The hub fills with the sound of crashing glass, shrieking animals, crackling fire, grinding bone and utter chaos the day the rift splinters.
They all scream, dropping to the floor, to their knees, screaming in agony. Tosh's head hits the floor, Owen falls on his back, Jack clings to the door frame of his office, Ianto falls on the stairs, and Gwen clutches her desk with white knuckles and shuts her eyes. The sound cuts straight through the core, making their teeth chatter and their bodies ache as though they will burst.
--
1956
When Gwen opens her eyes the hub around her looks different. There are more filing cabinets for one and she wonders insanely how Ianto could have moved them so suddenly on his own. She is no longer sitting in her chair gripping her desk but is in a heap on the floor.
"Holy fuck!" She hears then turns to see a man in a brown suit on the stairs drop a pile of papers, staring at her in shock.
Gwen slowly gets to her feet, hands held palm out in front of her. "It's all right, I'm not armed. I don't mean you any harm."
"Ron, what is going… who the heck are you?"
Another man in a similar old style suit comes into view behind the man named Ron and pulls his gun out upon seeing Gwen. Police training memories flash through Gwen's mind. The man identified as Ron walks down the stairs towards her, the other man with the gun following in his wake.
"You certainly look human..." He pulls out rift monitor from his coat pocket. "Definitely residual rift energy on her."
"Careful, Ron! She could be dangerous," the man with the gun says trying to push his way past Ron.
"Will you relax! She has no weapons."
"Can I shoot her?"
Ron turns and glares at the other man.
"My name is Gwen Cooper," she says.
"Good for you," the man with the gun says, "But I still don't see a reason why I shouldn't just shoot you or lock you in a cell."
"Paul, relax!" Ron says. "She's human." He holds up the monitor he's holding for Paul to see.
He glances at it quickly but does not lower his gun.
"I am human," Gwen says hoping that Paul doesn't have a nervous trigger finger. "I work for Torchwood, I-"
"What!" Paul shouts and moves so the gun is right under Gwen's chin and pulls her close with one hand by her jacket. "You do not work for Torchwood!"
"Paul!" Ron grabs Paul's shoulder but he shakes the other off.
"I do!" Gwen tries to keep her voice calm and slow. "In the year 2008. That's when I'm from. I work for-"
"What the hell?"
The three below look up at the voice from the catwalks and Gwen's heart soars at the sound of the voice.
"Jack!" She shouts.
Jack looks down at her with younger eyes, eyes that show no recognition. Her heart which had suddenly gone so high drops down again as he smiles the way he does for every person he is meeting for the first time. She wants to collapse. It is strange to suddenly realize how much she had come to adore the smile he used just for her when its not there.
"If I met you last night I have to say that I did have a bit too much of the house beer so I've forgotten your name. Though," Jack says, leaning his arms on the bar, "I don't know how I could forget so lovely a face."
She sees Ron roll his eyes in her peripheral vision and feels like crying.
"What year is it?" she forces herself to ask.
--
2134
Tosh tries to make her vision stop spinning. Her whole body aches and she feels like she is going to throw up. Slowly she stands up from where she was kneeling on the floor. Blinking away stars she can see she is in the autopsy room but it looks different. For one it has a fresh coat of paint and the lights are a different tint of white. She doesn't know how she can tell that but its definitely a different color in here. The autopsy table is different too, smooth edges and rounded corners. On the counter sits a light blue machine with diagnostics she has never seen up on it. It has a familiar programing style to it though which she instantly recognizes as related to the hub's computer.
Suddenly a hand touches her shoulder making her jump and spin around, hitting the counter behind her with her arm. A tall woman with red hair looks back at her, hands held out.
"Are you all right?"
Tosh just blinks. The woman's clothes are very tight and seem to have no seams at all. In fact the outfit fits so perfectly to the woman's body that Tosh wonders for a moment if the redhead before her is not an alien with skin that looks a bit like clothing.
"I said, are you all right?" the woman repeats.
Tosh just nods her head quickly, back against the counter. It is then that her brain clicks back on and she starts to realize what has happened, what that sound was.
"We saw the retrorift spike on the computers," the woman says taking Tosh's hand. "Somewhere in the early 21st century, yes?"
