Fic: Do You Remember?
Oct. 14th, 2024 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Do You Remember?
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: For some of my fics.
Summary: Back on earth for a final visit, Jack and Ianto reminisce about Torchwood and some of the adventures they shared with the team.
Word Count: 1172
Written For: Prompt 204 – Reminiscence at
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fandomweekly.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
A/N: Set in my Ghost of a Chance ‘Verse.
Even though they had a very fulfilling life out among the stars, hauling cargo and passengers wherever they needed to go, Ianto and Jack hadn’t forgotten about earth. They’d made regular trips back ‘home’ for the first few centuries, then occasional visits for the next few millennia, because Ianto had been born there, and it only seemed right to explore as much of his homeworld as possible while he still could.
For a long time, earth had been their favourite vacation destination and they’d done the whole sightseeing bit. By now they’d visited every continent, and most countries, multiple times, collecting souvenirs, taking photos, videos, holograms, and fully immersive sensoria as new technologies were developed. All that was coming to an end now, however; this would be their last trip, or at least the last one to an inhabited earth. Soon the remaining population, along with as many of earth’s other surviving species as possible, would be evacuated.
Aside from themselves, nothing lasted forever, not even suns and solar systems, and not too far into the future, humanity’s birthplace would reach a point where it would no longer be able to support life. Ianto didn’t want his last memories of earth to be of a dead, empty world, so here they were for one last look around at where it had all begun.
They took their time, visiting all of their favourite places again, but inevitably, the final stop on their itinerary was Cardiff. It bore little resemblance to the city where Ianto had lived and worked when he was young and still mortal. Over many thousands of years, it had grown and evolved, spreading out along the coast in both directions, and inland right to the edge of what had once been the Brecon Beacons. The outlying towns and villages had been absorbed into the new metropolis, and yet, there was still something about the place that spoke of home.
“Do you remember…?” Jack started as he and Ianto stood where the Millennium Centre had once been, before it was dismantled and shipped to the planet of New Caerdydd back in 3117.
Ianto cut him off before he could finish the question. “Yes, Jack; I remember the Hub, the team, Myfanwy, that clunky old Range Rover we drove, the invisible lift, the tourist office, the water tower, the Weevils, the Plas and the bay.”
“The SUV wasn’t clunky; she was state-of-the-art!” Jack glared at his lover as he defended Torchwood’s official vehicle. After all, he’d been the one to select it and get it modified to his specifications.
“By early twenty-first century standards, maybe, but compared to modern vehicles, she was a brick on wheels. A very shiny black brick packed with the very best alien tech we could get our hands on, but still a brick.”
Jack pouted. “I loved that car!”
“Really? I’d hate to know how you’d treat a vehicle you hated. You crashed it multiple times, broke the axle driving over a pothole, scratched it, rolled it, dented it, got it covered is so much mud, blood, and alien gunk that I spent half my time trying to get it clean again, and you stuck an antenna to the wing mirror using duct tape! If that’s how you show love, it’s a good thing I’m immortal now, or I’d be dead.”
“You did die,” Jack said quietly. “It all but broke me. I couldn’t rest until I found a way to bring you back. It took me years.”
“Right, sorry; I shouldn’t have reminded you.”
“I hadn’t forgotten. I’m reminded every time something happens, and you die again. There are some things that can never be forgotten. Even knowing you’ll come back to me doesn’t make it any easier.”
“I know that feeling.” Ianto squeezed his husband’s hand; he felt terrible. “Didn’t mean to kill the mood.”
“You didn’t. Being back on earth always brings a lot of old memories to the surface.”
“It does,” Ianto agreed. “Especially being back here.”
“Not all of them are bad though.” Jack smiled suddenly. “Do you remember the time we got shrunk to five-inches tall and had to ride Owen’s escaped lab rat back to the Hub?”
Ianto laughed. “Oh yes, Murray the rat! Haven’t thought about him in ages. That was quite an adventure, stealing chips and a bit of fish from that couple snogging on the bus stop bench, you heroically battling that cat… and we never did tell the rest of the team what happened that night, not even when we had to use the device to shrink that stray Roc. What about the time you got turned into a rabbit? I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I wouldn’t let you have any pizza and made you eat a carrot instead. You were not pleased.”
“Neither were you when you got turned into a cat. And a chipmunk. And a fluffy pink duck.”
“You can talk! What about when you ate one of Owen’s experiments and turned into a plant? Or when you were a starfish for the best part of a day?”
Jack frowned. “I don’t really remember much about that one, except that I had a serious craving for shellfish for a few days.”
“Those were good times, weren’t they? Back when the team was all together.” Ianto smiled, a faraway look in his eyes.
“Yes they were. We had our share of disasters, probably more than our share, and we had to deal with far too much loss, but we had a lot of fun too. Never knew what the Rift would bring us next.”
“It was an adventure. All that weird and wacky alien technology. Spending days clucking like chickens every time we tried to speak.”
Jack grinned. “Another thing we never explained to the others.”
Ianto glanced sidelong at his husband. “They didn’t need to know. Owen would only have made fun of us.”
“Drove them crazy though!” Jack chuckled. “Remember those labels we got on our foreheads?”
“Oh yes! Gwen refused to go home until hers faded, she rubbed so much she made her face sore, but Owen embraced his, wore it with pride,” Ianto said with a grin.
“Theirs weren’t exactly complimentary.”
“True, not that Owen cared. Mine was a bit over-the-top though.”
“But undeniably accurate.”
“You’re biased.” Ianto smiled fondly at the man he’d married so many times, and on so many worlds, he’d lost count.
“Guilty as charged.” Jack wrapped his arm around his husband, pulling Ianto close. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Twpsyn.” Ianto sighed, a wistful note creeping into his voice. “Hard to believe all this will be gone soon.”
