conversation she had had with John. Emma was quiet for the entire ride. By the time they arrived at Iris's place, the Torchwood agent seemed to be in a better mood. When they went in, Diane was sleeping in her room and Emma headed for her own. Iris sat at the sofa after cleaning up after herself. She quickly looked at the airfield contacts and booked for Diane's practical license exam as soon as possible.
After doing that, she sighed and stared blankly at nothing in particular. She had taken her medication, and she felt alright, numb even, but talking to John earlier opened up a flurry of emotions that she had locked up when she had arrived here. The three people's arrival had threated to open up those emotions, but talking with the man really did her in. And the brief moments of her laughter from earlier that day faded as she was reminded of those she had left behind without knowing whether she was just gone from her universe, or dead.
The next day, Diane and Emma were left with Owen and Tosh. Iris had decided to go in for work to get Diane's written exam score ready. Iris was able to fake the exams so that Diane already had a good enough score to fly her plane once the woman passed her practical exam. Diane had, after much persuasion from Iris, decided to study for the written exam so that she could take it to get a legitimate score with Ianto proctoring the exam. Once they scored her exam, she would have a legitimate license made by Torchwood then.
On the other hand, Jack decided to help out with John. Gwen was at the Hub for a while before helping Tosh out with Emma since Tosh didn't have her own car at the moment. Ianto and Iris were the only two then left at the Hub. Ianto was archiving more files that Jack had strewn around while Iris was making sure that the paperwork for John, Diane and Emma were being finalized. Tosh had almost finished, but Iris decided to do the last finishing touches as she had a better understanding of what Diane and Emma were like.
It had been about 1pm when Ianto brought Iris's coffee up to hear a crashing noise from the Hub. He hurried up to find Iris supporting herself by the autopsy table, holding onto her chest with labored breathing. He quickly and carefully set his cup down the nearest flat surface and ran over to her.
"Iris? What's going on?" He asked, almost panicking himself at the sudden change in Iris's health.
"Owen…" was all Iris could wheeze out, stumbling into Ianto, who held her up with one arm while hurriedly calling Owen.
"Owen? Yeah, Iris is struggling to breathe. You have to come NOW. I don't know! I came up to find her like this. Yes, she's still conscious. Hurry!"
With that, Ianto hung up and quickly helped Iris sit down. He quickly followed the instructions Owen had gave him with helping Iris out, but he couldn't' do much without the Torchwood medic.
Within 15 minutes, Iris calmed down a little bit, but had become unconscious from the medications. She was hooked into the machinery and Ianto waited for Owen. When the door opened, Owen came rushing in with Diane and Jack.
"What the hell happened?" Jack asked Ianto.
Ianto merely shook his head and muttered,
"I don't know."
"Oh my goodness." Diane muttered, seeing how pale and sickly Iris had suddenly become.
"Owen, how is she?" Jack asked the medic.
Owen was looking at the information the machinery provided for him and hurriedly put some more injections into the woman and said,
"Ianto got to her in time. I didn't think that this would become this bad… I had taken her off of field work because of this… and yet-"
"What?" Jack asked, his voice rising with anger.
Owen looked up with wide eyes as he realized that he slipped up. He looked back at the prone form of Iris and back at his boss as he said,
"Her condition has gotten worse lately. She's barely eating, barely sleeping. She's almost becoming unresponsive to medications regarding her migraines. Her body is slowly failing. This is the first time this attack has happened."
Owen then looked up at Diane and asked the lady,
"Did you see her in severe pain while you were with her?"
Diane tried to think back and then she shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but whatever she felt, she was really good at hiding it from us."
"Damn it!" Owen muttered.
Ianto glanced at Jack, who had fallen silent after Owen's explanations. He saw pain reflected in the captain's eyes. Ianto then looked back at Iris, going near her and holding the girl's hand in his own. He felt pain wash over him too as he realized that all those times he had been offering her old medication, she had been taking them to ease his mind for his sake. His heart felt like they were tearing apart. Why did he feel this way? Why did Iris have to suffer so much for just falling into this universe? Why her?
All these questions were also plaguing Jack's mind. But Jack, after looking at Iris's pale face for a while, headed towards his office, needing something strong to drink. He thought back to how Iris had been avoiding him and felt regret. Was this why she had been avoiding him? He didn't know the answer to the question, but he sincerely hoped that she would talk to him about something. Anything.
Diane and Owen were talking at the side, seeing how Ianto never left Iris's side.