"Yes," Tosh said, eyes lighting up. "Oh my god, what happened? Where are the others? Is everyone all right? I have to check on the rift levels, the city... wait..." Tosh stops herself. "Wait, this isn't my hub. This is all different, at least 100 years different."
The woman nods her head.
"Oh... I'm in the future."
Squeezing Tosh's hand lightly the woman smiles, "For you."
--
1927
Owen lands standing on his feet in the water pool around the rift manipulator. The first thing he thinks is how he's going to have wet feet for fucking hours now. He steps out of the water only to see a woman in a straight red dress ending at her calf with a short brown bob of hair level a gun in his face.
"All right, alien, you have all of five seconds to explain how you suddenly appeared here before I shoot you through the head."
Slowly Owen puts up his hands. He thinks about trying to make a grab for the gun but decides better of it. A million lies run through his brain but for once honesty seems like a good idea or at least the only one he's going to try right then.
"I work for Torchwood. I think something happened to the rift. I was working at my desk a second ago and now I am here. That's it." He pauses and takes a breath. "Now would you mind getting that bloody gun out of my face?"
He sees her consider him for a long moment, eyebrows together. Then she grabs his shoulder whirling him around, pressing the gun into his back.
"I'm putting you in a cell."
Owen just groans.
--
1998
Ianto lands on his knees and rolls with a crack onto his shoulder. He can feel his ankle twist and bites back a yelp of pain. Opening his eyes slowly he can see the feet of the couch. So, he's still in the hub at least.
"He's human," Ianto hears a male voice say.
It is then that he realizes there are a circle of people around him. Ianto turns his head up to see three men and a woman all looking down at him. One of the men has a rift monitor in is hand, another with black curly hair has a gun pointed at Ianto though it seems as more of a precaution than a threat, the woman has a needle and mouth swab, while the last man, at least ten years older than the rest, just has his hands on his hips.
"I can see that, Michael," the man with his hands on his hips says to the other with the monitor. "But where did he come from?"
"Hey," the woman says to him as Ianto slowly sits up. "You ok? I'm Abby. What's your name? Where are you from? The rift just did this weird reverse spike thing so it must be you that did it since you just appeared here at my feet, so fess up."
Ianto blinks at the flurry of words and clears his throat.
"I'm Ianto Jones."
"Nice to meet you," the man with the gun says.
"So polite aren't you, Sean?" Abby says turning just her eyes to look at the man next to her. "Why did we give him the gun again?"
"Abby..." Michael says with a sigh in his voice.
"I am perfectly fine with weapons, thank you Abby," Sean says sounding a bit petulant though Ianto is sure he is trying to sound suave.
Ianto has the sudden desire to just lie back down again and close his eyes until they all disappear. Then a hand appears in front of his face and Ianto turns to regard the last man of the group, clearly the leader.
"Well, Ianto Jones, let's get you up. I believe you hurt your ankle?"
"Wait, he did?"
"Way to pay attention Abby," Michael says. "Should work on your doctoring."
"Shut up..." she mutters.
Ianto takes the man's hand and stands up slowly keeping his weight on his one foot. The man holds onto Ianto's arm to keep him steady.
"Thank you," he says quickly looking around.
It's definitely the hub though a bit off. Everything is in the same place but the little touches are different. His coffee station is gone, Owen's work station is clean, and the desk where Suzie and Gwen both sat is not a work station but has a TV and a lot of other crap on it instead.
"My name is Alex Anderson," Ianto turns back to the man who is now shaking his hand with the hand not holding Ianto up. "Leader of Torchwood three. Those three bickering beside me would be Abby, Sean, and Michael. I'm sure they are glad to meet you."
Ianto nods hesitantly in their direction. Sean still has the gun in his hand though it is no longer pointed at Ianto. Abby grins back at him and waves the hand holding the needle. Alex clears his throat drawing Ianto's attention back to him.
"And now, we would all like to find out how exactly you came to be in our hub, though I imagine it is due to the rift and I am sure you would like to know just what we are talking about when we say-"
"Oh, believe me," Ianto interrupts, letting go of Alex's hand. "I know what you're talking about."
