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Six months had passed since the Cyberman, that had been Lisa, had killed two people and almost succeeded in starting another invasion. Six months since Ianto’s betrayal of his team, in a futile attempt to save his girlfriend, had been uncovered. Six months since what had been left of his life had been taken from him.
Six months since Ianto Jones had run.
When the dust had settled that night, and Ianto had been checked and cleared for injuries, Jack had deposited him at home. The captain had removed anything with which Ianto could hurt himself and the only words he’d spoken were an instruction to the Welshman not to go anywhere, until he returned in the morning.
For an hour Ianto had sat, unmoving, staring at the photograph of Lisa on the bookshelf. In the image she was wearing a yellow sundress, which complemented her beautiful dark skin. Her smile was verging on a laugh, caused by something Ianto had said, but that he couldn’t now remember.
The only thought in his head was his failure. He’d worked so hard. Stolen, finagled, and lied. All for nothing. His girlfriend was gone, his job was gone, and his life as he had known it was gone. Then he’d thought about how much time he had left himself, and the shock of the evening’s events had quickly become superseded by the fear of what Jack would do.
If this had been Torchwood One, Yvonne would have executed him in the spot. With Jack though, things weren’t always so clear cut. Ianto could only see two directions for his future if he were to wait for the captain’s return. The first option, as with T1, was execution, and a small voice in the back of his mind had wondered if maybe this was for the best. With the loss of Lisa, Ianto had nothing left to live for. He’d realised, though, that had Jack been going to kill him, it would have already happened. This could only mean he would be retconned.
Ianto had worked for Torchwood for several years. The strength of retcon needed would have to be massive, and the implanted memories would need to be complex. There would be nothing left of him. All that he was would be completely gone. It had briefly crossed Ianto’s mind that he could he end his life himself, but the happy picture of Lisa made him dismiss the idea. He’d worked hard to create a future for them both, and he knew she would be disappointed if he gave up his fight. The only chance Ianto had left was to follow through on the plan he and Lisa had devised for after she was better.
After the destruction of Torchwood One, the Queen had authorised a payment of £75,000 to be made to each of the twenty-seven survivors. Ianto had used a large chunk of the cash for Lisa’s care, but he made sure to put some aside for their plans. Out of this, and utilising the resources Torchwood had available, Ianto had created fake identities for them both. He’d even procured birth certificates and passports, and had created false medical and dental records.
Ianto had withdrawn the remaining money, which amounted to around £11,000, from the bank, and hidden it behind a false panel in one of his kitchen cabinets. He’d also secreted a pistol and ammo. He had set up a bank account in his new name, and was paying in regular amounts from his stash. Transferring the whole lot from one account to the other was out of the question, as it could be traced instantly. All the paperwork and bank cards he would need were stored with the money in the kitchen
After making up his mind to run, Ianto had cleaned himself up, dressed in jeans and a sweater, then shoved a few clothes in a backpack. He’d then retrieved his new life from the kitchen cabinet, and left his phone, wallet, and car keys on the coffee table. The last thing he had done before leaving was to pick up the photograph of Lisa from a bookshelf.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered to the smiling image. “I tried.”
He’d shoved the picture into the backpack, and left his old life behind.
Ianto had spent the next twelve hours hitchhiking. He’d changed vehicles as often as he could, usually in the middle of the countryside when there were no cameras to pick him up, and crossed the border between England and Wales four times. Eventually he reached a small B&B in a village called Llaniorwerth. Here, he’d decided to lay low for a few days, to give his beard time to grow. During this time, Ianto, who was now going by the name Steffan Ellis, found himself growing fond of the village, and its people. It had been a mutual fondness, and Ianto had soon found himself taking charge of the small village library.
*
It was a quiet Tuesday lunchtime, and the only person in the library other than Ianto, was old Mrs Wells. She was not-so-surreptitiously tearing recipes from the library’s magazine selection, while she waited for her friend before they went for lunch. Ianto was sitting at the counter, browsing the internet for news from Cardiff and Newport. He desperately missed his home, but this was as close as he dared to get. It wasn’t just his home that tugged at his heart, but his job and the team also had him pining to return. He also couldn’t deny that he missed the captain’s flirtations; even though this still confused him. Ianto was dragged from his thoughts by Dai Owens.
