Monday. Really. Sorry, guys. I'm going to bed now with an aspirin. I feel old. -lol-
Author: d8rkmessngr
Pairing: Jack/OMC, Jack/?, Jack/Ianto eventually, het and slash
Rating: NC-17
Summary: He left Jack on the game station. Abandoned. But then…he came back…different. An AU look on what happens if things happened differently. Doctor Who 'verse with Torchwood later on.
Disclaimer: RTD and BBC owns them. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Warnings: Please read each chapter's individual warnings. Some parts down the road may briefly mention non-con, abuse, and/or violence. Dark in the beginning. Please note there are some dark thoughts as my boys are broken…for now. Each chapter will be labeled for your convenience.
Author's Notes: Please note this is an AU that will cross over DW to TW season one. I'm probably spoiling my own story, but it will eventually be Janto. There's a bit of a journey first. I hope you enjoy. I'm working on this and intend to post regularly every other day. And again, I always believe in happy endings. So without further ado…
Warning For This Chapter: strong language, dark, angsty, disturbing imagery (a matter of reader's interpretation, though)
Notes For This Chapter: Note there are parallels to DW's "The Sound of Drums" and a nod to "Stolen Earth"
Prologue + Ch , Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch. 12, Ch. 13, Ch. 14, Ch. 15, Ch 16, Ch 17, Ch 18, Ch 19 , Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23, Ch 24 , Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 29, Ch 30, Ch 31, Ch 32, Ch 33, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 36 Ch 37 1/7, Ch 37 2/7, Ch 37 3/7, Ch 37 4/7, Ch 37 5/7, Ch 37 6/7
Act VII: "It's in the phones!"
Somewhere in London
Present day…
Jack chewed—he had no choice because Ianto kept putting chip after chip in his hand—while he listened. The accent was different, too, not just the face, Jack realized. There was messy brown hair instead of close-shaven, regular sized ears close to his head—thank god—wiry where he was once broader, and wearing glasses for Pete's sake. Glasses? Can he be anymore geekier? And what was it with Time Lords and their European accents anyway? He tried to imagine the Time Lord with an American southern accent or a Canadian one. Jack blinked, momentarily distracted. Too weird.
It's the same person, Jack told himself as he batted away Ianto's stubborn insistence to give him more food. It was an odd déjà vu hanging over him as Jack studied the man/alien across from him, talking in that uncomfortably soothing tone like an ancient storyteller. He found himself once again trying to find the similarities and differences.
Regeneration is a bitch, Jack decided, giving up. It was again a different face, different voice, but apparently the same man.
Right?
"…Citadel of the Time Lords…"
The Doctor sounded nostalgic when he described the mountains and grass of a civilization long gone by his century and Ianto's. His chest twinge when the Doctor's voice lowered in grief.
The legends of Gallifrey always sounded perfect, Jack mused. Time always softened the harsh light of fact. Everything looks better with time.
It made him want to laugh just as the Doctor—Jack was trying hard to think of this stranger as him—began to describe the Academy. Jack listened, his throat working. He couldn't imagine being taken away from his family at eight.
Then again, a snide voice said, breaking into his thoughts, Grey was taken away much younger than that.
Jack dropped the chip, his stomach churning. He doubted time, all the time he has in fact, could ever make any of this look better.
Jack absently peeled the crunchy layer off the fish. He mentally sighed when Ianto confiscated the demolished seafood and substituted it with one of his more intact ones. Ianto's only response to Jack's glare was stuffing the stolen one into his mouth. Ianto looked like a chipmunk; a polite chipmunk as he turned back towards the Doctor.
"…that's when the Master saw eternity…"
The mention of the bastard's name made his head throb, the absence of the dark rhythm was a physical hurt he didn't understand. Ghost hands, touches, burning raked up and down his body. It was like being in a murky room in the TARDIS again when waking up meant falling into a nightmare.
"…could be seen the whole of the Vortex…"
A sharp pain pierced his chest. The man sounded like he actually sympathized with Saxon.
"…some would run away…"
Jack watched a grimace cross a face he was trying so hard to find something familiar in.
"…some would go mad…"
Guess we know which one the Master was, Jack thought, his left eye twitching. Jack set his jaw. The urge to throw up made his eyes water and his jaw ached from the effort trying to hold it in.
