Fic: The Essential Condition of Life 1/3
Title: Mutual Service: The Essential Condition of Life 1/3
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Set in the Mutual Service verse. I highly recommend you read at least that that first, or this won't make much sense.
Summary: Ianto's resurrection has consequences, consequences that the Doctor has taken enough interest in to travel to Cardiff for.


"Eurgh!" Jack made a noise of disgust as he and Gwen peeled off dirty and sopping clothing, the stains a combination of mud, weevil blood and sewer water. They were standing just inside the entrance to the Hub, and already Tosh and Ianto were watching them, the latter looking extremely displeased about the mess - but really, it was better than tracking it through the whole place, wasn't it? "At least this'll be salvageable after a good wash, which I think we could use as well. Care to join me, Gwen?"

Gwen had been weighing the embarrassment of shucking her shirt over the discomfit of getting to the showers with it clinging to her, smell filling her senses, but at Jack's smirk she evidently made up her mind to leave it. "Not this time, Jack," she told him with as much dignity as she could muster. "Ugh, no wonder you told me to keep spare clothes here. Rhys thought I was mad."

"I'll... fetch a bag for those, shall I?" Ianto looked at the pile with distaste before moving off, keeping his eyes low until he'd passed by Jack, who was grinning and standing in a manner that may well have been posed. As though they needed him to draw attention to the fact that he was now shirtless. "Your t-shirt wasn't that dirty, sir," he called back over his shoulder.

Jack grinned wider.

He and Gwen had started picking their way through the Hub when a clumping, thunking noise heralded Owen's appearance at the other side of the room. He looked perturbed, enough so that after glancing around the room, eyes pausing on Jack for a moment, he made no comment on their fearless leader's state of dress. Instead, he frowned. "Guys, there's nothing supposed to be going on downstairs, is there?"

"Downstairs?" Jack repeated, brow furrowing in thought though he knew that if there had been, he would have known. "Not that I've heard, why?"

"Because I've just seen Suzie."

The other three all turned to stare at him. "Dead Suzie?" Jack clarified.

"No. Alive Suzie. She just walked out of the storeroom and when I followed her she was gone. Definitely her though, no doubt about it."

Even as he spoke Tosh had turned back to her computer, tapping keys rapidly as she drew up the rift monitoring program to check for activity spikes. "No rift activity."

"Okay, hold that thought." Jack raised a finger to punctuate his words. "Tosh, search the records for similar phenomena, get Ianto to help when he's free. Owen, get a detailed report down on paper so we can see exactly what we're dealing with. Me and Gwen are going to scrub up, and we'll all meet back here."

"With our clothes on, I hope," muttered Owen as they all left, heading in their separate directions. Jack grinned.

*

They reconvened in the boardroom with cups of Toshiko-made coffee; it seemed easier than waiting on Ianto to get back from the drycleaner's and then demanding a fresh brew before they could start. Even so plenty of time had elapsed between Owen's initial announcement and Jack, hair damp and tousled, looking around at the rest of his team. "Alright kids, what do we know?"

"Reports are trickling in through the central city," Ianto volunteered. "Not much on the news stations yet, but the police and emergency services have dealt with isolated cases and some of the internet forums have had hits."

"It'll probably break in the evening broadcast." Gwen tapped a finger absently on the surface of the table, taking a drink of coffee as she thought. "Though if activity doesn't increase it might just be one of those spot features. You know, cat adopts baby ducklings, face of Jesus seen in bologna, silly things."

"Space fillers, got it. Tosh?"

Apart from Ianto, she was the only one who'd brought notes to the meeting, and she shuffled them now as though looking for one in particular, though she had to have organised them before the meeting. "There were a few things. The Ghost Machine showed visions of the past, but obviously that wasn't in use this time. There's also St Teilo's Military Hospital which occasionally is the site for sightings of ghosts from World War One. There are scattered reports of similar phenomena fairly uniformly across the city but no more than in any other area of the world, and nothing that particularly stands out."

Ianto had blanched slightly at the mention of ghosts, and Jack glanced at him for a moment before looking back at the team with a nod. "Right. We'll have to get some readings of that storeroom, then. Gwen, if you could monitor police reports?"

