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Title: The Angel of Death (Epilogue)
Author: Emma
Characters: Jack Harkness, others
Rating: Starts PG. That's all I know
Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?
Summary: Far in the future, Jack meets someone he never expected to see again
Chapter Twenty is here; Chapter Nineteen is here; Chapter Eighteen is here; Chapter Seventeen is here; Chapter sixteen is here; Chapter fifteen is here; Chapter fourteen is here; Chapter Thirteen is here; Other chapters here
The stream chortled its way between banks strewn with Welsh poppies. Peach and pear trees hung heavy with ripening fruit. The air carried the scent of rain and a whiff of the city beyond the hills. In the distance, snow-capped mountains stood sentinel over the countryside.
Jack had to admit the Toshiko's cloister was spectacular.
“She says it's a real place, a few miles from Cardiff.” Ianto said drowsily. “The place I remember doesn't look quite like this. Someday I'd like to visit.”
“It has been improved a bit. Tosh is a closet romantic.” Jack hesitated. “We could go now, if you want.”
“Let's give ourselves more time.” Ianto rolled over to tuck his head in the crook of Jack's neck. “Let's give this Ianto and this Jack a chance to know each other better.”
Jack kissed his temple. “Wise angel.”
They were sprawled on a plaid blanket, the remains of their meal neatly packed away in the traditional picnic basket. It had been Tosh's idea.
“You've spent two weeks dealing with this mess,” she had snapped waspishly at Jack after he had nearly lost his footing and sent himself tumbling down a flight of stairs. “You're asleep on your feet. Take time off. Now.”
Ai-Shi and Leah had loudly and firmly supported her plan, until Jack had been reduced to muttering about a monstrous regiment of women. Nevertheless, he had allowed himself to be led to the cloister by an amused Ianto, stripped down to his drawstring trousers, and fed delicacies prepared by Ai-Shi's own cook. After a few hours of wonderfully dreamless sleep, he had woken up to find Ianto stroking his feet. The erotic touches had led to a prolonged bout of lovemaking, more sleep, and another meal.
“I wonder what he'll do now,” he mused.
“Who?”
“Li Chan. Ai-Shi doesn't really need a cook anymore.”
“Of course she does. She's the Senior Shareholder for the new Corporation. That means she'll have dignitaries to entertain on a regular basis.”
“I suppose you're right.”
He started to sit up, then stopped as he felt the hard object in his pocket. He pulled it out and stared at it. It looked like a miniature star system, with tiny diamond planets orbiting a topaz sun on hair-thin titanium orbits. He chuckled. Only the Doctor would disguise a molecular memory packet in a priceless antique toy.
“You haven't looked at it yet.”
“I've been sort of busy.” He heard the defensiveness in his own voice and sighed. “Will you stay with me?”
Ianto made himself comfortable with his back against a pear tree and pulled Jack against him. Jack leant back until his back was pressed into Ianto's chest. He took a deep breath and tossed the toy up in the air. The topaz flashed and a holographic image appeared.
A man wearing jeans, a jumper, and riding boots stood by a window in a book-lined room. He was tall and slim, his salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a ponytail to show off high cheekbones and a widow's peak. Jack could see traces of every Doctor he had ever met in that face, but most of all it was as if he were seeing an Ianto many, many centuries old. He heard Ianto's sharp exhale and felt him entwine their fingers together into a tight, comforting clasp.
Hello, Jack. And I hope, Ianto.
If you're both seeing this, Ll'nau and I have succeeded. It's a long shot, Jack, the longest in my long life, but I didn't want to end my life mired in regret. I've made my peace with all my mistakes. All but one. I can still hear my voice saying it. You're wrong, Jack, I said, and I could see how much I'd hurt you. I let you die nearly every day for a year in the worst ways possible, and wept over your killer. And then I let you face the 456 alone, and lose your lover and your grandson, and all I did to make up for it was to throw poor little Alonso at your head, like giving a toddler a new toy to replace the one he lost.
That's why I avoided you. I didn't want to be reminded of my cruelty, because I would have to face how deeply ashamed I was. I knew you were capable of deep love but I chose to lie to myself because I desperately wanted to believe what I felt for you was a passing infatuation. But there comes a time in every Time Lord's life when he knows he must stop running and account for his life. And there you were, looking back at me, with all that pain in your eyes.