Ianto's knee suddenly bumped against his in quiet support. Jack smiled bitterly into his tea—seriously, a teabag?—and tried to quell the tremors still vibrating throughout his body. They haven't stopped since Ianto told him. Told him about Saxon, the end of the universe, about all the pain and agony and the sheer torment Jack thought he was willing to take because it was the Doctor was for noth—
"Why me?" It came out before Jack could stop himself. He took another sip, not caring the hot liquid scalded his tongue. The food he ate was lodged in his throat.
The Doctor stopped mid-sentence and looked at him.
Not for too long, Jack thought with a pang. It looked like it was uncomfortable to look at a thing like him.
In the back of his mind, an odd beat Jack was trying to ignore kept humming in rhythm. Go away, Jack snarled at it.
"I'm not sure." The Doctor exhaled. He tore off a chunk of chip to eat it, but then he dropped it back down onto his pile of food
"He said he was correcting the future."
"You think he went back to tamper with my timeline," Jack recalled. Jack clasped his hands together. "He went back specifically…for me." Jack crooked a grin he didn't feel. "I must have made an impression on him somewhere in time."
Ianto fidgeted next to him. The younger man drew closer, his knee so close, any closer he would have been on his lap.
The Doctor nodded, his face hooded and dark, as dark as it was on the game station. Now Jack fidgeted. Different faces, yet the same unsettling look of barely controllable rage on all the Time Lord faces he'd encountered. Jack wondered if this was genetic for their species. The instinct to back away was overwhelming.
"Time Lords would never consider doing this."
"Nor would Time Agents," Jack added. He exchanged a wry look with Ianto. "Can't really say. Sorry. Timelines and all that."
Ianto just nodded and then promptly shoved a fork of fried fish into his hand. Damn it.
"But if the Master went back to his timeline, wouldn't Jack have noticed?" Martha asked the Doctor, brow furrowed. "I mean, that things were different?"
"We only saw Professor Yana change to Saxon so how could he have gone back and change anything if he already did?" Ianto added.
"And what about the TARDIS?" Martha pointed out.
"It was preprogrammed somehow to take us to the end of the universe," Ianto reminded them all.
"Right. So how could the Master do that if he wasn't the Master yet until we got there?"
The Doctor shot Jack an exasperated look that Jack replied with a shrug. But he couldn't help but smile a little as both Jones were now picking up speed. It was like running downhill, heading right for the Time Lord.
"…must have been there planning for ages. And how he knew we were going to be refueling…"
"…saw him in London, but he didn't get the TARDIS until year one hundred trillion…"
Jack observed the Time Lord—it was easier to think of him as a Time Lord instead of as the Doctor—growing more and more miffed. He kept trying to speak, only to be interrupted by Ianto or Martha. He had to admit, it was a little funny.
"Blimey!" the Time Lord burst out. A couple of chips scattered to the floor. "You're all thinking in linear lines! Nothing is linear. I don't think anyone can truly draw a straight line, except for me, of course. That's the problem with you silly apes; only seeing from point A to point B!"
Ianto had his mouth open. He snapped it shut, blinked at the Time Lord then turned to Jack.
"Did he just call me a bloody primate?" Ianto huffed.
God, Jack could just hug him sometimes.
"Don't take it personal," Martha quipped. "When we don't do anything right, we're apes. And when we do something right—"
"We're fantastic," Jack spoke up hesitantly. There was a faint memory of Rose sputtering when she and Jack were called that after she'd gotten lost in the market on Jutlanteva, three minutes before a civil war erupted.
The Time Lord beamed at Jack. He raised a finger up in the air, oddly familiar enough Jack recognized it was some form of the Doctor's lecturing posture. "Right. You humans have such a tendency to muck things up unintentionally all the while persevering in the most trying situations you humans put yourselves into in the first place but that's not your fault since you were all evolved from apes."
Ianto stared. "How are you able to insult yet compliment an entire species in a single breath?"
The Time Lord, nonplussed, didn't miss a beat. "Superior lung capacity."
Ianto sucked in his breath like he was going to bellow before he turned towards Jack in frustration. Jack shook his head. A smile that felt strange to make quirked his lips. Ianto and the Time Lord weren't getting along for some reason; he'd never seen Ianto so ruffled. It was actually…kinda hot.
