Right children, I've been going through this and - in order for me to actually continue with this fic - I've had to reacquaint myself with it; an opportunity which I've also used to allow me to proof-read and change a couple of 'small' things. I hope you're alright with this and such and will enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Enjoy, Kasey

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PART THREE

Jack looked over at the Time Lord curiously and asked loudly; drawing at least some of his attention from the screen he was positively burning a hole in with his intense stare. "Doctor. Why is the TARDIS doing this exactly?"

The Doctor continued to stare at the screen in front of him, his elbows propped up on the console of the TARDIS – he was following, tracking, Ianto and his movement's throughout the TARDIS – and it was a long time before he answered; well, long for Jack but probably felt like seconds for the Doctor. Time travel was tricky like that. "I truly don't know Jack. I'm guessing that she's behaving this way because our Ianto Jones is blocking her attempts to enter his mind. In short; he's annoying her." The Doctor answered quietly, not sounding anything like his usual self and it worried Jack somewhat – he'd seen the Doctor when he was quiet, when he was sad and depressed, or angry and he didn't like him when he was like that.

Jack knew that the Doctor had seen some horrific things, things that would make Jack's life look like a walk in the park in comparison – though it's not as if the park is all that safe a place really, not anymore; bloody ponds... and trees... and people. Silently Jack stared at the Doctor whilst the Doctor stared at the screen, a faraway look in the dark eyes of the Time Lord and Jack couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about; what it was that was drawing his mind to his memories but still allowing him to focus. It had to be something that related to what they were currently going to; there was no way the Doctor could be so attentive to what was happening and take a walk down memory lane at the same time otherwise... right? But this was the Doctor and he defied all expectations, and surpassed them in most cases, so Jack wasn't going to assume anything in relation to the Time Lord because he was man that 'normal' doesn't apply to.

"Are you sure she's acting like this because he's... annoying her by not letting her in his head?" Jack asked pointedly as he moved over towards the Doctor and stood beside the focused Time Lord. He didn't know for sure where he was going with his questions but something was nagging at him, something so small that he'd normally disregard it but it was like he physically couldn't ignore this 'small' thing. So he did the only logical thing, he gave into it and said. "What if it's because of something else? A technicality - so to speak?"

The Doctor finally tore his eyes off the screen to let them slide over to study Jack as he answered. "I'm guessing Jack. Guessing – it's what people do when they're not sure but are expected to give an answer. Why? What else could it be?" The Doctor frowned in confusion and curiosity as he studied the fifty-first century ex-conman as Jack leaned down on the console next to the Doctor.

"Well..." Jack paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to word his thoughts. "Doctor. You remember when I first joined you and Rose travelling across the Universe right?" Jack waited for the Doctor to nod signalling he remembered before continuing. "Well do you also remember how the TARDIS had problems trying to get into my head as well?"

Jack waited as the Doctor processed his question before answering, waving a hand airily and saying. "Yes but that was because of the minor mutations of your DNA and the changes that have been done to it in the fifty-first century Jack. The TARDIS has to adapt to it..." The Doctor's voice trailed off as his mind began on a new path, Jack watched as the metaphorical cogs in his brain worked at the speed of lightning. "Oh... Oh! Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?"

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Ianto silently, and with an air of tired indulgence, made his way along the length of another of the TARDIS' corridors – all of which he'd tagging mentally as he recalled the way he had to go so as to navigate though the space-faring leviathan. He was too busy thinking about what Jack had said to him in regards to the fact that all the corridors were technically the same as each other – because, honestly, there's nothing worse than someone who is experienced with the navigation of this vessel telling you that it's all the same when to you it really isn't. For Ianto, one of the most common thought's that had surfaced in his mind since then had been. 'But they all look different to me.' Because they did, they were – they were all different! Why couldn't anyone else see that? Was he the only one who had a set of working eyes or something like that?

It was odd, and not at all reassuring when he thought about it for more than a few minutes at a time – though even a few minutes was far too long in his opinion, he really did hate his IQ sometimes. It wasn't his fault that he had a photographic memory, social ability and good looks – though Jack was the one who believed the last one, Ianto doubted anyone really bothered to look twice at him in all honesty. He wasn't different, he wasn't abnormal; he was like your everyday Joe Blogs... except his name wasn't Joe Blogs – but it's a metaphor! Why did this sort of thing always happen to him? Did he have some sort of intergalactic sign over his head that declared 'VIABLE TARGET FOR ALL BAD LUCK AND KARMA HERE!'? Because sometimes it really did feel like that was the case.