--
2062
Jack is back on his feet before he even fully hits the ground. He knows what a time jump feels like before it even fully initiates though admittedly this one was a bit rough. First thing he has to figure out is when he is. A quick glances shows him an upgraded Torchwood three hub and a catwalk beneath his feet.
"Jack! Oh my goodness, Jack, Jack, Jack!"
A woman with short black hair comes running across the catwalk at him. She stops right in front of him and plants a kiss on his lips. Before he has time to register the kiss she is pulling away and speaking again.
"My my Jack Harkness! What are you doing here? I didn't even hear you come in! Was that you messing with the rift? Or are you just fucking with the computers again to drive me crazy?"
"Who is that?" Jack hears from below.
They both look down to see a thin man with blond hair in a light blue suit which Jack recognizes as a style from somewhere mid 2050s or so. It buttons up to the collar and is more pointed at the corners than Jack ever liked in clothing. This was definitely not his time period favorite when it came to dress.
"It's Jack, Patrick!" the woman says down to the man.
He puts his hands on his hips and scoffs. "A year away and no warning? That is so you Jack."
Jack just nods and smiles. He doesn't quite have the lay of this one yet. It is not often when Jack travels through time that he finds people who already know him and he doesn't know them yet. It happened to him once way back in his Time Agency days and that had ended in a particularly vicious fight with a sword.
"So, Jack," He turns back to face her. "Damn its been a long time. Why didn't you tell us you were coming back? I mean, I know Russia is big and all but its been so long. Tessa kept trying to freak me out saying that maybe you'd finally run out of lives and we were never going to see you again!"
"I...uh... well you see..."
"Wait..." She stops and her eyes go wide. She stares hard at his face and puts her hands against his temples. He just stares back at her suddenly feeling a heaviness inside himself. "No, this isn't you." She says.
She pulls away from him and Jack inhales slowly. "No," he says simply.
"Oh god..." He hears a tiny sob in her throat. "You don't know who I am."
--
"Well, what are we going to do with her?" Ron says leaning over Gwen and peering at her like she's a specimen.
Gwen sort of wants to shove him against a wall. Instead she sits in a chair as Ron and Paul argue on either side of her.
"Can we just throw her back through?"
"God, you are asshole, Paul!"
Paul waves a hand in the air and points at Gwen. "Well, we're not just going to keep her, you know. She's not one of your little projects or an alien to lock in the vaults."
"Shut up, Paul! This isn't about how you're mad at me this is about what we're going to do with her. So, what are we going to do?"
"I've told you I don't know, Ron!" Paul finally screams.
"Stop it!" the man behind the desk in what she knows should be Jack's office shouts.
His name is Benjamin Keen and he is the leader of Torchwood three. He looks like he is straight out of a WWII movie and Gwen has to keep reminding herself that she's not in a movie. It seems that these three men and Jack are the Torchwood staff of this era. At least one of her questions about how long Jack has been with Torchwood is partially answered. 50 years with Torchwood at least and counting.
"Enough of you two bickering," Benjamin says.
"Like always," Jack pipes up from where he sits in the corner.
Jack is what really is hurting Gwen the most. She decided not to tell them about how she knew Jack and the issue had been quickly brushed aside with figuring out what to do with her. But she can't stop glancing at him and she knows that he is noticing. The worst part is that he is pretending he doesn't, pretending like she doesn't really matter.
"Ok, we need to think up a plan at least," Benjamin says, commanding everyone's attention with his voice. "We have had time stragglers in the past."
"We have?" Paul says.
Benjamin just fixes him with a look and Gwen thinks of a young girl starting a new life in London and a man who killed himself because he couldn't.
"Ron, I want you to work on possible rift manipulations that can maybe allow her to pass through back to her time."
"Ben, you know we never use that machine," Ron says, hands on hips.
Gwen can't help but smile and rather wants to say something along the lines of 'never say never.'
"I didn't say we were going to," Benjamin says, taking off his glasses and running a hand through is hair. "Just check through previous rift activity we've logged and see if maybe we can use the similarities to predict another occurrence or a way we can induce one."
"You make it sound like we're having a baby with the rift," Paul says frowning deeply and pacing again.
Jack laughs, "That reminds me of-"
"Don't start, Jack!" Paul shouts.
"Paul please," Ron says walking over to Paul and holding onto his arm to stop the pacing.