So I decided to destroy your greatest enemy and give you back at least a little of what you had lost.
I spent years studying the 456, and that led me to the Ylnagii and their soul-snatching program. I contacted Ll'nau – you figured out his secret, didn't you? Poor guy has spent his life making up for his grandfather's idiocy – and he got me access to Ianto's genetic material. The Ylnagii's gene manipulation techniques are excellent but not exactly what I wanted. I added a bit of TARDIS block-transfer mathematics, and some of my own DNA, and topped it with a bit of genetic chicanery developed by my great-grandfather to make sure his human wife could conceive. You didn't know that, did you, Jack? My great-grandmother was human. A Welsh girl, in fact. It was the trace of human DNA in mine that made the manipulation easier.
The day I got a viable blastocyst I got drunk. Which, by the way, is a foul, disgusting habit. My head didn't stop ringing for three days.
Because of the changes I made, Ianto shares some of my nature. He will be able to regenerate, but I have no idea how often, so be careful with it, you two. Of course, if I know you, Jack, you will have made a cockup of all my plans. But still. Be careful.
And now, I have a favor to ask.
Time Lords made a mistake, Jack. We destroyed ourselves in our pride, our belief we were the only ones fit to protect the Universe. That error twisted the Universe in some subtle but dangerous ways. There's a chance to fix it but it needs someone like you to do it.
The last thing I did before coming here was to go back in time, Reapers be damned, and steal the High Council genetic banks. I hid them in the TARDIS and she hid herself in the safest place we could think of. She's waiting for you there.
Help my people be born again, Jack. Make sure they grow up together with your own, not in proud isolation. Teach them to laugh joyously and love deeply. Teach them to steal starships for the fun of it.
Good bye, Ianto. Love him for me, will you?
Good bye, Jack. I love you, always.
The hologram faded away. Ianto brushed the tears from Jack's cheeks.
“How typical of him.” He threaded his hands through Jack's hair and pulled him in for a deep kiss, then pulled away, a distracted look in his eyes. “The safest place they could think of?”
Jack laughed shakily. “How typical of you both. Where do you think? Come on, Ianto. You're going to get your wish sooner than you thought. We're going to Cardiff!”
Author: Emma
Characters: Jack Harkness, others
Rating: Starts PG. That's all I know
Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?
Summary: Far in the future, Jack meets someone he never expected to see again
Chapter Twenty is here; Chapter Nineteen is here; Chapter Eighteen is here; Chapter Seventeen is here; Chapter sixteen is here; Chapter fifteen is here; Chapter fourteen is here; Chapter Thirteen is here; Other chapters here
The stream chortled its way between banks strewn with Welsh poppies. Peach and pear trees hung heavy with ripening fruit. The air carried the scent of rain and a whiff of the city beyond the hills. In the distance, snow-capped mountains stood sentinel over the countryside.
Jack had to admit the Toshiko's cloister was spectacular.
“She says it's a real place, a few miles from Cardiff.” Ianto said drowsily. “The place I remember doesn't look quite like this. Someday I'd like to visit.”
“It has been improved a bit. Tosh is a closet romantic.” Jack hesitated. “We could go now, if you want.”
“Let's give ourselves more time.” Ianto rolled over to tuck his head in the crook of Jack's neck. “Let's give this Ianto and this Jack a chance to know each other better.”
Jack kissed his temple. “Wise angel.”
They were sprawled on a plaid blanket, the remains of their meal neatly packed away in the traditional picnic basket. It had been Tosh's idea.
“You've spent two weeks dealing with this mess,” she had snapped waspishly at Jack after he had nearly lost his footing and sent himself tumbling down a flight of stairs. “You're asleep on your feet. Take time off. Now.”
Ai-Shi and Leah had loudly and firmly supported her plan, until Jack had been reduced to muttering about a monstrous regiment of women. Nevertheless, he had allowed himself to be led to the cloister by an amused Ianto, stripped down to his drawstring trousers, and fed delicacies prepared by Ai-Shi's own cook. After a few hours of wonderfully dreamless sleep, he had woken up to find Ianto stroking his feet. The erotic touches had led to a prolonged bout of lovemaking, more sleep, and another meal.
“I wonder what he'll do now,” he mused.
“Who?”
“Li Chan. Ai-Shi doesn't really need a cook anymore.”
