A/N: This should be the last chapter with background stuff. From now on it will be story. Thank you for your patience and for all the lovely reviews.

Finding One's Feet

By the end of three weeks they had a much better idea of the kind of world they had come to. Broadly speaking it was a lot like their own Earth but there were significant differences. Some of these were geo-political and some cultural and the two of them focused on the ones that would be likely to trip them up immediately while making a note of the others that they would need to be aware of before they started university in September.

Britain had been united until roughly seventy-five years ago when the Celtic Nations had seceded and formed their own alliance and England had concentrated on its Commonwealth. Ianto discovered that Cardiff wasn't the capital of Wales in this reality; that was a place called Hafan, which was where Milford Haven was in his old world. Cardiff was considered the second city of Wales and famous for its culture and university.

There was a World Council which seemed to be a bit like the United Nations but with real power and teeth. There was a flourishing space race which seemed to be taking the place of an arms race for most of the power factions. Mankind had several bases on the Moon, space stations right out of a pulp fiction writer's dreams and there had been manned missions to Mars and Venus. There was even a small but growing tourist industry on the Moon.

A little to their relief, this wasn't a perfect world, free from all the ills that had plagued their old one. Some things were better: same sex relationships being the most obvious in that most places considered them to be on a par with hetero relationships, but there were still problems with racism. There was crime of all kinds. A quick trawl had turned up the usual mixture of crimes and misdemeanours and there was something infinitely reassuring in the knowledge that they weren't living with some kind of purified form of humanity.

The biggest difference, however, lay in the fact that this world was perfectly aware that there were aliens out there.

"Jack?" Ianto looked up from his trawling through cyberspace. "You ever come across a race called the Dhmeii?"

Jack sat up from where he was lounging on the sofa watching TV and gave him a curious look. "It sounds vaguely familiar." He wracked his brain for a minute. "I think they were an extinct race. Nice people but their world went up in flames when their sun went nova. Why?"

Ianto leaned back in his seat and gazed at the computer screen. "Because it looks like they got away in this reality and they wound up here." He saw Jack start to get up and shook his head. "Hang on, I can stream my connection to the TV."

He stroked a few keys and the TV screen blanked before it displayed the webpage that Ianto was currently on. Jack swiftly scanned the contents before he gave a soft whistle. "I'll be damned. Score one to the Humans on this side of the dimensional barrier!"

Ianto nodded in agreement. The Dhmeii had turned up in the Sol system, their entire race and ecology represented by three gigantic space arks that had been damaged when they had encountered an inimical alien race. Their ships had limped into Earth orbit, throwing the human race into a startled panic before it had been established that the Dhmeii were utterly peaceful, despite their ferocious appearance. The initial cautious communications had slowly become more open and friendly, especially when Humanity had realised that most of Earth was far too cold for the Dhmeii. Having evolved on a much hotter planet, only the equatorial region was bearable to them.

Humans had relaxed even further when they realised that the only thing the Dhmeii were asking for was the right to visit the surface of the Earth for short trips to acclimatise their ship-born children to a natural gravity field while they used their technology to mine asteroids and a comet or two for the raw materials to repair their vessels. By the end of the first year, Humanity had adjusted to the fact that they weren't the only intelligent lifeforms in the universe and they had greedily absorbed all the information the Dhmeii had freely offered. Although there had been problems from some quarters, Humanity had by and large come to like the lizard-like Dhmeii.

"I have a nasty feeling we wouldn't have been so accepting on our world," Ianto sighed as he scanned the list of various articles, books and TV items which charted the rapid acceptance of the aliens.

"This Earth has a stronger history of trading links forging alliances and bringing races closer together," Jack pointed out. "They've had fewer military empires and more trading ones. People have grown used to looking for similarities rather than differences." He grinned. "Besides, the Dhmeii had some really cool toys and Humans wanted to play."

Ianto laughed softly. While Humans had been successfully exploring their solar system, the Dhmeii had far more efficient technology that made star travel feasible and once Humanity realised that, they had very much wanted to know how to build such ships.

"I can't believe the Dhmeii just offered the technology to us," Ianto said in wonderment.

Jack shrugged. "Alien minds. They didn't see it as something they should profit from and Humans had been kind and welcoming after the previous race had tried to kill and eat them. They wanted to give something back."