Paul shakes him off, "Stop it! I mean really. How are you all so calm? This woman," he points violently at Gwen, "came through the rift and you all act like this happens so often! What if something is wrong with it? What if we are going to see more of this? What if people from all times start coming through? Hell, what if Hitler comes through!?"
"That's not funny," Benjamin says.
"I never said it was," Paul says grimly and stalks out of the office.
Ron sighs and looks at them all. "I'll talk to him."
As Ron walks out of the room Jack begins to chuckle. "You see, I told you them breaking it off would cause problems." Gwen sees Ben glare at Jack. "The two of them are only happy when they are shagging."
"Jack, please!" Ben yells.
"Oh, that's classic," Gwen says.
The two men look at her and she just shakes her head smiling ironically. It had to be Jack's doing originally anyway, Gwen just knew it.
"I'm going to deal with those two," Benjamin says standing up. "You watch her."
Gwen and Jack turn to look at each other as the man leaves. It is then that Gwen finally sees a glimmer of her own Jack in his eyes. Only its the glimmer she sees when he is looking at someone lost, the way he looked at Beth when she was in her cell pleading that she wasn't an alien; its the look that sometimes scares Gwen. It scares her that he might not always know what to do or have the answers. However, he's never looked right at her like that and for once she doesn't really want to be in the same room with him. Even when she is angry, even when she hates him or wants to hit him Gwen still wants him there but now she just wants to run. She wants to grab him by the shoulders, shake him, and tell him to not fucking look at her like that. Don't look at her like she is dangerous, like she is a problem, like there might be no hope for her. She can't take it.
"Stop that, Jack," she says finally standing up from her chair and turning away from him.
She can still feel him looking at her behind her. Then she hears him stand up from his chair but he doesn't walk to her. His hands don't appear on her shoulder or his presence close. He doesn't try to comfort her.
"You know me," he finally says.
"Yes," she turns around.
"How?"
Gwen scoffs. How was she supposed to answer that anyhow?
"This is so weird." She finally says, "Because when I met you, you didn't know me. At least I thought you didn't. But maybe you did. Maybe you knew then that we would be connected because you are seeing me now. Or maybe this is new because it has it start sometime right?"
Her head wants to explode. It doesn't make sense.
"Stop that," Jack says breaking her dizzying thoughts. "One thing I know is that time doesn't always make sense or stay the same. Sometimes time changes and the ripples don't move perfectly. Believe me."
"And I am the ripple now."
"Yep."
Gwen paces and stares at Jack as she does. He watches her, arms folded and for a moment its just like another alien case, like they are talking about someone else and not her. Finally she stops walking and just stands. This is Jack's office to her. Owen should be out there complaining about the pizza toppings and Tosh clicking away on her keyboard and Ianto stealing Jack's chair to clean Jack's desk and Jack, her Jack, should be here laughing with her, talking with her, not about her, not at her.
"Well, Gwen Cooper, so you haven't actually told us when you are from yet. I believe you said you work for Torchwood so I gather that is how you know me."
Gwen nods. "I work for you actually."
Jack raises his eyebrows and grins seductively, "Oh really? Do I get a secretary? Or wait, my own 'personal needs' girl?"
"The 50s made you a something of a pig, did they?" She says.
Jack just laughs and Gwen can't help but laugh too. Then a pain sears through her chest like a burning iron bar right between her lungs and she doubles over.
"Oh god..." she groans.
"Gwen?" Jack says.
She sees him rushing toward her but its in slow motion as she feels herself ripped backwards.
--
"Please, just let me read some of it."
"Toshiko, you know you can't."
"Dora, please," Tosh sits behind her chair dressed in her own form fitting shirt and pants. "I just want to see some of the advancements. It's been over 100 years for me."
Dora just smiles, her fingers moving with grace over the keys.
"Let her, Dora. What can it hurt?"
Tosh looks back at Tony who is sitting on the counter against the wall where the couch used to be in Tosh's time. Everything in the hub is clean and white and looks so new in this time. It's been a week and they haven't let Tosh leave the hub or read anything from the time period. All she got is some new clothes. It is a kind of memory fabric that once worn conforms to the wearer's figure to move perfectly with them. It is the most comfortable piece of clothing Tosh has ever worn.
