Yesterday is here

Prompt: "Being able to remain on that dizzying crest: that is integrity, and the rest is subterfuge." -Albert Camus



Susan trails her hand over the console of The TARDIS, the soft pulse of content making her smile softly. Barbara and Ian are asleep and Grandfather is in the library reading some stuffy old book.

She wants to go somewhere, wants to get out of the Vortex and land. Adventure was why she convinced her grandfather to show her how to fly a TARDIS, leading them down a path that made them enemies of Gallifrey. It doesn't matter to her anyway, not anymore. And Grandmother died a few years back, leaving Grandfather alone. Her parents had charged him with her safety, but they hadn't realized how alone Grandfather truly was and how easily Susan could get her way with him.

Susan knows that sometimes she uses that to her advantage too often, but she hasn't seen Grandfather this happy in a long time. Barbara and Ian could be wet blankets, but they usually fell into line quick enough.

"Child," Grandfather says from the doorway, his glasses perch on the tip of his nose as he looks at her over the rims. "Let her rest. She needs to spend time in the Vortex even if you don't want to."

"I want to go somewhere new," Susan says, leaning against the rail. "I want see everything."

"You already can," Grandfather says as he makes his way over to her, pressing gentle fingers against the side of her head.

She forgets that she can see all of Time and Space in her mind if she concentrates hard enough. She didn't go to the Academy and Grandfather isn't the best teacher. But his cool, dry fingers against the side of her head make Time and Space spread out in front of and behind her.

Susan's eyes shut softly. "I want to fix so much."

"We cannot fix what is meant to be."

"But what if we were *meant* to fix it." Her eyes open again and she looks into the watery blue eyes that only look back with affection. "How can we leave it?"

"If we are meant to fix it, we will fix it." Grandfather lets his fingers drop. "We cannot meddle in the matters of lesser races."

Susan snorts at that. "We're Time Lords! That's what we're around for. We protect Time."

"Time Lords do, yes. Child," Grandfather's voice is heavy. "We are not like them. All we can do is attempt to not create our own paradoxes while we try to stay one step ahead of them."

Susan is quiet for a long moment before she leans against her grandfather. His arms go around her, keeping her close. "I want to be better than that."

Grandfather kisses the top of her head softly. "So do I."

It was over a week before Ianto realized something was seriously wrong with Jack. In his defence, they were running all over Cardiff trying to capture Weevils and help clean up the city. Ianto barely had time to make coffee much less notice that Jack didn’t seem to know what coffee was anymore.

And that was what finally did it – a slow moment where Ianto leaned against Jack’s desk and sipped his own coffee, watching Jack stare at the mug quizzically. The tentative sip made Ianto inhale sharply. The wrinkled nose made him exhale slowly.

Jack gave him a smile, all teeth and no feeling behind it, and set the mug on the desk. His eyes flickered to Ianto’s mouth and the frown there.

“Something wrong?”

Ianto shrugged and put his mug down. “Do they have coffee in the 51st century?”

Jack startled at that and he quickly picked the mug up again, taking a large swallow and just barely holding back a grimace. “No. By then it’s more of a tea-like substance.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Ianto said quietly as he reached for Jack’s mug, taking it out of his hand. “I’ll make this more palatable.”

“Sweeter maybe?” Jack murmured, shuffling papers on his desk.

Ianto nodded, taking Jack’s coffee with him and heading back to the machine. Gwen looked over at him, her hair twisted behind her head with a pen and a phone against her ear.

“Alright?”

Ianto wanted to say no, wanted to ask what she had noticed Jack struggling over the last week, but he couldn’t. Jack obviously hadn’t wanted them to know that he had forgotten some stuff.

“Already finished his,” Ianto said, making sure she couldn’t see the coffee in the mug. “Need a refill?”

“Still got plenty, love.” Gwen flashed him a weary smile before straightening up and starting to talk to whomever had finally picked up on the other end.

Ianto set the mug on the table, looking at the black coffee like it was a foreign substance. In all the time he’d been working for Jack, he’d never had to remake a cup of coffee for him. ‘Sweeter’ wasn’t much to go on, but tea-like was even more vague. Lots of drinks were tea-like, including the coffee Gwen made.

With a sigh, Ianto dumped the mug and started again, adding half the amount of beans and tamping them lightly. He spooned a little sugar into the mug, thinking maybe he should try the way he served coffee to Tosh.

The spoon clattered against the tabletop loudly and with shaking hands, Ianto picked it up, hoping Gwen was still engrossed in her phone call and Jack was too busy trying to figure out what he did wrong to make Ianto walk away. Tears burned in his eyes as he set about making coffee the way Tosh had liked it, hoping Jack would enjoy it as well.

