KISMET

WATCHING THE TIDE ROLL IN

2009-08-09T14:49:46Z

Characters: Jack, Ianto
Rating: Mild PG
Spoilers: Mild, for Adam
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to RTD and to the BBC
Summary: Written as a result of the prompt for Day Four on horizonssing:

Jack sat on the sand and watched as the sun gradually lowered itself towards the horizon. The breeze was blowing directly towards him, carrying the tang of the ocean and the indefinable scent that used to be that of home. He'd spent years inhaling that scent until he'd grown so attuned to it that it wasn't until it was no longer in his nostrils that he had realised how much he loved it.

The sky was darkening towards twilight and the sun was drawing its evening clothes of scarlets, mauves and oranges about itself. The sand was still warm from the baking heat of the day and Jack settled back against the dune he was sitting against, looking further up the beach to where a familiar figure was slowly walking towards him. He smiled at the sight. Ianto had taken off the coat, tie and waistcoat earlier on and had rolled up his trouser legs so he could walk along the edge of the receding tide. Along with the top two buttons being undone and his shirt being pulled out of his trousers, he presented a deliciously ruffled appearance. Ianto paused every now and then to look down and very occasionally picked something up before dropping it back down. Only once did Jack see him put whatever it was into his pocket.

Jack watched for a little while longer before relaxing back completely and closing his eyes. He listened to the sound of the surf beating endlessly against the shore and the occasional cry of a seabird. Eventually the sounds were joined by the scuff of bare feet against sand and he opened his eyes just as Ianto reached his side and gazed down at him with a faint smile.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, indicating the space alongside Jack.

Jack pursed his lips and considered the question. "Well, I was promised the company of an incredibly handsome and intelligent man who said he would watch the sun go down with me."

"Really?" Ianto raised an eyebrow. "What an incredible coincidence! I met a charming and roguish man who said he would show me a sunset as well."

"Hmmm, you're right, it is an uncanny coincidence," Jack agreed. "Why don't we keep one another company until the two scoundrels make an appearance?"

Ianto laughed and settled down beside him. "Sounds like a plan to me."

They lapsed into a companionable silence for a while as they gazed out towards the horizon. After a few minutes, Jack reached out an arm and gathered Ianto closer, resting his head against the other man's. Ianto reached up a hand to place it over the one Jack had around him and smiled.

"You were right," he said quietly. "I had to see it to appreciate it."

Jack sighed and nodded. "It's not the kind of place you can describe," he agreed. "And I was always afraid I wasn't remembering it right."

Ianto gazed up into the reassuringly blue sky, now a dark sapphire as the sun bled away into the horizon. To his left and a little behind him hung the immense rose and gold crescent of Boe, the gas giant around which this world-moon of Boeshane orbited. Three of the other thirty-two moons were also visible and Ianto nudged Jack and pointed to the nearest one.

"What's that one called?"

Jack looked up at the almost-full disc of pale blue and smiled. "Boesavan. And that one-" he continued, pointing to the slender sliver of gold "-is Boemosht while that last pinkish one is Hoji."

"Why not Boehoji?" Ianto asked curiously.

Jack shrugged. "Just wasn't. They only stuck Boe on the front of those moons in the Boe system that could support life. Boeshane means 'daughter of Boe', in case you're interested."

"Always," Ianto said softly, still gazing around him. This was such a beautiful world and if you ignored the sky, it was so much like the Welsh coastline that it was positively unsettling. "Have you ever been to the Gower, Jack?"

"Hmm," Jack hummed in agreement, lying back and tugging at Ianto to join him. "Lovely world."

Ianto made a sound of exasperation. "It's not a world, Jack, it's part of the Welsh coastline..." His voice trailed away as he saw the smile on Jack's lips. "Seriously? There's an entire world called Gower?"

Jack's smile widened. "Uh-huh. Want to go there next?"

"We should be getting back to the Earth," Ianto pointed out. Even he had to admit that his tone lacked conviction. "You said we'd take one trip on that timeship and then let the Doctor know we'd found it."

"Yep, I said that," Jack agreed. He wriggled to get more comfortable and made another attempt to pull Ianto down to lie beside him. "You wait until the sun goes down completely and the stars come out. It's an awesome sight."

Ianto sighed and then chuckled, settling down beside Jack. "We're not going back for a while, are we?"

"Timeship," Jack said, making a pleased noise as he realised that Ianto wasn't going to put up much of a fight.

"So it is." Ianto smiled and planted a quick kiss on Jack's cheek before snuggling close and waiting for the stars to appear while the tide continued to go out.

