Fic: Adrift In Time Chapter 4 (Torchwood Jack/Ianto NC17)
Title: Adrift In Time
Author: magikalrhiannon
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: NC17
Spoilers: All up to Season 2 Ep 11 Adrift
Summary: What happens if Ianto is taken by the rift, and Jack can't give up the hunt for him?
Word Count:
Disclaimer: All rights belong to BBC and Russell T Davies. I'm just finger-painting in someone else's masterpiece. No infringement intended.
Notes: For kajmere, cuz she owns me. This is a victory fic for my darling baby kajmere because her goddamn Flames beat my beloved Stars in a shootout last week and as her reward for our bet... she got a fic of her choice. This fic, I believe meets the prompt she left with specific requirements, which I'm not going to list. I've added a few of my own for good measure, because I LOVE YOU. I hope you enjoy baby!
Prologue ~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~ Chapter 3
Chapter 4
The Doctor had been true to his word and got Jack a teaching position at the Time Agency Academy on Daelynea. Regardless of his rogue playboy reputation and his temperament for defying authority when he disagreed with them, he found that he liked what the new heads of the Time Agency were trying to do, and put his efforts into helping to train the new generation of Time Agents.
In his spare time, he still looked for Ianto - he couldn't quite bring himself to let it go - and on the breaks between graduating classes, he would disappear for the full two month cycles and follow his newest trail - which always ended up a dead end. Disappointed and heartbroken once more, he would return to Daelynea and to teach the new batch of students assigned to him for the new year as a distraction until he could once again go out on his next search for Ianto.
While on the planet he called home now, which was inhabited by humans-like beings save for their higher intelligence and spotted skin like a leopard, he lived on campus in the residential buildings provided to the professors who weren't native to the planet. Jack's top floor apartment had a double bedroom, a spacious sitting room with a study alcove that overlooked the main quad of the campus. He liked to have his breakfast at his desk and stare out at the large Quinto tree that was in the centre of the quad and provided shad from the two suns that the planted rotated around. There was also a kitchenette, but Jack rarely used it, preferring to eat his other two meals in the surprisingly good cafeteria.
He was pleasant to the other staff, but remained elusive. He didn't want to form bonds with anyone, for fear of what happened at Torchwood 2 centuries ago to happen again. Jack seemed to think that if he could just find Ianto, then he would be okay, he would be able to function again.
The Doctor didn't think this was the case and had told him so. Jack told him to fuck off. Before he did, the Doctor left him a mobile phone and said if Jack ever needed him again - or if he did indeed find his Ianto Jones, to call him.
So Jack went about his daily business, setting curriculum for his Earth History Studies course and Tactical Missions 101 course, and threw himself into his work as he usually did. It was getting easier, staying on Daelynea for long periods of time before rushing off to look for Ianto. The urge to search, to fuck away the loneliness before cleansing himself of the shame in his usual fashion was waning, and Jack went longer and longer between sessions.
Still, every night he would read one of Ianto's diaries and stare at the photos, unable to let the man he loved go.
~*~
It was the start of his third cycle on Daelynea when everything changed for Jack once more.
Jack was in his sitting room staring out the window at the lush green quad as students were arriving for their first day of classes. Among the throng of students, he thought he saw something familiar. He blinked, and stared harder.
Was that? No... it couldn't be.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, turning away from the window. He needed to get more sleep. It had been at least 50 years since he'd hallucinated seeing Ianto in a crowd.
Moving back to his desk, he sat down and picked up his glasses still amused by the fact that he needed them, and put them on. He checked over his schedule for the day and made sure he had everything he needed programmed into his microchip and shut down his computer. Ejecting the chip, he put it and his glasses into the pocket of his great coat, which he still wore and put on, and headed out the door to the cafeteria for some breakfast before his first class of the day.
He smiled when he entered his small auditorium, and set about getting it ready. He inserted the microchip into the computer and entered his passcode. He liked to be standing in the shadows at the front of the room when his students first enter the room so he can get a good look at them acting as they normally do, before his personal influence becomes involved. Checking his wrist strap, he noted that it was almost time, and took his regular position in the shadows near the front of the room, sitting on the edge of an abandoned table.
