ericadawn16 | Jack- September 15th, 2010 or March 12th, 2017

Title: But Time Didn’t Stop
Characters: Jack, Gwen Jack/Ianto
Rated: PG-13 ANGST COE Spoilers MPREG
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Jack and Gwen have a talk.
Author's Note: Starts after COE.
Previous Segment: September 14th, 2010 or March 11th, 2017
Masterlist: http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/63337.html

September 15th, 2010 or March 12th, 2017

“Well, someone had to and you told me I was in charge,” Gwen reminded him, “I did try. A couple of months after the first anniversary, I gave it over to Johnson…and she was dead less than six months later. I’ve lost four members of my own now and it never gets easier, but I haven’t run. I’ve stayed right here.”

Gwen was replacing the blows she was unable to give him with words. Jack deserved it, but it still hurt. She still had Rhys so she was lucky enough not to know the pain of living without your husband or raising a baby on your own.

“So, your son’s an only child?” he asked which caused her to look surprised.

“How did you know about him?”

“Martha told me,” Jack answered and knew by her face that it was the wrong one.

“Of course, you talk to her and your car’s been spotted at Rhi’s, but nothing for your former teammate you left in the lurch,” Gwen complained, laying her arms on the desk near a Harry Potter book, “No, not me, I just got a quick appearance while you get shot. Still, I guess thanks are in order for that…”

“It was nothing,” he started, but she wasn’t finished.

“I’m glad you could fit that in your busy day. Was it guilt that made you do that, some else’s doing or did you actually do that out of the goodness of your own heart?” She questioned with acid dripping from every word.

“Fine, maybe next time I won’t come at all,” he hissed.

“Well, you’ve had seven years of practice; you ought to be right good at it by now!” Gwen yelled back. The silence that followed was unbearable and there was only one way of fixing this impasse as he took out his mobile.

“Oh Jack, am I boring you now? Is that why you’re taking out your mobile while we’re talking?” Gwen inquired and stood up, “If you hate it here that much, you can just leave. In fact, let me send for Lois and she can escort you out.”

Before she could hit that button, Jack passed her his mobile. Her mouth gaped open as she took the device and sat back down. She clicked through a few more pictures without looking at him.

“But Jack, this can’t be, this is dated just two and a half weeks after you left…I shoved you and you fell and you never said anything,” Gwen spoke and looked back up at him, “Unless, is this a Nostrovite or something similar?”

He shook his head and confirmed, “Also, those time stamps are correct.”
Gwen put a hand to her mouth, shaking her head and sighing.

“Oh, he’s beautiful,” she said a few pictures later while the clicking was the only other noise heard, “And he’s Ianto’s, you can see it just by looking at him…”
She set it down and wiped tears that were falling down her cheeks.

“It’s almost like seeing a ghost,” she explained, “I haven’t seen that smile in almost eight years.”
After sniffling, she passed the mobile back.

“What’s his name?” Gwen asked as he put it back in his pocket.

“Iefan Jones,” he told her with a smile and for a moment, she was able to smile, too.

“A few years ago, when it would have been his thirtieth, I actually took the day off and the three of us watched all those Tintin movies,” she spoke with a smirk she used rather than crying, “But I think our Ianto enjoyed it more. He was only three and a half and he…he loved that dog so much.”

The sniffle at the end made him wonder whether she was still talking about Ianto the little boy. Jack could remember his Ianto going at it with Owen who insisted there was nothing innocent between the dog and the boy.

“If they were born so close together, that must make them the same age,” she commented and turned one of the frames around on her desk. It held a photograph of her, Rhys and a small boy with dark hair. The blue eyes didn’t show up well.

“They would have been. When he was six months old, I decided we should come back, that was August 2010, but,” Jack explained with a frown, “We ended up here. I was with the Doctor on the TARDIS.”

“Really,” she said with an unbelieving expression, “Did you always plan on coming back then?”

She was no longer the naïve one. He wasn’t sure whether to be proud or sad of that accomplishment.

“No, I wasn’t sure. I was six months pregnant and scared and it felt like I was all alone in the universe. Frankly, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” Jack admitted and his hands went to his belly without realizing it, “But the more he grew…more like his father, I knew I had to come back.”

It was only a slight omission to leave out that Ianto had wanted it this way with Iefan knowing his aunt. Gwen had her hands together again and the very tips were touching her chin.

“But why didn’t you tell me or any of us? We could have sorted something out,” she said, “I could have made sure the Medbay was the first section completed.”

“Even if it had been, we would have still needed a medic that wouldn’t sell his story about me to the tabloids at the first opportunity. We could have had Martha on call or borrowed her, but both would have raised suspicions. We would have had to explain to our new recruits why we both appeared to have baby bumps…” he told her, “You don’t think I thought this over a hundred times? There was no way I could make it work. I had no choice but to leave.”

Gwen sighed and crossed her arms in frustration.

“So, how old does that make him then?” she inquired while spinning her wedding ring.

“Six months on the twenty-third so seven months in just eleven days,” he said and realized the oddness of it, “Although the twenty-third should have been when he turned seven.”

She spun back and forth in her chair while his remained stationary.

“Only you,” she said with a laugh, “Since I doubt he can pull off being eighteen months, what are you going to do about that?” He had been thinking about that.

“I haven’t forged his birth certificate yet, but I suppose it’ll have to be the twenty-third six months ago,” Jack told her, “which would be August.”

“Well, those of us born in August don’t turn out so bad,” she reminded him with a small smile.

“Yeah,” he agreed and thought of the last birthday he’d spent with Ianto. They had no idea it would be the last birthday. It had been a Tuesday which was never his favorite day of the week. There had been just the three of them so they could have been called into work at any moment even though it seemed like even the aliens were watching the Olympics. They’d gone to some film at the Chapter Arts Centre where Ianto had tried to watch the film and Jack had tried to get a rise out of him. He’d succeeded on both ends. It was why they always had to sit at the very back of an auditorium; balcony if possible. Then, they’d driven to Crown at Whitebrook for dinner, bed and breakfast. Whitebrook…that was the closest they came to a minibreak: they stayed overnight a mile away from England.

"Did you look at the bulletin board, Jack?" she asked and motioned towards what looked like one of those she used to do before with photos, newspaper clippings and letters attached with push pins. He stood up and took a closer study of them. The names seemed familiar although he couldn't place them.

"Colin Lake?" he questioned and Gwen answered with a smile, "That is the boy that you and Ianto saved from the Night Traveler's. He's studying up to join the police."

"Jamie Burton and Minnie Potter," he read off the wedding announcement and gave Gwen an inquiring look.

"When Jamie had Leukaemia as a boy, Owen saved him from Death," she explained and he saw how the clippings and photos were all happy people doing good things.

"These are all the people we saved?" he inquired yet didn't want to believe it. Had they really done that much? She stood up and hurried over, pointing to a clipping about a five year old saving his toddler sister from drowning. It happened almost four years ago. Then, he read the name of the boy, Ianto Thomas.

"This is one of my favorites. He was the baby you and Ianto delivered the night we had zombies invading Cardiff," she explained and he had to smile at the memory.

September 15th, 2010 or March 12th, 2017, Part Two