"And didn't that put the cat amongst the pigeons," Ianto said in amusement.

Presented with such a gift, Humanity had suffered an attack of conscience. The Dhmeii had made it clear that they were hunting for a new home but had been unable to find one that wasn't already inhabited. They were planning to set off again once they had repaired their arks but the odds on them being successful were small. Some humans had already commented that Venus, which had been found to be disappointingly lifeless, was perfect from a temperature point of view but would need to be terraformed. They had been largely ignored up until that point but when the Dhmeii had given Humanity the secret of their propulsion system, along with several other technological breakthroughs, far more powerful voices had raised the concept of gifting them Venus in return. There had been some serious discussions – and arguments – but the voices for the motion had been carried. It had taken a hundred years, but Venus was now officially Anahi Medhri and Humanity was happily building three ships that could travel to the outer planets of the solar system and beyond.

"So even if Torchwood did exist here we wouldn't have to worry about people finding out about the aliens," Ianto observed later on that afternoon as he took his turn to prepare a meal.

"Yeah, but they also know it's not all peace and love out there," Jack pointed out as he got together the cutlery and glassware. "The Dhmeii knew of six alien races. Two were friendly, one was ambivalent, two were so alien there was no area for interaction and one was profoundly hostile. That's why the World Council decided to form the Space Force. And stop grinning!" he said in exasperation.

"How did you know I was grinning?" Ianto asked as he turned around to show that he was doing just that.

"Because you always do when you hear the words 'Space Force'," Jack said.

Ianto's grin broadened. "Oh, come on, it sounds so damn Buck Rogers or Dan Dare!" He adopted a wide-legged stance with his fists jammed against his hips. "Join the Space Force for a life of adventure!" he intoned dramatically.

Jack snorted a laugh. "Stop it," he said in mock severity. "You never know: that might be our future career!"

Ianto sobered and looked thoughtful. "You're right. I hadn't thought of that." After a moment he shivered. "It still feels weird, knowing that I have an entire life ahead of me and I can do what I want." After a moment, he shrugged and gave Jack a grin. "Still, that's in the future and I have to get through university first. Are we eating outside?"

Jack nodded. "I thought we'd take advantage of the fact it's still sunny. Why is this version of Cardiff so sunny?"

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Our version was sunny enough. You just never got out of the Hub enough during the day."

Jack nodded thoughtfully but didn't say anything as he went to lay the table for their meal. They'd discovered that the balcony that went completely around their building opened out into a wider space at both ends of the long axis. The one next to the kitchen had raised beds with a small fruit and herb garden, along with some vegetables. It had been a long time since Jack had had anything to do with gardening but he was enjoying taking care of this one, and the flower garden on the opposite end had a built-in barbeque that he was looking forward to using.

In the past three weeks he had seen Ianto lose a lot of his stiff reserve and careful self-control. It was almost as if he was remembering what it was to be young and Jack was thoroughly enchanted with the result. Jack was self-aware enough to realise that he was also changing, shedding his defensive instincts and relaxing more. It was still a joy to wake up in the morning to find himself tangled up with Ianto and know that they could take their time before they got up. There were no Rift alerts, no mounds of paperwork, no endless arguments with petty bureaucrats and hostile rival organisations. There was no fear that the next person who came calling for revenge would succeed in killing Ianto. There was no Doctor to imply that Jack was a disappointment. Jack could – and did - still feel guilt or remorse about past actions but now he had a clean slate and he was determined to make a success of this life and to leave a legacy that he could be unequivocally be proud of.

Of course there was a solid chance that he would also be climbing the walls with boredom in six months, but he was determined to be optimistic.

No matter what might happen, he had Ianto and that, he was happy to admit, made one hell of a difference. He'd always been afraid to commit to Ianto completely; partly because he knew he had a lousy track record when it came to maintaining a serious relationship but also because he had known that the deeper he let Ianto get under his skin the worse it was going to be when Ianto inevitably died. Of course Ianto had managed to worm his way through all of Jack's defensive layers without even realising he was doing it and when Jack had realised how important Ianto had become to him he had panicked and done his best to push the younger man away. He went cold as he thought how he had felt when Ianto had been dying in his arms and he had realised that the effort had been for nothing because his heart had been shattering with every gasping breath Ianto had taken.

