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fandomweekly2023-12-29 02:57 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2023-12-29 02:57 pm
Entry tags:
[#204] Do You Remember? (Torchwood)
Theme Prompt: #204 – Reminiscence
Title: Do You Remember?
Fandom: Torchwood.
Rating/Warnings: PG / None
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Back on earth for a final visit, Jack and Ianto reminisce about Torchwood and some of the adventures they shared with the team.
Even though they had a very fulfilling life out among the stars, hauling cargo and passengers wherever they needed to go, Ianto and Jack hadn’t forgotten about earth. The’d made regular trips back ‘home’ for the first few centuries, then occasional visits for the next few millennia, because Ianto had been born there, and it only seemed right to explore as much of his homeworld as he could.
For a long time, earth had been their favourite vacation destination and they’d done the whole sightseeing bit. By now they’d visited every continent, and most countries, multiple times, collecting souvenirs, taking photos, videos, holograms, and fully immersive sensoria as new technologies were developed. All that was coming to an end now; this would be their last trip, or at least the last one to an inhabited earth. Soon the remaining population, along with as many of earth’s other surviving species as possible, would be evacuated.
Nothing lasted forever, not even suns and solar systems, and not too far into the future, humanity’s birthplace would reach a point where it would no longer be able to support life. Ianto didn’t want his last memories of earth to be of a dead, empty world, so here they were for one last look around at where it had all begun.
They took their time, visiting all of their favourite places again, but inevitably, the final stop on their itinerary was Cardiff. It bore little resemblance to the place Ianto had lived and worked when he was young and still mortal. Over many thousands of years, it had grown and evolved, spreading out along the coast in both directions, and inland right to the edge of what had been the Brecon Beacons. The outlying towns and villages had been absorbed into the new metropolis, and yet, there was still something about the place that spoke of home.
“Do you remember…?” Jack started as he and Ianto stood where the Millennium Centre had once been, before it was dismantled and shipped to the planet of New Caerdydd back in 3117.
Ianto cut him off before he could finish the question. “Yes, Jack; I remember the Hub, the team, that clunky old Range Rover we drove, the invisible lift, the water tower, the Weevils, the Plas and the bay.”
“The SUV wasn’t clunky; she was state-of-the-art!”
“By early twenty-first century standards, maybe, but compared to modern vehicles, she was a brick on wheels. A very shiny black brick packed with alien tech, but still a brick.”
Jack pouted. “I loved that car!”
“Really? I’d hate to know how you’d treat a vehicle you hated. You crashed it multiple times, broke the axle driving over a pothole, scratched it, rolled it, dented it, got it covered is so much mud, blood, and alien gunk that I spent half my time trying to get it clean again, and you stuck an antenna to the wing mirror using duct tape! If that’s how you show love, it’s a good thing I’m immortal now, or I’d be dead.”
“You did die,” Jack said quietly. “It all but broke me. I couldn’t rest until I found a way to bring you back.”
“Right, sorry; I shouldn’t have reminded you.”
“I hadn’t forgotten. I’m reminded every time something happens, and you die again. There are some things that can never be forgotten. Even knowing you’ll come back doesn’t make it any easier.”
“I know that feeling.” Ianto squeezed his husband’s hand. “Didn’t mean to kill the mood.”
“You didn’t. Being back on earth brings a lot of old memories to the surface.”
“It does,” Ianto agreed. “Especially being here.”
“Not all of them are bad though.” Jack smiled suddenly. “Do you remember the time we got shrunk to five-inches tall and had to ride a rat back to the Hub?”
Ianto laughed. “Oh yes, that was quite an adventure, stealing chips and a bit of fish from that couple snogging on the bus stop bench, you heroically battling that cat… and we never told the rest of the team what happened that night, not even when we had to use the device to shrink the Roc. What about the time you got turned into a rabbit? I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I wouldn’t let you have any pizza and made you eat a carrot instead. You were not pleased.”
“Neither were you when you got turned into a cat. And a chipmunk. And a fluffy pink duck.”
“You can talk! What about when you ate one of Owen’s experiments and turned into a plant? Or when you were a starfish for the best part of a day?”
“I don’t really remember much about that one, except that I had a serious craving for shellfish for a few days.”
“Those were good times, when the team was all together.” Ianto smiled, a faraway look in his eyes.
“Yes they were. We had our share of disasters, and had to deal with far too much loss, but we had a lot of fun too. Never knew what the Rift would bring us next.”
“All that weird and wacky alien technology. Spending days clucking like chickens every time we tried to speak.”
Jack grinned. “Another thing we never explained to the others.”
“They didn’t need to know.”
“Drove them crazy! Remember those labels we got on our foreheads?”
“Gwen refused to go home until hers faded, but Owen embraced his,” Ianto said with a chuckle.
“Theirs weren’t exactly complimentary.”
“True. Mine was a bit over-the-top.”
“But undeniably accurate.”
“You’re biased.”