Dai was one of the local ex-miners who had been employed by a development firm to assist with a survey of the defunct mine he used to work at.
“Any chance of coffee?” he asked.
“This still isn’t a café, Dai,” Ianto replied. “That’s three doors that way.”
He jerked his thumb in the direction of the café.
“Come on, Steffan, butt. You know your coffee’s the best in the village.”
Ianto disappeared behind a curtain, where he had positioned a coffee machine. There was absolutely no need for it to be of such a professional standard, but Ianto refused to work a full day without good quality coffee. It had probably had been a mistake to offer Dai a cup when he’d first got the machine. The man had come in at least three times a week since, and they had gone through the same ‘this isn’t a café routine’ every time.
“How’s it going up at the mine?” Ianto asked, placing a mug in front of Dai.
“We found something weird this morning,” the other man told him, taking a sip of the coffee. “There’s been a partial collapse in one of the shafts, and it revealed a large alcove. This was in there.”
Dai took out his phone and showed Ianto the picture he’d taken.
For a moment Ianto’s mind was filled with the final day of Canary Wharf. All the death and destruction he’d witnessed, and all the horrific sounds and smells, came to the forefront of his consciousness.
“Is it alive?” he demanded hoarsely, while gripping the counter to steady himself.
“It’s probably just someone’s remote control robot,” Dai replied, puzzled at the reaction. “How would it be alive?”
“Did it move or anything?”
“It did actually,” Dai told him, with a grin. “There must have been some power left in it. A thing on the front moved half an inch, and Phil damn near shit himself.”
He finally realised that there was something wrong with the man he was talking to. Ianto was pale, he was sweating, and he had begun to shake slightly.
“You okay, butt?” Dai asked. “You don’t look good.”
“Did it speak?”
“What are you on about?”
“Did it speak?!” Ianto yelled, eliciting ‘shush’ from Mrs Wells.
“No,” replied Dai, confused at Ianto’s fear. “Though the two lights on the top glowed very faintly.”
Ianto had to sit down to stop himself from falling. He handed Dai’s phone back to him, before pulling out his own. He had bought it shortly after arriving in the village, and immediately registered it in his new name. Ianto hesitated slightly before dialling a number he had committed to memory, but which he thought he’d never need again. After three rings, it was answered.
“Hello Sir. It’s me. Ianto.”
*
Captain Jack Harkness strode into the Torchwood Hub, and found Gwen and Owen in mid-argument. Yet again.
“I did it yesterday!” Owen snapped. “And Tosh the day before. It’s your bloody turn to empty all the bins.”
“I washed all the mugs and plates that you were supposed to do yesterday!” Gwen countered.
“I’ll do it!” said Tosh, in a resigned tone which told everyone she was tired of all the bickering.
Jack sighed, and looked upwards in exasperation. Ever since Ianto had disappeared they had all taken turns at dealing with all the things the Welshman had done. None of them had realised just how much that was, which was on top of all the stuff he had been doing to take care of Lisa. The only thing Jack wouldn’t let the others touch were the archives. Ianto had made great strides in getting them sorted, and the captain didn’t want anyone messing up all of his hard work.
Besides, even though none of them had a clue where the Welshman had gone, he still clung to a foolish hope that the young man would return. It wasn’t just because the place ran much more smoothly with Ianto around either. Jack missed him. He had forgiven Ianto’s betrayal as soon as his anger and fear had dissipated, and had been intending to tell him so. However, the morning after that terrible night, Jack had entered Ianto’s flat and found him gone. He’d searched the place for any indication of where he could have headed, but there was nothing. Plus, the fact he’d left his traceable items behind was enough to tell Jack that Ianto had no intention of ever being found.
Over the next few days, he and the rest of the team had tried to track his movements, but ultimately came up empty-handed. They’d easily followed him via CCTV until a vehicle he was travelling in left the motorway. This was where they had lost him completely, which wasn’t really surprising. Ianto was an expert at hiding, and making things disappear. Not only was that his job, he’d managed to Lisa a secret in a building where she should have been discovered almost immediately. After two weeks, Jack had told them to drop it, and ordered them to forget about Ianto. He didn’t believe him a threat, and figured that, after everything he’d gone through, Ianto deserved to live a quiet life.
The captain was about to intervene with the argument between Owen and Gwen, when his phone rang. He glanced at the number, but didn’t recognise it.
“Hello,” he greeted.
