Chapter Forty-Eight
A couple of people have requested that I write longer chapters – what do the rest of you think? It would be something like 2,000 words a chapter versus 1,200 per chapter. Please let me know! (This one is 1,600 words, btw.)
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own – not yet.
Jack checked the caller ID on his phone, swearing softly when he saw that it was Ianto.
"Jack, where are you?" Ianto demanded. "It's nearly eight!"
Jack closed his eyes. God give me strength, he prayed silently. "I know, and I'm sorry. One of the staff's been in an accident – I'm at the hospital with her now."
"Who?" Ianto asked, sounding worried.
"Lisa Hallet," Jack said. "I'm trying to calm her boyfriend at the moment."
"Is she badly hurt?"
Jack sucked in a trembling breath. He shot a look over at the other Ianto, who was staring blankly at a sprawling pot-plant in the corner. "I... I don't know. But you'll never believe this – her boyfriend could be your doppelganger." Jack grinned, despite the situation. "Seriously – he's called Ianto Jones and everything."
"We're common as muck," Ianto commented drolly.
Jack's breath hitched in his throat; his heart nearly stopped beating for a second. "That's just freaky," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "He said exactly the same thing."
His partner laughed. "Great minds think alike?"
"Or fools seldom differ," Jack said, his grin stretching wider.
"Are you insulting me?"
"Who, me?" Jack asked innocently. "Nah, never."
"Watch it," Ianto said, sounding amused. "How much longer will you be?"
Jack sighed, checking his watch. "I'm sorry – I really couldn't say." He flicked a look over at the blue-eyed Ianto. "I think he's in shock – keeps on talking like he knows me."
"What sort of things is he talking about?" Curiosity laced Ianto's voice; Jack didn't need to see him to know that he was raising his eyebrows.
"Some really weird stuff..." Jack hesitated. "The thing is... he knows stuff. About me."
"What d'you mean?"
Jack shook his head, momentarily forgetting that Ianto couldn't see him. "How I take my coffee. The only occasion I've ever done the washing-up. Stuff like that."
The other end of the line was silent for a heartbeat. "D'you want me to come?"
Jack glanced at the other Ianto. "I'll be fine. Sorry about dinner."
"It isn't a problem - give my best wishes to Lisa, when she wakes up. Love you." Ianto rang off before Jack could echo the sentiment, leaving Jack feeling lonely as he clutched the mobile.
"Are you okay?" the other Ianto, the one with the blue eyes, asked. He sounded so much like his partner that Jack nearly spilled everything, but the innocent blue eyes were enough to remind him that this young man wasn't his partner and was most likely in shock – or loony.
"Fine," he said tightly. "You feeling better?"
"I'm not in shock," Ianto said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Honestly, Jack, I would have thought that you of all people would remember Torchwood."
Jack frowned. "Torchwood?" he asked. Why do I feel like I've heard that before...?
"Torchwood." Ianto folded his arms, almost defensively. It was like he was trying to protect himself – from what, Jack didn't know. "Our job."
It was like he was only half-remembering something. "In Cardiff Bay?"
"More like under."
Jack blinked. "What?"
Ianto chuckled, although what was so amusing Jack hadn't a clue. "The Hub's underground, underneath the water tower."
"Underneath the water—? Come off it – that's just not possible," Jack said.
Ianto sighed, as if it were obvious. "There's an invisible lift," he said.
Jack bristled at his tone; it sounded as if he were talking to a rather dim toddler. "Of course," he said. "Why didn't I realise that before?"
"It's all true, y'know," Ianto said, looking at Jack with a quiet intensity in his lagoon-blue eyes. "I'm not crazy."
"I don't think you are," Jack lied. "Let's get you a cup of tea."
Ianto wrinkled his nose. "I'm not drinking anything from here," he said. "Owen says it tastes like piss – and although I wouldn't put it quite so eloquently, I have to agree."
Jack frowned. "Owen?"
"Owen Harper. He's the doctor for Torchwood," Ianto said. "Swears a lot, stroppy all the time?"
Jack snorted. "Dr Harper works here," he said, "although I admit he's very much like how you described him."
Ianto shook his head. "Jack... why won't you believe me?" His eyes looked despondent, lost, like those of a child entering the room for an exam.
Jack touched his arm. "Because it isn't true," he said gently. "You're in shock – your girlfriend's just been in a bad accident – and you're not thinking straight."
Ianto pulled away from him, his expression upset. "I'm not crazy," he insisted. "I know that it's true."
