Title: Through Time And Space: Chapter 6 – In Memories And Dreams
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, OFC, OMC, Team Torchwood, Rhi, Mica, David, Jack
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3307
Spoilers: CoE, House of the Dead
Summary: Ianto is haunted by thoughts, dreams, memories, and maybe even visions of the people he’s loved and lost and of those he’s had to leave behind.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge #99: Amnesty, using Challenge #98: Haunted.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Contains hints of two previous fics I’ve written for other challenges, my drabble ‘The Library of Lives’ and the ficlet ‘All Things To All Men’. It’s not at all necessary to read them in order to understand this chapter, but they feel like they should be a part of this ‘Verse.

Chapter 5



Dinner was excellent, and Ianto set out to return to his TARDIS feeling quite cheerful. He’d done everything he could with regard to the 456 so now, with his responsibility discharged, he could finally get on with his new life, embarking on the greatest challenge he’d ever faced; finding Jack. His lover was never far from his thoughts, haunting him in a thousand memories of all the good and bad times they’d shared. Right now, Ianto didn’t have a clue as to how he could even begin to accomplish the task of finding him; he was just one man lost somewhere in the vast universe. It would be like looking for one particular needle in a huge pile of needles, or one grain of sand in a desert.

“First things first though,” he told his TARDIS with a thought as he strolled back along London’s busy streets to where he’d left her, taking in the sights and sounds of the early Sixties as he went. “I promised you an asteroid, and I believe there are plenty in the asteroid belt around earth. We ought to be able to remove one or two without anyone noticing they’re missing. Are there any that could cause problems for earth within the next few hundred years?”

“One moment. Calculating orbits of all asteroids and extrapolating likely changes within the next 500 years.”

“No rush, take your time. It’s a very nice day so I might do a spot of shopping while I’m here. Just spotted a watch seller’s shop across the street, think I’ll take a look, see if they have any pocket watches.” Ianto checked for traffic before ambling across the street. There were far fewer cars than he was used to; it was strange to think that here he was, walking the earth more that twenty years before he would be born. Somewhere in Wales, his parents were young children who had yet to even meet. He tried hard not to think of such things; time travel was rather disorienting.

Reaching the shop and looking through the windows, he saw they held an array of high quality timepieces, from wristwatches for both ladies and gents, to small clocks of all kinds. To Ianto’s delight, there was a whole section of the display devoted to an assortment of very elegant pocket watches.

“I wish you could see these,” he told the TARDIS. “I know you’d appreciate the workmanship as much as I do.”

“It is not necessary for me to see, I have no doubt you will make a wise choice; you have excellent taste.”

“Well, you would say that since you modelled yourself on images taken from my mind,” Ianto thought, amused.

“Nevertheless, I found the images in your mind very pleasing, aesthetically speaking.”

Ianto was smiling at his TARDIS’s comments as he pushed open the door and entered the small shop. As he closed the door behind him, an elderly man seated at a worktable behind the counter looked up from clock he was repairing.

“I’ll be with you in just a minute, sir. If you’d like to browse while you’re waiting?”

“Take your time, I’m not in any hurry,” Ianto reassured him, making his way over to a display cabinet containing pocket watches and studying the contents carefully.

A few minutes later, the grey haired watch repairer limped over to Ianto, smiling in approval.

“It’s a pleasure to find a gentleman such as yourself is still interested in pocket watches. They seem to be going out of fashion these days. Such a shame.”

“Indeed it is,” Ianto agreed. “Wristwatches man be convenient, but they lack the elegance of a pocket watch somehow.”

“Pocket watches have a timeless quality, if you’ll pardon the pun. While I repair and sell all kinds of clocks and watches, I must admit my greatest fondness lies with vintage and antique timepieces such as these. Sadly, most of the pocket watches I have for sale these days have been traded in by people wishing to purchase wristwatches. I fear a day will come when they will be completely obsolete.”

“That day won’t come for many years yet, I’m sure,” Ianto stated firmly. “Fashions come and go, but true quality will never go out of style.”

