New Horizons 10/?

[missthingsplace]

Title: New Horizons
Author: missthingsplace
Parings/characters: Jack (Jack/Ianto Rhys/Gwen) OC's: Dafydd, Angela, Christopher, Charlie
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of the characters ... unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: After losing Ianto and Gwen in the same attack Jack accepts a request by the queen in Washington DC
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Angst, slash ... the usual.
Rating: NC17 for series. This chapter PG

Previous Chapters: http://missthingsplace.livejournal.com/211867.html#cutid1

A/N Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and ideas, the bunnies hit big time last night and finally made it clear where they wanted it this to go and have been conspiring with the muses. I hope everyone likes the direction is takes, more angst ahead i'm afraid and i even know what the epilogue will be! This chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones but it is apparently how it needs to be!

Jack ushered his team into the kitchen area, he didn't want to do this in the boardroom as it wasn't work related and he wanted more of a relaxed atmosphere.

They settled down in the comfy chairs and looked at Jack expectanly, not knowing what was coming but none of them missing how nervous he seemed to be.

“Where to start.” Jack said with a small chuckle, feeling strangely nervous. “Okay, lets start with my age, how old would you think I was?”

“Early to mid forties?” Angela guessed.

“I wish, I'm actually more than two thousand years old, to be a little more exact over two thousand, one hundred and fifty.”

“No fucking way!” Exclaimed Dafydd as the others gasped in agreement.

“That's just ridiculous.” Christopher added.

“No one can live that long.” Angela retorted.

“I am, also I'm not from this time, I'm from the future, 51st century.”

“People live that long by then?” Angela asked aghast.

“No, that's another story.”

“Spill.” Dafydd told him.

“There was this man.” Jack began as the others gave a small whoop of excitement. “When I met him I was a different person, a conman.”

“So you fell in love with him and changed?” Asked Christopher.

“I did love him, do love him but not in the way you mean, no.”

“He's old too?” Dafydd asked.

“Not as old as I am, he's over 900 years old and although he looks like you or me he's not human, he's a Time Lord.” Jack explained.

“The Doctor?” Christopher asked.

“You know about the Doctor?”

“Hey, researcher here, give me something to research and I'm there. As soon as I was asked to become part of Torchwood I researched all I could and found out about Queen Victoria, how she formed Torchwood to protect us against the aliens and a man called the Doctor and his companion Rose.” Christopher replied.

“Anything else?”

“No much to be honest, there's a lot of rumours, some say he causes chaos wherever he goes, some say he's saved the earth more times than I've had hot dinners.”

“He has. Rose was ... she was wonderful.”

“You knew her?” Angela asked.

“I travelled with them for a while, she's the reason I can't die.”

“Wait, so your saying that not only are you over two thousand years old you can't die? Ever?” Dafydd asked.

“Technically I can die, I just don't stay dead.”

“And this is because of Rose?” Angela asked.

“We were fighting these aliens, Dalek's and I was killed, but Rose opened the heart of the TARDIS and took the vortex in to her and used it to bring me back to life.”

“TARDIS?” Dafydd asked.

“The Doctor's time machine.” Christopher replied smugly.

“Time and relative dimension in space.” Jack added.

“So that's why you can't die?” Angela asked, wanting to get back on the subject.

“Yes, the vortex energy is what prevents me from dying, staying dead.”

“You must have seen so much in that time.” Angela replied.

“For most of the two thousand years I was buried alive and then frozen.” Jack shuddered at the thought. “But that really is a story for another time.”

“But you can't not tell us after that?” Angela told him.

“Sorry, it's personal.” Jack told her resolutely.

“What's it like, dying?” Christopher asked. “What do you see?”

“Nothing, just blackness.”

“Nothing, no heaven, no hell, just blackness?” Angela asked, sounding a little freaked.

“Yeah, but it could just be like that for me because I come back.” Jack shrugged.

“Does coming back hurt?” Dafydd asked.

“Yes, it's not one of the most pleasant experiences I ever have to go through.”

“So you won't be giving us a demonstration then?” Christopher asked.

“No.” Jack told him, his tone telling him to leave it.

“Anything else you should tell us?” Dafydd asked.

“Nothing that can affect the way we work, I just wanted you to know in case I got killed by something, coming back to life after I've been pronounced dead can be a little bit of a shock for people.”

“I think you should tell them, about my link to Ianto.” Dafydd told him.

“Are you sure?” Jack asked him.

“Yep.” He relied in a way that reminded him of Ianto so much.

“Okay, I never knew it when I took this job but the man I loved, lost ... Ianto, he was Dafydd's cousin.” Jack gulped back the tears that threatened to well in his eyes.

“Bloody hell, talk about small world.” Christopher exclaimed.

“Yeah.” Jack replied. “Never expected to find an relative here, let alone have one working for me.”

“It's not going affect how either of us work, I just thought it shouldn't be a secret.” Dafydd told them.

“And you're right.” Jack replied, getting to his feet. “Okay, work to do.”

Jack watched them all as they left the kitchen area, he knew he would be the subject of gossip among them now but he didn't care, most of his secrets were now out in the open.

Feeling like he needed some fresh air Jack told them he was going out for a while, that he would have his comm and mobile phone on him at all times but he was taking the SUV and would be back if he was needed.

As Jack drove he found himself turning as if to say something to Ianto and then catching himself just before he spoke, ignoring the tears that ran down his cheeks Jack just kept driving, not really knowing where he was heading until he reached the coast.

He had no idea where he was, just the urge to be by the sea as if it somehow would bring him closer to Ianto, he missed being by the sea. 

He just miss the sea, he missed Cardiff, he missed Myfanwy and even Janet. He knew he would be going back at some point, he didn't feel at home in the US.

The team were proving themselves to be very good at their jobs, training them was proving easier than he thought which he knew was probably due to them being with the FBI originally.

They had all the resources of Torchwood Three available to them and from what he had seen Dafydd would make a great leader, and he knew it wasn't that he was biased towards him because of Ianto, the young man had potential.

Jack made his decision at the exact moment, he would stay as long as it would take to train them to the point he was happy with and he was going to ask Charlie if he wanted to become one of the team as leaving four behind would be better than three the next time he saw him.

Going home, back to Cardiff at anytime was going to be hard but he knew that taking this job had just been an excuse to run away and if he was going to start coming to terms with his loss he needed to be there.

Getting back in the SUV Jack headed back to the base, it was going to talk him a good couple of hours as he hadn't realised just how far he had driven, feeling better in himself than he had for the first time since losing Ianto.

TBC