“Guilty as charged.” Jack wrapped his arm around his husband, pulling Ianto close. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Twpsyn.” Ianto sighed. “Hard to believe all this will be gone soon.”
“I know, but we’ll still have our memories. Hey, did I ever tell you about the day I lost Lizzie’s corgis?”
Ianto shook his head. “Don’t think so.”
“Ah, well.” Jack winked. “Maybe that’s a story for another time.”
The End
For a long time, earth had been their favourite vacation destination and they’d done the whole sightseeing bit. By now they’d visited every continent, and most countries, multiple times, collecting souvenirs, taking photos, videos, holograms, and fully immersive sensoria as new technologies were developed. All that was coming to an end now; this would be their last trip, or at least the last one to an inhabited earth. Soon the remaining population, along with as many of earth’s other surviving species as possible, would be evacuated.
Nothing lasted forever, not even suns and solar systems, and not too far into the future, humanity’s birthplace would reach a point where it would no longer be able to support life. Ianto didn’t want his last memories of earth to be of a dead, empty world, so here they were for one last look around at where it had all begun.
They took their time, visiting all of their favourite places again, but inevitably, the final stop on their itinerary was Cardiff. It bore little resemblance to the place Ianto had lived and worked when he was young and still mortal. Over many thousands of years, it had grown and evolved, spreading out along the coast in both directions, and inland right to the edge of what had been the Brecon Beacons. The outlying towns and villages had been absorbed into the new metropolis, and yet, there was still something about the place that spoke of home.
“Do you remember…?” Jack started as he and Ianto stood where the Millennium Centre had once been, before it was dismantled and shipped to the planet of New Caerdydd back in 3117.
Ianto cut him off before he could finish the question. “Yes, Jack; I remember the Hub, the team, that clunky old Range Rover we drove, the invisible lift, the water tower, the Weevils, the Plas and the bay.”
“The SUV wasn’t clunky; she was state-of-the-art!”
“By early twenty-first century standards, maybe, but compared to modern vehicles, she was a brick on wheels. A very shiny black brick packed with alien tech, but still a brick.”
Jack pouted. “I loved that car!”
“Really? I’d hate to know how you’d treat a vehicle you hated. You crashed it multiple times, broke the axle driving over a pothole, scratched it, rolled it, dented it, got it covered is so much mud, blood, and alien gunk that I spent half my time trying to get it clean again, and you stuck an antenna to the wing mirror using duct tape! If that’s how you show love, it’s a good thing I’m immortal now, or I’d be dead.”
“You did die,” Jack said quietly. “It all but broke me. I couldn’t rest until I found a way to bring you back.”
“Right, sorry; I shouldn’t have reminded you.”
“I hadn’t forgotten. I’m reminded every time something happens, and you die again. There are some things that can never be forgotten. Even knowing you’ll come back doesn’t make it any easier.”
“I know that feeling.” Ianto squeezed his husband’s hand. “Didn’t mean to kill the mood.”
“You didn’t. Being back on earth brings a lot of old memories to the surface.”
“It does,” Ianto agreed. “Especially being here.”
“Not all of them are bad though.” Jack smiled suddenly. “Do you remember the time we got shrunk to five-inches tall and had to ride a rat back to the Hub?”
Ianto laughed. “Oh yes, that was quite an adventure, stealing chips and a bit of fish from that couple snogging on the bus stop bench, you heroically battling that cat… and we never told the rest of the team what happened that night, not even when we had to use the device to shrink the Roc. What about the time you got turned into a rabbit? I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I wouldn’t let you have any pizza and made you eat a carrot instead. You were not pleased.”
“Neither were you when you got turned into a cat. And a chipmunk. And a fluffy pink duck.”
“You can talk! What about when you ate one of Owen’s experiments and turned into a plant? Or when you were a starfish for the best part of a day?”
“I don’t really remember much about that one, except that I had a serious craving for shellfish for a few days.”
“Those were good times, when the team was all together.” Ianto smiled, a faraway look in his eyes.
“Yes they were. We had our share of disasters, and had to deal with far too much loss, but we had a lot of fun too. Never knew what the Rift would bring us next.”
“All that weird and wacky alien technology. Spending days clucking like chickens every time we tried to speak.”
Jack grinned. “Another thing we never explained to the others.”
“They didn’t need to know.”
“Drove them crazy! Remember those labels we got on our foreheads?”
“Gwen refused to go home until hers faded, but Owen embraced his,” Ianto said with a chuckle.
“Theirs weren’t exactly complimentary.”
“True. Mine was a bit over-the-top.”
“But undeniably accurate.”
“You’re biased.”
“Guilty as charged.” Jack wrapped his arm around his husband, pulling Ianto close. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Twpsyn.” Ianto sighed. “Hard to believe all this will be gone soon.”
“I know, but we’ll still have our memories. Hey, did I ever tell you about the day I lost Lizzie’s corgis?”
Ianto shook his head. “Don’t think so.”
“Ah, well.” Jack winked. “Maybe that’s a story for another time.”
The End