Ch6: Cassiopeia

Jack shot him a 'Who are you, Janto Jones?' look. Janto, in return, gave him a disbelieving look but tried, hard as it was, to explain everything.

"Janto Jones, Janto Harkness, The Firebird, The Immortal Aristocrat, all those aliases pertains to me. Just seventeen years old. Secretly working for Torchwood Cardiff since last year, you know, lack of… staff. I'm more of an undercover agent. Blending in the crowd, catching whiffs of alien threats. My whole childhood, I've been living here with them lot… and I'm unfortunate enough to lose you before I can start storing memories." Janto sighed, running his hands unconsciously on his dishevelled hair.

Jack stared at the stars faintly shining above him. No matter how hard he tried, no words of consolation would ever come from his mouth, for there are no words to explain how horrible Janto's life had become.

"That's all about it. I don't really expect that a Captain Jack Harkness from another world would fall through the rift one day and meet me. What's worst was the way you look at everyone, and then your eyes would lock into mine, looking at me like don't even know me. Evidently, that pretty much sums up everything; I don't exist in your world, but you existed in mine, which is quite envying." Janto shrugged.

Jack couldn't see why this lucky bastard – his son, rather – envies him. He's pretty sure it should be going the other way around.

"Janto, son, listen to me. You have Owen and Tosh, and so is Gwen's family. You've got a wonderful life at Torchwood here. You are happy. Me? My whole world, my life, my whole existence is a fucked-up whackjob. I endanger people that come too close; I destroyed people's peaceful lives by recruiting them to Torchwood." He gulped, attempting to shove down the lump forming in his throat. "I always lose the people I mostly care about, people that I love. It's either they're always in trouble, or they're practically dead. Do you envy me still, Janto Harkness? Do you envy your dad's parallel world?"

Janto, however, surprised him with an unexpected question.

"That man on the picture you showed me, Sir. The one you were kissing. Who is he to you?"

"He's Ianto Jones. He's the only man I ever seriously loved and considered marrying. I promised to myself that I'll propose to him after we save Earth's children from the 456's wrath, I even have the ring ready." Jack held his left hand in the air, and Janto eyed the simple gold ring faintly glinting in the moonlight. "Sometimes I think that maybe, my whole life, I am really jinxed. We barely survived the 456, and Ianto was killed by an airborne virus at Thames and his body is now currently frozen on a cryochamber vault on Torchwood back home."

Now it's Janto who was at loss for words. Sitting in silence, Jack continued to pour his thoughts to his son.

"And you know, with your name strikingly similar with his, you were the first one I ever approached for three weeks just to talk about my Ianto. I was blindly hoping that maybe, just maybe, he exists in this world. Part of me wants to stay here and find him and be happy with him, while a little part of me thinks that it's better to stay away from him and let him live a normal life with an awesome woman, three kids and a dog on a two-floor flat." Jack finished, lying back on the roof and continued looking at the stars.

Normally, I'd say, 'Screw the subtleties, you're mine!' and I'll sweep him off his feet, twirl him around my office like a baby, kiss his cheeks and he'll laugh. His laughter is the most beautiful sound my heart has ever heard, so beautiful that my memories can't do it justice. What if I found Ianto in this world, but he never even met me? Or worse still, what if he detests me for screwing up his life? Where shall I go from here? Jack thought, still staring at the stars, absentmindedly tracing the Cassiopeia with his index finger.

"And normally, in this situation you'd say, 'Screw the subtleties, you're mine!' and sweep him off his feet, but you couldn't, because you're afraid." said Janto.

How on earth did he-

"Mildly telepathic. Only to people closely related to me, anyway. My other Dad, you, and pretty much the whole Torchwood team."

Whatever the reason was, sparks began to light up on the shadows of Jack's mind and suddenly he felt so alive for the first time in three weeks. Different questions began forming on his mind, all of it waiting so desperately for answers.

"So, your other dad… Where is he? What was he like?" Jack mused, gazing at the all-too-familiar almond-shaped eyes of his son.

"He's locked on a cryochamber; his vault is frozen on a temporal lock." Janto closed his eyes for a moment and sniggered. "And you wanna know if he's a blonde or a brunette? Seriously?"

"Stop reading my mind, Janto Jones. It's creepy."

"You know by saying so, you've just encouraged me to delve deeper onto your thoughts, right?"

"Cheeky bastard, you are!"

"Like father, like son." Janto winked, and with that, Jack laughed. Oh yes, Janto Jones is a Harkness, indeed.