"Plenty, as you are well aware Tony," Dora says, still typing. "You just like to stir up trouble. Don't make me tell Patience."
Patience is Tony's girlfriend. She is a Soratan. They are a species that look a lot like Trills on Star trek with spots along the side of their heads and down their bodies. However, they also have pure white hair. It had shocked Tosh a great deal at first to learn that aliens had begun to actually work at Torchwood. However, after a while it really didn't really seem all that surprising. After all, comparing Torchwood back in 1900 to her Torchwood its quite different, no more executing aliens outright for example.
"Patience, would agree with me," Tony says, crossing his arms.
"I'm sure she wouldn't," Dora says turning back to her computer.
"I promise I won't use anything I read when I go back," Tosh says inching her chair closer to Dora. "Really, I just want to know. Please, Dora, just a little. Something I can't have affect on maybe. Anything!"
"Do you want to know who wins the all the Wimbledon's from then until now?"
Tosh sighs and leans her elbows on Dora's glass desk.
"You could ride the hover lift again if you want," Rachel says as she floated over on it.
"No thanks," Tosh says, "A floating disk which you all use to get between floors is only so fun."
"But it goes diagonally," Rachel says. "That must be of some fun to you. I mean, the lifts from your time only went up and down right?"
Tosh smiles at the short woman as she stood beside Tosh, "Yes, that's right. I guess I rode it too many times already for it to be new and exciting still."
The first two days of Tosh's time in this period she had rode the thing all over the hub. It is sort of like a flying carpet made of thick plastic which you have to stand on. Admittedly it is a lot of fun but her intellectual inclinations are screaming for information.
"Please, Dora," Tosh implores. "I don't have much time left and I just want to know something."
Turning in her chair Dora regards Tosh with clear blue eyes. "You want to know something?"
Tosh nods like a child at school, like she is at uni again. Dora clasps her hands in her lap and looks down, her long eyelashes brushing her cheek. Then she looks up and touches Tosh's face.
"Ok, I'll tell you something," Tosh feels herself blush and Dora speaks again. "You do make a difference."
Tosh's breath catches in her throat then Rachel's hand is on her shoulder. Dora's computer starts to beep.
"It's time to go, Toshiko." Rachel hands her a pill as Tosh stands. Tosh looks at her in confusion. "For the pain," Rachel says.
"What do you-"
Tosh starts to speak when a stabbing feeling hits her in the chest and she almost falls over. Dora, Rachel and Tony smile sadly at her from what looks like so far away. Then she seems to fall.
--
Owen's eyes snap open as cold water is poured on his head. His body jolts and his doctor senses worry about hypothermia.
"Time to wake up, alien."
"I told you, I'm not an alien," Owen says again.
He feels like he's said it millions of times now, said it, shouted it, screamed it. He is human. He's human, damn it! He looks up from the floor of his cell to see the same man and woman looking down at him. They have been interrogating him for two days now. He doesn't know what they want to hear but he hasn't said it yet.
"Get up," the man says.
"Fuck you," Owen mutters.
He is too damn tired for this. Torchwood of the past is crazy! For once he wishes Ianto was here to tell him what was going on in this time. Ianto's read all the archives back to front he would know if there was a crisis or something to make them suspect Owen so much.
The man kicks Owen in the stomach making pain sear through Owen again. He is starting to worry he might have internal bleeding.
"You've scanned me, you know I am human!" Owen shouts, crawling slowly backwards from the two of them.
"Yes, well, our instruments have been wrong before," the woman says. "How do we know you're not causing them to read wrong?"
Owen sighs heavily which made his lungs hurt. How paranoid were these guys? They had been asking him over and over how he appeared in the hub and what his plans were for Empire. He told them the truth over and over. Apparently saying 'I don't know' and 'I don't want to do anything to the fucking empire' didn't work for them.
"So? Anything to tell us today?" the woman says.
He hasn't learned either of their names yet. They seem to be very careful to not let him learn anything about Torchwood or them while he is held captive there. They took his jacket, his cellphone, everything but his t-shirt and boxers. They'd asked him to explain his cellphone which had been an interesting conversation. Now, Owen can feel sickness creeping up on him. He wants to ask for his pants back but it seems like such a silly request.
