Ianto's Journey - Chapter 21
Title: Ianto’s Journey - Chapter 21
Author: Timelordshines
Characters: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Series Rating: 15
Words: 1169 / 25351
Spoilers: S1E4, S2E12, DW-S2E12, DW-S2E13
Disclaimer: Characters belong to RTD and the BBC - I’m just borrowing them.
Written for hc_bingo prompt "Body/Mind Swap".
Start at the Prologue
Previous chapter - Chapter 20
There was a knock on the door.
“Go away Jack” Ianto shouted from the living room.
Jack pushed open the door and Ianto could hear him taking off his boots and coat out in the hallway before entering the living room.
“What do you want?” Ianto asked, not moving from his seat on the sofa.
“That’s not a nice way to greet someone.” Jack teased.
“Sorry, what do you want, Sir?” Ianto sneered belligerently emphasising the last word. He didn’t really want a fight - his chest and shoulder still hurt too much from his recent run in with a weevil, and he couldn’t really muster the energy, but he didn’t want to make this easy for Jack, and he really didn’t want to talk to him.
Jack clenched his fists and took a calming breath. He didn’t want to fight Ianto. Instead he moved to the chair on the opposite side of the coffee table from where the Welshman sat and perched on the edge of it. He set his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in his hands. “I want to understand why you did it.” He stated simply.
“Did what?”
“Any of it. Why you risked your own safety and the whole world to try and reverse the process of a cyber-conversion. Why you hid her instead of asking for help. Why you hid yourself from us. Why you pretended to like me. Why you tried to kill yourself.”
“I did it because I loved her. Because I owed it to her to fix her and make it right. She worked for Torchwood saving the world from alien threats and Torchwood owed it to her to save her.” He glared at the Captain. “If that’s all, I think you should go now.”
“It’s not all!” Jack shouted. “Can’t you see I’m trying to help you? And to help myself understand as well.”
Ianto visibly flinched.
“Sorry,” Jack sighed. “This isn’t really going how I intended.”
Ianto raised an eyebrow at him.
“I have an idea ok? Tosh has been working on this gadget that we found. It’s kind of like a future tech lie detector or something.”
“You don’t trust me not to lie to you?” Ianto asked flatly.
“No, it’s not that. It sort of allows you to feel another person’s emotions, know their thoughts, get inside their mind. It can be set to work just one way, or two ways simultaneously.” He crossed his arms defensively across his chest. “I thought it might help us to understand each other better?”
Ianto considered this carefully for a moment, “what do we have to do?”
Jack took the small round pebble like device out of his pocket. “It has four buttons, two on the top at opposite sides and two directly underneath them.” He showed it to Ianto. “You take one side and I hold the other. Pressing the top buttons allows us to transmit our thoughts, and pressing the bottom buttons allows us to receive each other’s. That way we are both in complete control all the time. The other person can’t see anything we deem too personal and we don’t have to see anything we don’t want to.”
Ianto nodded slowly.
“What do you think?” Jack asked nervously.
“Yeah. Ok.” Ianto said, scooting over to one side of the sofa so Jack could sit beside him.
“So, let’s start with some good memories,” Jack said. “How did you and Lisa meet?”
As Ianto regaled him with the story of how she warned him off the cafeteria coffee on his first day at Torchwood One and they wound up going to for Starbucks at lunch and then he invited her around to his in the evening to try the ‘real deal’. Jack’s mind filled with images of warmth and love and excitement as Ianto talked about meeting the one girl he believed he might just be able to spend his life with.
“Your turn,” Ianto said when he finished reminiscing. “I asked you before if you ever loved anyone?”
Jack’s eye’s filled with tears as he thought of all the people he had loved and lost. He blinked them away before pressing the button to transmit his feelings to Ianto. “I was married once. Lucia was Torchwood. We had a baby girl, Alice.” Jack smiled and Ianto felt it. “Lucia left me, and Torchwood though, couldn’t cope with the way things are.” Jack purposefully didn’t think of the real reason Lucia couldn’t cope - Ianto didn’t need to know about his inability to stay dead. “I don’t get to see Alice very often.” Again, he though only of Alice as a child, not a grown woman who was several years older than Ianto, with a child of her own. Ianto felt the love Jack felt for Alice, and his sadness at losing his family.
