Series: Taken
Part: Two - Taken Hope
Word Count: 2433
Characters: The staff of Torchwood Three, Rhys Willams, Martha Jones, Tom Milligan, The Doctor, Donna Noble.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Martha/Tom
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst!!! and drama. With slight AU.
Warning: Spoilers up the Adrift and slight character death!
Disclaimer: Alas the Torchwood character's are not mine, they belong to other more fabulous people. Which makes me sad.

Un-beta'ed, sorry. Any and all mistakes are my own, and i apologize for them.

Authors Ramble: Ok so i know i only posted the first part two days ago, no i don't write that fast. The fact of the matter was that i'm evil and only posted that first bit even though i had a whole hell of a lot more written, but i wanted to feel out how well the story would be received. Oooh, you can hit me if you'd like hehehe. I'm glad to see that the fic is being read, even though i have gotten the occasional threat on my life if i don't finish the fic *laughs* No worries, i wouldn't.... no strike that. I couldn't leave the first part like that, even i'm not THAT evil. Oh and where i was thinking it would be 4 parts, it's now officially up to 6 and possibly even a 7th should the plot bunnies stay with me. Anyway, enjoy. Comments are love! ^_^

Also, i do have my occasional dyslexic moments so if you see any words that are wrong or other typos feel free to poke me with a 'hey stupid' to let me know ^_^

Summary: Jack was sure that the Rift was out to muck up his life completely.



- All this time i've loved you and never known your face -
All this time i've missed you and searched the human race

Days slipped into weeks and weeks in turn slipped into months. And the entire time there was a hole in the Torchwood family, a big Ianto shaped hole. After the night that Ianto was taken Jack became obsessed with the Rift drops, much like Gwen had before. But none of the team were stupid enough to point out to Jack how hypocritical he was being when he had ordered Gwen to drop the investigation months before, only to pick it up again now that it was someone he cared about that was taken. It was weeks of shifting through every spike and drop the Rift had, weeks of not sleeping or eating. Weeks of desperation, before the weary captain finally collapsed.

Really, they saw it coming. Owen had been watching the man closely, worried about when his body might give out. Immortal or not, what he was doing to himself wasn't healthy. Tosh tried her best to keep him calm by making sure he had every report he wanted, even though she knew he wouldn't find anything. Gwen did her best mother hen impression, trying to coax him into eating something. Offering to take him out on walks, just to get some fresh air. At one point Rhys even offered to try getting through to the other man, knowing from what Gwen had told him just how bad a shape Jack was in.
But none of it worked, Jack was single minded to the point of self destruction. It wasn't until the middle of the fourth week that Jack's body finally gave out. That day he had come out of his office and stood looking very zombie like in the middle of the hub.

"Jack?" Gwen said softly as she reached her hand out for him, before the man crumbled to the ground. "Jack!?" Gwen's panicked voice echoed in his mind as he slipped into the familiar darkness that he had seen so many times before.


"Gwen would you stop fussing about and let me do my work!" Owen's annoyed tone rang in Jack's ears as the older man started to regain consciousness. He warily realized that he was in the medical bay, laying on the cold examination table. Owen was fiddling with some of his instruments off to the side, the steady beeping from the heart monitor echoing too loudly in the cavernous room. Gwen and Tosh were standing up in the theater that ran around the edge of the bay. Both women staring down at Jack, concern etched on their faces.
Jack groaned in annoyance when Owen flashed a pen light in his eyes. "Yeah yeah, bitch all you want." Owen muttered to him, not stopping his medical ministrations.

"What happened?" Jack asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"You damn near killed yourself is what!" The doctor said in a terse voice, obviously not impressed with the captain's near death experience. Trying to sit up, Owen quickly stopped him which caused Jack to grunt at him in an annoyed manner.
"I'll let you up once you hear what i have to say."

"Owen?" Tosh questioned, wary of what the man might say. But Owen just silenced her with a wave of his hand.

"No more of this. From now on, you'll eat and keep hydrated. And you're going to get some sleep, whether you like it or not. And you're going to stop it with the reports for a while." Owen rattled off sternly. Jack glared at him, about to open his mouth to argue when Gwen cut in.

"He's right Jack, you need to get some rest. It's not healthy, even for you."

