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aviv_b_artworkIANTO'S JOURNEY, PART V, REDEMPTION
AUTHOR: Aviv_b
RATING: Chapter 54 - PG for language
CHARACTERS: Jack, Gwen, Tosh, Owen, Mickey, Rhys, OCs - Penny
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 1975
SUMMARY: Jack explains why he left with The Doctor. Gwen and Owen explain what's transpired during his two year absence leaving Jack despondent..
Title is from: It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong. Henry
Jack woke up several hours later in a cold sweat. He lay on the sofa in his office while Gwen and Owen reviewed some paperwork over at his desk. He groaned as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. Owen and Gwen looked over at him; Jack could see both anger and hurt in both their faces.
“Guess I owe everyone an explanation.”
Gwen’s lips were tightly pressed together. “That would be a start.”
“Where is everyone else?” Jack asked looking around.
“We sent Mickey and Penny home,” Gwen answered. “Mickey is too worked up right now and Penny doesn’t know you at all. Tosh was feeling a little under the weather so she went home as well.”
Owen and Gwen pulled their chairs over to face the couch. “So here we are,” Owen said, “just the three of us. Do you understand that you’ve been gone for over two years?”
“I glanced at a newspaper before I entered the Hub, I didn’t even notice the year. The Doctor said he was leaving me off as close to my departure date as he could without risking crossing my time line, I can’t believe this has happened.”
Jack covered his face with his hands trying to ward off the growing feeling of dread. “So where do we start?”
Gwen looked at Jack. He looked so despondent that she felt a catch in her heart. But she was madder than hell at what he had done to Ianto, to the whole team really. “Just tell us from the beginning. Why did you go Jack, and why didn’t you tell us anything beforehand?”
They spent several hours discussing Jack’s time with The Doctor. He told them about his hopes that The Doctor could ‘fix’ his immortality and how it couldn’t be fixed. He vaguely told them a few things about the year he was on the Valiant, but nothing of seeing all of them murdered before his eyes, let alone his own torture and murder. They sensed he was holding back something, but from the look on his face, neither Owen nor Gwen wanted to push him on the subject. He’d tell them more, if and when he was ready to.
And the one topic that everyone danced around eventually had to be broached. “Why didn’t you contact Ianto? Why did you treat him so dismissively before you left?” Gwen asked.
“I don’t know, I mean I’m not sure myself. I knew I was going to go when The Doctor came so I guess I was trying to push Ianto away so he wouldn’t get hurt.”
Owen snorted. “Good move, you hurt him so you won’t hurt him. Right.”
“But I came back for you, all of you,” Jack whispered “especially Ianto. There was no way I could tell you what was going on, and I didn’t think I was going to come back so far in the future!”
“You know Jack; something interesting happened a few weeks after you left.” Jack did not fail to pick up the undercurrent of disbelief in Gwen’s voice. “See, we didn’t know where you were or who you were with. So we spent a bit of time thinking you’d been abducted or were lying injured somewhere, who knows, maybe in a UNIT prison. And once we found from CCTV footage that you had gone with The Doctor, Ianto gave Martha Jones a call. He thought maybe she could tell us how to find The Doctor.”
Owen continued, “And do you know what Martha told him? That she had a call from The Doctor who said you both were having a grand time together.” Jack started to speak but the look on Owen’s face silenced him. “Now I don’t know about the year that you say never happened, but don’t tell us that you couldn’t have let Ianto know, hell, let us all know what was going on.”
“I guess I could have…” Jack began.
Gwen was getting angrier by the minute. “Just cut the shite Jack. We’re not stupid. You didn’t call because you weren’t intending to come back. Now maybe this whole year that wasn’t did something to change your mind, but tell us the truth. If The Doctor had ‘fixed’ you, did you ever intend to come back?”
“No,” Jack whispered. “It was only during that terrible year that I realized how much you all meant to me. How much I wanted to come back…home.” Jack choked a little as he said this. “I can make it up to you, all of you, please give me a chance.”
“Well, mate,” Owen said, “you may be able to work your charm on us, but I’m afraid it’s too late to try that with Ianto.”
“Ok, you said he’s in London; I’ll go there, I’ll apologize, I’ll make it up to him,” Jack said with increasing desperation.
Gwen took Jack’s hands in hers. “Jack he’s with someone else. They’re a couple, had a civil union even. He’s happy. He’s genuinely happy. And I swear to god, Jack, if you do anything to disrupt that relationship, I will personally kill you myself.”
“Who is he with, is it someone I know?”
Owen shook his head, ‘no.’ “His name is Aaron, he’s The Brigadier’s son.”
“The one who made the hash brownies? The lush? I don’t believe it…why that’s… ”
“Stop right now!” Gwen shouted. “Don’t get yourself worked into an indignant huff. You have no right to criticize anything that’s Ianto’s done even if he was with Stephen. He’s not. The Brigadier has an older son. Aaron is a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Royal Marines.”
Owen realized that Jack didn’t know about Torchwood One being rebuilt or anything else that had happened over the last two years. He went over to a cabinet and got out some glasses, an almost full bottle of scotch and poured out a generous measure for each of them.
“Where to begin,” he sighed.