OOOO

A PICNIC AT THE START OF THE WORLD

2008-07-19T19:54:51Z

Characters: Jack, Ianto, Kismet
Rating: Open
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to RTD and to the BBC
Warnings: Soppy sentiments are expressed
Summary: Jack decides that Ianto deserves a picnic. Written for the Day Sixteen challenge for horizonssing.

"Between an immensity of land and an immensity of sky they sat there, incomprehensible, smiling at a continent."

- Douglas Adams,
Last Chance to See

After a long moment, Ianto stirred and half-turned to give Jack a small smile. "I have to say, when you say that you want to take me for a picnic with a view, you certainly know how to deliver!"

Just behind them hovered the sleek deep green and silver arrowhead of Kismet as she dreamed and sang of the places and times she would take her two darlings next unless they had a definite destination in mind. Ianto spared her an affectionate glance before turning back to gaze at the view in front of him.

"I sort of liked the idea of bringing you to the original Avalonia," Jack said mildly as he used some bread to scoop up a healthy dollop of potato salad.

"Devonian Earth," Ianto said in awe as he stared.

They were resting on a natural ridge that was about halfway up an impressive mountain range that extended in either direction until it was lost in the haze of the horizon. Directly in front of them, the moss-covered land dropped away in a series of stepped ridges until the land finally merged with the sea. Further down the slope Ianto could see trees and other plants of some kind, but this high up there was only the jewel-bright, plush moss and some reeds that started out green but gradually flushed to a rich garnet colour. The only signs of animal life were swift-moving centipedes that looked like they were made out of burnished silver with jet inlays. Jack had assured him they were harmless and Ianto was inclined to take him at his word. Besides, the nanites Kismet had pumped him full of once she'd worked out how fragile he was in his natural state meant that Ianto could now give Jack a run for his money in the tough-to-kill stakes.

"Is this really called Avalonia?" he asked, accepting the champagne flute that Jack offered him.

"Ye gods, are you telling me there's something you don't know?" Jack teased.

"I didn't pay close attention to the Earth until the Carboniferous Era," Ianto said with dignity.

"Tch, we'll have to do something about that," Jack said reprovingly before grinning. "And to answer your question: yes, this part is called Avalonia. If we were to climb over these mountains behind us, we'd find ourselves looking out over either Baltica or Laurentia. Somewhere out past that horizon, the continent of Gondwana is heading towards us at a spanking pace. We'll be long gone before it heaves its lazy carcass into sight, though." He offered up his glass to Ianto and Ianto obediently clinked their glasses together. "What shall we drink to?"

Ianto went back to staring out over the sparkling blue ocean, with a cloudless sky overhead. "To Earth," he decided. "In all her bloody-minded, disaster-prone glory. And to whichever mindless vertebrate out there that will found the line that eventually leads to the two of us."

"I'll drink to that," Jack agreed and suited action to words.

They lay back and looked out over the immensity of sea, mountains and sky. It was a little strange to know that they were still on Earth but they were also the only humans around.

"So where shall we go next?" Jack asked idly as he decided he couldn't actually manage another salmon and cucumber sandwich.

Ianto shrugged as he nibbled on a fruit tart and sipped his champagne. "Let Kismet choose. She deserves a turn of her own."

"That's us screwed then," Jack observed cheerfully and waved an apology at the contralto chord of disapproval that earned him from their ship. "C'mon, darling, you know you have a talent for finding us hotspots!"

"And you love it," Ianto observed in amusement, loving the sparkle that was in Jack's eyes these days.

"Love us," Jack corrected with a flashing smile, and decided that maybe he could find a corner for another sandwich, after all.

OOOOO

Fiction

2007-07-18T23:08:31Z

Title: TURNABOUT
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, they belong to the BBC and to RTD.

All things being what they were, Jack had always known that the Time Agency would catch up with him one day. Leaving aside the small fact that he had stolen a timeship, gone AWOL and become a rogue, conning his way across time and space and always keeping one small step ahead of them; there was also the small fact that he had teamed up with the Doctor, somehow gotten himself immortal and then fallen through a rift in space and time to become the leader of an organisation that would go on to become one of the Agency's biggest enemies. Yes, he'd always expected them to catch up with him one day.

He just hadn't expected it to be in the form of Tamhaeass CanKevveras draped over the conference table around midday on a Wednesday.

Tosh dropped the container of Thai she had been bringing up for lunch. Owen turned the air blue as he turned back to go and find a weapon of some kind. Gwen backed up against the glass wall of the conference room and just stared while there was no sign of Ianto. Jack sighed and pulled a face. So much for a discreet pick-up. That meant that they were probably planning on doing a mindwipe of everyone after they'd pulled him in. It looked like they hadn't learned much about tact in the time he had been away. He said as much and watched as Tamhaeass' outer membrane rippled in what passed for a shrug in her species.

