The Resurrection Casket

( I blame this chapter on the song "Skinned" by Blue Gillespie. O__o" )

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"Doctor! It`s amazing, They`ve re-built the entire thing! Or, I think they have..."

Jack froze as he stepped inside the TARDIS. The interior had changed since his absence, the walls was covered
in something deep red splashed across in millions of different macabre patterns.The smell in the air was foul, bitter of blood.
As he kept on staring a single red drop planted itself on the tip of his nose. There was no sign of either the Doctor or Ianto.

" Oh dear God, no. " Jack breathed, as he made his way inside, careful not to step in the deepest blood splotches on the floor.
"IANTO! DOCTOR! " He yelled, not getting any answer, just his own echoing response.
Jack was truly terrified, millions of conclusions to what had happened swam his mind.
The mind probing electrocution thing gone wrong, taking the both of them down with it, or an alien life form slaughtering them.
Anything could have happened, and he hadn`t been there to save them. He screamed, his knees going weak under him,
blood gushing everywhere as he crashed down on to the floor.

"Jack!" It was the Doctors voice. Muffled but still him. Jack raised his gaze, tears in the way to see anything more then a haze.
Jack then rose, his feet slipping under him because of the sticky blood.

"Doctor! Where are you!?"

And there he was, alive and Jack couldn`t help but laugh. He hadn`t been this happy to see anyone in his entire life.
He slipped once more as he tried to run towards the Doctor so he slowed down. Gripping the Doctor by his shoulders as he reached him.

" I thought you were dead. What happened here? Where`s Ianto? "
Jack felt thick blood under his fingers and he noticed that the Doctor was almost drenched in the liquid.

"Jack I.." The Doctor pulled away, looking horrified at his own bloodied hands. " It went wrong, I`m sorry, I`m so sorry. "

"WHERE IS IANTO!? " And to his horror Jack realized what the Doctor was rambling about.
He shoved him out of his way, running, slipping the way the Doctor had emerged from.

"Jack!"

But Jack didn`t listen to the Doctor anymore. All he could think of was Ianto, somewhere in the TARDIS, dead,
because of him. Jack`s greed.
Yes, he had wanted HIS Ianto back, and Ianto knew how much, oh God, he knew. He must have done it because he
thought Jack wouldn`t care about him if he wasn`t HIS Ianto. Jack swore as he ran.
How thick headed wasn`t he? He had let him die for such a stupid reason!

He came to a halt outside a brightly lit room, in the darkest of places in the TARDIS.
Was he ready to see what awaited him in there? Could he take it?
Jack was shivering as he took the final steps into the room. On the walls he saw all kinds of equipment, most of them surgical.
In the middle was a chair, and a figure slumped in it, hooked up to tubes hanging from the ceiling.
"Ianto!" Jack rushed forward, tearing out tubes in his way of clutching the young mans naked body to him.
Ianto was covered in dark red blood, his eyes shut and his mouth slightly open, blood finding it`s way out down his chin.

"Jack.." Suddenly Ianto was looking at him. Jack gasped, a nervous laugh escaping him. " You`re alive. Thank God. "

"Barely. The Doctor saved me just in time. He lost quite much blood as well. "

Ianto`s voice was small, and he shook as he raised an arm to lay around Jack`s shoulder.
Taking the hint, Jack lifted him up in his arms, wrenching Ianto free from another bunch of tubes on his naked back.
Ianto winced as droplets of blood emerged from the tubes places.

" Sorry. "

" I`ll live. " Ianto forced a smile.

Jack was careful not to slip and fall the whole way back, All to aware that Ianto was shaking in his arms,
his lips blue and the color besides the red blood spatter on his face was drained. He looked so fragile.

" Why am I here? " Ianto forced out between ragged breaths.
Jack carefully lay him down on the seats the Doctor had in the Control center of the TARDIS.
The Doctor was no where to be seen and Jack didn`t give a shit about him right now anyway.

"What do you mean Ianto? " Jack placed a blanket over Ianto`s shivering form.
Then he turned to get something and returned with a wet napkin in his hand to wipe away some blood from Ianto´s cheeks.

"The 456! Oh my God! Mica! David!" Ianto shot up, clutching the blanket to him. Fear evident in his eyes.

"Ianto it`s over, they`re alright..." Jack went quiet. He saw the Doctor approaching them, but said nothing.
He almost knew what was coming.

" I`m sorry Jack. He doesn`t remember being with you all these years, as far as he knows,
he died at Thames House. I tried to tell you. "

"I died..? Where am I Jack? The 456, we must stop them!"

Jack didn`t reply, instead he took off his coat and placed it over Ianto`s still shaking shoulders.
What was he supposed to tell him? That Jack had sacrificed his own grandchild to save millions of children?
That Ianto couldn`t see his sister or his nephews? That he had a younger body because of some alien technology? Jack groaned.

" Ianto easy, the 456 is gone. The children is safe. And you`re here with me in the Doctors TARDIS. "

He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Ianto`s temple.
" That`s all you need to know for now."
The argument between them just hours before Ianto died in Jack`s arms in Thames House played up in his mind.
Ianto begging Jack to speak to him. Jack had denied him and shut him out. This..This was different Jack told himself.
It was better for Ianto for the time being, not knowing the whole story.


" Shit. " Ianto scrambled himself to a more comfortable position, Jack`s coat tightly snug around him.
" I bloody died, didn`t I? Oh god, You didn`t use the glove did you?!? Please Jack tell me..."
Ianto was panicking, searching for his pulse.