He spent a happy hour discussing with the old man the respective merits of the various pocket watches on display before finally choosing an elegant silver half-hunter, with a crystal window set in the front and an intricate design of a tree engraved on the back. Ianto fancied it could represent the Tree of Life, which felt appropriate under the circumstances. A silver watch chain and a fob made from Tektite completed his purchase and he stepped from the shop, watch and chain in place, whistling jauntily.

“I hope you are aware,” an amused voice in his head commented, “that the tune you are whistling will not be written for another forty seven years.”

Ianto just about managed to disguise his snort of laughter as a cough.

“How are the calculations coming?” he asked in his mind.

“Completed almost an hour ago. I did not wish to interrupt your conversation since, as you said, there is no rush.”

“Find anything?”

“There are two asteroids whose orbits are gradually deteriorating. Neither is excessively large but they will provide an ample supply of raw materials that should prove more than sufficient for our current needs.”

“That’s good news. Plot a course for the closest of the two, I’m just round the corner.”

Less than five minutes later, Ianto stepped aboard his TARDIS. Striding across the polished floor, he bounded up the nearest steps to rest his hand on the warm console, which was thrumming beneath his fingers as the TARDIS powered up her engine.

“Ready to go?” It was a relief to speak to her out loud again.

“Yes. If you would disengage the parking brake, we will be on our way.”

Ianto did as asked, then leant back against the rail. “How long will it take to get there?”

“Approximately one minute and seventeen seconds.” The Time Rotor rose and fell, Ianto felt the floor beneath his feet shift, and shortly afterwards felt another subtle shift as they settled onto the first of their chosen asteroids.

“We have arrived,” the TARDIS informed him in a satisfied tone. “One point seven four seconds ahead of my predicted time.”

“I’m impressed!” Ianto set the brake again.

“I thought you would be.” She sounded smug.

“So, how long does it take to disintegrate a whole asteroid?” Ianto asked curiously.

“It will take several hours to break it down into particles small enough to be easily absorbed.”

Feeling tired as the events of the day started to catch up with him, Ianto stretched and yawned.

“That’s good. Right, if you don’t mind, I’ll leave you to get on with disintegrating your asteroid. I’m going to turn in. Enjoy!”

“Turn into what?” The TARDIS sounded mildly puzzled and Ianto laughed.

“I mean I’m going to bed. It’s been a long day, or however long it’s been. I may be immortal, but apparently I still need to sleep. Wake me if you need me for anything.”

“Very well. Good night, Ianto. Pleasant dreams.”

“That would be nice. Usually they’re not particularly pleasant,” he said with a sigh as her made his way out of the control room towards the stairway leading to the lower levels. “After everything that’s happened recently, with me dying, coming back in the House of the Dead, then getting blown up, thrown into the void and resurrected again, pleasant dreams don’t seen very likely. Ah well, a few nightmares would be a small price to pay for everything I’ve gained.” He ran his hand along the wall as he walked wearily down the stairs and along the lower hallway, bypassing the turning that led to the replica of his old flat and instead stepping into the first of the guest rooms.

To his surprise, he found it had been re-modelled in his absence. The carpet was now a deep burgundy and the walls the colour of buttermilk. A big ebony framed double bed was set against the rear wall of the room, its ornate headboard carved in the shape of a dragon with wings protectively outstretched. The sheets and pillowcases matched the carpet while the bedspread was a patchwork of slate blue, cream and burgundy. It looked very welcoming.

The rest of the furniture was made of the same wood as the bed; two matching bedside cabinets, a big dresser with wide drawers, a solid looking desk and chair, bookshelves, and an armchair upholstered in the same fabric as the bedspread. There was even a matching footstool.

Checking the drawers, Ianto discovered they contained fresh underwear, socks and pyjamas. Slowly he stripped out of his suit, hanging it in the walk-in closet, which was otherwise empty waiting for him to add other clothes chosen from the main wardrobe. Slipping into his colour coordinated slate blue pyjamas, he brushed his teeth in the en suite bathroom, climbed into bed and turned out the bedside lamp, quickly falling asleep.