“I’m sorry,” Ianto whispered, and he really was.
“It’s ok. Now I’m going to ask you to think about Canary Wharf, being in the battle, finding Lisa. You don’t have to talk about it, just let me feel.” Jack said quietly and opened his heart and mind up to Ianto’s feelings.
The younger man held the button down and Jack was assailed with images of Cybermen, Daleks and soldiers. Of bullets and blood and bodies of the dead and dying. Screams and sobs and so much fear and pain. He wanted to let go of the device, to break the connection but he owed it to Ianto to feel his pain as he discovered his girlfriend. When Ianto eventually broke the connection he was crying and Jack realised that his cheeks were damp too. He wiped them roughly then lifted his arm around Ianto’s shoulders and hugged him to his chest. “I’m sorry Ianto, I’m so sorry” he muttered, kissing the top of the young man’s head.
They sat like that for some time, the device forgotten on the sofa between them until Ianto took a shuddering breath and pushed himself away from the Captain.
“You ok?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” said Ianto picking up the device again. “I need to know what you were thinking when you threatened me. When you told me to execute her else you’d execute us both?” Ianto asked, his voice cracking.
Jack took hold of the device and showed Ianto a mixture of pain at being so badly betrayed, fear at the alien invasion that he might not be able to stop, sympathy for Ianto’s plight, and revulsion at the way he had to threaten the broken man and destroy his hopes at ever saving his girlfriend. But behind all that was an utter belief that no matter how hard it was, he was doing the right thing. If that monster got out the world would be finished.
“I didn’t want it to be like that.” Jack choked out, “but I had to stop it.”
“I know.” Ianto said simply, putting the device down on the coffee table and squeezing Jack’s knee. “I forgive you.”
On to Chapter 22
Author: Timelordshines
Characters: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Series Rating: 15
Words: 1169 / 25351
Spoilers: S1E4, S2E12, DW-S2E12, DW-S2E13
Disclaimer: Characters belong to RTD and the BBC - I’m just borrowing them.
Written for hc_bingo prompt "Body/Mind Swap".
Start at the Prologue
Previous chapter - Chapter 20
There was a knock on the door.
“Go away Jack” Ianto shouted from the living room.
Jack pushed open the door and Ianto could hear him taking off his boots and coat out in the hallway before entering the living room.
“What do you want?” Ianto asked, not moving from his seat on the sofa.
“That’s not a nice way to greet someone.” Jack teased.
“Sorry, what do you want, Sir?” Ianto sneered belligerently emphasising the last word. He didn’t really want a fight - his chest and shoulder still hurt too much from his recent run in with a weevil, and he couldn’t really muster the energy, but he didn’t want to make this easy for Jack, and he really didn’t want to talk to him.
Jack clenched his fists and took a calming breath. He didn’t want to fight Ianto. Instead he moved to the chair on the opposite side of the coffee table from where the Welshman sat and perched on the edge of it. He set his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in his hands. “I want to understand why you did it.” He stated simply.
“Did what?”
“Any of it. Why you risked your own safety and the whole world to try and reverse the process of a cyber-conversion. Why you hid her instead of asking for help. Why you hid yourself from us. Why you pretended to like me. Why you tried to kill yourself.”
“I did it because I loved her. Because I owed it to her to fix her and make it right. She worked for Torchwood saving the world from alien threats and Torchwood owed it to her to save her.” He glared at the Captain. “If that’s all, I think you should go now.”
“It’s not all!” Jack shouted. “Can’t you see I’m trying to help you? And to help myself understand as well.”
Ianto visibly flinched.
“Sorry,” Jack sighed. “This isn’t really going how I intended.”
Ianto raised an eyebrow at him.
