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DW/TW AU fic: To Save A Life. (3/5)
So, the last chapter grew and I split it in two... Afraid RL is still being a bitca, but will try to get this finished as soon as I can. Hope you like, both of you! (Anyone who wants to catch up, chapter 1 is here.)
Setting: 2027 (AU)
Summary: It's Christmas, but the rift doesn't care about peace and goodwill.
Characters: Jack, Ianto, OCs.
Warnings: Angst, character death.
Rating: PG-13?
Wordcount: 1700 approx.
Chapter 3
There was a moment's silence, then the Seeker caught Ianto's eyes.
"Do you... do you remember anything? How much did you... I mean... Do you want to... talk about it?"
He wasn't quite sure what to say or do - this was far, far out of their comfort zone, but if Ianto didn't know that the rest of the team had died he ought to be told, and the Seeker could spare Jack that duty - he would be devastated enough as it was...
For a moment Ianto was silent, but then he slowly started talking, speaking more to himself than his hesitant audience.
"I was in the greenhouse, cataloguing plants, when I heard shouting. Apparently the rift decided to drop a rotting corpse straight into the Hub, and Sylvia..." he stopped, letting the sentence hang, and the Seeker nodded. He could vividly imagine Sylvia's reaction - she had probably seen it as a personal affront.
"So I closed the doors, because they started to bicker about who was going to dispose of the body... Didn't realise anything was wrong until- until I heard Jack call... I went to the window and looked down and they all looked sick - I was going to run to them, but Jack told me over the comm to stay where I was. To not open the doors under any circumstances, to wait for him to..." He stopped, then continued haltingly, voice uneven. "So I stayed. And I watched them-"
Abruptly he buried his head in his hands, something like a sob escaping him. "Oh god I watched them all die and I couldn't do anything..."
The sudden outburst of emotion almost felt like a punch, because Ianto was always calm. Whatever the circumstances he kept his head, a quality the Seeker admired greatly - especially as it contrasted so sharply with all his other male influences (even if his interaction with Ianto was only sporadic). His father, the Doctor and Jack were all such highly emotional creatures that it was bliss to know someone who by nature was always on an even keel.
And seeing stoic Ianto almost falling apart brought home to the Seeker on a new level what he had witnessed. He'd pushed it out of his mind, even when there, narrowing his mind to focus on what could be salvaged... But he saw them all again now - so still, so silent, so very lost - and he instinctively reached out to the other man, tentatively offering sympathy and understanding of the kind that could not be expressed with words.
To his surprise he discovered that Ianto had a fair bit of psychic training (Torchwood One or Jack? Or both?) - private areas neatly walled off, and the Seeker extended his reach, grateful that he didn't need to worry about accidentally intruding.
Ianto clearly drew some strength from the connection, taking a deep breath and composing himself once more. But the Seeker still felt the almost imperceptible ripple deep down, one he was intimately attuned to since infancy, thanks to the Doctor: Survivors guilt.
"Listen - if... if you hadn't-" the Seeker stopped, not sure how to continue. "You would have been dead too, and I wouldn't have been able to save you. It was touch and go as it was!"
Their eyes met, and their connection filled in what couldn't be said: That Ianto had to survive. For Jack's sake.
"Thank you Seeker," Ianto replied solemnly, and the Seeker - blindsided - could only feebly reach for an appropriate reply. Ianto never used his real name. Never. Now and again (when needing him to pay attention and be serious) he would call him 'Alexander', but usually he went for a nickname of some sort - rascal, scamp, pain-in-arse, Timelord troublemaker... Ianto didn't remember The Year That Hadn't Been, and treated 'The Miracle Child' the same he would any other. And he also quite clearly thought that his family was crazy for letting an eight-year-old choose his own name, and consequently refused to use it. Of course he hadn't been told about the Schism, but in a way the Seeker relished this. There was an unspoken understanding that he had to somehow earn his name...
But this was never the way he thought it would happen.
"I... I should probably call Jack," he said, pulling out his mobile, and seeing Ianto check his watch with a worried frown, he smiled a little. "I'll make sure the call reaches him only a few seconds after we left. As you guessed, we aren't in our own time." Ianto nodded, reassured, and the Seeker carefully programmed the phone, then thought that a text message might actually be more sensible, since he didn't know when Jack would wake up, and began typing.
'Ianto is safe. Call me. S.'
He hit 'send' and it only took seconds for the phone to start ringing.
"Jack?" he replied, and he could hear the swift intake of breath at the other end.