The man in question appeared and set down the plates with their pasta lunch, adding a basket of bread rolls. He went back to get the sparkling water they usually drank with their lunch, a habit of Jack's that had rubbed off on Ianto. Jack gave a mischievous grin as he realised that Ianto had only used mushrooms and onions with the ham in the pasta.

"Someone's going to be getting salad with his dinner," he teased with a grin and then laughed as Ianto stuck his tongue out at him.

"Mushrooms and onions are vegetables," Ianto said firmly. The ongoing battle between himself and Jack over what constituted a healthy diet was a familiar one but Ianto wasn't one to give in easily. He loved any kind of fruit but he balked at eating endless quantities of vegetables.

Jack just gave him a grin that promised the other man was up to no good and Ianto had a feeling there was some kind of broccoli surprise in his near future. He switched his attention to eating and for a while there was a comfortable silence as the two of them demolished their lunch.

"Any plans for this evening?" Jack asked once the main meal had been cleared away and Ianto had brought out the fresh peaches and cream he'd put together for dessert.

Ianto shrugged. "I thought we might check out that new club on the Parade," he suggested. "Or maybe swing by the Lion. Dorcas is singing tonight."

Jack considered the options. They'd started to socialise, tentatively at first but with more confidence as they had met and made casual friends. The Golden Lion was a pub on the Bay which had been around since the 1700s and it had been left alone by developers and designers so it still retained a lot of its original features. It had always been popular with the more bohemian members of Cardiff's population and that tradition was still going strong.

Jack was enjoying having the time to just kick back and savour life again. His forays into the Cardiff social scene in the old dimension had been largely trawling expeditions for sexual partners before he had gone off with the Doctor. After he had returned from the Year That Never Was he had been more interested in getting to know Ianto properly so there had been more trips to the theatre and cinema, more meals in restaurants, but they had often had their dates interrupted by work. That wasn't happening now. He and Ianto could go out for a leisurely meal and know that they could spend as long as they liked before moving on to a club or theatre.

"Let's go to the Lion," Jack decided. "Dorcas is always a fun gig."

Ianto gave him an old-fashioned look. "No," he said flatly.

Jack made a valiant attempt to look innocent. "What?"

"I was drunk, you encouraged me and I am never doing it again."

Jack gave up on trying to pretend ignorance and burst into a peal of laughter. The second time they had gone to the Lion, Ianto had had a bit too much to drink. When the Lion's resident chanteuse, Dorcas, had invited people to come up and do a mini-session, Ianto had got up, borrowed a guitar and did a belting version of Queen's Let Me Entertain You that had gone down a storm. He'd then gone on to sing several other songs before dragging Jack up on stage so they could perform You're the One That I Want. Ianto had nearly died of embarrassment the following day.

"Come on," Jack coaxed. "You had them screaming for more."

"I made a complete idiot of myself," Ianto corrected. "Dorcas thought I'd written all those songs. I nearly had a heart attack when she asked if she could sing them as well."

"Well no-one's likely to come after us for copyright infringement, are they?" Jack pointed out reasonably. He grinned again. "We could make a fortune writing all manner of books, poems and songs and screenplays-"

"That would be immoral!" Ianto said in exasperation. "Besides, it's not like we're desperate for money, is it?"

Jack had to concede that. Both he and Ianto had discovered that they were independently wealthy. Ianto had a property portfolio which included the building they lived in, as well as shares in a chain of coffee houses. Jack had supposedly inherited his grandfather's personal fortune as well as the controlling interest in a flourishing trading company. Between the two of them they had enough money that they didn't really need to have any kind of job, although the two of them knew that a life of idle luxury would have them climbing the walls in short order.

"I was thinking more along the lines of bringing culture to the masses," Jack said instead.

"And the air of virtue would work so much better if I didn't know you, Jack Harkness," Ianto retorted.

Jack laughed and shrugged. "It was worth a try, but think how deprived these people are that they don't know about James Bond," he pointed out mischievously.

Ianto smirked. "Nice try, Captain, but it ain't going to work. This world has its own cultural icons and I rather fancy Gideon Locke."

"Such a fickle creature," Jack said mournfully before placing a kiss on the tip of Ianto's nose.

