Silent Auction
Title: Silent Auction
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Owen, Tosh, Gwen, Andy
Word Count: 1027
Rating: PG13
Summary: After an email from Andy, Gwen gets an idea.
Notes: Just a plot bunny that would not go away... it's still bouncing around so there may be a second part.
Spoilers: set before Random Shoes
Warnings: AU cause in my world Jack and Ianto, although discrete, were more than just casual shag buddies during the first season.
Disclaimer: I own nothing characters property of the BBC and RTD. I am a just a starving college student please dont sue me :(
It was a boring day at the hub as far a Gwen was concerned. All there was to do was catch up on old reports, watch Myfanwy fly around in circles and listen to the police scanner for anything vaguely interesting. Looking around to locate her fellow workers she could see Tosh fully engrossed in yet another computer program she was working on. Owen was grunting in frustration at his video game and Ianto was walking towards Jack’s office with a fresh cup of coffee in hand. Yup, just business as usual, slow drawn out days followed by sudden apocalyptic near misses and thwarted hostile alien takeovers.
Opening her e-mail she saw a new message in her inbox from Andy notifying her of the Police Force Charity Ball and the details to the auction. It was one of the functions that she had always enjoyed attending and participating in while she was a PC. This year the charity would again be children’s cancer research and family support. It would be a human auction. The bidding would be for a dinner date with the volunteers who put themselves up for bid. They were by the looks of it a bit short on volunteers.
She decided to send Andy a text when an idea popped into her head. ‘Thanks for the auction details.’
‘You’re welcome! Are you going to be attending?’ He replied.
‘Yes. I was wondering, how much you think they would pay for a member of Torchwood?’ she sent him.
‘I bet you could bring some serious cash in, especially that Captain of yours.’ He texted back, ‘I know more than a dozen off the top of my head that would give a left arm for date with the man’
‘I’m on it. I’ll let you know if I’m successful.’ With that she flipped close her phone and began to formulate a plan of approach in her head.
During their lunch time break in the conference room, Gwen waited for the best time to bring up the subject of the auction, while they all enjoyed their Thai food.
“I got an e-mail today.” She started off. Choosing her words carefully, she forged ahead. “It was from my old partner on the force, Andy. They’re having the annual charity event; it’s for children’s cancer research again. They really came up short last year and they’re hoping to really raise a significantly higher amount to make up for it this year.”
Looking around she noticed everyone staring at her intently.
“Your point?” asked Owen around a mouthful of noodles.
“That sounds nice Gwen. Do you want us to donate?” Tosh chimed in. Not wanting Owens acerbic tone to derail Gwen’s good intentions.
Putting his fork down Jack gave Tosh a grateful smile before addressing Gwen, “Put me down for the max amount to donate. It’s always important to give to these sorts of things.”
“Oh, well it’s not quite like that. You see it’s an auction and they need volunteers to be auctioned off.” She finished looking down intently at her noodles.
“Auctioned off?” Stared Owen “Auctioned off for what exactly?”
“Well, for a date I suppose.”
“A date.” He repeated after her, staring.
“Yeah, a date!” She said happily. Liking the idea more, the more she thought about it. “We’re all good looking. Who wouldn’t want to bid for a mysterious member of Torchwood? We could make a lot of money for the charity!”
“So let me get this straight. You want us to volunteer to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, for a date?” Owen tried to clarify it in his head again, while looking at her incredulously.
“What’s wrong Owen, are you afraid you’ll get the lowest bid?” stated Ianto, giving him a mischievous grin.
“You wish tea boy, I bet I could bring a hefty amount, but I’m not participating in any meat market.”
“Why not, you participate in a meat market every night when you’re out on the pull.” Chuckling Ianto returned to his forgotten food.
“Is the bidding open to the general public, or are the bidders screened?” Tosh asked going over the possible security risks in her head. She also weighed the pros and cons of putting herself on the spotlight for the sake of charity.
“Oh, you have to register to be a bidder. I’m sure it would not be too much trouble to get a hold of the list and do a quick background check on all of them.” Answered Gwen, she looked around to all of her team mates with hope in her eyes.
Ianto took pity on her. “You said this was for children’s cancer research?” he waited for her to nod “very well then, count me in.”
Jack’s head snapped up from his Pad Thai to look at him. “You’re volunteering?” He waited for him to answer, looking at him intensely.
“Yes.” He answered, his eyes not wavering from Jack’s. “Will that be a problem?”
“No, no problem at all.” Jack quickly replied. “Well it looks like were all done, back to work people!”
Taking the hint everyone stood and began to take their half empty containers of food with them as they made their way out of the conference room.
Waiting for everyone to slowly file out Jack stayed behind, knowing that Ianto would be the last to leave. He always had the compulsion to tidy up the conference room table.
“Why?” he asked as he approached Ianto from behind and placed his arms around his waist.
Straightening away from the table he leaned back against Jack’s chest and with a sigh rested the back of his head on the older man’s shoulder. “It’s for a good cause, that’s why. I want to help.” He turned around in Jacks arm’s and thought carefully before giving him a soft kiss. “There are different ways of helping humanity other than catching aliens you know.”
Gazing at his partner, Jack nodded. “You’re right.” He drew him into a passionate kiss before releasing him. He walked out of the conference room and headed toward his office “Gwen! Register me as a bidder.” He ordered as he passed her by.
.