When Everything Changed - Chapter 16/20
Oct. 16th, 2010 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tonjavmooreTitle: When Everything Changed – A Torchwood/Dr. Who/Sarah Jane Adventures Crossover
Author:tonjavmoore
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Eleven and Amy Pond, and a lot of people from the Whoniverse at large
Rating: PG
Word Count: Total: 32,741; Chapter 16: 1,538
Spoilers: This assumes that you are familiar the five days of Children of Earth. Otherwise, you’ll be a bit lost. This is a timey-wimey fixit that takes up action partway through Day 3.
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Dr. Who, and Sarah Jane Adventures all belong to the BBC and RTD. Sadly.
Betas: Thanks to midlist_writer and welsh_scotsman on Live Journal. Also, to my friend Alexandria Cameron who put up with my squeals and tantrums when it just wouldn’t get out through my fingers the way I wanted it to.
Dedication: This is for my good friend and the best roommate anyone could have ever the pleasure of having, Susan Garrett. She was taken from us by cancer and the world is not as bright as it was before she left.
Summary: When the Shadow Architects find a paradox that is destroying the Universe, can the Eleventh Doctor find a way to restore Jack’s timeline to what it should have been?
I have disabled comments on Live Journal. Please comment at my Dreamwidth account. I love comments. They are cookies for my soul. You don’t have to have an account to comment there.
Story starts here:
Chapter 1
Chapter 16
Ianto set the borrowed phone down with a decided thump. Rhi and Johnny and the kids were safe. The rest of the story he’d have to process through tomorrow. It was too incredible to think about now.
Jack came out of their en suite with a comb in his hand and a scowl on his face. “I look like a scarecrow,” he said, gesturing at his hair. “It’s flopping around all over the place.”
With a small smile, Ianto plucked the comb from Jack’s fingers and pushed him gently into a chair. “We’re staying in Buckingham Palace as guests of the Queen in the aftermath of most public invasion Torchwood has ever faced and you’re worried about your hair?”
“We still have things to do before we go to sleep, and my hair is as tired as the rest of me.” He looked up at Ianto and gave him a half-hearted grin. “Two more things and we can crawl into bed and pretend it’s a week ago.”
“We don’t have the equipment.”
“Oh, yeah. A week and a day ago then.”
They both chuckled and it felt wonderful. Ianto tugged Jack up and faced him toward the mirror. “Better?”
“Yes, you’re a genius.”
He turned and Ianto saw the spark of hope in Jack’s eyes, where there had been nothing but defeat for so many days. He wrapped his arms around his lover and held him fervently, rejoicing that they were alive, safe, and together. When so many had lost so much, Ianto know that he was being selfish, but he didn’t care.
Jack returned the embrace just as fiercely. ”It’s all right,” Jack whispered. “We can do this, mihn tesaoro. Together.”
“Together, cariad,” Ianto agreed. A moment later, he straightened with a sigh. “In addition to everything else, we have some serious explaining to do. Rhi just told me the same thing that Alice told you. All about a mysterious man, a redhead and a disappearing boxcar. I’m not explaining that on my own.”
“I’ll help you with Rhi if you’ll help me with Alice.”
“Done. I’ll add that to my to-do list then.”
“Is everything really fixed now?” Amy asked the Doctor.
“It’s as fixed as it will get. We’re back on track for the future as I know it, mostly. The Universe is not in danger of collapse.” He considered for a moment. “Well, not from Jack’s paradox, at least. The Universe always seems to find new ways of getting itself into trouble.”
“But, I still remember it the way it was. I remember that no children were taken. I remember the tempest in a teapot in the government. If it never happened, then why?”
“That’s the TARDIS, you see.” The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and began wandering around the control room. “We’re here, so our memories weren’t affected. No one else will remember that other future.”
“Not even Jack?”
“Especially not Jack. It didn’t happen at all as far as he knows. When we came here, we reset his timeline by pushing him down a path that would lead to this, instead of letting him follow his previous actions.”
Amy considered, and then brought up the question that had been niggling at her for a while. She was still very uncertain about the effects of going back and forth in time. “Doctor…” she began, trying to keep a tremor out of her voice, “if the things I remember from before aren’t what they are now, then… will my present change?”
The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at her. “Yes. Yes, it has changed. It won’t be what you remembered.”
Amy’s mind flew back to the wedding dress hanging on her wardrobe door. Was it still there? Was she still engaged to Rory? “So, it’s different? All over Britain? All over the world?”