His heart almost stopped when the caller spoke.
“Ianto?!”
The other three went silent at the sound of the name.
“I know I’ve got some explaining to do,” said Ianto, trying not to notice the warmth in his heart at hearing Jack’s voice. “But right now there’s an emergency to deal with.”
“It must be serious for you to call after six months,” Jack replied, trying to keep his voice steady.
“Would you say a Dalek is serious?”
The captain felt his blood freeze at the word. The creatures were responsible for his first death, and had been partially to blame for the downfall of Torchwood One.
“We’re on our way.”
Ianto gave Jack his location, and told him he would meet him at the mine entrance. He then ended then call. Taking a steadying breath, he turned back to Dai.
“Go and make sure no-one goes back into the mine,” he instructed.
“What’s going on?” the other man demanded. “And who’s Ianto
“My real name is Ianto Jones,” Ianto explained. “I came here to hide from my former employers, but the thing you found means I’ve had to blow my cover, and bring them here. When all this is over, you probably won’t see me again.”
“I don’t underst…”
“Dai, do as I ask, please,” Ianto insisted, a little more harshly than he’d intended. “I promise, I’ll explain later. But right now, you need to stop anybody going near the thing you found. It’s very dangerous.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you, Steffan?”
Dai hadn’t known the other man for long, but he’d always seemed to be a quiet, gentle sort of person. Now though, his eyes were steely, and his expression was mixture of fear and determination. He was also sure he could see some excitement.
“It’s Ianto, and I’m deadly serious,” Ianto told him. “Go now, Dai. I won’t be far behind you.”
*
Mrs Wells hadn’t been happy to be shooed out of the library early, but Ianto’s charm had soon put her at ease. He quickly shut everything off and locked up, before dashing off to his little flat above the bakers. There, he retrieved the gun from the back of his wardrobe, and loaded it. He’d hoped it would never be needed, but had kept it in working order just in case.
When Ianto arrived at the opening to the mine, he found Dai talking to two other men. One was Phil Blackmore from the village, the other was a stranger to him. Dai introduced him as Mike Sharpe, a surveyor from the developers. He didn’t look happy.
“I’m Ianto Jones,” Ianto told him, not missing the questioning look Phil flashed at Dai.
“Are you the reason these two men are out here, not working?” Sharpe demanded.
“I understand your frustration, Mr Sharpe,” Ianto replied calmly, easily slipping into the bland civil servant persona he used to use when dealing with anyone Torchwood had annoyed. Which was usually everyone. “However, the thing that has been found has the potential to destroy this entire planet.”
“I don’t know you, Mr Jones,” said the surveyor with evident frustration. “But you don’t look like a man given to flights of fancy.”
Ianto put his hands on his hips, and offered Sharpe a slight smile. It had been six months since he’d had to deal with people who had no knowledge of dangerous aliens, and he could feel himself slipping back into that role far too easily.
“Whether you believe me or not, no-one other than me is going in there, until Torchwood arrives.”
“Who, or what, is Torchwood?” Sharpe demanded, mirroring Ianto’s stance.
Ianto hesitated before answering. He really shouldn’t be telling anyone about Torchwood, but knew that that Jack would be retconning them all later anyway.
“Their job is to deal with things that aren’t from Earth,” Ianto explained. “Such as the Dalek in the mine.”
“Dalek?”
Growing tired of the surveyor, Ianto again instructed Dai to prevent anyone from going into the mine. He even suggested a judicial fist to the fae would be warranted for anyone trying to enter. Dai had pulled himself up to his full height, and crossed his arms across his chest. He still had no clue what was happening, but his quiet friend from the library had become so serious and authoritative, that he just knew he had to obey him.
“I’ll be back out shortly,” Ianto told him, as he started to head towards the entrance.
“You can’t go in without this,” said Phil, handing him a safety helmet. “It’s dark, and the ceilings are low.”
He also had no idea what the situation was, but if Dai was going with it, then so would he.
Ianto placed the helmet on his head and, to the shock of everyone, drew his gun.
“Bloody Hell!” exclaimed Phil. “Why do you have that?”
“For protection,” Ianto replied, bluntly. “Don’t worry, I’m licensed for it.”
