Quizzical Meetings

Ianto's Point-of-View

Disclaimer: Really guys, I don't own anything. I survived an earthquake and a hurricane, but that doesn't bring me any closer to owning Torchwood.

Summary: Ianto, Jack, and the Doctor run across the Ninth Doctor, the mortal Jack, and Rose while on a retrieval. Ianto/Jack. Mentions of Donna/Doctor. Thirty-third in the "Immortal Janto" series.

Yes, this will have two chapters! I'm writing from two different perspectives here, thus two chapters.

This is a funny tidbit that popped into my head. It directly follows "A Father's Prerogative." As such, Annabelle is fourteen and the twins are twenty-two. This is very heavy in Doctor Who canon.

To give you an idea, for the Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Jack, this takes place before "Boom Town."

Also, remember that Ianto and Gwen appeared in the Doctor Who episodes of "Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End."

So, go ahead, enjoy this humorous encounter!

The Doctor's problem ended up being relatively easy to solve. It involved them going to another planet to find the source of a strange radio wave. Jack had volunteered to be the one to actually retrieve the item, while Ianto and the Doctor manned the TARDIS. Ianto didn't suppress his smile at the ease of the problem. They had solved worse, by far.

He ran his hands over the TARDIS's console affectionately. The old girl hummed at him. He felt safe and warm.

But, apparently, the universe had different plans for them today.

Just after Jack had called in to let them know that he was on his way back to the TARDIS, with the offending object, something completely unexpected occurred. The front door of the TARDIS was pushed open and three people casually walked in like they owned the place, their voices echoing up to the console.

Both Ianto and the Doctor looked around the console at them. Ianto felt his jaw drop in surprise. Beside him, the Doctor gasped and Ianto heard him suppress a little laugh.

The three stopped when they caught sight of them.

"What?"

Ianto looked down at his feet in an attempt to school his face into something related to cool composure as the Ninth Doctor, a very mortal Jack, and a much younger Rose Tyler stared up at them. He didn't know what was going on, but it was safe to say, from the Doctor's reaction, that what was going on was supposed to be happening. And, briefly, Ianto was glad that he had been brought up to speed on all of the Doctor's past faces because he would have been too surprised to function otherwise.

"Oh hello," his Doctor said, stepping around the console to grin, as madly as ever, at the three. "Sorry about that, the old girl was pulling tricks on us, though this was supposed to happen. Don't worry, just a small glitch that'll soon work itself out."

The Ninth Doctor stomped (yes, stomped!) up his future self until they were nose to nose. "Who're you and why are you on my TARDIS?"

Ianto watched his Doctor struggle with a smile. "We-ell, it's my TARDIS too and the girl decided to act on something she remembered from a while back." The two Doctors stared at each other. "This has happened to you before, Doctor, and it will happen again. You remember my face."

The Ninth Doctor was silent for a moment before he huffed. "I remember a lot of faces, but I know yours, since I know I haven't worn it yet."

"But you will, soon enough."

There was ice and sorrow in his Doctor's voice and Ianto knew why. He glanced over at the shell-shocked young Rose and mortal Jack. If Jack was traveling with this Doctor, then that meant that the Ninth Doctor didn't have much time before he regenerated.

He felt the stare of two Doctors on him and Ianto looked over at them.

"So, who's he?" the Ninth Doctor asked, stepping away from the Tenth Doctor. "Not another stray."

"No, no," the Tenth Doctor said, reassuring his past self. "He's – well, he's Ianto and he's been around for a few years now. Met him, mmm, how long ago was it, Ianto?"

Ianto paused for a moment, thinking, doing the math in his head. "First time was back in 2008, so twenty-two Earth years, but it's been longer if you take in account the time that I've spent on the TARDIS."

"Right, you've stuck around for a while then?"

The Ninth Doctor certainly was gruff, but there was a tone in his voice that indicated that the Time Lord had a softer, nicer side. Jack had said that the Ninth Doctor was so much fun to banter and flirt with.

"Yep." Ianto looked at Rose and Jack and then back to his Doctor. "Doctor – er, my Doctor – what're we going to do about them? Timelines, memories, and all?"

His Doctor knew what he meant by what he said because the suit-clad Doctor grinned, not quite as mad as before, but there was a certain humorous quality about his look right now.

