Same Ianto, Different Jack - Chapter 10

by Gracefultree

A/N: Thanks for sticking with me. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

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The day went smoothly for the most part, after Ianto and New Jack went out to breakfast. New Jack allowed Ianto freedom around the main part of the Hub, which gave him the opportunity him to get to know this universe's Tosh and Owen while he let his not-so-dormant OCD out to play with their mess. As he went about his work, little things reminded him of His Jack. For example, New Jack preferred the green-striped mug, rather than the blue-striped one. Ianto saved the blue one for himself. New Jack had a professional relationship with Kathy Swanson, rather than barely tolerating each other, like His Jack and the detective did. New Jack meditated for an hour at lunchtime, if he could. His Jack wouldn't be caught dead meditating.

But many things were the same, too. New Jack had the same erogenous zones, from the little Ianto had seen. New Jack had the same fashion-sense. New Jack took his coffee the same way, and moaned just as obscenely as His Jack when presented with a fresh cup of Ianto's special brew. New Jack flirted just as much, though his flirtatious mask was thicker, making the flirtations not as genuine.

The first major difference Ianto noted in this universe was that New Owen had been married to Katie when she died, though he remained a terror at the clubs for years after that, had fallen for Diane, fought a Weevil, opened the Rift, shot New Jack, died protecting Martha Jones, and become a Zombie thanks to New Jack's intervention.

New Tosh, it turned out, was a bit more spunky that His Tosh. She cornered him in the afternoon while he made coffee. He'd convinced them that they needed his coffee with the first taste, and he figured he'd have them all addicted by the end of the week. Hmm, maybe not such a good thing, considering that his placement here was short term? Ah, well.

"Ianto? Can I ask you something?" New Tosh asked, sliding up next to him.

"Sure."

"You and Jack, how'd you get together?"

"Me and My Jack, or me and this one?"

"Yours, I suppose. We all saw the CCTV of the other day."

Ianto paled slightly. "I knew that, and yet, it's still rather disturbing to hear," he said softly. "I like to keep those things private, as much as Jack will allow. And we've tried to keep it away from our colleagues..."

"You should've seen Gwen," Tosh said conspiratorially. "She was livid! But I haven't seen Jack stand up to her in months, and he's started to do that since you came, so all I can say is that you're a good influence."

"It was rather hot to know I was fucking her man," Ianto admitted with a blush. "She and I never quite got on all that well back in my world. We didn't hate each other, or anything, but she never gave up on Jack, and he gave her more mixed signals than he gave me. At least he was only sleeping with me."

"I'll tell you a secret," she whispered, leaning close. He bent slightly to be able to hear her better. "Me and Jack, well, we had an affair! It lasted about three months, when I first got here."

Ianto stood motionless. "You? Jack? You and Jack?" he sputtered, unable to get his mind around the concept of 'Jack and Tosh.'

"Yep. I was really scared, being back among people again after being stuck with UNIT for almost a year. He said he knew a way to build my confidence, make me feel better, all that stuff. Well, it sure did!"

"Was he up front with who he is?"

"About his relationship style, yes," she answered. "The other stuff? Being a Time Agent and from the future and not staying dead? No, I had to find that out with everyone else. He was very clear that it was temporary and that it was just for fun and to help me. And that there'd be others. What about you and yours?"

"At first it was convenience. We both worked long hours, didn't have time to find other people. I was using him, though I liked being with him that way. After I betrayed him, well, he made a point of going out frequently. When we got back together again... one out of every five times we were together included at least one other person. Sometimes two."

"Wow! Was it hot?"

"Yeah, but it had its place. I think it was about his reaction to my betrayal, and I knew that, but it still hurt that he didn't want it to be just us in bed anymore. There hadn't been any of that before. He didn't really trust me for a long time, even though we were sleeping together again. And he probably used the other people as a way to keep emotionally distant from me. After he came back from being away, things changed. It became just us."

"That's good, isn't it?"

Ianto smiled. "Yeah, really good. I miss him, even though it hasn't been that long. We never actually talked about being exclusive, but that's what it's become, and we go on dates now, which is fun. Official dates, not let's see who we can pull to bring home dates."

"Sounds complicated."

"With Jack, everything's complicated, no matter which one I'm talking about. There are things about this Jack that I kind of want My Jack to have or do, but they're different people. I keep reminding myself of that. And when I get back to my own universe, well, I'll need to have been able to distinguish between them."

"That makes sense," Tosh murmured.

"This is kind of personal, but, with you, did Jack do that tongue thing? You know..." Ianto made a gesture. Tosh's eyes widened.

"I didn't know you could do that with guys!" she exclaimed.