“Ianto?”

Ianto wiped his hand over his eyes before turning to Jack with a slight smile. “Yes, sir?”

Jack brought his hands to Ianto’s face, thumbs carefully brushing away tears. He leaned in, pressing his lips to Ianto’s gently. Ianto let out a muffled sob against his mouth before wrapping his arms around Jack and holding him tightly.

“We call it kafra,” Jack whispered against his lips. “It’s a leaf with a rich, fragrant scent that’s ground and then steeped like tea. But it has the fullness of your coffee. The feel of your coffee is so similar to kafra and I remember it, but I don’t remember if I like coffee even though I know I love kafra.”

“Do you remember me? Gwen?” Ianto pulled away, his mouth pressed against Jack’s neck. “Owen and Tosh?”

Jack pressed his lips to the top of Ianto’s head. “Yes.”

“How well?”

“Well enough that knowing they’re dead is something we all should be upset over," Jack said to him softly. "I don't remember much about those before you. I remember home though. I remember Boeshane.”

Gwen stood in the doorway, watching the two of them tentatively. “Boeshane?”

“Home,” Jack murmured, holding out an arm to her. Gwen crowded in close, the three of them clinging to each other as they waited for the next shoe to fall.

Prompt: Who makes the best coffee after Ianto? (I'm not entirely sure about this one, but I wanted to post it. I have since learned I have no Owen voice at all).



Teaboy gets mauled by a Weevil on a Thursday. Well mauled isn't the right word. Scratched on the arm and chest, but Jack panics when he sees blood and calls me in immediately. I could have been sleeping, but what does Jack care? Teaboy's fine, but he's not allowed back to work until Monday which means Jack will be fussing until then. He's like an damn infant when it comes to the Teaboy.

This leads to a little shuffling of responsibilities and somehow Gwen gets coffee duty, mostly because she's still afraid of that bloody dinosaur. Everyone is afraid of the dinosaur except Ianto. Jack pretends he's okay so he switches duties with Gwen. No one switches with me, not even Tosh, when I pull Weevil cleanup out of the stupid chore hat.

What bloody organization has a chore hat anyway? We're not five years old. Just because the Hub was a bloody mess before Teaboy came along does not mean it will be a mess if Teaboy is out for a few days.

The important thing to remember is Gwen and coffee. As in never the twain shall meet. Jack gags on his coffee, but manages half a cup because Tosh has already politely suggested that she go to the shop to get coffee for the team and Gwen is looking teary around the edges. I pour mine into the dinosaur's water bowl. Should cause some excitement later and Tosh drew Hub clean up out of the hat.

Saturday morning comes too soon, Tosh is screaming about dinosaur shit while Jack and I drag a Weevil across the Hub. Gwen is still shaky on her feet because she tripped over a tree branch while chasing said Weevil. I consider leaving her on the couch to fend for herself but the doctor in me can't do that. She offers to make coffee and everyone shouts at her at the same time. Tosh can't even be polite anymore, telling her to stay away from the bloody coffee machine if she knows what's good for her.

Jack makes five cups of coffee, handing them out as we all start to clean up the dinosaur shit. Tosh makes a face like she's tasting something very sour, but doesn't say anything because Jack's coffee is never to anyone's taste but Jack's. Gwen asks him if he used salt to make it which makes Jack laugh. I just hold my nose and gulp it down.

I almost miss Teaboy. Especially when mid-day hits and Tosh offers to make everyone tea. Jack disappears in the middle of the day and I pull up the CCTV by Teaboy's flat. The SUV stays there for the rest of the day. I drink the cup of tea Tosh hands me and try not to gag at the bitter flavor of green tea.

It's down to me when Sunday hits and even though I'd rather complain loudly and volumenously about the lack of proper coffee, I can't manage another cup of tea or Jack's coffee. So I go to the coffee machine, take a good long look at it, and decide to boil coffee on the stove. Better than fight with that barmy machine. Teaboy probably booby-trapped it anyway.

I holler that the coffee's done, taking my cup and going down to the autopsy bay. A few minutes later, Jack pops his head in, holding up the cup of coffee.

"Not bad, Owen. Next time don't make us suffer through Gwen's coffee and Tosh's tea."

There's a shriek from the Hub and I can hear Tosh angrily claim that at least her tea doesn't taste like sour lemons. Jack just laughs and disappears to continue the friendly exchange of opinions. I smirk and kick my feet up with a copy of Razzle. The best part of this is that Gwen's got to clean up after the Weevils now.

