Ianto woke up slowly, struggling to fight off the effects of the drug he'd been injected with. He was sick to his stomach and his head was spinning, making it extremely hard to focus on anything at all, let alone remember just what had happened. It slowly came filtering back, though, like a particularly unpleasant dream. The fight with Jack, chasing him to the playground, the ambush…
They had to have been watching the playground, he realised numbly. Watching, and waiting for Jack to reappear…
A choked sob escaped Ianto. It was entirely his fault. One thing said out of anger and frustration, and it had all come undone. All he'd had to do was tell Jack that he loved him, but no. He hadn't been able to do that. Instead, he'd let anger rule.
Ianto thumped the heel of his hand against his temple, relishing the dull ache that the movement provoked. Jack was now in a worse position than he had been before, and it was entirely his fault.
The sound of a door opening drew his attention, and he sat up slowly, looking at his surroundings for the first time.
He was in one of Torchwood One's infamous cells that were supposedly for use in containing aliens, although, to Ianto's knowledge, no aliens had actually been detained here — only humans unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with Yvonne Hartman and her ilk. He grimaced. Specifically, people like himself.
"Welcome back, Jones."
It was possibly the last voice that he wanted to hear, but as much as he wanted to ignore it, an inner voice warned him not to. He dared not ignore it. Reluctantly, he turned towards the person who had intruded on his captivity, and promptly suffered a resounding blow to the head that nearly knocked him clean off the bench and had him seeing stars.
He was still recovering from the not-so-unexpected punch when a hand grabbed him roughly by the chin and jerked his head around brutally.
"I told you I'd be here when you came crashing down," Spence snarled. "And here I am, you fucking little shit."
"Are you here to kill me?" Ianto asked numbly. The prospect of his impending death should have terrified him but, quite frankly, he doubted he could have cared less right then. He knew he was never going to see Jack again, so what did it matter? What did any of it matter?
"Oh, I would love to be the one to kill you," Spence hissed, jerking Ianto's head painfully. "Believe me, I would really love to be the one to put a bullet in your scheming head. I think, though, that the Director wants that privilege herself. You've cause a shit load of trouble, you pompous little bastard."
"How long have I got?" Ianto asked hoarsely, not entirely sure that he wanted to know. Spence smirked.
"Enough time to stew over it, I can tell you that much. You see, the Director is a little preoccupied right now, so you just might have a bit of a wait on your hands. Make no mistake, though, Jones. You are going to be executed, and even though I may not get to do it myself, I'm still going to enjoy watching you die."
Ianto twisted away, out of Spence's hold, and glared at him in hatred.
"Fuck you."
Spence uttered a short, sardonic laugh.
"Me? No, Jones, you're the one who's fucked. What I just don't get, though, is why? You had a good thing here. A good job, great pay… a girlfriend, even! Why throw all of that away for a freak that couldn't even tell you his own name?"
Ianto was quite proud of the control he exerted in not showing surprise at that. Had Jack reverted to refusing to talk? Or was it that the powers that be simply hadn't tried to talk to him yet? He dared not spend too much time speculating — not with Spence standing over him like this.
"For starters," Ianto said tersely, "my girlfriend was a self-absorbed bitch who was only concerned with status and money, the job generally sucked and the pay was shit. Joe was the only one who showed any real appreciation, and I can tell you right now that I'd do it all the same way again if I had the chance. So seriously, Dr Spence, fuck you."
Ianto's head rocked back and collided with the wall behind him when Spence punched him again, and this time he tasted blood in his mouth.
"You little bastard," Spence snarled. "You have no idea of the damage you've done, do you? The Secure Archives operated just fine until you came along and injected everyone with a social fucking conscience. We didn't need you coming in and fucking everything up!"
Ianto sneered at him, ignoring the blood that he could feel trickling down his chin.
"May I remind you, sir, that you're the one who hired me?"
"And I regret it every day," Spence shot back. "But tell me, Jones, what do you regret?"
"Aside from getting caught?" Ianto retorted. "Nothing."
"Oh, really? So, then this won't bother you."
He slipped a hand into his pocket and brought out a slightly worn photograph. Ianto looked, and uttered a cry of horror, to which Spence responded with a cruel laugh.
"Poor little Tomas. You got him killed, Jones. He died begging for his life, and cursing you and the freak with his last breath."
"I don't believe that," Ianto whispered hoarsely. He tore his gaze away from the picture and glared up at Spence. "Tomas was stronger than that. I bet he went down fighting."
