Title: Life, Death, and the In-Between
By: nixa_jane
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: R
Summary: Ianto's got to learn to live, and Jack's got life to spare.

"She's crazy," Owen said. "It's three in the goddamn morning."

"Suzie's just dedicated," Ianto told him, one foot up on the dash as Owen drove, he wasn't sure he completely believed that, but if possible he tried to cut Owen's rants off at the start.

He'd actually been at the Hub himself, when they received the reports of some kind of crash--a meteor, the frantic civilians had said. He'd been drinking his tenth cup of coffee, trying to talk himself out of putting his files in alphabetical order again (he was sure he'd seen a Giovanni under T, Owen did it just to annoy him, he was sure of it), so he wasn't quite as distraught as Owen.

He was actually glad of the distraction.

"You know what it probably is?" Owen demanded. "It's probably another fucking kite."

"That was only the once," Ianto told him reasonably. "And it was strange the way it caught fire like that."

Owen pursed his lips. "I miss my last partner," he told him. "You're too bloody logical for my mental health."

"Your last partner went crazy and tried to blow up the base," Ianto said.

"Yeah, but at least he showed a little emotion, now and then, didn't he?" Owen asked.

Ianto sighed and looked back out the window. That was actually something of a pattern with Torchwood employees. The ones that didn't beg to be retconned more often than not ended up in their own company morgue. Ianto wasn't really worried about himself.

The best part of his life had died in Lisa a year ago at Torchwood One, and he'd moved on, gone on, but he still didn't really feel like he had much to lose. He'd put in for a transfer after Torchwood One went up in smoke for field work and trained himself to shoot a gun--he'd needed it, that bit of adventure, something he'd never really quite grasped the need for before.

"Holy shit," Owen shouted. "It is! It's a spaceship!"

Ianto quickly looked outside, surprised to see a spaceship sitting there beside a barn that was roughly the same size, still smoking a little, a bit banged up but not much worse for the wear. There was a man standing outside it with a frown on his face and his hands in his pockets, wearing suspenders, a greatcoat folded over one arm.

Owen and Ianto walked over to join him, trying not to gap to obviously at the alien ship. "You the one that called this in?" Owen asked the man.

The man turned to them, sizing them up for a moment before breaking out into a wide grin. He held out a hand. "Captain Jack Harkness," he said. "Pleased to meet you."

Owen shook his hand briefly and Ianto politely did the same, thinking all the while that something was slightly out of place. "Sir," Ianto started. "We think it would be best if you head on home now. We'll handle this."

"Oh, will you now?" Jack asked. "And how do you intend to handle it? What are you anyway? The Men in Black? It is the Men in Black, right? Will Smith? Am I right?"

"We're Torchwood," Owen said smugly, before Ianto could motion him not to. Owen still hadn't quite grasped the top-secret thing three years going.

"Oh, you're Torchwood," Jack said. "Well that changes everything."

"You've heard of us?" Ianto asked.

"Sure," Jack said. "Didn't you lot almost destroy the world once?"

Owen glared at him. "Who the hell are you?" he asked.

Jack threw them his grin again. "Captain Jack Harkness," he said. "Didn't we do this part?"

"Captain of what, exactly?" Ianto demanded.

"Well, lots of things," Jack told them. "Most recently, this ship."

"This is your spaceship?" Owen snapped. "Why the hell didn't you say so?"

"It's not like you asked," Jack told him. "I should have thought it was obvious."

"But you don't look alien," Owen said, pulling out a scanner and running it over Jack, much to Jack's amusement.

"What's that now?" he asked, leaning over it. "You get that at Toys R Us?"

"He's human," Owen told Ianto, ignoring Jack. "Or at least, I think he is."

"Of course I'm human," Jack said. "I always forget to mention that part in my introductions."

"We're going to have to take you in for questioning, you understand," Ianto told him. "And we'll have to confiscate your ship."

Jack grinned. "Oh, really?" Behind him, the ship shimmered and disappeared. "Well, you're welcome to do whatever you'd like with me--" and this is said with very little subtlety at all "--but I'm afraid the ship's off limits. She doesn't much like strangers, anyway, so really, I'm doing you a favor."

"What do you mean she doesn't like strangers?" Owen demanded. "It's a ship."

"Ships have feelings too," Jack said defensively.

