Work Text:
Based upon TORCHWOOD, Jack/Jack & Jack/Ianto. What if Original Jack fell through the rift into modern-day Cardiff, but he doesn’t recognize his “James Harper?” Produced without profit to myself or others and not intended to violate BBC or Russell T Davies proprietary interest. M/M, Language.
WHERE’S JACK?
By Natasha Barry
“Where’s Jack?” Toshiko Sato repeated the question asked by her co-worker as she peered into one of the many readout monitors mounted over her station. “You mean where’s Ianto?” she shot back at Gwen, albeit grimly. It seemed to her Gwen never had enough to do when Jack wasn’t here, not before and not after her marriage.
Grimly acknowledging her own bitterness, Tosh couldn’t help it; everyone seemed to have paired off except herself, especially that annoying nitwit Gwen Cooper. She’d even given up on the man she’d always thought she’d marry - Owen Harper - only now he was medically dead he seemed to be taking more of an interest in her. Granted his prospects were few. But it was hard to maintain a degree of hope under these conditions. Still, sometimes TORCHWOOD manufactured miracles, and she had to keep his spirits up.
But even Jack and Ianto, with the specter of Lisa behind them, were established boyfriends. When and how that happened, she assumed she’d never know, however, it served as further irritation. So it wasn’t only the fact Jack seemed so complacent in his relationship with Ianto Jones, but the fact…
“Owen, you make lousy coffee,” she complained, though she hadn’t been such a coffee drinker before joining TORCHWOOD. In fact, she wondered now if it was Captain Jack’s American influence or the specific fashioning of Ianto’s brew made her an aficionado. Regardless, Owen’s way with a coffee bean wasn’t satisfactory, not one bit. And lately Ianto had broadened his scope on the Team, whereas Owen needed things to do, so they’d swapped some of the more mundane responsibilities. This was utilizing Ianto’s skills more effectively, but this occasionally produced bad coffee as an inevitable result, and bad coffee, Toshiko realized, put her in a right bad state of flux.
Snapped Gwen in return, not bothering to spin about in her own chair, “I told you not to drink Owen’s coffee.” Even if the man did need something to do; though they’d been utilizing him in his customary role of pathologist/surgeon as well as in the field. Odd, that, but so far it was working out. “Switch to tea,” she absently advised. How short a time ago it was that she would have considered working alongside a dead man, as well as with a man who couldn’t die, well, science fiction.
The two women were such different types, the lovely Asian being sedate, deep and even melancholy, but altogether brilliant, and Gwen, the more typical modern Welsh lass, more outgoing, more passionate – at least outwardly – more aggressive; in fact, more everything. They wouldn’t have been friends before, and could hardly be termed that now, however there was the bond of co-workers – if not two women – working in the same frustrating yet exciting field. And two women surrounded by equally frustrating men: Toshiko, with her unwavering love for the difficult and childish Owen, and Gwen with her passionate devotion to the man she inwardly acknowledged to be the love of her life, Jack Harkness.
“There’s activity in the Rift,” Tosh announced, turning in her seat expectantly.
Gwen’s mood picked up. “Well, then, we’d best investigate.”
Owen had come upon them and heard the last. “I’ll go with you,” he announced.
“Right,” Gwen acknowledged. Ordinarily she might have wanted Jack or even Ianto with her, but under the circumstances… “Tosh, you stay here, monitor the activity,” as the woman might have objected. Contrarily she enjoyed the occasions when she could exercise her muscle, being in charge, even if it meant being deprived of the commander’s presence. But when the captain was off somewhere, of course she was in charge. She’d assumed the role quite naturally during the time he was away.
With that they were off, her and Owen, a former sexual partner of hers, a tragic though temporary aberration on her part. Several events had occurred to sour her on their relationship: First, the knowledge she only wanted him because the team’s commander hadn’t followed through on that silent promise of his, and secondly, the realization – through a resuscitated Suzie – that Owen had a past history with bedding his team mates. Finally, what clinched it was the knowledge Owen had been unfaithful to her with one of the arrivals from the 1950s, ironically one who came through time via the Rift. And he hadn’t been the one to tell her about Diane; that news of the day had come from Tosh.
It was like time repeating itself.
When they arrived at their pinpointed destination, provided by Tosh at the Hub, they found only one solitary figure making his way along the Cardiff shore, a man in military uniform, though dated, a man quite handsome, in Gwen’s doe-like gaze: A figure of a man handsome enough to nearly put Jack Harkness to shame. But sopping wet as well, having obviously swum ashore. Looking to the sea, she couldn’t see any evidence of debris, however.
“Who are you?” he immediately asked of them, and there the familiarity increased, as his soft American dialect put her in mind again of Captain Jack Harkness.
“I’m Gwen Cooper,” she stated, conveniently forgetting her married status for a moment, until she caught Owen’s askance glance at her. “Cooper-Williams,” she added, holding out her hand to shake the other’s. In truth, she usually kept to Cooper, professionally, and ordinarily Owen made no fuss, but maybe he suspected her reaction to the handsome American and wished to forestall her wayward thoughts.
“I’m…..” he looked befuddled for a moment. “Confused,” he finished.
With that, Owen was already taking the patient in hand. “Doctor Owen Harper,” he grasped the man’s arm to lead him away. “Well, that’s quite all right.” He noted the officer seemed to find his professional tone – or was it his accent? – reassuring.
In the car, which both Owen and Gwen noticed the newcomer looked amazed at, Gwen called out, “Tosh, you getting this?” as via normal procedure, she and Owen had both kept their communication geared turned on.
“The Rift has closed,” Tosh informed them from the base, awaiting their arrival.
“Good,” Gwen announced. She thought it best to keep conversation at a minimum as their freshly minted guest was confused enough. Fortunately they’d had practice in this a year ago, and with that Gwen looked into the rearview mirror to search Owen’s face as he spoke softly to the visitor. That was good: At least Owen seemed distracted enough not to be affected by the parallels with this man and his lost love, Diane, who’d also fallen through the Rift.
Gwen took a moment to be proud of herself: The retrieval was – so far – successfully handled, Owen was still holding himself together, and an extremely handsome man had landed on their doorstep. As well, Gwen wasn’t the least bit perturbed over Owen’s dishonesty to her over the Diane business any longer. She was even holding out hope some miracle would be found to cure Owen of his current – walking dead – status and he and Tosh would make a lovely couple. Tosh had seen so much personal unhappiness, she deserved something good, and perhaps Owen was now adult enough to manage it.
“I recognize some of this, some of it’s familiar,” the gentleman in the uniform was saying.
“We’ll be there in a moment,” Gwen stated with a smile as she made the final turn into their drive. For a moment, she fancied herself a chauffeur, one of those war-time female aides who functioned as drivers for admirals, generals and the like. Evidently Eisenhower had had a lovely English lady his own personal driver and mistress. For a moment, she placed Jack in the backseat in place of the man currently occupying it. But the gentling into a stop and the automatic adjustment of the parking brake had her going, “Well, we’re here. You can have coffee or anything you like.”
“After a quick exam,” Owen jumped in.
Together they escorted the officer – a captain’s rank – past the tourist office entrance and down the corridor that made up the Hub’s main entrance. “Impressive,” having been his only remark. Perhaps wartime experiences were to cause for his reserve, Owen thought. That, and military training. For all the officer knew, he’d ventured into enemy territory, even if he did recognize the familiar in Cardiff but seemed to be wide-eyed over the architecture and passing vehicles, not to mention bug-eyed over some of the fashions adorning the populace walking the streets.
“So what is the last thing you remember?” Owen started off the inquisition.
“My plane. I set off on a mission.”
Must have been a crash then, Owen diagnosed, and possibly a head injury. He said as much to Gwen as they let the officer roam a few paces ahead. It would help the youngish man (in his thirties?) keep calm if he didn’t feel claustrophobic or threatened.
“I didn’t notice any plane,” said Gwen.
“Well,” Owen was pointing out, “we didn’t really look.”
“My God!” shouted the man at the same time Owen and Gwen looked up at Myfanwy’s call. The prehistoric bird was busy exercising her wings, and no doubt had the captain’s attention.
“Ah, yes, how to explain this…” began Owen, as he led the captain away.