He smiled when the first of his students entered, chattering away about their previous class. They chose seats at the back. The room filled up pretty quickly and he had a nice mixture of males and females.
The smile on his face however faltered when the black haired apparition he saw on the quad that morning took a seat in the second row. Jack stood up slowly, and he gasped.
“Ianto,” he whispered. The young man in the second row looked eerily like his lover of 203 years ago. Same face, same black hair and smokey blue eyes. Jack swallowed. It wasn't possible. Ianto would be dead by now. He knew it. He had to be. There was no way he could have survived 200 years. Jack closed his eyes and shook his head. He needed to get a grip. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows.
“Good morning!” he said loudly, and the room immediately hushed. “Well, I see my reputation has preceded me. I think this is the largest class I've had yet.” The class murmured nervously. “I've yet to tell if it's a pleasure or not,” he added flirtatiously. The class tittered, and smiles appeared along with a few blushes. He looked at the raven haired beauty in the second row, who was watching him with rapt attention. “Okay, well, I'm your Professor for Earth History 101, Captain Jack Harkness,” he said, but when there was no recognition, he looked around at the room, “But you can call me Professor, or Captain. I'll respond to either. For this semester, there will be pop quizzes. You have a group assignment worth 25% of your grade, a major essay assignment worth 25% of your grade and an end of year exam worth 25% of your grade.” He turned his back on the class to move to sit on his desk. When he looked back there were a few hands in the air. He chose the raven haired beauty. “Yes?”
“A-ah, Jones... I-Ianto Jones, sir,” he stammered, and Jack sat up straighter, his eyes widening. “That's only 75%.”
“Yes, Jones, Ianto Jones,” Jack said, using everything he had to keep his voice even as he fell apart on the inside, “that is only 25%. The other 25% is your attendance. Which is mandatory,” he said with glee to the groan of the audience. “And as you have two of these classes a week and they are on Monday morning and Friday afternoon and you must attend all of your classes to pass. Failure to miss more than 2 classes this semester without a good reason, and by good reason that is a reason I deem acceptable, not what you deem acceptable, will result in failure of that 25%. Also, if you are more than 10 minutes late, you will not be admitted to the classroom, and automatically marked absent. So, my advice? Learn punctuality if you haven't already.”
“Man! I thought he was the awesome Professor?” someone in the fifth row grumbled.
Jack chuckled. “I am the awesome Professor,” Jack answered. “But I'm a hard marker, and you will learn in my classroom. If you thought this was going to be a course you could sleep through, you can walk your sweet little ass right out that door over there now. I don't have time for people who don't want to learn.” Nobody moved. Jack beamed. “Excellent! So! Humans of the planet Earth...”
~*~
Jack sat down hard after the last student had left his classroom. Ianto Jones. His name was Ianto Jones. Could it be possible? Jack wondered. But he looked so young? He looked no more than 20 years old. Younger than Ianto was when he was taken. How could that be? Jack wondered, unless Jack had forgotten more than he thought he had. It was always possible. It had been 200 years.
But then... how....?
Jack shook his head and buried it in his hands. He didn't know. His head was spinning.
There was a knock on the door. “P-Professor?”
Jack looked up and saw Ianto Jones standing there. “Mr Jones.”
He looked surprised. “You remembered.”
Jack gave him a winning smile. “I usually remember a gorgeous face and the name that goes with it. What can I do for you?”
Ianto looked around nervously before he walked in. “I, um. I was wondering if you had been to planet Earth?”
Jack sat up straighter. “Why do you ask?”
Ianto shrugged. “You talk with such... reverence. There's an affection in your voice. It sounds as if you had been there, not just studied it in books.”
Jack nodded. “Yes. I have.”
Ianto's eyes lit up. “When? How?”
Jack shook his head. “A long time ago, Mr Jones.”
His student deflated. “Oh.”
Jack tilted his head. “Why do you ask?”
Ianto hugged his books to his chest. “Oh. I just... I just wondered. I guess I always had a fascination with the planet.”
“And why is that?” Jack prompted, his heart rate increasing.
