Mmkay , people. Things I need to do; finish my Heroes/NCIS fanfic. Things I don't need to do; start another story before I finish said fic.
But oh well. When have I ever done what I should?
Disclaimer: In no way do I own Torchwood, or anything in the Whoniverse, unless a couple Doctor Who Magazines and two Classic Who posters cause ownership.
/./
Nemetona... is a goddess of sanctuary. She is present within the home... in all the spaces that we hold dear to our hearts. She also lies within, allowing us to feel at ease wherever we are in the world, though it's not an easy task.
She is the spirit of a home, a place, an idea.
/./
"Hey, Tosh, is it supposed to be doing that?"
Toshiko Sato turned towards Owen Harper. "What is it doing?" she questioned as she approached the Dimension Cannon which was waiting to be disassembled.
After Rose Tyler had returned from stopping the stars from going out, bringing the Doctor along with her, it had been decided that, since the Dimension Cannon had the potential to rip two universes apart, it would be taken apart and all plans and research related to it destroyed, the Cannon had been sent to Torchwood Cardiff for the best tech expert they had to take care of it.
But, of course, since nothing ever seemed to go easily for the three Cardiff based Torchwood agents, the Cannon was now doing something it most defiantly was not supposed to be doing.
"Its... It looks like its powering up." the Torchwood London agent who had brought it over, a man by the name of Ianto Jones, said nervously.
"Hey, Suzie! Somethings going on with the Cannon!" Owen called out to their leader, who was sitting in her office doing paper work.
"It should not be doing this! I don't understand..." Tosh murmured to herself as she began examining the Cannon.
"It shouldn't be working. The Doctor told us that the walls between the Universes were closed." Ianto added.
"Who is this 'Doctor' that we keep hearing about, anyways?" Owen grumbled.
"They say he came from the other universe." Ianto informed him.
"Other universe, sure. I dunno if I believe the whole 'alternate reality' thing-" he was cut off as the Dimension Cannon turned on suddenly, and the Hub disappeared.
..
"Wow." Rhys commented as he walked into the newly-rebuilt Hub. It had been finished for almost a month now, and Gwen, Rex, and Jack had mostly settled in, but this was the first time Rhys had seen it.
A screech from overhead caused Rhys to chuckle. "So you managed to find her, eh?" he watched as Myfanwy flew into her nest.
"Its a pterodactyl in Cardiff. It wasn't that hard." Jack told him. "So, ya like it?"
Rhys nodded. "Its different than the old one. More- I don't know. Professional? Homey? Can it be professional and homey?" the last part was directed at his wife. Then he turned back to Jack. "How did you get the plans drawn up so fast?"
Jack suddenly looked very sad, and very much his age. He glanced away. "Ianto was trying to convince me to renovate. Make it more professional. He had most of the plans already. Then during- during the 456- after we found out Gwen was gonna have a baby- he drew up some more, to make it homey. So I already had all the plans."
Rhys looked away, too. Even though he hadn't known Ianto that well, he still missed the young man, if only because Gwen missed her friend so profoundly. "You kept the plans." he said softly.
"I didn't have much left of him." Jack said, equally as softly. Then he straightened. "Now his name can live on, right? Ianto Jones, designer of Torchwood. Unless I blow it up again," he joked weakly.
Rhys smiled sadly. "Lets try not to do that again, eh?"
Jack grinned. "I'll do my best." he turned to the other agents. "So, that brings us to the next order of business- Rhys Williams. You have been a valuable part of Torchwood for awhile now, unofficially. Then again, Torchwood was unofficial. But now that we're rebuilt, and the Queen has reinstated us, I am offering you a official position as an agent of Torchwood."
Rhys looked shocked. He had assumed that they would keep him unofficial- he was happy to do it, if it kept Gwen safe, and that way they didn't have to pay him. "Well- I wasn't expecting that," he said honestly. "What do you think, Gwen?"
His wife smiled at him. "I think that you've been brilliant with all of this, Rhys, ever since the thing with the alien meat. I know you'd be great as an agent. But you should only do it if you want. If you would rather stay home and take care of our beautiful daughter, then you should do that. If you would rather get your old job back, do that. I want you to do what makes you happy."
Rhys beamed at his Gwen, complete and utter love shining in his eyes. Her eyes reflected it right back.
"I think-" he began, but was cut off as there was a sudden flash of light and alarms began going off.
They turned to find three bodies in a heap lying on the floor.
Jack, Gwen, and Rex pulled their guns out so quickly Rhys barely even saw it.
"Put your hands on your head, and stand up, slowly." Gwen commanded.
None of them moved.
"I think they're out of it," Rex commented, moving forward cautiously to pull one of them up. "Yup, out of it." he moved to show the others.
