Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.
Warning(s): SLASH!! Oh and the characters may seem a little OOC. AU now that Season Two has started as it is NOT going to link into season two.
The Year That Never Was.
Chapter Five.
Tosh was sat in her old chair, turning the volume up as quickly as she could as Owen got two of the other chairs for himself and Ianto. All three had a horrible feeling in their stomachs as the camera followed Martha's entrance into the room, showing the people lining the walls as well.
"There's Jack," Tosh said.
"What have they done to him?" Ianto asked, his voice shaking.
/ "You're teleport device, in case you'd thought I'd forgotten." \\
"She's so calm, I'd be terrified if I were her," Tosh said as the younger woman on the screen calmly pulled Jack's wristwatch out of on her many pockets and threw it to the madman.
/ "And now kneel. Down below the fleet is ready to launch. 200,000 ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"
"The fleet awaits your signal, rejoice!" \\
"How can someone be so…be so…" Owen couldn't finish his sentence but he didn't need to, the other two understood what he meant. How could anyone serve him so willingly and gladly? On the screen the Master checked his watch.
/ "Three minutes to align the Block Hole Converters. Counting down! I never could resist a ticking clock. My children! Are you ready?"
"We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice."
"At zero, to mark this day, the child, Martha Jones, will die. My first blood. Any last words? No? Such a disappointment this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex! This ones useless." \\
"He's going to kill her," Ianto said worriedly.
/ "Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward…" \\
"Why the Hell is she laughing?" Owen asked loudly as Martha did just that, with her head bowed to a man aiming a deadly screwdriver at her.
/ "What? What's so funny?"
"A gun?"
"What about it?"
"A gun in four parts?"
"Yes, and I destroyed it."
"A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world? I mean, come on! Did you really believe that?" \\
"Now that's a good point," Owen said, "If you could kill a Time King or whatever he is would you scatted the weapon across the world so it took the person searching for it a year to find it?"
"It doesn't sound very sensible," Ianto agreed.
/ "What do you mean?"
"As if I would ask her to kill." \\
The camera spun quickly to the side, showing a little…well it could almost be called a man in a bird cage, staring out at them or more specifically at the Master. Tosh and Ianto winced slightly, realising that this was what was left of that strong man they'd seen a year ago. Owen just willed the camera to go back to the main action and it did.
/ "Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her."
"But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she'd get me here. At the right time."
"But you're still gonna die!" \\
"Another very good point," Owen muttered.
/ "Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?"
"Tell me."
"I told a story. That's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went I found the people and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on. To spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."
"Faith and hope? Is that all?"
"No, 'cause I gave them an instruction." \\
"Despite his earlier statement I don't think the Doctor can ever have had a companion better than she," Owen all but growled as Martha rose bravely to her feet.
/ "Just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word at one specific time…"
"Nothing will happen! Is that your weapon? Prayer!"
"Right across the world. One word, just one thought, at one moment…but with 15 satellites."
"What?"
"The Archangel Network." \\
"Jack," Ianto breathed, even though they'd already seen him hearing his voice made all their hearts pound slightly quicker.
/ "A telepathic field binging the whole human race together with all of them, every single person on Earth thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is Doctor." \\
"The countdown…"Tosh pointed out as it reached 0. The people around the room on the Valiant started chanting the word Doctor, not all at the same time but it was still very like a chant.
"Doctor…" Ianto breathed, closing his eyes.
"Doctor…" Tosh joined in, her eyes closing too.
"Doctor…" Owen was the only one of the three who didn't close his eyes and therefore he saw, when the camera moved onto the Doctor once more, the little man start to glow in his cage. "Bloody He…look!" Ianto and Tosh's eyes snapped open, widening as they took in the sight on the screen. The Doctor was…changing.
/ "Stop it. No, no, no, no, you don't. Don't…" \\
The chanting of the Doctors name grew in volume and speed and they knew, just knew that all over the world the entire human race was joining in.
/ "Stop this right now! Stop it!"
"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."
"I order you to stop!"