Ianto shrugged. “I don't know, sir.” He looked at the floor. “I don't know. I just … I seem to have always been drawn to it for some reason.” He looked a little sheepish. “My carers thought, or hoped really, that I would grow out of it but it seems not. When I saw that this class was available, I knew that I had to take it.” He looked at his watch. “Oh, please excuse me. I must go. I have another class on the other side of campus in 10 minutes and I have to run, literally.”
Jack waved him off. “By all means, run.”
“I'm so sorry.” Ianto smiled, and backed out of the room, before turning and running off.
It was only after he left that Jack realised that Ianto Jones was wearing jeans. He hadn't seen denim since Earth... 200 years ago. He wanted to run after him and ask where the hell did he get the jeans from? Where was he from? Did he remember Jack? But Ianto Jones was gone. So he did the only thing he could.
He went to the Student Administration and charmed his way into the student records.
Katalina, the head of the Student Administration team, looked both ways before she let Jack inside, told him he had ten minutes and closed the door.
Jack looked up Ianto's file.
He was listed as from Havaasana, which Jack had never heard of. He frowned. He was 27 years old, one of the oldest to be accepted into the Time Agency, but his scores were exceptional. He had bypassed the first year subjects and was taking the advanced second year courses for everything except his course in Earth History.
That explained why I didn't see him in Tactical Missions yesterday, Jack mused.
He was 6 feet tall, 80kgs in weight... everything matched... except for where he originated from.
Jack closed the file down and carefully exited out of the room, pressing a kiss to Katalina's cheek.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked, looking up into his eyes.
“Maybe,” he replied. “I'm not sure. I have to do some more research.”
She nodded and he winked and left, heading to the library. He needed to look up Havaasana.
~*~
Havaasana was a planet that that specialised in cryogenics, so Jack's research told him. If Ianto was found on that planet, then depending on whoever found him may have either frozen his body or used him to create clones. This Ianto Jones could have been a clone. Jack would need to do a scan of his DNA. How he would be able to do so, he didn't know. It was something he'd have to figure out. But at least he now had a viable lead, and something he hadn't had in over 200 years.
Hope bubbled in the pit of his stomach.
Chapter 5
Author: magikalrhiannon
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: NC17
Spoilers: All up to Season 2 Ep 11 Adrift
Summary: What happens if Ianto is taken by the rift, and Jack can't give up the hunt for him?
Word Count:
Disclaimer: All rights belong to BBC and Russell T Davies. I'm just finger-painting in someone else's masterpiece. No infringement intended.
Notes: For kajmere, cuz she owns me. This is a victory fic for my darling baby kajmere because her goddamn Flames beat my beloved Stars in a shootout last week and as her reward for our bet... she got a fic of her choice. This fic, I believe meets the prompt she left with specific requirements, which I'm not going to list. I've added a few of my own for good measure, because I LOVE YOU. I hope you enjoy baby!
Prologue ~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~ Chapter 3
Chapter 4
The Doctor had been true to his word and got Jack a teaching position at the Time Agency Academy on Daelynea. Regardless of his rogue playboy reputation and his temperament for defying authority when he disagreed with them, he found that he liked what the new heads of the Time Agency were trying to do, and put his efforts into helping to train the new generation of Time Agents.
In his spare time, he still looked for Ianto - he couldn't quite bring himself to let it go - and on the breaks between graduating classes, he would disappear for the full two month cycles and follow his newest trail - which always ended up a dead end. Disappointed and heartbroken once more, he would return to Daelynea and to teach the new batch of students assigned to him for the new year as a distraction until he could once again go out on his next search for Ianto.
While on the planet he called home now, which was inhabited by humans-like beings save for their higher intelligence and spotted skin like a leopard, he lived on campus in the residential buildings provided to the professors who weren't native to the planet. Jack's top floor apartment had a double bedroom, a spacious sitting room with a study alcove that overlooked the main quad of the campus. He liked to have his breakfast at his desk and stare out at the large Quinto tree that was in the centre of the quad and provided shad from the two suns that the planted rotated around. There was also a kitchenette, but Jack rarely used it, preferring to eat his other two meals in the surprisingly good cafeteria.
