Fic: The Sea After a Storm (34/?)
Title: The Sea After a Storm, Chapter 34
Rating: R
Warnings: None really, just don’t feel like changing the rating :)
Spoilers: Season Two thru To the Last Man (2x03)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to Helen Raynor for situations borrowed from To the Last Man. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which Ianto and the team get ready to unfreeze Tommy…
Notes: Hello, my lovelies! Sorry I missed Friday's post date. Two more layoffs at the firm plus two of my team (of three, you do the math) out for funerals this week made for an exhausted, sad, cranky button. But thanks to the wonderfulness of the best beta/friend/picker-upper ever (the lovely and talented thrace_adams), I have a chapter for you today. Previous chapters found here. Sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend thrace_adams for all the help and support; any mistakes are mine!
Previously on The Sea After a Storm:
Ianto and Jack had a little morning dalliance before coming to work…
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Thirty-Four
Jack and Ianto arrived at the Hub well before the others. Jack headed straight for his office to see if the temporal lock on the box that contained the final pieces of information for Tommy Brockless had opened while Ianto headed to the kitchen to start the coffee. He hummed happily to himself as he ground and measured and brewed, feeling as if he didn't even need a cup to start the morning. An hour with Jack is better than any caffeine jolt in the world, he thought, trying in vain to wipe what he knew was a very silly smile off his face.
Jack joined him in the kitchen just as the coffee finished brewing.
Ianto poured him a cup and asked, "Still locked?"
Nodding as he took a sip, Jack watched silently as Ianto poured another cup for himself. After he'd taken a drink, Jack stepped forward and kissed him thoroughly. Ianto clung to Jack with his free hand, his head spinning from the kiss. He was amazed that he didn't drop his cup altogether. Jack finally broke the kiss and stepped back with a wolfish grin.
"Wh-what was that for?" Ianto asked breathlessly. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you."
"I love the way coffee tastes in your mouth," Jack said.
Ianto swallowed hard. With a mischievous smile, he took another long drink from his mug and then looked up at Jack through his eyelashes. Jack groaned and claimed his mouth again. By the time the proximity alarm sounded, heralding Owen's arrival, Ianto found himself backed against the fridge, more than a little mussed, his cup of coffee decidedly cool.
"Morning," Owen called, slinging his bag onto his workstation before joining them in the kitchen. "Jack, I'll need about half hour to get everything prepped."
"Right," Jack replied, taking a sip of his coffee and then making a face. He moved to dump it in the sink and get a fresh cup as he spoke. "I need you ready for anything, especially if there's trouble. Tommy's too important to the future."
Owen rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. I just panicked that first time when it wasn't as simple as someone led me to believe. Last year went fine, right, Ianto?"
Ianto looked up from retying his tie and raised an eyebrow. "I don't really have a basis for comparison but everything seemed to go smoothly to me."
"See?" Owen topped off his coffee and gestured to the med bay with his mug. "Now, I'm gonna go down there and get ready and you can get back to snogging your tea-boy." He winked at Ianto as he walked away.
Ianto chuckled and glanced over at Jack who was staring at him with real concern on his face. Ianto shook his head. "It's fine, Jack," he said softly. He gave Jack a quick peck as he dumped his own cold coffee and poured himself some more.
It took a long moment, but Jack finally relaxed and let out a chuckle of his own, although his was tinged with sadness. "Just another one of those things that changed while I was gone," he said.
Ianto bit back the apology that immediately sprung to his lips. If they were ever going to move past everything that happened, they both needed to stop making excuses to each other. He looked at Jack and nodded. "At least this is a change for the better," he said lightly. "Unlike most of Gwen's redecorating. Tell me again why we can't move your desk back?"
With a shrug, Jack chuckled again and this time the sound was actual amusement. "It would hurt her feelings. Plus I have a feeling it would lead to a very, very long conversation."