“Of course she does. She's the Senior Shareholder for the new Corporation. That means she'll have dignitaries to entertain on a regular basis.”
“I suppose you're right.”
He started to sit up, then stopped as he felt the hard object in his pocket. He pulled it out and stared at it. It looked like a miniature star system, with tiny diamond planets orbiting a topaz sun on hair-thin titanium orbits. He chuckled. Only the Doctor would disguise a molecular memory packet in a priceless antique toy.
“You haven't looked at it yet.”
“I've been sort of busy.” He heard the defensiveness in his own voice and sighed. “Will you stay with me?”
Ianto made himself comfortable with his back against a pear tree and pulled Jack against him. Jack leant back until his back was pressed into Ianto's chest. He took a deep breath and tossed the toy up in the air. The topaz flashed and a holographic image appeared.
A man wearing jeans, a jumper, and riding boots stood by a window in a book-lined room. He was tall and slim, his salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a ponytail to show off high cheekbones and a widow's peak. Jack could see traces of every Doctor he had ever met in that face, but most of all it was as if he were seeing an Ianto many, many centuries old. He heard Ianto's sharp exhale and felt him entwine their fingers together into a tight, comforting clasp.
Hello, Jack. And I hope, Ianto.
If you're both seeing this, Ll'nau and I have succeeded. It's a long shot, Jack, the longest in my long life, but I didn't want to end my life mired in regret. I've made my peace with all my mistakes. All but one. I can still hear my voice saying it. You're wrong, Jack, I said, and I could see how much I'd hurt you. I let you die nearly every day for a year in the worst ways possible, and wept over your killer. And then I let you face the 456 alone, and lose your lover and your grandson, and all I did to make up for it was to throw poor little Alonso at your head, like giving a toddler a new toy to replace the one he lost.
That's why I avoided you. I didn't want to be reminded of my cruelty, because I would have to face how deeply ashamed I was. I knew you were capable of deep love but I chose to lie to myself because I desperately wanted to believe what I felt for you was a passing infatuation. But there comes a time in every Time Lord's life when he knows he must stop running and account for his life. And there you were, looking back at me, with all that pain in your eyes.
So I decided to destroy your greatest enemy and give you back at least a little of what you had lost.
I spent years studying the 456, and that led me to the Ylnagii and their soul-snatching program. I contacted Ll'nau – you figured out his secret, didn't you? Poor guy has spent his life making up for his grandfather's idiocy – and he got me access to Ianto's genetic material. The Ylnagii's gene manipulation techniques are excellent but not exactly what I wanted. I added a bit of TARDIS block-transfer mathematics, and some of my own DNA, and topped it with a bit of genetic chicanery developed by my great-grandfather to make sure his human wife could conceive. You didn't know that, did you, Jack? My great-grandmother was human. A Welsh girl, in fact. It was the trace of human DNA in mine that made the manipulation easier.
The day I got a viable blastocyst I got drunk. Which, by the way, is a foul, disgusting habit. My head didn't stop ringing for three days.
Because of the changes I made, Ianto shares some of my nature. He will be able to regenerate, but I have no idea how often, so be careful with it, you two. Of course, if I know you, Jack, you will have made a cockup of all my plans. But still. Be careful.
And now, I have a favor to ask.
Time Lords made a mistake, Jack. We destroyed ourselves in our pride, our belief we were the only ones fit to protect the Universe. That error twisted the Universe in some subtle but dangerous ways. There's a chance to fix it but it needs someone like you to do it.
The last thing I did before coming here was to go back in time, Reapers be damned, and steal the High Council genetic banks. I hid them in the TARDIS and she hid herself in the safest place we could think of. She's waiting for you there.
Help my people be born again, Jack. Make sure they grow up together with your own, not in proud isolation. Teach them to laugh joyously and love deeply. Teach them to steal starships for the fun of it.
Good bye, Ianto. Love him for me, will you?
Good bye, Jack. I love you, always.
The hologram faded away. Ianto brushed the tears from Jack's cheeks.
“How typical of him.” He threaded his hands through Jack's hair and pulled him in for a deep kiss, then pulled away, a distracted look in his eyes. “The safest place they could think of?”
Jack laughed shakily. “How typical of you both. Where do you think? Come on, Ianto. You're going to get your wish sooner than you thought. We're going to Cardiff!”
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