"The one thing you can't do is stop them thinking. Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this." \\
"Ok, despite being the enemy of Torchwood and all that you have to admit…he's bloody brilliant," Owen muttered. They watched in shock and awe as the Doctor, now his youthful self began to fly towards the Master.
/ "No!" \\
The Doctor deflected the Masters shot with abilities they hadn't known he had, all this certainly wasn't listed in the file Torchwood had on him.
/ "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Then I'll kill them!" \\
Tosh's hands moved suddenly and grabbed on of Owens and Ianto's, holding on for dear life as the Doctor somehow pulled the Masters weapon from his hand.
/ "You can't do this! You can't do…It's not fair!"
"And you know what happens now."
"No! No! No! No!"
"You wouldn't listen…"
"No!" \\
The camera swung around, following the Master as he scrambled down the steps, huddling like a scared child, clawing at the wall as he tried to get away. The Doctor was calm however, landing on his feet in front of the Master.
/ "Because you know what I'm going to say."
"No." \\
"What do you think he'll do?" Ianto asked as the Doctor hugged the Master.
/ "I forgive you."
"My children!"
"Protect the Paradox! Protect the Paradox!" \\
"Oh shit," Owen muttered as the camera man, probably scared out of his mind pointed the camera out of the window showing all of the spheres coming towards the Valiant. "What are they going to do?"
/ "Captain! The paradox machine!"
"You men, with me!" \\
"Go on Jack, do your stuff," Ianto urged quietly as they watched their leader take the guards who had previously been against him and were now with him out of the room, arming himself as he went. But before he went Jack said one final thing,
/ "You stay here." \\
He was talking to Martha and her family, worrying about them even with all the shit going on around him. And they obeyed, holding each other tightly. If Jack had ordered any of them to stay where they were they would never have obeyed him.
"Look out!" Owen cried out as they saw the Master moving before the Doctor did, pulling Jack's wristwatch from his pocket quickly.
/ "No!" \\
Both the Doctor and the Master disappeared just as loud alarms sounded on the Valiant. All the three could do was watch from the cameraman's POV as people rushed to the consoles and the windows.
/ "We've got all six billion spheres heading right for us!" \\
Despite how much they wanted to help there was nothing they could do, they just had to wait and hope and pray. They watched to people on the Valiant as the screamed and cried in fear, shying away from the windows as the spheres got terrifyingly close. But then…they just disappeared. Vanished into thin air.
"What's going on?" Tosh asked.
"I have no idea," Owen said worriedly. And then the whole world started to shake, worse than when the spheres attacked the first time. They held onto each other as things sparked all over the already ruined Hub and more things fell down around them. But they stayed by the computer, watching what was going on above them.
The Doctor and the Master reappeared, the Master falling immediately out of the line of the camera, the Doctor stayed in the picture for a few moments more as he caught Martha Jones as she stumbled.
/ "Everyone get down! Time is reversing!" \\
They all obeyed dropping and then the screen turned to snow, a crackling noise filling the Hub. Tosh screamed as a girder fell close to them, dropping to her knees. Owen pushed Ianto down too, forcing the Welshman to bend over her, protecting her as he did the same, protecting both of them with his own body.
"What's going on?" Tosh screamed fearfully.
"Time is reversing like he said," Owen shouted over the noise in her ear.
"Then why are we still here?" Ianto asked. All of a sudden the shaking stopped and everything calmed around them. They rose slowly, holding each other closely. "Do you think it worked?" Tosh closed down the window that now showed only snow and brought up the computers calendar and clock.
"We've gone back one year and one day. It's 8:02 in the morning," she read off quietly. "It worked."
"The year…didn't happen?" Ianto asked, his voice shaking.
"No."
"So why…why are we still here? Why do we still remember?" Ianto asked.
"Must have been the Rift," Owen said, looking at the Rift Manipulator with a frown. It looked fine, just like it always did. But then you could never really tell when something was wrong with the Rift just by looking at it, computers were needed to know for sure. "Any readings from it?"
