Fic: Stop All the Clocks- Part 5

[geeklover80]

Title:  Stop All the Clocks (5/6 + Epilogue)

Author: GeekSlave

Prompt: Four Weddings and a Funeral

Word Count: ~35,000

Rating: R

Warnings: Language, cheating, character death

Spoilers: For Torchwood series 1 & 2 and Doctor Who series 5 &6

Summary: When bachelor Ianto Jones attends a friend’s wedding, he unexpectedly meets the potential man of his dreams.

Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness, River Song/The Doctor, Rory Williams/Amy Pond, Toshiko Sato/Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato/Tommy Brockless,  Jack Harkness/John Hart, Ianto Jones/Gwen Cooper, Rhiannon Jones/Johnny Davies, Rose Tyler/Mickey Smith, Andy Davidson, Wilfred Mott, Estelle Cole, Donna Noble, Rhys Williams, Suzie Costello, Martha Jones, Lisa Hallet

Disclaimer: The characters of Torchwood and Doctor Who belong to the BBC. The characters and screenplay for Four Weddings and a Funeral belong to 20^th Century Fox, MGM, and Richard Curtis

Author’s Notes: Written for the reel_Torchwood challenge, round 4. Huge thank you to my betas,janiemc, for making sure my grammar was gooder and for britpicking, and jolinarjackson for support and advice giving. This is my first attempt at any kind of challenge or Jack/Ianto fanfic. Any comments-complimentary or constructive- will be much appreciated. Title taken from line in WH Auden poem Funeral Blues used in the movie.

Part 1| Part 2| Part 3| Part 4

Part 5

The last week was excruciating for Ianto. Though, he felt horrible for feeling bad for himself when River was in such pain. River had bought it when Ianto had told her about the Doctor’s emergency. The next day, she had received a phone call that the Doctor had been killed in a car crash.  His supposed daughter couldn’t be found so River was sent the ashes.

Ianto had found it difficult to even look his friends in the eye. He wanted to isolate himself.  It may have been the Doctor’s idea but Ianto felt like he was responsible for her suffering. River had the support of Amy, Tosh, Owen and her brother; she didn’t need him as well. But he couldn’t abandon her when she was suffering, she would never have done that to him.

Ianto and Rory had tried to convince River that the Doctor would have just wanted her to spread his ashes somewhere nice, but River insisted on having a memorial service. They decided not to continue to push her about it. So here they all were gathered together to pay their last respects to the Doctor. The room was filled. Countless friends had come, including Mickey and Rose, as well as Johnny and Rhiannon. And a lot of the Doctor’s former students were in attendance. The Doctor may not have realized it but he had touched a lot of lives. As he looked around the room, he realized that River was right and that no matter how uncomfortable this made him and despite the fact the Doctor wasn’t really gone, people did need their chance to mourn the Doctor. Ianto sat by River’s side with his arm around her. She sat motionless an almost blank look on her face. The room was sparsely decorated, very few flowers. An urn was perched on a small wooden table next to the podium where the vicar and River would speak. Ianto didn’t even want to contemplate whose ashes really were in that urn.

The vicar came out to speak. “Good morning and a warm welcome to you all on this cold day. Our service will begin in a few minutes. But first Melody Williams, John’s girlfriend, has requested to say a few words.”

River got up and walked to the front of the room. Rory squeezed her hand as she walked past. 
River pulled out a piece of paper and stood next to the urn. She gazed at it for a few moments 
before beginning to speak. “John used to prefer funerals to weddings. He said it was easier to get 
enthusiastic about a ceremony one had an outside chance of eventually being involved in." 
Everyone laughed. “In order to prepare this speech, I rang a few people to get a general picture of 
how John was regarded by those who met him. ‘Odd’ seems to have been a word people most 
connected with him. ‘Terribly rude’ also rang a lot of bells.” She smiled wistfully. 
“So ‘very odd’ and ‘very rude’ seems to have been the stranger’s viewpoint. On the other hand some 
of you have been kind enough to ring me and let me know that you loved him, which I know he would 
have been thrilled to hear. You remember his fabulous hospitality, his strange experimental cooking. 
The recipe for duck a la banana fortunately goes with him to his grave. Most of all, you tell me of his 
enormous capacity for joy. And, when joyful…when joyful, for highly vocal drunkenness. But I hope 
joyful is how you will remember him.” She paused and swallowed thickly. “Not as a pile of ashes in a 
stupid urn.” Ianto looked down and covered his eyes, tears of guilt and sadness beginning to fall. 
“Pick your favorite of his waistcoats and remember him that way. The most splendid, replete, 
big-hearted and jolly bugger most of us ever met.” She looked down and took a deep breath. “As for 
me, you may ask how I will remember him. What I thought of him…” She looked off into the distance,
 shaking, but trying not to cry. “To the surprise of you all, there I have run out of words.  Perhaps you
 will forgive me if I turn from my own feelings to the words of another splendid bugger, WH Auden, a 
favorite poet of John’s. This is actually what I want to say.” She looked down at the piece of paper in 
her hands:  