Desperately trying to keep his rising panic at bay, Ianto switched on his head torch and slowly moved through the tunnels, following the directions Dai had given him. While the Cybermen had been the bigger threat within the Torchwood Tower, he had still been witness to the terrible destruction perpetrated by the Daleks, and the memory of their voices still haunted his nightmares. As he turned the final corner, Ianto froze. Then, taking a deep breath, he raised his weapon, and inched forward.
This Dalek looked different to the ones at Canary Wharf. Those ones were a sort of copper and gold colour, whereas this one was mainly grey, with some black. To Ianto, it seemed older. As though it were an earlier version. As he edged closer, the lights on the top of the Dalek started to glow faintly, and Ianto heard a harsh whine. Then it spoke.
“En...en…en…emy detec…tec…ted,” it grated.
“Shit!” Ianto exclaimed. Which only served to draw the Dalek’s attention all the more.
The creature’s eyestalk swivelled towards him, along with the gun-stick.
“Ex…ex…ter…min…min…ate!”
Despite having his own weapon, Ianto’s fear overrode everything, and he turned and ran. He expected to be hit in the back by the energy weapon, but it never came. He didn’t see that, although the Dalek had tried to fire, it wasn’t able to. Darting back out of the mine entrance, Ianto dropped his gun and fell to his knees.
Despite being in open countryside, all Ianto could see the white walls of Torchwood Tower. He could clearly hear the screams of the dying, and could smell the scorched flesh of the converted. The grating of the Dalek voices, and electronic ones of the Cyberman were sounds that were never far from consciousness, but seeing the Dalek in the mine brought back every last horrific part of the battle. His stomach clenched and he vomited.
The others watched on, with varying degrees of disgust, until he was done. Dai stepped over, and put a hand Ianto’s back.
“You alright, Steff… I mean, Ianto?”
Ianto shifted position so that he was sitting on the hard ground, away from what he’d just expelled.
“The last time I saw those things, they were in a battle with another race of soulless cyborgs,” he told Dai, his voice hoarse and his breathing heavy. “My colleagues and I were between them, and only twenty-seven of us survived. Out of eight hundred.”
“Fuckin’ ‘ell!”
Ianto took a few steadying breaths and, with Dai’s help, shakily got to his feet.
“It seems to be gaining strength,” he said. “And I don’t know if the team will get here in time. I need to destroy it.”
Ianto asked Dai if he had access to any kind of explosives. He was told that they had a small amount for clearing blockages but they had to be careful due to the risk of being trapped in a cave-in.
“What about timers?”
“Best I can do is a fuse,” Dai explained. “Would that be okay?”
Ianto nodded, and Dai went to get what he’d asked for.
Having heard enough, Sharpe the surveyor decided it was time for him to regain control of the area. This man that was ordering his men around was clearly insane.
“Just who the Hell do you think you are?” he yelled at Ianto. “I’m in charge here!”
Pushing aside his fear and panic, Ianto stalked towards Sharpe, and stood almost nose to nose with him.
“I am in charge,” he snarled. “If you have a problem with this, feel free to take it to the head of Torchwood.”
Sharpe took a step back, trying not to show that Ianto had him rattled.
“And just who might that be?”
Ianto smiled. It was a large, brittle, smile with no warmth or humour whatsoever.
“Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second.”
“Yeah, right,” the surveyor scoffed. “As if!”
Ianto’s eye contact didn’t waver as he stared the other man down. He didn’t look away until Dai returned with the explosive. After listening to the instructions on how to use it, and rebuffing Dai’s offer to help, Ianto went back in to face the Dalek; making sure to retrieve his gun.
It noticed him as soon as he approached, and it’s eyestalk turned towards him.
“You… you… will assist… assist me,” it grated. “Or… or… you will be… be… ex…ex…extermin…ated.”
Although Ianto was terrified, and his mind was screaming at him to run, he realised that this was the perfect opportunity. By pretending that he was freeing the creature, he could get close enough to place the explosive. Dai had given him a very small amount, but it would be enough to, at least, incapacitate the Dalek. He hoped it would kill it outright.
“I need to come closer,” he told the Dalek. “So I can move some of the rocks.”
“A…greed.”
His legs felt heavy as he stumbled towards the creature, but he managed, and began to move some of the debris. When he was sure the Dalek couldn’t see what he was doing, Ianto placed the explosive at the back, between the grills below the dome. A two-minute fuse hung down from it. Ianto made enough noise to disguise the sound of a lighter, and lit the fuse. Before he could worry about whether he would be able to escape or not, he bolted back down the shaft, and hid around a corner.
