Title: Memory and Time (11/?)

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…

Author’s Note: From now on, it’s all Toshi’s POV.

          Of all the rooms she had visited in the TARDIS, the cloister garden was her favorite. Technically, she supposed it was a greenhouse; but with walls and ceiling programmed to create the illusion of a balmy fall afternoon in Gallifrey and bark mulch paths underfoot, it didn’t take a lot of imagination to think yourself outdoors. Uncle Jack had told her the room was one of the few that did not change, remaining stubbornly Gallifreyan, and that, while a number of Companions, including himself, loved to spend time there, the Doctor rarely visited. Gently stroking one of the petals of a deep orange flower that felt like velvet and smelled something like cinnamon, she thought she could understand why.

            “My own private genetic bank.”

            She buried her face in the bloom. “You move very quietly.”

            “When it suits me. That’s not the flower.”

            “What?”

            “That’s not the flower. The sherea vine has a number of rather persistent predators, so it hides its reproductive organs.” He pushed aside some of the pale orange leaves to uncover a tiny three-petaled structure. “The pseudo-flower attracts the insects. They crawl towards the center looking for pollen, get trapped in the folds and die.”

            “Is that a warning, Doctor?” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Because I have to tell you that it is generally acknowledged in my family that I inherited my mother’s penchant for beautiful, dangerous things.”

            “Your mother had the good sense to choose your father.”

            “Yes, but you see, I didn’t inherit her good sense.”

            “Toshi…”

            “Stop worrying, Doctor. You made it very clear how you felt about me not so long ago.”

            He touched her shoulder hesitantly. “Did I?”

            “Let’s see. Foolhardy, emotional, over-eager…”

            “Toshi.” He gripped her more strongly and turned her to face him. “You were what, nineteen? You scared me to death. You were beautiful, fresh, young, sexy… You reminded me of Rose, and I had lost her, twice. And then, there was Jack.”

            “I beg your pardon?”

            He laughed a carefree, happy sound she had never heard before. “You sounded like Queen Victoria for a moment. So, Jack. He and I, we’re… complicated. He’s my best friend, my creation; my… what does he call it? My muscle. And I was going to walk up to him and say by the way, Jack, your adored little niece, the light of your eyes, well, I think she’s the sexiest thing in three galaxies and she keeps me up at night, so, do you mind if I ask her to come traveling with me? He would have knocked me into the next century!”

            “I’m twenty-five now and Uncle Jack is not naïve. So?”

            “So. When this is all over…” he cleared his throat. “Would you like to come traveling with me? I’d like to show you…oomph.”

            His next words were cut off as she threw himself at him and kissed him. He seemed startled for a moment, and then he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet as he returned the kiss enthusiastically. When their mouths finally parted, they stayed close, smiling foolishly at each other.

            “I’m out of practice at this,” he whispered.

            “Well, there’s nothing wrong with your technique,” she teased. “You’ll just have to practice more often.”

            He bit her earlobe then pressed stinging little bites along her throat. “Uh-huh. With you.”

            “Try it with anyone else and I’ll knock you into the next century myself.” She laced her fingers behind his neck. “Why don’t we start practicing right now?”

            He shook his head. “Can’t. We landed a minute ago. Right about now your mother is considering blasting open the doors to get you out.”

            Toshi blushed. “Oh. All right. We should go.”

            “Yeah.”

            “Should you put me down, then?”

            “Yeah.” He kept tasting her neck and jaw until, finally, she pushed him away and pointed in the general direction of the control room. “Yeah, sure, sorry.”

            They held hands all the way to the door. When it opened, they were faced with a crowd that included her parents, her brother, and assorted uncles and friends, plus a man who seemed familiar but she couldn’t place. They snatched their hands apart, looking for all the world like teenagers that got caught trying to sneak back into the house after an unapproved night out. Toshi plastered her best hi Mom, I’m home! expression on her face and resolutely ignored her brother’s snickers.

            “Mom, where’s uncle Jack? We need to see him right now.”

            “Ianto had to take him into the Vortex.” Gwen answered her, but her narrowed eyes were on the Doctor. “He started to relive some sort of trauma.”

            “How in the name of Rassilon was Ianto able to…” The Doctor looked past her to the sitting area. “Oh, that is just brilliant!”

            He bounded away. Toshi looked over just in time to see the ghostly image of a spaceship fade away, leaving Uncle Jack and Uncle Ianto standing there with their arms around each other.

            “Wow,” she whispered to her brother, who had come to stand behind her. “Just…wow.”

            “Yeah. It’s been one damned thing after another around here.” He pointed at the man next to her mother. “Don’t forget to say hello to Uncle Owen.”

            Her jaw dropped half-way to the floor. “What? How?”