Owen frowned and walked over to where the ship had been, smacking right into it with a dull thunk and then falling on his ass. Jack frowned. Ianto's lips twitched but he said nothing. "You're going to dent her!" Jack whined. "Look, you'll never get in her. She's designed to respond only to me. You mess with her and she'll only self destruct."

Angry, Owen pulled out his gun. "You're trying to blow up the Earth?"

"Did I say that?" Jack asked. "I don't think I said that." He turned to Ianto. "Did I say that?"

"Not exactly, no," Ianto said.

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Owen asked him. "Get in the car. Ianto, get in the back with him and watch him."

Jack got in the car without putting up a fight and even put on his seatbelt, something Ianto noticed with amusement before doing the same. Owen just glared at them both from the rearview mirror and started driving back to Torchwood.

"Ha!" Jack said, laughing. "You've got TVs in your car. Is this so you can watch your...what is it...your soaps on the way to work?"

"They're computers," Ianto said wryly, pushing his hands away from the controls. "And don't make me cuff you."

Jack grinned. "That actually sounds like fun, you got a pair on you?"

Ianto gave a wry little grin. "You're being highly inappropriate," he said.

"There's nothing wrong with being inappropriate," Jack told him.

"Inappropriate, by its very definition--"

Jack cut him off with a wicked grin and a leer. "Inappropriate can be all kinds of fun, if you're doing it right."

"I don't want to be hearing this!" Owen called from the front seat.

"You're not going to autopsy me or anything like that, are you?" Jack asked. "I've seen your movies. I know the kind of stuff you get up to."

"Nothing like that," Ianto reassured him. "We're just going to ask you some questions, and then kindly suggest you leave our planet."

"Yeah, that or we're going to steal your spaceship cause I've been wanting one for years," Owen said.

"You walked into my ship and fell on your ass and you think you can fly it?" Jack asked.

"You're lucky we're here," Owen said, as he pulled to a stop, "or I might have done something you'd regret."

Owen jumped out, leaving Ianto to deal with Jack, and Jack turned to him with a grin. "Alone at last," he said. "Now what are you going to do with me?"

Ianto grabbed his wrists and snapped his cuffs around them before opening the door and pulling Jack out. "This is a little public for me," Jack said, "but if you're into that kind of thing--"

Jack trailed off as Ianto pulled him onto a cobblestone by the water tower, Owen standing right beside them, and they started to sink down. Jack gave a sly grin. "Perception filter," he said knowingly. "Smart."

"You've seen one before?" Ianto asked.

"I know what made this one," Jack told him.

----

Suzie Costello watched the footage from the cell over the rim of her glasses. "He doesn't look very alien, does he?"

"He's not, according to the scans," Owen said. "One heart, in the right place, along with everything else. And he apparently knows his movies."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything, though," Tosh said. "We all remember Mary, I'm sure."

"He seems mostly harmless," Owen said in conclusion. "And while he seems as intent on getting laid as that sex mist we had to deal with awhile back, I don't think he's actually here to take over the planet."

"Still, we can't have people crash landing in our backyard, even if they are human," Suzie said, "which we still don't for sure, and can't ever really prove, honestly."

"What are you suggesting?" Tosh asked, frowning. "We can confiscate his ship, I'm sure I could figure out a way to disable his cloak, but he hasn't really done anything wrong and we can't just keep him here--"

"Until further notice, we absolutely can," Suzie said. "Make him comfortable if you want, but Jack Harkness isn't to leave that cell."

Tosh bit her lip and even Owen looked uncomfortable, but Suzie didn't seem to notice, as she walked distracted away.

-----

"Lovely accommodations you got here," Jack said, as he fell back on the only bench in the room. "It's really putting me right at ease. The water damage is a nice touch. Gives that extra homey feel."

Ianto fought another grin, and leaned against the glass door to the cell. "It's only temporary," he assured. "We just have to make sure you aren't planning an invasion."

"Look," Jack said, "destroying the Earth would be a very stupid move on my part, since it would undoubtedly result in me never having been born."

"Are you saying you're from the future?" Ianto asked.

"Again, I thought that was obvious," Jack said. "I'm really going to have to add in a lot more to my introductions so we can avoid these kinds of misunderstandings." He grinned. "Captain Jack Harkness. Human. From the 51st Century. Stopped by to see a Doctor and nearly crash-landed on a cow. It's a pleasure."