"Don't worry, the TARDIS – bless her – is taking care of that."

"What do you mean?" Rose finally asked, recovering her sense enough to walk forward, clearly eyeing up Ianto's version of the Doctor – the Doctor she would be traveling with soon enough.

Ianto knew she flicked more than one look over to him, but he was content to watch her, a knowing look on his face, remember the first time he met Rose. The judging look on this Rose's face was the same as it had been when she had stumbled into the TARDIS, looking for the Doctor. He looked past Rose to Jack and saw Jack staring at him. Ianto gave the mortal Jack a brief smile.

Ianto watched as his Doctor walked forward a bit and leaned on the railing. The Time Lord's wedding ring flashed in the light and Ianto knew that the three from the past saw it. The Ninth Doctor opened his mouth to say something but Ianto met his eyes and shook his head. This was not the time and the place for that conversation.

"You two play a role in the future of Earth and the things you're seeing in this version of the TARDIS don't technically exist yet in your personal timelines, so the TARDIS is going to have to put a memory block on you that will only come down when she wills it to happen."

"How is that fair?" the mortal Jack said, stepping towards him.

Ianto knew that memory blocks and memory wipes are a sore subject with Jack. It had taken Jack a year and a half of marriage to admit that the Time Agency had wiped out years of his memory. On top of that, he knew that Jack wasn't a fan of Retcon, whenever they had to use it at Torchwood, though Jack had to do what was necessary to maintain the secrecy of their organization.

"You'll remember in time, Jack," the Tenth Doctor promised. Ianto blushed a bit as his Doctor turned his eyes to him for a moment. "But you can't remember everything until a later point."

"And why's that?" the mortal Jack asked, his hands on his hips in a very defiant (and very Jack) way, as he walked towards the Time Lord.

The Tenth Doctor merely smiled and Ianto knew that the Time Lord knew something. The mortal Jack looked back to Ianto. Trusting what the Doctor said, he fidgeted a bit, straightening his tie in the way that he knew Jack liked, knowing that the past version of his husband saw the rings on his finger. Ianto smoothed down his pristine trench coat. So what if he was baiting the mortal Jack? It was fun!

Ianto smiled brightly at the mortal Jack, giving him a slow and obvious once-over. Boldly, knowing that his husband would have something to say about this later, he walked up to the mortal version of his husband and kissed him. It took Jack a second to process before he responded.

The kiss was wonderful, as always. Never one to be shown up, Jack dipped Ianto, causing Ianto to wrap a hand around Jack's neck. He could feel Jack's arousal against his leg and Ianto felt very sympathetic for this version of Jack.

When Ianto stepped back, grinning, he heard his Doctor laughing and the young Rose gasp. He looked at Rose. The blonde had a hand in front of her mouth, her eyes wide. Behind her, he saw the past Doctor shake his head, suppressing an almost expectant smile, as if he knew that Ianto was going to pull something. In that moment, Ianto remembered a gala event, many years before, where Ianto got to be possessive of Jack. He really did like being possessive of his husband.

It took everything in him to keep from saying, "Mine" to Rose.

The door of the TARDIS banged open and the present, immortal version of Jack came bounding in, transmitter in hand.

"Doctor, I have the transmitter and – oh my God!" Jack stopped, his World War II greatcoat fluttering around him and looked at the three newest guests of the TARDIS. His eyes flashed to the Tenth Doctor, who only smiled, and Ianto knew that Jack's memories of the day were returning. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"And spoil the fun?"

Jack looked at Ianto. "Did you know about this, Ianto?"

Ianto walked to him as Jack set the alien radio transmitter onto the ground, out of the way. "Not until they walked in, Jack."

"Fine." Jack looked from Ianto to his past self (who had just recovered from the kiss) and then back to Ianto. "Did I miss the kiss?"

"Yep." Their Doctor was having a ball with this.

Jack slipped an arm around Ianto's waist, pulling him close. "Damn it, Yan, you couldn't have waited! That was a fantastic kiss."

He chuckled and briefly kissed Jack. "I'll make it up to you later, cariad."

"You better, love." Jack played started playing with Ianto's tie, running it through his fingers. Ianto was quietly glad that he wore a red tie, because those were usually Jack's favorite on him.