Ianto jabbed a finger at the Time Lord.
"This is who you were waiting for since 1869?" Ianto griped. His eyes widened as soon as he said it and his finger dropped. Ianto appeared horrified at his slip.
"1869?" Martha wrinkled her nose. She gaped at Jack. "But that will make you over a hundred years old."
"And still looking good, don't you think?" Jack joked. He flashed her a bright smile and elbowed Ianto lightly.
The remorse retreated from Ianto's face. He smiled weakly, but his eyes were still pale with apology.
Jack gripped Ianto's closest knee and squeezed.
"Yes, well," the Time Lord coughed. "It does us no good trying to sort out how the Master had done this. Time is too jumbled and squiggly to untangle. It's all wibbly wobbly timey—What?" The Time Lord paused, blinking at Jack.
"Jack?" Ianto tentatively settled his fingertips on Jack's thigh.
Jack caught himself staring and he dropped his gaze to gather the turmoil twisting in his gut.
"Jack?" Ianto acted like he was ready to shake him.
His mouth dry, Jack took a gulp of bitter tea, aware of the stares on him.
"You really are him," Jack said hoarsely. He leveled his eyes at the Doctor. "Doctor."
"But that's what we've been trying to tell you," Martha blurted out. "You only believe us no—"
"Martha." The Doctor was barely a whisper but Martha clamped her mouth shut all the same.
Ianto's fingertips grew to be a warm curled palm on his thigh. Jack's stare stayed on the Doctor.
The Doctor, to Jack's surprise, didn't flinch away. His eyes were unexpectedly warm yet sorrowful.
"Some things never change, eh, Jack?"
Jack didn't know why, but he laughed or tried to. Ianto's hand gripped his thigh, his fingers digging into the large muscle.
"At least you got rid of the big ears," Jack stifled a snort from breaking free. There was a strange suspicion it would warp into a sob.
The Doctor scowled. "My ears weren't big. Everyone else's was too small." He sniffed. "It would explain why no one listened to me."
"You think that's the reason?" Ianto drawled. He didn't remove his hand and his leg was comforting against Jack's.
"This regeneration thing," Jack began. He waved towards the Doc—God, he didn't know how, but Jack knew it was his Doctor. And it drew out more questions than he was prepared to think about. His head spun.
"Kinda cheeky," Jack finished lamely.
The Doctor said nothing but gave him a sad and weary twist of his mouth.
Martha glanced at them both, her face puzzled while nibbling on a piece of fish.
Then, something beeped wildly on Ianto's wrist. He jumped.
"Uh," Ianto stammered. He straightened out his left arm away from him. "Jack? This thing is doing something."
"Huh." Jack pulled Ianto's wrist towards him.
"Huh? T-this won't send me back to year one hundred trillion, will it?" Ianto asked, squirming in his seat as Jack squinted at his wrist strap.
"Not without me, you're not," Jack muttered. He frowned at it. "You said it was fixed."
"Yes, he waved his little toy—"
"It's not a toy!" the Doctor sputtered.
"Just looks like one," Jack shot back as he flipped the flap off. Ianto leaned in, almost touching forehead to forehead as he studied the wrist strap. Jack's brow rose. "Encrypted channel with files attached." Jack pressed a few buttons and his brow rose higher. "Don't recognize it."
"Someone's trying to contact you?" Martha guessed.
"Or someone's trying to contact Torchwood," the Doctor said tightly.
Jack lifted his head and bristled at the disapproval that darkened the Doctor's eyes to coals.
"Everything Torchwood did and you're part of it," the Time Lord hissed.
Anger welled up for no particular reason, anger, if Jack thought about it, which was really meant for something or someone else.
"Yes," Jack just said, his mouth a hard line. He stared back at the Time Lord, his chin stuck out.
Ianto stirred uneasily next to him.
"I've told you before," Ianto said softly to the Time Lord. "The old regime was destroyed in Canary Wharf. It's different now."
"A man foolishly thought it was worth sacrificing his life to save me to lead this Torchwood," Jack grated out. He refused to look away, dared the Doctor to. "I won't apologize for it."
The Doctor studied Jack with that damn stare that used to bug Jack way in the beginning when he was with him and Rose.
The Doctor softened.