"I'll check," Tosh brought up the program, "Massive spike just now, almost off the scale. Looks like you were right, it was the Rift's fault we remember."
"So what's going on?" The voice startled all three of them, made them physically jump as they stared up at the door to the little kitchenette.
"Gwen…" Owen gasped.
"Hello? What's going on?" Gwens voice drifted down to them again and this time the head of their long dead friend poked out from behind the door. "What?"
"Gwen!" Tosh screamed, taking off at a run up the steps. She screamed again in joy as she hugged her friend tightly. "You're alive!"
"What? Of course I'm alive," Gwen laughed, "What is with you guys?"
"Oh it's a really long story," Owen said as he and Ianto walked up the steps too, his hand reaching out almost fearfully to touch her arm gently. "I can't…can't believe this…"
"Ooook…" Gwen said slowly. She looked from Tosh to Owen and finally to Ianto. "Oh My God your arm! What happened to your arm?!" Her hands grabbed at Ianto's shoulder and upper arm, her eyes wide as she stared at his stump.
"Er…" Ianto said awkwardly.
"What happened to the Hub?!"
This was going to take a lot of explaining.
Tosh had called them all over to her desk as soon as she'd caught sight of the three on the Hub's external cameras, Jack, Martha and the Doctor. Of course to Gwen it was Jack and two strangers, despite the other three having explained for an hour about what had happened in the year. She wasn't 100 sure they weren't just playing a trick on her.
"So he's decided to come back," Gwen said bitterly, thinking for a moment of Jack's sudden departure and in her eyes his betrayal. Owen turned to her, slightly annoyed if he was honest,
"Gwen we weren't lying about the year. That's why Jack left, that's where he's been so please, try not to bite his head off when he comes in."
"If he comes in," Gwen muttered. "Anyway, he left before this year you've told me about so that he still needs to explain." Owen sighed, shaking his head. Sometimes she was too headstrong for her own good.
"Look Gwen you can ask him if you want but just…don't be too hard," Owen said finally, walking away from her and over to Ianto, putting his arms around him and earning a one armed hug back. Gwen stared at them, certainly not used to their 'new' relationship. They didn't care.
"He's coming this way," Tosh announced. Ianto and Owen nodded to her, still holding each other. Tosh smiled at them fondly. She'd already begun planning (in her head) a design for a prosthetic arm, a Torchwood style one of course, not one of those boring old normal ones. To be honest she was looking forward to designing it properly and building it, with Owens help of course for the medical side of it.
The sound of the door open brought her from her mental planning. Of course the cog door and the alarms and things didn't work, they hadn't gotten around to fixing them yet. But the 'Emergency Exit' door, aka the stairs was obviously still working. And it was this door that had opened, this door that they all stared at and this was the door that Jack now walked through.
""Hey kids, d'you miss me…" Jack trailed off as he noticed the damage around the main room of the hub, "What happened?"
"Oh this and that, you know how it is when insane maniacs take over the world with the help of alien spheres and then another alien reverses time so none of it really happened only it did," Owen said loudly. Jacks jaw dropped in shock and his face paled, his eyes wide as he looked around at his teams serious faces.
"Y-You remember?"
"Yes."
"Well I don't," Gwen admitted and Jack's gaze snapped to her, "But the others have told me what went on, what happened in the missing year."
"Why don't…?"
"She was dead," Owen said, almost coldly as he remembered her death. Ianto put a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm him before the Welshman walked up to stand in front of Jack, their eyes locking.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly, "We saw the broadcasts, saw how you looked after a year as his prisoner…"
"I'm…" Jack thought about lying, grinning and telling them he was fine, "I'm getting there," In the end his answer was an honest one, his hands moving to rest on Ianto's shoulders reassuringly, "I'm just so sorry that you all remember, you should be able to forget like everyone el…Ianto!" Jacks hands had moved down Ianto's arms as he'd spoken but suddenly one found only air. "What happened to your arm?!"
"Oh yeah," Ianto blushed and stepped back, away from Jack, "I got…hurt."
