Hitting the Ground Running: Chapter Forty-Seven
Title: Hitting the Ground Running
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: Adult.
Pairing: Primarily Jack/Ianto, with other secondary pairings mentioned.
Chapter: 47/47
Word Count: 2409
Total Fic Word Count: 155,880
Summary: AU. Majorly AU. Ianto Jones first encountered Torchwood as a teenager trying to leave his old life behind. However, when Torchwood Three gets rather violently restructured at the start of the millennium, he’s got a new assignment in Cardiff. The only thing he wasn’t prepared for was his new boss.
Disclaimer: At the end, it’s…still not mine. Hmm. But I had fun with the characters while it lasted!!!
Chapter Forty-Seven
In Which New Assignments are Handed Out, Time Goes On, and Ianto Tries Something New
“But I don’t understand,” Jack looked at the ruins of the Hub, perplexed. “That bomb had a blast radius deep enough to destroy everything in here. How is it that only the main floor and everything above it is gone?”
“Remember the Time Lock?” Tosh asked, and Jack nodded slowly. “Well, I’ve been working on it, and that’s what I was doing on the computer before Owen pulled me away. I obviously couldn’t lock anything from where we were up to the surface or we wouldn’t have been able to escape, so unfortunately the computers and…your office, and your autopsy bay and hothouse, Owen, and…”
“The coffee maker,” Ianto sighed. “I’ll have to get another one.”
“Right,” Tosh gave him a good-natured smile. “Regardless, I set the Time Lock to engage on everything below where we were, so the archives and everything else are completely intact.”
“Toshiko, you little genius!” Jack hugged her heartily, and she squeaked before patting him on the back. “It’s not ideal, and we’ve still lost a lot, but it’s not nearly as bad as it could have been. We’ll rebuild, and until then we can set up a temporary base at our place, right?” Jack looked at Ianto, who nodded.
“Right. Well, I’ll start looking into the best construction company to hire,” Tosh nodded.
“Oh,” Andy cleared his throat. “I’ve…spoken to my superiors at the police headquarters, and they seem to believe that since it was an emergency, and since I was helping you and you’re all pretty much international heroes at this point that I still have my job.”
“Well,” Jack shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me, really. If you want to go back, go back.”
“Jack’s being an idiot again,” Ianto glared at his lover before turning back to Andy. “Andy, what he’s trying to say is, you can go back if you wish, but we’d really love to have you on board.”
“You…you still want me on the team?”
“Of course we do,” Gwen took his arm and smiled at him.
“Well,” he cleared his throat, looking around nervously. “I mean, I don’t really see how I can go back now, knowing what I know.”
“Excellent,” Ianto turned to Jack and looked at him seriously, and Jack sighed.
“Right. I’ll officially welcome you to the team, Andy,” he nodded, and Andy smiled at him.
“Now that that’s settled, let’s figure this out,” Jack looked at all of them. “Tosh; Owen, you two are in charge of figuring out what exactly is salvageable in the base. Ianto?”
“Sir?”
“You know the archives better than anybody, so once we clear a path down there I want you to see if everything’s okay,” Jack instructed.
“Will do, sir.”
“Andy, you and I will head to the station to see if we can’t get them to transfer you over to us, and as for the two of you…” he turned to Gwen and Rhys. “Go home and rest. You’re off field duty until the baby comes. And don’t argue,” he held up a hand as Gwen opened her mouth to protest. “Rhys wouldn’t have it any other way, I’m sure.”
“He’s right, love,” Rhys nodded.
“Fine,” Gwen sighed.
“Okay, people, let’s get to work,” Jack ordered, spinning around. “Andy, with me.”
“Right,” Andy trotted after him as Owen sighed.
“Doesn’t take him long to start runnin’ things like a slave-driver again, does it?”
“You wouldn’t have it any other way,” Tosh hooked her arm through his and gestured with her head. “Come on, let’s start getting this place back in order.”
“What’s tea-boy gonna do?”
“Tea-boy is going to request you stop calling him that, because it’s getting old,” Ianto said good-naturedly. “And I’ll give the two of you a hand until Jack gets back.”
“We’re going to head home. I’ll probably stop in tomorrow and see if Jack will let me do anything,” Gwen waved at them as Rhys took her hand and the two of them headed away from the Bay.
Ianto returned her wave, starting to head toward the rubble when he heard the now-familiar sound of the TARDIS materializing, so he figured it would be best to wait.
“Ianto!”
He held out his hands to stop Amy as she barreled toward him, and somehow ended up not falling on his rear as she slammed into his body.
“That…bloody…Doctor,” she growled, and he wondered briefly what that was all about.
“I’m glad you’re alright,” Rory was following at a much more reserved pace as he walked up. “Amy, you’re crushing him.”