Gwen very nearly dropped her gun. "Tosh," she whispered. Then she flung herself forward, grabbing her unconscious friend. "How can she be here?" she asked, checking for a pulse, and finding one. Toshiko Sato was alive.
"Who are the other two?" Jack's voice was shaking, his eyes focused on the form of one of them, a body he knew so well. One that he had known every inch of, tasted every bit, kissed every spot of skin.
Rex moved to pick up the next one, and Gwen gasped again. "Owen!" she moved Tosh out of her arms to test him for a pulse. "And he's alive." she looked up at Jack, tears in her eyes. "He's really alive."
"The other one!" Jack snapped at Rex. The American shot him an annoyed look, then flipped the last body over.
Jack actually did drop his gun.
Rex raised his brows at that. "You know him, World War Two?"
Jack tried to say something, but his voice caught in his throat. He stumbled forward, taking Ianto gently into his arms, pressing his fingers lightly onto his lovers throat. When he felt the steady pulse of a heart beat, he gasped sharply.
"This isn't possible," he said softly.
Rex gave up trying to get answers from Jack and Gwen, so he moved over to Rhys. "What are they talking about?"
"That there's Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, and Ianto Jones. All Torchwood agents. All dead." he explained, slightly in shock.
"Well, they're obviously not dead."
With that, Owen woke up.
"What- ge' off me," he tried to get out of Gwen's arms. "Who are you?"
"Its Gwen, Owen. Gwen Cooper. Don't worry, you're in the Hub, you're okay." Gwen soothed him.
It worked slightly, although he still pulled away, staring at Gwen. "What happened?" he questioned. He thought about sitting up, but decided against that. He glanced around. It was the Hub, alright, but it was different. "What is going on?"
"Oh, crap."
Gwen turned to Jack, then followed his line if sight to some sort of technology on the ground near them.
Jack turned to Owen. "Is that a Dimension Cannon?" he questioned urgently.
"Yeah, London sent it over for Tosh to dissemble. It was doing something weird, next thing I know I'm here!" Owen glanced around again, standing up on shaky legs. Rhys moved forward to help him, but he was shaken off.
At this point, Tosh and Ianto began to wake.
..
Ianto Jones felt like he had been put in a blender, then had all his atoms smashed back together to form him as he was before, just with a lot more pain.
He could feel arms around him, and legs underneath him. From this, he gathered that he was being held on someone's lap. He could tell it was a man from the deep voice which was speaking near his ear. There was also a scent surrounding him- the man's cologne, he assumed- and it was possibly the best smell he had ever encountered.
Slowly, the words being spoken started making sense to him, and Ianto realized they were talking about the Dimension Cannon. That made him remember. Something happened- the Cannon was doing something, and then- he opened his eyes.
And came face to face with a man so beautiful it made his mind go blank.
The man smiled widely, and his blank mind went even blanker.
"Hello," the man said softly. He was American, or a least used an American accent. "Captain Jack Harkness. You don't know me, do you?" his voice was sad.
Ianto shook his head, attempting to sit up. Captain Jack Harkness helped him.
Next to him, he could she a woman who was vaguely familiar helping Toshiko sit up, and Owen was standing near them, looking at his coworker with concern.
"Jack, whats going on?" the woman asked in a Welsh accent. So he wasn't in America, at least. Or, probably not. 50%.
"They came over from another universe, Gwen." Jack told the woman, Gwen, apparently, his voice still soft.
"So... they aren't really them?" Gwen asked.
"They are, just not the one's we knew."
Gwen looked at the small Asian woman in her arms who was glancing around nervously. "Do they know us?"
"I know you, Gwen. What are you doing here? How- everything looks different! And- and-" Tosh stopped speaking.
"You know her?" Owen sounded surprised. He was pretty much under the impression the only people Tosh knew were Torchwood or family.
"I've known Gwen for years. She's our liaison with the police." Tosh informed him. "And a good friend."
Gwen suppressed a sob, then pulled Tosh into a hug. "Oh, I've missed you, Toshiko." she told her.
Tosh wrapped her arms around her friend in surprise. "I saw you two days ago..."
Gwen couldn't suppress the sob this time. Rhys moved forward to comfort his wife.
As Tosh caught sight of him, she gasped. "Rhys! How are- you're alive!"
He paused at that. "Uh, last time I checked."
"But- but- you died! I went to your funeral." she protested.
"I went to yours." Rhys muttered, looking to Jack.
Jack inhaled deeply, gazing desperately at Ianto. He wanted so badly to use this as a second chance, but he knew that wasn't right. This Ianto didn't know him. There wasn't a version of him in the world they had come from, Rose had hold him that last time they had saw each other. She had worked for Torchwood, and had been to the Cardiff branch. Besides, with no Doctor, there was never any Bad Wolf, so even if there was a him out there, that him wasn't immortal, and assuming his life had gone about the same, he was either working for the Time Agency or coning Time Agents.