"Why? Why do you have to remember? Why haven't things changed back for you?" Jack asked in a cry. "Why weren't you allowed to forget?"
"It was the rift," Tosh said quietly, "There was a huge rift spike around the rift converter, protecting the main room of the hub when the Doctor turned back time. We were here, we wanted to be able to help you if we could but in the end…well there was nothing we could do but sit it all out." Jack nodded slowly, his eyes falling on Owens hand as the doctor among them took Ianto's hand, lacing their fingers. There was more between them than there had been before.
"I was making coffee for everyone while we watched the news about Saxon's first contact and when I came back out to this," Gwen chipped in with her side of the story. "In the space of boiling a kettle a year happened and was lost. Weird."
"The rift," Jack mumbled, looking around the room once more, his gaze finally resting on the rift manipulator fixed to the water tower, "The bloody rift…"
Jack sat in his office, not doing anything really, just sitting in his chair with his palms flat on the desk. It was almost exactly as he's left it except that some of his personal things were missing, the most noticeable to him being his favourite coffee mug. He hadn't had a coffee in a year, his mouth was watering at the very thought of it…and just like magic there was Ianto, entering his office armed with coffee. In the mug. A smile broke out on his face.
"Ianto I think I love you," he said, taking the cup eagerly, "My first cup of coffee in a year. Oh it's wonderful…" Taking deep gulps of the scalding liquid he smiled up at Ianto who stood still, watching him. "Thank you."
"You're
welcome sir," Ianto didn't move to leave, "Jack, we need to
talk."
"What about?" Jack asked quietly, putting the mug
down on his desk.
"Us."
"Oh, right."
"Before…we were sort of together," Jack nodded at Ianto's statement, trying to look the young man in the eye but Ianto refused to let him, "But then you went away and everything changed." Ianto glanced nervously out of the office and following his gaze Jack noticed Ianto was looking at Owen working away with Tosh. "I still loved you and a part of me still does…but…Owen and I…I mean…I'm making a mess of this." Ianto made a frustrated noise and turned away from his ex-lover, his hand clenching into a fist at his side.
"You're in love with Owen and you don't want me to think that we're as we were before," Jack said bluntly, little or no emotion in his voice.
"Well…yes, but I wasn't going to be quite so…harsh," Ianto said finally, turning back to Jack, "I'm sorry Jack, I really am."
"I know. I still love you Ianto, there's no switch to just turn it off but I understand. Time and events change things, change feelings and we're only human…well mostly human in my case," he gave a small, sad laugh, "I just hope Owen makes you happy."
A week passed oh so slowly inside the Hub. Repairs were being made, all of them chipping in even on things they weren't 100 sure what to do. Ianto acted liked his usual self but Owen knew better. Things were rather…awkward between Ianto and Jack even though they tried for it not to be. Now surprisingly Owen wasn't hurt or sad about the way Ianto was acting, the fact that he still loved Jack and all that. He'd known that all along but he also knew that Ianto was loyal to him, knew that Ianto loved him. And it was painstakingly obvious that Jack loved Ianto.
"Jack loves Ianto. Ianto loves Jack. I love Ianto. Ianto loves me. I love…no I don't love Jack…do I?" Owen asked himself as he sat on the autopsy table, feet swinging idly beneath him. But he realised slowly in a way he did love Jack. Not the heart pounding, soul-crushing love he felt for Ianto but love all the same. "Could that…could that be the solution?"
Yes. It could.
And so the plan began to form in his head. He had to wait for the right moment, for Ianto to take Jack his coffee like always. Just because they weren't talking to each other couldn't break his lovers strict habits. And when Ianto did he pounced on the opportunity, running up the stairs and storming into Jack's office.
"Owen!" Ianto had been on a hasty retreat out when Owen entered, nearly crashing into him. Owen slammed the door shut. "What are you doing?"
"I'm sick of the way you two are acting around each other. I'd hoped you'd work it out yourself but I'm sick of waiting! So now I'm just going to be rude and blunt and obvious," Owen said calmly, continuing to block the exit.