"I don't think it was foolish at all, Captain," the Doctor just said. His eyes cleared. He gestured towards the laptop. "Patch it through to the laptop."
As everyone huddled around the laptop, Jack released the breath he didn't know he was holding.
It was a light chime that beat in sets of two, grouped in fours. It beeped and dinged away from the laptop as soon as the Doctor made a few adjustments with the mobile he held and his strange hand device.
"What is it?" Ianto tried not to think about how it echoed eerily in the decrepit factory.
"Mind control?" Martha whispered as she listened.
"No, no, no, no. Subtler than that." The alien shook the fist clutching the mobile. "Strong-willed people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, 'Vote Saxon. Believe in me.' Whispering to the world."
Ianto wondered why everyone in Torchwood wasn't compelled to do the same. Ianto groaned ruefully. He scrubbed his face with both hands.
"We'd never switched to Archangel," Ianto explained. At Martha and the Doctor's baffled looks, Ianto shrugged.
"We never submitted the paperwork. Jack…" Ianto cleared his throat. His mouth curled to a tiny smile. "He liked the idea of having his own satellite if everyone else switched." Although Ianto suspected it was more that Jack loathed doing the paperwork.
The Doctor scoffed. He paused and gave Ianto a look, his eyes sliding sideways to Jack before he fiddled with his mobile some more and began to read out loud Ms. Vivian Rook's Archangel document.
Ianto checked next to him and was dismayed to see Jack looking a little dazed. Ianto moved his hand back over his leg, heartened to see Jack's eyes clear on contact.
Glazed blue turned towards him.
"All right?" Ianto murmured, his brow furrowed.
Jack gave him a shaky smile. His fingers slid up to cover Ianto's.
The Doctor suddenly made an odd little jump as if he was electrocuted.
"Oh! Yes! That's how he hid himself from me 'cause I should've sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth!" The Doctor waved his hands madly, one holding the mobile, the other his sonic tool. "I should've known way back, but the signal cancelled him out."
Jack roused further. "Any way we can stop it?"
The Doctor pursed his lips as he considered the laptop, his brow twitching. "Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it."
"And we can fight back?" Martha asked, excited.
The Doctor's grin was a flash of white in the dark. "Oh yes!"
It was the first real glimmer of hope since their return to the 21st century. Martha watched the Doctor dismantle her laptop with little regret. Jack and Ianto were pulling chips and boards off her laptop. At least they looked like they knew what they were doing. Martha was simply passing over tools the Doctor pointed at.
"Ah."
Okay, that didn't sound good. "What is it?" Martha leaned over to peer over the Doctor's shoulder at the piles of what was her computer.
The Doctor made a show of pointing and counting. He waved his finger up and down like a conductor's wand towards them.
"Four of us." The Doctor held up a key in each hand—his and Martha's.
"Two keys," Martha counted. She still wasn't sure why the Doctor needed keys but even she could see the problem.
"Three," Jack corrected. He lifted up his left boot up. "Never knew if my key would be taken away and I get…" A weird expression crossed his face. "…locked out."
Martha gaped as Jack twisted the low heel on his boot to reveal a tiny compartment. Out dropped a very familiar looking piece of metal. Jack hesitated, the key in his fist before he handed it over to the Doctor.
The Doctor accepted the key with a solemn expression. "I promise, you will get this back," he told Jack quite seriously.
Surprise and gratitude flashed across Jack's face but he covered it with a curt nod.
"Then…" Martha glanced over to Ianto, seated next to the captain and glowering at Jack.
"I'm coming with you," Ianto declared. He locked glares with Jack.
"Three keys," Jack pointed out. "It'll be saf—"
Ianto narrowed his eyes. "I don't care."
"Ah, we do have this!" the Doctor spoke up and pulled out something out of his pocket with a flourish.
"Great," Jack grumbled.
Martha cringed at the tiny square crystal. "I can't believe you kept that thing." Martha shuddered. At least the blood was wiped clean.
"It was patched into the Archangel network before. That's why there was a backlash when we tried to remove it. For whatever reason it was used, we could use it like the keys to imitate the signal's signature, use our pieces as carriers, not preferable but unless I can get a mass duplicator, there's no way I can—"
"All right!" Ianto looked comical waving his hands at the Doctor, halting yet another one of his tangents. "Will it work or not?"
