Title: Go Far to Come Near

Fandom: Torchwood

Rating: PG-15

Warnings: Does Unhappy!Jack count?

Summary: A new beginning for Ianto as there is an end to an unsung Torchwood member. Sequel to Closed Circuits and Loose Nails.

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of the characters from it. I do own the two OC's though.

Ok, I delayed posting this for a long time because… well I wasn't sure about it, I wasn't sure about the reaction it would garner and well… I just wasn't sure. But I've decided to grow a spine and post this because I like this storyline and want to continue it.

So I hope you enjoy it!

Go Far to Come Near

When Ianto opens his eyes he is aware of a warm hand on his cheek. He blinks hard to clear away the blurriness of his vision. He has to do it twice more before he can see properly. He is lying on something hard, staring up at a domed roof that's glowing such a soft red it's really pink.

He looks to the side and sees that it is Jack touching his cheek.

Jack is bent over him, looking pale and worried.

There is strong déjà vu here.

Ianto has to have three cups of coffee before he feels at all ready for this.

He is about to go into the TARDIS.

The TARDIS which has crushed him to death, and chased him down through the streets of Cardiff like game.

And all because she doesn't want his soul being a part of her.

Ianto wonders if he should feel offended.

He certainly doesn't feel grateful.

"Jack…" he murmurs, staring up at Jack who smiles at him hopefully.

"Ianto…" he sighs, leaning down.

"So! How'd it go, eh?" The Doctor bumps Jack with his shoulder as he somehow manages to jump to his knees, rather than dropping down to them on Ianto other's side. He waves the sonic screwdriver in Ianto's face and examines it practically pressed against his own nose.

"Ha! She did it! She gave it back. You have your soul in full again Mr. Ianto Jones. What do you say to that?"

Ianto considers it.

Then punches the Doctor in the nose.

The TARDIS hums and throbs around him and he wonders if he really wants this other part of him back.

Is it really worth it?

Ianto tries to recall anything that doesn't make him ache.

He can think of nothing.

The idea of feeling this way forever is unbearable.

So he opens the heart of the TARDIS and peers in.

"Ow! 'by nosed!" wails the Doctor, clutching his nose and staring bug eyed at Ianto.

Ianto sits up and stares at him coldly. "You hit by nose!" complains the Doctor as Amy offers him a handkerchief.

"That was for not being there when some fucking bastards wanted to steal away a tenth of our children! You can make it for Cybermen, and Daleks, and psychotic Santas and you can't bother your arse to come and help protect the most vulnerable ones of all?"

Ianto is not sure when he had gotten to his feet, but he has and is now looming over the Doctor who tilts his head back to look at him.

"I can't always-"

"No! You do not get to use that as an excuse! Not when there are kids involved, not when they are being used as permanent drug sources for sick aliens!" snaps Ianto.

"Ianto!" Jack's hands are on him again, stroking his shoulder. "Please."

Ianto turns his head to look at Jack. "Don't you dare defend him Jack Harkness! Don't you dare!"

"I…" Jack falters and it's enough of a chance for Ianto to pull away and walk out of the TARDIS. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, speed dialling the number he knows by heart.

"Ianto, please, can we talk?" begs Jack.

Ianto holds his hand up to silence him as the phone rings. She picks up on the seventh ring.

"Hello?" She sounds as upset as Ianto expected.

"It's me."

"Ianto! I was going to call you-"

"I know."

"You know?"

"Yeah… it's complicated, but I know what's going on up there."

"Oh…"

"I'm coming up. I'll be there in two hours at most."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Ok. Bye."

"Bye."

"Ianto! Do not ignore me!" snaps Jack sound irate. Ianto puts his phone back in his pocket, turns to Jack, and slugs him in the jaw.

"There. Didn't ignore you then." he tells him.

"Are you sure that TARDIS didn't make things worse?" asks Gwen nervously.

"No, it worked. It definitely worked!" says the Doctor, now back on his feet, though there's blood on his bowtie.

"So why...?"

"Wasn't missing all my soul, was I?" sighs Ianto, "Just missing the part that lets me feel happy."

"You don't seem very happy."

"I don't have a reason right now to be happy."

When Ianto wakes up in his own coffin, he cracks his head on the lid.

The noise makes Rhiannon scream and Gwen drops her mass card.

Ianto pounds on the lid, shouting to be let out.

It's all Martha can do to keep order. Gwen's useless in the wake of her hormones, and Rhiannon almost faints.

But with Martha there are two other helpers.

They had been at the back of the church and, together, managed to keep people from running out of the church screaming about zombies.

The coffin is moved to the side room, and Ianto scrambles out with Rhys' help.

There are hysterics and shouting and confusion as Gwen, Rhiannon, Johnny and Mica shout and demand answers.

It's only when they calm down that Ianto even notices the other two watching from the background.

"You're alive!"

