Torchwood Fic: Memory and Time (10/?)

[merucha]

Title: Memory and Time (10/?)

Author: Emma

Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, 10th Doctor, Torchwood Three, others

Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack and Ianto in it!

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?

Spoilers: None. This takes place in my Homecoming AU, twelve years after Invincible Summer

Summary: Something is trying to mess with Jack’s time line…

Part one is here; Part two is here; Part three is here; Part four is here; Part five is here ; Part six is here ; Part seven is here; Part eight is here; Part nine is here

 

            Jack awoke to the familiar scents of sandalwood and freshly-brewed coffee. Smiling, he snuggled into the fur… fur? He patted the bed. Instead of crisp Egyptian cotton, he encountered a thick, slightly scratchy pelt. He opened his eyes. Brown and cream fur with distinctive silver streaks covered the bed and draped down to the… deck?

 

            All right. Either he was hallucinating or his very naked body was lying on a ship’s bunk covered with a fferan lynx fur throw.

 

            Occam’s razor said he was hallucinating.

 

            Except that his life usually played by Torchwood rules, and the number one Torchwood rule categorically stated that if one heard hoof beats, one should expect a nostrovite-infected centaur, not a horse.

 

            He rolled onto his back to stare at a familiar curved ceiling. Overlapping plates were held together by an elaborate network of interlocking metal teeth.

 

            He was on a Chula warship.

 

            A very unusual one, he realized as he sat up to inspect the rest of the room. Chula design was at best pedestrian, but this baby had been put together with an eye to both efficiency and beauty. And luxury. He stretched, enjoying the warm air on his skin.

 

            Chula warships were notorious for wonky air circulating systems.

 

            So. Question number two. How had he gotten here?  Last thing he remembered was talking to Owen and Rhys… He grabbed at his elbow, palpating the bone and twisting and turning the joint. What the hell had happened?

 

            “Ianto? Ianto!”

 

            *I’m here, Jack*

 

            *Where?*

 

            *Here. All around you*

 

            It took him a few seconds to grasp the picture his partner placed in his mind. When he did, it snatched his breath away and left him one step from hysterics.

 

            *You should have seen my reaction*

 

            *Dear God, Ianto, how?*

 

            *It was surprisingly easy, actually, once Teacher explained the process. It turns out a lot of the visualization exercises he had me doing weren’t just for translocation*

 

            *But why would you do it?*

 

            *We were talking to Owen, waiting for Rhys to come back with lunch, and you keeled over. You were in agony. Owen said you were reliving some horrible past trauma. Chaos was channeling the pain and shock from the incident into your mind. The only way to sever the link was to take you into the Vortex. Neither Chaos nor Order has power here*

 

            *Dammit, Ianto, what were you thinking?*

 

            *That I had to save your life or I was going to spend a hell of a lot of time as alone as you had! What, only Jack gets to be a hero?* Jack felt Ianto’s effort to throttle back his formidable temper. *Cariad, there’s nothing you wouldn’t do to save someone you love. What makes you think the people who love you wouldn’t do the same for you?*

 

            *I wouldn’t… it’s just that…” He laughed bitterly. *My past is a millstone around all your necks. Owen, Tosh, now you…*

 

            *Your past makes you who you are. And I wouldn’t change it for the world*

 

            *Throwing my words back at me, Mr. Jones?*

 

            *Damn right*

 

            Jack knew he was never going to win the argument. When it came to those he loved, Ianto had no sense of self-preservation. Continuing to argue would only result in an impressive explosion followed by hours, if not days, of chilly silence. He quickly decided it wasn’t worth it; not when they had bigger problems.