“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

 Prevent the dog from barking
with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos
and with muffled drum

 
Bring out the coffin,
let the mourners come.

 
Let the aeroplanes circle
moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message
He ls Dead.

Put crepe bows round the white neck
of the public doves,

Let traffic policemen
wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South,
my East and West.

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last for ever:

 I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now:


Put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean
and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now
can ever come to any good.”

*****

 River chose to spread the ashes by herself.  There was no wake, so everyone drifted off into their own groups; some went to a pub to have some drinks to tell stories of the Doctor. Others simply went home. Ianto and his friends went to Ianto and Amy’s flat but sat together in silence.  Unable to take the silence any longer, Rory got up, heading to the kitchen. “I’m going to make some coffee, anyone want anything?”

Amy, Tosh, and Owen shook their heads. “I’ll help you.” Ianto spoke up, standing up and striding towards Rory.

“I know how to use the machine, Ianto.” Rory scoffed.

“I haven’t properly trained you, so I don’t know how that’s possible,” Ianto said, walking past Rory.

Ianto wasn’t kidding about training Rory. He actually went through a step by step set of instructions with Rory and hovered over him as he made the coffee.  After sipping it carefully, Ianto gave Rory a nod of approval. They sipped the coffee in silence for several minutes. When Rory was finished, he cleared his throat and asked, “How are you handling all of this, Ianto?” Ianto opened his mouth to answer, but closed it when he couldn’t think of how to respond. He just shook his head, shrugging at the same time. “Me, too.” Rory said sadly.

There was a knock on the door. “I better get that,” Ianto said putting his cup down. He walked to the front door slowly, and opened the door mid-knock. “Jack?” He stared at him with his mouth half open.

“Hello.” Jack said nervously.

“What are you doing here?”

“I can’t leave things like this. Can you please give me a chance to explain?” Jack requested plaintively.

Running his hands through his hair, Ianto paused unsure of what to do. Part of him was still furious at Jack for his lies and almost getting the Doctor killed. But there were still so many unanswered questions that Ianto needed the answers to. And despite everything, his feelings for Jack hadn’t gone away. He couldn’t leave things like this, either. “Ok,” he said shakily.  He shut the door behind him quietly.

Jack convinced Ianto to come to his hotel room so they could have some privacy, promising him that John was still in Scotland. Ianto still felt very ill at ease there. Jack sat down next to him at the kitchen table. Ianto kept fidgeting, not knowing what to do with his hands.  He sighed loudly when Jack just sat there, not speaking. “I thought you wanted to explain.”

“I do. But I know you probably have a million questions and I was waiting for you to ask me something. You can ask me anything.” Jack said sincerely.

“Jack, I don’t even know where to begin…I…” Ianto rubbed at his eyes roughly, getting up and turning his back to Jack.

“Do you want to…” Jack started.

Ianto whirled around and blurted out, “Did you sleep with me just to get closer to the Doctor?” Of all the questions he could have asked, he did not expect that to be the first one. By the look on Jack’s face, he wasn’t expecting that either.

“No, that’s not why I slept with you.” He stood up, looking down at the table. “But I have to admit that when I first suspected the Doctor might be here in Cardiff, I thought infiltrating his group of friends might prove useful and that maybe I could find out about him, if he really was who I thought.” Ianto took a deep breath, shaking.  Jack took a tentative step closer to him. “But that changed when I met you. I’d never felt that way in a long time. And when you gave that speech, I wasn’t thinking about the Doctor. I just wanted to know you.” Ianto still looked at him warily. “Plus, getting close to the Doctor wasn’t really that hard. He was a pretty open book. And I knew, just by talking to him, that he might be the Doctor I was looking for, but he wasn’t going to be able to help me.”