“I know, but we’ll still have our memories, and all our souvenirs. Who else can remember as much as we do? Hey, did I ever tell you about the day I lost Lizzie’s corgis?”
Ianto thought for a long moment then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Ah, well.” Jack winked. “Maybe that’s a story for another time.”
The End
For a long time, earth had been their favourite vacation destination and they’d done the whole sightseeing bit. By now they’d visited every continent, and most countries, multiple times, collecting souvenirs, taking photos, videos, holograms, and fully immersive sensoria as new technologies were developed. All that was coming to an end now, however; this would be their last trip, or at least the last one to an inhabited earth. Soon the remaining population, along with as many of earth’s other surviving species as possible, would be evacuated.
Aside from themselves, nothing lasted forever, not even suns and solar systems, and not too far into the future, humanity’s birthplace would reach a point where it would no longer be able to support life. Ianto didn’t want his last memories of earth to be of a dead, empty world, so here they were for one last look around at where it had all begun.
They took their time, visiting all of their favourite places again, but inevitably, the final stop on their itinerary was Cardiff. It bore little resemblance to the city where Ianto had lived and worked when he was young and still mortal. Over many thousands of years, it had grown and evolved, spreading out along the coast in both directions, and inland right to the edge of what had once been the Brecon Beacons. The outlying towns and villages had been absorbed into the new metropolis, and yet, there was still something about the place that spoke of home.
“Do you remember…?” Jack started as he and Ianto stood where the Millennium Centre had once been, before it was dismantled and shipped to the planet of New Caerdydd back in 3117.
Ianto cut him off before he could finish the question. “Yes, Jack; I remember the Hub, the team, Myfanwy, that clunky old Range Rover we drove, the invisible lift, the tourist office, the water tower, the Weevils, the Plas and the bay.”
“The SUV wasn’t clunky; she was state-of-the-art!” Jack glared at his lover as he defended Torchwood’s official vehicle. After all, he’d been the one to select it and get it modified to his specifications.
“By early twenty-first century standards, maybe, but compared to modern vehicles, she was a brick on wheels. A very shiny black brick packed with the very best alien tech we could get our hands on, but still a brick.”
Jack pouted. “I loved that car!”
“Really? I’d hate to know how you’d treat a vehicle you hated. You crashed it multiple times, broke the axle driving over a pothole, scratched it, rolled it, dented it, got it covered is so much mud, blood, and alien gunk that I spent half my time trying to get it clean again, and you stuck an antenna to the wing mirror using duct tape! If that’s how you show love, it’s a good thing I’m immortal now, or I’d be dead.”
“You did die,” Jack said quietly. “It all but broke me. I couldn’t rest until I found a way to bring you back. It took me years.”
“Right, sorry; I shouldn’t have reminded you.”
“I hadn’t forgotten. I’m reminded every time something happens, and you die again. There are some things that can never be forgotten. Even knowing you’ll come back to me doesn’t make it any easier.”
“I know that feeling.” Ianto squeezed his husband’s hand; he felt terrible. “Didn’t mean to kill the mood.”
“You didn’t. Being back on earth always brings a lot of old memories to the surface.”
“It does,” Ianto agreed. “Especially being back here.”
“Not all of them are bad though.” Jack smiled suddenly. “Do you remember the time we got shrunk to five-inches tall and had to ride Owen’s escaped lab rat back to the Hub?”
Ianto laughed. “Oh yes, Murray the rat! Haven’t thought about him in ages. That was quite an adventure, stealing chips and a bit of fish from that couple snogging on the bus stop bench, you heroically battling that cat… and we never did tell the rest of the team what happened that night, not even when we had to use the device to shrink that stray Roc. What about the time you got turned into a rabbit? I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I wouldn’t let you have any pizza and made you eat a carrot instead. You were not pleased.”
“Neither were you when you got turned into a cat. And a chipmunk. And a fluffy pink duck.”
“You can talk! What about when you ate one of Owen’s experiments and turned into a plant? Or when you were a starfish for the best part of a day?”
Jack frowned. “I don’t really remember much about that one, except that I had a serious craving for shellfish for a few days.”
“Those were good times, weren’t they? Back when the team was all together.” Ianto smiled, a faraway look in his eyes.
“Yes they were. We had our share of disasters, probably more than our share, and we had to deal with far too much loss, but we had a lot of fun too. Never knew what the Rift would bring us next.”
“It was an adventure. All that weird and wacky alien technology. Spending days clucking like chickens every time we tried to speak.”
Jack grinned. “Another thing we never explained to the others.”
Ianto glanced sidelong at his husband. “They didn’t need to know. Owen would only have made fun of us.”
“Drove them crazy though!” Jack chuckled. “Remember those labels we got on our foreheads?”
“Oh yes! Gwen refused to go home until hers faded, she rubbed so much she made her face sore, but Owen embraced his, wore it with pride,” Ianto said with a grin.
“Theirs weren’t exactly complimentary.”
“True, not that Owen cared. Mine was a bit over-the-top though.”
“But undeniably accurate.”
“You’re biased.” Ianto smiled fondly at the man he’d married so many times, and on so many worlds, he’d lost count.
“Guilty as charged.” Jack wrapped his arm around his husband, pulling Ianto close. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Twpsyn.” Ianto sighed, a wistful note creeping into his voice. “Hard to believe all this will be gone soon.”
“I know, but we’ll still have our memories, and all our souvenirs. Who else can remember as much as we do? Hey, did I ever tell you about the day I lost Lizzie’s corgis?”
Ianto thought for a long moment then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Ah, well.” Jack winked. “Maybe that’s a story for another time.”
The End