"Is Ianto there? Are you sure he's OK?"
The Seeker smiled, trying to quell the sharper emotions that the desperation in Jack's voice invoked.
"Yes I am 100% sure. Do you want to talk to him?"
Not bothering to wait for affirmation he handed the phone over, only pausing momentarily, his hand over the speaker.
"Don't tell him about the cat nurses. Please. I'll explain later."
Ianto nodded, and the Seeker handed the mobile over, quietly leaving the room to give them some privacy.
***
Teleporting into Torchwood for the second time, he arrived only a few minutes after his first entrance. He found everything like he'd left it, except for Jack who was standing in the middle of the Hub, so still the Seeker was worried the virus had already started its work again. But then he spoke, voice oddly toneless.
"Was this what you found?"
"Yes," the Seeker replied, walking up to him, a syringe in his hand. "I need to give you this, or you'll be dead again in a few minutes."
"OK," Jack replied, but he didn't move, so the Seeker rolled up his sleeve and gave him the injection, wondering what could be going through his friend's mind.
Then Jack turned to him abruptly, finally looking at him properly. “Seeker - are... are you OK?”
Holding Jack’s eyes and being very careful not to look at the bodies, he replied.
“No. But I’m coping. And- we need to..." he swallowed, "...clear up. Everything needs disinfecting, this thing could wipe out life on Earth."
Jack’s eyes widened.
"You shouldn't- you've done more than your share."
The Seeker folded his arms. "I'm not leaving you to do it alone. And Ianto is... traumatised enough. Let me help."
But Jack shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“You won’t! And I promised Ianto not to leave you alone before I left!”
Jack stared. “What?”
“I’m not a child Jack, you know that. And Ianto worked it out all on his own. I’m staying.”
Why was Jack so dense sometimes? ‘We love you, you giant moron!’ he wanted to shout. ‘We can’t help the those who are dead, but we can try look after you. So we will.’
To his great relief Jack finally nodded assent, then shot a swift look towards the greenhouse.
"How... I mean where did you take him?"
For a long moment the Seeker hesitated, then shook his head. "I can't tell you. There are... possible entanglements of future timelines..."
"Entanglements?" Jack asked, eyes suddenly shrewd, and the Seeker glared back, following Jack's train of thought far too easily.
"No, that doesn't mean that future!you is sat by his bedside holding his hand. How dumb do you think I am? However, it is one of those cases where knowing something might change things... I honestly can't tell and it's better to be safe than sorry. But he's safe, and he's as well as can be expected, OK?"
Jack nodded, then took a shaky breath, putting his hand on the Seeker’s arm. "Listen - what you did..."
The Seeker instinctively pulled back, raising a hand. He'd already been part of one emotionally loaded scene, and wasn't sure if he'd make it through another. He hoped that Jack would understand.
"Can we just leave it for now - please?"
There was a pause, then Jack nodded, and the Seeker breathed an internal sigh of relief. Time to focus on the practical problems, something that he was far better at.
"Actually, Jack, I was thinking that if I could modify the antidote and make it airborne-"
He was cut off when his phone rang. Seeing Allie's name on the screen he hesitated momentarily, but he knew that she'd keep trying, so he answered, and her cheery voice felt like a warm drink on a cold day.
"Alex! Hi. Listen, about the party tonight - do you think you could try to wear, like, a proper shirt? Maybe even a tie? I know it's a pretty informal affair by Cambridge standards, but I'm thinking of wearing the green dress..."
The Christmas Party! It had slipped his mind completely, and for a few tantalising seconds he thought of going - dancing and having fun and making out with his girlfriend, pretending that he was only human (something that was as natural as breathing) and that everything was fine. But he knew it would be pointless.
"Allie... I'm sorry, but I don't think I can make it. I'm... I'm coming down with something, probably flu, and am just going to go straight home - there's a train in not too long."
The nature of the lie made him wince, but as she made a little sympathetic sound he knew that it had worked.
"Oh no, darling. Do take care, you really don't sound well."
"Tell me about it," he answered, deadpan.
'I sound like the Doctor,' he thought to himself. 'This is his Christmas voice. So carefully neutral, desperate not to give anything away, because it's supposed to be a happy day. Maybe Timelords just aren't meant to celebrate human holidays?’
Chapter 4.
Setting: 2027 (AU)
Summary: It's Christmas, but the rift doesn't care about peace and goodwill.
Characters: Jack, Ianto, OCs.
