Chapter Text
The Watch - Chapter 1
Ianto was running for his life, probably. He'd managed to get a phone call through to Gwen before she and her husband ran off. The government had ordered them killed, had blown up the Hub. Ordered Torchwood killed. They didn't even answer to the government, they answered only to the Queen herself. Although Jack had started communicating more with other organizations after he took over Torchwood.
Ianto spared a moment to wish that Martha wasn't on her honeymoon. She'd be able to help them, but now it was too late, only Jack knew Martha's number. And only Martha knew The Doctor's. Ianto paused as he sat down on a doorstep as a half drunk conversation between he and Martha about The Doctor came back to him. The last time he'd seen Martha the two of them had gone out and gotten drunk, conversation had drifted from the recent loss of Owen and Tosh to Jack and then to The Doctor. Ianto learned more about The Doctor from her that night than he'd learned during his time with Torchwood 1, and more about the time Jack had been away than he'd wanted to know.
Ianto rose as an insane idea occurred to him. He'd thought what Martha had told him was odd and perhaps had been just a figment of his imagination. Something to make sense of his own screwed up childhood. He hadn't really had a chance to check and see if it was possible. But perhaps now was the time for his to find out. He was going to go see his mother.
It hadn't been easy but he'd gotten in to see his mother. He'd been so busy since Tosh and Owen had died that he hadn't even pretended to himself that he wanted to see her. His mother looked up at him from her bed. She'd been in Providence Park since Ianto had been a child. Some form of schizophrenia the doctors thought she had. No one from the government was looking for him there, after all, why would he go to the home for the mentally ill when he needed help.
Ianto cautiously sat down at the edge of her bed. His mother didn't look old enough to be his mother, looking maybe 40. She was actually quite beautiful and he knew his sister had had to deal with getting two aides from the hospital fired before they could do things they shouldn't be with patients. His mother had actually sent one to the emergency room, she was still very able to defend herself.
"Mum?" Ianto asked softly.
"Hello Ianto."
Ianto smiled, he'd managed to meet his mother during one of her more sane moments. The meds she'd been given never seemed to work quite right on her so he never knew if she was going to be hearing voices or not even if she'd recognize him.
"Mum," Ianto said again as he reached over and pulled open the bedside drawer in the nightstand next to her bed. From it he pulled out a pocket fob. He pulled it closer so he could study it. It did look like the pocket fobs that Martha had told him about. That rewrote Time Lord DNA, made them human, and held onto the consciousness of their true selves until someone convinced them to open it, then they'd be Time Lords again.
"How long have you had this watch?" Ianto asked as he looked at the back, a beautiful space scene sketched into it.
"I've always had it," she said softly, not really looking at it. Instead she focused on Ianto's face. "Is your face alright? It's scratched."
"I'm fine Mum," Ianto turned to look at her with a gentle smile. He reached out his free hand and grasped his mother's hand, turning it palm up he dropped the watch into it. "I need you to do something for me Mum. I need you to open the watch. If I'm right it'll make the voice stop." Unsaid was his concern about what type of person the voice was.
The Watch - Chapter 2
Ianto looked away, covering his eyes, as a bright light filled the room. When the light faded he turned to look at his mother, blinking his eyes furiously to get the spots out of his vision. As his seeing cleared he took in his mother. She was sitting up comfortably, smiling happily, as she gazed down at the watch in her hands. She looked up when she felt Ianto's eyes on her. The smile on her face put hope in Ianto's heart.
"Mum?"
"Oh Ianto! Thank you so much," she gently placed the watch on her nightstand before scooting forward and pulling Ianto into a strong hug. Ianto relaxed into her arms before she suddenly stiffened, she pushed him back slightly as she realized something keeping her hands firmly affixed to his shoulders. "But how did you know how to help me?"
Ianto closed his eyes for a moment. His mom was a Time Lord and… and he wasn't exactly sure where to go with this. He took a deep breath and then another, "Mum. … I work for a secret program that deals with alien threats to the world."
