Title: Never Did Run Smooth – Chapter 20 (of 22)
Rating: R
Words: Each chapter ~1000 words
Characters: Jack/Ianto
Genre: AU, angst, H/C
Spoilers: TW S1 & S2 (some references to Jack’s time with the Doctor)
Disclaimer: All the wishing in the world won’t make Torchwood mine.
Summary: AU which explores what could have happened if Jack had refused to hire Ianto even after capturing Myfanwy. Years later, while conducting an inspection of UNIT, Jack spots a prisoner being transferred who catches his eye…
Beta: My dearest friend,quaintheart.
A/N: This story is complete and beta’d. I will be posting regularly. Feel free to friend me.
Previous chapters at my Master List 

A/N 2: Here’s an extra chapter. I’m posting this early because I love you all and don’t want to leave you hanging over the weekend and for the ever delightfulwykling who is making me an awesome bribe. *hugs*

Jack? It’s Tosh. I found that information you wanted, but you’re not going to like it… 

Chapter 20 

As Jack listened in silence his face grew darker although his eyes never left Ianto. Jack’s smile was gone and Ianto’s smile fell off his face. The young man’s eyes opened wider in horror and his entire body began to tremble violently.

“HE DID WHAT!?” Jack roared, hand reaching furiously to draw his gun. The phone shattered in his left hand as his fist closed around it. He threw the mangled phone to the floor and staked over to Ianto, his gun raised, aimed at Ianto’s head.

“On your knees!” He growled, shoving Ianto off the bed and pushing him down with a hand digging into his shoulder. As Ianto knelt he cried out involuntarily as the movement jarred his cracked ribs. Jack fisted Ianto’s hair and tugged his head back to look at his face, gun pressed to Ianto’s temple, ignoring the terrified look in his eyes.

“You hid a Cyberman within UNIT?”

Ianto squeezed his eyes closed tightly, his tremors making it hard to stay upright.

“Answer me Ianto!” Jack yelled, pulling the hair harder.

Ianto sobbed. “Her name was Lisa, she was my girlfriend. She worked for Torchwood. She was caught up in battle.”

“She was a Cyberman!” 

“The conversion was never completed! I thought… I believed that she could be saved. I owed it to Lisa… to find a cure. I was willing to do anything…” Ianto bit his lip to keep from saying anything more. As the implication of what Ianto was saying hit Jack, he stumbled back and sat on the edge of the bed, stunned. Ianto, his hair released, fell to the ground in a ball, hugging his injured ribs, tears streaming down his face.

“That’s why you wanted the job. If I had hired you… Oh god, you would have snuck a Cyberman into Torchwood. My team…” Images of Gwen or Tosh or even Owen strapped down to a cyber-conversion unit caused Jack to break into a cold sweat.

Jack buried his face in his hands, the cold metal of his gun cooling his forehead. “Tosh says you infiltrated UNIT ranks, forging files to pass off as a soldier.” Jack resisted the urge to be impressed with the young man’s abilities. “In the end, nine good men fell trying to stop it.” Jack’s mind raced as he frantically tried to figure out his next move. All his instincts told him to lock Ianto away and destroy the key. He tried to feel pity for the man cowering at his feet, but as he watched him, his rage only grew. Ianto had dared to try and lie his way into Jack’s base. He was responsible for the deaths of soldiers; people with families, children, parents. Who was this Ianto to think that their lives were worth less than the monster he’d been protecting.

“You’re right, Ianto Jones, you do deserve this!” Jack stepped around the huddled man and beckoned the two soldiers on guard to come into his room.

“Will you gentlemen please escort prisoner 1717 back to his cell?” He ordered with cold efficiency. They complied at once, each taking one of Ianto’s arms and pulling him firmly from Jack’s room. Ianto went willingly not meeting Jack’s eyes as they passed him by.

Jack slammed his door behind them and re-holstered his gun. He needed time to think and he couldn’t do that with Ianto in the room. Jack slumped at the table, slamming his fist into it. He told himself he was furious, that he was happy to let Ianto suffer for what he’d done and what he’d almost allowed to happen, but in the end he was forced to admit that what he was really feeling was hurt; hurt and betrayed.  Jack had come to care for that young man, more than he would have thought possible but this was unforgivable.

Jack would leave that morning as intended and Ianto would spend the rest of his life locked up. The decision didn’t make Jack feel any better, but he couldn’t see anything else that could be done. Two years ago Ianto had tried to flirt his was into Torchwood, and last night he’d tried again. The memory of their kiss was tainted by the betrayal. Jack pulled his suitcase out from under the bed and started the shove his belongings into it. He went into the bathroom to collect his things and froze at the sight of Ianto’s toothbrush nestled in the cup beside his. Jack’s brush was blue and Ianto’s was red. Jack reached out and picked them up, holding them in his hands. He looked up at his face in the mirror, surprised to see that tears were forming in his eyes. The toothbrushes clattered forgotten to the floor as Jack slammed his fist into the mirror, shattering it and cutting his hand.

Jack sighed and ran his fist under the tap, holding it up to see the cut already healing. Ianto wouldn’t heal as quickly as he did. Jack was suddenly reminded of Ianto’s body, covered in burn and scars, evidence of the torture he’d endured. Jack understood UNIT’s anger, but he couldn’t imagine so much torture being inflicted on someone simply as a punishment. And why did the Brigadier try to hide this from Jack? It was in the past; over and done with.

Suddenly the truth hit Jack and he fell to his knees gasping and clinging desperately to the edge of the sink. Ianto hadn’t been tortured as a punishment; he’d been tortured because UNIT wanted information. Ianto had first hand knowledge of how the Cybermen functioned and on the assembly and disassembly of a cyber-conversion unit. Tosh had told him that in the end UNIT had been forced to trap the Cyberman in the abandoned wing she’d been hiding in; releasing and igniting a gas that burns at extremely high temperatures. All of the technology would have been melted beyond use. Jack suspected that if they hadn’t been trying to contain and study the Cyberman, fewer lives would have been lost.

Jack’s heart broke as he realized he could never leave Ianto in the hands of UNIT interrogators. He couldn’t take the chance that Ianto would break and reveal something that could lead to the rise of the Cybermen again. He knew UNIT wouldn’t intentionally let that happen, but they were playing with fire. Jack also couldn’t simply retcon him. That had been reversed too many times to trust it with a secret this dangerous. 

Ianto had been right all along. Jack hands shook as he stood, drawing his gun. Jack was going to be his executioner. Ianto Jones had to die.

Chapter 21