OoOoOoO

The dreams began almost immediately. Ianto was walking through the old Torchwood Three Hub; everything about it was just as it used to be, the sights, sounds and scents so familiar they would have brought a lump to his throat had he not been dreaming. Tosh was at her workstation, busily tapping away at her keyboard, Owen was in the autopsy bay, clattering about and swearing inventively. Overhead, Myfanwy circled gracefully on the Hub’s ever-present thermals, her long, leathery wings flapping lazily. Ianto paused to watch her, smiling; she was magnificent.

Making his way to the little kitchen area, he brewed coffee, lovingly stroking the old coffee machine that no one else could ever work. He took Tosh her drink first, setting it by her elbow. She glanced up briefly with a smile and a word of thanks before returning her attention to her screens. Gwen wasn’t in yet, so he set his tray on her workstation and carried Owen’s mug into the medic’s domain.

“About time, Teaboy, what kept you?” Owen took a swig of coffee. “Ahhh, that hits the spot! You got any more scalpels stashed away? I’ve run out.”

Ianto rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t run out so often if you didn’t keep throwing them at the dartboard.”

“I’ll get a bull’s-eye one of these days, just you wait and see!”

“In your dreams. I’ll fetch a box from storage when everyone’s got their coffee. Try not to waste so many, they don’t grow on trees you know.”

Owen chuckled. “That would be a sight worth seein’! Thanks, mate.” He dropped into a chair, gulping his coffee as Ianto made his way back up the steps into the main Hub.

Leaving Gwen’s mug on her desk, Ianto picked up his tray and headed for Jack’s office, where he found the leader of Torchwood Three leaning back in his chair, feet up on the desk. Jack was on the phone to UNIT, but he smiled delightedly and waved Ianto over. Setting his and Jack’s mugs on coasters, Ianto propped the tray against Jack’s desk, pulled up a chair and sat down. Jack reached for his coffee and inhaled the aroma, an expression of sheer bliss on his face. Sipping slowly to savour the brew, he turned his attention back to his phone call.

“No, General, you seem to be missing the point…”

Ianto tuned out Jack’s words and just watched his lover, the expression of annoyance on his face vanishing briefly every time he took a sip of coffee, only to reappear a moment later due to something the General said to him. Finally, Jack slammed the receiver back in its cradle and took a long drink from his mug.

“Ahhhh, perfection! There’s nothing better than your coffee for washing away the bad taste left behind from talking to UNIT’s top brass.” He smiled warmly at Ianto. “So, I was thinking, dinner tonight? We could go to that little Italian place.”

“Sounds good. Should I book a table?”

“No need, I can do it.” Jack reached for the phone. “Seven thirty alright?”

OoOoOoO

The scene changed abruptly, as tends to happen in dreams, and Ianto found himself lying with Jack in the small camp bed hidden away beneath Jack’s office. Both of them were naked, sweaty and breathing hard. He felt a bit peeved at having skipped the events that had led up to that moment, but then his perspective changed and it was as though he were standing by the ladder that led up to Jack’s office, watching himself and Jack in the bed as they settled down to sleep.

Time skipped forwards again and Ianto could see that his other self was dreaming. He watched himself wake, smiling, and turn towards Jack, settling again with one arm draped over the other man’s waist. Must have been a good dream for once.

“I don’t know how, but something tells me we’ll be together for a long time. I just hope you don’t get tired of having me around,” the other Ianto whispered.

Oh, that dream; the one with the library and everyone’s lives set out in books, his and Jack’s lives shelved side by side in countless volumes. He remembered that dream very well indeed. Smiling, he turned away from the scene and found himself in the bedroom of his flat, watching himself and Jack sprawled across the bed, once again basking in the afterglow.

“So,” his other self said, “this Doctor of yours, tell me about him?”

Ah, now that was a night he remembered even more clearly. He felt as if he could almost recite the conversation his earlier self was having with Jack word for word, but still he watched the scene play out right to the end as Jack described the Doctor’s many qualities and the other Ianto told him he could be describing himself.

“Trust me; I’ve seen the future, you won’t be facing it alone.”

Perhaps the dream really had been a premonition. Maybe the Library of Lives existed somewhere, if not in this universe then in another. All that he had to do to make it come true was to find Jack, somewhere out there among the stars… As images of swirling starfields and a myriad distant planets filled his head, Ianto rolled over, burrowing under the covers and sinking deeper into sleep.