"Um, yeah, you can. This Jack hasn't done it with me yet, but My Jack, well, let's just say..."

"Hey, kids! Comparing notes?" New Jack asked, appearing behind them. He draped an arm over each of their shoulders and kissed Ianto's cheek. "You're so cute when you blush!" He gave Tosh a kiss, too, just so she wouldn't feel left out.

"You're in a good mood, suddenly," Tosh said.

"Well, my Hub's clean, I have great coffee, a cute man to oggle, and a lead on a case that might keep Gwen busy the rest of the week." New Jack grinned. "So, let's celebrate!"

"Which case?" Ianto asked out of habit. New Jack didn't seem to mind, because he started telling them all about it. As he listened, Ianto realized it was something he recognized. "Eugene Jones," he said. "We dealt with that a year ago. He swallowed a Dogon Sixth Eye."

New Jack laughed. "Excellent. That will definitely take her a while to figure out. She's never been good at remembering details about artifacts."

"Except the sex toys," Tosh muttered under her breath.

"Yeah, well, um," New Jack hedged. "That would probably be my doing," he mumbled, sparing a glance at Ianto's face to see if he was angry. Ianto smiled and shrugged.

"Don't worry, I know all about them, too. You wouldn't have to teach me. I might even be able to show you a few tips…" he trailed off. New Jack had a glazed look on his face, and it didn't take a genius to guess that he was imagining using some of those artifacts with Ianto.

"In the meantime, have you figured out what happened to the me from this universe?" Ianto asked.

Tosh typed a few things into her PDA and an image of Ianto showed up on her screen. "He died at the Battle of Canary Wharf. One of the bodies that was recognized," she reported. "He was found with his girlfriend, both of them half-converted."

"Shit," Ianto breathed, closing his eyes and fighting sudden tears. If things were different, he never would have met Jack. He would have been dead two years, now. It suddenly hit him how far away from home he was, and he collapsed into a chair. "Shit," he repeated.

"Ianto?" New Jack asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I have to get home," Ianto said. "I have to get back to him. I can't leave him alone," he continued. "How do I get home?"

"I've set up a Rift predictor program to give us warning when the same coordinates and energy show up," Tosh said. "It works about three days in advance, so it's not much warning, but it's something."

"Can I have access to it?" Ianto asked, looking up at New Jack. "I promise you can trust me."

"I have to think about it," New Jack answered. "I don't trust you, yet."

Ianto nodded sadly and watched the program over Tosh's shoulder. "It's only been three days and it feels like three weeks," he whispered. "Could time be moving at a different pace back in my world?" he asked New Jack in a louder voice.

"Could be," New Jack said. "I'd ask the Doctor, but he's not speaking to me. I can see if Martha can get ahold of him, but he might not be speaking to her, either."

"Whyever not?" Ianto demanded.

"He blamed us for the Master's death," New Jack said curtly. He turned and stalked away, shouting for Gwen. "Gwen, get to that kid's house! He might have some artifacts in his possession!" There was a few minutes of silence as they watched Gwen pack her pocketbook and kiss New Jack's cheek goodbye. He allowed the gesture, but didn't seem happy about it. "Owen, I want you to get ready to autopsy the kid when the body's deliverd. Tosh, set Ianto up with basic server access. Monitor everything he looks at. Ianto, don't fuck up this opportunity!" With that, New Jack grabbed his coat and left the Hub, a scowl on his face.

New Tosh retreated to her workstation and had an account set up for Ianto within minutes. He settled himself at a workstation and began arranging basic necessities, like food for Myfanwy and the other residents, which seemed to be an ad hoc kind of arrangement. He also set up accounts with a stationers and the local take away places Torchwood frequented, making sure to use a dummy company that was just sitting around in the budget doing nothing.

"Since when is access to the budget and credit cards basic access?" Ianto asked New Tosh.

"Since I trust you more than Jack does," she answered. "I've seen what you can do to organize things. We need that. And if you do something untrustworthy, well, I'm monitoring, like he said."

"I appreciate your trust and candor," Ianto said, smiling at her. "I'll endeavor to be worthy of it."

When New Jack returned with the body, Ianto watched with New Tosh as New Owen dissected it and found the Eye in the stomach. New Jack, by that time, had disappeared again, probably to brood on a tall building, Ianto thought, knowing how discussions of the Doctor effected His Jack. He wouldn't be surprised if they didn't see him for the rest of the day.

"I say we put the information on the servers and see how long it takes Gwen to find it," New Owen said, dropping the Eye into a specimen bag and grinning evilly..

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A/N: Quick question: Should time run at the same speed in both universes? I'm leaning towards no.