Title: Old Town New
By: ebonyfeather
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack / Ianto
Summary: Five years after leaving, Jack and Ianto return to find a lot of changes and few old faces. Follows on from Eternity - probably best to read that first.
Spoilers: Post Children of Earth, but only minor ones.

***

The moment they had set foot back on Earth, the insistent bleeping had begun from Jack's wristband. Jack smiled; he knew exactly what it was and who had sent it. They had been gone for almost five years by Earth timelines but he knew that they would be waiting. He and Ianto had felt it was time to return, both feeling that they'd had enough time to work through the awful events of those five days, where Jack had lost his grandson and, from his decision, his daughter, and Ianto had lost his life.

 

Jack had given that back to him, though, no matter how different from his old life it was. Ianto was immortal now, or as near to it as Jack was, and that knowledge that he had all the time in the world had let him live in ways he had never dared before. Jack had shown him new planets, had quite literally given him the stars, but now it was time to return to where they belonged. There were people here that they had left behind.

 

"Ready?" Jack asked, checking the wristband's screen again.

 

Ianto nodded, taking the hand that Jack offered as they walked through the streets of Cardiff. This was such a change from where he had been yesterday, a noisy, crowded transport ship on which they had hitched a ride home.

 

The little blue dot on the wristband was still flashing on the tiny street map, showing them their path, until eventually they stopped in front of an office building.

 

"Are you sure this is the place?" Ianto asked, eyeing the modern glass and steel structure.

 

Jack nodded, pushing open the door to go inside. There were no advertisements or publicity for what the building housed, just a smiling young woman sitting behind a reception desk that blocked their way, making it impossible for anyone to get by without her knowledge.

 

"Good morning, gentlemen," she said."My name is Alison. How may I help you?"

 

Jack frowned at her. If this really was the place then he was used to just letting himself in. Ianto, however, smiled back.

 

"Captain Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones, Torchwood."

 

Her smile never faltered but her eyes widened a little in surprise."I do beg your pardon, sirs." She picked up the phone and made a quick call before typing something into her computer. She handed them each a security swipe-card."You need lift number two, just back there. The cards will give you full access."

 

Ianto nodded, thanking her and heading for the lift. As soon as he swiped his card in the reader, the lift set off, automatically stopping at the first floor.

 

"JACK! IANTO!"

 

Ianto turned just in time to see Gwen come running and launch herself at them, dragging each of them in turn into a rib-cracking hug. She grabbed them both by the hand and started walking in the direction she'd come from.

 

"Oh my God! I can't believe you're back. It is so good to see you both; after that last time I wasn't sure if you were ever coming back."

 

She led them into a large lounge-like room, with huge windows almost entirely covering one wall. As they walked in, both Jack and Ianto had to stop and do a double-take.

 

"Hello Jack. Eye-candy."

 

Jack glanced at Gwen."What is he doing here?"

 

Captain John Hart sighed, looking offended."I work here, thank you very much."

 

"I needed someone with alien knowledge," Gwen told them with a shrug of her shoulders."You were gone and John offered."

 

"'Told you I was planning on sticking around on this planet for a while. I came back here looking for you," John told them."All I found was a bloody big hole in the ground. Gwen found me and explained what had happened. I was sorry to hear about your boy, Jack."

 

Before Jack could say any more, the doors at the end of the corridor opened and Rhys came through, carrying a dark-haired little girl. Ianto grinned and looked to Gwen.

 

"Is she-?"

 

Gwen nodded, beaming proudly."Our daughter; we called her Isabella."

 

As Isabella began struggling, Rhys set her down on the ground. She looked up at Jack and Ianto for a moment before a smile lit her little face.

 

"Uncle John!"

 

When she ran to him, he smiled, stooping down to pick her up."Hey, Princess."

 

Isabella giggled.

 

Jack laughed, seeing his amazement reflected in Ianto's face."I can't believe it, Gwen. You have managed the one thing in the universe that no one else ever did," he said."You've domesticated him."

 

John scowled at him, opening his mouth to retort but a stern look from Gwen made him rethink. Instead, he turned Isabella in his arms so that he could fire a rude hand-gesture from behind her back.  

 

Half an hour later, Jack and Ianto followed an excited Gwen around the new Torchwood facility. The whole place was state of the art, unlike the damp and dim Hub. Despite the clean airy spaces and modern technology, Ianto found himself missing the old place. Sure it was damp and kind of gloomy but it was Torchwood. Jack slid an arm around his waist and he knew that it wasn't just him.

 

"I miss the shadows; everything here is so bright," Ianto said.   

 

"Fun places, shadows," Jack said in a low voice, smirking, before turning serious."It just doesn't seem like home; the old place always did."

 

Ianto nodded."We'll get used to it, I suppose. That is, if we're staying."

 

"Do you want to?"

 

It was something that Ianto had thought a lot about recently. When they'd come back, neither had said whether they wanted to make this a quick visit or stay for longer. They just hadn't discussed it.

 

"Yeah, I do. Not forever, but for a while."

 

Jack looked relieved."I'm glad you said that. I'd have had to resort to bribery otherwise."

 

Knowing what Jack's bribery usually consisted of, Ianto grinned."You still could if you wanted."

 

Jack laughed, his expression turning innocent as Gwen looked back over her shoulder at them.

 

"And this is the medical bay. We had it fitted with everything we needed- we even managed to recreate a few of the alien technologies from the old place, with a little help from Lizzie, of course." Gwen pointed through the glass doors to the two people in the medi-bay, a young blonde woman and a tall, dark haired man who looked as though he should be on the front cover of GQ rather than in a Doctor's coat.

 

"Nice," Jack told her appraisingly.

 

He heard footsteps behind them and then John's voice announced, rather huffily,"If I've got a hands-off order on the staff then so has he."

 

Gwen sighed."He doesn't need to be told, John. The only reason you ever were is because of that incident with Archie." She turned to Jack and Ianto."Archie was our original medic," she explained, then glared at John."He quit."

 

John looked slightly embarrassed, which made Jack all the more intrigued. Not a lot got under the skin of John Hart and it damn sure took a lot to embarrass him.

 

"For the record, I don't need telling," he said, his arm tightening around Ianto's waist."I've got everything I want right here."

 

John contemplated that for a second or two before he smirked."I don't suppose you'd consider sharing, would you, Eye-candy?" he asked Ianto.

 

"Sorry, but he's mine." Ianto told him."And I have a name, space-boy. Try using it."

 

"Oooh, he's cute when he gets annoyed, isn't he, Jack?"

 

Gwen looked between them before her gaze settled on John."Stop baiting Ianto," she told him. God, it was like having another child around to look after.

 

Leaving John to tag along, Gwen took them into the medi-bay to introduce the new members of the team.

 

"I'd like you to meet Doctor Adrian McAuley and Elizabeth Parker. Lizzie is an absolute genius when it comes to technology," Gwen said.

 

The woman blushed."Gwen is exaggerating, rather a lot, I'm afraid."

 

"No, she's not," the man said, holding out his hand for them to shake."And you would be…?"

 

"Ianto Jones."

 

Jack shook his hand as well in turn."Captain Jack Harkness."

 

He looked impressed."I must say that your legend precedes you. We've heard a lot about the two of you."

 

Ianto smiled."We deny everything."

 

Gwen took them around the rest of the facility, down to the cells that had been created in the basement of the building. Both men were impressed; he wasn't sure how she'd managed it but Gwen had done a wonderful job of rebuilding Torchwood from the ashes. They came full circle, back to the lounge on the first floor, where Rhys was waiting. Isabella was sitting with John, a colouring book and a packet of crayons between them.

 

"So is this it?" Rhys asked."You two are back?"

 

Ianto nodded."Yes. That is, if you want us back."

 

He had been dreading this moment. After all, he and Jack had left them for years, leaving Gwen to clean up the mess on her own, to start again. Luckily, Gwen simply brushed his doubts away with a wave of her hand.

 

"Don't be stupid; this is where you belong," she told them."Besides, we could use the help. It's not always this quiet, you know. You just arrived at a good time."

 

John looked up from his seat on the floor."Of course you're staying," he told them,"So sit down and make yourselves comfortable. Come on, if you ask really nicely, me and Isabella will even let you share our crayons, right Princess?"

 

The little girl looked up at them, her dark eyes assessing them in a very Gwen-like way, before she finally held out a red crayon to Ianto. He took it with a smile, sitting down cross-legged on the floor beside her. Eventually, Jack joined them as well.