For what felt like the longest two minutes of his life, Ianto could hear the Dalek calling out threats of extermination. When the explosives finally went off, the sound was deafening. He waited a further minute before drawing his weapon and going back.
He was almost sick again at the sight and smell of the destroyed Dalek. Although Ianto knew there was an organic creature within the shell, it was still a surprise to see it’s splattered, green remains. Confident that it was dead, Ianto went outside to wait for the team.
*
The bulky, black Torchwood SUV traversed the landscape towards the mine entrance, like a predator stalking its prey. Ianto couldn’t help but feel like he was the one being hunted. His heart pounding in his chest, and his clammy hands warned of a coming panic attack at facing Jack again. Breathing through his nose in an effort to calm himself, Ianto watched as the vehicle came to a stop. The passenger side rear door opened first, and Toshiko jumped out. She ran to Ianto and wrapped him in a tight hug.
Ianto reciprocated the hug as he locked eyes on Jack, who was walking towards him. The captain’s expression was entirely neutral, which only caused Ianto to worry even more. In a way, he would have preferred to see anger, or disappointment.
“I’ve been so worried about you,” said Tosh, finally letting Ianto go. “I never stopped trying to find you.”
Somehow this didn’t surprise Jack, even though he had ordered them all to forget about the young Welshman. Not that he’d taken his own orders.
“How are you, Ianto?” asked Jack, still not giving any indication as to his mood.
“It’s good to see you again, Sir.”
“You’ve never needed to call me Sir,” the captain replied, “And that wasn’t the question I asked.”
Then Ianto saw it. Jack was genuinely asking how he was, and Ianto could see his concern just behind the almost unreadable expression.
“I’ve been better,” the Welshman told him. His eyes flicked to splatter of vomit he’d deposited earlier.
Unable to hold back any longer, Jack pulled Ianto into a bone-crushing bear hug. The Welshman resisted at first, but then melted into the tight hold.
“I’m glad you’re safe, Ianto,” said the older man, warmly. “And that beard really suits you.”
Leaning against the SUV, Owen Harper carefully observed the two men. Ever since Ianto had run away, Jack’s reaction had been completely counter to what the medic had expected. It had surprised him that Jack hadn’t pursued Ianto to the ends of the Earth. The captain had been furious the night Lisa rampaged through the Hub, but had quickly calmed down. He and Owen had discussed things, and they had agreed to forgive Ianto. Both men could understand the younger man’s motivations so, when Jack had called off the search for the Welshman, Owen had been perplexed.
“No Gwen?” Ianto asked, pulling away from Jack, and nodding a greeting to Owen. “Is it because she was almost killed because of me?”
“She’s deputising for me at a meeting with the mayor,” Jack told him, with a reassuring smile. “I’d already put it off twice, and you know how much I hate dealing with that man.”
Ianto chuckled slightly; the sound warming Jack’s heart more than he would ever admit.
“I believe,” the younger man replied. “That you declared him to be a corpse that had been reanimated by alien means because…”
“Because no-one alive could be that grey and boring,” Jack finished with a grin.
All of a sudden, the events of the day, combined with his complex feelings on Jack’s presence, crashed into Ianto like a train going at full speed. Trembling, his legs went from under him, and he dropped to his knees.
“Owen!” Jack called.
The medic was already moving before Jack had shouted. He quickly checked over the Welshman and declared him to be physically fine.
“Just overwhelmed,” he told Jack.
“Keep an eye on him, while Tosh and I check the mine,” the captain instructed.
“You’ll need a hard hat,” Ianto said, handing over the one he had taken off. “They won’t let you in without one.”
Tosh was given a hat by Dai, and she and Jack headed for the mine. They were stopped by the surveyor.
“Who exactly are you?” Sharpe demanded. “Jones said you were people who dealt with things that aren’t from Earth. What the Hell does that mean?”
“Exactly what he said,” Jack growled, and pushed his way past. “I’m Captain Jack Harkness, and we’re Torchwood.
It didn’t take them long to find what remained of the Dalek. Jack told Tosh to keep back while he ensured that it was completely deactivated. He needn’t have worried though, as the creature within the shell was no longer whole.