***
Several more hours and a half dozen scotches later, Gwen and Owen finished filling Jack in on much what happened during his absence. Jack was surprised how well they had handled the aliens coming through the rift, not just Weevils or Hoix, but a number of new species including the Dasyatis-nouveris. These deadly flying creatures resembled stingrays right down to a barbed tail that could kill with one blow.
Gwen and Owen were a bit miffed when he praised how well they had done. “Soccer nets tied together to act as giant nets. That’s brilliant!”
“Well we had to just do what was necessary,” Gwen pointed out. “It wasn’t like there was another time traveler available to come and help us.”
He paid close attention to their evaluation of Penny’s performance. She sounded like a good addition to the team even if she had replaced Ianto. They did all have a laugh at the way she held Jack at gunpoint in the Hub. “Yeah, you don’t mess with Penny, that’s for sure,” Owen said. “She could have just as easily killed you with her sarcasm as with her gun. That woman has a wicked sense of humor.”
Mickey was a little more difficult to discuss. “He’s done a remarkable job at leading the team in the field, Jack.” Gwen pointed out. He’s tough and he’s fearless, and unlike you he can die.” But frankly, he’s been worried about you coming back taking away his leadership role.”
“And what about you Gwen?” Jack asked. “How do you feel about my asking you to accept me as leader of Torchwood Three once again?”
Gwen bit her lower lip as she thought of the best way of putting her reply. “Honestly for most of the first year I felt like I was keeping things in place until you came back. But once we passed the one year mark, we all assumed that you weren’t coming back and we’ve made some changes, good changes, as to how things run. Mickey and I make a good leadership team and…” her voice trailed off; she just couldn’t say it.
“Torchwood Three runs better under you and Mickey than it did under me,” Jack said finishing her thought.
“I’m sorry Jack,” Gwen replied, “but we really are functioning quite well now.”
Owen added his thoughts to the discussion. “I suppose, in the end, it will be up to the Queen, with input from UNIT and Torchwood One.”
They agreed that Gwen would contact the Queen’s liaison to Torchwood in the morning and take it from there.
Owen had some strong feelings about Ianto in regards to Jack’s return. “I’m going to let Ianto know you are back before we talk to anyone. In fact, it’s not so late that if I head home now, I can’t call him tonight and let him know. And Jack, if you ever cared anything about him at all, don’t contact him unless he’s amenable.” He’s been through enough. He’ll need time to adjust to the very idea that you are back let alone be able to see you. He may never want to see you or speak to you and I hope you are going to respect whatever decision he makes.”
All things considered, Jack recognized that they were really being quite civil towards him. They would have been well within their rights to keep him locked up until authorities in London decided what to do with him.
He nodded his agreement. “Guess I should get a hotel room, I imagine my hideaway isn’t in the best of shape.”
“Well we haven’t really done anything with it, but it’s probably not appropriate for you to stay over in the Hub by yourself for the time being,” Gwen pointed out. “Tell you what, let me call Rhys and let him know you’ll be staying with us for the night. We can sort the rest of this out tomorrow.”
Gwen stepped outside of Jack’s office to call Rhys who was less than thrilled to hear that Jack was back and that he was going to be their house guest. “You are too forgiving Gwen; after what he did to Ianto, I’m going to find it difficult to even be civil to him.”
“I know, but something’s happened to him while he was away. He’s different; more subdued, sadder I guess. Look, it will just be for the night. Its 9 PM and he really doesn’t have anyplace to go.”
Reluctantly, Rhys agreed to have Jack stay over. “OK, but I swear if he makes any cracks about Ianto, he’s going to be sorry.”
“I love you too, sweetheart,” Gwen replied.
Gwen went back to the office and told Jack that everything was set. He and Owen went down into his room and found a few items of clothing that he could wear and threw them into a bag. Jack could see that nothing really had been touched, except that there was no trace of anything of Ianto’s. Jack left with Gwen and Owen left for home a short while later. Owen had no idea how he was going to break the news to Ianto. And he worried that the stress of the situation would continue to take a toll on Tosh who was having a difficult time with her pregnancy as it was.
***
Later that night, Jack lay awake on the sofa in Gwen and Rhys’ flat. So much had happened. Gwen and Rhys getting married…Tosh and Owen getting married, now that was a surprise. And Tosh pregnant! Ianto with someone else...happy and with someone else. It was bad enough to have to live forever, but did everything have to be so hard? He wondered if The Doctor had done this on purpose or if his entire existence on to eternity was just one big cosmic joke. A joke where the punch line had somehow eluded him.
Chapter 55 here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/28865.html
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 03:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 05:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 06:28 am (UTC)This is still interesting, I have no idea where you're going :)
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Date: 2010-01-28 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 01:57 pm (UTC)and...did I just read that Tosh is pregnant? Wheeee Tosh and Owen are gonna be parents!!!
Lovin this more with each chapter.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 03:16 pm (UTC)I always thought that Jack got off too easy when he came back...they are mad at him for about two minutes (and it was only 3 months). But 2 years - if your friend, co-worker, lover disappeared for 2 years and then reappeared like nothing happened you'd probably be more than a little upset.
Will the team forgive Jack? Will Ianto? Stay tuned, LOL!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 03:28 am (UTC)So torn between which way I want this to turn out ;_;
Can't wait to read more!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 04:26 am (UTC)