So finally...The last chapter of PART TWO of Serendipity! i KNOW its been forever since i last updated, and any readers i had must be pissed off with me, but PLEASE read! pretty please?

I promise PART THREE will be up soon, its only three chapters long, and tells of how it all ends.

I'm sorry this isn't under a LJ cut, but for some reason, the stupid thing messes up everytime i do it. sorry!

Title:  Behind Closed Doors [PART TWO(8/8)]

Chapter: 8 final chapter of PART TWO.

Series: Serendipity

Author: 2nd_toshiko

Word Count: 1,278 words.

Rating: 15+

Character(s): Jack/Ianto, Helen Jones.

Genre(s): Gen, Retcon fiction, romance, angsty fluff

Warning(s)/Spoiler(s): None, in this one.

Disclaimer(s): I do NOT own Torchwood OR Doctor Who, nor do I own the characters, pairings, storylines etc. They are the sole property of the almighty BBC, the Torchwood/Doctor Who Production Team and (unfortunately for us) Russell T Davies. No money is being made out of this, and I’m still a student, so please don’t sue me- I have NO money!

Summary: ‘You’re sorry?’ Helen repeated, her eyes wide with anger. ‘Where did ‘sorry’ ever get anyone in the world? Ianto’s in my house, right now, sedated and hurt. I don’t know how it happened, and you’re telling me he won’t remember the last few years when he wakes up. I don’t even know who you are and I’ve been losing my son to you, all this years, again and again.’

Author’s Note: This is the FINAL chapter of Part Two. I promise (and I mean it this time) PART THREE will be up very shortly. Part Three is the epilogue of this series, and is about 3 chapters long. PART ONE can be found in the Masterlist linked below. Please remember that this series is now officially AU, and TW S2 ‘Fragments’ and ‘Exit Wounds’ NEVER HAPPENED. Thank you, and comments are very adored!

 RECAP: Jack finally finds John and gives him one last chance, letting him get away. Owen figures out the only way to save Ianto is for him to take retcon, so this chapter carries on from there

Previous chapter l Serendipity Masterlist l Next chapter

Chapter Eight

Jack walked to the cells quietly and efficiently, knowing what he was about to do.

I won’t let it break me.

Ianto lay still, in that cell. Jack stood in front of the glass for a while, his courage failing him.

Ianto opened his eyes from where he lay on the small camp bed and met Jack’s glaze. His calm glance matched Jack’s quietly tragic one.

‘Jack’, Ianto croaked. Jack flinched, quickly put his hands up, pulling any weapons he had on himself out, and putting them to the floor. It broke Ianto’s heart to see Jack so…scared.

‘Jack, I-‘Ianto began, but Jack interrupted, slowly entering Ianto’s cell. The Welshman felt his breath catch in his thought.

So close.

Close enough to hug. To kiss.

To kill.

‘We don’t have much time’, Jack said, quietly. ‘Owen’s already doing his nut in about me being in here at all-‘

‘What are you going to do?’

Jack found himself unable to look at his lover. They could both hear the water dripping down the water tower above, and the moan of the weevils aside them.

‘Retcon’, Jack whispered. ‘It’s the only way. Owen says the Retcon should manage to override any memories you have of me, so…so it’ll stop all this…’

‘How much memory’, Ianto said, nonchalantly.

‘Everything you have on Torchwood’, Jack answered, his voice low and tortured. His eyes were tired, his body, though, carefully controlled against breaking down.

‘So…I’ll forget you?’ Ianto managed. Stupid question.

‘You’ll forget me’.

‘I see’.

Silence. Jack couldn’t stand it.

‘You can’t remember me’, he said, stressing every word. ‘Whatever I’m doing, it’s not wrong- it has to be done. I’m not…I’m not-‘

‘It has to be done’, Ianto repeated, calmly.

‘IT’S BETTER THAN HAVING YOU DEAD!’ Jack bellowed suddenly. Ianto jerked, as if Jack had actually slapped him.

All this guilt, all this guilt swarming him, like rotting butter. Smothering him.

‘Sorry’, Jack muttered, quietly.

‘Of course it is, though’, Ianto said. ‘You’re right’.

‘How are you doing it?’ Jack whispered. ‘Do you really hate me this much?’

‘What?’

‘You don’t…’ Jack began, his eyebrows contorted in what seemed like anger, and sadness. ‘You don’t even care!’