 

Ianto caught Jack's eye and smiled. It was as though they had never left.

***

Eighteen months earlier-

 

Dr Adrian McAuley heard the screams from down in the lobby as he got his cup of coffee from the vending machine. Dropping the cardboard cup back onto the shelf of the machine, sloshing the hot liquid over the sides, he turned and ran in that direction. As he passed by the nurses' station, he called for them to page security to head for the lobby. Since he was a casualty doctor, this wasn't the first time he'd seen Saturday night drunks or crazies causing trouble. It was, however, the first time he'd seen anything like the chaos in the lobby.

 

He stopped dead as he reached the doorway, unable to do anything but stare as the huge red-skinned man hurled one of the security guards across the room as though he was a rag doll. A couple of the braver nurses edged into the room to check on him as he landed.

 

Wait a minute- red skin? Looking again, Adrian wondered where the man had got his costume from; it was amazing, it looked so realistic. And the contact lenses he wore were cool- silver cat-like eyes. That said, and no matter how cool his costume was, the guy was also tearing up the lobby and security guards alike.

 

"Stop right there!"

 

Another security guard rushed him, only this one had obviously learned from his colleague's mistakes and ducked when the man too a swing at him. He dodged under the man's arm, trying to get close enough to get some handcuffs on the him. Noticing this, the guy moved out of his way. The guard fell a moment later as the man threw a chair he had wrenched from the floor at him.

 

He had to be on something, Adrian thought. It took some serious strength to rip one of those chairs out of the floor. And that gave him an idea.

 

Leaving the nurses to tend to the injured guards and drag them out of the line of fire, Adrian made a run for the nearest supply cupboard.

 

When he got back, he called the one security guard who remained standing over to him.

 

"Keep him busy," Adrian told him."In that direction, if possible."

 

As the guard led the man a merry dance, keeping just out of arms reach but annoying him enough to keep his attention, Adrian edged closer. When he was within reach, he stuck the syringe into the man's backside and injected the entire contents.

 

The man hit the floor in a crumpled heap mere seconds before a man and a woman burst through the doors. They had guns in their hands and they headed straight for the man on the floor.

 

"Gwen Cooper, John Hart," the woman told the surprised onlookers."Torchwood."

 

Her companion turned to Adrian, standing and watching with the syringe still in his hand, and smiled."You did this? Impressive."

 

Two weeks later, he was offered a job with Torchwood.

 

----------------

 

Present day-

 

"Don't move! Anyone tries to stop me and I shoot her!"

 

Captain Jack Harkness slowly moved his hand away from the gun at his hip and showed that he wasn't going to try anything.

 

Their assailant, a dark-haired man in his late twenties, nodded. He tightened his grip on Gwen, one arm around her neck, making sure she couldn't escape, and waved the gun at the others. She looked across at Jack with frightened eyes.

 

"In there. Sit down, hands behind your backs," he ordered, indicating to the office on his left, then stopped Ianto."Not you. Tie them up." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of plastic restraints, the kind used by police.

 

"Let Gwen go," Ianto asked."Please."

 

"You volunteering to take her place?"

 

"Ianto, no!" Jack said, but Ianto ignored him.

 

"Yes."

 

The man made Gwen sit down as well, waiting for Ianto to pull the last of the ties tight around her wrists before pulling him to his feet.

 

"Let's go."

 

As the office door closed, Captain John Hart glanced at Jack.

 

"Eye-candy's got more guts than I thought," he commented.

 

"You know that calling him that irritates the hell out of him, right?" Jack glared at John."If he gets hurt, I'm holding you personally responsible."

 

"Hey, that's not fair."

 

"Not fair? You're the one who picked up that nut-job in the first place," Jack snapped back.

 

John huffed, annoyed."How was I to know? He was cute!"

 

"Only you could pick up a guy in a bar and have him turn out to be a psycho," Jack retorted."God, you have the worst taste in men."

 

John flashed him sardonic smile."Well, I picked you up, didn't I?"

 

"Did not. If I remember, it was me who picked you up."

 

Gwen sighed loudly and, when that little hint didn't work, she kicked John on the ankle. Hard.

 

"Ow! What was that for?" he demanded.

 

"You're acting like a couple of children," she said.

 

"But why kick me?"

 

Gwen gave Jack a kick as well, ignoring the indignation on his face."Happy now? Now if you two can stop bickering for two minutes, we really need to get out of these damn restraints and go help Ianto."

 

John shuffled a little and then lifted his arms, rubbing his wrists where the restraints had been. As Gwen stared in disbelief, Jack reached over to her to remove hers as well.

 

"How did you do that?"

 

Jack and John shared a smile and something in that look told her that she really didn't want to know. A second later, the door was open and they peered out into the hallway, checking for their captor.

 

"Clear," John announced, sauntering out despite Gwen's hissed demand that he stay put."You gotta admit," he said to Jack."We do make a good team."

 

Reluctantly, Jack nodded, following John out into the hall. They headed for what John jokingly referred to as the Batcave, the central control room of the new Torchwood. From that one room, they had surveillance over the entire building, inside and out, and access to every computer system. It would be easier to track where Ianto had been taken from here than chasing them all over the building.

 

A few moments later, they heard footsteps and then Gwen caught them up. She didn't look happy, Jack thought. When they got into the Batcave and locked the reinforced door, he found that his original assessment had been correct.

 

"I told you to wait," she said, jabbing a finger at John's chest as she reprimanded him."One of these days, you're going to get yourself, or one of us, killed by just wandering into things without bothering to think first."

 

"The corridor was clear," Jack pointed out calmly.

 

Gwen turned to him."Yes, well, it was my call to make. You forget that you gave up your right to give the orders when you vanished for five sodding years."

 

Jack held up his hands in surrender."Fine. Whatever. You want the responsibility of making sure everyone is safe, of making all of the decisions, then it's yours. Right now, however, I'm going to get Ianto back," he told her."So either start making some of these decision or stop bitching about it and let us get on with it."

 

John looked between them and quietly sidled away, out of the firing line. He was a little surprised when Gwen nodded, backing down.

 

"OK," she said, giving him a look that said quite clearly that they were going to discuss this later."John, you're the one who spent any time with this guy; who is he? What does he want?"

 

John smiled guiltily."I didn't really ask too many questions," he said."We weren't exactly concerned with talking, ya'know?"

 

She raised a dark brow in disbelief."You mean to tell me that you don't even know this guy's name and you brought him into Torchwood?"

 

"I know his name," John retorted, then the bravado faltered slightly as he admitted,"It's Loz."

 

Jack grinned."That's it? Just 'Loz'?"

 

"Oh, shut up!"

 

Gwen glared at the pair of them again."Right, let's forget the whole name thing, shall we? Why did you bring him into Torchwood?"

 

"Look, I just happened to mention where I worked and he asked if he could see the place," John told her."I never took him near anything classified, just the tourist route."

 

He turned his attention back to the monitors on the wall. He'd been flipping through the feeds and had found the one showing where their uninvited guest and Ianto were. Both Jack and Gwen leaned in, watching.

 

"He's heading for the medi-bay," Gwen said, frowning."What the hell is he looking for?"

 

"Maybe it's who he's looking for," Jack mused.

 

--------

 

Ianto walked obediently a few steps ahead of the loon with a gun pressed to his back.

 

"What exactly do you want?" he asked after a while."What am I supposed to call you?"

 

"Call me Loz; that's what John knows me as," the man replied."The rest, you don't need to know." When Ianto paused, he received another jab with the gun."Keep moving or I pull the trigger."

 

Ianto walked again. Thanks to Jack, he knew that the bullet wouldn't kill him, at least not permanently. He had, however, seen Jack when he came back to life and it always looked as though it hurt like hell and he had no intention of experiencing that if he could help it. So far, he'd managed five years without either him or Jack dying; the deal that Jack had made was that, since their lifelines were now linked, if one of them died then so did the other. If Loz shot him now, Jack would feel it as well and he just couldn't let that happen.

 

"I only want to end this as quick as possible and without anyone getting hurt," Ianto told him."If you tell me what you want, I can help you."

 

For a long time there was silence and then Loz spoke.

 

"I've been hired to collect someone and return them to my employer," he said."I'm just doing my job."

 

"Who?" Ianto asked."And why?"