"He loves her doesn't he?" Diane asked Owen, seeing Ianto's sad look.
Owen responded with,
"Yeah. But it's complicated."
Diane didn't push further on that topic, but said,
"I wanted to show her that I had passed the practical exam. I wanted to see her smile again. She really helped us out."
Owen looked at Diane and smiled tiredly as he said,
"She has that effect for people. Ever since she fell through the Rift just like you did, she has tried to save and help a lot of people. She really has you know. But Iris tends to bottle everything up regarding her own pain. And there's really nothing we can do about her current condition. We don't know what it is that's causing this, but we… we're all feeling pretty useless in having to see her deteriorate like this."
Diane nodded in understanding as the two listened to the machinery beep in a pattern, indicating that Iris was stable.
While Iris remained unconscious, Diane was able to pass her written exam and attain a full license, which allowed her to pilot her plane whenever she wanted. She then began preparing to become a commercial pilot for big flights as a job.
Emma on the other hand, was with Gwen since Iris was unable to look after her. Emma found a job of her own in London in the fashion industry.
John, however, had committed suicide, unable to bear the weight of the drastic world that he could not adjust to. In the last minute of his death, he had mentioned to Jack about the conversation that he and Iris had. That he hoped that Jack would realize just how much Iris seemed to be suffering.
Iris remained unconscious for four more days. When she finally woke up, she was disorientated, her memories jumbled a bit.
"What… where am I?" She had first asked.
Owen looked at her and replied with, "You're at the Hub. You had difficulty breathing… remember?"
Iris looked at him funny and said,
"What happened?"
Then the team explained to her what happened to the three people. Iris merely nodded and lied back down again. When the team went back to their respective homes, Iris was left in Jack's care. She was lying down, reading a book, when she heard footsteps down the stairs. She looked up to see Jack gazing down at her. They just remained that way until Iris looked down.
"Iris, look at me." Jack quietly said.
Iris shook her head without saying anything. She merely looked at her hands when she felt a warm hand touch her chin and gently guided her head to face him.
She looked up at his face in confusion as he said,
"Iris, why didn't you tell me about this?"
Iris looked up at him with a sad look and she hesitated.
"Iris?" Jack gently asked her.
"I… Jack… I don't know."
Jack looked at her, slightly unbelievably.
"Jack, I'm not sure what's going on with me and I'm terrified."
With that response, Jack grabbed her hand and held it. He had nothing to say to her in that respect. He wasn't sure what he could potentially say to her.
Iris looked and saw how lost Jack looked in respect to what she had just said.
"Jack… I know that I… I told you that I loved you the last time we were in this scenario. But… honestly put… I'm not sure if I know what I'm feeling."
Jack looked at her in surprise. He didn't expect her to explain about that. Then he smiled and said,
"That's fine. I… I think I was unfair when I confessed. If you need time, you can take as long as you need. Besides, you know that I have a very long time and maybe patience."
Iris chuckled, as if a weight had been lifted from her and she smiled.
"Thank you. But Jack, I… I have something to ask of you."
Jack looked at her curiously, wondering what it could possibly that she wanted to ask of him. Her eyes grew determined to the point that Jack never saw her with.
"What is it?" He asked.
Iris looked at him before slowly saying,
"Will you promise me that you will, despite whatever happens, that you will take me to see the Doctor when the time comes?"
Jack looked at her and then hesitantly nodded. Despite every part of him wanting to refuse that request, he also knew that something must have happened for her to ask him again with so much determination.
"Can I ask what else might have happened?"
Iris shook her head as she said,
"I'm not sure if I can tell you. I'm not sure if I can ask him… either…"
Jack looked at her and just nodded. His curiosity wanted to know what it was, but he knew better than to push Iris for an answer. He then smiled again and said to her,
"Iris, don't hide things from me like this again. Spoilers are fine, but regarding you… I want to make sure that I don't lose you. Please…."
Iris looked at Jack, noticing his piercing eyes. She had a strong urge to hug Jack, to feel his warmth, but she held herself back. She couldn't, surely, she couldn't. But his worried gaze, the fire in Jack's eyes consumed every thought that she held and suddenly, she found herself shifting her body and throwing her arms around Jack's neck as her lips crashed onto his.
She felt him tense with shock and she found herself urging him on, trying her best to kiss him to deliver the sudden overwhelming wave of passion she felt. She then met his lips at first gently move with her, before sensing him increasing his own movements as if in a sense of urgency, feeling one hand move to her back and the other to the back of her neck to hold her closer to him as they kissed.