That led to more kisses and the kisses led to even more pleasurable pursuits so it was a while before they left the flat and made their way over to the Bay. It was busy in the late afternoon sunshine and Jack and Ianto amused themselves with a little bit of window shopping before they made their way to the Lion. After the warm May afternoon sunshine it was cool and dim inside, the smattering of customers making a hum of conversation and laughter. Dorcas soon appeared and greeted the two of them warmly, her green eyes a vivid contrast to her warm golden skin and jet black hair done up in an elaborate chignon.

"Going to sing for us tonight, little blackbird?" she asked Ianto with a mischievous smile.

"I am never getting drunk in this place again," Ianto said fervently, flipping Jack the finger as the other man laughed. "Usual?" he asked over his shoulder and went off to the bar when Jack nodded.

"Ah, the world is a poorer place when blackbirds don't sing," Dorcas said mournfully. She gave Jack a severe look. "It is your duty to make him want to sing."

"Oh, he does sing," Jack said with a smirk, "but it's almost always a private performance."

"Selfish, that's your problem," Dorcas said with a snort. "Still, I've had wonderful responses to the songs that he gifted me with. I've been the envy of many another singer in the city." She smiled impishly. "Lots of them are trying to find out who the songwriter is and I am having so much fun being mysterious!"

Ianto gave them both a deeply suspicious look as he returned with the drinks to find them laughing. He said nothing, though, handing Jack his wheat beer and Dorcas a glass of brandy. "Do I want to know?" he demanded.

"Probably," Jack said with a smirk.

"But we're not going to tell you," Dorcas added and gave a peal of laughter as Ianto muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath.

She drifted away to speak to some of the other regulars and Jack and Ianto took their drinks out into the small garden that rang alongside the Lion and which gave a good view of the Bay and part of the docks. These were still busy and they enjoyed watching the boats sail up to be offloaded of their cargo. Many ships were equipped with the solar sails that made them look like the old sailing ships of the past and it was a beautiful sight as the sun slowly sank and painted everything a rich deep antique gold.

By the time night fell and the entertainment started, Ianto was feeling a pleasant buzz and Jack was mellow. They moved back indoors and ordered some food, knowing from previous experience that the Lion kept a good table. There was more of a crowd by now and both of them cast a wary eye in the direction of one table, the occupants of which were just that little bit too rowdy for this early in the evening. Fights in the Lion were rare, since the owner was ex-Army and had employed a couple of his old colleagues, but they did happen.

Dorcas took her place on the small stage at the far end of the main room and the crowd quietened in anticipation. She had one of those voices that Jack had heard described as 'smoky'. She had a knack of wrapping that voice around the lyrics of her songs and making it sound as if she was purring them into the ear of each and every single person listening to her. She was a chanteuse of the old school, so far as Jack was concerned, happier with a small appreciative live audience than she would be making records and touring large theatres and concert halls. She knew her strengths and worked with them and the result was that both she and her audiences were happy.

As was her usual habit, when she had sung several songs she took a break and gave the mike over to anyone in the audience who wanted to have a go. As in their old universe, this Wales had a reputation for being a land of song and people took the idea of singing very seriously so it was rare that any native got up to take the mike if they didn't know they could carry a tune. Tourists and foreign sailors, however, were a different matter. One of the people on the rowdy table got up and staggered across to the mike and proceeded to massacre a popular song. Jack winced and Ianto wound up putting his hands over his ears as they were assaulted by the kind of ear-splitting shrieks that one generally associated with someone being murdered.

The rest of the audience wasn't much better and when the man finished the song and then showed signs of beginning another, they showed their reluctance to suffer any further in the time-honoured version. The 'singer's' friends took exception to the booing and made comments regarding the parentage of the crowd. While current society didn't have that big a thing about unmarried parents, they most definitely did have a problem with the strangers intimating that the locals would sleep with anything if there was money involved.

The fight, Jack decided, was pretty average but a lot of fun.

Not that he and Ianto had got involved right away. When the fists started to fly they kept on the outskirts, knowing that Bran and his assistants would soon arrive and break it up. It had been three weeks since they had known any action, however, and when one of the beefier of the strangers had come reeling in their direction and very obviously decided that he couldn't be bothered to walk all the way back to the main fight, they were happy enough to double-team him and put him down. Unfortunately that attracted the attention of some of the others and they had come after them, which had in turn brought some of the locals over to keep things even.