Ianto tilted his head, considering. "Would it make a difference if I told you that I won't have sex on it while it's in front of the window?"
Jack choked on his coffee. "It might," he admitted as he coughed. "Are you saying if I move it back, I'd increase my chances?"
Ianto raised an eyebrow and gave Jack an enigmatic smile. "Only one way to find out," he said and walked over to his workstation, giving his hips an extra sway for Jack's benefit. He heard a smothered groan and a muttered curse as Jack headed for the med bay to check up on Owen and grinned to himself.
While Jack was conferring with Owen, Ianto took a few minutes to get his part of Tommy's defrosting sorted. As he arranged the various forms for Tommy's file on the appropriate clipboards for Owen, Ianto let his mind drift back to the first time he'd seen Tommy. He'd been brand new to Torchwood Three with barely a fortnight under his belt when he'd met Torchwood's oldest living resident. Ianto hadn't understood why everyone was so excited about what appeared to be an annual housekeeping task, but then he'd met Tommy himself. Don't know how he does it, Ianto thought as he walked down to the morgue. Time going by, only getting one day a year like some sort of human Brigadoon, not really living, just… waiting… waiting for his chance to save the world. Ianto programmed the number of Tommy's containment unit into the wall and waited patiently as the machinery ground to life.
Ianto remembered watching Tommy that day, unconcerned with his messianic destiny, chatting cheerfully with the entire team, making Tosh smile and flirt, even bringing Suzie out of her shell for a little while. Ianto couldn't understand how he could sacrifice everything - his family, all those years, his whole life - on the faith that it was the right thing to do. Ianto had asked him about it as Tommy was getting ready to go back to sleep…
"I don't know how you do it, year after year," Ianto said as he handed Tommy the light cotton trousers he wore under his cryo-suit. "I'd be scared to death."
"Oh, I get scared, especially when I first wake up out of it. But my father told me once that being brave isn't about not being scared. It's about being scared and doing the right thing anyway." Tommy shrugged and gave him a bright smile. "Guess it's just one more mission I have to be brave for. That's what I tell myself anyway. And the world's still here, right? So I must do okay. That's a comfort."
"True," Ianto said, sounding surprised. "I hadn't thought of it that way."
"Well, you're new," Tommy teased. "You've got ages to wrap your brain around all this stuff." He pulled on his cryo-suit and tugged up the zip before holding out his hand to shake. "It was nice meeting you, Ianto. See you tomorrow."
Ianto remembered Tommy's wink for days after they'd sealed him back up in his containment unit. He'd tried to tell Lisa about him, but she'd been uninterested in the story, in too much pain to appreciate the nobility of someone else's suffering. In the weeks that followed, Ianto had thought about Tommy a lot and he found himself looking forward to seeing him again.
The machinery behind the wall of doors stopped moving with a hiss of hydraulics. Ianto rested his hand over Door 007 for a moment and then pulled it open to verify that it was Tommy's containment unit. He readied the transport table and then headed back upstairs. Gwen showed up full of questions about Tommy and what they'd be doing. Tosh showed up last, an oddity in itself, and rather dressed up.
Ianto glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes to wake up Tommy, get him settled down and ready to eat. Should be just about right, Ianto thought with a smile. Last year, after seeing how ravenous Tommy was after the effects of the cryogenics wore off, Ianto had left a note in the file to remind himself to order a big breakfast. He'd talked to Marta down at the pub and arranged for a full English for eight to be delivered to the Tourist Office. The Hub just didn't have the facilities for much more than microwaving leftovers and the mere thought of how long the smell of frying bacon would linger made Ianto nauseated. This way Tommy got plenty to eat, the rest of the team got a treat for coming in so early and all Ianto had to do was sign for the tip.
Win, win, win, Ianto thought as he followed the team to the morgue, only half listening as the others tried to explain it all to Gwen. And then Jack was opening the door and it was time to get to work.
TBC in Chapter Thirty-Five