OoOoOoO

For the rest of the night, Ianto’s dreams were haunted by all the people he’d loved and lost. He saw Lisa as she’d been before Canary Wharf, a vibrant, lovely young woman with a wicked sense of humour, and he saw what she had become. How had he missed seeing the signs that seemed so clear now? By the time they’d arrived in Cardiff, all that had been left of her had been a hollow shell and some stolen memories.

He sat in Rhi’s lounge sipping tea and telling her how sorry he was that he couldn’t visit in person. He hated the thought that he would miss seeing the kids grow up, but he told her of the bank account he’d set up in her name that would provide for all of her family now that he was gone.

Sitting on an alien beach of green sand, pink sea lapping at their toes, he told Mica and David not to be sad, that he was fine and travelling the stars in a spaceship that looked like a tree from the outside. He pointed to a majestic oak at the edge of the beach, explaining that his ship was so clever she could look like anything she chose. In their beds on earth in 2009, Mica and David smiled in their sleep, forgetting their sorrow as in their dreams they explored their uncle’s amazing spaceship.

Tosh walked beside him through Cardiff as they fetched lunch for the rest of the team, enjoying a rare sunny spring day. They talked about everything and nothing, simply enjoying their time together. A change of scene found him sitting in a pub with Owen, grumbling about work and their wanker of a boss, who also happened to be Ianto’s lover and had taken off for parts unknown without so much as a goodbye. A blink of his eyes and it was Rhys sitting opposite him as they argued about rugby and drank beer, while Gwen regaled Jack with tales of what she and her husband had got up to on their recent holiday.

Jack. Even in his sleep, seeing the man he loved brought tears to Ianto’s eyes. He saw his lover’s grief as he stood at a graveside, watched as the broken man travelled the earth trying to escape the memories of what he’d done and all he’d lost. He relived those moments with Jack in the House of the Dead when he remembered that he’d died, yet discovered he was somehow alive again. With Jack’s “I love you” still ringing in his ears, he witnessed the explosion that had destroyed the most haunted pub in Wales and watched as his Captain walked away, shoulders bowed by a burden no man should ever have to carry.

Scene after scene passed through Ianto’s mind; were they memories, dreams, visions, or all three?

Standing in the shadow of a massive tree, Ianto observed Jack standing alone on a hilltop outside Cardiff, Rhys and a heavily pregnant Gwen struggling up the slope to join him. They handed Jack his Vortex Manipulator, goodbyes were said and then Jack was gone, transported to some unknown ship high above earth’s atmosphere. In a corner of Ianto’s sleeping mind, he wondered if it would be possible to locate the ship, get onboard and find Jack. But before the idea could properly form, his dream self was in another place, a bar on a distant space station, watching as Jack tried to summon up that old thousand watt grim and flirt with some guy in uniform. The flirting didn’t last long; Jack’s heart clearly wasn’t in it and after a few minutes he left, apologising to the stranger and walking away alone. Ianto ached to hold the man he loved, comfort him and tell him they’d be together again soon, forever. He couldn’t move though, couldn’t interfere; he felt like a ghost, unable to affect the world around him. All he could do was watch, blinking away tears and vowing that he would search the universe from end to end if that was what it would take to be reunited with his lover.

Thus the ‘night’ passed as the TARDIS stood on a small asteroid high above earth, picking it apart and absorbing its molecules, using some to gradually grow areas that were not yet completed and storing the rest for later. It was a task that required little thought or effort, so the TARDIS ‘slept’ too, powering down all non-essential systems. If she picked up a scene or two from Ianto’s dreams, well, surely that was only to be expected since their minds were linked.

And on the planet far below, forty-nine years in the future, Jack Harkness also slept. In his dreams, he saw the grandson he’d been forced to sacrifice, the daughter who hated him and the man he’d loved, who’d been taken from him so cruelly. Waking with his face wet with tears, he gathered his few possessions and set out once more to travel the world. He was trying to escape from the memories that haunted him even as he clung to them, willing himself to never forget. He’d made a promise to remember and he intended to keep it for as long as he lived, even though remembering broke his heart. His loved ones deserved no less.


Chapter 7