Ianto blinked, a sudden desire washing over him. Suddenly, Jack was pulled headfirst towards the camp bed, and thrusted down onto it, his face directly under Ianto’s, who was now above him.

‘Of course I care’, Ianto hissed, his breath tantalising and hot. The warmth fell over Jack, who seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

He could kill me now, and I wouldn’t ever stop him.

‘Of course I care’, Ianto hissed. ‘I care so much, I bleed for you. I want you so much I hate you. But I don’t want this, for it to be like this- hating you for things that have nothing to do with me, things you haven’t even done, unable to be close to you…’

He pulled the older man closer, his lips inches away from the immortal’s.

‘But I’m selfish enough to want to live…’cause this way, no doubt about it Captain, I’ll find you again. I’ll remember you, somehow, the way I loved you.’

Jack caught Ianto’s face and pulled him to his mouth, finally. Blistering kisses rained on the younger man’s face, his neck, his shoulder…

‘Jack’, Ianto gasped. ‘You’re killing me…I could…I could kill you now’.

‘You won’t.’

‘But I could-‘

‘But you won’t.’

Ianto watched as Jack tore his shirt open, kissing and licking at Ianto’s chest, his abdomen, his navel button. Ianto groaned. After a few moments, Jack stopped kissing, breathing hard on Ianto’s stomach.

He pulled up, and looked his lover in the face. It suddenly became noticeable that Jack was now crying, silently.

‘Jack…’ Ianto whimpered, his chest suddenly heavy. ‘Don’t…’

Jack wiped his face, and pulled out two pills from his pocket.

‘Take them’, Jack said, as calmly as possible. ‘Forget me’.

Ianto considered the Captain, before taking the pills. Jack watched as Ianto swallowed them slowly.

‘Thank you’, Ianto said.

Jack stroked his face, managing a ghost of a smile. ‘You never know, we might meet again’.

‘We will’.

‘Its probably best if we don’t’.

Ianto grabbed Jack’s neck, and held his head. ‘We will…I’ll find you, somehow…somehow, it’ll get better.’

‘I’m never that lucky’, Jack whispered.

Before Ianto could say anything, Jack pulled him down onto the camp bed again, kissing him, before moving down.

‘Jack…what are you doing?’ Ianto breathed, watching as Jack stroked his skin.

The older man reached Ianto’s crotch.

‘Etching you to memory’.

Eventually, Ianto fell asleep.

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Jack sat on a bench near the lake, looking not at the water, but at the small cottage besides it.

He felt calm, serene almost. He’d remain like this, he knew, until he reached the Hub, and watched his team work, minus his lover. Then he would break down.

For now, he’d be happy for some sanity.

Just a little.

After a few minutes a small woman appeared out of the cottage, looking straight at Jack. It seemed to him that she did so for a formidable amount of time, before stalking over to him.

‘So you’re the boss’, the woman said defiantly, her watery blue eyes so like her son’s.

Helen Jones challenged Jack to give an answer.

‘I am’.

‘You did this to him?’

Jack’s voice caught in his throat. Tears streaked down both of their faces.

‘What does he do?’ Helen whispered. ‘What does he do for a living? There was once a upon a time when my son used to tell me everything, from what he ate on his trip to Leicester to when he lost his virginity. He never once mentioned you. And now I don’t even know what my son does at work!’

‘I didn’t mean to harm him’, Jack croaked.

Helen balled up her fist, fury rushing through her veins, and punched Jack in the face.

Jack staggered backwards, feeling a bruise build up near his cheek. Somehow, he had expected this.

‘I’m sorry’.

‘You’re sorry?’ Helen repeated, her eyes wide with anger. ‘You’re sorry? Where did ‘sorry’ ever get anyone in the world? Ianto’s in my house, right now, sedated and hurt. I don’t know how it happened, and you’re telling me he won’t remember the last few years when he wakes up. I don’t even know who you are and I’ve been losing my son to you, all this years, again and again.’

Jack’s stomach filled with rats, his heart burning. There wasn’t a moment when it didn’t hurt, his mind stuck in an abyss. He’d never felt so small.

‘Just’, Helen started again. ‘Just keep away from him now. I don’t want to see you again, or anywhere near my family’.

She forced one last penetrating glaze on the immortal man, before making to walk to her house.

‘Stay away from Ianto, or I swear, I’ll be the death of you.’

Jack watched after the woman, even as she closed the door to her house, somewhere in there, his lover was sleeping away his memories.