“Yes.” The Doctor approached and put his hands on her shoulders. “What happened to you this past year before you came on the TARDIS is not what happened in this reality. Are you scared, Amelia Pond?”
She took a few calming breaths before she trusted herself to answer. “A wee bit,” she said quietly.
“Do you need to go and see?”
“Yes. No. Not yet.” Amy chastised herself. Ambiguous enough, idiot? She decided not to think about it and go on the attack. “You have something to do here first, you know. And we’re going nowhere until you do it.”
It was the Doctor’s turn to be evasive. “About that… it’s really not necessary…”
He tried to wander off again, but Amy grabbed his arm. “Yes, it is!” she hissed. “You can’t keep avoiding him. Doctor, you’ve screwed him over royally and it’s time to fix that! Just like you fixed his timeline. You owe him that. And you know it.” She put her hands on his shoulders in a deliberate imitation. “Are you scared, Doctor?”
A beat later he said, “Yes. And no. Not really, but…” He sighed. “Yes.”
Once again Amy thought that a nervous Doctor was an amusing Doctor in a strange sort of way. “Well, suck it up,” she said. “You’re not getting out of it.”
Gwen was lounging on the bed with Rhys. The room they had been shown to wasn’t as big as the state bedrooms shown on official tours, but it was bigger than most hotel rooms that Gwen had stayed in. The bed had her unqualified approval. Compared to a potato truck, a lumpy couch, and a prison bunk, it was the most luxurious that she had ever slept in.
Their night attire was an eclectic mix. She was happy to have it and did not worry about how she looked in a camouflaged-patterned t-shirt with pants from someone an inch or two taller. At least it wasn’t the jumpsuit. Actually, she would have been just as happy to have on nothing at all, but they were waiting for Jack and Ianto to show up for a private conference.
Jack, of course, had insisted that one of the doctors in the Palace clinic check her over completely. Her pregnancy was only just advanced enough for them to confirm it; she sighed for the lost tech in the Hub. As far as they could tell, everything was fine. She felt all right. Just tired.
When the knock sounded, she jumped off the bed and trotted briskly to the door, in spite of Rhys’ growled, “Will you slow down? You’re going to pop our little one right out if you keep bouncing like that.”
Gwen ignored him and opened the door. When Jack and Ianto were inside she hugged them again, both separately and together. She couldn’t get enough of making sure they were there and real. Finally, she sat on the bed. “So what’s going on?”
There was a desk with a chair and Jack settled himself into it. Ianto propped himself on the desk. Gwen couldn’t remember having seen them dressed so casually, in denims and shirts. “You two look good,” she blurted.
“Oh, yeah,” Ianto said, with a hint of his usual snark. “Dark circles and tension lines are a great cosmetic.”
She sighed. “I meant your clothes.”
Jack surprised her by chuckling. “We’re hoping that stuff was left in Ianto’s flat so we can get back to our own clothes. Without my braces, I think my pants will fall down. And while I’m sure everyone would enjoy the show, it’s not very dignified.”
Ianto growled. “If they stole my Armani, there’ll be hell to pay. That was my birthday present.”
“I’ll get you another one,” Jack said.
Ianto gave him an eye roll. “Not the same.”
Gwen suppressed a giggle. They both sounded so normal and she told them so. Such a relief after the turmoil and pain of the last few days. She was surprised to realize it was less than a week. She felt years older. “So why did you need to see me tonight?” she asked, trying to get things back on track. She was tired and surely they were, too.
“Torchwood business,” Jack sighed. “I need you to think something over. Rhys, you’ll be a part of this, too.”
“I should hope so,” Rhys replied, sitting up. “If it involves Gwen, it involves me.”
“Well, not just that,” Jack said. “You’re Torchwood now, or as good as.” He smiled wearily. “I’ll see about getting you on the payroll.”
“As long as you stay out of danger,” Gwen said firmly.
“That’s part of what I want to talk to you about.” Jack’s face was solemn now. Gwen saw the same expression on Ianto’s face as well. “You’re pregnant, Gwen. That means you can’t be active in Torchwood now.”
“What?” Gwen couldn’t believe her ears. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m still Torchwood, Jack, pregnant or not.”
“You are. But not active. I won’t risk it, even if you will. That’s an order from your Captain.”
“Jack, I’ll go crazy if I can’t do anything for months! You can’t expect me to just sit here and be some sort of brood mare!”