"Isn't that what they all think?" Jack said without thinking. "It's not like there's any proof of what you say."
Ianto froze, as if an idea had struck him. "I know a way to prove to you that I'm talking the truth," he said excitedly. "Stick out your arm."
Uncertainly, Jack held out his left arm.
"Other arm."
"Why?" Jack asked, curiosity warring with caution. "What are you going to do?"
"Nothing bad, I promise," Ianto said, eyes sparkling. "Just do it."
Jack let him push up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a brown leather wrist-strap. "I've never seen that before," he said, frowning.
"It's your Vortex Manipulator," Ianto said. "You used to use it to travel through time before the Doctor dismantled it."
"Okay..." Jack said slowly. "I still don't know, though. You could have slipped it on me without me noticing."
Ianto gave him a 'yeah, right' look. "You want more proof?" he demanded.
"What else have you got up your sleeve – or rather, my sleeve?"
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Bad joke. Really bad joke."
"Sorry." Jack grinned. "Go on, then – convince me."
And Ianto pulled him into a ferocious kiss, one that sent shocks through Jack's body from his head to his toes, one that started his heart pounding like he had just sprinted a mile, and left his breathless and gasping when Ianto drew back.
"What the—?" He put a hand to his head in shock as images started flooding through his head. It was as if a dam had been burst, releasing a tidal wave of memories and emotions.
Ianto caught him as his knees crumpled beneath him, cradling him in his arms as he would a baby or small child, and stroking away the tears streaming down Jack's cheeks with gentle, long fingers. "Ssh..." he murmured.
"Ianto..." Jack whispered, reaching up a hand to touch the Welshman's face. "I'm sorry."
Ianto smiled, though his eyes looked distinctly wet. "Nothing to be sorry for." He bit his lip, trying to hold back the tears. "You're back now. Though we're still stuck here."
Jack didn't say anything. How could he tell his real lover that part of him wanted to stay here, with the fake version of him? Even worse, it was a rather large part... how could he?
"You okay?" Ianto murmured, still cradling Jack close.
Jack nodded, closing his eyes and letting out a shaky sigh. "Yeah. Just... memories. Y'know."
He felt Ianto's nod, and a fresh flood of tears threatened as the Welshman shifted on the floor to hold him even closer, and kissed him on the forehead. How could he hurt him like that?
He didn't know how long they sat there like that, in the middle of a corridor on the second floor of St Helen's Hospital in the centre of Cardiff. In more than one way he was stuck in the middle; how could he hurt either of the Iantos? He wanted desperately to believe that the green-eyed Ianto wasn't real, was simply a plant to stop him leaving... but something in his heart was telling him otherwise.
"Jack?" a voice asked. "What are you doing?"
Jack looked up to see the other Ianto staring at him with hurt green eyes. "Ianto."
"What are you doing?" Ianto asked again.
The real Ianto frowned. "He's worked out what's real. He's remembered."
"What?"
"It's true," Jack said. He couldn't bring himself to speak his 'partner's' name again. "This isn't real. None of this is real."
"Of course it's real," green-eyed Ianto said in confusion. "What are you talking about? Are you okay?" He glared at blue-eyed Ianto with unconcealed suspicion. "What have you done to him?"
"I haven't done anything," Ianto said, his accent gravelly with anger. "It's you who's tricked him and lied to him."
"I never did anything of the sort!"
"We're leaving now," blue-eyed Ianto said, helping Jack up. "And believe me – you'll regret ever laying a finger on him."
"He's my partner!" the other Ianto exploded, emerald eyes flashing. "It's you who'll regret it!"
"He's not your partner – he doesn't even belong here!" Ianto hissed.
Jack followed Ianto blindly through the nearest door and down the concrete staircase, concentrating on not tripping over his feet as they went. He didn't know what to think – what had just happened? The other Ianto was hurt, no doubt, and angry. He didn't know that Jack didn't belong in his world; to him, their life was completely real.
Ianto cast him a look. "You're not feeling guilty, are you?" he asked incredulously. "He's not even real!"
"He's real," Jack said quietly, "and I just hurt him."
Ianto stopped before the door to the outside. The paint was peeling and discoloured, the window cracked into a spider's web of fragments. "Do you wish you hadn't remembered?" he asked in a low voice, not meeting Jack's gaze.
Jack looked away. He couldn't answer.
Reviews are still loved, by the way... *coughpleasecough* Hope that you all liked this chapter! I planned and wrote it in less than two hours! XD