He was pleasant to the other staff, but remained elusive. He didn't want to form bonds with anyone, for fear of what happened at Torchwood 2 centuries ago to happen again. Jack seemed to think that if he could just find Ianto, then he would be okay, he would be able to function again.
The Doctor didn't think this was the case and had told him so. Jack told him to fuck off. Before he did, the Doctor left him a mobile phone and said if Jack ever needed him again - or if he did indeed find his Ianto Jones, to call him.
So Jack went about his daily business, setting curriculum for his Earth History Studies course and Tactical Missions 101 course, and threw himself into his work as he usually did. It was getting easier, staying on Daelynea for long periods of time before rushing off to look for Ianto. The urge to search, to fuck away the loneliness before cleansing himself of the shame in his usual fashion was waning, and Jack went longer and longer between sessions.
Still, every night he would read one of Ianto's diaries and stare at the photos, unable to let the man he loved go.
~*~
It was the start of his third cycle on Daelynea when everything changed for Jack once more.
Jack was in his sitting room staring out the window at the lush green quad as students were arriving for their first day of classes. Among the throng of students, he thought he saw something familiar. He blinked, and stared harder.
Was that? No... it couldn't be.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, turning away from the window. He needed to get more sleep. It had been at least 50 years since he'd hallucinated seeing Ianto in a crowd.
Moving back to his desk, he sat down and picked up his glasses still amused by the fact that he needed them, and put them on. He checked over his schedule for the day and made sure he had everything he needed programmed into his microchip and shut down his computer. Ejecting the chip, he put it and his glasses into the pocket of his great coat, which he still wore and put on, and headed out the door to the cafeteria for some breakfast before his first class of the day.
He smiled when he entered his small auditorium, and set about getting it ready. He inserted the microchip into the computer and entered his passcode. He liked to be standing in the shadows at the front of the room when his students first enter the room so he can get a good look at them acting as they normally do, before his personal influence becomes involved. Checking his wrist strap, he noted that it was almost time, and took his regular position in the shadows near the front of the room, sitting on the edge of an abandoned table.
He smiled when the first of his students entered, chattering away about their previous class. They chose seats at the back. The room filled up pretty quickly and he had a nice mixture of males and females.
The smile on his face however faltered when the black haired apparition he saw on the quad that morning took a seat in the second row. Jack stood up slowly, and he gasped.
“Ianto,” he whispered. The young man in the second row looked eerily like his lover of 203 years ago. Same face, same black hair and smokey blue eyes. Jack swallowed. It wasn't possible. Ianto would be dead by now. He knew it. He had to be. There was no way he could have survived 200 years. Jack closed his eyes and shook his head. He needed to get a grip. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows.
“Good morning!” he said loudly, and the room immediately hushed. “Well, I see my reputation has preceded me. I think this is the largest class I've had yet.” The class murmured nervously. “I've yet to tell if it's a pleasure or not,” he added flirtatiously. The class tittered, and smiles appeared along with a few blushes. He looked at the raven haired beauty in the second row, who was watching him with rapt attention. “Okay, well, I'm your Professor for Earth History 101, Captain Jack Harkness,” he said, but when there was no recognition, he looked around at the room, “But you can call me Professor, or Captain. I'll respond to either. For this semester, there will be pop quizzes. You have a group assignment worth 25% of your grade, a major essay assignment worth 25% of your grade and an end of year exam worth 25% of your grade.” He turned his back on the class to move to sit on his desk. When he looked back there were a few hands in the air. He chose the raven haired beauty. “Yes?”
“A-ah, Jones... I-Ianto Jones, sir,” he stammered, and Jack sat up straighter, his eyes widening. “That's only 75%.”
“Yes, Jones, Ianto Jones,” Jack said, using everything he had to keep his voice even as he fell apart on the inside, “that is only 25%. The other 25% is your attendance. Which is mandatory,” he said with glee to the groan of the audience. “And as you have two of these classes a week and they are on Monday morning and Friday afternoon and you must attend all of your classes to pass. Failure to miss more than 2 classes this semester without a good reason, and by good reason that is a reason I deem acceptable, not what you deem acceptable, will result in failure of that 25%. Also, if you are more than 10 minutes late, you will not be admitted to the classroom, and automatically marked absent. So, my advice? Learn punctuality if you haven't already.”