“Sorry,” Amy let go and gave him a smile. “But he told us about…how you had to make a choice that could kill you, and…and then he just left without telling us anything and the next thing we knew we were in Barbados.”
“He tends to be like that,” Ianto muttered under his breath. “Regardless, we’re all fine.”
“And we’re glad,” Rory assured him.
“Want to come over to mine for a while?” Ianto offered, feeling bad about leaving Tosh and Owen on their own but wanting to be a good host.
“What’re you up to here?” Amy asked. “The Doctor’s doing some repairs, so we’ll probably be here until nightfall.”
“Just trying to salvage what we can,” Ianto explained.
“Can we help? The more hands, the better, right?” Amy asked, and Ianto found himself nodding.
“That’d be great, if you don’t mind.”
“As long as we get treated to supper and a pot of your coffee afterward, we don’t mind at all. Do we, Rory?” she turned to her husband, who rapidly shook his head.
“That’s settled, then,” Ianto started to lead them back toward the heap of rocks that stood where the Hub used to be, wondering what he could salvage from the ruins.
000
“So, everything’s decided, then?”
“Yup, Andy’s officially on the team,” Jack hung up his coat in the front closet and moved into the flat, plopping himself on the sofa and leaning his head back. “I’m exhausted.”
“Then go to sleep,” Ianto turned the coffee maker on. Rory and Amy had left only a few minutes before Jack himself had walked in, so he thought a fresh pot was in order.
“Mm, I was thinking first coffee to wake me up and then we’d have a little celebration,” Jack was staring at him through half-lidded eyes, and Ianto turned to lean back against the counter.
“But coffee first?”
“Mr. Jones, are you implying that I can’t control myself long enough to drink a cup of coffee?” Jack asked in mock-horror, and Ianto turned as the machine beeped, reaching for a cup.
“I don’t know, sir. Am I?” Ianto asked vaguely, pouring out the coffee and crossing over to Jack in order to hand him the drink. “Here you are, sir.”
“Thanks,” Jack took it gratefully and sipped at it, patting the seat beside him as Ianto sat himself down. “How goes it at the Hub?”
“Tosh was right about the Time Lock,” Ianto informed him. “Everything under the main level seems to be intact, so it looks like we haven’t lost any artifacts or information and most of our electronic data was stored on the external server regardless.”
“And we’re all alive,” Jack said quietly, and Ianto wasn’t going to comment on how Jack had said this several times in the last couple of days. He knew that Jack would have been broken if any of them had died in this, especially himself, and he wasn’t saying that to sound in any way conceited; it was just a fact.
“Yes,” Ianto drank his coffee slowly, watching Jack out of the corner of his eye. The older man looked weary, and Ianto finished off the coffee before standing and taking Jack’s hand. “Come on, sir. I believe we have an engagement to attend to in the bedroom.”
“I like the way you think,” Jack allowed Ianto to help him up before he curled his arm around Ianto’s waist and tugged him in, pressing a kiss into his hair. “Lead on, then.”
“With pleasure,” Ianto replied as he tugged Jack toward the bedroom.
000
“Well, if I have to say one thing, it’s that I much prefer this to the warehouse floor,” Ianto’s breathy laugh turned into a groan as Jack stroked deeply into him, and he clutched at Jack’s shoulders, trying to change the angle of his thrusts slightly.
“Mm, I dunno, it was kinda romantic,” Jack replied, shifting and complying with Ianto’s unspoken request.
Yes, if you consider taking that…chance that you’ll be walked in on…romantic, Ianto’s thoughts came in short bursts, and that more than anything told Jack that he was close.
Adds to the thrill.
Yes, I forgot that sex as a public affair isn’t anything you’ll shy away from, Ianto sounded sarcastic and Jack bent to kiss him, continuing to keep up a smooth rhythm as Ianto gasped into his mouth. Jack smirked, stroking Ianto quickly with one hand now that he was right on the edge. God, Jack, gonna…
“Yeah,” Jack agreed, and Ianto looked right into his eyes.
Together?
Jack only nodded, breaking eye contact as his eyes squeezed shut and he came, barely registering the feeling of Ianto’s cum running down his hand. He started to pull out, but he was surprised when Ianto set a hand on his back and kept him in place.
“Stay.”
“But you hate it when I do,” Jack protested, wondering what Ianto was doing.
“I know, but just…stay.”
“Okay,” Jack kissed him softly, gently lowering himself so his full weight wasn’t on Ianto, and regarded him carefully. “What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing. I just…I think the fact that I almost died is finally catching up with me,” Ianto leant his head back and sighed, his fingers tracing meaningless patterns over Jack’s shoulder-blades.
“Don’t think about it.”