Owen pulls his legs up against his chest trying to stave off the cold from the water and shakes his head. "What more do you want me to say? You haven't believed anything I've said so what good is it to bloody repeat myself?"
The man comes toward him and Owen braces himself for a blow but the man crouches in front of him instead. Owen blinks in surprise.
"Well, suppose I believe you this time."
Owen leans away from the man and glances at the woman. For once her face appears interested instead of just hard and blank. Have they discovered something?
"What do you mean?" Owen says. "What's happened?"
"We've been looking at the rift activity from when you came," the woman says. "Its different than what we normally see when things pass through. It looked almost splintered."
Owen thinks hard. He remembers the noise before he came here, the sound of shattering, like the world around him was breaking.
"Is something happening to the rift now?" He asks.
The other two look at each other but don't answer.
"Is there?!" Owen shouts and the man punches him in the side of the head.
Owen hits the wall and feels blood on his face.
"That is not your concern," the man says. "We need to know what you did to the rift when you first came. Ok, perhaps you are not an alien after all, perhaps that part is true. But you did something to the rift."
The man grabs him by the throat and holds him against the wall.
"We cannot afford for anything to disrupt the rift," Owen tries to breathe but he can't and he clutches at the man's hand. "We cannot afford to lose our control over it. What did you do?"
"Thatcher!" the woman shouts and the first thing Owen thinks is maybe there is a relation.
Thatcher drops Owen and turns to the woman. Owen blinks through hazy eyes and sees the woman looking down at a rift monitor in her hands. He can hear it's beeping fast.
"It's happening again!" Her head snaps up and she points. "Like when he came! It's happening again!"
Thatcher pulls Owen up by his shirt and the three of them leave the cell. Owen stumbles as he is dragged along behind them.
"Is there any danger to the city?" Thatcher asks her.
"I don't think so, it seems to be localized on us, on the hub."
"What does that mean?" He asks as they reach the door out of the cells. "Is it because of him?"
"I don't know!" She shouts.
"You need to know, Grace!" He shouts back at her, dropping Owen and grabbing Grace's arms.
Owen falls, pain rocketing through him and he doesn't hit the ground.
--
"I can't believe you've been drinking this," Ianto says throwing a can of instant into the trash.
"You are a God," Michael says clutching his mug like a child. "You are never allowed to leave."
"I should hope not," Abby says touching Ianto's arm slowly.
Ianto looks at her as he sits down beside her on the couch with a smile then turns away. Jack's face flashes through his head and he blushes.
"It is good coffee," Sean says smiling a bit shyly at him across the coffee table from his chair by Tosh's desk.
Ianto spares a moment to wonder at the irony of causing two people to be attracted to him in his first two weeks back in 1998. He feels vaguely like Jack without all the bravado.
"I think the coffee we had before was all right," Alex says. Everyone looks at him with incredulous faces. Then he laughs. "I'm not saying your's isn't better, Ianto."
He smiles, "Thank you."
It's been strange being in this time so long. Ianto thought that whatever had caused the rift to propel him back would have yanked him back again by now. Then, he supposes, maybe it doesn't work that way. Ianto likes it here but its not his time. He's been wondering a lot if this is how Jack feels. He knows things they don't and can't tell them; he has ten more years on them and he can't talk about it.
"Ok, so, we're chasing his Macall," Michael says. "It's stolen, if you can believe this, Abby's purse."
"An alien pickpocket!" Abby shouts lifting her mug in the air.
"What would it have wanted with her stupid make up anyhow?" Sean says glancing over his shoulder at the test running on his computer.
"Quiet, Sean," Alex says walking out of his office.
Ianto smiles as Sean scowls but doesn't object. Abby giggles and leans a little against Ianto's shoulder. Ianto sees Sean's lip twitch from his chair. For a moment he wonders if Abby and Sean are going to have a fight over him. He has to bite back a laugh and focuses on Michael.
"Yeah, Sean," Michael is saying. "I think Ianto wants to hear my stories. My stories are good and don't involve always sitting at my desk."
Sean sighs, "Everyone's work here is important no matter what form-"
"Oh, here he goes!" Michael says with a smile and a laugh.