"Believe what you want. I was there. I was the one who killed him. He died squealing like a stuck pig…"
Ianto reacted before he had a chance to think about what he was doing. With a scream of rage, Ianto launched himself forward and tackled Spence to the floor. His reflexes were diminished, though, and Spence quickly wrestled him to the floor, and proceeded to beat into him until all Ianto could do was lie there helplessly and moan in pain.
"Fucking little arsehole," Spence growled, making no effort to keep a large bead of saliva from dripping from his own mouth onto Ianto's face. "Pity I could never prove Adams was in on your little escape. Bet that would have gotten an even better reaction."
Shaking his head in disgust, he slapped Ianto cruelly across the face a couple of times before hoisting himself back up to his feet and stalking out of the cell.
Ianto was barely aware of the loud clang of the cell door closing. Tears stained his cheeks and mixed with the blood on his face. Sobbing heavily and overcome with grief for his dead colleague, he curled up into as tight a ball as he could on the floor, and tried futilely to will himself back into the welcome oblivion of sleep.
He didn't know how long he'd been there for, lying on the cold, hard floor and wallowing in misery and grief. Minutes or hours, it meant nothing to him, and he fully expected that when the door opened again, it would mean his death.
When he did eventually hear it open, he shut his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. Whatever happened, whatever was said or done, he would not beg for his life. He was determined that he was going to keep what little remained of his dignity, no matter what.
Someone was standing over him now, and he had little difficulty imagining the gun that they probably held, all ready to deliver him to his maker. He swallowed a whimper, but couldn't quite contain the tremors that racked his body. As little as he wanted to die, he couldn't help but wish that they would just hurry up and get on with it.
Then, a hand alighted gently on his shoulder, and he barely suppressed a yelp of fright.
"Hey, easy, mate. It's just me."
Ianto twisted around, pushing himself up onto his elbows and staring up at the newcomer in shock.
"Gage?"
The older man smiled sadly at his former colleague.
"I was hoping to see you again, but not in this place. C'mon, up you get."
Ianto grunted softly in pain as Gage helped him up and guided him to the bench.
"You're hurt?" he asked in concern, but Ianto waved off his concerns.
"Nothing serious. Spence was in here earlier... thought he'd get a few cheap shots in."
"Ah. He would, the bastard. Wouldn't dare to do anything more, though. Word is, Hartman wants to deal with you herself."
Ianto grimaced.
"Yeah, I heard." He paused, looking sideways at his friend. "What about you? Are you okay?"
"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. I think they've been watching me pretty closely for the last couple of months... Spence made it pretty clear he thinks I was involved in your escape, but he was never able to prove it. But they've been watching me anyway. So yeah, I'm okay. Tomas, though..."
"I know," Ianto cut him off quietly. "Spence took a lot of pleasure in telling me about him. Said he killed him personally. God, I'd love to shoot him myself."
"You'd have to get in line," Gage muttered, "and trust me when I say it's a long line. But I bet one thing Spence didn't tell you is that Tomas head-butted him and broke his nose."
Ianto raised an eyebrow, and Gage nodded in confirmation.
"Oh yeah. A mate got hold of the CCTV footage. It's not easy to watch, but Tomas did us all proud. He didn't let them break him, and he went out fighting."
Ianto sighed, taking precious little consolation in the news.
"Do me a favour," Gage murmured, shifting carefully on the bench to partially block any view of Ianto from the CCTV camera in the corner of the cell. "Remember to shake your head and act like you're yelling at me, because I'm supposed to be trying to convince you to cooperate."
Suspicion flooded Ianto.
"Cooperate how?"
Gage grimacd briefly.
"With Joe. He's gone wild again, Ianto. No one can get near him without shooting him first." He shook his head and chuckled humourlessly. "I told that stupid bitch Hartman not to tell him that you were dead. It's her own fucking fault."
Ianto's stomach twisted almost painfully into knots.
"He... He thinks I'm dead?"
"Yeah. I was told to come in here and tell you that they'd let him see you on the condition that you tell him to cooperate."
"Like fuck I will."
Gage chuckled.
"Yeah, I said you'd probably say that."
Ianto grabbed Gage's wrist, suddenly desperate.
"Have you seen him? You could tell him I'm not dead, Gage. You have to tell him that!"
An apologetic look filled Gage's face.
"They won't let me anywhere near him, Ianto. This is the first time that I've seen either one of you since before you escaped."
"Shit," Ianto whispered. Tears burned in his eyes as he imagined how utterly alone Jack had to be feeling. It wasn't all that difficult to imagine, because that was much how he was feeling right then.
"Ianto, what happened? What the hell went wrong? It's been nearly two months, and I thought you would have been long gone from London by now."