“But why did you need his help? John said you needed to go back home. Where is that? What are you doing here in the past? How do you travel through time? Why are you with John?” The questions just came quickly tumbling out of Ianto; he couldn’t stop himself.

“Whoa.” Jack shook his head. “Let me just start from the beginning.” He exhaled deeply. “I’m from the 51^st Century. I come from a place called the Boeshane Peninsula.  I lost my father there and my brother was abducted. As an adult I was recruited into the Time Agency. As a Time Agent you’re given this.” Jack pulled up the sleeve of his great coat and revealed a brown leather contraption around his wrist. “It’s a wrist strap that has many functions but one of the things it has is a Vortex Manipulator, that you can allow you to travel through time. “

“If you’re able to travel through time, then why did you need the Doctor’s help?” Ianto questioned.

“Because of John. He was my partner at the Time Agency. We began an affair when we were stuck in this Time Loop. I don’t know how long it went on for, but we were stuck together. It was like we were married already. After we got out of the Loop, John wanted to keep our relationship going, but I didn’t feel the same way. As you can already tell, John is not someone who takes no for an answer. We got sent on a mission here in the 21st Century to retrieve a rogue alien. John being the idiot that he is, instead of capturing it, he killed him and stole his jewels to make a profit. When the Agency learned of this they turned on both of us, thinking I was in on it with John, and deactivated the Vortex Manipulator, stranding us here.  I finally got as far away from John as I could and came here to Cardiff. I knew that the Doctor was the only one who could help me fix the Vortex Manipulator, but I never thought I’d be able to find him. Then one day I’m reading in the paper about this eccentric professor who was arrested for showing up to school naked. He called himself the Doctor. I did some research and when I found out he was going to be at your sister’s wedding, I got myself an invitation, and you know the rest.”

Ianto walked past Jack and sat down at the table again. “That answers a lot. But I still don’t understand…why are you with John? Why would you marry someone you hate so much?”

Jack sat down heavily. “A few weeks after your sister’s wedding, John found me. And-and, I don’t know how he did it, but he found my brother. My brother had been missing for years. I never thought I would see him again and John brought him back to me. Gray was incredibly damaged and he was incredibly attached to John. I couldn’t get him to leave him. To see my brother, I had to put up with John. John has made quite a life for himself on this planet. He’s rich and somehow he’s managed to get people to believe he’s a respectable businessman. He really loves it here. And he still wanted me. He wanted me to marry him. It was what my brother wanted, too. I just figured why not. I was incredibly grateful to John for bringing my brother back to me and I owed him. Besides John may be loathsome in a lot, A LOT of ways, but he’s the only person who understands what I’m going through. He’s been the only one I can be truly open with. People have gotten married for a hell of a lot worse reasons.”

“But what about…”

“You?” Jack looked him in the eyes. “I almost ended things with John after being with you that second time. After that first time, I thought I’d be able to get you at of my mind. But when I saw you again, I knew I couldn’t let go…But my brother, he needed this. It’s like John and I together with him make this family. He needed that to feel normal again. I let my brother down once. I couldn’t do it again.”

“Surely, you’re not going to stay married to John after he tried to kill the Doctor?” Ianto searched Jack’s face.

“John didn’t try to kill the Doctor. It was my brother Gray.”

“What?” Ianto sat back in his chair heavily. “In his own weird way, John really does love Gray. He was trying to protect him by taking the blame. But Gray admitted to me that he’d done it. I had told him before that I thought the Doctor could help us go home and that John probably wouldn’t be coming with us. He saw me talking to the Doctor at the wedding and he got scared. He thought he was protecting his family.”

“So that’s it. He just gets away with it?” Ianto asked angrily.

“There’s something wrong with him. He doesn’t belong here. I think the only way he’s going to get better is by going home.”

“But that’s not possible.”

“It is. The Doctor fixed the Vortex Manipulator.”

Ianto stared at him in shock. “Why would he do that?”

“He didn’t want to at first. He thought it would be too dangerous to fix it. But I convinced him that I only wanted to go home. He believed me. Plus, I think he enjoys having gotten one over on the Time Agency.” Jack explained.

“So you’re going…with John?”

“For now. He’s the only who can help me with Gray. I just hope my mother’s still alive. I think seeing her again will do wonders for Gray.”