“Poor Ianto,” said Tosh, as she stepped closer. “He probably thought he was away from all of this.”
“He must have been terrified seeing one of these things again,” Jack replied sadly. “He was supposed to be having a safe life.”
He too was deeply unhappy at this turn of events too. Being exterminated by these things hadn’t exactly been a walk in the park, and having Torchwood One unleash millions over London had been horrifying. Not that he was about to tell Tosh any of this. His immortality wasn’t something he was ready to tell to the team. Whenever he had in the past, it had always ended up badly for him.
“That’s why you stopped us looking for him,” said Tosh quietly.
“Ianto lost everything because of Torchwood,” Jack told her. “All he had left were his life and his memories. I couldn’t take those from him. I wanted to find him to start with so that I could give him options for his future. As time went on, I realised it was best to just let him go. As hard as that was.”
Tosh’s heart broke at the expression on Jack’s face. The captain clearly had some feelings for the young Welshman, which went beyond a surface attraction. Before she could say anything, though, Jack seemed to shake himself off.
“Let’s check for more Daleks,” he commanded. “I doubt there are any, but we’d better make sure.”
*
Owen had retrieved his kit from the SUV, and was giving Ianto more thorough check. Although he was physically fine, he was still trembling. The Welshman was sitting on the ground, with the medic kneeling in front of him.
“I’m sorry,” Ianto mumbled, as Owen ran a scanner over him.
“For what?” the medic asked, putting the scanner away.
“Lisa.”
Owen placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked him in the eye.
“We were all angry that night,” he replied, feeling the Welshman tense up. “But that’s only because we were scared, and we were hurt that you’d hidden her.”
“I didn’t fully understand what I was doing.”
“We know that,” Owen replied. “We get that you didn’t endanger us on purpose. Did you know I was engaged before I joined Torchwood?”
Ianto frowned at Owen, unsure of what the other man was going to say.
“She was killed by an alien, not that I knew that at the time,” Owen explained. “I didn’t know it was already too late, but I did everything I could to save her. No different than you with Lisa.”
Ianto dropped his head and sighed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Owen shrugged. He didn’t usually talk about Katie, because he couldn’t stand all the cloying sympathy and cold comfort that inevitably followed. However, he knew he wouldn’t get that from Ianto. People who’d lost partners knew that empty words did nothing to assuage grief.
“Just wanted you to know that I understand where your head was at,” the medic replied.
Ianto suddenly got to his feet and started pacing. Over by the mine entrance he saw Dai, Phil, and the surveyor watching him warily. All of them were out of their depth, and were wating for answers and guidance.
“I could have been responsible for the destruction of the human race,” Ianto said, angrily. “That makes me worse than any of the monsters who have perpetrated genocides on this planet.”
“World domination was never your goal,” Owen reminded him as he too stood up. “If it had been, we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation. Your body would be lying in our morgue.”
“But..”
“But nothing, mate” the medic cut in. “You were too bloody close, and too bloody focused, to grasp the reality of everything. All you wanted to do was save your girlfriend and live your lives together. No-one can begrudge that.”
“Who are you, and what have you done with Owen Harper?”
Owen snorted a laugh.
“That’s Doctor Owen Harper to you, Tea Boy,” he said, with a grin. “I know I’m an arsehole, but I still have a fucking heart.”
Jack and Toshiko exited the mine just in time to see Ianto smile at something Owen was saying. His stomach did flip-flops as he realised just how much he had missed Ianto being around. The Welshman hadn’t been with them for long, but he’d managed to make a huge impact on them all. Considering he had been doing everything to be as unobtrusive as possible, that was a feat which bordered on the miraculous. Jack began to wonder how much more of an impact Ianto could make if he allowed himself to flourish out in the open.
He strode over to the two men, with Tosh following in his wake.
“It looks like that was the only one,” he declared. “We’ll take what’s left of it back to the Hub and incinerate it.”
“How did it get out here?” Ianto asked. “I know the ghost shifts deposited Cybermen all over the world, but the Daleks came from the sphere. There wouldn’t have been time for them to get out here. Besides, this one is different to those.”
“Daleks have been coming to Earth for centuries,” Jack told him. “Who knows how long that one has been down there.”
Jack instructed Owen and Tosh to deal with the three civilians and dole out the Retcon. As they walked away, Jack pulled a small tub of the pill from his pocket.