The Doctor pursed his lips at the interruption. If Martha didn't know any better, Martha could have sworn that looked like a pout.
"I think it will," Martha added hastily before the two go at it again.
Jack was staring at what the Doctor held.
"Arcateen."
Martha wrinkled her nose. "Huh?"
Jack nodded bleakly at it. "The Do—Master and I were at Arcateen at one point and he was bringing back those into the TARDIS. I think he installed one in her."
The Doctor darkened and he held up the crystal between his index and thumb.
"Would explain how he was able to control her. It reads thoughts and can transmit and impose thoughts as well," the Doctor muttered. "Otherwise she would have fought him, every last circuit of her."
Martha, out of the corner of her eye, saw Ianto drop a hand on Jack's shoulder. There was that overwhelming feeling again that she wasn't being told everything.
The Doctor startled her by clapping all of the sudden. "Right. History! Moving on! So three keys, one circuit bibbly bobby thing here, one, two, three, four of us. The mathematics is sound! Hah! We're almost there although a spot of tea would be perfect—No, no, no, Martha, they used teabags. I can taste the twigs and the little crawly things that…"
"Geez, he really hasn't changed one bit," Jack grumbled, but there was a weird little smile on his face. "This regeneration looks young though."
"Not that young," Ianto muttered. He shot Martha an exasperated look.
The Doctor scoffed and went back to doing whatever he was going.
It was a long few minutes of work again. She didn't dare call Leo again. She caught Ianto constantly reaching for his phone, only to abort it, his face crumbled in barely hidden anguish. Martha drifted over to him and sat to his right. Ianto pressed his mouth together but nodded when she rubbed his right arm up and down.
The Doctor, absorbed in what he was doing, muttered to himself, as he squinted through his eyepiece and jabbed with his screwdriver. He began ignoring them. Martha rolled her eyes. Typical.
Jack, after watching the Doctor for a time, silently passing him tools, cleared his throat. "Doctor."
The Doctor squinted through his spectacles at Jack.
"I'm sorry."
The Doctor's brow rose above his glasses.
Jack took a deep breath. "Battle at Canary Wharf. I…I saw the list of the dead."
Still puzzled, the Doctor's forehead lined.
As if talking to a child, Jack lowered his voice. "It said Rose Tyler."
The Doctor's eyes widen. "Oh no, sorry! She's alive!"
Jack started. "You're kidding!"
The Doctor beamed. "Parallel world. Safe and sound. And Mickey. And her mother!"
It was like someone had turned on a light. Jack grinned broadly, his eyes laser blue with amazement. He surged up to his feet, shouting "Oh yes!" before he hugged the Doctor. The Doctor looked both pleased and startled at the same time as he thumped Jack's back soundly.
"Good old Rose," Ianto muttered under his breath. His shoulders slumped even though he was still smiling at Jack.
Martha looked at the men jump apart awkwardly but still grinning like it was Christmas and Martha offered Ianto a sympathetic shrug.
"You too, huh?" Martha murmured.
Ianto would only sigh.
Standing at a secured airstrip on Heathrow, Ianto resisted fingering the key looped around his neck again.
Remarkable, Ianto thought as he spied the key hanging around Jack and Martha's neck. The Doctor elected to wear the crystal. Insisted, actually.
UNIT soldiers and anonymous people dressed in dark suits walked past him. Like the invisible lift, they were ignored as they stood there like Jack's suggested ghosts. They made no sounds, no sudden moves and just watched the dark SUV stop in front of a plane.
Ianto could feel Jack tensing next to him when Saxon climbed out of the vehicle, his wife close. Ianto swallowed back a growl as Saxon strolled across the tarmac with an openly bemused smirk.
The sneer, that arrogant little—Ianto grit his teeth. He was just across from him. A quick dash's reach.
Fingers quietly wrapped around his left hand. Ianto lifted his heavy head and looked at Jack.
"Jack," Ianto croaked.
Jack said nothing, his eyes tracking Saxon were like hard flints, hooded and cold. Jack squeezed Ianto's fingers and Ianto understood. Ianto gulped but stayed where he was.
"Oh my God…"
Ianto turned back towards the runway. There was the police van again, Saxon greeting the exiting prisoners with childish glee. Lucy Saxon stood meters away, clapping as her husband taunted Martha's father.
"Don't move," the Doctor warned.