 

When Loz didn't answer right away, Ianto thought that he'd pushed too far and that was the end of the co-operation. He had hoped to keep the man talking, or at least being civil, until the others rolled to the rescue. Oh, he was sure they'd come, it was just a matter of how long it took.

 

Loz paused, reaching into his pocket and taking out a small rectangular object. It looked like a mobile phone but when he pressed his thumb to it, a 3D hologramatic image appeared in the air above it. The image was of the new Torchwood medic, Adrian.

 

"What did he do?"

 

"He killed my employer's brother."

 

Ianto couldn't believe that the medic had done any such thing. Admittedly, he hadn't really had much of a chance to get to know Dr McAuley but this sounded a little far fetched.

 

Suddenly, Loz noticed movement in the medi-bay just ahead and he pushed Ianto forward again. When they entered the room, Adrian looked up and frowned.

 

"Ianto? Something wrong?" He looked to Loz and smiled."I didn't know we had guests."

 

Of course he didn't, Ianto thought. Gwen and the others wouldn't have risked calling or paging to warn him and Lizzie, just in case it accidentally brought them to the attention of Loz. If she'd known he was after Adrian, however, she might have chanced it to get him out of the building.

 

"You, over there," he told Adrian, shoving Ianto over to join him.

 

The doctor looked to Ianto."What's going on?"

 

Before Ianto could speak, Loz pressed another button on the handheld device, showing a hologram document, written in a language that Ianto and Adrian didn't recognise.

 

"I have a deportation order for you," he told Adrian."You are charged with the assault and killing of Brixus-Pa'al of the Liegen Realm."

 

Ianto frowned at him, ignoring the look of utter confusion on Adrian's face. He moved himself in front of the doctor protectively; he'd been dealing with things such as this for a lot longer than the doctor and besides, no matter how much he wanted to avoid testing it, he was immortal. Unlike Adrian.

 

"Who are you?" he asked."I don't see a human being hired as a bounty hunter for the Leigen Realm."

 

Loz frowned."You've heard of us," he said, sounding surprised."I did not know that your Torchwood had contact with my people."

 

Ianto smiled."We spent three weeks on one of your trading vessels a few years ago whilst travelling." He eyed Loz curiously."That's a good disguise; you really do look human."

 

Loz shrugged his shoulders."I have been on this planet for two years; I would not have survived so long if I still appeared Liegen."

 

Adrian peered out from around Ianto."Look, enough with the chit chat- I haven't done anything wrong. I don't even know what the hell you are talking about."

 

"One and a half years ago, you killed him," Loz said."You cannot deny the even took place- there is evidence."

 

"Show me. Maybe I'll actually know what the hell it is I'm supposed to have done."

 

Another button on the handheld device and the picture flashed up of a red-skinned man with silver, cat-like eyes. Loz smiled.

 

"I see in your eyes that you remember him now."

 

Adrian shook his head."I do, but I didn't kill him. He attacked five people in the hospital I used to work in. He was crazy! All I did was give him a sedative. Look, if you don't believe me, ask Gwen or John. They got there just afterwards and they saw the people and they took him from the hospital. Go ahead, ask."

 

Loz looked at the file he had again, frowning. There was no mention that this had been anything but a murder, no mention of self-defence. However, one of the traits of his race was the ability to 'see' lies. To his eyes, dishonesty radiated like a light blue aura around the person, and this doctor had no such colouring. He told them to sit, laying the gun on the table beside him, ready, should he need to use it.

 

"You will tell me what happened," he demanded."Do not leave any detail out."

 

Adrian was still talking when Jack, Gwen and John burst into the medi-bay, guns blazing. Ianto had the feeling that Loz was no longer a threat to any of them, looking disturbed by the fact that his employer had left out some rather vital information about his bounty. From what he had said when Adrian told him the kind of sedative he'd used to incapacitate the attacker, it really wasn't his fault. The sedative had caused an adverse reaction in the alien's physiology, stopping his heart rather than sedating him. He had recorded Adrian's testimony and now turned to face the new arrivals, not looking concerned with the guns in the slightest. In fact, he turned to them eagerly.

 

"John, I require corroboration regarding-"

 

He didn't get any further before Gwen shot him with a stun-gun.

 

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Ianto told her."We were doing fine."

 

She nudged the now unconscious man on the floor, where he had slid off his chair after being stunned.

 

"So, he's a bounty hunter," she mused. They had listened at the monitors long enough to learn that piece of information, but had come running to the rescue before the explanations began.

 

Ianto nodded."Soon to be an unemployed one. I don't think he has any intention of taking Adrian back with him now he knows the truth," he said."And if the little I know about Liegen is correct, they don't take failure of any kind too well. I should think that the next bounty hunter will be after him."

 

"So what do we do with him?" Gwen wanted to know after Ianto filled them in on the details."He's an alien; we can't just let him loose in Cardiff."

 

"Dump him in a cell for the time being," Jack suggested."After that, well, keep him here. If he's willing to work for us instead, he could be helpful. Liegen are damn resourceful and their bounty hunters are trained to be the best in the business."

 

Gwen sighed, realising it would be better to have him working for them than loose on the streets if he was as good as Jack said he was. At least they knew he had some kind of moral code that he worked by, given that he was unwilling to hand Adrian over to his employer now that he knew that it was a mistake. And it might be handy to have someone else with alien knowledge on the team, just in case Jack, Ianto or John decided to go wandering off again.

 

She'd talk to him as soon as he woke up.

***

The dark of the night was illuminated by the flashing blue lights of the emergency vehicles as they approached. In the middle of the street, a black four-by-four lay on its side, the passenger side door caved in and the windows shattered. A short distance away, a second vehicle had been abandoned, the drivers' door wide open and its occupant long gone. It hadn't fared much better than the four-by-four, a thin wisp of steam rising up from the wrecked engine compartment and smashed in panel-work. A police car was the first to reach the vehicles, mere seconds before two paramedics got out of the ambulance and ran over to join them. A small crowd of bystanders watched in horrified fascination as one crawled in through the shattered windscreen of the four-by-four, the glass crunching as she stepped on it, to get to the driver. A policeman scanned the other car quickly and, once realising that it was empty, focussed their attention on the occupied one.

 

"Sir, can you hear me?" The paramedic reached out to press two fingers to the pulse point on her patient's neck and then called back to her colleague."We need to get him out of here now."

 

Inside the car, Ianto heard the woman's voice. It sounded as though he was hearing her from underwater, the voices and sounds dull and fuzzy. He could feel the glass from the window pressing into the skin on his cheek but he couldn't muster the strength to move. Every inch of him hurt; even taking a breath felt as though his chest would explode.

 

The paramedic leaned in as she saw his lips move.

 

"Say that again, please. I couldn't hear you."

 

Ianto forced himself to take a breath, letting out an involuntary whimper as a burst of pain shot through him.

 

"I'm sorry, Jack."

 

The paramedic frowned."Who's Jack? Is he hurt as well? Sir?"

 

----------

 

Two miles away in the Torchwood building, Gwen looked up from the report she was writing as Isabella came running into her office, tears streaming down her face.

 

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Gwen stooped down to pick her daughter up."Have you hurt yourself? I thought that Uncle John and Uncle Jack were supposed to be looking after you." She frowned."Well, mummy's going to have a few words with those two when she finds them."

 

Isabella struggled in her arms, pointing at the door.

 

"Uncle Jack fell down," Isabella said, sniffling."He won't get up."

 

Gwen settled Isabella more firmly in her arms and set off toward the reception room. When she had left, the three of them had been playing a game of pirates, the furniture rearranged into a ship. John and Jack had been enjoying themselves, even going so far as to getting dressed up with pirate hats and plastic swords, just as Isabella had. When she got to the room, however, she saw the desperate look on John's face as he knelt on the floor. Jack lay prone before him, his head resting in John's lap.

 

"What happened?" Gwen set Isabella in a chair by the door."Sweetie, you stay there while I go and check on Uncle Jack."

 

As she crouched beside Jack, Gwen felt someone move next to her and glanced around to see her daughter sitting down, cross-legged, on the floor. She was watching Jack through glistening eyes.

 

"One minute we were playing and then he just stopped," John told her."He went completely still and then just sort of crumpled to the ground. We thought he was joking around but then when he didn't get up again…"

 

Gwen couldn't feel his chest moving under her hand and so she tried to find a pulse instead. Still nothing. She had a bad feeling about this.

 

"He'll come back from it, right?" John pressed."He doesn't die; he said so himself."