“That’s the other part of what I want to talk to you about. I have a plan which I hope will interest you…”
Author:
tonjavmoore Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Eleven and Amy Pond, and a lot of people from the Whoniverse at large
Rating: PG
Word Count: Total: 32,741; Chapter 16: 1,538
Spoilers: This assumes that you are familiar the five days of Children of Earth. Otherwise, you’ll be a bit lost. This is a timey-wimey fixit that takes up action partway through Day 3.
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Dr. Who, and Sarah Jane Adventures all belong to the BBC and RTD. Sadly.
Betas: Thanks to midlist_writer and welsh_scotsman on Live Journal. Also, to my friend Alexandria Cameron who put up with my squeals and tantrums when it just wouldn’t get out through my fingers the way I wanted it to.
Dedication: This is for my good friend and the best roommate anyone could have ever the pleasure of having, Susan Garrett. She was taken from us by cancer and the world is not as bright as it was before she left.
Summary: When the Shadow Architects find a paradox that is destroying the Universe, can the Eleventh Doctor find a way to restore Jack’s timeline to what it should have been?
I have disabled comments on Live Journal. Please comment at my Dreamwidth account. I love comments. They are cookies for my soul. You don’t have to have an account to comment there.
Story starts here:
Chapter 1
Chapter 16
Ianto set the borrowed phone down with a decided thump. Rhi and Johnny and the kids were safe. The rest of the story he’d have to process through tomorrow. It was too incredible to think about now.
Jack came out of their en suite with a comb in his hand and a scowl on his face. “I look like a scarecrow,” he said, gesturing at his hair. “It’s flopping around all over the place.”
With a small smile, Ianto plucked the comb from Jack’s fingers and pushed him gently into a chair. “We’re staying in Buckingham Palace as guests of the Queen in the aftermath of most public invasion Torchwood has ever faced and you’re worried about your hair?”
“We still have things to do before we go to sleep, and my hair is as tired as the rest of me.” He looked up at Ianto and gave him a half-hearted grin. “Two more things and we can crawl into bed and pretend it’s a week ago.”
“We don’t have the equipment.”
“Oh, yeah. A week and a day ago then.”
They both chuckled and it felt wonderful. Ianto tugged Jack up and faced him toward the mirror. “Better?”
“Yes, you’re a genius.”
He turned and Ianto saw the spark of hope in Jack’s eyes, where there had been nothing but defeat for so many days. He wrapped his arms around his lover and held him fervently, rejoicing that they were alive, safe, and together. When so many had lost so much, Ianto know that he was being selfish, but he didn’t care.
Jack returned the embrace just as fiercely. ”It’s all right,” Jack whispered. “We can do this, mihn tesaoro. Together.”
“Together, cariad,” Ianto agreed. A moment later, he straightened with a sigh. “In addition to everything else, we have some serious explaining to do. Rhi just told me the same thing that Alice told you. All about a mysterious man, a redhead and a disappearing boxcar. I’m not explaining that on my own.”
“I’ll help you with Rhi if you’ll help me with Alice.”
“Done. I’ll add that to my to-do list then.”
“Is everything really fixed now?” Amy asked the Doctor.
“It’s as fixed as it will get. We’re back on track for the future as I know it, mostly. The Universe is not in danger of collapse.” He considered for a moment. “Well, not from Jack’s paradox, at least. The Universe always seems to find new ways of getting itself into trouble.”
“But, I still remember it the way it was. I remember that no children were taken. I remember the tempest in a teapot in the government. If it never happened, then why?”
“That’s the TARDIS, you see.” The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and began wandering around the control room. “We’re here, so our memories weren’t affected. No one else will remember that other future.”
“Not even Jack?”
“Especially not Jack. It didn’t happen at all as far as he knows. When we came here, we reset his timeline by pushing him down a path that would lead to this, instead of letting him follow his previous actions.”
Amy considered, and then brought up the question that had been niggling at her for a while. She was still very uncertain about the effects of going back and forth in time. “Doctor…” she began, trying to keep a tremor out of her voice, “if the things I remember from before aren’t what they are now, then… will my present change?”
The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at her. “Yes. Yes, it has changed. It won’t be what you remembered.”
Amy’s mind flew back to the wedding dress hanging on her wardrobe door. Was it still there? Was she still engaged to Rory? “So, it’s different? All over Britain? All over the world?”