Things had been a bit frenetic but still on the right side of fun right up until the moment someone threw a bottle which managed to crash against the side of Ianto's head and sent him collapsing to the floor in a limp heap. Jack froze for a split second as all his fears and remembered anguish broke free from the corner of his mind where he had pushed them into. He was dimly aware of roaring out his rage and terror as he tore into the crowd, using hand-to-hand combat techniques he'd learned across time and space to clear the area around Ianto's prone figure. He barely noticed that Bran and the others had turned up and that the locals had also stopped fighting the moment they realised it had stopped being fun.

Jack dropped down beside Ianto, frantically feeling for a pulse. Please, he whimpered deep inside himself. Please don't take him away from me. He almost fainted with relief when he felt the pulse beating strongly underneath his questing fingers. A second later and a concerned Dorcas appeared beside him. She gave an unsteady laugh of relief when he nodded at her.

"Thank Bast," she said with a sigh as she reached out to touch Ianto gently. "I called the ambulance. They should be here soon."

Even as she spoke the doors to the bar flew open and several police and two paramedics made an appearance. Jack backed off a little to let them do their work and surreptitiously made a check of his own using his wristband. That informed him that Ianto had a concussion but that there was no skull fracture or internal bleeding. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jack allowed the paramedics to load Ianto on to a stretcher so he could be taken to hospital for a more thorough check-up. By this time the instigators of the fight had been arrested and carted off and the rest of the crowd were settling back to have a few more drinks to soothe their shattered nerves.

To Jack's relief, the paramedics were fine about his travelling with them to the hospital, and he held Ianto's hand the entire time. It had frightened him to see Ianto go down like that and he realised that he had become a little complacent in the time since they had come to this new world. The fact that they were no longer involved with Torchwood did not mean that they could not be harmed. Being run over by a bus would be just as lethal as being savaged by a Weevil. And now he couldn't just stand in the path of any danger, knowing that he would get back up again. He watched as Ianto started to regain consciousness, only to screw up his eyes in pain and start to lift his hand towards his head.

"No, don't do that," Jack said, forestalling the paramedic doing the same. He caught Ianto's hand and pulled it down. "You had a nasty bump to the head."

"Mmm, figured that," Ianto mumbled. "Ouch?"

Jack managed a strangled chuckle. "You're so cute when you're concussed," he said in an effort to lighten his mood.

Ianto pulled a face and winced as he felt a stab of pain at his temple and along the side of his face. It was starting the throb badly and he was experienced enough to recognise that he had been hit by something. "Damn, that's embarrassing," he groaned. "I dodge any number of Weevils and get decked in a stupid bar brawl."

"Never mind, I won't tell anyone," Jack said in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Ow! Don't make me laugh," Ianto complained. "Why does my head hurt?" He started to lift his hand and wondered why Jack was holding on to both of them.

Experienced in the way people with concussion sometimes had problems in remembering what had just been told to them, Jack patiently repeated what had happened and then did it again when Ianto asked him the same questions. By that time they had arrived at the hospital and Ianto was taken into the A&E department while Jack was waylaid by a young administrator who needed to complete the paperwork for Ianto's admission. Swallowing his impatience, Jack hurried through the questions, which were mainly identity and residency details. He could see Ianto being taken towards one of the examination bays but there were quite a few people milling about and he soon lost sight of him.

Ianto, meanwhile, had closed his eyes to prevent the bright lights of the A&E department from making his headache even worse. He knew that Jack had been made to stay behind and he was doing his best to stop panic from nibbling away at his self-control. He didn't know why it was so difficult to keep control but his emotions seemed to be all over the place and the fact that one side of his face was throbbing painfully wasn't helping. The sense of dislocation was growing stronger and he wanted Jack nearby. He could hear the two paramedics chatting to one another about getting a coffee afterwards and there was some people shouting about being made to wait in the distance, as well as a small child grizzling while a woman tried to reassure them.

"What the hell... Teaboy?"

The voice was clear and sharp and perfectly recognisable. Ianto jerked upright in shock and started to turn his head.

"Owen?"

Something sharp and bright as a supernova went off inside his head and Ianto went out like a light.

OOOO