 

Looking at his anxious face, Gwen caught a rare glimpse of the real John Hart. He had always made his feelings towards Jack clear but in their usual teasing and fighting style. Now she could see just how truly concerned he was, how devastated he was at seeing Jack like this. He had seen Jack die and resurrect before but this was different. Usually, there was an injury of some kind, a reason. This time, there was nothing to see.

 

A sudden thought struck Gwen."Oh shi- sugar," she corrected, with a glance at Isabella."Where's Ianto?"

 

She could see the moment when John's thoughts caught up with hers."He went out for pizza a while ago."

 

Gwen grabbed her mobile and dialled. After a moment of it ringing, it was answered but no one spoke. In the background she could hear police sirens.

 

"Hello? Who's this?"

 

A female voice answered."My name is WPC Mitchell, ma'am. Who am I speaking to?"

 

"Gwen Cooper. Where is Ianto?" Gwen asked."The man who this phone belongs to. I know that he's been hurt so just tell me, OK?"

 

WPC Mitchell paused for a long moment as though trying to work out what to say, or if she should tell Gwen anything at all. Eventually, the WPC passed her over to someone else and Gwen actually felt sorry for her. When she had been with the police, that had been the worst part of the job; having to break the news that something had happened to people's loved ones was awful. There was a whispered conversation that she couldn't hear and then a male voice came onto the line.

 

"Ma'am, my name is Paul, I'm one of the paramedics on scene. I'm sorry, but your name is not listed as the emergency contact on Mr Jones' ID," he said."I can't discuss my patient's condition with anyone but his listed contact."

 

Gwen sighed, whatever sympathy she'd had quickly evaporated. Had she ever been this much of a pain when she had been a WPC and had to talk to people at accident scenes?

 

"Is the name that you have for his contact Captain Jack Harkness? Well then we have a problem. Mr Harkness is-" Oh, how to explain this one, she thought. Jack was technically dead but she could hardly tell them that, could she?"He is unavailable at the moment and I cannot contact him. Listen, my name is Gwen Cooper. I'm with Torchwood and in that car is Ianto Jones. If you check, you'll find that I am cleared to discuss any medical or legal issues."

 

She managed to get the name of the hospital that he would be taken to and called for Loz, Lizzie and Adrian. As a doctor, Adrian would be able to get in to see Ianto quicker than she would, and hopefully get him out of the hospital before he rose from the dead and scared the daylights out of the morgue staff.

 

"John, stay with Jack. I'll call Rhys to get Isabella," Gwen said as she put her coat on. Glancing at her daughter, she muttered,"Lord knows the damaging effect that this is going to have on her."

 

But Isabella was not to be moved. She refused to leave Jack's side, crawling around to huddle next to John when Gwen tried to take her from the room. Gwen watched as her daughter reached out and clutched Jack's hand.

 

"She'll be fine here," John said."Let her see that Jack will wake up from his 'sleep' and that he's OK, in case it happens again."

 

Gwen, Adrian and Loz marched up to the hospital reception desk as though they had every right to be wherever they wanted, leaving Lizzie with the vehicle. They had found that if they acted as though they owned the place, they tended to get more cooperation.

 

"We're here to see Mr Ianto Jones," Adrian told the blonde woman at the desk."He was brought in a short time ago following an auto accident."

 

She frowned."If you could just take a seat, I'll call the doctor-"

 

That would be too late, Gwen thought, shaking her head minutely at him. He glared at the girl; it wasn't her fault that she was following procedure but they didn't have time to be polite.

 

"I'm Doctor McAuley and I was called with regards to Mr Jones' condition," he snapped."So, just tell me where he is and I'll find my own way there, OK?"

 

She nodded, checking the information she had on her computer."Resuscitation room three."

 

The three of them set off in that direction, ignoring the woman's protest that Loz and Gwen couldn't go through into the restricted areas.

 

By the time they reached the room, the emergency team had stopped working on Ianto and had already called time of death. As they went into the room, a doctor turned their way.

 

"What are you doing in here? Out!"

 

Adrian again used his credentials to get them in and the doctor reluctantly agreed, explaining that Ianto's injuries had been too severe. He listened as the doctor ran through the list, all the time glad that Ianto wasn't a regular human. Still, even with his healing ability, that must have been agony. 

 

"We will, of course, be required to complete the post mortem before we can confirm any more."

 

Adrian shook his head, glancing back at Gwen.

 

"Gwen Cooper, Torchwood," she said, flashing her ID at him."I'm afraid that I can't let you do that. Mr Jones is to be transported back to our facility as soon as possible, understood?"

 

It took them a bit of arguing before the doctor gave in, relinquishing his patient reluctantly. They were on their way back to Torchwood within thirty minutes.

 

--------

 

Back at the base, John finished getting Jack onto the couch, thinking that it would be more comfortable than the floor when he did wake up. He felt a gentle tug on his sleeve and looked down into Isabella's worried face.

 

"What's wrong with Uncle Jack?"

 

John crouched down in front of her to meet her gaze. Huge dark eyes stared back at him, glistening, although he could tell that she was trying not to cry. Pulling her into a hug, he lifted her and sat them both in a chair. For a moment, he wanted to laugh; who would have thought that he'd actually have got so attached to the little girl? He had never imagined himself to be a kid-friendly kind of a guy before arriving here. He genuinely liked the kid, felt a protectiveness toward her that the title of honorary Uncle deserved.

 

"He's just not very well at the moment," he told her.

 

"Will he get better?"

 

John nodded."If Uncle Jack or Uncle Ianto get hurt, it's not like if you or me do. See, they get better, no matter what's happened, but they need to sleep for a while they do. He'll be fine, Princess, you'll see."

 

They both jumped in surprise when a phone started ringing from Jack's pocket. A few moments later it stopped, only to begin again and John fished it out. Not good, he thought; the display said 'Rhiannon calling'.

 

"Hello?"

 

There was a pause and then a welsh-accented woman's voice spoke."Who are you? What are you doing with Jack's phone?"

 

"I'm John Hart," he said."I work at Torchwood with Jack and Ianto."

 

"Oh. Look, I want to talk to Jack. Or Gwen Cooper."

 

This wasn't getting any better."Jack is unavailable and Gwen isn't here. Maybe I can help you?"

 

By this time, Rhiannon's voice was getting panicked."I got a call from the police to say that Ianto had been in an accident but when I got to the hospital they said that Torchwood had come and taken him away. What the hell is going on? I want to know what you people have done with my brother!"

 

John looked at the door hopefully, wishing that Gwen would come back so that she could talk to Rhiannon. Unfortunately it was just him and Isabella and, tempted as he was, he couldn't give the phone to her.

 

"Rhiannon, I need you to calm down for me, OK?" he said, stopping her before she could say any more."Listen, Ianto is fine, I promise you."

 

"But the doctor said…"

 

John promised her that Ianto would be around to see her as soon as he could, knowing that she wouldn't believe him unless she could see with her own eyes. He would have told her to come here but since she had no idea that he would rise from what she saw as dead, it was likely to give her a heart attack.

 

A few minutes later, Isabella let out a squeak of alarm and clutched onto John as Jack's previously still form moved. He took in a deep gasping breath, his eyes wide, as he rolled onto his side.

 

--------

 

In the back of the Torchwood van, at present looking like a private ambulance, Gwen shouted for Lizzie, in the driving seat, to stop. Loz looked around from the passenger seat, having never seen this before. Ianto began struggling, trying frantically to get air back into his lungs. His hands clawed at anything he could find, looking for something to ground himself. Gwen and Adrian leaned over him and he grabbed at Gwen's arm, squeezing tightly enough to bruise.

 

"Ianto, you're OK!" Gwen told him."Relax, you've seen Jack do this a hundred times. Just calm down."

 

Eventually, he stopped gasping for breath, the shock wearing off a little and he let Gwen pull him into her arms. Lizzie started driving again.

 

--------

 

Isabella climbed up onto the couch and sat down on Jack's legs, looking at him in a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

 

"See, Princess, I told you he'd be OK," John told her.

 

Jack smiled at her and held out his arms and she scrambled over him for a hug."I'm alright, honey. Really."

 

By the time that Gwen and the others returned, the two men and Isabella were in the kitchen area, getting biscuits and orange juice. Jack would have preferred a beer at this point but alcohol was not allowed in the building seeing as Isabella was frequently there. When he saw them come in, Jack set his glass down and strode over to Ianto, folding him into his arms before kissing him.