'What is it that makes me so different?' He thought as he meandered down the corridor and he couldn't help himself as he muttered out loud. "Why me?"

He wasn't exactly expecting an answer; the question had merely been a vocalisation of his own internal thoughts and feelings on the matter of his 'luck' – if you wanted to call it that – and so had been uttered as a rhetorical question. He wasn't expecting an answer and he definitely wasn't expecting one from the bloody walls!

"Because you are you... that is why." A soft echo, light and like rain drops that drizzled rather than splattered on the ground at the beginning of the storm. Much like the calling of an Angel – well, since Ianto had never personally heard an Angel he could only hazard as guess as to what they sounded like but that's semantics – from up in the heavens was the gentle voice of the ancient, wise and sentient machine that Ianto existed within. It might have worried him once, or at least disturbed him that his question was being answered by the walls, but Ianto had long-since grown up and now it was merely a surprise rather than a worrisome thing.

"That is, technically speaking, not a very helpful answer – it is more akin to a riddle which you expect me to solve." Ianto pointed out as he continued walking down the length of the corridor. His voice was low, barely above a whisper but it seemed that the TARDIS heard him regardless – especially if that laugh; at least he thought it was laugh, was anything to go by.

"You are correct my dear Ifan... an answer is not truly an answer since it is but a riddle to the enlightened mind!" Well that was... nice of the TARDIS to imply that he was enlightened; of course, the reason why she'd implied such a thing was of interest to Ianto but right now he couldn't quell the urge to ask a question.

"Are you related to Shakespeare by any chance – you're making just as little sense see?" Ianto asked quietly and he knew for a fact that the TARDIS laughed when he saw a slight ripple in the colouring of the walls of the corridor. 'I did so hate Shakespeare when I was doing my GCE's. I always found his rambling to be... tedious and irksome – couldn't he have gone straight to the point? It would have made things so much easier.'

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"Jack! I can't believe that I didn't think of this before!" The Doctor exclaimed animatedly as he hurried around the console, tapping on buttons – well hitting them really – turning knobs and pulling levers with such vigour that Jack was quite surprised nothing came flying off. The speed that the Doctor was moving with was also something that Jack was surprised by – in all the years he'd known the Doctor he could honestly say that he'd never seen the man zoom around the TARDIS this quickly.

"What do you mean 'I didn't think of this before'? I thought of it!" Jack complained as the Doctor completely disregarded his argument and continued zooming about.

"Turn that one Jack! Now!" The half-crazed looking Time Lord exclaimed as Jack when to turn the wrong dial and Jack grinned sheepishly as he hastily turned the correct dial. "And here I thought you were smart!"

"Hey! I'm smart! It's just that my devilish looks divert everyone's attention from my genius." Jack said grinning seductively at the Doctor who grinned back – but in fevered passion and excitement. And was that a bit of mischievousness in the Doctor's smile that Jack could detect?

"I don't think they were drawn to you for your look's Jack – more like unwanted gravitational pull; like a black hole." The Doctor laughed impishly as Jack took on a wounded look. Quickly focusing his attention back onto the console, he smacked the last button with a bit too much enthusiasm and grinned at the screen as it began to fill with numbers, words and symbols that glowed, rotated and blinked in a seemingly random order to Jack but made perfect sense to the Timer Lord. "Here we go!"

Jack stared at the Doctor as the Time Lord metaphorically plunged into the deep end of insane data, historic facts, memories and ideas that bounced and rang and zoomed about almost chaotically in his mind as he tried to untangle all the tumbled wires in this great mystery. The mystery of Ianto Jones.

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To Be Continued

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Okay... tell me what you think please! I like knowing what you think since the more feedback I have the more liable I am to write more. Although in regards to this fic I have to say that it will probably not be updated in quite a while since I have to finish one annoying piece of coursework as well as focus on revision for my final tests next year...

Oh! And I have to put up our Christmas tree soon – no-one in my house seems to be able to read the instructions and put the thing together without wanting to burn it at the stake :P

Kasey :)