"Needs must, darling," she said, the endearment sounding strange when spoken through the flat tones of the vocal synthesizer she needed to be heard by the limited hearing range of humans. "I'm in a bit of a hurry to wrap up business here."

"So I guess I'm under arrest then?" Jack said in resignation.

Tamhaeass made an odd sound that might have been a laugh. "Hardly. You're small fry, Jack. Not worth the hassle of processing the paperwork."

"Oh? Then why are you here if it's not to pull me in? You'll have to admit that I gave you a run for your money."

A tendril lifted and made a vague waving motion. "You kept the students busy." The translator made the same strange noise again as she saw the expression on Jack's face. "Did you honestly think that we ever lost track of you? You were in one of our own timeships, Jack. You stuck out like a sore thumb wherever and whenever you went. We let you play your little games, then used the aftermath as a training exercise for the new recruits. We did lose track of you after that incident with the nanites but it didn't take long for your presence here on Earth to light up the board."

Owen had reappeared with a gun, but Jack motioned at him to lower it and keep back. Right now the most pressing matter was keeping the damage to his team at a minimal level. "So why didn't you come and get me?"

Tamhaeass shrugged again. "At first we were in no hurry, but then we became curious. You were... different. Immortal, for a start. That made us wonder so we held off and observed you. Besides, we had other concerns, far more pressing than a single rogue who never did know when to stop pushing his luck."

Jack managed a brash grin and spread his hands out. "Hey, life's more fun when you're playing on the edge of the cliff."

A rude noise was a rude noise even when it came from a gently pulsating alien jellyfish. "You'll never change. Why anyone thought you'd make a good agent is beyond me."

"I got the job done," Jack said evenly.

"Until you let your conscience start to get in the way and started to question what your superiors told you to do," Tamhaeass shot back.

"I got tired of being a thug," Jack said flatly. "I got real tired of it round about the time I got sent to Snanasfell." He saw the different kind of twitch that Tamhaeass made and nodded, his eyes narrowing. He had a two-year gap in his memory and the only thing he had been able to dig up had been that it coincided with his being sent to the planet Snanasfell. He'd been there and found it an empty desolate shell when records said it should have been a paradise but no-one would tell him anything and all information regarding his mission had been purged from the Agency computers.

"You exist to serve the Agency," Tamhaeass eventually said. "We all do."

"Tough. I rewrote my job description."

A tendril slapped against the table. "It doesn't matter. You're old history now, trapped in one timeline and only able to make minor screw-ups. We have bigger problems to worry about than you."

"Oh, is someone finally giving you the kicking you deserve?" Jack asked with hopeful flippancy. "Worst thing that ever happened was the Time Lords going under. You'd never have dared to pull some of the stunts you've done if they were still around." Something in the way Tamhaeass changed colour then made the hairs on the back of Jack's head stand up. "The Doctor? You made him mad? Man, you people are even more stupid than I thought!" He laughed merrily. If anyone could make the Agency scramble, it was the Doctor.

"Who or what we are having problems with is no longer your concern, Jack," Tamhaeass snapped. "I'm here to pick up our agent and then leave."

"Agent?" Jack was peripherally aware that Ianto had appeared silently at the door, but he was more interested in what Tamhaeass was telling him.

"Of course. You've had an agent keeping tabs on you since you settled here, Jack. Not the same one all the time, of course, but it was easy to slip in a ringer when the mortality rate for Torchwood agents was so high. Now, however, we have to leave you to your own limited resources." She raised a tendril and beckoned. "Time to go, honey."

Jack glanced over to where she had gestured. To where Ianto was standing, his face impassive. Then Gwen dodged around him and walked up to clasp the tendril, a look of intense relief on her face.

"Can't wait to get back to civilisation," she muttered. "This place is too primitive for me."

Jack stared and was dimly aware of the looks of astonishment on Owen and Tosh's faces. Ianto just looked at Gwen, biting his lip before looking away.

"Gwen?" Jack couldn't keep the incredulity out of his voice. He would have bet the ringer was Owen.

She threw him a look of irritated amusement. "Hey, don't look at me. The powers that be decided that a wide-eyed innocent would reel you in faster than anything else so that was how I had to play it. Sometimes I even believed it myself, although why they had to saddle me with a boyfriend like Rhys was beyond me." The irritation won and she glared at Tamhaeass, who ripple-shrugged.

"Nothing to do with me. I just implement the recommendations of the psych-masters. Anyway, it's over now and we'll reward you with a nice hedonistic watching-brief as your next mission." She returned her attention towards Jack. "Sorry it had to turn out like this, Jack, but scorched earth policy is less hassle than delicate surgery. Tough luck on you and yours but them's the breaks." She and Gwen shimmered out of existence like a heat haze caught in a wind.