Jack sort of assumed that he didn't exist in any universe but this one. He was a one-and-only.
Therefor, this Ianto had a life back in the other world, as did the other two, and if they would send them back, they would.
"This is going to get complicated," Jack began.
"Yeah, because everything Torchwood is so simple," Rex grumbled.
They ignored him. "You three came through to another Dimension. Am I correct to assume the world you know has Vitex, Pete Tyler, and lots of zeppelins?"
"Pete Tyler is head of Torchwood." Ianto confirmed.
"In this world, he died years ago. He never marketed Vitex, never got rich." Jack inhaled deeply. "He isn't the only one who died."
Owen glanced around. "What are you going on about?"
"You three. You all worked here, and you all died working for Torchwood. This isn't your universe, and we need to send you back."
Ianto and Tosh exchanged a nervous look. Owen snorted. "Okay, weird joke is over. Where's Suzie?"
Gwen glanced to Jack. "Suzie? Suzie Castelo?"
"Yes, Suzie Castelo. Leader of Torchwood Three. Look, you've done something weird to the Hub, you've somehow got a dead man, and trying to tell us some weird story about us being dead," his voice was getting panicked, so Gwen moved towards him, grabbing his shoulder.
"Owen. Stop it."
"No, you stop it! Stop this ridiculous cock and bull-"
Gwen cut him off again, pulling a picture out of her wallet.
It had been taken at her wedding, and it was one of her favourite photos. She was standing in Rhys's arms, her smile impossibly wide, his matching hers. To their right was Tosh, smiling happily, with Owen's arm around her, his bandaged hand resting gently on her shoulder. To the left of the newlyweds were Jack and Ianto, Jack hugging Ianto to his chest, both with content grins on their faces.
Gwen loved the picture not only because it had all of them, all her dead friends, but because everyone, for once, was actually showing affection for the person they cared for. Gwen, being so sensitive to people's emotions, had always known that Owen had cared for Tosh, and Tosh had more or less loved Owen. She also knew that Jack and Ianto had been completely in love.
Owen looked at the picture that was shoved in his face, and immediately stopped his rant.
"That- that never happened. That's photo-shopped." he said weakly.
Tosh and Ianto moved to see the picture, and Gwen suddenly realized it might not be the best thing for them to see. If Ianto didn't know Jack, then seeing a picture of himself leaning contently, romanticly, into another man might be a bit of a shock.
It would be strange to explain to him that the Ianto from this universe had loved Jack.
As the two took in the picture, they turned to the respective people holding them in it. Tosh exchanged a confused look with Owen. Ianto turned to find Jack with a sad smile on his face as he gazed at the memory caught on film.
"Is it?" the young Welshman asked. "Photo-shopped?"
Jack locked eyes with the ones he had thought he would never see again. "No." he answered softly.
"Hey, World War Two, you said something about sending them home?" Rex broke in, annoyed.
Jack looked over to the American, immortal, and sometimes annoying man. At this moment, he was defiantly annoying, but he was also right. He turned to Tosh.
"Do you know how to work the Cannon?" he asked her, glancing down at the slightly smoking device.
"I know how to disassemble it." she told him. "And from the looks of it, I don't really need to do that any more. It doesn't look to be in working condition, but I can take a closer look. Unless you'd rather have your tech expert do that?"
Jack twisted his features into a sad smile. He seemed to be doing that a lot. "We don't have one. Anymore."
Tosh blinked, glanced back at the photograph in Gwen's hand, then looked down, focusing on the Cannon.
"If all else fails, I'll try to contact the Doctor. I probably should anyways, let him know there's two 'facts' now." he cast a look at Rex.
"The Doctor- I know him," Ianto spoke up. "He's married to Rose- ah, Commander Tyler."
Gwen shot a panicked look to Jack before he spoke. "That'll be the meta-crisis, not the original Doctor."
"Are you sure, Jack? If he's off in another universe, then that explains why he never showed up..." Gwen protested. Rhys nodded. He didn't know much about this 'Doctor', but what he did know lead him to believe that he wouldn't have left the Earth alone to deal with not only the 456, but Miracle Day.
"The Doctor can't be everywhere," Jack disagreed softly, glancing quickly at Ianto before he looked back at Gwen. "It's a big universe. And he doesn't just have the entire universe now; he has the entire universe from the start to the end. All of time, all of space. And he tries to save everyone. He's a busy man."
"Then how do we get a hold of him?" Gwen asked impatiently.
"I have absolutely no clue."
If any of you happen to be reading my other fic, that will be updated soonish...
This will probably be updated before that, though, because I'm a horrible person. Also, I already have most of the next bit written. So...
R&R?