Jack turned away, walking to the SUV.

He wouldn’t cry. Not now. Later.

The tears fell, again.

Stay away from Ianto, or I swear, I’ll be the death of you.

Somehow, he believed her.

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Months later.

His throat burned, aching of pent up anger and longing.

Ianto was back.

Fire surrounded him, his team as the Hub fell to destruction. Helen Jones lay dead, in the middle of it all.

‘I remember’, Ianto whispered, his voice like a scream in the quiet. ‘I remember everything.’

TBC

Previous chapter l Serendipity Masterlist l Next chapter

PLEASE READ THIS:

Sorry for the MAJOR delay in the posting of this. I’ve finally finished writing up the whole series, so the rest will be out promptly. The reason for the lateness is that I’ve been very busy recently, having just moved the America for the next 6 months. The first part of PART THREE will be out latest TOMORROW. I PROMISE. I realise I lost a lot of readers through all this, and for that I’m sorry.

Anyways, this is the end of PART TWO, and I seriously urge any readers I have left to re-read the end of PART ONE, which is linked here. Either ways, I will be re-capping in a few sentences in the next chapter. PART THREE goes back to where PART ONE ended, if anyone remembers, that was when Ianto finally remembers everything after having being retconned, which was shown in PART TWO.

PART THREE shows how It all ends.

( click here for SERENDIPITY chapter 6! )

‘Oh for fucks sake, Ianto!’ Owen moaned, as he heaved the Welshman towards the cells. ‘You weigh a ton!’

‘Jack likes it’, Ianto muttered, deliriously. ‘Said he never did go much for string beans…that’s why he’s never shagged you.’

Great.

Owen slowed down in his movements. ‘This isn’t what it looks like, you know. We just need to-‘

‘I know,’ Ianto said, breathing hard. ‘I’m not safe. Even I know that. Just get me in a cell.’

Owen pulled him into the nearest empty cell, ignoring the growls of the weevils nearby.

‘Save me, Owen’.

Owen froze. ‘What?’

The Welshman was looking at him helplessly.

‘I’m dead, Owen,’ Ianto spoke, voice low and tinged with fright. ‘I’m not me anymore. There’s something in me that’s turning me inside out, and its killing me. I don’t want to feel like this.’

Owen stared, cautiously as Ianto continued. ‘Something inside me wants to hate you all.’

Suddenly, Ianto’s face contorted, twisting with pain. Just as Owen was about to open the glass door, Ianto began banging on it.

‘Let me OUT!’, he yelled, shaking his head in frenzy. Owen moved back in shock. ‘Jack needs to pay for this, all of this. I’ll do it with my own bare hands-‘

Owen banged on the cell glass. ‘Ianto, stop it!’

‘I need to, I NEED TO-‘

‘IANTO!’ Owen yelled. ‘This isn’t…this isn’t you. You and Jack…’

‘Jack needs to pay with his blood’, Ianto spat. ‘He’s damaged me…’

Then, again, Ianto’s face contorted, and Owen moved back. Ianto began sobbing.

‘Help me, Owen,’ he wept, sliding down against the wall. ‘…Kill me.’

Kill me.

--

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John kept his face blank. ‘What device?’

Jack faced him, his own face dark as murder. ‘He…he acts like…he knows you. Yan’s acting scared and dangerous, all at the same time…’

Jack laughed. ‘I haven’t seen anyone like that that you haven’t made feel’.

John looked at him. ‘Caught me’.

‘Let him go NOW’.

‘Can’t’

Jack pulled out his gun, as John shook his head in mirth.

‘A gun!’, John laughed. ‘Another bikini cops thing, is it? Dashing men in suits, black coats and gigantic guns…’

‘We’re Torchwood’.

‘Bikini cops sounds better. And if you liked suits so much, you could’ve just told me’, Jon continued. His voice became more grave. ‘I can’t let him go’.

Jacks face twisted in fury. ‘Why not?’

John paced around the Captain. ‘He’s tied to the machine. I can’t do anything.’ The look Jack was giving would’ve killed him in an instant. ‘Come on! It was just a bit of fun’.

‘You gave this …thing to Ianto?’

‘Yup’.

‘This was never a funny joke.’

‘We never did have the same humour.’

‘And for that, thank God.’, Jack turned to walk out of the tourist office door. ‘And I never want to see you again.’