"Yeah," Jack said thoughtfully. "Them's the breaks." Then he smiled, because Ianto had that small smirk on his face that told Jack that things were going to be all right, and that look had never lied.

Five hours later and he looked up as Ianto walked into his office and came to sit on the desk beside him. Jack sighed and settled back in his seat. "Well?"

Ianto had the grace to be looking a little frazzled around the edges. "I've just finished retconning Tosh. She'll wake up tomorrow knowing that Gwen decided it was time to make a fresh start away from Torchwood. I'll have to keep an eye on Owen for a couple of months in case he decides to try and track her down for an old-times shag, but I doubt that he'll bother. Rhys was easier than I thought since Gwen had been treating him so badly he was thinking of dumping her anyway. Oh, and it was fun retconning all of her colleagues at the police, I can tell you!" He gave a tired grin at the laugh that got him from Jack. "And since her 'family' was actually another Time Agent who has also disappeared, I think that's everything covered."

"What about Gwen and Tamhaeass?"

Ianto looked grim. "I pre-programmed their timeship to take them back to what will be the Yucatan peninsula, just about the same time as a rather large lump of rock hits it. And I knocked out their communications so they won't be able to call for help. I dislike people who plan to murder other people out of sheer laziness. It tends to bring out the forceful side of my nature."

Jack smiled a little mirthlessly. "Why do you think I left them? God, when I think of some of the things I did when I worked for them...." He was distracted from his darkening thoughts by Ianto dragging him up out of his chair and kissing him rather passionately. "Wow," he said a little breathlessly when Ianto eventually let him up for air. "Have I mentioned how much I like the forceful side of your nature?"

Ianto chuckled and let him go to peer down at the schematics strewn across the desk. "Did I get everything you needed?"

Jack gave him a happy grin. "Uh-huh. Luckily Tamhaeass was in a chatty mood and couldn't quite stop herself from gloating. She never did get over my being head of the class in school. It probably never occurred to her that we knew where her ship was and that you were busy going over it to get as much as you could in the time you had. In fact you got way more than I actually asked you for. I can't believe you got hold of some time-crystals!"

Ianto did his best to look modest but couldn't hold down the pleased grin at Jack's praise. "We were lucky that she parked her ship right above us on the Plass and not in orbit. It just occurred to me that it would be downright suicidal to go off into time without having some spares around in case something went wrong, so I did a quick snoop and found them. Anyway, if we're doing mutual back-slapping, it was you who figured out that the Agency was monitoring you and rigged up the alarm to warn us if anyone came calling."

Jack reached out a lazy arm to pull him closer for another kiss. "And it was you who came up with the idea of using them to give me the technology I needed rather than just killing them when they did come."

Ianto grinned. "Aren't we two just the cleverest of people then?" His grin broadened when Jack laughed and whirled him around the room in an impromptu dance. "You deserve to have your freedom," he said softly, resting his forehead on Jack's shoulder. "You've paid your dues in hell."

"Damn it, Ianto, we deserve our freedom," Jack said, humping his shoulder to make Ianto lift his head and look at him. "I'm not going without you, you know," he warned. "I want to show you so much, and now I have the plans and the time-crystals, it's only a matter of time. Pun intended," he said with a smile that was wicked and tender at the same time.

"Won't they track you again?" Ianto asked worriedly.

Jack shook his head. "This won't be an Agency timeship I'm building. Yes, I'll use their template but I'll also be building in Time Lord technology and they can't track that. Our ship is going to be unique."

"Our ship?" Ianto asked, his eyebrows rising.

"Our ship," Jack said firmly, drawing him in for another kiss. "Name a place and time and I'll take you there, Ianto, I promise."

Ianto bit his lip. "Snanasfell," he said firmly. He met Jack's startled eyes squarely. "Our first stop will be Snanasfell and your missing two years. After that... well, after that I have a few ideas."

Jack drew in a breath. "Snanasfell," he agreed. "And after that we'll have all of time and space, Mr Jones."

"That sounds like a plan to me, Captain Harkness," Ianto agreed with a smile. "It sounds like a very good plan to me."

Initial wafflings

2007-07-18T23:05:02Z

Welcome to my little corner of the Torchwood universe where Jack and Ianto build themselves a timeship and go off in search of a cure for Jack's immortality and his missing two years. Along the way they have quite a few adventures, cross the Doctor's path, upset the Time Agency and still have time for some hot sex. Many of the stories on this site will be X-rated and revolve around male-male relationships, so if you don't approve of such things I would strongly advise you to turn and leave immediately. Apart from that, I hope you like what you find..