Time Intertwined
A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I know I promised to post a chapter each day, but real life got in the way (and sometimes it's a struggle to keep your head above the shit that life throws at you, there are days when you just want to lie there and pretend it's all an illusion) anyway only a couple of chapters left to go.
Chapter 12
A couple of hours later Owen and Gwen went up to Tosh who filled them in saying that she was not able to find any messages.
"Well what are we going to do?" Gwen whined.
"I don't know, try to use the rift to get to 1975" Tosh said shrugging her shoulders.
"But Tosh you can't, when Owen did it last time to get you and Jack back from 1941 the rift splintered and let in many strange people from many different time periods, not to mention Abaddon. We can't do that again, especially if Jack is not here to help us to defeat any alien threats that will come through" Gwen continued to whine, her fear overtaking her senses. Owen looked at her with concern thinking that she was not coping with the problems of the Torchwood adequately.
"Gwen I know, I know" Tosh said sadly, "I have to try, if I get the right equation or combination of equations I could open it long enough to let only Jack come through"
"Oh Tosh you know Jack would not allow you to do that" Gwen said unbelieving that Tosh would attempt to open up the rift again.
Tosh sighed deeply, "I've got to do something, you never know I might be able to. It did work, not that many hours ago"
"Yeah but that was with John's workable wrist thingy" Gwen said understanding that Tosh was not thinking sensibly, her feeling of helplessness at not getting the rift Manipulator to work or divulge information she needed was causing her to make some bad decisions.
"Owen, can you remember what you did that time when you opened the rift to get Jack and me back?" Tosh asked Owen.
"Well your equations that you left in the tin back in 1941 helped greatly" Owen said staring admirably at Tosh, "that and having a gun pointed at me sorted of spurred me on to put that piece in, which is still there but I can't remember what I actually did, sorry" Owen said shrugging his shoulders, he hated to bring up the time when Ianto shot him, he knew that Ianto was trying to stop him from making a huge mistake but he couldn't really remember what he did, the shock of being shot and that Ianto actually shot him was his main memory of that day.
Tosh looked at Owen understanding, "Okay, I'm not going to rush it, working out the exact equations will take some time, I won't risk rift splinters leaking into different time periods again, okay" Tosh said trying to reassure her friends.
"Here's a thought, the rift takes people away randomly all the time" Gwen said, "why couldn't it bring people back in much the same place but years later?"
"What are you saying Gwen? Do you reckon that we should head out to the Radyr Woods and look for Jack there. You think that Jack would have tried to return back by the rift energy when the dead girl is returned back to her time?" Owen queried.
Gwen shrugged her shoulders, her eyes misty and sad, scared that Jack would try that, knowing that the rift was unpredictable, Jack could end up anywhere, any when.
"Gwen if that was the case, Jack would have returned by now" Owen said softly as if speaking to a child who doesn't understand.
"Yeah, yes I suppose you're right" Gwen said anxiously.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
They all looked at each other, wondering what the noise was and where it was coming from.
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP, the thumping persisted.
"What would be making that noise down there?" Gwen asked.
"Nothing that I can think of, there's only the vaults with the frozen bodies and the basement where Ianto kept the cyberman" Owen said, regretting it as soon as he said it, as girls looked awkward and tried not to think back to that awful day.
They all drew their guns, and made their way down to where they could still hear the thumping.
"It seems to be coming from the morgue?" Tosh said.
They all looked at each other, all thinking the same thing, could it be, could Jack have thought to freeze himself till now, but then why at this time, why not earlier.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Rounding the corner and down the next lot of stairs, silence, no more thumping.
"Wait!" Owen whispered, his gun still held in front, "the noise has stopped"
They all stood deadly still, ears straining to hear more thumping. A scuffling noise could be heard instead.
"Maybe it's not coming from the morgue" Gwen offered, "what else is down here?"
"The Archives" Owen and Tosh said in unison, they both changed direction and headed towards the Archives. Their guns held ready if need be, Tosh remained at the door of the Archives while Owen entered the familiar antechamber. The scuffling continued, Owen and Gwen followed the noise into one of the aisle while Tosh held the back-up position.