"You work for UNIT?"
"You know about UNIT? It doesn't matter, I don't work for UNIT. I work for Torchwood."
"Torchwood?"
"Queen Victoria founded it in 1879 after meeting the Doctor. He saved her life but I guess he frightened her so she banished him from the British Empire."
"Really? The Doctor can have that effect on people. But doesn't that mean you shouldn't be helping me since I'm one of his allies?"
"A couple of years ago the main branch of Torchwood messed up, almost everybody there died and it came close to the end of humanity. The Doctor saved us, ended the threat. Control of Torchwood transferred to the branch in Cardiff and the head here changed the rules. He used to travel with the Doctor and never believed in the 'If it's alien, it's ours,' motto we followed in London."
"Oh… But how did you know about the watch? That's an obscure piece of Time Lord technology. The Doctor has never used his."
"He did, once. The woman he was traveling with then told me about it. It's how the Master survived the Time War."
"What do you mean survived?"
"They, the Time Lords, they brought him back to life. Apparently. Martha wasn't very clear on exactly how that worked."
"What do you mean survived! What happened to the Time War?"
"Um. The Doctor had to end the war, and Gallifrey became time locked. The Doctor is the last of his kind, well… except you, or possibly anyone else using the watch thing."
Ianto watched as his mother closed her eyes and breathed deeply for several moments. Ianto became concerned as she opened her eyes and he saw tears in them. His eyes widened as he realized he'd just told his mother that her species was all but extinct. His mother's species…
"Wait! I am human right? We're tested all the time at work. Torchwood's very thorough, they would have known if I wasn't completely human right?"
"Calm down Ianto," his mother pulled at his shoulders, her hands moving back from his shoulders before they were clasped behind him. "I was human when you were born and therefore you are human too. If I hadn't been human you would not even exist, Time Lords don't have children the way humans do, at least we haven't been able to in a long time. There are looms involved now." She smiled softly as she saw the confused look on her son's face. "Believe me, you do not want to know. The only difference between you and another human would be maybe a slightly higher brain capacity and possibly some slight psychic ability."
Ianto wrapped his arms around his mother, letting her head rest on his shoulder, he felt her tears dampen his suit slightly. "You are still my mother right?"
Ianto felt her snort slightly into his shoulder before she answered, "Your mother is part of me, and I do want you to consider me your mother even though I'm not human anymore. You will won't you?"
Ianto paused for a moment before answering in a whisper, "Yes."
"I'm glad. You and your sister and her children are all the family I have now. And I don't want to loose you."
"Children!" Ianto exclaimed as he remembered why he'd risked coming here in the first place. "Mum! Something is off with the children and the government just blew up my work place and I need to help my lo- boss! Will you help me?"
The Watch - Chapter 3
Ianto and his mother were perched on the roof of a nearby building, overlooking the crews that were picking up the pieces of Jack that they could find. Ianto's eyes narrowed as he watched them, looking carefully at the people and the cars they were using so he could track them down. Ianto stiffened slightly as he felt his mother shiver suddenly.
Ianto pulled his mother away gently, "What's wrong?" he asked softly.
"Your boss, you said he was immortal right?"
"Is, is not was. Yes he is."
"I think I can see why," she bit her lip softly. "I've got an idea, but I don't think you'll like it."
"Mum?"
"I can find him, I'm certain of it. We need to get one of the workers to the side, I'll go in, get the piece of him that's him, alter the worker's memory and get out of here."
"You're right. I don't like it. But there are a lot of things I've done for Torchwood that I don't like. Are you sure you can do it without them realizing that you're not actually with them?"
"Depends on the worker's memories. If these people normally work together I won't be able to, but if they don't really know each other then I can do it."
Ianto looked at his mother, gazing into her firm eyes, then nodded, "Alright, but be careful. I only just got you back, I'm not sure I can take losing you on top of everything else."