"So you're going back to your usual ways," Jack couldn't resist.
"Don't piss me off anymore Harkness," Owen growled. "Now I love Ianto and you love Ianto and this is what all the quietness and the awkwardness has been about. Well it stops now! Yan, be honest, who do you love?" Owen asked, turning to the other man who was staring at him in shock. He already knew what his loves answer would be though.
"I…"
"Please Yan," Owen said softly. Jack said nothing, just looked on with an emotionless mask over his features.
"I love you both."
Jack worried that Owen would be angry by Ianto's answer and rose from his seat just in case. But to the leaders surprise Owen, the hot head of the group, wasn't angry. He seemed please.
"Good. Now that we're all aware that the feelings haven't gone away or changed I can make my rather unorthodox suggestion," Jack knew what was coming before Owen said it and Jack couldn't help but grin, "Have us both."
"What?!"
"Have both of us."
"You're insane!" Ianto shouted. He looked to Jack who was still grinning, "You like this ridiculous idea?"
"Well…yeah," Jack answered, "I love you. He loves you. You just said you love us both. What's the problem? Committed threesomes may only be starting out here but when I come from it's welcomed. Love isn't just the old fashioned view of a man and a woman, you should definitely know that by now. There's no rules. That's what makes love so exciting."
"But…Owen? What about you and Owen? You don't love each other. Wouldn't that make things just as awkward as they are now? What about when we're in bed together? The three of us? Or will it be me and Jack one night and then me and Owen the next night? What…?"
"Ianto! Stop being so Welsh!" Jack finally snapped, "God! You Welsh, always having to pick faults in everything. I have no problem with Owen…ok I have a few problems with Owen but who doesn't?" Owen punched him in the arm and Jack laughed, "Kidding, just kidding. Now Owen do you have a problem with me?"
"Would I have suggested this if I did?" Owen smiled, "Plus I've always wondered what was so amazing about you that made everyone want you. Now maybe I'll find out." Jack gave a short laugh and then both he and Owen looked at Ianto, "So Yan, it's up to you. Willing to at least to give it a go?"
"Fine, we can give it a go," a shy smile broke out on his face, "This is going to be fun." He giggled and the other two laughed with him.
"You bet!" Owen moved forwards swiftly and proceeded to snog the life out of Ianto. Hands were wandering shamelessly and Jack was getting rather excited just watching the two kiss in front of him…
"Jack I…" Gwen trailed off as she stuck her head round the door. "Oh…ok…I'll just…" Once again it was all the Welsh woman could do and trailed off as the scene before he got even weirder. Jack pulled Ianto away from Owen gently and kiss him equally as passionately as the other two had been kissing. "What the…"
"Don't worry Gwen," Owen said with a smile, "Can I help you?"
"N-No. I think I can manage," Gwen blinked slowly a few times.
"Ok. Well…" Owen smiled a little awkwardly and then basically shut the door in her face. Turning he barely had time look surprised before Jack was kissing him. Yep, this was definitely going to be fun.
The day began as everyday had since the year was turned back with a new set of repairs to the Hub. It was as they were all working away on their own little things that Tosh's computer gave a loud beep and then another. The young woman rushed from where she'd been re-wiring Gwen's computer to check on hers.
"Rift activity," she said quickly, "I'm getting reports of vicious beasts attacking people. Looks like weevils." A slow grin spread across Jack's face.
"Well let's go people!" he cried out almost cheerfully and they obeyed, rushing to arm themselves and pull on their coats, heading for the SUV which they had discovered parked as normal in the parking structure Torchwood used. "Ianto, stay here and keep us updated."
"Yes Jack," he replied, settling down in Tosh's chair as the rest rushed to the now open cog door and the elevator up to the real world. Standing in the cramped lift Jack's grin didn't disappear, if anything it grew as he looked around the ready faces of his team. They looked back with slightly confused grins of their own. Jack found he could only say one thing,
"Oh I've missed this!"
