Fic: Persistence
Mar. 5th, 2026 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Persistence
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1013
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Persistence has paid off. Ianto has finally completed his longest-running task.
Written For: Weekend Challenge: Don't Quote Me On This at
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1_million_words.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
It hadn’t been a labour of love, that was for sure. Mostly, it had been a labour of grim determination and an unwillingness to be beaten, which spoke of a certain stubbornness on Ianto’s part. Then again, when he’d originally begun the task, he hadn’t expected to be staying with Torchwood Three for long. He’d thought that within a few months, a year at most, Lisa would be healed as fully as was possible, and then the two of them would disappear, away from the Hub, away from Cardiff, perhaps out of the United Kingdom altogether.
Obviously, that hadn’t happened, Lisa was long dead, and Ianto had moved on to Jack, first as friends with benefits, then to dating, living together, getting married… It was strange how things had worked out, but Ianto had far fewer regrets than he would have expected. He loved Jack, and what they had now, together, was something he never could have imagined when he was in the throes of his first serious relationship. As much as he’d loved Lisa, chances were, if she had lived, even if the Cybermen had never strapped her to one of their conversion units, they might not have lasted. He was mature enough now to realise that.
His and Jack’s relationship hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing, what with the various betrayals, Jack running off with the Doctor for several months, the whole mess with John Hart and Jack’s brother, along with all the devastation and heartbreak that had caused, and then the insanity surrounding the return of the 456. Jack had been blown to pieces, the Hub had been all but destroyed, Ianto had died, then most unexpectedly come back to life…
When the dust had finally settled from all that, the upper parts of the Hub had needed rebuilding before anyone could even begin to think about whether anything of the lower levels was salvageable, and… Well, it had been a mess down there, but to be honest, most of that hadn’t had anything to do with the bomb exploding inside Jack. It might have caused a few shelves to collapse, a few things to tumble from where they’d been left, but it had been such chaos down there anyway that Ianto had considered those things minor damage, hardly worth mentioning.
Anyway, that had been almost eleven years ago. The rebuilding and refitting of the upper levels had taken a little over nine months, the Torchwood Three team had been expanded during that time, and once the additional personnel had settled in, that had allowed everyone to have regular days off, and even, extraordinary though it had seemed to start with, two weeks’ annual leave!
Ianto had been promoted to joint head of Torchwood, because two immortals were obviously better than one, and although he spent more time in the field these days than he had before, he also had fewer duties around the Hub. They had a new General Support Officer, who handled many of Ianto’s former duties, including cleaning, maintenance, caring for the inmates, and running errands, so Ianto had been able to focus more on his secondary duty as Torchwood Three’s Archivist, which meant that now, at long last…
“What do you mean, you’ve finished?” Jack frowned across his desk at Ianto. “Finished what?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. As much as he loved Jack, his husband could be a bit thick at times. “The archives? You remember, all those rooms and passageways crammed with junk, all the filing cabinets full of reports, the impossible mess you set me to sorting out when I first started working for you… How long ago was that now, fourteen, fifteen years? Something like that.”
“Of course I remember the archives! You spend enough time down there.”
“I’ll be spending a lot less time down there now. Oh, I’ll still have to keep on top of the filing and cataloguing, don’t want things getting in a mess again, and there’s still a section that’s nothing but artefacts and technology I haven’t been able to identify yet, but everything else is catalogued, all extant paperwork duplicated, cross-referenced, scanned into the computer databases, and filed, except for the stuff that was too badly damaged to be deciphered.”
Jack’s mouth was hanging open; he closed it with a snap, staring at Ianto in amazement. “Seriously? You finished? You, Ianto Harkness-Jones, are a miracle worker! I didn’t think anyone could sort that mess out!”
“Yes, well, I knew I’d get there in the end. I’m nothing if not persistent.”
“I know. You stalked me to get a job here, as I recall.”
“That was a long time ago, Jack.”
“And you scarcely look a day older.”
“Neither do you.”
“Seriously though. I am in awe.”
Ianto snorted. “If I’d known how long it would take to deal with the chaos and disorder created by over a century of archive mismanagement, which is putting it more politely than it deserves, I doubt I would have had the courage to tackle it in the first place.”
“But you did, valiant soul that you are. You deserve a knighthood or something.”
“Don’t I already have one of those?”
“Lizzie awarded that to all of us for defeating the 456 and saving the children. I should have a word with the King, suggest that he adds you to one of his honours lists this year.”
“I hardy think that’s necessary.”
“You’ve increased Torchwood’s efficiency by a thousand percent; that deserves recognition! Maybe I’ll knight you myself. We’ve got a few swords down on the archives, haven’t we?”
“Thirty-seven of various descriptions, not including the alien blades. You don’t have the authority to knight me though.”