The two almost silently slipped back down to ground level. Carefully identifying the worker they'd need to isolate, the one nearest their location. Ianto breathed very shallowly, hiding near the Torchwood garage entrance, as his mother touched the man's shoulder as he almost passed her. Ianto could see the man almost collapse before his mother, keeping her hand on his shoulder, walked him to wear he waited. As they neared Ianto he noticed the man's awkward walk, almost as if he had two left feet. When they entered the alley the man fell almost unconscious against the wall. His mother gently placed her hands on the man's face before turning to face Ianto, "I can do this."
Ianto helped her strip the now unconscious man of his hazard wear before dragging him carefully further into the alley and then sitting him up against the wall, and then sitting across from the worker. His mother smiled wickedly behind the face mask, Ianto no doubt would have been worried to see that. Ianto continued to breathe deeply, ignoring the questionable scents around him. He closed his eyes and listened closely to everything so he would be ready when his mother returned, or could run if necessary.
It was over an hour later before his mother returned, the disgust on her face noticeable as she ripped off the face mask and pulled up a baggy from under her shirt. Ianto looked at her confused as she thrust a bloody piece of Jack's body into his hands.
"Mum?"
"That's Jack, or at least the part he'll heal from. As far as those jerks think, blowing him up really did kill him for good. I also got a good look at them. I'm certainly not going to let any of them near us."
"Good," Ianto mumbled as he gazed at the piece of his lover held in his hands, trying to imagine that Jack would really return to him from this small piece of flesh.
Ianto didn't notice as his mother rolled her eyes and stripped out of her borrowed clothes and reached over to touch the man's face again. "Ianto! I need your help dressing him, then we need to get out of here before he wakes up."
"Alright," Ianto gently placed the baggy into his pocket and helped his mother set the man up to wake up none the wiser about what had happened to him. Ianto mentally thanked whatever deity that existed that Torchwood London was the only place that insisted their employees get some sort of psychic training or what his mother was doing would never have worked.
"So…? What next Ianto?"
"I need to find Gwen, she and her husband are on the run from these guys too."
"Do you know how to find her?"
"We never actually established where we would meet up. She'll probably try to find Jack," Ianto patted his pocket nervously, worrying that he might not get Jack back. He couldn't help wondering how long it would take to get him back.
He looked over at his mother as she heaved a heavy sigh. She smiled sadly when she noticed his gaze. "Jack… His immortality grates at me, but that allowed me to find the living piece of him. His rebirth will probably be pretty painful, we should probably make him comfortable in my medical bay."
"Your what?"
"My medical bay."
"What medical bay?"
"The one in my TARDIS of course."
The Watch - Chapter 4
"You have a TARDIS?" Ianto asked blinking a couple of extra times. With all his experience with Torchwood things like this shouldn't surprise him. If this kept up nothing would ever surprise him.
"Of course. A TARDIS bounds with their Time Lords, though most are staffed with 6 of us," she smiled softly as she placed one hand by her neck. "It's just me, I never really got into the habit of having a companion. Though I was one for the Doctor for awhile. Then I found a universe that needed me so I stayed there for a long time helping out before returning to this universe. I was even elected President of Gallifrey. I really hate Daleks, they ruin so many things."
"Oh," Ianto really had nothing to say to that though his eyes widened as he saw that his mother was now holding a necklace in her hand. "How?"
"Perception filter. I'm not risking loosing or misplacing my TARDIS so I wear a homing beacon key with a perception filter so no one will notice it. And," she smiled widely and turned to look at the walls of the alley, "I certainly don't make TARDIS look like a blue box, a portable blue box at that. So many people come to think that's what they all look like because of the Doctor, but they can look like anything. Mine looks like a door, just a door. When there is a wall it matches nearby doors and sticks to the wall, like that." A finger pointed gently at a door, one that wasn't there before.
