The next chapter as promised! Enjoy!
Rhys Williams was baffled. Only a couple of days ago he had gone to work like every other morning but now he was walking by a busy London street at peak time. He had parted with Gwen half an hour ago. She had gone to buy an oven, microwave and other kitchen related stuff. His job was to buy some food supplies.
Rhys entered to a tiny food store only few blocks away from where he parked his new, stolen, car. That way he didn't have to carry the bags too far but in other hand if police found the car they wouldn't know to look for him here. Gwen always managed to amaze him with her tricks. But now he had to think of something to eat. He passed shelves with meat on them and his stomach rumbled in response. Rhys was still a sensible man and went to the canned food section. He needed to think like survivors do: storable food. They had no way to know how long this situation was going to last.
"Excuse me, can I help you?"
Rhys turned to see a red haired woman standing next to him. She had a nametag on her shirt which said 'Susan'.
"No, no thanks. I… umm… just buying some stuff." Rhys nodded to her and turned towards the shelf again.
"Are you sure?" The seller, Susan, asked.
"Yes, thank you very much." Rhys replied but she still wouldn't leave. He glanced at her wearily. Maybe they had published his picture on television or something and she recognized him and now tried to delay him. "Is there a problem?"
"No, I was just wondering that such a good looking men always buy meat but here you are looking at… beans." Susan smiled at him.
Rhys smiled at her; it had been a long time since someone had praised his good looks. "Thanks, love, but I think I need something that will last for a while."
"Are you sure? Just last night I watched this documentary which said that humans can last much longer with one steak than ten cans of beans. Did you see it?" She said and nodded towards the cans he had been looking at.
"Really?" It was quite a coincidence, Rhys thought. "No I didn't see it." He had been traveling from Cardiff to London on top of potatoes, which made it quite difficult to watch television.
"I do feel like eating a juicy steak right now." He said and took a longing look towards the meat stand.
"Maybe you should. The documentary said that brains also work better if you eat proper meal after you've been in hunger for a while." Susan continued. "Isn't that right, Tom?"
Susan asked from a skinny sales man who was just walking pass them.
"You're talking about that documentary again?" The man asked as he stopped.
Rhys started to wonder that the situation was a little bit odd.
"You watched it too, didn't you? Meat does much more good to people than canned food." Susan said.
"Yes, it did say so." This Tom agreed with her.
"What was the name of that document? I've always said to my wife that meat is better to a man than salad." Rhys asked.
Both Susan and Tom went silent and glanced at each other. Rhys started to feel really uncomfortable.
"Never mind… thanks for telling me that. I'm just going to go." He slowly started to walk away from the beans and towards the meat.
Jack and the Doctor sat at dark alleyway which had a straight visual contact to the warehouse's front door. Jack had already seen himself going inside and if he remembered correctly Gwen and Rhys shouldn't be far behind.
"Why did we have to come here so early?" Doctor commented as he leaned to the wall. It was cold and wet. "I hate waiting…"
Jack sighed. It wasn't the first time in two hours that the Doctor complained about waiting. "I told you. I wanted to make sure we get here on time." Jack explained, trying hard to keep the annoyance away from his voice. "I don't trust your landing skills…"
"How rude!" Doctor gasped at Jack's comment. "We could've come here at least an hour later than we did."
"Well I guess your skills have improved." Jack said dryly. He had told Doctor the wrong time when they had parted from the crusader. He didn't want to mess this up just because Doctor parked the Tardis too late.
"It worked." Amy informed as she and Rory crept behind them.
"Wonderful!" Doctor yelped excitedly.
"Hush… here they come." Jack lifted his hand to silence him.
As he had expected Gwen drove there with Rhys close behind and they started to pack the stuff inside. Now only Ianto was missing. Jack's heart beat fast in his chest and he felt lightheaded. Still he didn't allow himself to think that things would go any differently just because Rhys didn't buy beans. But it didn't make him feel any less exited for seeing Ianto again. Even if it was only for a while and far away but just a glimpse of him would be enough.
"Should we get back to Tardis?" Rory asked. He was freezing his ass off and so was everybody else. Expect for Jack who didn't seem to notice the cold at all.
"No. I want to stay here." Jack said silently, not breaking his eye contact from the warehouse.
"And so will us." Doctor said. He wanted to stay by Jack's side. God knows what the immortal would do when he saw his old lover again. The Doctor was still amazed of how fond Jack was about that young man. He knew Jack was capable loving other people but he had never though that he would be so attached to someone else.
Jack's breath caught in his throat when he heard yet another car drive closer. Soon Ianto's sister's car drove to his sight and the man himself got out. Jack wanted to yell at him, let him know he was there but all he could do was stare: mesmerized. Ianto went to the trunk of the car and got many bags out. In one of them was Jack's new greatcoat which he still wore, always thinking about Ianto when putting it on. But the wonderful moment was soon gone when Ianto disappeared inside the warehouse. Jack felt his heart sank. All he wanted to do was to run after him, hold him, kiss him but he knew it was impossible.
"Jack? You all right?" The Doctor asked suddenly very close of him.
"Yeah." He managed to choke out. "I just… miss him."
Doctor patted his shoulder and went back to his old place, leaning on the brick wall. This wasn't his thing. Sitting and waiting but he did it for Jack. He had done so many things which he wasn't proud of when it came to the immortal. That young man, he still was quite young compared to him, had saved him so many times and he had never even thanked him, only called him wrong. But now he was able to pay him back.
"Doctor?"
Nearly two hours had passed since Ianto had gotten inside the warehouse. Gwen had left the hub to get Clement out of jail about half an hour ago.
"Yes?" Doctor turned towards Jack who for the first time looked away from the warehouse.