He stood, indicating that the meeting was over, and watched them filtering out until only Ianto was left, quickly and efficiently gathering the discarded mugs. It was easy to halt him with a restraining hand on his arm, the lightest of touches bringing him to a complete stop, fixing Jack with a questioning look. "Sir?"

"Alright?"

"Fine, sir."

His smile only looked a little forced, though with Ianto it was sometimes hard to tell. Jack was working on that though, and he thought he was making progress; either way it was an excuse to watch the Welshman, and he wasn't going to easily give one of those up. "Whatever we're dealing with," he assured him, "it's not the Cybermen."

"I know." He looked down for a moment, and when he glanced back up he really did seem to be a little less tense. "I'd better get the last of that mud off the floor and set up some search parameters for more reports."

"Thanks, Ianto." Jack followed him out, looking out across the Hub at his team as they set about their tasks - Owen heading to the morgue, attention apparently back on autopsies. Sometimes it was nice to just take a moment to watch them, marvel a bit at how brilliant they all were in their own little ways.

Then, he noticed the hand in the jar, kept out in the open where he could see it from most of the main floor.

It was active.

*

"999, what's your emergency?"

"Oh god, there's someone in my house, you've got to-- please, send someone, there's a man upstairs!"

"Okay, ma'am, I'm sending a patrol car to your location. Can you tell me if the man is armed?"

"I don't know! I don't know, I don't know how he got in, oh my god..."

*

Psychic adviser Charity Wilkes was stunned and thrilled when a woman appeared in the middle of a session with a client. She managed to look like she was unfazed, smiled benignly when she was paid an extra hundred pounds, and went to raise her prices.

*

"Here we are!" The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS controls with a blinding grin, grabbing his jacket from where it lay over a cross-bar and ushering Martha towards the door as though they were in a great hurry. From what she'd learned about his behaviour so far in their travels, they probably were not.

"Where's here?"

"Cardiff, early twenty first century! Nothing special, just a break to refuel, but we've got a day free so we might as well enjoy it. You fancy chips? I fancy chips."

He pushed the door open, Martha behind him, then almost stumbled backwards; she had to twist out of the way quickly to avoid banging into the back of him. Only after she'd regained her centre of gravity did she peer out the door to see what had happened.

A man in what looked like a 1940s greatcoat was standing in front of the TARDIS, staring at the Doctor. The Doctor was staring back.

"Aren't you going to say hello?" the man said after a moment.

"Ah. Yes. Captain."

"Doctor. Good to see you."

"And you, same as ever." The Doctor paused, peering at the mysterious Captain, but whatever he was going to say next was forestalled by the arrival of another stranger. This one was significantly younger, dressed in a sharp-looking three-piece suit, but the expression on his face when he looked at the TARDIS - or the Doctor himself - was tight and closed off. "And who's this, then?"

"Ianto Jones, sir. We've met."

"Really?" asked the Captain.

"Really?" asked the Doctor, half a beat behind.

"Canary Wharf," Ianto Jones said tersely. "I asked you for help, and you left."

The Captain snorted softly. "Bit of a running theme with you these days, Doc?"

The Doctor was opening his mouth as though to argue, and Martha could foresee a scene on the plaza they were on that even the TARDIS' perception filters couldn't quite contain. She'd already been looking forward to a nice, relaxing day off, too. Frowning, she pushed out of the TARDIS past the Doctor, hands on hips. "Now, stop this, and will someone please tell me what's going on here? Who are you?"

She directed that last to the Captain, and immediate he graced her with a movie-star grin, teeth flashing unnaturally and charm oozing out of every pore, though in a much more attractive way than that sounded. "Cap'n Jack Harkness," he introduced himself, bringing a hand up to chuck her lightly under the chin. "And you are?"

"Martha Jones. No relation."

"Jack," the Doctor said warningly, in a way that made it sound as though either the Doctor had known him for a very long time, or Jack was an unstoppable force powered by inappropriately timed flirtation and - based solely on first impressions - probably quite a lot of sex. Jack seemed unrepentant, just turning that dazzling grin on the Doctor.

"Just saying hello! You never let me have any fun." He turned serious, then. "But Doctor. Canary Wharf. I saw the list of the dead, her name was on it, Rose Tyler."

"Oh! No! She's alive! Parallel universe, safe and sound! And Mickey, and her Mum!"