 

"Is it always like that?" Ianto asked a moment later."It hurt. I knew I was dying and I was so scared and then coming back…" He shuddered involuntarily."How have you not gone insane, doing that for so many years?"

 

Jack gave him another light kiss."You'll get accustomed to it, but it will never be comfortable. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

 

Ianto couldn't say that he ever wanted to do that again but he had to remind himself that no matter how it had felt, he had been given his life back. He had another chance. Again.

 

"I know this isn't the best time," Jack began,"but what happened? Gwen said your car had been run off the road."

 

Ianto nodded."A car came through the red light at the crossroads and hit me. He must have been going pretty fast; I hardly had the chance to react. I lost control and hit the kerb. That must have been what made the car roll."

 

"The police think that the other driver was drunk," Gwen said."I called an old friend on the way home and he asked around. There were beer bottles in the car. So far, they haven't found the other driver."

 

Ianto nodded."I thought I saw someone get out of the car and run but I wasn't sure. It's all a bit hazy, to be perfectly honest."

 

Making an executive decision, Gwen instructed John and Loz to get the two men to their room.

 

"You two need some rest," she said."That means no work, got it?"

 

It was a sign of how Jack was feeling that he didn't even cast a sarcastic salute her way to accompany the muttering of,

 

"Yes boss."

 

John told them about the phone call on the way and Ianto called his sister the minute they were alone in their room. It was an emotional conversation, considering it was the second time that she had been informed of his death, only to have him suddenly reappear, alive and well.

 

"You're going to have to tell her," Jack said as Ianto slid into bed next to him. He pulled the younger man's body toward his, cuddling them together under the covers.

 

"I've been thinking about it for a while," Ianto told him."What's going to happen when she realises that I'm not aging, or like today when I suddenly come back to life? What if she actually saw it happen?"

 

It had been a huge shock for Rhiannon when she had found out that her brother was alive almost four months after she had been informed that he had been killed in Thames House. That had been an uneasy reunion, made difficult due to the fact that Ianto couldn't explain to her exactly how he could have survived. His sister knew nothing of Torchwood, of the world he had been involved with- aliens and invasions- beyond what had happened with the 456. Without telling her about the Doctor and Jack's situation, it was impossible to explain his own.

 

Gwen agreed that she should know and so, the following morning, Ianto and Jack climbed out of the black four-by-four on the council estate just outside of Cardiff city centre. The street was quiet at this time of day, with the kids at school and most of the parents at work.

 

"Ready?" Jack asked.

 

Ianto reached out to take Jack's hand."As ready as I'll ever be."

 

Rhiannon greeted Ianto, firing questions at him as she invited them in, offering them drinks, before sitting down in her lounge. Her gaze then settled on her brother, waiting. He had said on the phone that he had something to talk to her about.

 

"You look like you did when you were eight and you broke mum's favourite vase and couldn't think how to tell her," she commented."What is it?"

 

"Give me a minute, OK," he said."I don't really know how to say this."

 

She frowned."Is this going to be another conversation like the 'I'm sleeping with my boss, and he's a bloke' type of conversation or a 'while I was away for all those years I was really in prison' type?"

 

Ianto returned her frown."Prison?"

 

"Just a thought," she said with a shrug of her shoulders."You never did tell me where you'd been."

 

"Yes, well it's all part of the same story," he told her, taking a deep breath."It started that day in Thames House…"

***

Jack was woken from a comfortable sleep, with Ianto's warm body wrapped around his, when a bleeping began from the vicinity of the floor. Ianto stirred too, frowning at the interruption, until it dawned on him that the sound was coming from the pockets of the clothes dropped on the floor earlier that evening. Both of their pagers were sounding, bleeping insistently until they got up to find the devices and check the message. This had been another of Gwen's initiatives; instead of Jack having the only rift activity detector that worked outside of Torchwood- the wristband he wore- she wanted them all to have one. The pagers had been upgraded with a little off-world technology to alert them of any rift spikes that the detector registered as a possible incursion. The alert was then graded from one to five for severity, one being time to arm themselves and warn the police. When Jack read the message, he suddenly became alert.

 

"It's a three," he said, hurriedly getting dressed and urging Ianto to do the same. Ianto didn't take long but he was still a couple of steps behind Jack when they raced out into the corridor.

 

"What's going on?" John asked, emerging from the apartment at the end of the corridor. He wandered out still fastening his trousers, his shirt and jacket under one arm.

 

Ianto noticed Loz slink out into the corridor beside him, fully dressed but still fastening his jacket. He knew that Loz's accommodation was at the opposite side of the building; it appeared that despite Gwen's warnings, John was still getting a lot closer to his colleagues than the rules said he was allowed. Then again, Loz had joined them the opposite way around- he'd started out in John's bed and then been recruited. He smiled, not expecting that argument to fly with Gwen.

 

By the time they reached the central control room of Torchwood- which John had christened the Batcave- the rift activity detector had a set of co-ordinates displayed. Ianto cross checked them with a map of Cardiff and then called Gwen, telling her the location and that they'd meet her there.

 

There was a brief squabble for the car keys, which Jack won, leaving John looking annoyed. His scowl deepened when Ianto climbed into the passenger seat.

 

"Hey, no fair," he grumbled."How come I have to ride in the back again?"

 

Ianto leaned out of the door and looked back to John."Just get in, would you?"

 

"You know," he began as he climbed into the back of the four-by-four and slammed the door,"I liked it better before you two got back. At least then I was allowed to drive once in a while."

 

Jack laughed as he sped out of the parking garage."They let you in control of a car?"

 

"Yeah, so?"

 

"If I remember correctly, you had quite a reputation for wrecking ships," Jack pointed out."How many did you manage to destroy?"

 

"One, and that wasn't my fault!"

 

"Yeah, right," Jack baited."Try three."

 

When they arrived at the rendezvous site, Ianto and Loz made their way over to where Gwen stood waiting. She looked around, frowning.

 

"Where's Jack and John?"

 

Ianto pointed back to the car, where the pair were just getting out."Probably fighting over the car keys again." When Gwen sighed, he added,"Just be thankful you didn't have to ride with them."

 

When Gwen split them off into teams to search the surrounding area and take readings, the good-natured squabbles between the pair ceased immediately. Whilst they acted like a couple of warring kids, they never let it interfere with their professionalism on the job. A quick look around showed nothing obvious at the site; there was no sign of the usual flotsam that the rift tended to spill out every so often. Something, however, had triggered the level three alert and they needed to find it.

 

Two hours later, however, Gwen had admitted defeat and called the search teams back in. They had found a rift trail, easily trackable via the wristbands that Jack and John both wore, but it had led them on a merry chase around the streets before simply vanishing into thin air. She didn't like leaving like this, not knowing what had come through, but there was nothing they could do here. Whatever it was would show up again and then they could retrieve it.

 

--------

 

John made himself a mug of coffee and took it back to bed with him. After being woken up at goodness' knows what time to go on a wild goose chase around the city he found that he couldn't go back to sleep when they came home. He took it back to the small lounge in his suite and started flicking through the TV channels, finally settling on an old black and white movie. Suddenly, his wristband started bleeping. He frowned. It had been a long time since it had done that, since before he joined Torchwood, in fact.

 

So, something had come through the rift, only it hadn't been flotsam. Only another being could have activated that particular frequency, and one he knew at that. The signal stopped abruptly; whoever it was just wanted to let him know they were here. The signal had not been transmitting long enough to track; it was their move now. All he could do was wait.

 

--------

 

"Gwen Cooper, Torchwood."

 

Gwen flashed her I.D at the police constable who had been put in charge of keeping the public back and he nodded, lifting the yellow police tape for her to go underneath. John and Ianto followed Gwen into the bar and looked around at the mess. There were smashed chairs and burned black smudges up the walls, broken bottles and glasses littered the tables and the floor, glass crunching under their feet as they walked.

 

At the far end of the room, restrained and under guard, the police had the culprits. There was a great deal of arguing going on.

 

"Tell me again why this is a Torchwood problem?" Ianto asked the officer in charge when he filled them in on what had happened.

 

He took a plastic evidence bag from a nearby table and handed it to Ianto.

 

"This," he said simply.

 

Ianto had to agree that this weapon did not belong on this planet; he had seen similar ones on his travels with Jack. He passed it over to John, who agreed. There was a scuffle across the room as one of the prisoners jumped up and barged her way through the policeman trying to stop her..