"Everyone's contribution to the effort to protect against... oh stop it!"
Michael has his hand up in a mocking mouth talking motion. Alex nudges Michael on the floor with his foot. Looking up at him Michael stops and smiles like a guilty kid playing innocent.
"You boys are ridiculous," Abby says.
Ianto has to smile. These four have pulled him into their fold almost effortlessly. It feels like they'd known him for ages. Here Ianto really feels wanted, like he belongs. They are like a family.
He told them about working for Jack and Torchwood in the future. He didn't tell them the exact year but they didn't ask. They did tell him that Jack was away for a month on some secret assignment from Torchwood London in Germany. Ianto actually was glad because he didn't know what he would be able to say to Jack, to a Jack that didn't know who he was or what he was to Jack. However, Ianto is still here after two weeks so the possibility of seeing Jack of the past was becoming more real.
"No, no, Michael," Abby says and Ianto looks at her instead of thinking. "Enough of your blabbering, why doesn't Ianto tell us a story?"
They all look at him and Ianto shakes his head. "Oh, I don't know if that's a good idea."
Alex shrugs. "You can leave out the future details."
Micheal snorts and takes another sip of his coffee. "Yeah, don't tell us about the flying cars or world peace."
Everyone laughs and Ianto smiles, really smiles. It feels like home here and he wonders if maybe he should just stay. He could stay with Abby or with Sean or just stay with all of them. They would certainly let him work here, find a place for him. They already have. It's only 1998, Ianto's lived it before so he knows what is what. It wouldn't be impossible to do except for the whole meeting himself when he starts working at Torchwood of course, that could be a slight problem.
"Or maybe we should all be doing work?" Alex says and Ianto looks over at him.
"Oh? You do work around here?" Ianto said with a smirk.
"Never!" Abby crows lifting her mug again and spilling some coffee on her wrist in the process.
"Watch it, crazy lady!" Michael says scooting away.
"Ok, ok, work!" Alex says.
Sean swivels his chair around to face his computer as Michael gets up off the floor. Standing from the couch Ianto gathers up the mugs and addresses Alex.
"I am going to keep organizing the back log files."
"Ianto..." Alex says with warning tone.
"Well, sir," Ianto says in his best professional voice. "Technically you can't stop me. I don't work for you really. Plus, none of you are going to do it and then I wouldn't have to do it later because I'll have already done it."
"Fabulous logic, Mr. Jones."
Ianto turns back to the table and feels a sudden wrenching in his gut halting him in his tracts.
"Rift spike!" he hears Michael shout.
"What is it?" Alex says going to Michael's side.
"I think..." Ianto gasps out as another shot of pain hits him in the chest and the mugs in his hands shatter on the floor.
Abby and Sean rush to his side.
"Are you all right?" Sean says putting a hand on his chest.
"No!" Abby says grabbing his arm realization on her face. "Not yet!"
Turning his head to look at her, Ianto's vision darkens.
"Don't tell Jack I was here," He manages to say then he snaps backwards.
--
"No, I don't know you," Jack says and for some reasons he feels terrible that he has to.
The woman before him backs up, puts a hand to her lips. "That rift spike was a real one. It wasn't a trick or something else. It was you."
Jack just nods again.
"What is going on up there?" Patrick's voice floats up to them but neither one looks down.
"I'm sorry," Jack says. "I was pulled here by the rift. I haven't lived quite this long yet."
She laughs in a sad sort of way. "And I thought your hair did look a bit different."
"What? Do I go gray?" Jack says, aghast.
This makes her laugh for real and she shakes her head. "No, its just a bit lighter than this." She threads her fingers through his hair slowly.
It is then that his suspicions about the kiss are confirmed. She stands close to him, hand still stroking his hair.
"This is so strange..." she speaks quietly. "Its a younger you. You're already so old but I can see." She touches the side of his face, the corner of his eye. "I can see where the years are going to be. I can see where things haven't happened yet."
"Do I look that bad? I was hoping I stayed this perfect."
She doesn't smile and Jack decides to give up on humor. A small laugh escapes her mouth as her eyes work over his face.
"I don't know how I didn't see it before..."
"What happens that is worse than what already has?" Jack asks without meaning to, tears beneath his words.