"Good old Rose," Martha muttered as the two men threw themselves at each other in a gleeful bear hug. Ianto glanced across at her with a sympathetic expression, as though he was well-used to being ignored when something shinier came along.

He sighed quietly. "It looks like they have some catching up to do. Fancy a cuppa, Miss Jones?"

A glance at the two men brought her to the same conclusion. Certainly playing third wheel while two old friends caught up on old times was never a barrel of laughs, and a cuppa did sound good right now. "Why thank you, Mr Jones."

To her surprise he actually held his elbow out for her to crook an arm around and she grinned. A proper gentleman in a three-piece suit, in 21st century Cardiff! Now there was something you didn't see every day, even traveling with the Doctor.

As they walked off, she heard the Doctor ask something and Jack reply in that carrying American voice, "She'll be fine, Doc. Ianto'll look after her."

Well, at least they'd noticed them leaving.

*

Martha, Ianto reflected, seemed quite a lot more tolerable than the Doctor. She was gregarious and happy to talk, complimenting him quite genuinely on his coffee ("I swear, he can travel through time and space in a phone box, meet any threat with a grin, but a decent cup of coffee? Not a chance!") as he opened up the passageway to take them down into the Hub. Personally Ianto thought that the brew from the smaller coffee machine in the Tourist Centre office lacked a little something, but it still did the trick alright.

"This is..." Martha trailed off, stepping past the open cog door to stare around the Hub. "What is this place?"

"Torchwood Three," Ianto declared proudly; for once, it actually did almost look impressive, with everyone's work areas relatively tidy and the pterodactyl swooping overhead. Martha ducked with a small shriek and Ianto gestured to the creature. "That's Myfanwy."

"Oh, is that what it is!" She looked faintly embarrassed at her reaction, straightening up and looking around again. "But the Doctor didn't mention this. Does he know it's here?"

Ianto, honestly, didn't have a clue, but he was spared saying so with the arrival of Owen from the autopsy bay; he'd evidently heard Martha's shriek and had come to investigate. "Oi, Teaboy, who's this? And where did Jack run off to?"

"Owen, allow me to introduce Miss Martha Jones. Martha, this is Owen Harper, our doctor." He turned back to Owen. "Jack's up on the Plass. Gwen, can you bring up the CCTV? Right by the lift, please?"

The small group made their way over to Gwen's station where she was doing as requested; a moment later they could see the tall blue box, Jack leaning against a side of it talking seriously with the Doctor. "Bloody hell," Owen swore, leaning in as though he'd get a better picture that way. "That's the Doctor, isn't it? I'm right, aren't I, that's the Doctor!"

At his exclamation Toshiko got up, too, coming over to see what the fuss was about, and then they were all standing watching the monitors. "But that's not the Doctor. I've met the Doctor." Toshiko frowned.

"He can change his appearance. The files are required reading at London. Were, rather." Ianto nodded to Martha. "We were just looking into something when you arrived. There's a rift in space and time that runs through Cardiff, and we're here to monitor it and defend the city from whatever falls through."

"Speaking of;" Owen had grown bored of the view on the monitors and stepped back. "We've had a fatality. Don't 'spose you want to go pick up the body for me."

Ianto rolled his eyes briefly and shook his head. "My new license isn't here yet. Do you know how suspicious it looks to be pulled over with a corpse in the back and a license that was cancelled due to the death of the holder? Sorry, Owen, you're on your own on this one."

He sloughed off with a disgusted noise and Tosh followed shortly after to return to her station; Ianto led Martha to the couch to wait. Jack would return eventually, likely bringing the Doctor with him.

"You're... dead?" she asked, one sculpted eyebrow raising as though she were half joking, half serious.

He'd been hoping she wouldn't comment on that. "Not anymore. It's a long story."

There was a pause, evidently while she tried to decide whether to pry further, then she nodded. "So tell me about this something you're looking into, then."

*

Later, Ianto left Martha helping Owen with the autopsy, heading instead to Jack's office where the Captain had sequestered himself with the Doctor. He held a tray - two cups of coffee, one tea, along with a plate of biscuits - and he was determined to figure out what the hell was going on around here.

To that end he didn't wait for an answer to his knock, just pushing the door open enough to slip inside.

"Is that tea?" the Doctor asked, perking up visibly.