 

She was about six feet tall, with bright red curly hair that spilled down her back almost to her waist and wide green eyes. Her stiletto-heeled boots added a good few inches to her height and the skin-tight leather trousers and vest left very little to the imagination.

 

John stopped dead when he saw her.

 

"Verla? What the hell are you doing here?" John asked, a grin on his face as he went to greet her. When he went to kiss her cheek, she rolled her eyes, hauled him closer and kissed him properly.

 

As Ianto cleared his throat pointedly, John pulled out of her grasp and turned to his colleagues.

 

"Verla, this is Ianto," he said, indicating to the other man."And Gwen. Verla is an old friend."

 

"And I presume she's also the cause of the alert yesterday?" Ianto asked.

 

John glanced across at the other two women who were with Verla, and the men who stood a short distance away.

 

"What happened?"

 

Verla glared at the men."Those animals thought they had the right to touch me," she said."I defended my honour."

 

It took them about half an hour to arrange for Verla and her two friends to be released into their custody, after persuading the men not to press charges. They had come out of the fight worst, the three women kicking their arses rather spectacularly. Between that embarrassing piece of information and the fact that Verla could easily press sexual harassment charges against them, they had decided to forget the whole thing.

 

They took the three back to Torchwood, collecting up the rather impressive collection of weapons that the police had taken from them as well. John sat in the back of the car with Verla, Ianto driving, whilst Jack came out to collect Gwen and the other two women.

 

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods?" John asked.

 

Verla smiled."I heard you were here- whatever made you set up home here? I mean, it's so…" Her words trailed off as she cast a disdainful glance around at the city surrounding them.

 

"This place isn't so bad," John told her."It has its appeals, if you know where to look."

 

Verla cast a critical eye over him, and then over Ianto before letting out a small laugh."I can see where you find your appeal. It took you longer than I expected to find me after I signalled you, though- you're slipping, sweetie. I left a trail that you could have followed blindfolded." She smiled wistfully."That was a fun week, wasn't it?"

 

Ianto smiled as he glanced in the mirror; there wasn't a lot that could embarrass John but Verla seemed to have managed it. John met his gaze and glared, daring him to say anything. When Ianto kept quiet, he turned back to the woman.

 

"So, you never did tell me why you were here."

 

Verla looked to Ianto and then back to John, as though gauging his reaction as to whether or not she could speak in front of him.

 

"I told you, I came to find you," she said."Do you remember when you told me that you owed me? Well, I'm calling in that favour."

 

John sighed; he had the feeling that neither he nor Torchwood were going to like whatever her favour involved.

 

Back at base, they led Verla back to one of the secure interview rooms, just in case she wasn't a friendly as she was making out to be. Her two friends were led into separate rooms also, being watched over by Adrian and Lizzie. Loz was nowhere to be seen and as soon as Gwen reached their room, Ianto moved himself to stand by the door, just in case.

 

"I don't want to talk to her," Verla whined, pouting, as she indicated to Gwen."Now those two," she said, casting an appreciative eye over Jack and Ianto,"they can stay."

 

John looked across to where she pointed and smiled."Verla, Gwen is in charge here. Just be nice," he warned.

 

She frowned."You're no fun any more."

 

"Start talking," John told her.

 

Verla had been a thief when John first met her, one of a band of intergalactic con-women who had become all too comfortable with killing those who stood in the way of their goals. Her associates were not as at ease with her choices and had staged an intervention, packing her off to rehab, where John had been at the time. It had been his second stint in murder rehab (he just didn't see the point, but if he wanted to keep his job with the Time Agency, he didn't have a choice). His time there had brightened greatly at her arrival, although they had both managed to get into a lot more trouble than they would have on their own. Their last escapade had brought John before the officials, facing a failure from rehab and expulsion from the Time Agency. Verla had taken the rap for him and bought herself a short sentence in custody. He had always told her that he would repay the favour and it appeared that now was the time to settle the debt.

 

"We picked the wrong mark," Verla was telling him."It should have been a simple con but he worked it out and by then it was too late. Vanna was already in place and we couldn't get to her."

 

"Since when did Vanna work with you?" John asked. He had met Vanna, Verla's younger sister, a few times but he would never have expected the innocent girl to have taken up the cons with her sister.

 

"This was her first job. It was her job to get close to the mark, the Magestrix of Liegen Prime."

 

John saw the others perk up at the mention of Liegen Prime, but they didn't say anything. Vanna hadn't noticed, busy taking a small device from her pocket.

 

"They executed her, in the city square. My baby sister." Vanna pressed the button on the side of the device and a holographic image appeared."We came to avenge Vanna, to find her executioner and take his life as he took hers. I know he is here on this world, John; help us to find him and your debt to me is fulfilled."

 

John didn't know what to say, how to respond. He owed her, that much was true, but it wasn't that simple.

 

The face looking back at him from the holo-imager was Loz's, his colleague and current bed-mate.

***

John Hart stared at the holo-image that flickered before him, showing Loz's face. Why, of all the people and beings in the whole damn universe, did it have to be Loz? He knew that the man had been an assassin back on Liegen but it had never occurred to him that someday it might come back to haunt him. Not here. Loz had been working with Torchwood for months now and he was one of the team. John was also rather fond of him, and not just because he was fun in bed.

 

He looked across the table to Verla. He owed her- he knew he did- but could he simply hand Loz over to her, knowing that he would be killed? That brought him back to the reason Verla wanted him in the first place.

 

"I need to go and-" What? Talk to Loz? He couldn't exactly tell her that the person she was hunting was probably in the same building as they were right now,"- do something."

 

John got up and left the room before she could ask any questions. Ianto followed him out, leaving Jack and Gwen to guard Verla.

 

"You OK?"

 

John sighed and leaned back against the wall."Not sure. I can't believe Vanna's dead," he told Ianto.

 

"Did you know her well?"

 

"I met her a few times. She was such a sweet kid; she was nearly five years younger than Verla." He pushed himself away from the wall decisively."I need to talk to Loz; I want to hear what he has to say."

 

Ianto looked sceptical."Are you sure that's a good idea?"

 

"Probably not, but I'm going to talk to him anyway."

 

In the end, Ianto let him go, going back into the room to let the others know where he'd gone. Gwen was on her phone and glanced up as he entered, indicating for him to stay with Jack whilst she went out to take the call.

 

"Was John OK?"

 

Ianto knew that Verla was listening and leaned in to whisper to Jack."He went to talk to Loz."

 

---------

 

John found Loz in his sleeping quarters, the apartment that he had been assigned in the Torchwood building's accommodation floor. For a moment he stood in the doorway, watching as the man moved about the room. Over the past few months, the mental association between Loz the bounty-hunter / assassin who had been sent her to capture Adrian and Loz the Torchwood employee had widened. It was difficult for him to imagine the handsome, blonde man before him as the person who had acted as Vanna's killer. Loz turned and caught sight of him, a smile crossing his features.

 

"What brings you here?" he asked, coming over to John. When he saw the look on his face, Loz frowned."What's wrong?"

 

John came in and closed the door behind him. He sat down on the couch by the window.

 

"I need to ask you something," he said."About your past, back on Liegen."

 

With a sigh, Loz sat down in the chair opposite John."Why?"

 

"I just need to know."

 

Loz nodded."What do you want to ask?"

 

"About a year ago, there was a young woman called Vanna, who was executed, by you," John told him,"on charges of confidence trickery against the Liegen Prime. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

 

Loz was silent for a while, his brow furrowed as he thought back. Eventually, he nodded.

 

"I remember her. John, what is this about? You knew what I did on my homeworld, so why do you ask now?"

 

"Because I know her sister. Who, by the way, is currently downstairs in our interview room," John told him."She told me about Vanna. I've heard her side and now I want to hear it from you."

 

Loz's version of events was much the same as Verla's, up to a point.

 

"She was caught drugging the Prime's tea," Loz told him."When he was tested, it appeared that it had been happening for some time, around the same length of time that the girl, Vanna, had been his guest. She had played a convincing part- the lone traveller, saved from attack by the Prime's guards. He took her in and quickly became infatuated with her." He paused."Only when the drug was examined did they see why. It acted as an aphrodisiac, designed to make him besotted with her."

 

John nodded."I saw Verla use that trick a few times on her marks, usually with the intent to either marry into the money or simply to gain access to what she was really after."