"If this theory of yours works…" Jack started.
"It will." Doctor simply stated.
"…if it works. Then I will disappear, won't I?" Jack's expression didn't even flinch when he said it.
"Yeah." The time lord whispered.
"What?" Amy breathed. "But…"
"We've changed Jack's past and when the circumstances starts to change, he will no longer exist." Doctor said calmly. "But I'm sure you knew that from the beginning?"
"I did and I just wanted to thank you." Jack came in front of him and exchanged his hand.
Doctor took it and squeezed tightly. "Oh, come on!" He suddenly pulled Jack to a bear hug.
Jack laughed a little and Doctor was happy to hear it. The man had been too gloomy for too long. Then Jack turned towards Amy and Rory, shaking their hands too. Amy's eyes were watery as she shook his hand.
"Don't worry. I've dreamed of this day for so long." Jack said. "I will return to my old self, to a life worth living for."
Jack looked at his watch. It was almost dinnertime. Suddenly he no longer saw his watch, or even his hand. The arm materialized back but he had started to disappear, slowly from the existence. He lifted his arm to salute to the Doctor and smiled a real happy smile for a very long time. Doctor saluted to him too, so did Rory and Amy.
"Goodbye, Jack. I'll see you around." Doctor said as Jack vanished.
"We better make the most of it then." Ianto said and smiled that shy smile of his.
Jack smiled back, his heart skipping a beat. It always surprised him of how well Ianto truly understood him.
"Suppose." He said back and turned towards the laptop.
"Like right now?" Ianto asked then and Jack couldn't help his smile widening.
"Ianto, the world could be ending." He turned to look at Ianto who didn't seem to put off by his comment.
"World's always ending." Ianto answered smoothly. "And I have missed that coat."
Jack couldn't keep the laugh inside himself as he turned to speak to Rhys.
"Rhys! Do you wanna take the car and go to those shops… umm… down by the Wharf? We need some disks for these things." He pointed towards the laptops. "Should take about… 20 minutes?"
"Thirty minutes." The Ianto said without looking at Jack.
"Thirty!" Jack quickly corrected.
"Right now? I've only gotten the marinade ready for the steaks." Rhys looked at them with disappointed face.
"Put those into oven, we can watch over them." Jack waved his hand, not really caring. Ianto snorted next to him.
"Fine, just remember to take them out, okay?" Rhys said as he put his coat on. "I'm going now!"
"Bye!" Jack and Ianto said in unison. A tiny click was heard from Ianto's pocket.
They sat in silence, staring at their computer screens, until they heard a car pull out and disappear to the streets. Right away they turned to look at each other and without a word they got up, one chair clattered to the floor, and met half way with passionate kiss. It was desperate and sloppy. They both had missed it like hell.
"What did you say about the coat?" Jack panted as they parted to get some oxygen.
"Don't care anymore." Ianto licked his swollen lips before pulling Jack for another kiss.
They staggered towards the couch, pulling their newly bought clothes out of their way. Jack crashed on top of Ianto who grunted in displeasure when Jack's weight made it impossible to breath. Jack quickly supported himself better and for a moment they just looked at each other's eyes, nose brushing together. Suddenly Jack felt an odd choking feeling in his throat and his heart ached. He wondered what he would do without this man, who meant so much to him. For a fracture of second he remembered how Ianto lay dying in his arms and he felt his heart breaking. The memory disappeared as quickly as it had come and Jack couldn't remember why he felt so much sorrow. He quickly pushed the thought away from his mind and kissed Ianto again, savoring the feeling. This was exactly where he was meant to be.
"Seven minutes." Ianto sighed as he checked the stopwatch.
"Hmm…" Jack hummed into his ear and pulled the man even closer.
They lay on the too tiny couch with Jack's greatcoat covering their bodies. Ianto sniffed the air.
"Do you smell something burning?" He then asked.
"Don't care." Jack mumbled and kissed Ianto's neck lazily.
"No, really, Jack. Something is burning." Ianto sat up. "Oh, shit."
Ianto wrapped Jack's coat around his waist and tiptoed to the kitchenette. He opened the oven and coughed when a dark smoke covered the air.
"I would enjoy the view more if you didn't wear that coat." Jack called after him, way too amused by the situation.
"Jack! Rhys's going to kill us." Ianto gave him a serious look.
Jack laughed and glanced at the stopwatch which lay on the floor.
"We should get dressed. Only three minutes left!" He yelped and started to look for his clothes.
"Bloody hell!"
Ianto flinched as Rhys's voice echoed in the empty warehouse.
"All the steaks! Ruined! Harkness you bloody idiot! I gave you only one job and you managed to ruin it! What the hell were you doing all this time? Sitting on your asses on your precious computers?"
The rambling went on and both Jack and Ianto tried to hide their laughing as they sat in the same positions as before Rhys had left.
"Bloody Torchwood…" Rhys mumbled as he realized neither Jack nor Ianto were paying him any attention.
"Ianto, can you try to find the pictures of the other three people who were ordered to kill at the same time as me?" Jack asked when he finally had the patience to get back to work.
"Yes, sir." Ianto answered, emphasizing the sir.
Jack smiled at him.
"Here you go, sir." Ianto said after a moment of searching.
Jack took a quick glance of the pictures.
"No, the pictures from forty years ago. Can you find those?" Jack came to stand behind Ianto as he did some typing. Soon three pictures of much younger people came to the screen.
Ianto examined Jack's reaction. "Do you know them?"
"Yeah… I got to go." Jack said and ran to get his coat.
"Where to?" Ianto called after him.
"I'll tell you later! Promise!" Jack shouted before disappearing.
"Buy some food while you're at it!" Rhys called after Jack but the immortal didn't hear him.