“Well, I should. After all, I work for the crown. So do you.”
“I don’t need a knighthood; I’ll settle for a nice dinner out to celebrate.”
“Done! I’ll book our regular table for tonight. What will you do with all your free time now you don’t have the archives to sort out?”
Ianto shrugged. “I don’t know yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
The End
Obviously, that hadn’t happened, Lisa was long dead, and Ianto had moved on to Jack, first as friends with benefits, then to dating, living together, getting married… It was strange how things had worked out, but Ianto had far fewer regrets than he would have expected. He loved Jack, and what they had now, together, was something he never could have imagined when he was in the throes of his first serious relationship. As much as he’d loved Lisa, chances were, if she had lived, even if the Cybermen had never strapped her to one of their conversion units, they might not have lasted. He was mature enough now to realise that.
His and Jack’s relationship hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing, what with the various betrayals, Jack running off with the Doctor for several months, the whole mess with John Hart and Jack’s brother, along with all the devastation and heartbreak that had caused, and then the insanity surrounding the return of the 456. Jack had been blown to pieces, the Hub had been all but destroyed, Ianto had died, then most unexpectedly come back to life…
When the dust had finally settled from all that, the upper parts of the Hub had needed rebuilding before anyone could even begin to think about whether anything of the lower levels was salvageable, and… Well, it had been a mess down there, but to be honest, most of that hadn’t had anything to do with the bomb exploding inside Jack. It might have caused a few shelves to collapse, a few things to tumble from where they’d been left, but it had been such chaos down there anyway that Ianto had considered those things minor damage, hardly worth mentioning.
Anyway, that had been almost eleven years ago. The rebuilding and refitting of the upper levels had taken a little over nine months, the Torchwood Three team had been expanded during that time, and once the additional personnel had settled in, that had allowed everyone to have regular days off, and even, extraordinary though it had seemed to start with, two weeks’ annual leave!
Ianto had been promoted to joint head of Torchwood, because two immortals were obviously better than one, and although he spent more time in the field these days than he had before, he also had fewer duties around the Hub. They had a new General Support Officer, who handled many of Ianto’s former duties, including cleaning, maintenance, caring for the inmates, and running errands, so Ianto had been able to focus more on his secondary duty as Torchwood Three’s Archivist, which meant that now, at long last…
“What do you mean, you’ve finished?” Jack frowned across his desk at Ianto. “Finished what?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. As much as he loved Jack, his husband could be a bit thick at times. “The archives? You remember, all those rooms and passageways crammed with junk, all the filing cabinets full of reports, the impossible mess you set me to sorting out when I first started working for you… How long ago was that now, fourteen, fifteen years? Something like that.”
“Of course I remember the archives! You spend enough time down there.”
“I’ll be spending a lot less time down there now. Oh, I’ll still have to keep on top of the filing and cataloguing, don’t want things getting in a mess again, and there’s still a section that’s nothing but artefacts and technology I haven’t been able to identify yet, but everything else is catalogued, all extant paperwork duplicated, cross-referenced, scanned into the computer databases, and filed, except for the stuff that was too badly damaged to be deciphered.”
Jack’s mouth was hanging open; he closed it with a snap, staring at Ianto in amazement. “Seriously? You finished? You, Ianto Harkness-Jones, are a miracle worker! I didn’t think anyone could sort that mess out!”
“Yes, well, I knew I’d get there in the end. I’m nothing if not persistent.”
“I know. You stalked me to get a job here, as I recall.”
“That was a long time ago, Jack.”
“And you scarcely look a day older.”
“Neither do you.”
“Seriously though. I am in awe.”
Ianto snorted. “If I’d known how long it would take to deal with the chaos and disorder created by over a century of archive mismanagement, which is putting it more politely than it deserves, I doubt I would have had the courage to tackle it in the first place.”
“But you did, valiant soul that you are. You deserve a knighthood or something.”
“Don’t I already have one of those?”
“Lizzie awarded that to all of us for defeating the 456 and saving the children. I should have a word with the King, suggest that he adds you to one of his honours lists this year.”
“I hardy think that’s necessary.”
“You’ve increased Torchwood’s efficiency by a thousand percent; that deserves recognition! Maybe I’ll knight you myself. We’ve got a few swords down on the archives, haven’t we?”
“Thirty-seven of various descriptions, not including the alien blades. You don’t have the authority to knight me though.”
“Well, I should. After all, I work for the crown. So do you.”
“I don’t need a knighthood; I’ll settle for a nice dinner out to celebrate.”
“Done! I’ll book our regular table for tonight. What will you do with all your free time now you don’t have the archives to sort out?”
Ianto shrugged. “I don’t know yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
The End