 

"Vanna was arrested to be tried," Loz continued,"but she was aided into an escape. I was sent after her. My orders were clear; return the woman who had attempted to poison the Prime, and deliver her for punishment. On Liegen, any attempt against the Prime carries an automatic sentence of execution, as treason."

 

"Thanks," Jon told him, standing up to leave a few minutes later."Oh, you might want to keep out of sight for a while, until they've gone at least."

 

John hated this, being torn between two worlds. It used to be so simple; look out for number one and screw the rest. If he could, he would just make a run for it, vanish somewhere into the vastness of the universe and keep out of this whole mess. With a sigh, he realised that he might think about it, but those days were behind him. He was actually enjoying having responsibilities now, even if he wasn't sure who they resided with at this point.

 

---------

 

Two days after Torchwood released her, Verla reappeared. He saw her on the security monitors as she paced outside the Torchwood building, occasionally casting pissed-off glares at the receptionist in the lobby. Picking up the phone, he called down to the front desk.

 

"She won't leave until she speaks to you," Jenny, the young woman on reception told him."I told her that I couldn't let her in."

 

John knew she would just start causing a scene if she didn't get what she wanted soon and went down to see her.

 

"I hear that you know where he is," she said, not even bothering with a 'hello'. She grinned."I knew that you would be able to find him. Come, tell me and we can go on the hunt together and avenge Vanna."

 

Damn, she wasn't going to like this, he thought, knowing that she didn't take no for an answer with any degree of grace.

 

"I can't help you, Verla."

 

Her eyes narrowed."What? You owe me, Hart."

 

"And I am grateful for what you did for me, but I can't help you now." He instinctively reached into his pocket to put his hand on the weapon he carried."Go home, Verla, and forget about vengeance. Mourn your sister instead."

 

"And what if I do not leave?" she asked."What will you do?"

 

"Then we'll have to make you. Please, I'm asking you to go quietly, as your friend. I'm trying to protect you."

 

She shook her head."You are no friend to me."

 

John stood on the pavement and watched her strut away angrily before going back inside.

 

---------

 

For the next week, no one heard or saw anything of her or her associates and John began to believe that she had taken his advice after all. He was currently out on a pain-in-the-ass weevil hunt after one of the damn things had decided to start attacking people on the streets. Why this one, out of the vast numbers still living in the sewers, had decided to come out in the open and turn violent, they didn't know. It happened to some of them, whilst the rest were content to simply keep out of sight in the dark and damp underground tunnels.

 

"John! On your left!"

 

John reacted to Gwen's shout and veered off toward the side street, footsteps behind him telling him that Adrian and Loz were keeping pace. Jack's voice came over the earpiece he wore; they had the trap set if they could just drive it toward the alley. He heard a snarl from up ahead and rounded the next corner just as the Weevil tried to double back. When it saw it was being pursued, it once more ran in the direction of the dead end up ahead. John smiled to himself; the Weevils could be vicious buggers at times but they weren't all that smart. It didn't even try to find another way out or think that something could be waiting up ahead for it, it just ran.

 

They made it to the alley and it was only then that the Weevil worked out that it had nowhere else to go. It decided that doubling back was its best option and turned and ran straight at Adrian. He got off a couple of shots but his aim was wide and the Weevil managed to get hold of him. It tossed him aside with barely any effort, turning its attention to John.

 

Where the hell was Loz? He was supposed to be backing them up yet he was letting the damn animal escape.

 

"Loz? Now might be a good time to BLOODY WELL DO SOMETHING!"

 

"I'm afraid that your little friend isn't in a position to do anything, John, sweetie."

 

John turned to see Verla and her companions, Verla's weapon was levelled at Loz's forehead. The Weevil, sensing a chance to escape, made a dash for the open street and no one stopped it.

 

"Drop the guns," she said, glancing at Jack and Gwen who were still holding weapons,"You too, John."

 

Glancing back at Jack, he did as asked, sending the weapon skittering across the ground.

 

"You knew where he was all along," she said."The man who murdered Vanna."

 

John edged his way around until he stood between Verla and Loz. He could see Jack moving too, as well as Ianto coming up behind Verla's companions. They hadn't seen him yet, but it would be only a matter of time.

 

"How can you protect him?!" she asked in disbelief."Move aside!"

 

John shook his head."I can't do that. You are the one who dragged Vanna into this, just as you knew that Liegen law stated that treason was punishable by death. You knew that yet you still sent your baby sister in to poison the Prime."

 

"No! He killed her."

 

Ianto, Jack and Gwen moved then, tackling the two other women to the ground and getting their weapons away from them. With the scuffle behind her, Verla's attention was momentarily removed from John and Loz.

 

John made a dive for the gun he had tossed aside earlier.

 

He looked up just in time to see Verla's finger move to the trigger as she aimed at Loz once more. Without hesitation, he fired.

 

---------

 

Three hours later, John sat in the staff room back at Torchwood, an untouched mug of coffee on the table in front of him. He kept seeing the look in Verla's eyes, the shock, the pain, as she died in his arms. When he heard the door open, he looked up, curious. The others had tried a few times to talk to him but he had ignored them until they went away again. Now it seemed that they had pulled out the big guns.

 

"Uncle John?"

 

Isabella came across the room to him and climbed up onto the couch next to him, offering the teddy bear she had brought with her.

 

"You can borrow him if you're sad."

 

Outside the room, Jack looked back at Gwen and smiled before closing the door silently. They went back to the Batcave where the others were waiting.

 

"Operation Isabella is a success," Jack reported."You know, I still can't believe he chose Torchwood over Verla's crew."

 

Loz nodded."I can't believe he stood before a loaded weapon for me," he murmured.

 

"I guess he's not so bad after all," Ianto agreed. Despite their insults and name-calling every now and then, he had come to think of John as a friend. He, like the others, just had not expected John to trade a life among the stars for staying here on Earth. He glanced at the security monitor for the staff room and watched as Isabella laughed at something John said.

 

Gwen looked around at her new team, so different from five years ago, and smiled. They might be a mixed bunch of ex-assassins, con-men, immortal humans, doctors and computer hackers but she wouldn't trade them for the world.

***

The moment that Jack put the coffee mug to his lips, an alarm sounded in Torchwood. Sighing, he put it down again, wondering if he had time to drink it before he had to go and check out the cause of the alarm.

When he saw Gwen go hurrying past the doorway, he knew that he didn't. This was why he hated night shifts; you sit there on watch for hours, reading books and watching dreadful late-night talk shows and the minute you get a decent mug of coffee, the damned alarms go off. It was as though they conspired to ruin his one bit of enjoyment. Kicking his chair back, he went to follow her to the Batcave.

"What's going on?"

Jack turned to see Ianto right behind him, walking fast to catch up with him.

"Not sure. Rift spike, pretty big one at that."

Five minutes later they were driving towards the outskirts of Cardiff, to a public park that seemed to be the source of the rift energy. It was dark, the streets practically deserted, the park even more so. They all pulled torches out from the bag in the back of the car and set off walking, looking for anything that might have come through the rift.

It didn't take long before it found them.

"Ianto, behind you!"

Ianto turned to see a large black wolf lunge at him and then Jack's hand on his arm, yanking him out of its path. They overbalanced, landing on the ground, and Ianto thought that the wolf would attack them but it didn't. Bright light shone into its face, making it stop. It looked away, to Gwen, who was holding the torch, and growled. Then it yelped as Jack shot it with a stunning pistol. As it fell over, Ianto saw its eyes; he had never seen green eyes on a wolf before.

----------

"So, this is what came through the rift?" Adrian asked when they brought it back to Torchwood.

He and the others had been waiting for them when they returned, helping them carry the unconscious wolf into one of the holding cells in the basement.

Jack nodded as he locked the door."This thing has definitely been through the rift; the residual energy on it is off the scale."

"So, what now?"

Jack checked his watch and smiled."Now, I'm going to bed. Your shift started three minutes ago," he told Adrian,"Which means that you get to wait for that to wake up."

"And what am I meant to do if it does?"

Gwen patted him on the shoulder as she passed by, also on her way out."There's a stun pistol in the Batcave if it gets too lively. We'll be back at eight am."

Ianto followed Jack upstairs, eager to get some sleep. He tended to be restless when Jack was on night duty, and he had only gone to sleep a couple of hours before the alarms had sounded. Stifling a yawn, he quickly undressed and got back into bed; within moments, he was soundly asleep, curled up to Jack's warm body.