Warnings: Angst, character death.
Rating: PG-13?
Wordcount: 1700 approx.
There was a moment's silence, then the Seeker caught Ianto's eyes.
"Do you... do you remember anything? How much did you... I mean... Do you want to... talk about it?"
He wasn't quite sure what to say or do - this was far, far out of their comfort zone, but if Ianto didn't know that the rest of the team had died he ought to be told, and the Seeker could spare Jack that duty - he would be devastated enough as it was...
For a moment Ianto was silent, but then he slowly started talking, speaking more to himself than his hesitant audience.
"I was in the greenhouse, cataloguing plants, when I heard shouting. Apparently the rift decided to drop a rotting corpse straight into the Hub, and Sylvia..." he stopped, letting the sentence hang, and the Seeker nodded. He could vividly imagine Sylvia's reaction - she had probably seen it as a personal affront.
"So I closed the doors, because they started to bicker about who was going to dispose of the body... Didn't realise anything was wrong until- until I heard Jack call... I went to the window and looked down and they all looked sick - I was going to run to them, but Jack told me over the comm to stay where I was. To not open the doors under any circumstances, to wait for him to..." He stopped, then continued haltingly, voice uneven. "So I stayed. And I watched them-"
Abruptly he buried his head in his hands, something like a sob escaping him. "Oh god I watched them all die and I couldn't do anything..."
The sudden outburst of emotion almost felt like a punch, because Ianto was always calm. Whatever the circumstances he kept his head, a quality the Seeker admired greatly - especially as it contrasted so sharply with all his other male influences (even if his interaction with Ianto was only sporadic). His father, the Doctor and Jack were all such highly emotional creatures that it was bliss to know someone who by nature was always on an even keel.
And seeing stoic Ianto almost falling apart brought home to the Seeker on a new level what he had witnessed. He'd pushed it out of his mind, even when there, narrowing his mind to focus on what could be salvaged... But he saw them all again now - so still, so silent, so very lost - and he instinctively reached out to the other man, tentatively offering sympathy and understanding of the kind that could not be expressed with words.
To his surprise he discovered that Ianto had a fair bit of psychic training (Torchwood One or Jack? Or both?) - private areas neatly walled off, and the Seeker extended his reach, grateful that he didn't need to worry about accidentally intruding.
Ianto clearly drew some strength from the connection, taking a deep breath and composing himself once more. But the Seeker still felt the almost imperceptible ripple deep down, one he was intimately attuned to since infancy, thanks to the Doctor: Survivors guilt.
"Listen - if... if you hadn't-" the Seeker stopped, not sure how to continue. "You would have been dead too, and I wouldn't have been able to save you. It was touch and go as it was!"
Their eyes met, and their connection filled in what couldn't be said: That Ianto had to survive. For Jack's sake.
"Thank you Seeker," Ianto replied solemnly, and the Seeker - blindsided - could only feebly reach for an appropriate reply. Ianto never used his real name. Never. Now and again (when needing him to pay attention and be serious) he would call him 'Alexander', but usually he went for a nickname of some sort - rascal, scamp, pain-in-arse, Timelord troublemaker... Ianto didn't remember The Year That Hadn't Been, and treated 'The Miracle Child' the same he would any other. And he also quite clearly thought that his family was crazy for letting an eight-year-old choose his own name, and consequently refused to use it. Of course he hadn't been told about the Schism, but in a way the Seeker relished this. There was an unspoken understanding that he had to somehow earn his name...
But this was never the way he thought it would happen.
"I... I should probably call Jack," he said, pulling out his mobile, and seeing Ianto check his watch with a worried frown, he smiled a little. "I'll make sure the call reaches him only a few seconds after we left. As you guessed, we aren't in our own time." Ianto nodded, reassured, and the Seeker carefully programmed the phone, then thought that a text message might actually be more sensible, since he didn't know when Jack would wake up, and began typing.
'Ianto is safe. Call me. S.'
He hit 'send' and it only took seconds for the phone to start ringing.
"Jack?" he replied, and he could hear the swift intake of breath at the other end.
"Is Ianto there? Are you sure he's OK?"
The Seeker smiled, trying to quell the sharper emotions that the desperation in Jack's voice invoked.
"Yes I am 100% sure. Do you want to talk to him?"
Not bothering to wait for affirmation he handed the phone over, only pausing momentarily, his hand over the speaker.
"Don't tell him about the cat nurses. Please. I'll explain later."