“I have an idea ok? Tosh has been working on this gadget that we found. It’s kind of like a future tech lie detector or something.”
“You don’t trust me not to lie to you?” Ianto asked flatly.
“No, it’s not that. It sort of allows you to feel another person’s emotions, know their thoughts, get inside their mind. It can be set to work just one way, or two ways simultaneously.” He crossed his arms defensively across his chest. “I thought it might help us to understand each other better?”
Ianto considered this carefully for a moment, “what do we have to do?”
Jack took the small round pebble like device out of his pocket. “It has four buttons, two on the top at opposite sides and two directly underneath them.” He showed it to Ianto. “You take one side and I hold the other. Pressing the top buttons allows us to transmit our thoughts, and pressing the bottom buttons allows us to receive each other’s. That way we are both in complete control all the time. The other person can’t see anything we deem too personal and we don’t have to see anything we don’t want to.”
Ianto nodded slowly.
“What do you think?” Jack asked nervously.
“Yeah. Ok.” Ianto said, scooting over to one side of the sofa so Jack could sit beside him.
“So, let’s start with some good memories,” Jack said. “How did you and Lisa meet?”
As Ianto regaled him with the story of how she warned him off the cafeteria coffee on his first day at Torchwood One and they wound up going to for Starbucks at lunch and then he invited her around to his in the evening to try the ‘real deal’. Jack’s mind filled with images of warmth and love and excitement as Ianto talked about meeting the one girl he believed he might just be able to spend his life with.
“Your turn,” Ianto said when he finished reminiscing. “I asked you before if you ever loved anyone?”
Jack’s eye’s filled with tears as he thought of all the people he had loved and lost. He blinked them away before pressing the button to transmit his feelings to Ianto. “I was married once. Lucia was Torchwood. We had a baby girl, Alice.” Jack smiled and Ianto felt it. “Lucia left me, and Torchwood though, couldn’t cope with the way things are.” Jack purposefully didn’t think of the real reason Lucia couldn’t cope - Ianto didn’t need to know about his inability to stay dead. “I don’t get to see Alice very often.” Again, he though only of Alice as a child, not a grown woman who was several years older than Ianto, with a child of her own. Ianto felt the love Jack felt for Alice, and his sadness at losing his family.
“I’m sorry,” Ianto whispered, and he really was.
“It’s ok. Now I’m going to ask you to think about Canary Wharf, being in the battle, finding Lisa. You don’t have to talk about it, just let me feel.” Jack said quietly and opened his heart and mind up to Ianto’s feelings.
The younger man held the button down and Jack was assailed with images of Cybermen, Daleks and soldiers. Of bullets and blood and bodies of the dead and dying. Screams and sobs and so much fear and pain. He wanted to let go of the device, to break the connection but he owed it to Ianto to feel his pain as he discovered his girlfriend. When Ianto eventually broke the connection he was crying and Jack realised that his cheeks were damp too. He wiped them roughly then lifted his arm around Ianto’s shoulders and hugged him to his chest. “I’m sorry Ianto, I’m so sorry” he muttered, kissing the top of the young man’s head.
They sat like that for some time, the device forgotten on the sofa between them until Ianto took a shuddering breath and pushed himself away from the Captain.
“You ok?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” said Ianto picking up the device again. “I need to know what you were thinking when you threatened me. When you told me to execute her else you’d execute us both?” Ianto asked, his voice cracking.
Jack took hold of the device and showed Ianto a mixture of pain at being so badly betrayed, fear at the alien invasion that he might not be able to stop, sympathy for Ianto’s plight, and revulsion at the way he had to threaten the broken man and destroy his hopes at ever saving his girlfriend. But behind all that was an utter belief that no matter how hard it was, he was doing the right thing. If that monster got out the world would be finished.
“I didn’t want it to be like that.” Jack choked out, “but I had to stop it.”
“I know.” Ianto said simply, putting the device down on the coffee table and squeezing Jack’s knee. “I forgive you.”
On to Chapter 22