He was awakened again at three am to the sound of someone hammering on the door. The bed shifted as Jack went to answer it and Ianto blinked a couple of times, then smiled.

"Um, Jack?"

Too late; Jack was already at the door, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up as he opened it.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he demanded.

Adrian immediately slapped a hand over his eyes."There's something you should see; something happened- Could you please put something on, then I can talk to you properly?"

"No, that's what you get for waking me up at such a stupid time," Jack told him. Ianto came out to join them, dressed, and tossed a pair of jeans at Jack.

"He's decent now," Ianto told Adrian."Or, at least, as decent as he ever gets. So, what's going on?"

Adrian lowered his hand."I'm not sure. I was only gone for maybe five minutes, no more and when I got back the wolf was gone."

"What?"

By this time, they were all heading down to the cells, Jack still getting dressed as he walked.

"Have you called Gwen about this?" Ianto asked.

Adrian shook his head."She went home; it would take her a while to get back so I tried to call you two. By the way, your phones are switched off."

"I know, genius," Jack pointed out sarcastically."I switched them off so we could get some sleep without being interrupted."

They followed Adrian down to the cells and up to the one where the wolf had been.

"Well, that's not quite what I was expecting," Ianto said.

In the centre of the cell, in the same place the wolf had been lying in, was a man. A very naked man. He was awake, huddled up with his arms around his knees. He looked to be in his mid thirties, with dark hair and pale skin. When he looked up at them, realising that he had company, Ianto frowned.

"Green eyes." He saw the two men cast him a confused look."Look at his eyes- they're exactly the same. Adrian, you said that there was no evidence that the cell had been opened, right?"

"Nothing on the monitors, or the control panel for that cell," Adrian confirmed.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I don't think the wolf escaped."

Adrian looked back into the cell."You're not suggesting that- No. No way."

They both looked to Jack, waiting for him to back one of them, but he just kept watching the man in the cell.

"Why don't we just ask him?"

----------

As they opened the cell door, the man's eyes widened and he scurried backwards until he was pressed into the corner of the room. Ianto crouched down in the doorway, holding out the blanket he carried.

"Here. I thought you'd feel more comfortable if you could cover up." He threw the blanket to the man, purposefully not going any further into the room. The man just sat there, not moving to retrieve it."Can you understand me? We're not going to hurt you."

Again, nothing but wide, scared eyes focussed on him.

"It's no use," Ianto told Jack, glancing over his shoulder."I don't think he can understand."

"I can."

Ianto turned back to the man."Who are you? Look, I was telling you the truth; we aren't going to hurt you."

The man eyed him for a moment longer and then reached out hesitantly to grab the blanket. Once he had it wrapped around himself, covering himself up, he seemed to gain a little confidence.

"I would ask who you are?" he said."What is this place?"

Ianto moved into the room then to sit on the bench along the side wall."This is Torchwood," he said."And I'm Ianto. That's Jack and Adrian," he added, as the two outside looked around the corner.

"Nicholas Harrington," the man told him."Am I a prisoner?"

"We aren't sure yet," Ianto informed him."We need to ask you a few questions first, OK?"

Nicholas nodded."This is going to sound incredibly strange, but we put a wolf in this cell," he continued, watching the man's reactions as he spoke,"and then the next time we checked, you were in here. I can see in your eyes that you know what we're talking about."

Nicholas sighed."Did I hurt anyone?" he asked."I swear that I cannot control it, just as I cannot remember what I have done afterward."

Ianto looked back at the others. This man wasn't a danger to them, at least not in this state. Jack nodded and Ianto stood up.

"Come on, Nicholas. We'll find you some clothes and then you need to answer some questions."
He held out a hand to help the man up.

When they reached the conference room, with Nicholas now dressed in borrowed jeans and t-shirt, everyone else was already there. Gwen sat next to Lizzie, a laptop on the desk between them, Loz and John seated opposite.

Nicholas was uneasy around all these strangers, but when Ianto re-assured him, he seemed to calm down. So long as Ianto stayed next to him, he was fine.

"I wasn't always like this," Nicholas began."I had a good life, before, and then it changed."

"How?"

"I was cursed. Maia was beautiful," he said, smiling at the memory."She came to our village with the travellers, gypsies, and I knew there and then that I would marry her. We courted, and eventually married, but she caught the sickness. When she died, her family blamed me. They said that none of their people had ever caught the sickness like the villagers did, and that it must be because of me. Her grandmother put a curse on me, that I would never be able to find love again, as she said they never would at the loss of her only grandchild."

He looked up at them."For the three years since I lost my beloved Maia, I have been unable to even befriend another person. I can never explain where I am at nights, or why I lock myself in a room so as to avoid hurting anyone when I change. How can I expect them to trust me when I must keep such a secret from them? If I had the courage, I would have ended my existence years ago but I did not wish to do that to Sarah. She was the only person I saw, but the villagers sensed that something was wrong with me and so even she had to see me in secret."

Gwen stared at him."This curse, it's what made you change into the wolf we put in the cells?"

Nicholas nodded."Every time that the moon is full in the sky, I change into that monster." He frowned and eyed the assembled people around the table."Why do none of you seem surprised by any of what I tell you?"

They all smiled.

"I'm from a planet called Liegen," Loz said.

"I'm immortal," Ianto added.

John waved a 'me next' hand in the air then pointed to himself."Former Time Agent."

"I was born in the 51^st century," Jack told him.

Gwen saw Nicholas look to her and shook her head."Not me," she told him."I'm actually from here and now and one hundred percent human. So are Lizzie and Adrian, though we have dealt with our fair share of aliens." A thought struck her, something she had been meaning to ask earlier."Nicholas, what year is it when you're from?"

"What do you mean, 'when'? It is 1889."

Ianto cast him a sympathetic look."I'm afraid to say that it isn't any more. You're in 2009. The thing that brought you here moved you forward in time."

"It was strange," Nicholas said."One moment I was in the fields just outside of the village, and then the air looked wrong. I cannot explain it; it seemed that I was seeing a haze in the air. The wolf did not think it to be a threat, though, and ran straight into it. The next time I woke, I was in the white room and you were all watching me."

"What you saw was a rift in time and space," Ianto told him,"kind of like a doorway between your time and ours."

"So I will have just vanished? What will people think has happened to me?"

Lizzie looked up from her laptop."Yes. I googled you- I'll explain later- and there was an old newspaper article. It says that your sister reported you missing. She had the police searching and everything but no one ever found trace of you."

"Sarah must have been worried. She was the only one who I saw over these past years; she would bring me food, making sure that I ate enough as I rarely ventured out," Nicholas said."I will never see her again, will I?"

Lizzie shook her head."No. According to this, you were never found, which means that you never get home. If it helps, your sister lived a good life. I looked her up as well. She married a man named George Sewell and by the time she passed away, she had four children and seven grandchildren. She named her eldest boy Nicholas."

----------

Though it was not possible for them to control Nicholas's shape-changing any more than he could, at Torchwood they at least had the facilities and resources to ensure that he would not hurt anyone. They could restrain him for the night of and the nights either side of the full moon, sedating him so that the wolf would not panic at being trapped in a cell. For the rest of the time, Nicholas was encouraged to live his life.

Sure, they had just let a werewolf loose in the streets of Cardiff, but he had assured them that he would not try to handle this on his own. He would come in to Torchwood on the nights he was due to change, to do it safely, and make sure that no one else found out his secret. Nicholas had seemed so relieved to simply be able to have part of his life back, to have people who understood and were willing to help him, that he had agreed to all of their conditions immediately. He actually seemed excited to have a job to go to.

They set him up with identity cards and such, making him legal to work, and found him a job and a flat. His employer was informed of his unique qualities and, since he knew all about Torchwood following an accident some ten years ago involving some pissed-off Weevils, he understood. Nicholas was going to spend a week at Torchwood before beginning his job, so that they could try and acclimatise him to 2009, to the technology and customs.

It would take some time for him to adapt to this time, but he would eventually, Ianto knew, as he finally made it to his suite after his shift. Jack was already in bed, though wide awake, when Ianto climbed in beside him a short time later.

"'You still worrying about Nicholas?" he asked.

Jack nodded. He couldn't help it; he knew what it was like to be in a different time, for everything to be strange, and he had been prepared for it. Nicholas had just been dropped here, unknowingly and unwillingly. As Ianto curled up beside him and leaned over for a kiss, Jack smiled.

He had done OK for himself, and so would Nicholas.

***

Next part of Old Town New.

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