"Milk, two sugars," Ianto confirmed, holding out the cup for him to take. Oddly enough, with everything they didn't know about the Doctor, his tea preference was listed in the files quite clearly. "Jack?"

"Ta, Ianto. How's it going out there?" He gestured for Ianto to sit, so he settled the tray on the side of Jack's desk, taking the guest chair - the Doctor was sprawled happily on the sofa, red converse sneakers up on the arm rest.

He took a sip of coffee before answering. "Reports are still coming in. They seem mostly benign, but we have one fatality, a man fell through a third storey running from the apparition of his dead brother. Owen and Miss Jones are doing the autopsy to see if he was under the influence of anything unusual or just scared." He paused, then added the piece he'd heard from Gwen. "Police are also trying to decide if the appearance of a ghost provides proof of death. Seems they were unable to charge a woman for the murder of her husband because they couldn't find his body."

Jack laughed at that, making Ianto smile into his coffee, pleased.

The Doctor didn't look nearly so lighthearted. "But you're wrong. All of this, both of you. Because I can hardly even look at you, Jack. You're a fixed point in time, and that should never happen. As for you," he added, nodding at Ianto, "I don't even know what you are. You're something completely new."

"I'm human," Ianto replied tightly. It was hard to bite his tongue, to keep from saying something dour and sarcastic about this man just waltzing in and bluntly decreeing Jack to be wrong, both of them. Not with everything Jack did here, his work, stretching back through the entire previous century - because Ianto had checked, going through the Archives when he probably should have been sleeping, and even though most of Jack's personal files had been locked right down, there were always scraps. Pieces that went missing. And if someone was very determined, they could find those long lost clues. Jack was constant and reassuring, defending Cardiff from the shadows, and what was more he stayed, afterwards, instead of disappearing off into nowhere and leaving everyone to suffer through the aftermath alone.

"Welllll," the Doctor said, stretching the sound out to express the arguability of the point, and Ianto held back his frown. "What did you do, Jack?"

Jack looked across at Ianto over the top of his coffee mug, seeking permission, and Ianto shrugged one shoulder slightly. Maybe after he'd indulged his curiosity and finished barging in on their lives he'd get bored and leave.

"Ianto died." Jack shifted a pen on his desk, moving it parallel with the edge of the wood. "We had a glove that could bring people back - not for long, just thirty seconds, a minute, maybe two. We went into a custom lockdown triggered by a piece of cyber-technology salvaged from London and we had to wake Ianto up for the code to shut it down. Only... he stayed back. The glove formed a link between us. As long as the glove remains intact, he won't die."

The Doctor paused, then swung his feet to the ground, leaning forward to study them both intently. "Really? Big silver hand-thing?" He wriggled his fingers in an approximation of how they'd move with the glove around them. "Interesting... any side effects? Eyes going black, sepulchral voices emanating from the darkness, speaking in tongues?"

"Only after drinking Owen's coffee," Ianto deadpanned. Jack grinned. The Doctor didn't.

"Where's the glove?"

"Locked away. Both Jack and I are required to open the safe." He only realised he'd called Jack that out loud when the Captain turned to look at him, expression unreadable. "It's not a curiosity."

"No, I suppose it wouldn't be, when it's the only thing keeping you alive." The Doctor leapt to his feet and started pacing, muttering to himself unintelligibly; the occasional word that Ianto heard he mostly didn't understand, though Toshiko might have stood a slightly higher chance. Then quite suddenly he stopped, turning back to them with a wide grin. "Well then! Why don't we go and look at your guest in the autopsy bay!"

This suggestion, Ianto suspected, did not merit nearly the level of excitement in the Timelord's voice.

*

Ianto held him back for a moment as the Doctor merrily made his way downstairs, acting as though he'd been here forever. He'd always been good at that, though. "He's wrong about you," Ianto told him, voice low and determined.

And Jack, who knew a lot more than Ianto about the Time Vortex, who had heard the Doctor's explanation of what Rose had done and understood enough about technology and organic systems to get why he'd reacted that way - even if it hurt, even if he hated it, even if it quite bizarrely made him want to apologise for what he was - was grateful for the effort. "I'm not sure he is, actually."

"Well, it doesn't make him right."

Thus declared, Ianto walked on ahead of him, returning to work, and Jack watched him go for a moment before hurrying after the Doctor.