"But—"
"Don't!"
Anguished brown eyes watched as the Jones family was prodded up a private jet.
"I'm gonna kill him," Martha whimpered. She stared at her mother, her lower lip trembling.
"What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack offered tightly.
Ianto pressed Jack's fingers in agreement.
"Now that sounds like Torchwood." The Doctor turned and frowned at Jack with disapproval.
"Still a good plan," Ianto muttered darkly.
Jack's shoulder bumped him but he kept his narrowed gaze at Saxon.
Ianto could feel the time traveler's eyes on them both.
"He's a Time Lord," the Doctor exhaled. "Which makes him my responsibility."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ianto hissed.
Jack sounded resigned when he answered instead. "It means he's not here to kill him."
The Doctor nodded, his face determined, fixed on Saxon as he and his wife boarded a small jet.
"I'm here to save him."
Jack made a strangled noise. Ianto suspected it was suppose to be a laugh.
"Ianto was able to pull the flight plan of that plane that took the others out of Martha's computer. It said Valiant." Jack tugged Ianto's wrist close to him and if it meant Ianto was pulled closer to Jack, Ianto didn't object.
"Might be where they're all going," Ianto agreed.
"Aircraft carrier Valiant, that's a UNIT ship," Jack calculated as he cradled Ianto's arm and punched in the coordinates.
"How do we get on board?" Martha whispered.
"Does that thing work as a transport?" the Doctor leaned in.
"Since you revamped it," Jack confirmed. The wrist strap beeped and they all looked up nervously, but most of Saxon's entourage had board save Saxon, still standing on the runaway. "Coordinates set," Jack reported. He looked over to Ianto with a crooked smile.
"Last chance."
Ianto pressed his mouth together and clasped Jack's hand holding his wrist. The Doctor slapped his hand over the wrist strap, then Martha.
They all looked at each other. They nodded as one. Jack tapped a button and the familiar weightlessness took over.
Just before everything turned to brilliant light, the last thing Ianto thought he saw was Saxon turning to stare right at him and smile.
Act VIII
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Comments
Lmao! I never thought of it that way... ^^
C'mon, Doc, give Jack a tiny bit of credit. Torchwood's better now then it was with Yvonne... >_<
Just before everything turned to brilliant light, the last thing Ianto thought he saw was Saxon turning to stare right at him and smile.
That line really got me. I was spooked when I watched SoTD and this scene came up, I thought for certain Saxon would see through the perception filters and see them.... :(
Anyway, I love the Janto interaction in this chapter. Especially Jack's thinking about Ianto's being "ruffled" as hot. There's our Jack! You can't keep him down no matter what! Or so I hope... what with a certain year coming up and all...
and I hope you feel better!
Well, Jack will have help this time so who knows?
Oh, he did though, didn't he? He just wanted them all to follow him up onto the ship!
You know, that's veeery interesting point you just made because when i rewatched TSOD, there was a moment Saxon did stand there, looking about the airstrip and while he didn't smile, we now know he can see them. :)
Poor Jack. I mean I say it a lot, but this really is a spectacular job of raising the stakes on his plight. It's pretty hard to put him in peril, but you did it so well.
I don't know how interesting you'll find it, but I thought we might discuss ships sometime. I think there's an interesting little dynamic in where the lines get drawn, and which pairings seem to naturally coexist and which don't. For me personally, I came into Who with "The Empty Child/Doctor Dances" and then immediately saw episode 1 of Torchwood. So I started shipping Jack/Doctor with glee because I had no idea about the general "sex-less" Doctor rules for the show and I was so delighted to see a show where a person like Jack existed. On Torchwood, I almost psychically picked out Jack/Ianto, because it was clear to me at that point that Jack could be shipped with multiple people and that if he was going to be around forever, he eventually would be. But I also think he's capable of monogamy, which a lot of people disagree with, because I don't think "openness" to with whom you'd have sex has to be the same as having no concept of commitment... Anyway, that was probably unnecessary, but I wanted to see what you thought since it's a question in my head and I really respect your insight and thoughtfulness on these characters. I know that, on the show, Jack will never get the kind of closure with the Doctor I'd like him to have. The fact that Jack waited for him is SUCH a powerful statement, and the Doctor barely gives it any notice in the canon. In fact one of my favorite things about The Oncoming Storm is that a lot of unspoken things get mentioned, stuff RTD kinda left hanging are kept relevant in the way that any realistic version of the characters would have to be. So I guess again, thank you.
