Title: That Went Well...
By: Jessie Blackwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: NC-17
Warning: ongoing series. Explicit for adult theme. Alpha/Beta/Omega universe, mpreg and possible knotting (not decided yet) in future chapters.
Disclaimer: Characters owned by RTD and the BBC. I don't own any of it, except maybe the idea for the story, etc. etc. etc., no infringement of copyright intended, no money being made, etc, etc. Any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Series: 1) Unfamiliar Ground
Summary: In the 51st century Jack joined the Time Agency to avoid his fate as an Omega. Now on Earth in the 21st century, he inhabits in a world before humans have evolved into Alphas, Betas and Omegas. Until he meets a certain Welshman, that is, and realizes that everything is beginning to change. Well, it is the 21st Century.

***

"Where would I go, Jack?" Ianto was panicked. "This isn't fair. You're asking me to accept that I'm a… what did you call it? An Alpha? Makes me sound like a wolf. And what the fuck are you talking about with this stuff about being a father? Do I want to have kids with you?" Ianto was nonplussed. "What the fuck am I supposed to say to this? And you, just look at you, you're like a cat, fawning all over me..." He tried to stand away, and a look of hurt crossed Jack's face. "I can't do this! What's more, it isn't fair of you to face me with this and expect me to be okay about it! I'm not an automaton, Jack. I have feelings."

"So do I. I've suppressed those feelings for more than half a century. Come back when you're 130 and tell me you find it hard..."

"Not fair, Jack," Ianto snapped, calling him out again. "You insist on not being fair. You've had 130 years to get used to this, I haven't." Ianto pulled away, looking panicked. "I tell you what, Jack. I'll come back in a few days, when you're over this thing. Then we can talk, rationally and sensibly. I'll have had a few days to think this through and you... you'll be less emotional and...I dunno, whatever it is you're experiencing with this. Okay? Okay. This is me, going home..." He sketched a wave and dashed out, followed by Tosh and Gwen's curious stares and the cog door rolling shut on his departure. Stunned into inaction by Ianto's outburst, Jack just sat there, trying to process what had happened.

"Well done, Jack. That went well."

"Shut up, Owen."

"Fine, fine. Just remember who makes sure you can suppress those heats of yours enough to make them bearable. Now, accept that you royally fucked up there with the Tea Boy and get yourself into your bunker. As of tomorrow, you are officially in London for that top secret summit meeting..."

0o0o0o0o0

The knock on Ianto's front door later that night was a surprise. Nobody visited him, except his neighbour, Mrs Pollitti, and the old partially-deaf Polish lady wasn't wont to visit him at nearly midnight. "Open up, Tea Boy, I know you're not asleep yet and there's a cat out here that is eyeing me suspiciously..." The door opened and a rather wild-eyed Ianto greeted him.

"Owen? What the fuck are you doing here at this time?"

"Can I come in and tell you? It's a bit nippy out here..." Torchwood's MO stepped gratefully inside as Ianto rolled his eyes predictably and stepped aside to give him access. The warmth of the living room was welcome and Owen threw his jacket on the back of a chair and slumped into the seat with a sigh. "Any coffee?" he asked hopefully and Ianto couldn't help but smile at the wistful expression. Owen rarely did wistful.

"Sure, yes, gimme a minute." Ianto disappeared into his kitchen. "So how is our illustrious leader?" he called without enthusiasm. Owen huffed a small sigh.

"He's infuriating, exasperating and irritating. He can be a royal pain in the arse, he acts like a first class bastard and a crass idiot and then goes and saves the world." Ianto chuckled as Owen appeared in the kitchen door, hands thrust deeply into his pockets and a weary smile in place.

"And how on earth can we get angry with a guy like that? I know..." He presented Owen with a mug of caffeine exactly as he liked it and smiled at the doctor. Owen sipped, sighed, and smiled.

"Jack was...upset, that you acted like that. I can't blame you though. He was a bit of a twat, facing you with all of that all at once."

