The Man Who Complicated the Time Weave
For Ianto's canonical information, please click here.
Canon Divergence
Ianto Jones is at the epicenter of a massive Space-Time event, known as a Time Line Convergence, due to his dual (if accidental) association with a TARDIS and the Cardiff Rift. Like that of River Song and the Doctor, his personal time line does not flow in a linear manner in relation to anyone else even if it appears to.
No one realized this, not even he, until the Doctor did when she and Jack ended up at the very end of the 456 incident and upon looking on him discovered it...
No one realized this, not even he, until the Doctor did when she and Jack ended up at the very end of the 456 incident and upon looking on him discovered it...
The Influence of a Time Lady
Until he met the Doctor Ianto cannot say how he survived Canary Wharf when others did not. All he knew was that something or someone protected him and the half-converted Lisa. After Lisa's "death" at the hands of his own team, Ianto was angry and upset. It was then, while on suspension from Torchwood, that he met another woman by the name of Autumn Clarke. He wasn't ready for another relationship but was more than willing to have a compassionate shoulder and listening ear.
He realized that he had known, in his mind, that Lisa had been gone for at least a year even if his heart would not accept it. Autumn, who was -- as she explained it -- also not ready for a relationship due to a rather messy separation from her husband due to his abandonment of her and their two sons who were both in boarding school at a prestigious Academy... or so she explained it. It was as close to the truth as she could say, and his explanation of Lisa's death was as close to the truth as he could say.
It was a bond in half-truths, but the intent was honest and they both knew it.
When Ianto's suspension ended, but his distrust of Jack continued, he and Autumn continued their friendship becoming closer and closer as time went on. Eventually they became more than friends, but less than lovers. This was in part to Ianto's own sense of propriety as well as what seemed to be a 'cultural block' on hers.
Eventually, the non-intimate relationship grew to a mutual trust and Ianto finally confided in her on where he worked and what they did as well as his part in it. He was surprised to note her sudden aloofness, but attributed it to his 'half-truths'. He was right, but it was also in part to hers.
Finally, their relationship was discovered by Jack when she brought Ianto lunch in the tourist's center. Jack followed the couple back to Ianto's home where he heard Ianto tell Autumn openly and honestly about his day, only leaving the gory bits out... but still far too much of the classified and secret parts.
When Ianto came into work the next morning, Jack adamantly insisted that either Ianto use retcon on Autumn or he would. Ianto refused, but then came around and asked Jack to do it as Ianto couldn't do it and could not bear losing what made their relationship special. That very night Jack came home with Ianto and formally met Autumn, and the two didn't get along. Jack used the retcon, slipping it into her wine, without guilt and watched as she fell asleep in Ianto's arms on the couch. Ianto asked Jack to leave, saying that he would prefer her to awaken without the stranger in his home.
The next morning she awoke, and Ianto tried to play it all off like the wine had gone to her head.
He was surprised when she angrily told him that she didn't appreciate being drugged, especially with memory-altering drugs. Being put to sleep she could live with, but in her culture, memory wiping or altering is a capitol offense. Ianto was blown away and, stunned, asked her how she knew.
It was then she revealed why she had been so disturbed with Torchwood's mission -- she wasn't human although what he sees is what she truly looks like. Her species evolved and coincidentally enough the two species look enough alike to pass for each other. Her home planet was none other than Gallifrey, making her Gallifreyan and more than that; she was also a Time Lord and while "Clarke" wasn't her real surname, Autumn is as close to the real translation of her name in his tongue as she could get and therefore is her name for all intents and purposes.
See the entry "Autumn" for more information.
Autumn then offered her human friend and companion a once in a lifetime opportunity -- the chance to travel with her for a time in her ship, called a TARDIS. Ianto immediately accepted, but asked to be given enough time to book vacation time. He then wasted no time in laying on the guilt with Jack over the retconning of Autumn (acting as if it had worked on her) and saying that one way to make it up to him would be to allow him some time. Jack gave him three weeks of paid vacation starting that day, which Ianto gratefully took.
Ianto then traveled, to Jack and Torchwood's perception, for three weeks but in reality Ianto would say it was closer to at least five or ten years, but he is reluctant to give an exact number.
After his return, Autumn would then leave, stating that she would someday return. Ianto went back to Torchwood right before Jack departed with the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones, starting what would become known as the Year That Never Was.
Autumn never returned and Ianto, if the 456 incident had proceeded according to canon with his death, would never have known what happened to her.
He realized that he had known, in his mind, that Lisa had been gone for at least a year even if his heart would not accept it. Autumn, who was -- as she explained it -- also not ready for a relationship due to a rather messy separation from her husband due to his abandonment of her and their two sons who were both in boarding school at a prestigious Academy... or so she explained it. It was as close to the truth as she could say, and his explanation of Lisa's death was as close to the truth as he could say.
It was a bond in half-truths, but the intent was honest and they both knew it.