Gwen moved to Tosh’s station. “Tosh, what is it?” It was odd the woman had betrayed no curiosity at their visitor. In fact, the captain, so caught up in the flying maneuvers of their mascot, didn’t notice her. Quiet as a mouse, Gwen thought.
“Did he tell you his name?”
“No, he doesn’t know it. Owen thinks a head wound. What?”
Tosh’s body was moving as fast as her mouth. “We have to get Jack.”
Though – technically – Gwen acknowledged it was a good idea, “We can handle this,” she objected.
“No,” Tosh declared, “we can’t.” And she put calls through to both Jack’s and Ianto’s cell phones, figuring if one wasn’t answering, certainly they wouldn’t both be unavailable, even if they were off having a romantic tryst together. And she didn’t begrudge them their time off, really she didn’t. Both Ianto and Jack easily put in twenty hour days when necessary, and while Jack was the answer man for everything, Ianto was the general go-to guy in all matters.
Unfortunately, Gwen was only half-tuned to Tosh’s side of the conversation as she brooded inwardly over not being around to witness the patient’s examination, as Owen insisted he could tend the patient alone, and better to evaluate his condition that way, without distractions. Drats! thought Gwen once again, as she’d looked forward, a bit unseemly, to a bit of naked handsome male flesh on display.
“Jack, do you remember?” a bit of raised voice over the phone caught Gwen’s attention and she smirked. She could just imagine what he and Ianto were up to. In fact, she could imagine quite well and all too often.
“Just calm down,” Tosh told him, and maybe her firm tone got to him. “Do you remember 1941 and a certain person we met there? No, not Billis. Right. He’s here, now. I don’t think he knows anything really, not even who he is. Owen says a head injury, but it could be temporary. No, I saw him, he looked fine. He didn’t see me. I’m afraid to let him see me.”
Gwen frowned over this last, all sorts of questions coming to mind now. But she recalled all too clearly the incident where Tosh and Jack were back in time, but neither had noted anything of consequence occurring to them while they’d been there. They’d all been busy with Billis, of course, and the memory of that man caused a shudder even now.
Tosh rang off. “Jack and Ianto are coming right back.”
For some reason, Gwen knew the conversation now going on between the two playmates must be pretty interesting.
When Jack came in an hour later it was like gangbusters: “Where is he?”
“Medical,” Gwen told him, being first out of her seat – well, she hadn’t been seated but pacing, while Tosh drank some steaming brew obsessively – to join him. Ianto was looking pale, she noted, at least paler than usual. But there was no smile to be found on the good-looking young man’s face. Whatever it was, whoever that man was, it must be worse than she thought, for nothing had come between Jack and Ianto since Jack’s return: Not even herself, albeit not for want of her trying.
“Oh, God,” Tosh said again, but this time she headed for the WC, in order to throw up or pee, Gwen couldn’t guess and thought either.
Meanwhile, in the Medical Bay, Owen looked up as Jack and Ianto accompanied by Gwen showed up. “Ah, you’re back.” Why the whole team was present – minus Tosh – didn’t surprise him. They did have a visitor out of time, after all, and that was a sensitive subject, not like yet another in the recent series of weevil roundups.
Jack would have wished for time alone with the genuine article, Jack Harkness, but as the – oh, gods, but he was handsome – younger man looked over at him, Jack could see no recognition in his gaze. Admiration and lust, quickly and reflexively masked: He should have seen it the first time really, he was no innocent. Then again he was distracted at the time by an expert in subterfuge - so fitting for an era when one such as the captain had to be guarded in his lifestyle – so he forgave himself the effort he made at having the Captain spend his last night alone with a lady friend. But it was a little discomfiting to find the captain had forgotten both himself and their encounter.
Owen offered tartly, “He remembers his name now.”
Jack breathed in. “Tosh said it might be temporary.”
“Yeah, it’s probably going to come back to him, all of it, eventually.”
“Diagnosis?”
“Concussion and shock; slight exposure. THIS Captain Jack Harkness will recover.”
Fortunately his team were exposed on a regular basis to shocking developments so there wasn’t even a gasp elicited from the crew on this pronouncement. Only a slight, “So this is the one,” from the young woman behind him.
Besides, Jack had already briefed Ianto in the car regarding the unexpected appearance of his namesake, the hero’s identity he’d stolen. “Did you shag him?” had been Ianto’s rather immediate – and altogether expected – response. At least he could answer “No,” honestly, though he would have if they’d the opportunity, especially as the understanding between himself and Ianto at the time had been a strictly nonbinding arrangement. One couldn’t make that claim now, however. Since he’d returned from the Year That Never Was, he and Ianto had been exclusive, as if both of them were requiring the familiarity of the arrangement and falling back upon formal courting patterns. Courting with fringe benefits, of course, as they seldom went a full day without indulging their sexual appetite in each other. In fact, the longer they were together as a couple, the more Jack realized he’d been holding back previously, afraid to love again, but he and Ianto were perfectly suited, both for each other and in their situation as TORCHWOOD operatives.
So far, Ianto’s insecurity hadn’t been realized by him except for the reappearance of Jack’s former partner in his life, thankfully short-lived, the man now calling himself Captain John Hart. And then a bit of weeping over the fact his Gwen was getting married, a young woman whose passion for life was thrilling and her desire for him unsettling. How she looked upon him made Jack feel guilty for her fling with Owen, and made him wish he could return her feelings in kind, though apart from her presence he felt no such longing. But there was a simplicity to her – like the craving for attention from a puppy – that he longed for, as well as the lure of a less complicated life.
In this local time period in Wales, it was only Ianto Jones he’d felt a consistent yearning for, physically. But he knew that was about to change with the sudden appearance of this captain into his life, the real captain, the one who unsettled his life and made him rethink everything he’d ever done.
It was a hell of a power over him this current Captain James Harkness held.
“No one is talking much about where I am,” was the injured officer’s opening salvo, “or what this is.” He directed his remarks to the perceived leader of the team, the one the others seemed in silent obeisance to, the one who was startlingly handsome, of the film star variety.
“I’m James Harper,” began Jack, not sure if the address would ring any bells, but not knowing how else to respond either. As it is, the number of Captain Jack Harknesses around had just made the Hub an extremely complicated location to work in. “Captain James Harper. Do you remember me?”
“We’ve met?” came the skeptical response.
Jack’s lips quirked. It really was endearing, now he knew the other man would have and would again, consider him unforgettable. Actually, “You seem to be suffering subjective amnesia, probably short-term, from what Owen is saying. Perhaps because we met just before your final flight. But what happened to your plane, we don’t know, but you were obviously injured in the crash.” Or the Rift had pulled him out of the plane before it went down, which seemed more likely.
This information elicited the careful comment, “That makes sense. But how would we have met?”
Maybe he shouldn’t have started this. Or maybe he couldn’t stand this man not remembering him, or their night together. “The night before the training exercise, your squadron attended a farewell dance. I was one of the people who attended. We had quite a conversation.”
Suddenly there was a glimmer of something bright in those green eyes, or maybe Jack was imagining it, but the captain said, “I don’t remember all that. But from what you say, it will probably come back to me.”
“Yes, that’s your cue, Owen.”
“Right.” Owen stepped forward. “First on the prescription list is rest.” He assured Jack, “I’ve already administered antibiotics and relaxant.” To Captain Harkness, “You don’t have that headache anymore, do you?” and watched as the man answered his question while gazing at their own Jack, “No.” Aha! Chalk up another one transfixed by the charm and beauty of our captain.
As Jack smiled gently and made to leave, he turned back. “Captain Harkness, we’ll have a chance to talk, I promise you.”
“Of course,” Harkness agreed.
Jack had been mindful of Ianto’s presence, but it’s not like he could refuse to see the man from the past or even that he wanted to refuse, so it was best this was all kept as conciliatory as possible.
Ianto joined him in his office, which he welcomed, but unfortunately Gwen arrived on his heels. “Jack, “ she began, demanding as usual, “What’s going on?”
“I thought Tosh filled you in.”
“Not really.”
“She and I met the captain – the real captain – when we were back in time last year. We came back, we left him – obviously – and the next day he was due in battle, shot down, one supposes, or at least that’s where the record left off. Presumably the Rift opened and snatched him.”
“But what about your name?”