‘Breaking the device won’t kill me, Jack’, John said softly. Jack whipped around, his arm point at John.

‘I’m giving you a chance!’ Jack bellowed. ‘One chance…again. Final chance. I never, ever want to see you again…never.’

John watched Jack walk out, into the Plass, before smiling brilliantly.

‘You were never much good at 21^st century Language’, he said to himself. ‘And you never did understand. Gray really is back.’

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Tosh watched as Owen came up from the cells, looking more disturbed than she had ever seen him.

‘He thinks…’ Owen began, as Gwen turned to attention. ‘He thinks he’s someone else, half the time. Either that or he’s had a drastic personality change; because I don’t believe that’s Ianto.’

‘What do you mean?’ Gwen asked, quickly.

‘He was acting so weird-different. You should’ve seen, there’s no explaining it.’

‘I’ll bring up CCTV’, Tosh said, quietly, typing away. Owen stopped her.

‘Don’t’, he said, quickly. ‘I don’t want to see that again’.

‘What did you mean; Ianto’s not acting like himself?’ Gwen asked. Owen looked thoughtful for a second.

‘He keeps saying…he keeps saying something’s changing him. I just know it’s not him…he says what ever made him this way, it had something to do with Jack.’

He paused. ‘He wants to kill him. He’s remembering things that haven’t happened…he said that’s what’s making him hate us all.’

Tosh gasped inwardly, facing the computer, unable to face her colleagues.

‘Then what do we do?’ she said, softly, as she stared at the coffee machine, behind her computer. ‘There’s not much we can do’.

That’s when Tosh’s comm. Bleeped, and Tosh looked at Owen.

There was only one thing they knew that got rid of memories, good or bad.

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‘Tosh, I want you to do a surveillance of any alien technology in Ianto’s flat, the Hub, his parents home- I’m sending you the address-, and any other place Ianto might have gone in the past few weeks.’

‘Hang on, Jack…I’m getting readings from his flat.’

‘Exact location?’

‘Sending to you now, it’ll be a minute’.

BLEEP.

Ten minutes later, Jack was in Ianto’s flat, in Ianto’s suit pocket.

He held the tiny, flashing device in his palm, willing it break to pieces in his glare.

‘Got it, Toshiko. Thank you.’

‘What is it, Jack?’

‘I’ll explain more when I get back. It needs to be destroyed first.’

And I need to get Ianto back.

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Tosh pulled out his comm, watching Gwen as she walked away, before turning her head in Owen’s direction.

He was studiously ignoring her.

‘What are we going to do, Owen?’ Tosh asked, calmly.

We can’t do it.

Owen was still ignoring her, looking thoughtful.

‘Owen’. Her voice rang out, this time, loud and crystal, desperate for an answer. Owen , for the first time, considered how close Ianto and Tosh might have been.

‘I don’t see an alternative, Tosh, I really don’t’.

Tosh looked at him. ‘Don’t do it.’

‘Tosh, please, just fuck off-‘

‘I can’t’, Tosh breathed, walking to him. ‘Are you REALLY going to retcon him? You think Jack’s going to ever let you? What do you think its going to do to Ianto?’

‘I’m not sure its even going to work…didn’t Ianto once say he was resistant?’

‘You and me both know he won’t be able to fight higher dosages’, Tosh argued. ‘And it’s still very wrong’.

‘Then you be the fucking doctor, Tosh!’ he yelled at her, making the Japanese woman jump. ‘You’d make a better doctor than me any day. I can’t…there’s nothing else I can think of.’

He made to walk away before he paused. ‘You and I know he’s deteriorating, how long do you think he’s going to be able to fight whatever it is? Do you want to die?’

Tosh stayed silent, and she heard Owen’s voice wobble.

‘I’m sorry. It’s all I know to do. I’m going to tell Jack when he gets here, and you better back me up when he’s here, ‘cause Gwen’s going to have my shit with her morality crap’.

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Save me, Jack, do something. Come and get me. I’m dying….I’M DYING.

I hate myself.

I hate YOU.

I need you dead.

Why won’t you die?

Both you and I deserve to die…

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TBC

What do you think? I know this chapter was a little shorter than the rest, and I actually intended to add more, but it didn’t seem to work with what im planning next. Please keep reading guys, I know this fic is getting a little…scary! (As I’ve been told).

And please comment- it means a lot and keeps me writing! Thanks for reading!

( Click here for Serendipity PART TWO Chapter 6/7 )