Prompt:



The sunlight filtered through the blinds, creating wavy patterns of shadow and light on Jack's face as he slept. Ianto woke slowly, turning his face away from the sun before blinking blearily. It was rare he was up before Jack, rare that Jack was still in bed when he woke.

Aliens calling at two in the morning meant he and Jack had to drive well outside of the city to meet them and exchange pleasantries about the Shadow Proclamation and Earth's Protector. The aliens, Altaxians, had been decidedly annoyed and claimed they were just there on vacation. Ianto had poured them some coffee and sent them on their way, claiming that Mars was really a much nicer vacation spot; a lot less crowded.

Ianto pressed a kiss against Jack's forehead before climbing out of bed, shivering a little before pulling a dressing gown over his bare skin. He found his slippers at the end of the bed, half-hidden by Jack's shirt. Ianto grabbed the shirt as well, tossing it into the hamper as he slipped out of the bedroom to make coffee.

The beans shone as they streamed through his fingers, leaving traces of their oil on his fingertips. Coffee was a ritual and some mornings Ianto prayed to the gods of coffee as he waited to press down the plunger on the french press. Behind him, Jack shuffled into the kitchen, draping himself over Ianto's back.

"Morning," Ianto said, turning his head to press a kiss to Jack's mussed hair.

Jack mumbled against Ianto's shoulder, his hands slipping inside of Ianto's dressing gown and pressing against the bare skin of his waist. Ianto shivered at that, scowling a little. "Your hands are freezing, Jack."

"You'll warm them up."

Ianto huffed a little as he pressed down on the plunger, the dark coffee grounds settling on the bottom, leaving behind the coffee. "Go get the mugs."

Jack grabbed two mugs, sliding them in front of Ianto. He leaned against the counter, watching with contentment as Ianto carefully prepared both mugs before handing one to Jack.

"This is the best reason to wake up in the morning," Jack said, inhaling the steam before taking a large mouthful. "That and having morning sex."

Ianto rolled his eyes at that, leaning against the counter as well, his hip pressed against Jack as they both drank their first cup of the day. There would be more later when they were at the Hub, but right now, this was a moment just for them. He looked over at Jack and smiled softly.

"What?" asked Jack curiously.

"Just happy," Ianto said with a shrug. "Figured I would go with it for now."

Jack put an arm over Ianto's shoulders, smiling as well. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

Prompt: listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go ee cummings


"Tell me about E-space," Jack says out of nowhere.

The Doctor bangs his head against a railing as he sits up in surprise. Jack winces at the contact, lifting himself out of the floor of the TARDIS to sit next to The Doctor. There are muttering curses that Jack is pretty sure is Gallifreyan since the TARDIS isn't supplying translations. The inflection is obvious.

"How do you know about E-space?" The Doctor demands, his expression angry.

"Time Agent," Jack reminds him, leaning back against the console. "We have to know about these things."

"You'd never get to E-space so what does it matter? I haven't been in a very long time," The Doctor says almost wistfully. "Not since I rescued an old friend. Two actually."

"Romanadvoratrelundar." Jack does his best not to stumble over the name. Even with practice he stumbles in the middle but picks up by the end. The Doctor doesn't seem to notice.

The Doctor feels his hearts clench at the name, another death he caused. "Lady President. She was presiding over Gallifrey when - "

Jack reaches out a hand when The Doctor stops talking, his dark eyes unreadable in the muted light of the TARDIS. He can feel her mourning, a sad, lonely presence in the back of his mind. He's glad The Doctor takes his hand.

"When the Last Great Time War began. She tried to negotiate peace with the Daleks." The Doctor snorts. "Peace with Daleks. Never."

"No need to worry now. There's none left," Jack says in what he hopes is a comforting way. It's rare The Doctor opens up to him. That's more Rose's thing.

"So E-space," The Doctor says, pulling his hand back and getting to his feet. "It's a beautiful universe, slightly greenish, but otherwise a lot like home."

"Like Gallifrey?" Jack gets up as well, leaning against the console as The Doctor starts to push buttons and look at a monitor.

"Alzarius isn't the same," The Doctor stops moving. "I wonder if it's even there any longer."

Neither of them say anything as the TARDIS seems to pulse with bitter fear. Another possible loss. An entire universe this time. There isn't time right now. Too much to do in this universe to hold it together. There's only them. One Time Lord and one TARDIS to patrol all of time and space and keep it from unraveling around them.

Someday he'll check on E-space, but not right now.