“You already knew this wasn’t my name. So, now you’re meeting the individual whose identity I stole, when I needed one. You knew of this other Captain Harkness,” he reminded her, a bit irked she was playing unforgiving and angry. “At the time, the first time I was in that time period, taking his name was a convenience. After a while, I never thought of myself any other way. I had no way of knowing I would eventually meet him, let alone he’d be exposed to Rift activity and would fall under TORCHWOOD’s auspices.”
“But – “
“That’s enough, Gwen,” he firmly rebuked her.
“No, it’s not.”
“You like to butt your head in, thinking it’s always useful, but it’s really about your ego, and you’d better back off and realize that,” he cut her. The shock on her face was enormous, and those doe eyes of hers blazed over him, and even Ianto looked surprised, but really it was overdue. She’d been coddled far to long, and this time she was delving into territory that was strictly his business, his and Jack’s and Ianto’s.
His team was allowed a bit of leeway, just as he gave himself the same amount or more, but sometimes their rather juvenile character traits had the consequence of lighting a fire under the team that didn’t need to be there, and there was enough drama in this situation for Jack already, what with Ianto and the oh-so-fatally attractive Captain Jack Harkness nearby.
If ever there was someone who literally took his breath away, it was Jack Harkness. Back in 1941, it was obvious what he would do about it, if he’d the time, given the man’s attraction to him. So he followed suit, letting emotions rule the day, and he also left the man behind, as he must, having done his duty for them both, but now the man was unto him in the new century, and he was the custodian as it were. The best you could say, it was an awkward situation.
“Fine,” Gwen clipped out, tears in her eyes, her cheeks blanched. Then she spun about and left.
“Was that necessary?” asked Ianto.
“Yes,” Jack replied, “and you know it.”
“This case is more personal.”
“But Gwen makes every case personal, and that’s not appropriate. At least not now, when it is so clearly personal, for you and me.”
“Not to mention him,” Ianto put in.
But they both knew Jack had recruited Gwen for her sense of purpose and the strong emotion she brought into a team that had grown cold and removed from humanity, so cold one of the team members had become a serial killer out of a craving to delve deeper into her research. A shot in the arm, a rehabilitation of sorts, for TORCHWOOD, had been seen as required by Jack. But her acquisition had given him more than a few headaches as a result.
The Welshman conceded, “She did cross the line,” not adding that was usually the case with the former policewoman. “She was only a clerk,” he pointed out, with a smile, “and she has a personal interest in anything to do with you.”
“You mean she wants to run ME and TORCHWOOD, and it’s not going to happen,” Jack declared. He was all for letting Gwen run the team occasionally, under his proviso, and might even leave it to her someday, but that day wasn’t now, and no one ever ran him.
Ianto sighed, “Will you be staying?”
He hadn’t realized it was that late, but of course it was, the sun had set long ago. “I should, don’t you think?” he countered, aware half his nights were spent in Ianto’s flat.
“Owen can handle things.”
It was a reminder Owen was not only their medical technician, and in charge of this case, but someone who would be up all night as well, due to his present “dead” condition.
“With the amnesia, we never know when there will be a break, and I should be here for that.”
“Okay,” Ianto agreed, obediently following the silent dismissive. They usually spent their off hours together, as befitting the acknowledged couple they were, but from what he’d been told in the car and also what he’d seen for himself of the two men together, he knew he had some thinking of his own to do. His rather settled world had just turned precarious again.
Over the months, he’d easily blocked Gwen, and stood up for Jack – and himself – against that psycho ex, the one calling himself Captain John Hart. (What was with all the captains, anyway?) So he could fight for his Jack, and no doubt would, but did Jack find him dispensable in the face of the Real Jack Harkness? Of the fact the Harkness from the past found his own Jack irresistible, Ianto had no doubt: He’d seen the look in the other man’s eyes, and not just cause he was looking for it. Though he was certain the man had been more circumspect in his own time, the shock of the day’s events would have thrown him off-kilter, his defenses damaged. The flush to the features and the brightness of the gaze, which barely halted from skimming Jack’s figure… One look on that handsome face was all it took for Ianto to confirm the mutual attraction he’d been told by Jack.
It was six hours later - with Jack drinking at his desk and fuming over an absent Ianto, confused over this new (old) love to his life, and with the realization his well-ordered world was threatening to collapse yet again, while still not having done anything useful - that he sought out his past.
Unfortunately Ianto intercepted him before he entered the Medical Bay, meaning he hadn’t gone home, or not for long anyway.
“Why aren’t you home?” Ianto referred to the personal space beneath Jack’s office.
“Couldn’t sleep.” And it wasn’t because Jack Harkness of the green eyes wasn’t in his bed, at least he told himself that.
Ianto nodded, having had the same problem. “You heading downstairs?” To him, he meant.
“Checking status with Owen,” Jack confirmed, then nodded and went on his way.
Owen had no reason to sleep and couldn’t even if he wanted to; he was now joking he and Jack were the sleepless ones, but when TORCHWOOD Jack – or was that James – arrived in Medical, he wasn’t surprised when the boss indicated he take a walk. He didn’t wonder at all; except at whether Ianto was okay with all of this, even as he heard the sleeping captain roused from his slumber by the activity around him.
“You’re back,” Harkness said in a soft tone of query, and Owen paused above to hear the response.
“Told you I would be,” Jack assured him. “Have you remembered anything else?”
The dark head shook in negation, but came “How come you and I are the only Americans here?”
“Long story on my end, but if it makes you feel any better, I’m in charge.”
“It does, actually, and we apparently have all night. Or don’t we?”
“No time table,” Jack relented. “But we’re both volunteers in service, in a way.”
There followed the necessary indoctrination to someone new of all the basic data on TORCHWOOD, of the original four units, and this one of Cardiff. During the “lecture” – as Owen liked to call it – the doctor went off, to take a walk, he told himself, to get some air.
“So this time travel occurs through the Rift,” Harkness was quick to pick up on that. “And I’ve arrived in the future, while we first met in the past.”
“Even TORCHWOOD personnel sometimes get caught in the Rift. But we made it home, Toshiko and myself. You defended her, actually. Not a good time for her to have been stuck in.”
Harkness guessed, “She’s Japanese?”
“Yes, and during a time and in a part of the world when that wasn’t a safe thing to be.”
“But we won, right?”
“Yeah, but it took a few more years. We had an official World War II on our hands, after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.”
“What’s Pearl Harbor?”
Jack recalled it was a little known base at the time, few Americans having any reason to know of the base’s existence, especially since it wasn’t on the mainland. “A U.S. Navy base in Hawaii. Japan’s pact was with Germany when they attacked, that’s what finally achieved U.S. intervention, both in the Pacific and Europe.”
“You fought in all that.”
It was another good guess and “Yeah,” Jack said again, realizing this is where it got too complicated. He’d lived through World War II era after he’d been visiting it as a renegade time agent, and neither of those times had him meeting Jack Harkness, that came later through his tenure of TORCHWOOD leadership. In fact, his own dialect was a useful conglomeration acquired in the future – in truth, he’d spent little time in the United States, aka the New World, in any time recognized by this Captain. “I’ll tell you about it sometime.” He apologized with, “It’s a long story.”
“I have the idea anything you say is fascinating.”
“You’re tired.” He’d picked up on the sigh, and moved closer to the bed. Him, Jack and the bed loomed as an ominous possibility, but he had Ianto trusting him to take care.
“Just want to get out of here. I’m in the future; I’d like to see it.”
“Okay. I’ll have someone take you around, so it’s not so overwhelming at first.”
“You. Why not you?”
“All right, me,” Jack conceded, especially as it was what he wanted to do anyway. “You keep flashing those green eyes at me, and you’ll get anything you want.”
“So that’s okay here?” Harkness faltered, a frown marring his features. He was confused, then realized this Captain Harper hardly took exception to his interest.
“Depends on where you go, but for most cities, the sexual freedoms and tolerances are pretty high. They call it gay or queer, nowadays. And you still have to be careful how you express it, but there are clubs for gays, clubs that cater to both straight and gay couples. Dancing, television, movies, even romance novels, now all targeted to homosexual men and women.”
