m_findlow

Title: Family entanglements
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 520 - Lineage at slashthedrabble
Summary: Jack's family tree is complicated for more reasons than one.

'Have you ever traced you family tree, Jack?' Ianto asked as they lounged on the hub's sofa, enjoying the peace now that everyone else had gone home.

'Why? What's the point?'

'Well, I only mean, you say that all humans originated from Earth, right?'

'Yeah...' Jack replied slowly.

'So, doesn't that mean that your ancestors came from Earth?'

'I suppose it does.'

'And you never wondered, in all the time you've live here, who they were?'

Jack squirmed next to him. 'More pressing matters on my plate.'

Ianto nodded, conceding the point, but still curious. 'But think about it. You're from three thousand years in the future. Your ancestors could be here right now and you don't even know who they are. Wouldn't you want to know?'

'Again I ask, why?'

'Well...' Ianto tried to come up with a reasoned argument, 'because aren't we the product of the people that came before us? Don't you want to know who they are, what they do?'

'Ianto, I've left enough broken hearts around the place, ex-lovers, ex-husband's, ex-wives...'

'Multiple?'

'Oh yeah, and kids.' Jack turned to face him. 'Does that shock you?'

Ianto shrugged. 'Not so much. Inevitable I suppose when you've lived that long.'

Jack sighed, leaning back. 'Anyway, I've made a mess of their lives. Some of them even hate me for it. So tell me, if I went and told someone I was their future issue hundreds of generations in the future, how do you think they'd react?'

Ianto paused and mulled over the question. 'I don't know.'

'And,' Jack continued, 'assuming they'd welcome me with open arms, what's to say I won't screw it up? Timelines are tricky things. One wrong move and you can mess up everything.'

Ianto frowned. 'Aren't you already, just by being here? Okay, that didn't come out quite how I meant it,' he said, rushing out an apology for his choice of words.

Jack squeezed his knee. 'I know what you meant. Look, the future has already happened for me. It's happening right now. Anything I do right here, right now could end up wiping me from existence like that,' he said, clicking his fingers.

'Isn't that a paradox, though? You can't do something that erases you from history because you wouldn't be there to make it happen.'

'Exactly. Now you're starting to understand. The past is the past. It has its own set of rules. We shouldn't try to fix it or change it, we should just let it be.'

'But that doesn't mean you couldn't simply find out who they are. You don't have to meet them or spend Christmas with them.'

'And yet once I know who they are, you think I'll be able to not interfere? To not keep an eye on them and step in if I think they're in danger?'

Ianto snorted. 'A bit melodramatic, don't you think?'

'Trust me, Ianto,' Jack said, giving him a firm look. 'Sometimes you just have to live with not knowing.'