When Ianto's suspension ended, but his distrust of Jack continued, he and Autumn continued their friendship becoming closer and closer as time went on. Eventually they became more than friends, but less than lovers. This was in part to Ianto's own sense of propriety as well as what seemed to be a 'cultural block' on hers.
Eventually, the non-intimate relationship grew to a mutual trust and Ianto finally confided in her on where he worked and what they did as well as his part in it. He was surprised to note her sudden aloofness, but attributed it to his 'half-truths'. He was right, but it was also in part to hers.
Finally, their relationship was discovered by Jack when she brought Ianto lunch in the tourist's center. Jack followed the couple back to Ianto's home where he heard Ianto tell Autumn openly and honestly about his day, only leaving the gory bits out... but still far too much of the classified and secret parts.
When Ianto came into work the next morning, Jack adamantly insisted that either Ianto use retcon on Autumn or he would. Ianto refused, but then came around and asked Jack to do it as Ianto couldn't do it and could not bear losing what made their relationship special. That very night Jack came home with Ianto and formally met Autumn, and the two didn't get along. Jack used the retcon, slipping it into her wine, without guilt and watched as she fell asleep in Ianto's arms on the couch. Ianto asked Jack to leave, saying that he would prefer her to awaken without the stranger in his home.
The next morning she awoke, and Ianto tried to play it all off like the wine had gone to her head.
He was surprised when she angrily told him that she didn't appreciate being drugged, especially with memory-altering drugs. Being put to sleep she could live with, but in her culture, memory wiping or altering is a capitol offense. Ianto was blown away and, stunned, asked her how she knew.
It was then she revealed why she had been so disturbed with Torchwood's mission -- she wasn't human although what he sees is what she truly looks like. Her species evolved and coincidentally enough the two species look enough alike to pass for each other. Her home planet was none other than Gallifrey, making her Gallifreyan and more than that; she was also a Time Lord and while "Clarke" wasn't her real surname, Autumn is as close to the real translation of her name in his tongue as she could get and therefore is her name for all intents and purposes.
See the entry "Autumn" for more information.
Autumn then offered her human friend and companion a once in a lifetime opportunity -- the chance to travel with her for a time in her ship, called a TARDIS. Ianto immediately accepted, but asked to be given enough time to book vacation time. He then wasted no time in laying on the guilt with Jack over the retconning of Autumn (acting as if it had worked on her) and saying that one way to make it up to him would be to allow him some time. Jack gave him three weeks of paid vacation starting that day, which Ianto gratefully took.
Ianto then traveled, to Jack and Torchwood's perception, for three weeks but in reality Ianto would say it was closer to at least five or ten years, but he is reluctant to give an exact number.
After his return, Autumn would then leave, stating that she would someday return. Ianto went back to Torchwood right before Jack departed with the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones, starting what would become known as the Year That Never Was.
Autumn never returned and Ianto, if the 456 incident had proceeded according to canon with his death, would never have known what happened to her.
The Time Lines Converge
When the Doctor and Jack returned into the 456 timeline and then saved Ianto, Ianto revealed that it wasn't the first time he had been on a TARDIS and finally told Jack the truth about Autumn.
They both noticed the Doctor's sudden silence, and the Doctor explained that Autumn was her paternal great-grandmother, and therefore the original Doctor's own mother... if they were speaking of the same Autumn and she suspected they were and that this very TARDIS had belonged to Autumn (and therefore was the very TARDIS that Ianto had traveled on). Jack was more shocked about this than Ianto as Ianto then laughed and said that therefore this very TARDIS had protected him during Canary Wharf as the TARDIS had known him and wanted to protect him. He may not have known it, but the TARDIS had.
Ianto would then travel on the TARDIS with Jack and the Doctor until meeting Autumn again, whom all were shocked to find had in fact survived the fall of Gallifrey through the actions of her grandson, and the current Doctor's father.
Once the events in Legacy: Love & War were resolved, Ianto decided to remain with Autumn on Earth and help her rebuild her people's former glory... or at least help them adjust while Jack and the Doctor left on the TARDIS.
They both noticed the Doctor's sudden silence, and the Doctor explained that Autumn was her paternal great-grandmother, and therefore the original Doctor's own mother... if they were speaking of the same Autumn and she suspected they were and that this very TARDIS had belonged to Autumn (and therefore was the very TARDIS that Ianto had traveled on). Jack was more shocked about this than Ianto as Ianto then laughed and said that therefore this very TARDIS had protected him during Canary Wharf as the TARDIS had known him and wanted to protect him. He may not have known it, but the TARDIS had.
Ianto would then travel on the TARDIS with Jack and the Doctor until meeting Autumn again, whom all were shocked to find had in fact survived the fall of Gallifrey through the actions of her grandson, and the current Doctor's father.
Once the events in Legacy: Love & War were resolved, Ianto decided to remain with Autumn on Earth and help her rebuild her people's former glory... or at least help them adjust while Jack and the Doctor left on the TARDIS.