“Yes.” The Doctor approached and put his hands on her shoulders. “What happened to you this past year before you came on the TARDIS is not what happened in this reality. Are you scared, Amelia Pond?”
She took a few calming breaths before she trusted herself to answer. “A wee bit,” she said quietly.
“Do you need to go and see?”
“Yes. No. Not yet.” Amy chastised herself. Ambiguous enough, idiot? She decided not to think about it and go on the attack. “You have something to do here first, you know. And we’re going nowhere until you do it.”
It was the Doctor’s turn to be evasive. “About that… it’s really not necessary…”
He tried to wander off again, but Amy grabbed his arm. “Yes, it is!” she hissed. “You can’t keep avoiding him. Doctor, you’ve screwed him over royally and it’s time to fix that! Just like you fixed his timeline. You owe him that. And you know it.” She put her hands on his shoulders in a deliberate imitation. “Are you scared, Doctor?”
A beat later he said, “Yes. And no. Not really, but…” He sighed. “Yes.”
Once again Amy thought that a nervous Doctor was an amusing Doctor in a strange sort of way. “Well, suck it up,” she said. “You’re not getting out of it.”
Gwen was lounging on the bed with Rhys. The room they had been shown to wasn’t as big as the state bedrooms shown on official tours, but it was bigger than most hotel rooms that Gwen had stayed in. The bed had her unqualified approval. Compared to a potato truck, a lumpy couch, and a prison bunk, it was the most luxurious that she had ever slept in.
Their night attire was an eclectic mix. She was happy to have it and did not worry about how she looked in a camouflaged-patterned t-shirt with pants from someone an inch or two taller. At least it wasn’t the jumpsuit. Actually, she would have been just as happy to have on nothing at all, but they were waiting for Jack and Ianto to show up for a private conference.
Jack, of course, had insisted that one of the doctors in the Palace clinic check her over completely. Her pregnancy was only just advanced enough for them to confirm it; she sighed for the lost tech in the Hub. As far as they could tell, everything was fine. She felt all right. Just tired.
When the knock sounded, she jumped off the bed and trotted briskly to the door, in spite of Rhys’ growled, “Will you slow down? You’re going to pop our little one right out if you keep bouncing like that.”
Gwen ignored him and opened the door. When Jack and Ianto were inside she hugged them again, both separately and together. She couldn’t get enough of making sure they were there and real. Finally, she sat on the bed. “So what’s going on?”
There was a desk with a chair and Jack settled himself into it. Ianto propped himself on the desk. Gwen couldn’t remember having seen them dressed so casually, in denims and shirts. “You two look good,” she blurted.
“Oh, yeah,” Ianto said, with a hint of his usual snark. “Dark circles and tension lines are a great cosmetic.”
She sighed. “I meant your clothes.”
Jack surprised her by chuckling. “We’re hoping that stuff was left in Ianto’s flat so we can get back to our own clothes. Without my braces, I think my pants will fall down. And while I’m sure everyone would enjoy the show, it’s not very dignified.”
Ianto growled. “If they stole my Armani, there’ll be hell to pay. That was my birthday present.”
“I’ll get you another one,” Jack said.
Ianto gave him an eye roll. “Not the same.”
Gwen suppressed a giggle. They both sounded so normal and she told them so. Such a relief after the turmoil and pain of the last few days. She was surprised to realize it was less than a week. She felt years older. “So why did you need to see me tonight?” she asked, trying to get things back on track. She was tired and surely they were, too.
“Torchwood business,” Jack sighed. “I need you to think something over. Rhys, you’ll be a part of this, too.”
“I should hope so,” Rhys replied, sitting up. “If it involves Gwen, it involves me.”
“Well, not just that,” Jack said. “You’re Torchwood now, or as good as.” He smiled wearily. “I’ll see about getting you on the payroll.”
“As long as you stay out of danger,” Gwen said firmly.
“That’s part of what I want to talk to you about.” Jack’s face was solemn now. Gwen saw the same expression on Ianto’s face as well. “You’re pregnant, Gwen. That means you can’t be active in Torchwood now.”
“What?” Gwen couldn’t believe her ears. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m still Torchwood, Jack, pregnant or not.”
“You are. But not active. I won’t risk it, even if you will. That’s an order from your Captain.”
“Jack, I’ll go crazy if I can’t do anything for months! You can’t expect me to just sit here and be some sort of brood mare!”
“That’s the other part of what I want to talk to you about. I have a plan which I hope will interest you…”