"51st Century?" Ianto asked, intrigued, leaning closer. "You look the same as us. I guess evolution has kind of stalled then?"

"Oh, we don't all look like this," Jack says. "You should meet Cassandra. Though I'm not sure that's improvement...even I wouldn't flirt with her."

Ianto shook his head, bemused. "You came from the future, to see a Doctor?"

"Well, not just any Doctor," Jack said. "He's not really from around these parts either, he just likes to vacation here."

"Of course," Ianto said smoothly. "And you like to vacation here?"

"I'm rather fond of World War II myself, actually," Jack said.

Ianto eyed his attire. "Ah," he said. "I should have guessed."

"I could take you there sometime, if you'd like," Jack said suggestively.

"I think I'll stick to just reading a history book," Ianto said. "Less chance of dying horribly."

"Less chance of really living, too," Jack said, and grinned.

"Ianto."

Jack glanced to the side at the new voice, but couldn't see anything from inside the cell.

"I'd like to talk to our guest. Alone. Why don't you, Owen and Tosh go back and see if you can get into that ship?"

"That wouldn't be a good idea--" Jack said quickly, turning to lock eyes with Ianto. "I wasn't kidding, it's dangerous, please, look, I'll show you, okay?"

Ianto looked back at Suzie. "If he's--"

"I've given my orders," Suzie said briskly. "Go."

With one last look back at Jack, Ianto did. Jack waited for the owner of the voice to appear, surprised to see such a beautiful woman, but not really in the mood to introduce himself, for once. "You have no idea what you're doing," he says.

"You act like I actually care about that ship," she tells him, kneeling down and opening a briefcase. She gently takes out a metal glove, cradling it like a lover. "I don't. I'm not here to question to you."

-----

Watching Tosh move one direction and then spin in the other, small device held out in front of her, and Owen wandering the field, arms held out in front of him like he was stumbling in the dark was actually kind of amusing, but Ianto was too on edge to take much pleasure in it.

He couldn't place what it was, maybe it was what Suzie had said before he'd left, or the way she'd said it, or maybe it was the case she'd been holding in her hands.

"We've been here long enough," Ianto said suddenly, getting the attention of the others. "We're not getting anywhere. Jack's already offered to help us. This is a waste of time."

"Oh, it's Jack now, is it? Work fast, don't you?" Owen asked, but he got in the car. This time Ianto drove, and didn't stop for any of the lights.

-----

Jack backed away from the glass, eyes narrowed as Suzie slipped her hand into the glove. "What is that?" he asked.

"It gives life," Suzie said reverently. "At least, it's supposed to. First time we tried it, it turned a corpse to dust. The others wanted to lock it away, but I've got it figured out now."

"Oh yeah?" Jack asked cautiously.

Suzie looked up, meeting his eyes with a manic gleam in hers. "It's like a battery. Got to be charged up, get it?"

"I'm starting to," Jack said, glancing to both sides. The cell was bare, nothing he could use to his advantage but his own two hands.

"It's got to take life first, store it up," Suzie continued. "Then it will work, they'll see."

"And you're going to use me to charge it?" Jack asked.

Suzie looked up, and then sadly away. "Well, I've got to, haven't I? No choice, really, not when you think about it, and no one's going to miss you, you know, no one knows you're here."

"And your friends?" Jack asked. "They know about this?"

"I'll say you died, or that I let you go, depending on how much time I have to clean up after," Suzie said. "Stranger things happen all the time. They won't question me."

"Someone really ought to," Jack said. "Cause you're sounding a little crazy to me."

"Oh, you're going to fight me, aren't you?" Suzie asked, looking disturbed. "I hate when they fight me, you know. It's so much easier when all they do is beg. I can block that out."

Suzie got to her feet, the glove on her right hand, and then she pulled out a pistol with her left. She hit the release on the door and shot him in the chest before he had a chance to move. Jack hit the back of the cell, looking down at the wound in disbelief, the spreading circle of blood and the sick sick feeling of everything slipping away. He lost his balance, and fell gracelessly to the floor.

Oh, he's done this. He's done this before. Everyone's only ever supposed to have to once.

Suzie walked over to him, kneeled down, making odd out of place soothing noises and saying, "I'm sorry about this, really I am." Then she reached down and ran the metal fingers through his hair, and Jack could feel it tugging him, pulling him where it's dark and cold, and so so familiar.