“Amazing. There wasn’t that freedom in my time. There would be clubs you’d go to, placing you’d learn about, for connections. Even code words, like Friend of Dorothy.” He explained, “It had to do with a book written by Dorothy Parker. We had an idea who was different – a deviant – by who else checked out the book, from the library. The base campuses had a lot of people checking out that book,” he smirked in conclusion. “But that’s how we found each other.”
“Nowadays gays link it to WIZARD OF OZ.”
Harkness frowned. “The children’s book? I know there’s a movie.”
“You saw it?”
“It’s not that old. Or, wasn’t that old. Don’t know what that story has to do with being homosexual.”
“Oh, there’s a whole new take on it. Including the flying monkeys. Mainly the association with Judy Garland. The homosexuals of the post-World War II generation were strongly attracted to female pop singers. Still are, I guess. But there are a few OUT – is what they call it – gay actors, many successful gay musicians and singers. Not so much stigma in Europe, but quite a lot still in the United States. Unfortunately most of these guys are not hot. Marginally attractive, at best.” Off the top, the only exception was George Michael. A blinding flash of FAITH and sleek legs in denim and… At the captain’s confused look, “Hot, is what you are. What I am. What Charles Laughton – who was gay, by the way – most definitely was not.”
“Oh.” Harkness took a moment to digest this, and also that the other man considered him HOT. “You said we met. And did we have a romance?”
“We would have. No, we did. But it didn’t get that far - no sex. There wasn’t time for that. The Rift opened and I had to leave. You had your timeline and I had mine.”
“But now we’re in the same timeline.”
“Yes.”
With that soft agreement, Harkness’ beautiful eyes shuttered closed, and Jack accepted the silent invitation by leaning in and his mouth was met in sweetness and hunger by the other man’s.
In Jack’s office, Ianto turned off the CCTV coverage of the Medical Bay. He’d seen enough, and though he wasn’t certain what would happen when Captain Jack Harkness was walking the streets of Cardiff on his own, he had a pretty good idea. Or, at least, that no matter what happened, whomever Jack chose, Jack would suffer regret. In a way, that made Ianto feel at ease; because he knew Captain Harkness was a man who deserved respect, and he didn’t like seeing him hurt, though he wasn’t of a mind to offer up Jack to him either.
Keeping in mind Ianto could – WOULD – be watching him this very moment, Jack pulled back from that Harkness embrace. “There’s something else I have to tell you. James Harper is a name I gave you, at that time. It’s not the name anyone here knows me from. Before I ever met you, long before, I learned of your disappearance and I took your name, and rank, as one of convenience. Not to dishonor you in any way.”
“It was a time thing?”
“I have been a time traveler more than once, sometimes under my complete control.”
Harkness pulled back a bit. “Are you human?”
“I am. So is everyone else here. Except our dinosaur friend. We call her Myfanwy. She came through the Rift, and we can’t send her back.” Same as you, he implied. “She seems happy enough,” he made that silent promise to the other man.
He was giddy at the notion. “So we’re both Jack Harkness?”
“And both captains.”
“No wonder your crew seems startled.”
“Part of that is they also know me, my inclinations, and seeing you they put two and two together.”
“You mean, they know we’re a couple.”
It was presumption on the other’s part, but “They’re wondering what happened when I was in 1941.”
“Jack,” came the soft summons. Both men looked towards the door. “Sorry, James.”
“Not, it’s all right, Ianto. I told him the truth.”
“That’s what I thought was going on. Maybe we can continue calling you Jack and the captain here will be called by his rank.” He told his lover, “At this point, it’s confusion for you to change your identity yet again. At least, if you’re remaining in TORCHWOOD.”
There was a hint of a question in that tone, but Jack ignored it. “All right by me.” He turned to the captain. “You?”
“I’m fine,” came the agreement.
Owen had re-entered just as Ianto was descending to the Medical Bay, so he came upon them and heard the last. “Might make things a little less confusing round here.” To the commander of TORCHWOOD, “I don’t know what you’ve told the captain.”
“The basics, the year, the Rift, what TORCHWOOD is. So, how is he doing?” conveniently overlooking the ever-present patient as hospital workers, friends and family are wont to do at any given time.
“He can go, in another day, if we have a place to put him.”
“I’ll set something up,” Ianto put in. And he had, in-between monitoring the conversation between the two Jacks. He hadn’t needed to hear what they said; it was body action he was consumed with.
Jack turned to Captain Harkness. “I think you’ll be all right. We’ve some experience with this…”
Ianto jumped in, “With mixed results.”
“Yeah, well, nobody’s perfect. But occasionally people fall through,” he reassured the other man, “and in the meantime we do what we can for them, helping them to adapt.”
“We’ll be starting a procedure manual on the subject,” Ianto offered brightly.
Owen continued with, “But I’m sure you’ll do fine. During the war, you must have been under a lot of stress and needing to adapt swiftly to change and circumstances. In many ways you’ll find this a much improved society to what you left.”
Harkness said hopefully, “I’ve already learned you’re more free in the expression of your freedoms.” But it proved he had been paying attention. He was now eager to see the world, or what the world had come to, and what it could mean for him, and him and Jack.
Owen caught on. “You mean sexually?” In an undertone to Jack, “Why am I not surprised that came up?”
“Jack?”
“Ianto will be finishing up the details. By the way, do you have any preference for a new name? It’s awkward, I know, but since I’ve had your identity for so long, and since I have history here and you don’t, you’ll be needing to change your name.”
“Wouldn’t want any aliens chasing after you,” Owen commented.
“Aliens?”
Owen to Jack again, “Haven’t told him everything, have you?”
“Thought I’d save something for later. I thought we were doing really well.”
Harkness suggested, “How about James Harper?” To Jack, “You never really had that name, did you? I’ve found I like it.”
Ianto said immediately, “James Harper it is,” and turned on his heels and left, hoping the bitterness wasn’t betrayed.
Jack’s eyes trailed the lean figure, and the real Jack Harkness observed the silent byplay.
Dressed in casual attire of jeans, jumper and jacket, given up by Owen, the newly minted James Harper accompanied Captain Jack Harkness of TORCHWOOD out of the Hub and to the bay, for a long stroll, Jack said. It was about breaking the new James in smoothly, letting him experience the wonders of this new world, but in a gradual progression . In the meantime, they could talk, and Jack could answer any questions James came up with.
They paused at the base of a pier.
“Nice location,” James commented. “And not everyone has their own pterodactyl.”
“Caught her with Ianto. Or Ianto tracked her down and let me in on it. She couldn’t stay where she was forever, and we couldn’t return her to her own time. She likes chocolate.”
“Doesn’t everybody? Is HERSHEY’S still around?”
“Yep. We have a nice blend with chocolate, clues her in on what to eat. We sometimes let her out at night; she always returns to the roost.”
“No predators? She must be happy enough. But what about Ianto? Is he your lover? The way he looks at you gives it away.”
“Lover is a good word. Or partner. That’s the most current term; changes constantly, by the decade. That’s something you’ll learn, how the language is frequently expanding.” He continued, “It’s husband if we go formal, which is what he’s wanting. At least I think he’s wanting it. It occurred to me he was rather interested in Gwen’s wedding.”
“Making you nervous?”
“Him or you?” Jack countered.
“I’m sorry I fell into something settled between you. But I guess you know how I feel, or how I could feel, about you. We had something before, and I don’t remember that, but I know what I felt when I first saw you.”
“Instantaneous reaction,” Jack judged. “It was very brief, but very powerful.” He’d been more distracted by the physical appearance of a guy he found out he knew, if only because in his non-linear life he’d stumbled upon his records. It was only afterwards he realized the true Captain Jack Harkness was attracted to him and they’d be better off in a hotel room somewhere. At least give the man THAT, before he flew and died, as well as something for himself, whether or not he deserved to be loved by a man of that calibre. And then it was all forward march, or would have been. “I’d say it was just sex, and sexual attraction was what it was, to begin with, but it was complicated, and I think...”
“I fell for you but you had Ianto and didn’t fall for me?”
“I wouldn’t say that. Ianto and I were loose then.” Hell, Ianto was brain and quality, but also a superb conman, who’d managed to con the conman he’d been. The sexual connection was more the cream in the coffee. “If we’d met sometime that didn’t involve me leaving, or you dying the next day – “
“A bummer, is that right?” James questioned the term, looking away from the sea and toward him.
