Born This Way - Chapter 12
Title: Born This Way 12
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, John, Gray, Owen, Toshiko/Tommy, Suzie, OCs
Rating: NC-17
Warnings/Contains: Supernatural themes, character death, drug references, dub-con.
Summary: Sequel to Choices - Ianto Jones was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately-thanks to Jack Harkness. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences and suddenly Ianto’s and Jack’s happily ever after may not be so happy.
12
*~*
Speak No Evil
*~*
Ianto
The whole deal with Gray and Elle isn’t sitting right. Because the truth is, I’ve had an uneasy feeling about Elle for a while. Not anything I can put a finger on, but there’s something not right about her.
Or maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m being unfair. Because there have been a few times that I’ve caught myself fantasising…about her.
I told myself it was these Hell-forsaken teenage hormones. But it felt like more.
I watch Jack empty Gray’s ice bag into the sink and I know there’s nothing else I could ever want. But I have to admit, if only to myself, that I felt the cold edge of jealousy cut through me when I realised Gray was lusting after Elle.
Jack shivers when I step up behind him and kiss the back of his neck while running a finger down his arm.
“You don’t think Gray was acting a little…strange with Elle?”
He turns his head to look at me. “I don’t know. Maybe. But even if he likes her, I don’t think he’s really going to do anything about it.”
“I’m not so sure. But even if he’s just ogling her, it’s still a distraction.”
He turns and presses against me, wrapping me in his arms and making me completely lose my train of thought. “That’s why I have you.”
“Hmm…,” I say, trying to remember where I was going with this. “But I’ve got my own shadow to worry about.” Suzie is out there, and she’s got two choices: Figure out how to get me back to Hell, or burn in the Fiery Pit for all eternity.
Jack stretches up and kisses my nose. “Would she leave if I used my Sway…convinced her she didn’t want you?”
I can’t stop the grin. “You’d be willing to compromise your moral standards for me?”
He shoves me away as his brow creases and his mouth presses into a tight line. “Shut up or I’ll change my mind. Do you want me to try or not?”
I pull him back toward me. “Maybe,” I say, “but I’m hoping to find out from her what’s going on. Since she’s figured out I’m human, she seems to be hanging back and watching-more curious than anything.”
“But you said she can’t take you to Hell, right? You’re tagged for Heaven.”
“For now.”
He squeezes me tighter. “Forever.”
“That remains to be seen. Point is, she doesn’t seem to be doing anything. She’s made no effort to reverse my tag.” My stomach aches with a guilty pang, thinking about what Suzie said: all the pretty young things. I push her voice out of my head. “It’s creepy . She’s just watching.”
“Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like watching is better than doing.” He cracks a wicked smile and his hand glides down my stomach and under my T-shirt. “At least as far as Hell is concerned.”
I shudder at his touch. “It’s just so unlike her. She’s a creature of wrath. For her to hold her temper-to just watch-it’s completely out of character. It’s making me nervous.”
He loops his arms around my neck, pulling me down to meet him in a kiss. “So, what do I have to do to make you unnervous?” he says, smiling into my lips.
I grin back. “This is good.”
But just then there’s a knock at the door. “That’s Elle. Shopping time.”
“I’d tell you to take Gray, but if he’s drooling over Elle the whole time, I’m not sure you’d be any safer. Maybe I should go with you.” My voice is sour. I can’t help it. This has me really worried.
He just stares at me.
I arch an eyebrow. “I like shopping.”
“Yeah, I can so totally see you and your demon shadow browsing the sale racks.”
I think about that for a second and a smile breaks across my face. “Maybe we can get Suzie a new hobby.”
He shakes his head as he moves to the door. “We’ll be fine. I trust Gray.” He pulls the door open. “Hey, Elle.”
“Hey. You ready?” Elle says, glancing from Jack to me.
“Yeah,” Jack says. “We’ll pick up Tosh and Owen on our way.”
Elle lowers her head, and her hair falls in her face. “Okay.”
Jack gives me a kiss on the cheek. “See you in a while.”
I smile. “I’ll be waiting.”
*~*
Jack
We pull into Owen’s driveway and he comes bounding down the stairs. Tosh and Tommy lag behind, hands tucked into each other’s back pockets.
Owen skips up to the passenger door before realising there’s someone already in that seat. “Oh. You’re Elle?” Elle slides out of the car and pulls the back of the seat forward. She starts to get in back.
“No.” I say, “Elle’s shotgun.”
Owen shoots me a glare and I glare right back. He pushes past Elle and into the backseat.
Tosh and Tommy finally make it to the car. Once they rip their eyes away from each other, I make the intros and Tosh slides into the back with Owen. Tommy stands in the driveway, looking like a lost puppy as I pull out.