After the saga that was orginally just a fic -lol- I might take a few weeks break, play with one shots in the other series of TW, theeeeeen maybe a sequel. Maybe...
But I also think he's capable of monogamy, which a lot of people disagree with, because I don't think "openness" to with whom you'd have sex has to be the same as having no concept of commitment...
It's funny you should say that. I think Jack can commit, one lifetime at a time because you're right, he'll be around forever, so tied to just one is unrealistic, but IMHO, he can do monogamy during his mate/partner's lifetime. He's 'open' not an ass. :)
In TOS at least, Jack, because of the time spent on Dr. Master's couch :D, shies away from commitment. Ianto has him thinking about it again. Yes, he was in love with the Doctor, but here, because of all he's been through, the definition of the Doctor for him is slowly beginning to change...
Exactly. I mean his parents clearly had some form of stable relationship/sharing the house and all, and we didn't see any others... It's not like the 51st century was just a bunch of people all on their own.
Oh yeah. It's almost a shame that your characters are so much better written, because I'm going to start being disappointed when people in the show aren't as deep. XD
LOL, thank you. I'll take that as a compliment. :)
LOL I think you already did. :)
I love Ianto's support of Jack, no matter how he acted or what he said.
-wince- Ouch. Know how you feel. I finally had to stop and lie down myself. Feel better, hon.
The Time Lord, nonplussed, didn't miss a beat. "Superior lung capacity."
Loved that line =)
I think you could probably bump up your score a bit, honey ... maybe TOS/headache:1, d8rkmessngr:so impossibly high that even considering the notion that she will ever be defeated is laughable.
Just wanted to say that I love your take on Ianto. He stares wide-eyed at the dark, never closing his eyes or looking away, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much his soul screams at it, because he needs to know what's been done to Jack so he can help make it right. That's love =)
Now if the lad could only tell Jack. :D
-shivers-
Congrats, you win the award for creepiest line ever.
-shudders-
This fic is too amazing for words, you know. Why are you not writing the Torchwood series? :(
-fans self- Oh, this was so unexpected! I would like t thak my parents for taking me to all those horror movies, my hubby, my...
LOL, Thanks, hin!
I think Jack wishes Time Lords carry id like the rest of us though. LOL
Wow! Thank you! :)
Excellent how you take through the different emotions to finally accept the Doctor is real.
Poor Ianto, wants to be there every step to protect Jack.
"You too, huh?" Martha murmured.
That was too funny! I could see the eye roll!
Thanks! I think poor Jack was just like wary of yet another person claiming to be the Doctor. :)
Wow, I'm flattered. I'm learning so much from everyone else!
I love the sympathy Martha and Ianto have for each other. They both are coming from such similar places, being rather hopelessly in love with people who, on the surface at least, seem to consider them substitutes or second best. Except for the fact that Jack and Ianto really do have that sort of loving relationship- especially in this universe.
It's going to be really interesting to see your take on the last part of the season three finale, however, especially the scene where the Master dies in the Doctor's arms. I think if there's a moment Jack ever began to let go of his devotion to the Doctor, then it was then I mean, watching the person who is arguably the love of your life cry of someone who tortured you the death repeatedly, especially after waiting for said person for a century and a half has got to take a toll somehow.
I can't wait until Monday!
They better if I have anything to say about it. LOL
I loved the Janto interaction. Especially when Ianto was was feeding Jack the fish and chips.
I can't wait til Monday! I have the day off so I'll be religously refreshing my flist! LOL! ;D
It was either fish and chips or grapes. But I want togas if the latter. LOL
Good to know! Thank you! :)
It's a good thing i'm on holiday, cause I just spent the last two days reading this story. Are you really going to make us wait until monday for the next part?
*is a sad git*
*crawls away from computer to locate water, food and sleep, in that order*
No, no, only until tonight, EST or tomorrow morning (Thursday) your time. :)
LOL. Not long. Just the weekend. I needed to write some fluff, give my mind a mental break from the fic so I can go back to it with a more steadier handle.
i've heard patience is a virtue - i guess now is a good as time as ever to see if i can discover it for myself ;-)