“That’s pretty good. Another one we say is fuck me.” As the other man looked startled at the rough language, “You’ll have to get used to that word, it’s in common practice and crops up in the most unlikely places. But in this context, it means flabbergasted or the ultimate in irony.”
“We didn’t have much time together?”
Jack shrugged. “I found you, you found me, but we weren’t allowed to be together,” he recalled for the other’s benefit. “We were out of each other’s time.” It was another reason he was oh-so-ready to die once Abaddon was released, still mourning the sacrifice of what would have been his great love. Then he went off with the Doctor, and he suffered enough in the Year That Never Was that he sought only to return to his crew, his children, even his Ianto, the sexual playmate who had the potential to be so much more.
“And how about now?”
It reminded Jack of when the other man had come to him when he was sitting on the love seat, lost in his thoughts of gloom over the pending doom of the handsome officer. “I don’t have the reputation for it, but when I’m with someone, I am. Right now, I want to be with you, but I am with Ianto and I know he’s trusting me to do the right thing.”
“And what is the right thing?”
“He doesn’t deserve me leaving him. He’s waited for me.” Briefly he hoped the other man would suggest a threesome, cause he could see that working, and even thought Ianto would be up for that. In fact, he put that on the mental agenda for future discussion.
“He’s figured out about us, though.”
Then again, would Ianto go for that? Since they’d been together, since Ianto lost Lisa, Jack hadn’t asked but had taken for granted Ianto had been faithful to him, both mentally and physically, even during the time he’d been away. He’d never asked, but then again, there was no lover on the horizon, no lover for Ianto to hesitate taking Jack back for, and no mention of any special friend of Ianto’s for when he’d been away.
But Jack was always confident he was first place with Ianto, number one priority. In fact, what still threw Jack off about this time period and people was the assumption of fidelity. Though with TORCHWOOD being so busy and Ianto being on hand, Jack had no reason and less opportunity to be unfaithful to the young man, Ianto was good at subtly betraying a possessiveness Jack didn’t feel towards him. As if Ianto expected to be taken for granted, but taking Jack for granted was ridiculous.
So it was a cultural thing; Jack just didn’t come from a time that valued physical fidelity. If he’d been partnered with ‘John Hart’ - as he was currently calling himself - Jack would have no trouble suggesting a threesome, in fact ‘John’ would probably beat him to it. However, the real danger here, the genuine conundrum, was emotional fidelity. No matter how many sexual dalliances he had, when Jack was in love he always achieved emotional fidelity to his wife or husband. But was he in love with Ianto or merely accustomed to him? It would break his heart to lose him, Jack knew that much. But he’d lost lovers many times over.
“Ianto misses very little,” Jack made the observation, finally answering the new James Harper’s question. “He’s the backbone of the team. And he’s my personal savior in a lot of ways that go beyond the brewing of his fantastic coffee.”
“Jack?”
He touched his earpiece to respond. “Yes, Tosh.”
“If you’re still with Captain Harkness, I mean James Harper,” he could tell she was getting confused at the exchange in identities, “Owen is suggesting a team get-together, dinner at a restaurant.”
“Sounds good.” He thought the group get-together would lessen the tension between himself and the other man, and figured that was Owen’s reason for suggesting it. “Thanks Tosh,” he signed off after she said Gwen was making the arrangements. He briefly wondered at Owen’s sitting through a meal he couldn’t ingest, and then was caught by -
“What’s wrong with your doctor’s hand, by the way? I notice it’s bandaged.”
“Huh. That’s another long story. But he cut it. Never trust a doctor with a scalpel.”
He let loose with some other tour guide related info as they continued walking, Jack’s goal to reach the restaurant at the appointed hour, but hopefully not run into any of the team while they were on their way there.
To nobody’s surprise, Gwen gave a gigantic smile to the two Jacks as they walked to the table TORCHWOOD personnel had laid claim to, the Thai food being a nice change of pace for the pizza and curry slinging team members.
James’ nod as he took a seat at one end of the table – the opposite end to Jack, he noted, while Jack’s Ianto was beside him – acknowledged the group, and he looked at the menu, puzzled even as Owen guided him thru some menu choices. Food from Thailand? Well, it was a long way from the States and even Cardiff.
“Maybe we should have been more careful choosing a restaurant,” opined Tosh, albeit carefully.
“Not on my benefit,” the 1940’s pilot rebuked her. “It’s time I get acquainted – in all ways – in the here and now.”
Gwen frowned. “A good thing you didn’t leave anyone behind.”
Owen sighed over his ex-lover’s typical cluelessness, but knew that was Jack’s problem, both Jacks’ problem, not his. So he sighed while shooting a glance at Tosh. Thank god he could still relate to her at any rate.
Now Ianto was offering an opinion. “You’ll find this an exciting time. Lots of options to explore. Will you be staying in Cardiff? I mean, there’s London, even the States. It would be safe for you to return there.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me.”
Ianto couldn’t say Not at all, since he was doing exactly that, so he blinked then turned back to contemplating the center of the table.
What was he going to do if Jack chose the man of the past over him? Dashing – original – Jack Harkness, Captain Jack Harkness, war hero Captain Jack Harkness. A man as handsome and courageous as Jack himself. Could he step aside? Could he bare to lose his lover again?
Ianto didn’t realize how fast he was downing alcohol, but Jack kept half an eye on him. The other eye was on James, of course, but also his team and how each in turn reacted to the captain. Gwen, of course, newlywed or not, was about to melt into a puddle, the salivating nature of her starry-eyed gaze reminding Jack exactly why he’d never had sex with her. If only he’d felt romance towards Toshiko, but she was just too special to mess with. And Owen, far too messed up, in the beginning, when and how they met, a man emotionally a cripple to this day, from the circumstance of long ago. But Ianto, somehow was the most sane of the batch. Ianto had seduced him into offering him a position at TORCHWOOD THREE, and Jack had been resigned to that delectable bait being dangled before him on a daily basis, but it had been a case of LOOK, BUT DON’T TOUCH, and employer Jack had observed the invisible barrier between himself and the attractive and intelligent young man.
Their first kiss was something he was unashamed to admit he’d forced upon the young man. Ianto had been knocked aside by his cyber-girlfriend Lisa, the wind knocked out of him, and an attractive man in his arms wasn’t an opportunity Jack Harkness was likely to ignore, not even if said young man was unconscious. So the lax mouth was met by his own greedy lips and tongue, to the shock of a waking beauty. Still, Jack gave a snicker whenever he thought on that first kiss. Even when Ianto wanted to forget it later. With Lisa’s involvement, Jack did have to practice some censorship in regards their personal history.
But Ianto explained to him once, out of the blue, as they were emerging from a shared shower, “You are only a monster because of how much I’ve wanted you.” He’d suspected so at the time, but it was nice of Ianto to confirm it.
Ianto was staring at him now, as if he knew the train of his thoughts, or maybe just because their rather jocular Captain Jack had been silent too long.
“So, Ianto,” began Owen, “we do have a place for the captain to move into?”
But Ianto looked into his Jack’s blue eyes to respond. “There’s a flat; furnished. At least for the interim, I’ve got it rented under the name James Harper.” His head turned to address the man at the other end of the table. “It’s a month-to-month lease, which will allow you time to get yourself done up in a new job, find another place to live if it comes to that.”
“I rather like Cardiff. Seems the place has grown,” James pleasantly responded. “Have to admit I’m not trained for a lot of careers, and seeing what I have on our walk today,” staring into Jack’s blue eyes as Ianto had done, “I’ve a feeling there’s an uphill climb.”
“You’re a pilot,” Owen pointed out, briefly reminded of his own rebel pilot lover, Diane. But unlike her, this pilot didn’t seem headed for the abyss. Could be his ladylove wasn’t suitable for this time when she wouldn’t be making headlines for being revolutionary, but just one of the crowd or even behind the times. No, that wouldn’t have suited her. Then again, maybe he only loved her because he sensed he could never have her, transitory being the only passions he was suited for at the time. He wasn’t fated to hold a love and keep it. The loss of his fiancée should have told him that.