She didn't let go until his heart had stopped, so she was a little surprised when not thirty seconds later, he took a long gasping breath and reopened his eyes.

-----

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Owen asked.

Ianto ignored him, jumped out of the SUV and went back down to the Hub, not bothering to wait for Tosh or Owen. They could catch the next lift down. When he reached the cells Suzie was standing in the middle of the hall, pale and still, staring into the cell.

He cautiously walked closer. "Suzie?" he said.

"He attacked me," she said, turning to face him. "He did, I had no choice."

Ianto really didn't want to look, because he remembered other bodies, other situations like this, getting stranger all the time, and he didn't want to have another body to clean up--especially not the body of someone human, someone he'd actually liked.

But Jack's eyes were open when he finally looked in. He was in the corner of the cell, bracing himself on either side of the wall, but his shirt was drenched in blood and when Ianto looked closer he saw Suzie had it all over her hands.

"What happened?" Ianto demanded.

"I shot him," Suzie said. "And it didn't kill him. I don't think he's human after all."

Jack was pale, and obviously unable to stand on his own. "He needs help," Ianto said, reaching for the door.

Suzie grabbed his wrist before he could hit the release. "He's dangerous. This floor's off limits, from now on, while he's here."

Ianto bristled. "You shot him," he said. "Owen needs to look at him, at least."

"It's gone," Suzie said. "Don't you get it? There's no wound anymore. He healed. He didn't die."

Ianto looked back at Jack, frowning. Jack had fallen back to the floor, one hand pressed to his forehead and the other still on the wall, and he was breathing heavily, but Ianto could see through the bullet hole in Jack's shirt to a small circle of clear, unmarked skin.

"He's just proven himself as hostile," Suzie said. "I don't want any of you down here. Do you understand me, Ianto? I'll handle him myself."

Ianto nodded, vaguely, eyes intent on that patch of skin--Jack looked up then, and his eyes looked so terrified, and lost, and if Suzie hadn't taken him by the arm and pulled him behind her Ianto's sure he wouldn't have been able to move away on his own.

-----

Owen and Tosh have long since gone home but Ianto couldn't seem to bring himself to leave. He broke into Tosh's computer and brought up the CCTV footage, but someone had deleted all the footage from when they were gone, and it was easy to figure out who.

Ianto wandered the halls, so tempted to go to that cell again, to ask Jack what had happened. He wasn't sure he believed Suzie. She'd been increasingly unstable lately, and though Ianto was always loathe to agree with Owen, crazy was the right word.

Ianto moved out of sight when he heard the sound of her clicking heels, and watched as she went by, moving to the staircase, her large metal case in hand. Softly, Ianto moved to follow her. The lights down here were flickering--always did, no matter how many times Ianto replaced the bulbs.

Tosh said it was the rift that did it.

Ianto wasn't surprised when Suzie made her way straight to the holding cells, and stopped in front of Jack's, setting the case down. Ianto couldn't see Jack from here, but when Suzie spoke, he heard her easily.

"I thought maybe it had finished charging, that maybe it was what brought you back to life," Suzie said, shaking her head. "So I tried it on another body in the morgue, but it was no good, just turned them to bone, then dust. It should have killed you. Why didn't it?"

"I don't know," Jack said.

"You have to know," she said. "What are you?"

"I'm human," Jack said quietly, not just to convince her.

"Humans die," Suzie said. "And you don't seem to, but if you're so certain, then maybe we ought to try this again."

Ianto moved out from the shadows, shouting, when Suzie pulled out a gun, but too late--by the time he reached her, she'd already placed the muzzle through one of the air holes in the glass and shot Jack point blank in the chest.

Suzie looked at him like she couldn't quite believe he was there. "I sent you home," she said.

"You shot him!" Ianto screamed. "What are you--"

Suzie just raised her gun and aimed it at him, hitting the release on the cell door. "Get inside," she said.

Ianto went, if only so he could drop down beside Jack. He was still alive, gasping for breath, and Ianto pulled his head into his lap. "It's okay," he said, "It's okay."

"You're ruining everything," Suzie said. "Now I'm going to have to kill you too."

Ianto looked up at her, eyes blazing. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I have to," she said, lifting the glove from the glass and delicately putting it on. "I have to make it work. You're sweet, Ianto, but I don't expect you to understand."