Closing his eyes, Ianto pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his composure. “So that’s it? I’ll probably never see you again after this.”

“Probably not.” Jack said softly. “Honestly, I don’t really know if I belong here, either.”

Ianto got up suddenly. “I should probably go then.”

“Ianto, wait.”

Ianto stopped at the door.  Jack walked forward and tentatively took Ianto’s hand. “You know, what you said in the street…about David Cassidy…”

“Yes, I’m sorry about that.” Ianto said quickly.

“No, I liked it. I liked you saying it.” Jack looked up at him with tears stinging his eyes.

Ianto looked down at their joined hands, before slipping his hand out of Jack’s and turning to leave.

*****

After Tosh and Owen left, Rory cleaned up since Ianto was gone and Amy was still too emotional to handle it.  Rory felt tremendously guilty for having to lie to everyone, especially River and Amy, about the Doctor being dead. He felt that this was mostly his fault. He thought he was doing what was best for everyone, but he was starting to think that if he had opened the watch sooner, everyone around him wouldn’t be hurting right now. A small part of his awkwardness around Amy was also due to the conversation they’d had after Jack and John’s wedding. He still couldn’t believe that Amy wanted to date him. Of course now that wasn’t important at all and they would have to deal with that later.

Rory sat down beside Amy on the brown leather sofa in the living room. Amy put her head on Rory’s shoulder. “I once had a dream about having sex with the Doctor.”

Rory shuddered violently. ‘Amy, I know you’re in mourning but if you keep talking like that, I may vomit all over you.”

“It wasn’t a graphic. And I never would have acted on it. River would have killed me and I could never imagine being with him like that for real. But I had my fantasies. How could I not? He was so handsome and smart and funny. He was perfect. He was my hero. Some people talk about doing important things and changing the world, but he didn’t just talk about it. He did it. He was so alive.  And now…he’s dead. I don’t understand how that could be. How can he of all people be dead? It doesn’t feel real. I just…” She started quietly crying.

Rory turned around and pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair. “I’m so sorry, Amy. If I could take this all back I would.”

Amy pulled back and looked at Rory seriously. She kissed him suddenly. She clung to him; kissing him fully and deeply. She pulled back and touched his face. “I know you would.”

*****

When Ianto went back to his flat, the place was empty. He looked around and was grateful that someone had cleaned up. He couldn’t deal with tidying the place up after what had just happened. He sank into an armchair in the living room. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. For a moment, he dared hope that it was Jack and he had changed his mind and was staying after all. He raced to the front door and flung it open. His face fell immediately. “Oh…it’s you.”

“That’s a nice greeting for your sister.” Tosh signed.

Ianto shook his head. “I’m sorry Tosh. I thought…hoped you were someone else.” He stepped aside and let her in.

“Who were you hoping for?”

“Jack,” Ianto admitted reluctantly.

Tosh cocked her head to the side and looked at him sadly. “Oh, Ianto.”

“I know. It’s ridiculous. I’m pathetic.” He sank into the chair again, and rubbed at the back of his neck.

“You’re not pathetic. You’re just a romantic, that’s all. You’ve always been like that. There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I wish I was more like you.”  She squeezed his hand.

“Why? I’m horrible at love. I’m either chasing away the right people or falling for the wrong ones.” He shook his head. “Today has been horrific, but surely if that service shows anything, it shows there is such a thing as a perfect match. If we can’t be like River and the Doctor, then maybe we should just let it go.  Some of us are not gonna get married.”

“Well, I don’t know Ianto.  Unlike you, I never expected the thunderbolt. I always just hoped that I’d meet some nice, friendly boy, like the look of him, hope the look of me didn’t make him physically sick, then get married and…settle down and…be happy.” She looked away a little sadly. “It’s what I have with Tommy and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as there’s love.”

“I’ll give you six months at the outside.” Ianto joked. Tosh laughed. “Maybe your way is better. Maybe all this waiting for one-true-love stuff gets you nowhere.”

Tosh got up and squeezed in beside him, putting her arm around him. “I’m sure you’re going to meet the right person someday, Ianto. You might just have to be a little more patient.”

Ianto simply nodded. The only problem was that he thought he had finally met the right person in Jack. But apparently he was wrong and now he had no idea how he was going to fill this hole in his heart.

Part 6