“Want some?” he asked, waggling the tub at Ianto. “Just enough to wipe today.”
Ianto turned away and wrapped his arms around himself. Part of him wanted to accept the drug, and go back to the new life he’d built for himself. However, he knew if he did that, he’d continue to worry about being discovered without knowing he no longer had anything to fear.
“No thanks,” he said eventually, before turning back to the captain. “I don’t want to forget seeing you all again.”
“Are you happy here?” Jack asked, folding his arms, and raising his eyebrows in question.
Ianto shrugged non-committedly.
“I’ve built a life here,” he answered. “But it’s as Steffan Ellis. I’ve found a job, and made friends, but not as Ianto Jones.”
He turned away again, moved away a few steps.
“Steffan Ellis runs the library, is part of a quiz team, and enjoys a nice Sunday lunch in the pub,” he continued. “It’s a nice, quiet, safe existence.”
“And Ianto Jones?” queried Jack.
“He works for a secret organisation that defends the Earth form alien threats, and protects Cardiff from debris that a rift in time and space deposits on it. He takes care of an archive which contains some unbelievable artefacts, tidies up after some of the messiest people in the galaxy, and makes best cup of coffee in the universe. It’s a chaotic, terrifying, and dangerous existence which will kill him early.”
The older man came and stood beside the younger man.
“Which life do you want?”
“I’d better help with the clean-up,” Ianto said, and walked away from the conversation.
Jack watched him go, before going to give Owen a hand with the retcon.
*
In the mine, Toshiko and Ianto worked together clear the debris from around the Dalek, with the intention of pushing it out.
“I’ve missed you,” Tosh told her friend. “Everyone else is so loud, and miss our quiet chats.”
Ianto smiled softly.
“I’ve missed you too,” he told her. “I’m sorry I had to leave.”
“Would you come back if you could?”
The Welshman stopped what he was doing as he thought things over.
“I think I do,” he said eventually. “But I don’t know if Jack would want me there.”
As soon as they got the Dalek outside, Jack ordered it to be broken up, so that it would fit in the SUV. He, Tosh, and Owen took on that job, while Ianto went over to the three sleeping men to delete any evidence from their phones.
“You knew this was where he was hiding didn’t you?” Tosh said, without accusation. “Is that why you told us to drop the search?”
“Yes,” Jack replied simply. He wondered how the technician had known, but didn’t question her.
“Are you going to ask him to return?” Owen asked, sounding almost hopeful.
“I’d like him to come back, for many reasons,” the captain told him. “And I think he would like to, but he’s safe here. He can have a normal life.”
Tosh placed a hand on Jack’s
“That Dalek suggests that Torchwood business will always find him.”
It didn’t take long for everything to be loaded into the SUV, and it was soon time for the team to leave. Jack looked around for Ianto, and saw him sitting and staring out over the valley. He joined him on the ground.
“I should have realised Lisa was already gone,” the younger man said, as soon as he felt Jack’s presence. “I should have let her go.”
“Easier said than done,” Jack answered. “The heart often shields us from the truth.”
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Jack asked Ianto if he wanted to return to Cardiff.
“You’d let me? After everything I did?”
“You are good at what you do,” the captain told him. “It’s a shame to waste all that talent. Besides, I miss having you around.”
Ianto’s breath caught in throat, as he tried not to react too obviously to Jack’s implied feelings.
“I’m guessing no-one has figured out how to use the coffee machine yet.”
Jack snorted.
“Hey, it’s only been six months. I’m fairly certain Tosh almost has it.”
Ianto laughed.
“I’d like to come back.”
*
A week had passed since the incident with the Dalek. After accepting Jack’s invitation to return to Torchwood, Ianto had opted to wait for a few days. He had pretended to wake up with Dai, Phil, and Sharpe, and managed to convince them that a pocket of gas had erupted from the mine and knocked them out. He had then tied up his affairs, said his goodbyes, and made his way to Cardiff.
As the lift opened in front of the cogwheel door, Ianto straightened his tie, and smoothed his suit. He hadn’t worn one for six months, and it had surprised him just how much he had missed it. He ran a hand over his freshly-shaved chin, took a deep breath, and stepped into the Hub. From above, came the squawk of Myfanwy, and across the Hub, Jack held up his coffee mug in silent request.
Ianto smiled, and nodded.
He was home.