Figuring fighting his headstrong teammates was a moot point, Jack got up quickly, yanking the heart monitor sensor leads off of his chest before anyone could stop him and stormed off to his office.

"He's acting like a child." Owen snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He's in mourning." Gwen corrected, looking at Jack's closed door.

"Yeah, i know." Came Owen's soft reply.

The weeks crept on, and Jack did as Owen said. But not without quite a bit of fighting from both men. Soon Jack's blind determination melted into a deep depression before fading into a silent albeit reluctant acceptance.

Ianto had been gone for five months, and there was little of any chance that any of them would ever see their young teammate ever again. That bit of realism seemed to hang heavily over the heads of the staff of Torchwood three. Jack walked around looking like a man haunted. Tosh, with her sweet and silent ways took over some of Ianto's duties. Going on coffee runs mostly, since not one of them were ballsy enough to go anywhere near the coffee maker. Gwen did her best to keep the hub tidy, always on Owen to clean up his messes. Which really were becoming less and less frequent, the snarky doctor seemed to keep himself in check more. Now that there wasn't the ever faithful teaboy to follow them around picking up after them. But even with all those little things that each member did in seemingly acceptance of defeat, that didn't stop them from jumping a little each time the Rift monitors went off. Each alarm was like a little ray of hope to them, each one charging in head long with a mantra of 'what if it's him' running through their minds. And each time they returned empty handed, their hearts broke a little bit more.

By the ninth month the rays of hope had all but faded, and they were left with the cold dull grey of day to day life in the hub. Minus one very smartly dressed man.

When the eleventh month finally rolled around, Tosh oddly enough broached the subject that both Gwen and Owen had caught themselves thinking about at least once but never dared bring it up to Jack. But one September afternoon while the four of them were sitting around the conference table eating take away Chinese, Tosh piped up quietly.
"I think we should have a funeral."

All eyes turned to look at her. "What?" Gwen asked.

"A funeral." Tosh said simply, her face the picture of resolve.

"For?" Owen asked, even though he knew very well who the small woman meant.

"Ianto." She said, looking straight at Jack for a moment before looking at her other two teammates. "I think he deserves a funeral."

"We don't even know if he's....." Gwen couldn't finish her sentence, almost too afraid to even voice the thought of Ianto being dead.

"Tosh, we don't have a..." Owen looked at Jack before continuing to Tosh gently. "Body. What would we bury?"

"It's like for people lost at sea and whatnot, an empty casket with mementos inside. Out of respect, he deserves that much."

"It's just symbolism, we don't need to." Gwen said softly, chancing a look at Jack who had yet to say anything. He expression stoic, unreadable.

"I think we do." Tosh persisted. "When a Torchwood employee dies we are kept in the cold archives. Ianto might be the only one of us that won't be kept. The only one of us that will ever be able to have a proper burial." She reasoned, looking at Jack as if she was speaking right to him and not all of them. "He deserves as much." She pressed. Jack just stared unblinkingly at her.

"Tosh, honey...." Gwen started, but was cut off by Jack standing suddenly.

"You're right." His words shocked both Owen and Gwen slightly. "Make it happen." He told Tosh simply as he walked out of the board room.

It only took Tosh a few days to arrange everything, the atmosphere in the hub was quiet and a bit tense. Jack only spoke once the entire time, and it was just to call down to Gwen. Telling her to get Martha Jones from UNIT on the phone and to patch the call up to his office.