“So, what’s with the baggy sweats?” Owen sneers from the backseat.
“Owen!” I say, and glance at Elle.
“It’s okay,” she says, and shrugs. But she doesn’t turn to look at Owen. “They’re three pounds at Target.”
I can see some semi-vicious comeback perched on Owen’s lips, but Tosh smacks him in the arm and does her best Owen glare.
“Elle,” Tosh says, touching Elle’s shoulder from behind her. “Jack says you’re going to university here.”
Elle turns in her seat, but doesn’t really look at Tosh. “Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“What are you studying? Fashion design?” Owen smirks.
I turn and glare at him. “You know what, Owen? Shut the hell up.”
“Um…Jack,” Tosh says. “Road…driving…” She points a shaky finger forward.
Elle grips the seat next to me, staring out the windshield with wide eyes as I weave through traffic. Owen and Tosh chitchat in the backseat, but I hear Tosh’s anxious voice rise every time I change lanes. And Owen keeps talking about muumuus and stuff on sale at Target. I should have known it was too much to hope that he would behave.
We score a decent parking spot and head into the shopping centre.
Browsing the sales racks at various stores Elle eventually comes away with three printed t-shirts, a cute pair of shorts and a pair of jeans for thirty pounds. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to see her try them on. I’m still curious about what lurks under those baggy clothes.
We swing into the big department store and hit all the perfume and cologne counters. Tosh and Owen spray each other with random scents while Elle wanders to the JLo counter and tries a citrus-vanilla one-Glow.
“That’s amazing on you,” I tell her, ’cause it is. “You should get that.”
She cringes a little. “How much is it?”
I look at the counter. “Oh…like twenty pounds. Ouch.”
Her face scrunches. “I can’t.” She puts it down and starts to walk away, but then turns back, sniffing her wrist again. “It is pretty fabulous, isn’t it?”
I smile at her, glad to see her come out of her shell a little. “It is.”
She pulls a wad of small bills from her pocket and smiles back. “Who needs to eat this week?”
Ten minutes later, we all walk away from the fragrance counter smelling like a combination of everything.
“Food court?” I say.
“Totally,” Owen says, because that’s where the high school guys all hang out during the day.
I laugh when we get there and look over at the tables. Tommy and Andy Davis are there with the rest of their crew. They already have a mound of fish and chips in front of them. I’m convinced teenage boys can never be more than thirty feet from food or they’ll shrivel up and die. I must be the exception.
Tosh and Tommy make eyes at each other, but Tosh displays amazing restraint and stays with us as we head to the Chinese Buffet. We grab some stuff to share, and Elle looks a little embarrassed when I tell her it’s my treat.
“Hey, I owe you for all that beer,” I say.
She sorta smiles, but not really, as we head to the tables. And she doesn’t eat much.
Finally, when we’ve picked at the food as much as we’re going to, I roll up all the plates and head for the trash. Just as I’m coming back to the table, Owen’s eyes spark.
“Ooh…there’s one for you, Elle,” he says, pointing full on at a guy skulking by with dirty jeans and a stained grey pullover. He looks at us and trips over his own feet. His brown hair is long and in his face, so it almost hides how red he turns. And I hate to say it, but with that jumper and hair, he does kinda look like Elle’s male counterpart. He hurries past and disappears into the throng of summer shoppers.
I glare at Owen.
But just then, over the piped-in muzak, I hear a titter of laughter from the other side of a short partition between the tables and the water fountain. It makes all the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Because I know that laugh. I turn to see Lisa Hallett and her gaggle just coming out of the Abercrombie.
Lisa looks up and sees us. Instantly, her nose wrinkles. She walks within earshot of our table. “Do you guys smell that? Eew. Someone forgot to take out the trash.” She glares at me for a second; then her gaze shifts to Elle. “So nice of you to feed the homeless, Harkness.”
I shift closer to Elle and when I glance over, I’m surprised to see Tosh and Owen both shift closer as well.
Owen steps in front of Elle and looks daggers at Lisa. “Fuck off, mole.”
Lisa smirks and sashays off, her minions trailing behind.
And for the rest of the day, Owen and Elle are attached at the hip. Go figure.
*~*
Gray
Owen was living dangerously for a while, but he seems to have come around. I was right on the edge of putting duck sauce down the front of his shirt until Lisa showed up.
But I have to say, staying out of the changing rooms while Elle was trying things on took all the angelic restraint I could muster.
They finally finish up and head back to the car. Jack drops Owen and Tosh off, and when he rolls into the car park at Elle’s apartment building, top down and Elle’s hair flying in the wind, I just happen to be there.