She looked up, eyes unfocused, and aimed the gun at him again. "Move away from him," she said.

"No," Ianto said, even as he felt Jack's grip on his sleeve go limp, his breath stop cold. He only held on tighter, because he should've known, should've seen well before this--how many of these prisoners that died mysteriously had been because of her?

How long had he been covering for a murderer?

"Fine," Suzie said. "You'll do, I suppose."

And then she reached out, and grabbed him with the glove. Ianto screamed at the contact--it felt like pure electricity, and lights flashed behind his eyes before it started going dark. The contact stopped almost as quickly, and Ianto pushed himself away, gasping.

Jack was back on his feet, fighting with Suzie for the glove, but all she did was reach out and touch him again. Jack went pale almost at once, his fingers loosing their grip, falling away as he crashed into the wall.

Ianto saw Suzie's gun a few feet away, forgotten, heard her laughing, Jack fighting to breathe. Ianto taught himself to shoot.

He gripped the pistol and raised the gun. He never missed the targets, and he didn't miss now, either. Suzie stood there for a moment, a look of total disbelief on her face, and then she just tumbled down, missing most of the back of her head.

"Oh god," Jack said. "Oh god--"

And then Ianto dropped the gun and surrendered to the dark.

-----

Ianto came back, filled with a strange kind of warmth, not at all as disturbed as he should have been to find someone was kissing him. The someone pulled back and grinned at him, bangs falling into his eyes, and said, "Welcome back. Had me worried there, for a minute."

"You were kissing me," Ianto said.

"Seemed the thing to do," Jack said, helping him up. "You had saved my life and all, and the heroes always get a kiss."

"I seem to recall you doing most of the life saving," Ianto said.

"There was more than enough heroics to go around, that's true," Jack said, and grinned. "We're both extremely impressive."

Then Ianto saw Suzie, laying in the doorway like a broken doll, the glove still on her hand. "I'm sorry," he said, turning to Jack. "I never should have brought you here."

"I did almost kill a cow," Jack said. "These things have to be investigated, I get it, though I'd rather hoped you'd be the one doing the interrogating."

"This is going to be investigated," Ianto said. "They're going to come in and interrogate me, and you, too. They're going to want to know everything that happened. Probably retconn us all in the end."

Ianto took a deep breath, then grinned at Jack. "What do you say we get the hell out of here before that happens?"

Jack laughed, and reached out to grab Ianto's hand. "Best idea I've heard since I got here," he said.

They took the SUV back to Jack's ship, and Jack had put on his greatcoat, mostly hiding his bloody and torn shirt. Ianto followed him slowly, and watched in a bit of awe as the ship slowly shimmered back in sight. "Where will you go?" Ianto asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Jack said. "Anywhere I want, I suppose."

"What about your doctor?" Ianto asked.

Jack looked away sadly. "I'll find him someday," he said. "Not really in the mood to chase him down anymore, at the moment."

Ianto nodded, though he didn't really understand at all. "I really am sorry about this," he said. "It's not why I joined Torchwood. It's not what we're really about."

"It's not what you're about," Jack corrected. "Don't get the two mixed up or you'll forget what you're fighting for."

The hatch to the ship lowered slowly, though Ianto hadn't seen Jack trigger anything to get it to do it.

"Be careful, Jack Harkness," Ianto told him. "And try not to crash land in Cardiff again."

"It is beginning to be a bit of a habit," Jack said, grinning. He gave Ianto a quick salute and then started up the steps, stopping only two up and spinning back around, walking back over to Ianto and pulling him into another kiss.

This wasn't like the last time, not a plea and prayer for Ianto to come back. It was soft and urgent and desperate, and Ianto lost himself to it, almost forgetting to pull back so he could breathe.

"Come with me," Jack said, breathless.

"What?" Ianto said, bemused. "No, I can't--"

"Why not?" Jack asked. "What's keeping you here?"

Ianto had just shot his boss dead and Owen never really liked him anyway, Tosh was nice enough but she wasn't a reason to stay, and now that Ianto was thinking about it, he realized he didn't have one. He smiled, and Jack laughed, taking his hand again and tugging him behind him.

Ianto had signed on to Torchwood for adventure, after all. He figured if he stuck with Captain Jack, he'd find more than enough of it.