 

            *So, Ianto… Is this change permanent?*

 

            *What?* His partner’s amusement was like a shot of adrenaline to Jack. *No, you twpsyn, of course not. Why would you think that?*

 

            *Well, excuse me, but I’ve only known two TARDIS and they had only one form!*

 

            *Blame that on the Gallifreyans. Their sense of intellectual superiority wouldn’t allow them to consider a symbiotic relationship. Nethisi did, and nearly succeeded, but she was working with an adult TARDIS. It’s almost impossible to create true symbiosis with an adult*

 

            *But your Potentiality implanted itself before you were born, so you developed together?*

 

            *That implies we were separate. A Potentiality grafts itself to the brain, becomes part of it, preparing it for the possibility. There needs to be some sort of event to trigger it, or nothing happens. Most people with a Potentiality live and die with it and never know it, except for a penchant for maths, or chess. Nethisi triggered mine when she put Teacher around my wrist. My body coped because the Potentiality was an integral part of me and had prepared me *

 

            *So you were a proto-TARDIS from birth*

 

            *From the womb. Potentialities like very young brains. More plasticity*

 

            *And you can choose to have another shape?*

 

            *In this case, you chose the shape*

 

            *Me?! How?*

 

            *I panicked, trying to figure out what to be, other than a blue police call box. We were still linked. The image came from your mind*

 

            *So I decided you would be a Chula warship?*

 

            *I modified it, but yes*

 

            *And when we go back, you will return to your body?*

 

            *Yes*

 

            *I’m glad to hear that. I would miss your human body*

 

            *Would you?*

 

            Jack smiled his most lascivious smile. *Oh, yeah*

 

            *And what makes you think this body would be a liability in that department?*

 

            Jack felt himself being pushed back into the fur throw by invisible hands. Soft puffs of warm air raised gooseflesh all over his body.

 

            *Ianto…*

 

            *Hush*

 

            Jack arched as the invisible hands stroked his feet, caressing his arches. It was a little kink of his that Ianto had discovered early in their relationship, and he never failed to make use of it when he wanted Jack pliant. Thumbs made circles above each ankle then moved firmly upwards along his calves. Teeth nipped at the underside of each knee. Jack moaned.

 

            *Did you say anything, my Captain?*

 

            More strokes along the outside of his thighs, until the hands were cupping his arse. Floating in a pool of arousal, Jack threaded his fingers through the fur and released all control to his partner.

 

            *Exactly as it should be*

 

            Jack sighed as the warm air flowing over him turned into thousands of fiery little tongues licking everywhere at once. He was tasted, savoured, devoured, every opening in his body breached and his juices licked. He twisted and turned, settling down on his stomach -- trying to escape the delicious torture -- only to have a fiery blanket drape over his back as the invisible hands reached underneath to caress his erection.

 

            Helplessly, he started to move. The fur rubbed his skin, leaving little red streaks. One of the hands moved lower down to rub his heavy sac. He choked back a scream as he bucked upwards, but couldn’t escape the touches that were driving him insane.

 

            He wondered what he would look like to an observer, writhing in passion in response to… nothing. The moment he thought about it, he saw it, the image flowing from his lover.

 

            *You look beautiful. Hot and sweaty and beautiful*

 

            Jack felt himself blush. He had no illusions about his looks, and no compunction about using them when he needed to, but Ianto’s appreciation could sometimes turn him back into an inexperienced teenager when he least expected it. And the damned man knew it and enjoyed his momentary confusion.

 

            *What’s not to enjoy? I can make the intergalactic stud of all time weak at the knees* The sentence was punctuated with sharp nips all over Jack’s back and hips. *He is mine, mine, mine*

 

            *Yes!* He turned, reaching out blindly. *Oh, I want to touch you, feel you…!*

 

            *Come here. Join with me*

 

            The invitation resonated in every cell of Jack’s body, and he followed the sound of Ianto’s voice, opening himself to his lover’s mind. He felt the warm proto-validium shell that was Ianto’s body, and saw the marvelous beauty they had thought into being. He felt the hot, fiery energy that was Ianto’s essence enter him and he opened himself to receive it, offering all that he was in return. Their minds twinned and he felt his own passion in Ianto’s mind, and Ianto’s infinite need and desire in his, and heat caressed him inside and out as he exploded into orgasm and took Ianto along with him.

 

            He came back into his own body, but stayed in the link. Warm air flowed over him, warming him as he sprawled on the fur, infinitely relaxed. Behind his eyes, great sheets of green-and-gold fire danced as that part of the Vortex that lived inside Ianto sung him to sleep.

 

            The next thing he knew, someone was shaking him awake.

 

            *Cariad, we must go. The Doctor and Toshi are back*