The funeral was held on a Sunday, in a small quiet cemetery in the remote countryside. The place was beautiful in it's own sad way. Somber grey skies hung over head, threatening rain. Tosh had picked out a dark mahogany casket with a deep maroon silk lining.
It was a small turn out, but for obvious reasons. Ianto had no actual family around, and even if he had it wasn't exactly like they would have been able to attend. How do you explain that a family member was sucked into a swirl of light and tossed to god knows where via a Rift in time and space. The staff of Torchwood three were there obviously, so was Rhys. Martha Jones with her fiancée Tom Mulligan were in attendance. As well as a man in a brown pin striped suit who was accompanied by a red headed woman, only Jack and Martha seemed to know them.
The man and Martha both stayed on either side of Jack through the whole thing, each had a comforting hand on his back. Rhys held onto Gwen, who ever so often would break down into quiet tears. Owen stayed next to Tosh most of the time, handing her a tissue when she started to dab her eyes inconspicuously. Tom and the red headed woman hung back a bit, looking out of place but sympathetic none the less.
The service was short and emotional. Each member of Torchwood placed a memento into the casket that already held one of Ianto's best suits folded neatly. Mostly they were photos and little things that reminded each of them of their fallen comrade. Owen put a coffee mug in, which caused the lot to smile softly. But Jack actually chuckled, smiling through tears when Martha stepped forward and placed a red UNIT cap in amongst the things. No one else seemed to understand what that meant, but it caused Jack to hug Martha tightly.
Jack was the last to go, he stood next to the open casket for a long while just staring at the Ianto themed things. The soft sound of thunder started to roll in the distance, threating the clouds to open any minute and pour a torrent of cool rain down on them. With a sigh, he reached into the pocket of his heavy coat and pulled out a small sliver pocket watch. Holding it in his hand for a moment, he brought it to his lips and kissed it before placing it with the rest of the mementos.
Just as they were closing the lid of the casket, the heavens opened up and the rain began to pour.

It was a month later, when the one year anniversary of Ianto's disappearance rolled around. Everyone was rather withdrawn, leaving Jack on his own most of the day. As night fell, the captain told his team that he was going out and that they would be able to reach him on his mobile should they need too. The rest of the team resolved that they would make sure they wouldn't need him for the rest of the night. It wasn't until a few hours later when the Rift alarm went off, that Tosh wanted to call Jack.

"Gwen!" Tosh called out, the concern in her voice evident.

"What is it Tosh?" Gwen asked, coming up from the medical bay with Owen following closely behind.

"What time is it?" She asked, causing both her co-workers to check their watches.

"Uh, quarter to eleven." Owen told her. "Why?"

"Because i think we may have to call Jack." Tosh said, staring at her computer screen.

"Why?" Gwen asked this time.

"The Rift alarm, the activity is coming from the pier. Exactly one year later, to the exact minute!" Tosh said, her voice getting a bit more hopeful with each syllable that left her lips. Gwen's eyes went wide in shock and Owen dropped his coffee cup. The porcelain mug smashing with a sharp crack on the hard floor of the hub.

"Ianto!" Gwen breathed in an excited manner, before all three of them snapped into action. Grabbing their coats and gear and heading out of the hub.

What the rest of them didn't know, was at that exact same time Jack was sitting at the end of the pier. His feeting hanging over the edge, as he stared off into the darkness. His mind was swimming with memories. Sad blue eyes staring at him. The feel of a hand slowly, achingly slipping out of his own. A simple yet heartbreaking 'goodbye' before the bright light faded and he was left in the dark of night with nothing but memories. He idly looked down when his watched beeped* signaling that it was officially a quarter to eleven. With a sight he looked out over the dark water once again before getting up from where he sat. "Goodbye." He said softly. He made it half way off of the pier when his mobile rang. Picking it up, he heard Tosh's voice ring out about a Rift alarm before a loud violent crack sounded behind him followed by a bright flooding light. He ducked to his knees quickly, dropping his phone accidentally. But as quickly as it came, the brightness was gone and Jack was once again surrounded by night. "What the hell?" He muttered to himself, getting up and picking up his mobile again, placing it against his ear. Tosh apparently hadn't realized that he had dropped it, because she was still rattling on a mile a minute. All he caught from the one sided conversation was the name 'Ianto' being uttered when a pained groan from behind him caught his attention.

He whipped around to see a body laying on the edge of the pier. His phone still in his hand, only now it was being held down by his side, Jack moved down the pier, as he got closer to the person laying there his breath seemed to catch somewhere between his throat and his broken heart. Another pained groan from the body caused Jack to run the rest of the way down the pier, dropping to his knees next to it. He tossed the phone aside as he grabbed the person by the shoulder and slowly turned them over, so that he could see their face. "Ianto?" Jack choked out when he saw the dirty and bloody face of the young Welshman. He realized idly that somewhere off to the side he could hear Tosh's voice still calling out to him over the phone.
"Jack? Jack? Are you there? What's happening!?"



Comments are love ^_^ Love it? Hate it? Let me know!

Part 1 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8

*I know Jack wears a wind-up watch in the show, but i needed his watch to be electronic in the story. So no canon crazed people need to point that out to me, 'kay thanks.