"Great," Ianto said following her to the door. "What if there isn't a wall?"
"Then it sticks to the ground and there is a door just standing there alone. I'm told it can be very disconcerting when there is a door to nothing with something in it. A lot stranger than the Doctor's, 'It's bigger on the inside than the outside,' thing."
"Wow," Ianto took in the large room. "Impressive even. … So where's the medical bay?"
"This way."
It took several minutes for Ianto to walk all the way to the medical bay. He watched in awe as his mother moved around, efficiently setting things up. Ianto took a moment to thank Torchwood for preparing him for personality changes like this. He was really liking the woman his mother really was.
Jack's chunk of flesh was gently placed on a metal bed. A few buttons were pressed and a dome like shape took form over it and the bed's content started floating as a gas flooded it.
"Mum?" Ianto stared at it worried for a moment.
"It'll help him heal," she explained. "Also re-growing flesh can be very painful, he won't feel anything or even wake up until it's turned off."
"Oh." Ianto looked back and forth between Jack and his mother. He really wanted to stay with Jack until he was better but knew that he needed to see to Gwen and the children. Ianto smiled grimly. Jack would understand and Ianto would still be there when he woke up. "First things first, I guess."
"Finding your other co-worker, correct?"
"Yes."
"Right. I'm tracking where they're transporting the rest of Jack, and we'll look for them there. Meanwhile I'll try to isolate the signal that you say is high-jacking the children." Smiling widely she offered, "Want to learn how to operate a TARDIS?"
The Watch - Chapter 5
"Ianto, turn that wheel on you left 3 quarter turns."
"This one?"
"Yes," she replied as she turned another wheel and pulled a couple knobs.
Ianto calmly followed his mother's instructions as they slowly placed her TARDIS on the side of one of the vehicles driving away from Torchwood.
"There!" A slight clink was heard as they lined up with the existing door.
"And you're certain no one can see us?"
"Of course," she replied with a familiar grin.
Ianto froze as he saw his mother smile the same smile he saw on his sister's face on his rare visits.
"The perception filter will take care of it. When we reach their destination we'll unhook ourselves and move onto whatever building is there and keep a lookout for your friends. In the meantime we should see if we can tap into this frequency used to hijack the children."
"Alright," Ianto agreed as he turned to look in the direction Jack was.
"You can go check on him if you like. I can handle this while you're gone. It'll still be a couple of hours until he finishes healing."
Ianto smiled quickly as he went to look at his lover. He stared as he saw that the small piece of flesh had grown several inches while he'd been in the other room. He sighed comforted with the knowledge that Jack really was going to be alright. He remained there several minutes just watching before leaving.
His mother looked at him when he returned, she easily saw how in love Ianto was with his boss. As a Timelady she had no trouble accepting her son's choice in partner. She was proud as she saw Ianto in his element, fighting for his world and his lover. She rushed around her TARDIS, happily letting her son help her, impressed with how well he followed directions and adapted to the technology in her ship.
"Mum? What does this mean?" Ianto watched confused as information was typed in an unknown language with an old fashioned type writer. Tap tap tap it went, moving as if by a phantom typist.
"Hm?" She walked confidently to his side, reached over as the typing ceased and pulled the paper out to look at it. "It's in Gallifreyan. The TARDIS has found a ship in orbit. It's identified as a #%#$ ship. Their name isn't pronounceable by humans. I've never heard of them." She started typing some things into the typewriter before it started typing its answers by itself. "The #%#$ are known for their incredible knowledge of chemicals and drugs. They have both created and healed plagues and other health problems throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately, the price of their help is very high because they're addicted to a living chemical generated by some species."
"Humans?" Ianto said hoping she wasn't going to say what he was pretty sure she was going to say.
"Oh…! They get high off the chemicals generated by human children! When puberty ends humans stop generating this chemical. They aren't just controlling them Ianto, they're planning to take them too."
End - Chapter 5