It's like he can suddenly feel the weight of just how long he has lived on top of him and it's smothering him.
However, she smiles then, smiles like a sun, like the world was made by her and only she has the power to bring joy within it. "Oh no, Jack Harkness. I never said it was things that were bad to make you look older. Laughing can add years to your face just as much as tears."
He's about to tell her she sounds like a poem but her lips touch his again. Now they are kissing for real, like he really has known her, like he's been here all along. She wraps her arms around him and he holds her shoulders like he's going to drown inside her. When she pulls back he follows her for a moment before he stands upright again.
"How long do have?" She asks.
"I..." Jack starts but then a pain hits him hard in his middle and he stumbles back.
She looks at him in confusion and he smiles the best he can.
"I don't," he says and is pulled away.
--
They all hit the floor at the same time. Owen gasps loudly in pain, wounds aggravated from his two days of interrogation. Somewhere Ianto mutters a curse. They all are scattered around the hub blinking at the light and looking around.
"Tosh!" Gwen cries seeing her stand up by the couch.
"Owen!" Tosh shouts, running to him on the floor.
"Ianto?" Owen says looking side long at Ianto getting up in front of Jack's office.
"Jack?" Ianto calls looking for him around the hub.
"Gwen!" Jack calls as he comes down the stairs from the catwalks.
They all look around at each other as Tosh helps Owen to stand. Suddenly they are smiling and running together, arms around each other, all talking at once. Tosh grabs Gwen in a big hug. Jack scoops Ianto up and kisses him like a 40s movie. Owen pulls Tosh and Gwen to him with an uncharacteristic look of gratefulness. They all try to explain where they were and who they saw and what happened and how happy they are to be back. Then Tosh remembers the rift and they spike into work mode.
"So?" Jack says after they pour over the computers and check the stabilization and work for hours to ensure nothing happened and that the world didn't end.
They are all sitting together. Ianto, Owen, and Gwen sit on the couch while Jack and Tosh are in chairs facing them. It looks like a sort of round table discussion or a drug intervention.
"Let me just say that some of our past Torchwood folk can be bloody brutal," Owen says checking one of the bandages on his arm.
"I can see that," Ianto says beside him.
"And that was only two days," Owen says grimly.
"You were there two days?" Tosh says in surprise. "I was gone for a week."
"Really?" Gwen responds with a quizzical expression. "It was around four or five hours for me I think; 1956 with a bunch of men."
Jack raises an eyebrow at her. She doesn't meet his gaze.
"I went to the future," Tosh says and they all look at her. "They wouldn't let me outside but just the hub itself was so different and the clothes." She looks down at herself as if to point it out but suddenly notices that she's got her own red blouse and jeans on. "I didn't... oh, well." She blinks then shakes her head. "It was amazing just what I saw in there."
"Of course Tosh goes to the future where they are all enlightened," Owen says. "I get the crazy folks from the Jazz age!"
Ianto snorts and tries not to laugh. Glaring at him, Owen just shakes his head and leans back against the couch.
"What about you, Jack?" Gwen asks.
He shrugs, "Just another day for me, old Time Agency man and all."
"Never can give a straight fucking answer," Owen mutters staring up at the ceiling.
Jack looks at Ianto then, eyes asking what Gwen had asked him.
"1998," Ianto says and he sees Jack stiffen slightly. "It was..." they are all staring at Ianto now as his tone becomes far away and nostalgic. "It was two of the best weeks of my life."
Jack stares hard at Ianto for awhile before leaning back in his chair and sighing. Each one is silent, minds swirling and eyes avoiding each other. Tosh keeps thinking of Dora's face. Pain still sparks now and then in Owen's stomach and he wonders if maybe those two just wanted to hurt him because they could. Four people are crowding in Ianto's head, laughing with him, smiling and he can't believe how much he misses them. Gwen can't stop thinking about how much it hurt to have Jack not know who she was. Jack tries not to think at all.
"I guess we are all time travelers now," Tosh says, finally breaking the stillness. "Eh, Jack?"
They all shift and nods absently.
"Seems so!" Gwen says with fake cheer.
"Not sure that's a good thing," Jack replies and the other four look at him.
Jack stands up and walks back into his office while the others just sit thinking of different times instead of each other.