"Where shall we go, Jack?" The Doctor looks at him, giving him a chance to change the subject.

Jack smiles a little, flashing an impossible grin to let The Doctor know it's over and done with. E-space and more importantly Romana and Gallifrey isn't going to be mentioned again by him.

"I've always wanted to visit Ancient Japan."

Prompt:



Tosh ran a hand through her tangled hair, feeling lost among the police officers milling around the crime scene. She knew that she'd eventually have to talk to one of them, but Jack seemed to be refusing to let his people talk. All the evidence the police needed was inside the cottages behind her.

Against one of the stone walls of the farmhouse was a picnic table, looking out of place in it's newness. Ianto was sitting there, looking dazed and as lost as she felt. Tosh wended her way through the crowd to the table, her eyes on the cut clotting on Ianto's throat.

"You might as well sit," Ianto said, his voice hoarse. He looked over at her, his eyes red-rimmed and his mouth turned down.

Tosh sat next to him, her hand tentatively hovering above his arm before Ianto reached over and took her hand in his. He squeezed gently, giving her a tired smile. She reached up to wipe away the dried blood on his neck, surprised that he wasn't pulling away.

"Is there anything you need?" he asked.

"Retcon."

"That can be arranged if you're serious," Ianto said, turning to look over at Jack who was watching them with a guarded expression. "He always has some."

Tosh slid closer to Ianto, letting him pull her close. She sank against him, her eyes closed. "I don't think I'm serious. Ask me again tomorrow."

Ianto rested his cheek against her filthy hair, his eyes closing as well. There wasn't anything either of them could do to make this better, to make the upcoming nightmares go away. But right now they didn't have to be alone, lost in the crowd.

Prompt: "Happiness is nonetheless true happiness, nor do thought and love lose their value if they are not everlasting." (Bertrand Russell)



The Doctor thrust his hands into his pockets, leaning back on his heels as he looked over the Cardiff skyline. The small transport crafts were buzzing through the air just above them, cutting through the thick smog. Jack didn't seem to notice, standing sentinel over a failing city.

"So."

Jack looked over at The Doctor, his expression sad, the lines around his mouth cut deep. "So."

"You called me. I assume I'm here for a reason."

A fancy personal craft swooped low, the curved hull practically touching the roof they were standing on. Jack tilted his head to read the plates. "Bloody tourists."

"Still get a lot of them?"

"More than you'd expect considering Cardiff is unstable these days. The Rift is so active." Jack looked at his city before turning away to face The Doctor. "It's March 8th, 4367."

The Doctor wracked his brain, searching the strands of time to see what particular event lay in their path. The fall of Mernasus on Argos II was coming up but he couldn't see why Jack would care about that. Nor the start of the harvest season on Belar. He hummed softly to himself, tugging lightly on time to see what Jack would b -

"Cardiff," The Doctor exhaled. "Three days from now."

Jack nodded. "I'm ready to go. I don't want to watch the Rift explode and take away my city."

The Doctor threw his arm over Jack's shoulders, drawing him away from the edge of the roof and towards the familiar blue police box. Jack went with him, picking up a duffel bag thrown near the lift.

"She was a good city," Jack murmured, one hand on the doorframe as he gazed one last time on the city of Cardiff. "I won't forget her."

"No reason to. You know as well as I do that you don't forget what you love."

Jack exhaled, resting his forehead against The Doctor's shoulder. Sirens could be heard through the general noise and the building they were on trembled beneath their feet. Jack thought about green fields and pinstriped suits, barmaids wearing corsets and hovercars, team after team and saying goodbye. He really hated saying goodbye.

"Until next time."

And with that Jack stepped into the TARDIS, leaving behind 2500 years of loyal service to a city living its last moments unaware.

So far I've gotten 3 prompts done and have 9 more to work on. I still need 17 14 13 more prompts for the November Challenge!

If you're interested in giving me a prompt head over to this entry to see what it's all about!

Pleeeeease?

I'm not giving the prompt for this one. You'll get it by the end. Thanks misswinterhill!


It started with a snicker. Just a little snicker from Gwen's desk. Ianto paused in his rounds, but didn't think it was really worth worrying about. He retrived Owen's coffee mug and headed back to the kitchen to wash up before going down to the archives. While working on the stubborn sugar dried at the bottom of Gwen's mug, he felt a strange shiver go down his spine. It was slightly better than impending doom, but much worse than new tie day.

Ianto brushed it off, thinking that maybe there was a chill in the Hub. He picked up Jack's mug, peering at it oddly. It almost looked like Jack had sharpened his pencil into the mug without thinking.