"We should have been," Ianto said bitterly. "We could have been, if I'd had any brains. But I was waiting for someone who never turned up."
"Do you mean who I think you mean?"
Ianto said nothing, and only looked intently at Gage.
"Right," Gage muttered. "Got it."
"He really believes I'm dead?" Ianto asked softly, changing the subject back to Jack. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought. Gage returned his stare with a bleak look.
"Spence made me watch. Hartman was there, waiting for Joe to... you know, come back. When he did, he started crying and asking for you. Hartman actually walked right up to him and slapped him across the face. Told him to shut up and act like a man."
Ianto snorted derisively.
"Hypocritical bitch. Treats him like an animal, but tell him to act like a man."
"I know. Anyway, he kept asking, 'Where's Yan?' 'I want Yan.' It was all he'd say. In the end, she said that you were dead, and he was never going to see you again so he might as well get over it and start cooperating."
"And...?" Ianto asked softly. He suspected he knew what was coming, and he wasn't far off in his assumption.
"He went berserk," Gage told him. "He started screaming, and he grabbed hold of Hartman... had her by the throat. Bloody hell, Ianto, I really thought he was going to kill her for sure, but they stunned him before he could do any real damage."
Ianto swallowed an urge to comment. As little as he cared for Hartman, he didn't want her weighing on Jack's conscience in any way, shape or form.
"The bastards just shot him dead, of course," Gage went on bitterly. "Then, when he came back, he just curled up in a corner and cried. Anyone who tries to get near him, now, and he just literally snarls at them. One stupid git didn't have any brains, and thought he was just bluffing. Joe broke his arm and nearly choked him before someone shot him."
"Jack," Ianto said automatically, and promptly wanted to kick himself. Even though he trusted Gage, it was still a stupid thing to do, to let slip Jack's real name within the walls of Torchwood. For his part, Gage looked confused.
"Sorry, what...?"
"It isn't Joe," Ianto said with a sigh. "He remembered his name... or, at least, partly. His name is Jack."
"Jack, huh? Yeah, I can see that. He looks like a Jack."
"Gage," Ianto said softly, anxiously, "you need to get in to see him. Somehow, you have to let him know that I'm alive. Please, Gage. It'll destroy him to think I'm dead."
Gage didn't hesitate, despite knowing that what he was agreeing to could quite likely get him killed. As far as he was concerned, he should have been dead already along with Tomas. He had nothing left to lose.
"I'll find a way," he promised. "I swear it, Ianto." He paused, looking with grief at the younger man. "I'm probably not going to see you again. You know that, right? We're both dead men walking."
Ianto smiled grimly.
"I know, Gage. I just hope it won't be too long before someone comes along who can succeed where I fucked up, and get Jack out of here for good."
Gage sighed regretfully.
"At least you'll meet God with a clean conscience."
Ianto's stomach twisted yet again.
"Not quite."
"What are you talking about?"
Ianto let his breath out in a rush.
"Just... Tell him I was wrong, and that I'm sorry. Tell him I love him."
Gage looked confused, but he didn't question him. Standing awkwardly, he lingered just long enough to lay a supportive hand on Ianto's shoulder.
"Be strong, Ianto."
With that, he left Ianto alone once more in his cold, lonely cell.
When the Doctor and Rose finally came back, Jackie had had a very distinct idea of what she'd intended on doing. First of all, she'd take them back to the apartment, where Jack and Ianto would be waiting, and there'd be a lovely reunion, and the Doctor would agree to take Jack with them, so that he never had to be afraid again. And then, there would be a second reunion when the ghost shift happened, and Rose saw her grandfather.
Except, Jack and Ianto were gone, taken away by the people they'd been trying so hard to escape, and all of a sudden Jackie found she'd lost her enthusiasm for just about everything — including the ghost shifts.
It hadn't been lost on her that Jack reacted badly every time the ghost appeared in the apartment, or that Ianto has been highly suspicious of the faceless entity. He'd at one stage voiced an opinion that Torchwood possibly had something to do with the strange entities appearing everywhere and, if that was true, then Jack was right and the ghost shifts were something to be feared, not welcomed.
And so, on the morning that she finally heard the grinding engines of the TARDIS — nearly a full day after Jack and Ianto had been taken by Torchwood — Jackie Tyler found herself unwilling to be there for the appearance of the ghost in her apartment. Preoccupied with the grief over what had happened... and what was currently happening... to Jack and Ianto, she waited outside her apartment and watched grimly as her daughter rounded the corner with her alien boyfriend/companion/whatever he happened to be.