Ianto nodded, and the Seeker handed the mobile over, quietly leaving the room to give them some privacy.
Teleporting into Torchwood for the second time, he arrived only a few minutes after his first entrance. He found everything like he'd left it, except for Jack who was standing in the middle of the Hub, so still the Seeker was worried the virus had already started its work again. But then he spoke, voice oddly toneless.
"Was this what you found?"
"Yes," the Seeker replied, walking up to him, a syringe in his hand. "I need to give you this, or you'll be dead again in a few minutes."
"OK," Jack replied, but he didn't move, so the Seeker rolled up his sleeve and gave him the injection, wondering what could be going through his friend's mind.
Then Jack turned to him abruptly, finally looking at him properly. “Seeker - are... are you OK?”
Holding Jack’s eyes and being very careful not to look at the bodies, he replied.
“No. But I’m coping. And- we need to..." he swallowed, "...clear up. Everything needs disinfecting, this thing could wipe out life on Earth."
Jack’s eyes widened.
"You shouldn't- you've done more than your share."
The Seeker folded his arms. "I'm not leaving you to do it alone. And Ianto is... traumatised enough. Let me help."
But Jack shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“You won’t! And I promised Ianto not to leave you alone before I left!”
Jack stared. “What?”
“I’m not a child Jack, you know that. And Ianto worked it out all on his own. I’m staying.”
Why was Jack so dense sometimes? ‘We love you, you giant moron!’ he wanted to shout. ‘We can’t help the those who are dead, but we can try look after you. So we will.’
To his great relief Jack finally nodded assent, then shot a swift look towards the greenhouse.
"How... I mean where did you take him?"
For a long moment the Seeker hesitated, then shook his head. "I can't tell you. There are... possible entanglements of future timelines..."
"Entanglements?" Jack asked, eyes suddenly shrewd, and the Seeker glared back, following Jack's train of thought far too easily.
"No, that doesn't mean that future!you is sat by his bedside holding his hand. How dumb do you think I am? However, it is one of those cases where knowing something might change things... I honestly can't tell and it's better to be safe than sorry. But he's safe, and he's as well as can be expected, OK?"
Jack nodded, then took a shaky breath, putting his hand on the Seeker’s arm. "Listen - what you did..."
The Seeker instinctively pulled back, raising a hand. He'd already been part of one emotionally loaded scene, and wasn't sure if he'd make it through another. He hoped that Jack would understand.
"Can we just leave it for now - please?"
There was a pause, then Jack nodded, and the Seeker breathed an internal sigh of relief. Time to focus on the practical problems, something that he was far better at.
"Actually, Jack, I was thinking that if I could modify the antidote and make it airborne-"
He was cut off when his phone rang. Seeing Allie's name on the screen he hesitated momentarily, but he knew that she'd keep trying, so he answered, and her cheery voice felt like a warm drink on a cold day.
"Alex! Hi. Listen, about the party tonight - do you think you could try to wear, like, a proper shirt? Maybe even a tie? I know it's a pretty informal affair by Cambridge standards, but I'm thinking of wearing the green dress..."
The Christmas Party! It had slipped his mind completely, and for a few tantalising seconds he thought of going - dancing and having fun and making out with his girlfriend, pretending that he was only human (something that was as natural as breathing) and that everything was fine. But he knew it would be pointless.
"Allie... I'm sorry, but I don't think I can make it. I'm... I'm coming down with something, probably flu, and am just going to go straight home - there's a train in not too long."
The nature of the lie made him wince, but as she made a little sympathetic sound he knew that it had worked.
"Oh no, darling. Do take care, you really don't sound well."
"Tell me about it," he answered, deadpan.
'I sound like the Doctor,' he thought to himself. 'This is his Christmas voice. So carefully neutral, desperate not to give anything away, because it's supposed to be a happy day. Maybe Timelords just aren't meant to celebrate human holidays?’
Chapter 4.
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It really isn't. :( Esp not like this.
My Roda wants to give him a hug and tell him it'll be okay, but she's scared enough of the Master to be a little iffy.
Oh the Master is all locked up, and the Seeker is a perfectly nice guy. Although I'm not sure he'd want a hug - he's a bit... standoffish sometimes.
You know, I think I'll have to read your AU just so we can construct clever crossovers! *g*
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Now I sound like Baldrick, stupid 5.30am.*hugs Alex* Touch chap, though.
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Good grief, why are you not in bed???
(That sounds very parental, doesn't it? *g*)
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cuppot of tea for you. :)no subject
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