More than one cough drew their attention. The two men looked at the four spectators. Their Doctor, while amused, had that look on his face that said that they could continue their flirting game later – when he wasn't around. Jack laughed and kissed Ianto on the cheek at the very flustered, flabbergasted faces of the three people from the past timeline.

Okay, only Rose looked completely flustered and flabbergasted. The Ninth Doctor didn't seem to be too fazed by the clearly romantic and close relationship between the two men. And the past Jack? Well, he looked almost jealous of the two of them.

"Don't worry, Jack," Ianto's Jack said, meeting the eyes of his past self, squeezing Ianto's waist. "You'll get here eventually. The road will be tough. You'll have your ups and your downs, but, I can honestly promise, once you've survived it, this is the best life ever! You'll know, once you've fallen in love with Ianto." Jack kissed Ianto on the cheek, as if emphasizing his point. Ianto smiled. "He's smart, a brilliant archivist, and very, very capable. He's extremely handy with a coffee maker and he looks great in red. Plus, waistcoats look good on him. And, if that's not enough of a job recommendation, then I don't know what is. He's the best thing in our lives." Jack laughed, his eyes sparkling. "Well, him and Annabelle."

"Annabelle?" The past Jack's voice was cautious, but hopeful.

"Our daughter," Ianto explained, smiling. "She's fourteen now."

He saw the past Jack smile broadly at that.

And then . . . Rose had to open her mouth and say something.

"If you've got a daughter, then how does Jack look like he hasn't aged a day. No offense." She looked between the two Jacks.

Ianto, Jack, and their Doctor all sighed. There was only so much that they could say because it was clear that the Doctor would remember this encounter, despite the memory blocks that he promised that the TARDIS was putting on the past Rose and the past Jack as they spoke.

"Let's just say, for a while, Jack wasn't a big fan of immortality," the Doctor cautiously explained. "Don't ask how it happened or why. You'll figure it out along the way." He looked at Ianto and Jack and smiled. "Though Ianto did change that eventually."

"That's enough of that," the Ninth Doctor said, cutting in. "No more talk of the future."

"Oh, I agree," the Tenth Doctor echoed. "Donna would have a word with me if she thought I was saying too much."

"Donna?"

The simultaneous question from Rose and the Ninth Doctor had the Tenth Doctor nervously chuckling.

"Not gonna say, Doctor. You'll find out about that on your own."

The Ninth Doctor raised an eyebrow, as if knowing that his future self was keeping something from him. The Tenth Doctor only smiled that cryptic smile of his.

So, twenty minutes later, the TARDIS's memory block in place on both Rose and the mortal Jack, the Doctor cheerfully ushered the three out of his TARDIS, in the direction of their TARDIS. Ianto hugged Jack tightly.

Jack sighed heavily.

"The things I wish I could have told myself," he admitted. "I could have changed a few things and stopped myself from doing things that I still regret." Their eyes met and Ianto knew the memories that were playing across Jack's mind.

"Everything happens for a reason and if you had stopped me from going into the Thames House with you, I wouldn't have known that I was immortal until much later. We wouldn't be where we are now."

"I know. I just wish that I didn't have to live those years with the pain and sorrow of holding you while you died, Yan."

Ianto cupped Jack's face with a hand. "Everything is where it belongs, Jack. Believe me."

Jack smiled at him and it was the smile that Ianto loved so dearly.

"I do, Ianto. I do." He pressed his forehead against Ianto's. "I love you, Ianto Jones."

"I love you too, Jack Harkness."

For a moment, they were quiet and all was good with them.

"So, about making up that kiss to me?" Jack asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Ianto began laughing.

He looked over at the Doctor, who shifted from foot to foot, doing a particularly bad job at hiding his smile. Ianto raised an eyebrow in silent question.

"Oh go on. It'll be a little while before we're back on Earth anyway." The Doctor shook his head. "Your room hasn't really changed much."

He didn't hide his laughter as Jack pulled him towards the hallway and to their room.

Yep, he certainly loved his husband and his life.

Tell me what you think? Go on! You know you want to!

Remember, reviews are love and love is inspirational. Ergo, I will keep on writing and keep on posting, but, to do so, I require reviews. Just kidding! But seriously, let me know!

I am going to be doing a second chapter to this story, written from Jack's perspective (mainly the mortal Jack) because it's just too good of an opportunity! So look for that one really soon.