"Mum!" Rose shouted enthusiastically, waving and hurrying up to the steps to greet her. Jackie hugged her daughter tightly for a long moment before pulling back and looking past her to the Doctor. The lanky alien smiled easily at her, his hands shoved deep into his coat pockets.
"Hello, Jackie."
Her eyes narrowed, and she nodded towards the door of the apartment.
"Get in there. I want to talk to you."
The Doctor's eyebrows lifted in surprise and suddenly consternation, but he nevertheless followed her and Rose into the apartment.
"What's wrong, Mum?" Rose asked as Jackie ushered them into the lounge room.
"Right now?" Jackie asked tersely. "Just about everything." She looked from Rose to the Doctor, as though trying to decide what to say. That in itself put Rose on edge. Her mother was never one to be at a loss for words.
"Mum, what's going on?" Rose asked.
"Does the name Jack mean anything to either of you?" Jackie asked finally. Immediately, she noticed the grief that shadowed her daughter's features at the mention of that name. More pointedly, though, was the deer-caught-in-headlights look that the Doctor was suddenly wearing. It was gone in an instant, but she knew she'd seen it.
"He was a friend," Rose said finally, simply.
"A friend?" Jackie queried.
"Yeah." Rose shoved her hair roughly back behind her ears. "He saved my life a while back, and then he travelled with us for a while. Why?"
"And what happened to him?" Jackie pressed. At that point, the Doctor took a step forward, and the expression on his face was hard and uncompromising.
"Jackie, leave it."
She wheeled around to face him, in no mood to put up with his attitude.
"No, I'm not going to bloody leave it! I want to know! What happened to him?"
"He died, all right?" Rose burst out, tears filling her eyes. "Remember when I came back in the TARDIS without the Doctor? You know back when he was... different. Well, Jack was back on Satellite Five with the Doctor, fighting the Daleks. And he died there, all right?"
Jackie squeezed Rose's hand lightly, and then looked to the Doctor with an adamant stare.
"Is it true? Did he die there?"
"Yes," the Doctor admitted finally, quietly. "It's true. Jack died on Satellite Five. I told Rose differently at the time, because I wanted to spare her that grief, but she worked it out anyway."
"Not the whole story, I'll bet," Jackie growled. Rose blinked, staring at her mother like she'd grown a second head.
"Mum, what are you talking about?"
Turning, Jackie strode over to the shelf near the television, and picked up a small, framed photo. It was a picture she'd taken a few weeks after Jack and Ianto had arrived, and was of the two of them as they sat together on the couch, with Ianto listening intently while Jack read aloud. Ianto had been momentarily horrified, until she'd reminded him that she was perfectly capable of printing off pictures from a digital camera within the sanctity of her own home, and that no one else would ever see it.
Now, she thrust the picture at Rose and the Doctor, and Rose took it in trembling hands.
"Oh my god... It's him! It's Jack! When was this taken?"
"About four weeks ago," Jackie said coldly, her eyes locked onto the Doctor like targeting lights.
"He's alive," Rose whispered, fresh tears filling her eyes. A moment later, realisation struck and she spun around to face the Doctor. "Did you know Jack was alive?"
By that time, the Doctor looked very much like he wanted to turn and run, and Jackie carefully positioned herself to block any attempt he might make to bolt.
"Well..." he started awkwardly, "when you say alive..."
Rose took a step towards him, and Jackie could see the beginnings of anger taking hold. Maybe, she mused, she wasn't going to have to give the arrogant git a slap after all. Maybe, just maybe, Rose would do it instead.
"We left him behind, Doctor. First you told me he was rebuilding the Earth, and then you said he'd died. Are you telling me now that he didn't?"
"He died," the Doctor said firmly. "He died a hero to give me the time I needed. Now, can we please leave it at that?"
"No, we can't just leave it at that," Jackie snapped. "I'm going to ask you a question, Doctor, and so help me, you'd better give me a straight answer. None of your mouthy rubbish, do you understand me? I want a straight and simple answer."
He stared down at her wordlessly and though his expression was blank, there was a veritable storm brewing in his eyes. Jackie went on, feeling her own anger building as she recalled a scared and broken man who had spent the last six or seven weeks living in terror of being recaptured by those whose only purpose was to hurt him.
"Did you know what happened to Jack?"
"Of course he knew, Mum," Rose said in confusion. "He was there!"
Jackie ignored her, and kept her focus completely on the Doctor. He stared right back. He said nothing, and he didn't have to. His expression told her everything she needed to know.