"He wasn't joking that day then? He can have babies?"

"Oh yeah, uterus and everything." Ianto looked shocked.

"But that isn't biologically possible."

"Actually it is. A long time in our future, the human race begins to die out, apparently because we start to turn infertile. So geneticists started to look to other races for the solution. There's a whole module in 51st Century history lessons which deal with the riots and the rights groups that sprang up in the wake of it all."

"Is that what happened to Jack?"

"He was born much later when all that was history to him. We were interbred with other races, particularly those who had males who could bear kids as well as the females. The Scientists worked out the best way to combat the infertility was to allow men as well as women to breed. Trouble was the geneticists seem to have gone a bit far. Christ, and we're worried about genetically modified crops. We changed, became ruled by a kind of class system. Alphas were the cleverest, strongest and most dominant and some were even psionic. Omegas were the baby producers and the bottom of the pecking order. Betas were your ordinary bods in the street..."

"Like you, you mean?" Ianto snarked.

"Hey, watch it., Tea Boy. I'm a born Alpha, I am, mate." Owen took a gulp of coffee, grinned, then clapped him on the shoulder. "Now it seems you're one for real. Not sure whether to be sorry for you or envious."

"I don't know what to do." Ianto sipped his own coffee and stared off into the middle distance, eyes unfocused. "I mean, he's being unfair. It's not my fault I'm a prototype Alpha...Owen, Torchwood is my life, what will I do without it?"

"You're going to leave then?" Owen was surprised. "I didn't figure you'd back out like that. You seemed pretty hung up on our good captain."

"I am. Not sure Torchwood is the place to bring up a baby though, is it? And I'm mortal. Even if its mother can't die, its father can."

"Well, I'm not going to advise you either way. I came to check that you were okay because he asked me to. You are, so job done. I'll get off home. Ta for the coffee."

"You could crash on the sofa, or in the spare room if you like. It's late..."

"Nah, not that late. I'll call a cab. G'night Ianto. See you tomorrow. Jack is locked in his bunker, you'll be safe...Although... maybe it might be best if you don't, on second thought. You'd react to his scent too much and he might pick up on yours. The others are not privvy to this, so no, do us all a favour and stay away. Come back on Thursday, it should be safe by then." Ianto nodded agreement and saw the doctor to the door.

"Stay out of trouble," Ianto suggested as Owen walked away.

"You too, Tea Boy."

0o0o0o0o0

Jack lay in a haze of exhaustion on his bunk under the sealed hatch of his bunker, aware that this heat was the worst since Owen had begun synthesizing the suppressant for him five years previously. Owen had since refined it, but he lacked the two major ingredients he needed to make it work perfectly. It was better than nothing but Jack had needed twice as much as the last time for it to come anywhere near success and he feared that next time, he would need too much to make taking it safe. If Ianto didn't agree to his suggestion, if he didn't want to be bound to Jack, or want their babies, then frankly, Jack had no clue what to do. He had no desire to go back to suffering a full-blown heat without either the drugs or a willing Alpha to help him ride the fierce waves of want and need and bring him out the other side with his sanity, not to mention his body, intact.

The Doctor had been there last time, easily able to synthesize the required hormone suppressant that he needed to subdue the beast, as the doctor had put it. John had been there before that, back when they were paired off in the Time Agency, when they had been stuck in the time bubble that John swore lasted five years and Jack knew lasted only two, because he knew he had heats every six months. He had suffered four of them in their time there because he ran out of suppressants a few months into their forced sojourn. So far, in this time, on this earth, there was only one Alpha and Ianto was it. If he refused, and really Jack could not blame him if he did, then there was no one else. His immortality couldn't protect him either. He couldn't simply die and reset himself. This was part of him, not something acquired by accident since he had become immortal. He couldn't die to shed it. He had to suffer the heat through and pine for someone and something he couldn't have. God, it was going to be a miserable few days.

***

Next story in series - Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law.