After the death of his fiancée, and now working for TORCHWOOD and maybe becoming too sophisticated in the process, he’d run the gamut of sexual expression, and figured he could give this captain from the past a tumble himself if not for the fact immortal Jack would find some way of killing off the somewhat rival immortal himself. There, that was a thought though. If anyone could figure a way of killing him and making it stick, it would be Jack. Except, he didn’t want to die, only wanted to be back whole.
Poor Tosh. She loved him; and he avoided her. Even insulted her, in the effort to turn her admiration and sympathy into hatred. It hadn’t worked though. It wasn’t that Tosh wouldn’t have suited him, but that she’d have suited him too well, and after what he’d been through, settling down was the furthest thing from his mind in the beginning, especially so soon after the death of his fiancee. And, now, it wasn’t even possible. Whenever he felt too sorry for himself, he thought of Tosh, and felt even worse. Though not entirely to blame, it was a terrible situation he’d left her with.
“I’m sure you’ve chosen a commendable place, Ianto,” James assured the young man, not so much younger than himself. He figured he rated somewhere – in physical age – between Ianto and Jack. But how much experience with men had Ianto prior to this Jack? These times exhibited certain freedoms he’d been unaccustomed to, though he’d had a fair share of lovers, carefully avoiding any police raids all the while. His most practical use lover had been a police officer, in fact.
“If you like, I can take you over there this evening.”
Owen jumped in, “Or you can stay another night in the Hub, which would be best. I’d like to keep an eye on you for a time.”
“Whatever the doctor says,” agreed James, also thinking Jack slept at the Hub. But did the doctor? It seemed unlikely.
Ianto’s worst fears were being realized, though it was a tossup which was worse, the prospect of James in Jack’s bed, in lieu of himself, or Jack staying over at James’ flat. He bit his lip trying to ease his own anxiety.
“Pretty good,” James rated the cuisine. His refreshment was water, the doctor having put a stoppage on ordering anything more potent.
Tosh was skeptical. “Really?”
“Well, a bit strongly spiced,” he conceded, good mannered to the end. “I’ll get used to it.”
Jack finally spoke up, but it was to Gwen. “So where’s Rhys this evening?” He wondered if she were finally doing a good job of keeping her personal life out of TORCHWOOD business, since Rhys Williams had no reason to be acquainted with their visitor out of time.
Though it occurred to Jack, TORCHWOOD had been a secret organization – need-to-know – except that had all changed upon Gwen’s recruitment. Now the most commonplace person on the street knew TORCHWOOD and had some idea of its mandate.
“Out with his friends,” Gwen was responding, “probably home late,” grinning at James, “and completely blotto.”
“Sounds dangerous,” James conceded. He’d had so many women tip their hat in his direction, he was an expert at deflection.
It puzzled him, why could he remember so many details yet he couldn’t remember any of his prior association with that totally mesmerizing man across the table.
He even felt they had their own silent communication going on, his green eyes catching those startling blue, his lips involuntarily parting in anticipation. Damn! It had been a long time – decades, evidently – since a shared passion with another man hadn’t already resulted in dropped trousers and bruised knees.
Winking at Tosh, Owen felt at least they were completely separated from the romantic shenanigans going on at this table, the sexual tension – and other kinds of tension, if you took a look at the stiff Welsh form known as Ianto Jones – becoming more palpable by the minute. The Asian beauty gave a bit of an eye shrug back, and it was as if they both decided to take notes and share confidences later.
“Yeah, love,” Owen announced, “next time invite the husband, too.” Actually he liked Rhys, they all liked Rhys, but Gwen’s forgetting she was a married woman meant she was really making a spectacle of herself. Probably imagining herself the center of a Jack sandwich, he mused. Actually, if he wasn’t sexually immune to his own Captain Harkness, he could probably go for one himself. Where did that leave poor Ianto, though? And when did he become poor Ianto in his mind? A glamorous captain from the past, could definitely see what Harkness would have felt leaving him behind. Especially if they hadn’t even fucked first. “Okay, I’m out of here. James, if you want a walk back,” he left the invitation dangling.
“So you live there?” asked James.
“Just lately,” Owen responded. At least there’d been no reason, as yet, to explain his peculiar circumstances to this man.
James was dismayed and tried not to show it. “Jack?” leaving it up to the other man.
Jack jumped in, “I think James wants to see more of the town. How about Ianto, getting that key to James in the morning, and in the meanwhile, Owen, we’ll join you back at the Hub later. Maybe James wants to go dancing.”
“Dancing?” James was pleasantly surprised.
“Dancing.” Jack was eager to show off the same-sex clubs he took for granted. It would be fun, though he’d introduced one or two of them to Ianto, to experience that social scene again but through the eyes of someone who wouldn’t have imagined them.
Eager to placate Ianto, and to let him know James knew the state of affairs between them, Jack rose from the table along with the others, but bending, dropped a quick kiss onto Ianto’s automatically receptive lips. “See you later,” he assured him.
Ianto wondered how true that was, anticipating a sleepless night, unless the new James Harper got hit by a passing car or bitten by a weevil. Only the captain didn’t deserve these thoughts; neither captain.
Outside, as the two military men strode off, hunched in their coats, Owen came up to Ianto and said, “Don’t worry, Jack has history with you. This new guy, even if he met him before, is just a novelty.”
Tosh piped in, “He’s left and come back to you before. He always will.”
Gwen ignored them, wondering if Rhys could possibly be at home yet, and how quickly they could get into bed. She could always get done up in a nice scent to greet him with. “See you tomorrow!” she called as she strode off.
“She really gets on my nerves,” Tosh confided as she and Owen were out of earshot.
“At least Jack hasn’t fucked her.”
“Ianto’s the only one.”
“Yeah, he always wanted a piece of Ianto.”
“Well, Ianto wanted him, in spite of Lisa.”
“Very insightful, Ms Sato.” And Owen slung an arm across her shoulders, intent on taking her home and eventually finding himself back at the Hub, to care for their patient, if for no other reason. But he wasn’t expecting an early night – he didn’t sleep anymore anyway – as the two Jacks were both looking pretty energized as they went off to seek the physical pleasures he couldn’t partake of anymore. He wondered, briefly, if the captains would be falling into bed – or even against the wall in an alley – before the night was over. He thought it likely and only knew Ianto didn’t deserve that, not unless it got the two men out of each other’s systems.
A cab ride later, the two Jacks were being bombarded by lights and music and muscular bodies displaying bare torsos. “I can’t believe this!” James raised his voice to be heard over the noise. And he didn’t like the music either. He’d rather be alone with Jack, though the writhing of all those fit bodies reminded him of shower fantasies he had back in barracks days.
Jack leaned over to say into his ear, “It can get insane.”
“Is it always like this?” Turning his head, their faces were inches apart.
Jack gave a slow smile. “It gets crazier. This is a slow night. Want a drink?”
“Sure.” And something about that gave him a jolt. “Do you drink water?”
The slow smile turned into a full-fledged grin. “Mostly.”
“I don’t want to get lightheaded. But why do I know that? About the water?” At the restaurant, Jack had been drinking coffee.
“Your memory – of me – must be coming back. But I just remembered Owen will probably be furious if you have anything. He does have you on antibiotics and it’s dangerous to mix narcotics.”
“Wow.” In his day, people routinely took pills by downing them with alcohol. Guess time had proven that not a good idea.
“You want to dance?”
He glanced at the floor then was thankful their coats had been checked at the door. “Great.”
Jack was even more thrilled. He remembered the only other time they’d danced even if the other man didn’t. As the new James came into his arms, “I never got to tell you, how hot you are. Truly handsome.”
“Well, I opened my eyes and there you were. Didn’t I make myself clear before?”
Jack pulled back a bit, but just to look into the other’s eyes. “Eventually. That time period, it was a bit complicated. I was confused; thought you wanted a girl.”
“Nancy? I remember a Welsh girl named Nancy.” As Jack nodded, “Oh, I always had to have a girlfriend, someone to squire around to movies – it was what everyone expected.”
“I know.” Jack had fully lived through that time period; was well aware of how most homosexuals lived a charade.
Then they were back moving slowly to the beat, holding each other close, not interested in the electronic pulsing that signified a faster pace. Now he held the man whose identity he’d co-opted, again, he was finding he wanted him just as much.
Most people, when they lost a love, never stood a chance of getting it back. He’d lost a lover to time, yet found that man delivered back to him. How could he let him go now?