"Jack!" Gwen yelled out in happiness as she ran into his arms. Hearing Gwen call out Jack's name Tosh came running over to give Jack a hug as well.
Owen cleared his throat, waiting for the girls to finish hugging and squeezing the life out of Jack, if that is possible, slapped Jack on the shoulder, "What took you so long?"
"I told that fool 3 o'clock but it seems he coded it in as 3 in the afternoon, not 3 o'clock in the morning" Jack chuckled, shaking his head, "hey where's Ianto?"
XXXXXXXX
Ianto pushed John away forcefully "Get off me"
"Oh come on, lets have a bit of fun"
"With you, you have got to be kidding?" Ianto asked incredulously.
"Fine, you'll come around" John backed off a little but not enough for Ianto to move pass him without brushing pass him.
"I don't think so, take me back" Ianto said, "NOW"
"No can do eye candy" John said boldly
"And why not" Ianto said, getting tired of this conversation with John.
"Because I want a bit of a holiday and I picked you to have it with" John said.
"What!?" Ianto said not quite believing his ears, did this guy have no moral compass.
"So like I said before, where would you like to go, there's a timeline that has your pick of sexual partners" John said enthusiastically, "it's all free love, eye candy"
"I…..told…..you….don't….call…me…that" Ianto said punctuating each word with a shove moving John away.
"Okay okay no more 'eye candy' just the candy" John said salaciously, "you've gotta taste good for Jack to want you all to himself for so long"
John closed the space between them with determination in his eyes.
XXXXXXXX
Sitting down in the board room Tosh, Owen and Gwen told Jack that they saw on the CCTV that he was handcuffed and taken by John.
"What happened with you and John? Why was Marcus here? Where did you go?" Gwen bombarded him with questions, "How did you managed to get to be in the morgue to get back here now?"
Jack wanted to know where was Ianto but he knew if he didn't answer these questions he wouldn't be able to get straight answers to his question so he explained what happened with Marcus, being in 1975, and getting in contact with Alex, putting Marcus and the killer's bodies in the morgue, having Alex put a time-lock for 3 o'clock but he told him three in the morning not three in the afternoon.
"But why the thumping if you could get out?" Gwen asked.
"Brain freeze?" Jack said sheepishly, "I forgot that my wrist manipulator could open the vault, I woke up in a daze"
"Remind me to examine you later" Owen said shaking his head, pursing his lips.
"So where is Ianto?" Jack asked patiently, but his mind was working overtime.
"We don't know. We thought he was with you in 1975" Tosh said quietly.
"Why would you think that?" Jack queried, "you said you saw the CCTV of Marcus and me being taken with John, Ianto wasn't taken"
"After you were taken the CCTV showed John here again" Gwen said guardedly.
"Ah… hmmm….and?" Jack said pursing his lips afraid of what they would say next.
"None of us were here, only Ianto" Gwen apologetically gushed, not wanting to upset Jack too much, "we were all at home as you and Ianto were at the Hub"
"Ianto rung me after you were taken, he was a little stressed, he asked me to come in" Tosh said.
"Aaaand…." Jack said getting impatient.
"Well after he rang me about 10 minutes later we see on the CCTV John appears, he and Ianto say a few words and then John takes Ianto using his wrist thingy" Tosh explained.
"Show me" Jack gritting his teeth.
After viewing the CCTV, Jack went quiet, thinking about the threat John made, at the time Jack just thought that John was making an idle threat but now he didn't think it was so idle, now that Ianto was seen to be taken by John just after 3am, it would have been easy for John to go back to just after the three of them were swept to 1975.
"Jack!" Gwen said in frustration when he didn't say anything for some time, "if you know something please tell us"
Jack went on to explain his encounter with John and his threat back in 1975.
"Crap"
"Oh Ianto"
"So we're lost Ianto"
The others exclaimed in unison.
A/N: Hello, is anyone out there? I don't know if anyone is reading this story, as I am only getting 1 or 2 reviews, if you are reading please find some time in your busy lives and review, it's very crushing to get no response.