Archie smirks, "That's meant to be our line lad."

Gwen whirls around in surprise, "Who're you?"

Ianto wonders if a lesson in professional courtesy is redundant now.

"Gwen, that's Torchwood Two."

Gwen gapes in astonishment. Clearly she had long forgotten that Two existed.

"Archibald McGregor and Michaela Murphy, at your service." says Archie with such a delicious mix of sneering and triumph Ianto almost feels proud of him.

With his soul whole, Ianto feels the pride catch up on him as he packs a small suitcase.

When Ianto looks into the heart of the TARDIS he half expects his head to melt ala Indian Jones.

Instead he is carried off by the sheer power of Time.

He is never going to fear a rollercoaster again.

Archie and Michaela had hidden in the bowels of Torchwood House's secure Archives when they realised Torchwood was under attack. They had expected Jack to call them with information and instructions.

Jack had forgotten all about them.

Forgivable under the circumstances.

Not so forgivable in Gwen's case.

Ianto had had to do so much apologising for their abandonment on the part of, well, everyone.

"Where are you going?" demands Jack, Gwen on his heels. Back to standard then.

"Glasgow." says Ianto brushing past them.

"Why?"

"Archie's in the hospital."

That shuts Jack up better than any smart remark could have.

If Torchwood One was the efficient and cold machine of the Institution, if Three was where the outcasts of the world were kept and absolutely had to get along or else, if Four was… well, Four, then Two was where a member could retreat to for tea, sympathy, easy affection and security.

Ianto often thought of Torchwood House like his grandmother's house. Old, smelled a little odd, but made him feel like his soul –what he had retained of it anyway –had been wrapped in an electric blanket.

Archie is like an affectionate Great-Uncle, ready to ply Ianto with drink and tell him strange stories, and make him feel like everything is ok.

Michaela is the motherly friend who could cuddle him without him feeling childish. Maybe it was because he was a month older than her.

Or maybe it was because they had shagged occasionally. Ianto wasn't sure.

"Why's he in the hospital?"

"Heart attack. Bad one. I don't think he's gonna make it." says Ianto, feeling his gut ache at the idea, but not letting it show. Once he was there, he would relax and let himself show his feelings. But not in front of these people, never in front of these people.

"Then I'm going with you!" declares Jack.

"Jack-"

"I've known Archie longer than you! I owe to him to be there."

Ianto finds himself delighted by these words. "Finally, you show some decency. Come on then."

Jack's mouth falls open.

"Wait!"

Ianto closes his eyes and does not turn around. "Doctor, I will punch you again if you try to stop me."

"Actually I thought you might like to get to Glasgow in five seconds ago." says the Doctor carefully. Ianto can guess he's pointing at the TARDIS.

"You think after what she did I'm going back in her?" asks Ianto archly.

"She'll behave. I'm sure of it." The Doctor does not sound the slightest bit convincing.

Ianto is beyond certain he will regret this.

After Ianto comes back from the dead –the first time –he spends a lot of time with Two, letting their dependability and laid back attitude soothe him when he's sick of Gwen's fussing and Martha's experiments.

He doesn't do much with them, the most outrageous thing they do is attend rugby matches, but all three of them consider that a national obligation.

"How come you don't hate us?" asks Archie as they nurse drinks after an Irish defeat. Archie has hopes for Scotland this year.

"Huh?" asks Ianto eloquently. He had been pulling at a thread on his jersey for five minutes.

"We're the reason you're like this he means." sighs Michaela, sticking her tongue out and poking the tip into her whiskey. She's already had three and she's a lightweight.

"You mean the not staying dead thing?"

"Yeah. That. We're the ones who got you into Torchwood."

This is true. After he and Michaela had become friends she had introduced him to Archie, and Archie had gotten him into One.

The rest is history.

Ianto tilts his head to the side and shrugs.

"Can't hate you two. I'd have no one left to like."

"Charming." grunts Archie. Michaela has a red line around her mouth from pressing the glass into her skin.

"Also… you never did it to hurt me. In fact you went out of your way to help me. You always have. You're rose-edged. I appreciate that after so much 'harsh reality'."

"We're not the only ones like that though."

"Yes. But you've lasted the longest."

Michaela groans. "Now you've gone and jinxed it."

The TARDIS amazes him far more when it actually lands in the right time and place than it did when it returned his missing soul-piece.

Ianto had always appreciated the little things.

He ignores Jack, again, as he strides into the hospital and asks where Archibald McGregor is. He follows the directions and finds the room.

Archie looks too small in that bed, like a weakling.

Archie is an overweight, loud, gregarious Scotsman. It should be physically impossible for him to look small.

He's sleeping, oxygen mask on his face. Michaela nearly falls out of her chair when Ianto walks in.

"That was fa-"

She's spotted Jack, cutting herself off to glare at him.

