I've reached the ten-pages mark now and I took that as my cue to start posting - there you go.

Title: Rooftops, Rifts and Random Acts (Part 1/11)
Author: Neyne
Rating: PG-13-ish
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of the characters. I just play with them.
Spoilers: Reference to the events of 'Adrift'. This is an End of Days AU though.
Summary: Something happens when Jack is away, and neither Torchwood, nor Ianto are the same afterwards.
A/N: My third Torchwood fanfic (yes, I count them), so I don't have too much experience with the fandom, but I hope this is okay. Also, a huge thank you to the9thdoctor for betaing (and putting up with me for over a month now)!



It was two months after Jack's departure and there was still no sign of him. No indication of where he'd gone, not to mention that they weren't even sure if he had left them deliberately or if he'd been kidnapped. Just nothing. He was simply gone. And for all they knew, he might never come back again.

Even Ianto had stopped searching. During the first weeks he wouldn't even leave the Hub, refusing to give up on Jack. But after going over the CCTV footage for what felt like the hundredth time, he let resignation wash over him. They hadn't found anything. It seemed like Jack had run to a random point of the plass and just disappeared. There was no trace of rift activity, only some weird readings even Toshiko couldn't understand. And even if they knew how he had left, in what way would that help them getting him back? It was senseless.
The team had ended up deciding that they wouldn't need a replacement. Even though nobody said it out loud, they all hoped their Captain would return at some point - rushing back in like nothing had happened. Because if there was one thing they were certain of, it was that they had meant at least something to Jack. He couldn't leave them like this. "He just did." Owen had said. Ianto had remained silent.

Ianto drew back from the team. They worked closely together, but in his spare time, he usually managed to get away from everyone. Gwen went back home to Rhys, Owen went to his favorite pubs and Toshiko tended to stay at the Hub, finishing some programs and keeping an eye on the rift predictor. Sometimes Ianto stayed behind when everyone else went to a pub.
But most of the time he went outside. He enjoyed walking through parks or along the bay. And on a few occasions, when Jack's absence became almost unbearable, he went on rooftops. He knew that Jack had spent many sleepless nights looking over the city. Somehow, Ianto took comfort in it. Maybe because he felt closer to his missing boss, and maybe because even though he always went there on his own, he never felt alone. He felt free.

Grey daylight shone down on Ianto Jones, the former Archivist and now full member of Team Torchwood, when it all happened. There hadn't been much to do, that day. Only a few Weevils, some spaceships that had been asked to please leave their Atmosphere and lots of spam mail. He wondered what had happened to Tosh's filter.

Owen had been in a really bad mood, and after a particularly nasty comment, Ianto had left the Hub. They would do without him for a couple of hours. And if there was an emergency, well, maybe that would teach Owen a lesson. Ianto had left his mobile and comm in the Tourist Office - mainly because he didn't want them to be able to track him here. It would be rather embarrassing if they found out that he still couldn't let Jack go.

The young Welshman was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear a strange sound coming from above, didn't feel a cold wind embrace him, until it was too late. He recognized it the second he looked up. Of course, he had seen it quite a couple of times, but he had never been this close. And, lacking of a better word to describe it... it was beautiful. Ianto couldn't understand how something so beautiful could cause so much pain. Then again, he had experienced that before. Which didn't make understanding it easier.

He didn't even have time to shout before the Rift swallowed him, leaving nothing behind but a few energy readings Tosh would pick up later. It went dark, his world collapsed and the only thing he could think of was that he'd never told Jack that-

Light. It shone through Ianto's closed eyelids. A burning planet, he thought. He'd ended up on a bloody planet on fire. It felt like it, too. But there was that sound, a voice? No, that was impossible. Surely nobody could survive under these circumstances?
Slowly, Ianto opened his eyes and realized that he was lying in the warm sunlight. No fire, in fact there seemed to be a big river or a lake or something nearby - he could hear the sound of water. For a moment he wondered whether he had been lucky and had only traveled through time, when the voice spoke again.

"Welcome on New Earth."

~


"Gwen!"

"What?!"

"Where's my coffee?"

"At Starbucks. If you want coffee, go get it yourself. I'm not the tea boy!"

Owen frowned at those last words, but then just shook his head and turned away.

"Tosh?"

"No, Owen."

"Please!"

"You're not the only one working here!"

Owen was - considering his lack of caffeine - just too willing to start an argument, and soon Gwen joined in again. Eventually, Owen muttered something under his breath and disappeared. Gwen and Toshiko went back to work. For them, everything was normal, or at least as normal as working at Torchwood could be.
Only there was one thing they didn't know: They were being watched.

Standing on the Invisible Lift - undetected by Tosh's security software - was the familiar figure of a man, dressed in a long grey coat and black trousers, staring at his friends in silence.

But although he seems to have enjoyed the little argument, he wasn't smiling. There was concern in his eyes.
He couldn't say for sure what it was, but there was something. Lingering in the blue light of the Hub. Present, but barely noticed by any of his colleagues. Something wasn't right.

Click for the second part!