Perhaps it was the medications, perhaps the mood, but eventually the man from the past pulled back and suggested they go on somewhere.
Jack nodded towards the building they’d just vacated. “A bit much for you?” he asked, in understanding.
“A bit,” James admitted to being overwhelmed. “But I wanted to be alone with you; I’ve wanted that all evening.”
“We do have to decide what to do with you,” Jack agreed. “No,” he grinned, “not that. Now, THAT I wouldn’t need any instructions on.” But there was Ianto, he had to remember that. “What I mean is, your future in this time period.”
They were walking in the direction towards the Hub, Jack noting James didn’t seem so tired now.
“Not that we have to decide it tonight. Just wondering if you have any ideas, don’t be afraid to bring them up. There’s lots of vocational training available too.”
“How ‘bout TORCHWOOD? You recruiting?”
He hadn’t considered a place for James in TORCHWOOD itself, though obviously the captain had skills that would prove useful, for a field tech especially, and he could be trained on others positions, like Gwen had been. It wasn’t like when he began leading this organization, when the recruits were specialists in their fields already. “That’s an idea,” Jack conceded, though he was aware this created a new quandary, for how would he fare with both Ianto and James underfoot? And how would they relate to each other? Couldn’t be any worse than Owen and Gwen after that affair hit the supernova. “Let’s explore this more tomorrow. I think Owen’s probably waiting on us now.”
“Why doesn’t he have his own place?”
“He did. He has health issues, rather complicated to go into now. But for the time being the Hub is the place for him to be. Count yourself lucky you have the services of a physician full-time at your disposal.”
But when they got back to the Hub, it was to see Owen frantically moving about. “Rift activity.”
“Again?” The Rift had been more volatile since its opening, so the activity was more frequent. “Tosh? Gwen?”
“Already alerted them; they’re on their way.”
“What can I do?” James was ready to take part.
It was Owen who responded, “You’d better sit this one out.” But the captain’s offer had Owen guessing what the two men had discussed about the captain’s future plans.
Jack told James, “Owen’s the doctor.” To Owen, “Where’s the activity located?” He did wonder – briefly – why Owen hadn’t called him, but it’s possible the doctor thought the patient and the captain needed down time more than they needed to supervise the latest Rift activity.
With the Rift getting this busy, it’s possible TORCHWOOD THREE really did require more than the amount of personnel currently at its disposal. So maybe Captain Harkness’ arrival was propitious for more than personal reasons.
Location known, Jack went thru their Comm devices and had Gwen and Tosh going directly to the Rift activity rather than stopping at the Hub.
When they reported back nothing had been dropped and nothing – evidently – taken, he ordered them off duty again. So the Rift’s display of temperament had been an unwelcome – but fortuitously benign – interruption in everyone’s evening. “Thanks, you can both come in late tomorrow. But not too late,” he stressed, “or you’ll miss out on Ianto’s coffee.”
“Well,” opined Owen, looking from one Jack to another, “I think we can all get to bed now.”
Jack rarely slept, Owen not at all, and the new James probably would relax into a drugged doze, so the Hub was unlikely to be the most restful spot in Cardiff, but Jack nodded to both men, reassuring James he’d see him first thing in the morning, and went to his office where he could drop into his bunk.
He needed the privacy; he needed to sleep; basically he needed to stay away from Captain Harkness lest he undermine the trust Ianto had in him.
The trouble was, he could do fidelity when he was in love. But he wasn’t in love with Ianto, nor with the captain. But he had to work with Ianto at least, certainly didn’t want to lose him, not personally or as a part of TORCHWOOD. The young man had been the best thing to happen to him in years.
Then again, he didn’t want to lose the captain either. And the captain was an increasing temptation, and unless the captain found a place outside TORCHWOOD or within TORCHWOOD but having found a new target for his lust and affection, Jack couldn’t see his present resolve to abstain from sex with James holding.
“Jack,” came the whisper.
Jack looked up through the open latch into his office to find that handsome face peering down at him.
He was lost. Beaten on his home turf.
He backed away as James climbed down the ladder to join him.
The Hub wasn’t really outfitted with cots everywhere – in fact, Ianto had requisitioned one for Owen once he was no longer dead. So the whereabouts of the original Captain Jack Harkness was easy for Owen to determine once the doctor had been checking on his patient in the Bay only to find the room empty.
He couldn’t help himself, he felt sorry for Ianto. It was time somebody in this blasted organization be happy, after all. They seemed to have pretty bad averages against romance working around here.
Ianto arrived especially early, in Owen’s estimation. Granted he’d lately been arriving late in the morning, usually accompanied by Jack – they’d taken to sleeping over at Ianto’s since Owen had taken up residence in the Hub – but something drove the young man out of bed surprising early, as it was pre-dawn and Ianto was in-house brewing up coffee.
“Hey, Ianto,” Owen was upon him.
“Owen,” Ianto greeted in turn, prepared to face the day, and the worst it can offer.
He looked young; too young, Owen thought. He must really stop these brotherly feelings he had for Ianto, must be some byproduct of being dead. But there was something about Ianto and his innocent devotions, first to Lisa, and now to Jack, that brought out a softness in him he’d just as soon not be there. On the other hand, he’d initially become a physician because of his wanting to help other people, and if that wasn’t soft, what was? But his skills hadn’t managed to save the woman he loved, nothing could. Not even a Jack Harkness who was virtually indestructible.
“Wish I could drink your coffee,” Owen offered. “Miss it, I do. Didn’t even drink coffee before I got here.”
Ianto’s lips quirked in semblance of a smile. “Same as everyone. Jack has that affect on people.”
“Yeah, you don’t really love him, do you?”
“What?”
“Just thinking it’s not too wise, him not being able to die and all. You’ll be alone one day, or he’ll still be the dashing Harkness and you will have passed him by.”
“I know. I have to know. But he’s worth it, don’t you think?”
“I guess. As long as you take care of yourself, you know.”
Ianto thought he should say something, so his acknowledgement was, “Thanks, Owen.”
Owen sighed, good deed almost done for the day. “Wish I could drink that coffee.” Then he offered brightly, “Some Rift activity last night; I dispatched Gwen and Tosh. Putting the ladies to work.”
“Was there anything?”
“Not really. Think Jack’s bringing our new James into TORCHWOOD though.”
Now Ianto was drinking his own coffee. “He said that?”
“Nah, I gathered that. Makes sense. Military man, pilot, can be easily trained for field duties. And with me disabled, I can be more a hindrance than a help.” It’s not like every investigation would require the services of a dead man, after all. “The captain knows so much about us, and those nerves of skill he must have, it’s sorted.”
“Makes sense, as you say. Perhaps the announcement will be today.”
“The girls will be in a bit late.”
Ianto nodded even as Owen turned and left.
So the old Jack was to remain here with his own Jack, the original Jack Harkness too much for Jack to resist.
Fighting back the tears, Ianto hesitated on making his way to Jack’s office, which was ordinarily his first stop of the day, coffee mug in hand.
The original Jack Harkness had a smile on his face and was dressing in the same clothes as the night before, being alerted by TORCHWOOD’s Jack as to the time.
“I hope they don’t mind I’m dressed the same.” Ianto had provided some new basics the day before, but they were down in the Medical Bay.
Before James could put on trousers and shirt, Jack was offering some of his own he kept on hand. “This will do until we take you shopping. And you move into your own place today – you’ll need personal stuff. We have an unlimited budget.”
“Then this is the place to work.” James was trying to keep a hopeful face on, but he knew the other man was having some regrets regarding their lovemaking of the night before. Naturally that would be because of Ianto, but James also felt if Jack were truly in love with Ianto he wouldn’t so easily have succumbed to his presence, would probably have spent the night with the younger man instead of coming back to the Hub.
Ianto had finally braved the distance to Jack’s office. “Jack!” he called. “I have coffee.”
“Coffee for two,” James said softly. “I am sorry.”
“I know.” Jack didn’t want this, didn’t want a confrontation between the two men who vied for his favors. In another time or circumstance a good old-fashioned rivalry was great fun, but not when all men involved were emotionally dependent. He called up the stairs, “In a minute.”
“Great,” he heard Ianto mumble back.
Fortunately, when he arrived in his office, the younger man was gone, probably tidying up somewhere, since it was certainly too early to be opening up the tourist office.