He frowned deeply at that, thinking mean thoughts and about how much Jack hated decaf and how long it took him to realize he had been switched to it. Pencil shavings in a coffee mug deserved decaf.

When he turned off the water, he swore he heard music. And more laughter.

Ianto dried his hands, tentatively drawing his gun.One could never be sure when working for Torchwood. Laughter and music could mean the Hub was compromised by something or someone. Possibly The Doctor.

Owen was the first person he saw, sitting forward in his chair laughing and managing to look confused at the same time. That didn't make Ianto feel any more confident about what he was facing.

Tosh, Gwen, and Jack dancing around the Hub, singing "Never Gonna Give Up" was not what he was expecting.

And frankly a lot scarier than being compromised so he just went back to the kitchen and contemplated boiling his eyeballs to get rid of *that* particular image.

Prompt: So damn tragic, so fantastic


"Koschei!"

Koschei ran through the grass, his mind swirling like the Vortex he had once seen, drums pounding in his head. He didn't care who saw him, didn't care that Theta Sigma was again forced to chase after his friend. It was always Theta Sigma, the only one of them with a sense of morality in the face of their power.

Ushas once said that Thete was too human to be at the Academy, but Magnus had shushed her before anyone heard. It wasn't a secret that Thete hadn't been loomed. Koschei had known him as the half-human before he knew him as Theta Sigma. Thete was also their friend, one of the Deca. They were going to be the glory of Gallifrey.

The grass was cool against Koschei's face and he rolled onto his back, looking up at the silver leaves above him. The drums receeded slightly and he saw Thete leaning over him, one hand on Koschei's face, tapping gently.

"Koschei," Thete murmured. "Where were you, Kosch? You went running off again."

"So damn tragic," Koschei exhaled, his eyes fluttering shut again. "So fantastic, Thete."

"I suppose so. Though I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

Theta Sigma sounded weary to Koschei's ears even as he tugged Koschei's head onto his lap, stroking a gentle hand through his hair. Koschei murmured and turned his face into Theta Sigma's body. He would never let anyone know, especially Theta Sigma, that the drumming grew quieter when Theta Sigma was protecting him from the rest of the universe.






Legend:
Koschei = The Master
Theta Sigma = The Doctor
Ushas = The Rani
Magnus = The War Chief

Prompt





"This is really a brilliant loo," The Doctor exclaimed, crouching down to inspect the phone on the wall. "Who calls people while they're on the toilet?"

"Lots of people," Martha said, looking scared as she shushed him. "Be quiet or else they'll find us."

"At least we've reading material." The Doctor began to flip through the magazines, exclaiming when he found a copy of Heat. "I love Heat!"

Martha sat down on the closed toilet lid, looking around the small space. It was a nice bathroom, clean and decent-smelling. All in all, they'd hid in worse places. She could only hope they wouldn't be found anytime soon.

"Did you know that Jordan is pregnant?" The Doctor asked in an excited whisper.

Martha raised an eyebrow, before leaning over to read over his shoulder. "How is that attractive? They both look like plastic."

The Doctor tilted his head, frowning. "No, I destroyed all of the living plastic. Well, I destroyed the Nestene Consciousness that was controlling the living plastic."

"Quiet." Martha said, thwaping him on the shoulder. "And turn the page."

"Martha? Are you in here?"

Martha froze as did The Doctor, both of them wide-eyed in fear. The Doctor felt his nose tickle and he started to make faces to stop from sneezing.

'What are you doing?' Martha mouthed at him.

He pointed at his nose, still making faces. She rolled her eyes, exasperated. The footsteps started up again, heading towards the exit when he couldn't help it and sneezed loudly. The Doctor yelped as he lost his balance, grabbing at Martha wildly and pulling her to the ground in a heap.

The door flew open and Francine Jones looked at both of them in anger. "What do you think you're doing, young lady?"

Martha held up the magazine sheepishly. "Catching up on gossip?"

so i was thinking of trying to post once a day in november, but i seriously doubt that is going to happen. especially since i already missed the first day. plus this will help me write some more since i really blew my wad for the year on Kerry Hill.

here's my plan to make me post

1. various people leave prompts in the form of images, music, words, lines from books, etc.

2. i write something torchwood or dr. who related for each one in no particular order. the length is at my own discretion. it could be a real drabble (you know, 100 words exactly) or it could be 1000 words. i reserve the right to hold onto anything that turns longer from a prompt, but i will still post something shorter for that prompt.

3. i post one every day.

so i need 29 prompts. please? even if it's not your fandom but you miss seeing me post for whatever reason. :)