SquidgeWorld Archive

Third time's the charm. That's what Ianto's Nan used to say to him when he was a boy. When she said it, it sounded almost like a blessing...a promise that if you tried something three times, you were bound to succeed.

Of course, she also said that if he sat too close to the TV his eyes would turn square, doing certain things too much would make him go blind, and eating crusts would put hair on his chest, so he wasn't completely convinced of the accuracy of her statements.

But 'third time's the charm' just kept echoing in Ianto's mind. Jack had been shot at point blank range...and revived. He'd had his life force sucked out by Abbadon...and revived. Twice the universe had tried to kill him and not succeeded. And now he had disappeared, and Ianto couldn't help put wonder if this time would prove the charm.

Ianto had gone with Owen and Toshiko to bring back coffee for the team. They couldn't have been gone for more than ten or fifteen minutes, coming back to a worried looking Gwen asking them had they seen Jack on their way in.

"I thought we'd tidied up in here," Owen had said.

Ianto had looked around at the mess, and even before Gwen said the words, he knew, just *knew* that Jack was gone.

"He was just here...something's taken him...Jack's gone..."

"What do you mean, gone?" Owen joined Gwen in the centre of the hub.

"I mean I was just with him, in his office. He went out...there was something like a wind...I swear he was only out of my sight for a minute, maybe less." She looked around, "And that hand thing he was so protective of, it's gone as well!"

"Okay, Tosh," said Owen. "Check the internal security monitors, see if they picked up anything."

"A lot of them are still offline after...after the Rift," said Tosh, even as she headed over to her workstation, "But I'll see what I can find."

"Ianto, try Jack's phone, Gwen check all the exits."

"And what do you want me to do?" Everybody turned around as Jack's voice echoed from the doorway. He stepped through and smiled at everybody. "Hope you didn't forget my coffee, Ianto."

"Jack!" Ianto almost dropped the coffee in shock. "Gwen said you'd disappeared...that something had taken you...I thought..."

"I'm right here, and pretty thirsty..." He held out his hand.

"Get away from him, Ianto," Owen's voice was harsh as he raised his gun, aiming it directly at Jack.

"Owen, no!" said Gwen. Tosh's mouth was open in shock, and Ianto kept looking from Jack to Owen.

"You know, this pointing a gun at me is getting a little bit boring," said Jack.

"Owen, put the gun down," said Gwen. "I must have made a mistake...got all panicky over nothing." She turned towards Jack, "You just stepped out when I wasn't looking is all." She turned back to Owen, "See? Put the gun away. Jack's back, so let's have our coffee all right?"

"Yeah? So he just stepped out to change his clothes while you weren't looking...and grow a moustache into the bargain?"

Now all eyes were on Jack again, who was indeed wearing a different outfit. A rather fetching ensemble of black leather and white t-shirt which under other circumstances would have been most distracting. As they watched, Jack fingered the moustache on his lip, "Damn, I forgot about that. Look, I can explain everything."

"Just tell us what you've done with the real Jack Harkness!" yelled Owen. "Something took him, left all this mess behind. And then you walk in like everything's normal?" He shook his head, "No way, I'm not buying it."

"Owen, maybe he's telling the truth," said Gwen, "Put the gun down and let's talk, yeah?"

"Yeah? And maybe this is Billis trying to get another crack at us," snarled Owen. "You've all seen him, he can show up like people we know...people we care about...who's to say this isn't him just messing with our heads again."

"Owen, for God's sake, put the gun down," said Ianto, his whole body tensed as he prepared himself to step between Jack and all harm.

"What for?" said Owen. "If he really is Jack, then a bullet isn't gonna stop him, now is it? Just get away from him, Ianto!"

"No," said Jack, calmly, "But it hurts like hell. Look you want me to prove that I'm Jack? Do you?" He hesitated only momentarily, and then before anybody could react, he grabbed Ianto and pulled him into a kiss.

Ianto struggled only long enough to make sure that his body was between Jack and Owen's gun and then he relaxed as he felt Jack's arms around him.

As Ianto's body blocked Owen's view of Jack, he automatically lowered his weapon, knowing that he didn't dare try a shot with Ianto in the way.

It had to have been at least a minute when Jack finally released him, thought Ianto happily. Of course if he'd had his stopwatch handy he could have timed it and seen how it rated in terms of previous kissing experiences. His legs probably wouldn't have held him up only for Jack keeping a strong arm wrapped around him.

Jack looked into Ianto's eyes and said, "Well?"

Ianto smiled as he turned to face his colleagues. "He's definitely my...our Jack."

"Yeah? How can you be sure?" asked Owen, gun still in hand, but no longer ready to fire.

"Well there's that thing that he does with his tongue that's quite..."

Owen threw up his hands in mock disgust, "You know what, I really don't need to know the gruesome details. You say he's the right Jack, fine, I believe you. But if he turns out to be some shape shifting axe murdering alien, then you're cleaning up all the blood and gunge."

"I always do," said Ianto.

"Hey Owen, good to see you're being so security conscious," said Jack with a smile. "But if you point a gun at me a third time, I'll retcon you so far you'll think you should still be wearing diapers!"

"Yeah, whatever," said Owen. "So you wanna tell us what the hell happened?"

"Let's just say I had to return something to its rightful owner," there was a wistful expression on Jack's face for a second, but it quickly vanished

"Oh my God," said Gwen, "You found the right sort of Doctor!"

"Something like that, yeah," said Jack. His face creased in a wide smile, "I'll tell you about it as soon as I have my coffee!"

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Later, much later, when the others had gone, Ianto and Jack were the only ones left in the darkened Hub.

Ianto lay curled in Jack's arms, his hand idly stroking Jack's chest. "So you found your Doctor, why didn't you stay with him?"

"I did...stay with him for a while. But he has his destiny and...and it's not mine. I thought that once I found him again, that I'd be whole...that he'd fix me...but then I realized...I realized that I wasn't broken...that I belong here...where I'm needed."

"Torchwood does need you, Jack," said Ianto, softly. He felt Jack's hands on his face, turning him until he was looking into Jack's eyes.

"I wasn't just talking about Torchwood," said Jack. He kissed Ianto softly on the lips and then moved lower.

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Later, this time it was Jack's turn to curl up in Ianto's arms.

"So," he said lazily. "You were really able to tell it was me, just by my kiss?" There was a little touch of smugness in his voice.

"Pretty much, Jack," said Ianto. "Of course I figured that anybody who could kiss like that was worth keeping in one piece...even if they *were* a shape shifting axe murdering alien."

"Gee, that makes me feel so much better," teased Jack.

"I try to please," smiled Ianto.

"And you always do," said Jack. "You always do."

And he did.