            “Come on. I think your Doctor and Uncle Jack…”

            “He’s not my Doctor,” she muttered.

            Yan gave her an impatient look. “He’s been your Doctor since you were ten. He just needed to catch up. Come on. Let’s go play secret service agent.”

            They followed the crowd to the sitting area, where the Doctor was firing questions at Ianto without either pausing for breath or waiting for answers. Finally, Jack clamped a hand over his mouth.

            “Doc, focus! The technical discussion can wait, ok? What happened in Ageros? Why did the Agency wipe my memory?”

            “Because in typical Jack fashion you didn’t follow orders. More to the point, we found out why you’re immortal.” He gave them a quick rundown of what they had learned in the Ageroi crèche. “So that’s what happened. When Rose brought you back, she thought you were human, but your cells still carry residual Ageroi energy. When your body died then was revived without the usual empathic input from the Ascent Circle, it assumed you were being forced into Ascending, and it protected you the best way it could.”

            “I’m Ageroi?”

            “Yes and no. To be exact, you’re an Ascent catalyst. The last of them, unless… Toshi,” the Doctor looked around until he found her, “remind me to go back to Ageros. Jack stayed with them for a while. We need to see if you have any relatives.”

            “And why,” Jack asked very, very softly, “does Toshi need to remind you of anything, Doc?”

            The Doctor turned bright crimson. “Well, you see…”

            Toshi started to blurt something but was silenced by her brother, who shook his head discreetly and mimed a zip it gesture. She looked pleadingly at Uncle Ianto, who answered her with one of his quirky little grins.

            “Cariad,” he said, stroking Jack’s shoulder, “you can play the over-protective uncle later. We need to tell the Doctor what we’re up against. Doctor, this is Owen Harper. He’s an avatar of the White Guardian.”

            The Doctor grew quite still and his eyes went flat and chill. Suddenly he looked as dangerous as his reputation, and everyone was forcefully reminded that this was one of the most powerful beings in the Universe, someone who toppled empires and protected civilizations as routinely as they prepared breakfast.

            “The Black Guardian.”

            Owen nodded. “Chaos is offended by Jack’s existence. It is trying to take advantage of the utter bollocks your friend Rose made of Jack’s time line when she brought him back. No offense, Doctor.”

            “None taken. It took me a long time to get over my own problems with it.”

            “Maybe that’s what the Lady meant,” Toshi said. “The Vortex test might be a way to untangle the mess.”

            “What Vortex test?” Jack asked.

            “The Gallifreyan test of passage.” The Doctor answered. “The Ageroi matriarch says I must take you to Gallifrey to undergo the ritual.”

            “The one where you look into the Vortex? The one that drove the Master mad?”

            “Yeah.”

            “I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”

            The voice came from above them. On the stairs leading to the old greenhouse stood a slight white haired man in a smoking jacket and cravat. He had obviously seen better days: his eyes were dark pools in a shrunken face and his thin, greasy hair was plastered to his skull. His hands shook as if he had palsy. There was something desperate, almost hungry about the way he stared at Uncle Jack.

            “Bilis Manger.” Jack grinned insolently. “You look a bit the worse for wear.”

              “If you knew, Captain, how many centuries of planning, how much effort, you have disrupted just by existing.” Manger almost smiled. “But I think it is time to end it.”

            He waved his arm. The concussive blast lifted most of them off their feet and scattered them like ninepins. Toshi, flat on her back, ears ringing, saw the rips appear in the air above them. The Reaper monsters were trying to crawl through, but balls of pure white energy pushed them back. Lifting her head, she saw doctor Harper standing over Uncle Jack, firing off ball after ball as fast as he could. Uncle Ianto stood in front of them, fending off Manger’s attacks, dampening the energy the old man was trying to produce.  Manger’s neck veins bulged with the effort, but his movements seemed tired and sluggish.

            She managed to crawl to her hands and knees and looked around for the Doctor. He had smashed head-first into the wall leading to the medical wing and slid down onto his stomach. He seemed unconscious, but Toshi noticed that his hands, hidden under his body, were working at something.  

            Suddenly she noticed something materializing behind and to one side of Uncle Ianto. A woman, a tall, dark woman partly encased in metal. Toshi had seen the pictures of the Torchwood One people the Cybermen had tried to convert. Manger was bringing Cybermen into the Hub!

            “Uncle Ianto, behind you!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

            Her senses seemed to slow down as she watched him turn to face the metal monster. The look of utter horror and grief in his face shocked her. His hands dropped to his side. That was all the opening Manger needed. A single blast of energy hit Uncle Ianto on the chest and threw him against the metal column in the center of the fountain. He smashed into it like a rag doll and crashed into the water.