“You’ve been talking about it excessively since it happened,” Ianto countered, but Jack shook his head.
“I know. I’ll stop if you do.”
“That’s utterly juvenile, sir.”
“Yeah, but it’s going to work, isn’t it?” Jack smiled at him and Ianto rolled his eyes, unable to deny that he was right.
“It is,” he finally answered. “And…now it’s getting uncomfortable. Off,” he ordered gently, and Jack sighed in exasperation before complying and heading to the washroom to get a cloth.
000
After that, life became almost boringly normal for a time. The Rift had apparently exhausted itself dealing with the 456 and as such the team’s biggest task for a long time was merely getting the Hub back in working order, which happened in fits and starts but eventually started to look like the base they were all used to.
“Some days you just long for a Weevil attack,” Owen muttered, staring around the coffee shop.
“Maybe you do,” Gwen glared at him, sipping at her herbal tea. The ‘no caffeine’ thing was hitting her hard and while her pregnancy seemed to have mellowed her in some ways, she seemed to have a personal vendetta against Owen for that particular rule.
“You have to admit, Owen, that the peace and quiet is a nice change,” Tosh put a hand on his arm and gave him a placating smile.
“Yeah, yeah,” Owen shrugged, not pressing the subject.
“I have to admit, I always thought working for you lot would be non-stop adventure, but so far I think we get more action on a Saturday night down at the station,” Andy had to put in, and Owen opened his mouth to counter before a pointed glance from Tosh made him close it.
“Topic change,” Gwen announced, patting her now-visible baby bump. “Do you lot think there’s any way that Jack will reconsider his rules for me? I mean, sitting in front of a computer all day cataloguing artifacts is bloody boring. No offense, Ianto,” she said quickly, and Ianto shrugged.
“None taken. Some people don’t like it.”
“Nobody likes it, mate,” Owen said, his face completely serious, and Ianto leant back in his chair and refused to rise to his bait.
Ianto?
“Hang on a sec, Jack’s calling,” Ianto grabbed his coffee and headed out of the restaurant, hearing Owen muttering about ‘bloody telepathy’ again.
“Sir?”
“Ianto!” Jack rushed over to him. “Got a message on this,” Jack held up his wrist and Ianto groaned.
“Oh, dear Lord, he’s not back, is he?”
“World tour must be done,” Jack winked. “So?”
“He’s not still asking for that threesome?” Ianto rubbed his temples irritably. Would that man never stop?
“I just…” Jack looked around as if collecting his thoughts before he spoke. “I love you. I think you know that. And I know you love me, so…if you were refraining because of me, I…”
“No, Jack, that wasn’t it,” Ianto assured him. “You spent five years probably shagging like rabbits, so I was hardly afraid you’d turn him down. I just…I’m not the type of person that would normally go for something like that.”
“Just wondering,” Jack said vaguely, but Ianto knew that he’d somehow hurt the man’s feelings.
“Jack?”
“Yes?”
“Do you want to do it?”
“I’d never do it if you didn’t want to,” Jack said, far too quickly, and Ianto heaved a sigh and decided that, with everything he’d been through, this could hardly be the strangest thing he’d done (and he wasn’t going to deny that Captain Hart was attractive, as mentally unstable as he sometimes seemed to be. He was an excellent kisser, too, but he was never going to admit that aloud).
“So if I agreed, you would as well?”
“Yes,” Jack moved to grip his shoulders and Ianto nodded and, for once, gave a completely impulsive and probably irrational answer.
“Then get a hold of him and tell him okay.”
“You’re serious?”
“Why not?” Ianto yelped as Jack pulled him into a fierce hug and tried not to spill his coffee.
“You won’t regret it. He’s incredible,” Jack assured him, and Ianto realized with a bit of a start that John didn’t make him feel threatened in the slightest. He knew Jack wasn’t going to leave him, so where was the harm, really?
“I’d gathered that. And besides,” Ianto kissed him softly before pulling away and heading back into the restaurant. “Maybe he can teach me a few tricks.”
Jack’s ringing laughter followed him back into the café, and he smiled as he headed back to the table and proceeded to enjoy his coffee.
~Fin~
Notes:
Well, folks, that’s all she wrote. A humongous, HUMONGOUS thank-you to everybody who’s helped me along in this fic and given me encouragement by reviewing and commenting and generally being so positive. This was my first foray into Torchwood and I love how welcoming the fandom has been, so I hope to be back soon (I’m actually a few chapters into a new fic at the moment, so if I can get a few more chapters pounded out I’ll start posting that one!).
Once again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, and I hope you all enjoyed this short-but-turned-into-an-epic fic. This was the longest fic I’ve ever written and I’ve been working on it for about ten months, so it’s been quite a trip all in all!
Love you all ^_^!
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