"Shh, I didn`t. It`s a long story but you`re very much alive. "
Jack took hold of Ianto`s hand and held it against his heart. "See? It`s beating."

" I can assure you mr Jones, it`s true." The Doctor butted in, as he wiped himself clean from blood with a towel.
His coat had been thrown aside, all covered in blood.

A very relieved Ianto pulled himself together and despite his younger appearence, Jack saw the old Ianto he had known.
"How long? "

"Almost a year. "

Ianto`s eyes widened but he didn`t comment it further.
" Rhi thinks I`m dead? " Jack nodded, an apology written on his face.
Ianto surprised him when he just waved the whole thing off with a:

" Well then, can I get some clothes? I`m freezing. "

: : : :

: : : :


The welshman was leaning against the door of the Tourist Office, when Jack finally arrived.
Jack raised his hand and waved, getting a huge smile in return.

" 30 minutes late. I thought I`d been stood up. " Ioan said, smoothing a single stray hair from his face ,
back his ear.

"Never, not a gorgeous man like yourself. I just missed the bus."

In truth, Jack had been ready to go 35 minutes earlier.
But Ianto, all cleaned up had killed every little bit of self-restraint he had left.
It had been so long since he had seen him in a suit. He really had to buy Ianto a new cute suit.

" Charmer you are, sir. Not going to work with me." Ioan winked, holding out his arm toward Jack.

" Damn, here I thought it would. And please call me Jack. "
Jack took the offered arm under his, leading Ioan away from the bay.

Ten minutes later, they found themselves chatting away in a coffee house, each of them sipping a cup of téa.
Ioan was fascinated by Jack, all the stories he had been told had been true about Jack and he was just amazed by the fact.

" You really defeated the 456? "

Jack simply nodded, uncomfortable about the subject.
He inwardly thanked Gwen about sparing the details around the aliens death.
" So, how many are you in this new Torchwood?"

"Oh, uhm let`s see... we`re five. " Ioan counted on his fingers, not a math genius then.
" We have a doctor, Martha Jones. "
Jack wasn`t all that surprised at that piece of information. Martha was a great doctor. she knew what she was doing.
" Mickey. I think you know him. " Yes Jack knew him, he had been with Rose in the days they all traveled with the
Doctor.

" Alonso Frame, he`s new, but great with alien technology."

Jack spat out his tèa at the name. "What?! "
Five other people directed their attention to their table at his outburst, so he lowered his voice.

" Alonso? "

Ioan blinked, confused over Jack`s overreaction.
" Yes, we found him when we followed a rift spike. Must have fallen through and somehow he survived. Do you know him? "

So Alonso had survived the dying planet. Jack was relieved, though the fact still lingered that Alonso was now in Torchwood,
which meant trouble if he had to explain to Gwen and Ianto how they knew each other.
Though it seemed like Alonso had kept his mouth shut about him this long. For that Jack was thankful.

" No, just thought I did for a second. Wrong person. " Jack leaned back in his chair enjoying the last of his téa.

: : : :


" You, Mr Harkness have gotten me drunk. " Ioan slurred as he fought with his keys to his apartment.
" How could lunch...turn to drinks in a bar?" He giggled as Jack slipped an arm around his waist.
An extra hand guiding Ioan`s to find the keyhole.
" You drank two tequilas. You can`t hold your liquor, mr Trancy. " Jack responded, finally getting the door open.

" Well, you bought them, so it`s your fault. " Ioan wobbled inside accompanied by Jack holding onto him from behind.
Ioan´s apartment was neat, just like his office had been and it wasn`t until Jack had reached the kitchen that he realized
what was so familiar about it.

It was Ianto`s old apartment.

There by the kitchen counters wall, was the coffee stain Jack had made one morning when he accidentally had knocked the coffeemaker over.
Ianto had gone crazy, yelling at him for hours about the damn stain.

" I.. Like your place."

Ioan grinned. " Just moved in, but I`m going to fix that ugly stain though. "
He pointed at the coffee stain Jack was already staring at.

" I think it looks fine. It fits. "

Ioan raised an eyebrow but shrugged the odd comment off.
" Coffee, that`s what I need. Have to sober up if I`m going in to work again."
Ioan made his way to the cabinets, pulling out instant coffee from one of them.

" Call in sick. " Jack placed a hand on Ioan`s, pushing the coffee, Ianto would have thrown out, aside.

" I can`t. "

Jack brushed up against him and Ioan backed until he could feel the counter edges dig into the small of his back.
Jack followed him, brushing harder this time. This time the advances of Captain Jack Harkness melted Ioan´s defenses,
letting Jack in closer.
" You can.. " Jack leaned in, nipping the nape of Ioan`s neck with his lips.
" ..be sick, for one day." Ioan tilted his head back, moaning.

"I`ve just met you and I`m drunk. "

" But you like me, don`t you?`" Jack smiled against Ioans skin. A hand slowly unzipping Ioan`s pants.
A sigh, but Ioan gave in to Jack`s smooth talk, as Jack felt a hand come up to rest on his back.

"Yes."

Jack finally got the fly open, pulling the pants down in one swift move, never breaking eye contact.
His own soon followed suit, both thrown somewhere on the floor.
The shirts was quickly removed, hands touching every bit of skin they could reach, hungry lips nipping at the others,
both men moaning at the sensations they felt.
Then Jack took over, lifting Ioan so he more or less sat on top of the counter,
a coffee mug falling to the floor in their rush, smashing into millions of pieces.

" Oh yes, Jack! "




TBC! Please R n R! ^__^