Ianto embraces her in a hug and gestures to Archie.

"How is he?"

"He'll be pissed when he wakes if Harkness is still here."

Ianto loves that she's on his side. Michaela buries her face in his chest, inhaling deeply and Ianto feels warmth spread through him in a way he had not felt in a long time. He has to repress his sudden and inappropriate desire to kiss her.

"He's gonna be ok, isn't he?" asks Jack quietly, sounding upset.

"What do you care?" asks Michaela, still squeezing Ianto's middle, "You never even checked up on us after the 456. We could have helped and you didn't think of us."

"I was busy being blown apart and drowned in concrete."

"Shush!" hisses Ianto. He can forgive Jack for forgetting during the crisis, Ianto should have been the one to think of it. He's closer to Two than Jack is personally. But his head had been full of 'Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack.' that they hadn't occurred to him, something that had filled him with guilt. Especially when he found out they could have saved Stephen.

"What do you mean you could have saved him?"

Archie looks old as he rubs at his eyes. "I'm sayin' we had a device down here. Not sure of its original purpose, but it can mimic the brainwaves of anything you want. If the aliens were tapping into the kids' minds then we might've been able to utilise the device and that poor kid-"

Jack's Grandson went unsaid.

"-Wouldn't have died."

Ianto swallows bile as he thinks about this. Then he says,

"If you ever see him again, you are never to tell him that!"

Archie and Michaela regard him like he's a fool.

"Boyo, we're pissed at him, not heartless." says Michaela.

"Aye. We may tear him a new one for forgetting us after the whole thing –not bothering to see if Johnson's lot had gotten us too –but we'd never tell him something that crippling."

At the time Ianto had been unable to feel the love such statements and sentiments should have brought out.

As he holds Michaela close, and looks at Archie on the bed, he feels that love bubbling inside him and he holds her all the tighter, like she is a teddy bear.

Jack's jealousy is palpable.

When Ianto looks into the TARDIS he is swept up inside it and carried off into the Vortex.

He should probably be afraid, but he isn't.

Rather, he is determined to do what he came here to do.

The TARDIS has a part of his soul.

He is going to get it back.

The experience when it happens is… impossible. Ianto only has some vague idea of it when he is brought back to his body. His mind works desperately to come up with some kind of interpretation for what he… 'saw'? Well he didn't exactly have eyes when he was in there, so maybe saw is not the right word.

What his mind gives him for a visual memory is golden light, and golden threads. Enough gold to make a pharaoh blush.

Ianto can feel the difference as soon as he opens his eyes. He can feel the utter relief and delight Jack's face brings him. He can feel the gratitude towards the Doctor for figuring it out.

The problem is that no matter how good those feelings are, they do not negate his anger, either in his head or his heart.

The Doctor failed to turn up when he was needed. Thousands of children were nearly lost.

Jack failed his one chance to confess his love and make it mean something.

Now Ianto can never look at him and not hate him, because Jack is clearly ready to say those words. Now that Ianto is 'safe'.

What is that worth?

Ianto knows Archie's going to die.

Must be a lingering effect of the TARDIS and the Time Vortex, because it's not just a feeling of dread. It is a fact.

He sets Michaela in his lap and they sit by Archie's bedside, Michaela eventually resting her head on Archie's chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Ianto recalls Archie's antics and smiles through tears as the machines stop beeping and Archie stops breathing. He aches, he hurts like losing that beloved uncle. But, and here is the amazing thing, he is ok. He will miss Archie desperately, but he can deal with it.

Unlike Jack.

Gwen and Martha look after Jack, who starts to weep silently.

Ianto figures that he's still raw from everything and this is salt on the wounds. But he is still angry with Jack, and anyway, Jack has support. Michaela just lost hers. Ianto has to focus on who really needs him, and right now that's her.

So even though he keeps half an eye on Jack, it is Michaela he holds as she sobs in grief.

When Ianto sleeps that night he dreams.

He dreams of flashes of time revealing themselves to him.

He sees what has happened.

He sees what is.

And what will be.

It's all very Galadriel's mirror actually.

He sees Jack kissing him before he leaves with the Doctor.

He sees Jack kissing him as Ianto dies the first time.

And he sees Jack kissing him in the future.

But it's a way off.

There will be a conversation between him and Jack.

One that will define their relationship forever. One that will set them on a very particular path.

But it won't be for a while.

No. First, Ianto has to get married.

He's seen the bride in her white dress and smiles.

He's wanted normal for most of his life, something to ground him among the madness of Torchwood.

By God he's going to get it.

Even if it kills him.

For anyone who is familiar with the OC's here, I will say that much of the angst carried by them does not exist in this story. I just didn't want to create new characters for Two when I had Archie and Michaela to hand. All you need to know is Michaela is pretty normal here, rather than the mess you may be familiar with.

So… shall I continue?

Night's Darkness