“Man! I thought he was the awesome Professor?” someone in the fifth row grumbled.
Jack chuckled. “I am the awesome Professor,” Jack answered. “But I'm a hard marker, and you will learn in my classroom. If you thought this was going to be a course you could sleep through, you can walk your sweet little ass right out that door over there now. I don't have time for people who don't want to learn.” Nobody moved. Jack beamed. “Excellent! So! Humans of the planet Earth...”
~*~
Jack sat down hard after the last student had left his classroom. Ianto Jones. His name was Ianto Jones. Could it be possible? Jack wondered. But he looked so young? He looked no more than 20 years old. Younger than Ianto was when he was taken. How could that be? Jack wondered, unless Jack had forgotten more than he thought he had. It was always possible. It had been 200 years.
But then... how....?
Jack shook his head and buried it in his hands. He didn't know. His head was spinning.
There was a knock on the door. “P-Professor?”
Jack looked up and saw Ianto Jones standing there. “Mr Jones.”
He looked surprised. “You remembered.”
Jack gave him a winning smile. “I usually remember a gorgeous face and the name that goes with it. What can I do for you?”
Ianto looked around nervously before he walked in. “I, um. I was wondering if you had been to planet Earth?”
Jack sat up straighter. “Why do you ask?”
Ianto shrugged. “You talk with such... reverence. There's an affection in your voice. It sounds as if you had been there, not just studied it in books.”
Jack nodded. “Yes. I have.”
Ianto's eyes lit up. “When? How?”
Jack shook his head. “A long time ago, Mr Jones.”
His student deflated. “Oh.”
Jack tilted his head. “Why do you ask?”
Ianto hugged his books to his chest. “Oh. I just... I just wondered. I guess I always had a fascination with the planet.”
“And why is that?” Jack prompted, his heart rate increasing.
Ianto shrugged. “I don't know, sir.” He looked at the floor. “I don't know. I just … I seem to have always been drawn to it for some reason.” He looked a little sheepish. “My carers thought, or hoped really, that I would grow out of it but it seems not. When I saw that this class was available, I knew that I had to take it.” He looked at his watch. “Oh, please excuse me. I must go. I have another class on the other side of campus in 10 minutes and I have to run, literally.”
Jack waved him off. “By all means, run.”
“I'm so sorry.” Ianto smiled, and backed out of the room, before turning and running off.
It was only after he left that Jack realised that Ianto Jones was wearing jeans. He hadn't seen denim since Earth... 200 years ago. He wanted to run after him and ask where the hell did he get the jeans from? Where was he from? Did he remember Jack? But Ianto Jones was gone. So he did the only thing he could.
He went to the Student Administration and charmed his way into the student records.
Katalina, the head of the Student Administration team, looked both ways before she let Jack inside, told him he had ten minutes and closed the door.
Jack looked up Ianto's file.
He was listed as from Havaasana, which Jack had never heard of. He frowned. He was 27 years old, one of the oldest to be accepted into the Time Agency, but his scores were exceptional. He had bypassed the first year subjects and was taking the advanced second year courses for everything except his course in Earth History.
That explained why I didn't see him in Tactical Missions yesterday, Jack mused.
He was 6 feet tall, 80kgs in weight... everything matched... except for where he originated from.
Jack closed the file down and carefully exited out of the room, pressing a kiss to Katalina's cheek.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked, looking up into his eyes.
“Maybe,” he replied. “I'm not sure. I have to do some more research.”
She nodded and he winked and left, heading to the library. He needed to look up Havaasana.
~*~
Havaasana was a planet that that specialised in cryogenics, so Jack's research told him. If Ianto was found on that planet, then depending on whoever found him may have either frozen his body or used him to create clones. This Ianto Jones could have been a clone. Jack would need to do a scan of his DNA. How he would be able to do so, he didn't know. It was something he'd have to figure out. But at least he now had a viable lead, and something he hadn't had in over 200 years.
Hope bubbled in the pit of his stomach.
Chapter 5