Maybe Ianto sensed he wasn’t alone and wanted to spare them all that.
There was only the single mug on the desk, however.
Having heard no conversation, James climbed up the stairs. “Is it clear?”
“All clear.” Jack had glanced around, not seeing anyone.
The arrival of the women signaled the team conference Jack meant to hold. “One order of business for the day,” he began the announcement, “and that is Captain Jack Harkness, now known as James Harper, is the newest TORCHWOOD recruit. That probably won’t surprise some people here,” he indicated his usual awareness of what was going on in his children’s minds. “I think he can be an effective field tech and we can all aid in his training.”
“There’s stuff I can teach him,” offered Gwen, while Owen snickered.
Tosh was worried the man couldn’t type, let alone use a computer properly, but with that lean frame he might be good at self-defense techniques and running. That physical agility was a requirement when working weevil hunts.
“He can also backup Ianto in the archives or on the tourist desk,” though they seldom had the latter open for business anymore. Jack was trying to think ahead and thinking this was a good way of mollifying Ianto as well. He didn’t want Ianto thinking his promotion to the field meant he was relegated to full-time office duties now they had someone else on board. “The Rift activity has increased, and I don’t need all my team falling down in exhaustion by trying to do too much. So this is my way of telling you I’ll also be on the lookout for any other likely candidates.”
“There is Andy,” Gwen piped in.
Jack dealt with that shortly. “Can’t keep a secret any better than your Rhys,” he pointed out, thinking on people who liked the glory but couldn’t bear the responsibility. It was all one big game to them, and TORCHWOOD couldn’t survive with that attitude. “Anything else? No? Well, Ianto, can you take James in hand, he’ll need more clothing,” he hated reminding Ianto of what the young man probably already knew, that James was wearing some of Jack’s clothes, “and you can introduce him to his new apartment. We have the new ID ready, right, Tosh?”
“Right here,” she agreed, handing over the ID and fresh passport and also plenty of euros. “Also got you a credit card,” she told James. “You can’t live without one nowadays.” She had a soft spot for him from the days of 1941 when she’d learned too much of his fate, but also how he stood up for her against the woman accusing her of being a spy.
Too bad his sexuality was probably set in stone, as he’d be a handsome prospect for dating, though Jack would be uncomfortable with it, and she didn’t like to upset Jack.
At least James shunned all attempts of Gwen’s to charm him.
“Well,” said Ianto, taking the captain in hand, “we can go to your flat first, make a list of things you’ll need right away, then onto shopping.”
“Sounds good,” James told him, not wanting to make his lover’s boyfriend more defensive than he already was.
Pointing out the sites on the drive, Ianto was startled when James went, “Wait a minute, wasn’t that the club?” Where that last dance was held, his last night in Cardiff, when he met Jack apparently.
Ianto paused the vehicle on the little used street. “It was in that location. It was torn down recently. That’s why Tosh and Jack were there.” He didn’t want to go into the whole long story of ghosts and Billis; it was too much for him to remember, and he never wanted to. So many things to forget now he was in TORCHWOOD. But so many things to remember too, like Jack Harkness, and how he looked, and how he smelled, and how he fucked, and how he loved his coffee, and how he knew when to pick up a gun and make like the Lone Ranger.
“Do you mind?” James asked, wanting to get out and walk, and maybe remember.
“No, go ahead.”
Ianto stayed in the car: It wasn’t the Jacks’ past he was worried about, it was their present and future.
The man was gone from the car for several minutes, but when he returned, he was pale, and Ianto wondered if his medication had been screwed up. Then another possibility occurred to him. “Did you remember something?”
“Something,” James concurred and said no more.
A puzzled and concerned Ianto kept James company for a few hours as the flat was investigated, a list of items prepared by himself of anything found wanting, and then the two of them went shopping. The excursion proved a worthwhile experience for the captain, wherein he could see the new valuations in the currency, and the wealth of products available. Clothes shopping proved a breeze, with the captain’s lean, muscular build drawing attention everywhere they went. Once the hairstyle was relaxed a bit, the captain would fit right in.
But back at the Hub whatever was bothering the captain was less hidden, as the new recruit went directly to Jack’s office, leaving Ianto pondering behind.
“What’s that about?” Owen asked. It hadn’t looked like one lover in a hurry to reunite with another.
“He’s remembered something.”
“Well, that’s good – isn’t it?”
But James was demanding of an alert Jack, “We’d better go somewhere private.”
Jack was wondering what could have happened between Ianto and James and figured this was a fire better stamped out immediately, so he suggested, “Let’s go outside,” and the two men left via the tourist office. It was either outside or below decks, and the basements always put Jack in mind of bodies and cyberwomen. Besides, the CCTV could be activated by any of the personnel up front, and that included audio.
“What?” Jack faced his challenger. It was hard to believe this was the same man he’d had sex with this morning.
“I’ve remembered. I’ve remembered a lot. I’ve remembered when I thought I was dying. You know my men didn’t even try to protect me? They just cut tail and run.”
Jack said carefully, “That’s a possibility in combat.”
“It wouldn’t have been before that day. But that morning, I was frozen out. They didn’t trust me anymore, didn’t know me. I was now the sexual deviant.”
Jack could see where this was going. “You can’t blame me for that.”
“No, it was my decision to ask you to dance. It was my responsibility. But I would have stayed hidden if you hadn’t been pushing me and prodding me all evening, to live my life, to not care what people think. And you did that, why? Cause you wanted a fuck? Cause I wanted a fuck? Cause you were going to let me die, and maybe I wouldn’t have died if it hadn’t been for your influence.”
Jack shook his head; it was true time travel was non-linear and maybe his actions are what led to the death of the man whose identity he’d taken, though it had occurred in some prior visit to that time. He sighed. It was difficult for non-time agents, but if James were right about his men’s abandonment, then that meant Jack’s encouragement had led to the downfall of the very man he’d wanted, almost loved. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s true in regards what happened to you. I had taken your name before I ever met you; you were already gone, missing in action. I had no idea what would happen. But it was never a quick fuck between you and me, you know that. And you pursued me,” he reminded.
“What was all that live each night as if it’s your last?” James taunted. “That was about you knowing I was to die – even if you didn’t know the rest of it, you knew the date. But you did nothing.”
“Don’t mess with history, the first rule of a time agent.”
“Time agent, huh? Okay, Mr. Time Agent, if I was faced with saving someone’s life, someone I knew would die unless I did something, I’d do it.”
“You can’t mess with history that way. Things are meant to happen.”
“Maybe if they’re meant to happen, they’ll happen some other way. But you think I wouldn’t save Lincoln if I could? What about someone you care about, really care about? You wouldn’t save them?”
“Obviously not,” Jack clipped out. He’d suffered so much leaving this man to die, and now he was being challenged on it. Logic always seemed so weak when combating streams of emotion. And maybe James was right, he was the inadvertent link that caused this man’s death, only the Rift saving him. But his previous life was gone, regardless.
“I don’t know, James, Jack, whoever you really are. Maybe this TORCHWOOD business is worthwhile, maybe it saves lives. And maybe I trust you as a commander, someone who makes the decisions and sticks by them, no matter what, but as far as anything personal…. Really, I have to wait on that. Cause there’s a part of you I’ve discovered I can’t respect.”
Jack knew this was a speech already prepared by the other man, so he let him go on, even nodding acceptance on its completion. “You’re welcome in TORCHWOOD, but anything else, anything personal, we’ll put aside. I understand your reservations.” Even though he couldn’t share them, maybe he was just too cold-blooded in comparison, or too experienced of the universe. If he found himself surrounded by parochial thinkers, he had only himself to blame. He’d been offered an out by the Doctor and had declined. Maybe that was a mistake.
The two men made their way back to the Hub, their conversation near the Bay under visual but not audio surveillance all the while.
Ianto couldn’t help but be curious, but also relieved at the betrayal of hostility rather than intimacy, going by their body language. It had been an intense argument, with James doing most of the talking, and Jack had few words to say in reply, or defense.
As he saw the men returning, he went to the coffee machine to brew another special formula just for his captain.
Eventually – maybe – he’d find out what had broken the two men’s intimacy. For now, he only felt relief, and that was enough.
THE END