“Hi,” I say with my biggest smile as they step out of Jack’s car.
“Hey, Gray,” Jack says.
Elle turns to retrieve her shopping bags from the boot. “How’d you do?” I say, gesturing to her stuff.
“Pretty good, I guess. Jack knows where all the good sales are.” She ventures a small smile.
“Cool. You guys heading up?” I shrug a shoulder toward the building.
“Yeah,” she says.
I reach for her bags. “I can carry those for you.”
Jack rolls his eyes behind Elle, but Elle clutches her bags tighter. “I think I can manage, thanks.”
I hold my hands up in the air. No harm, no foul. “Just offering…”
I follow Jack and Elle into the building, and Elle turns to me at the bottom of the stairs. “Watch your step,” she says with a smile. Her eyes spark as they connect with mine, and a hot electric zing shoots through me.
I rub the back of my head. “Yeah.” It’s all I can think to say. I’m such a moron.
Jack uses his key in Ianto’s door, and just as he twists the last lock, there’s a crash from inside the apartment. The door swings open and Suzie’s head jerks up from where Dumb and Dumber have Ianto pinned against the wall. She lowers her glowing fist, and a wave of panic surges through me as I wonder how much Elle saw.
Elle. Crap.
She’s going to expect me to do something to help my ‘friend’.
Suzie turns and gives Ianto a crack across the left cheek with her fist-the old-fashioned approach. Then the Moron brothers pull him off the wall.
“No!” Jack rushes toward Ianto, but I hold him back and glance at Elle. She’s just staring at the spectacle. This could be my big chance to impress her.
So now I’ve got to save the demon.
Crap.
I step into the room. “Let him go.”
Suzie smirks at me. “Yeah, right.” I see her eyes flick to Elle, and a grin splits her face. “You gonna make me?”
In a fair fight in our human forms, I’m pretty much toast. Which means I can’t fight fair. I cross the room and catch Ianto’s eye. He nods.
At the same instant Ianto twists out of the Moron brothers’ grasp and throws Dumb into the wall, I strike out with an electric punch to Suzie’s jaw. I hope Elle doesn’t notice the hint of ozone it leaves behind. Suzie reels back from the punch and glares at me. “For the sin of Satan, cherub, figure out which side you’re on.”
I shoot a glance at Ianto, but he’s too busy wrestling Dumb to have heard.
Suzie grabs Dumber by the scruff of his neck and stalks toward the door. “It was a stupid plan anyway,” she grumbles, leering at me as she passes. Ianto releases Dumb, and he follows behind, throwing a glare over his shoulder at me.
Elle stands just inside the door, looking shocked and confused. Jack slams the door behind the demons and runs to Ianto.
“Oh my god! Are you okay?” My brother reaches up and touches the purplish bruise rising on Ianto’s cheek.
“I’m fine.”
Elle trembles as she stares at Ianto with wide, frightened eyes. “Who was that?”
“Someone I used to do business with,” Ianto says, knowing how it will sound, I’m sure.
Understanding dawns on Elle’s face. “Dealers.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Ianto answers. Then he turns to me. “Thanks.”
I look away, hating the guilty pang. “Yeah, whatever.”
Jack hugs Ianto, turning his face and kissing the welt. “How did they get in?”
“They knocked. I answered.” He says with a cynical smile.
“Oh, God,” he says. “I’ll get you some ice.” He looks at him a moment longer, raising his hand to touch his face again, then goes to the kitchen.
Elle moves to the door. “I should probably go….” She reaches for the door handle, but hesitates.
I walk over and brush her hand away. “Let me check it out.” I crack open the door then peer out into the hall. It’s empty. I turn back to Elle. “They’re gone.”
She glances to Jack and Ianto. “So, if you guys are okay, I’ll see you later, I guess.”
“Let me walk you to your apartment,” I say, and realise I sound a little too eager, so I add, “I think they’re gone, but… just to be sure.”
“Okay,” she says.
We step through the door into the hall, and a second later, deadbolts are clicking into place behind us.
She turns and walks the few steps to her door, fumbling for her key. “Okay, well…I guess I’ll see you around…”
“Gray,” I say, finishing the sentence she started, even though she didn’t imply she wanted me to.
She looks up at me. “What?”
“I wasn’t sure if you remembered my name. Gray. My name is Gray.” Ugh, I’m an idiot.
She turns the locks and pushes through the door. “Okay. So I’ll see you later…Gray.” Her eyes flick to mine, sending a zing down my spine, and an almost-smile curls her lips. “Be careful,” she says, glancing down the hall toward the stairs.
She slips through the door. And I’m alone. Again.