"You son of a bitch!" she exploded, and slapped him as hard as she could across the face. The Doctor's head rocked to the side from the force of the blow, and sent him reeling backwards. His foot caught on the corner of the coffee table, and he fell backwards onto the couch. There he sat, one hand coming up to cradle his cheek.
"Ouch!" he whined but, tellingly, never asked what the slap was for.
"Mum!" Rose cried out. "What did you do that for?"
Jackie glared down at the Doctor. As satisfying as that had been, she was already itching to slap him again. Any little excuse would be enough and, judging by the look on his face, he knew it, too.
"Do you want to explain it to her, or shall I?" Jackie demanded. Rose turned her attention to the Doctor, still confused and now a little frightened.
"What's going on? Will someone please talk to me?"
"Jack was dead," the Doctor said finally, soberly. "A Dalek exterminated him right outside the control room, but he was saved from death."
"What?" Rose exclaimed. "How?"
Slowly, the Doctor looked from Jackie to Rose.
"By you, Rose."
Rose's jaw dropped, as did Jackie's.
"Me...? What are you talking about?"
Slowly, the Doctor got to his feet again and he favoured Jackie with a bitter look.
"There's a very good reason why I never told Rose the truth about what happened in that room. I wanted to protect her from the knowledge of what she'd done."
"What?" Rose pressed, suddenly frightened. "What did I do, Doctor?"
"You absorbed the Time Vortex," he told her. "You opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the Time Vortex itself. I didn't defeat the Daleks. You did. And you brought Jack back to life."
Suddenly, it was Rose's turn to sit down suddenly.
"I... I don't remember."
"I know," the Doctor said.
"How did Rose bring Jack back to life?" Jackie demanded to know.
"She used the power of the Vortex. She brought him back with that, but she couldn't control it. She went a step too far and brought him back forever."
"Forever?" Rose echoed. "What do you mean, forever?"
"I mean, you made him immortal. He can't die, Rose. He can't ever die. You made him an anomaly. A fixed point in time and space. He shouldn't exist."
Slowly, realisation dawned.
"That's why you wouldn't go back for him," she whispered in shock. "It wasn't because he was helping to rebuild the Earth at all, was it?"
"I was regenerating," the Doctor admitted. "I wasn't ready to deal with what he'd become."
Jackie's fingers flexed at her side.
"Would you have ever gone back for him?"
The Doctor looked around at her, his expression unapologetic.
"No."
The sound of flesh striking flesh filled the room as Jackie slapped him again across the face.
"You bastard," she whispered, tears spilling from her own eyes. "You have no idea what you've done."
"Mum," Rose said suddenly, "where is he? This photo, it was taken in here. Where is he now?"
"I don't know," Jackie admitted. "They were ambushed yesterday in the playground, and taken prisoner."
"By who?" the Doctor asked, frowning.
"By the bastards that they'd been trying to get away from," Jackie told him. "By Torchwood."
"Torchwood?" Rose echoed. "Isn't that who Harriet Jones called to shoot down the Sycorax ship?"
The Doctor nodded.
"Yes, it is."
Shaking her head, Rose got up.
"I think I need a really strong cup of tea."
The Doctor watched as Rose disappeared into the kitchen, and then looked back to Jackie.
"I won't apologise."
"I don't want you to apologise to me," Jackie growled. "But you'd better bloody be willing to apologise to him. You have no idea what that poor love has been through, Doctor. You probably don't even care."
"Now that's not true," he protested. She looked sceptical, to say the least.
"Isn't it? The other lad in that photo, his name's Ianto, Doctor. He rescued Jack from Torchwood. Do you know how long he said Jack had been a prisoner in that place? Go on, have a guess."
He didn't answer, and so she told him.
"Over a hundred years. I don't know what he was like when you met him, but the man that spent the last couple of months hiding in this apartment had the state of mind of a child. Those people, whatever they did to him, they destroyed his mind. It was only because of Ianto that he was starting to recover from it. Now this Torchwood... whatever it is... has him back, god knows what they'll do to him now."
"They tortured him?" the Doctor asked.
"In Ianto's words, he was abused, experimented on and tortured," Jackie answered. A small, particularly vicious part of her took a great deal of pleasure in the horror that filled the Doctor's features.
"I didn't know," he insisted. "Jackie, I swear I didn't know."
"Fine," she said tersely. "What I want to know is what are you planning on doing about it? Are you going to run away from him again? Or are you going to do right by him this time?"
The Doctor's jaw tightened noticeably, and she felt a rush of relief at the realisation that he had no intention of running away from Jack a second time.
"Tell me everything you can."
to be continued....