TW Fic: The Brief December (1/3)
Title: The Brief December (1/3)
Author: nancybrown
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto (past Jack/everyone), Gwen, Mickey, Martha, Lucy Saxon, Lois, Johnson, Rupesh, OCs (other Whoniverse mentions and cameos)
Rating: PG-13
Words: 13,500 (2800 this part)
Spoilers: CoE (characters only), DW: EoT
Summary: Three stories for a winter night, or, Torchwood in the dark of the year.
Warnings: original characters, no unifying plot, schmoop, angst, (schmangst?), mentions of TYTNW
Beta: fide_et_spe and lawsontl both took a look at this, helped kick it into shape, and have my deepest thanks; remaining mistakes are all mine
Author's Note: Part of an alternate third season where Lois, Johnson, and Rupesh have joined the team. Written for
the_longest_night. Parts will be posted leading up to the Winter Solstice.
***
I. Too fragile for winter winds
***
December 10th
***
The phone rang on Jack's private line, the number only a few people knew. He didn't recognise the caller ID. "Harkness."
"Hello, old man," said a thready voice.
"Hold on." He covered the speaker with his hand. "I need to take this." Leaving the team in the Boardroom with their lunch, Jack hurried to his office and shut the door. "Frank," he said as warmly as he could. "How are you?"
"Is this a bad time?" Thready was the right word. Frank's once robust voice had reduced down to a thin wheeze, time compressing in on him like a vice.
"Never. Someone else can save the world for a few minutes."
"Don't let them get used to it. I don't want to hear you've been slacking off in your old age."
"What, I don't get to be a pensioner, complaining about kids these days?"
"Knowing you, you'd be chasing the pretty nurses around the home."
"It's a tough job, but I'm up to it. How are they treating you?" Jack relaxed in his chair, enjoying Frank's long-distance company. He still ached in places he'd long thought healed over ever since he'd found and lost one son in the course of a few days. Talking to the other eased the sorrow, but even now, the sounds of the harried breaths Frank took spoke of how soon he'd lose this child as well.
"The food's terrible, the company's worse," there was a grin in his tone, and Jack pictured him directing it at another old geezer listening in nearby, "but the view's nice."
"That's good."
"I'm calling because I know you lot get busy at Christmastime."
Jack glanced at the calendar. Two weeks away, and he was already anticipating aliens of some sort trying to eat London. "We do."
"So I wanted to call early for once." Jack could hear another shadow in the words. He'd been around the dying, among them even, enough to know when someone was saying goodbye.
He looked at the calendar again. "Frank, what are you doing this weekend?"
***
"Ianto? A minute?"
Ianto got up from his chair and his half-finished food, and ignored the knowing smiles from the rest of the team. "Problem?"
"Could be." Jack led him back to his office and shut the door. "Barring emergencies, I'm going to take a few days off. I'll be back Sunday night." He placed a hand on Ianto's arm. "I'll tell the others, but I know you don't like surprises."
Ianto glanced down at the hand; they'd been avoiding touching one another at work, something which was turning out to be a much bigger aphrodisiac than Jack had anticipated. For the past week, it had been like the old days when they couldn't keep their clothes on much past the entranceway to the flat.
"Thank you. How is Frank?"
Jack blinked. "Should I ask how you knew or just sign you up for psychic training in the field?"
Ianto gave Jack his cute 'I know more than you sometimes' smile. "Let me keep my mysteries and I'll let you keep yours."
A smile ghosted in return over Jack's face. "He's going downhill. He's got his own family, but I really should visit him."
"Were you planning on leaving today?"
"Yeah."
"Give me an hour before you tell the others?"
Jack nodded. He half-expected Ianto to lean in for a quick kiss, but again, not at work.
***
True to his word, Ianto returned from his errands an hour later. Jack waited for him to join the others, but before he could say anything, Ianto said, "We'll also need our copy of the full inventory to compare against theirs." He stood, as if awaiting orders.
Confused, Jack said, "All right."
Ianto turned to Lois. "Could you please pull up the inventory list we have on record for Torchwood Two? I'll need a hard copy. It's the usual passcode."
"On it."
"Thank you." He smiled courteously at her. Ianto always made a point of being nice to Lois. Jack assumed this was partly to avoid taking her for granted as the team had done to him in his own early days, and partly because he genuinely liked her. If it was also a social experiment, in which his example encouraged everyone else to use "Please" and "Thank you" with their admin, then that was a success as well.
Ianto turned to Gwen. "Has he remembered to tell you we'll be back from Glasgow sometime Sunday evening?"
Gwen's attention to Jack. "You're going to Glasgow?"
Ianto wore his innocent face. It was a perfect cover story that no-one would question, and kept Jack from having to give personal details about his life to the newer team members.
"I was gonna wait until everyone was together to mention it."
"Sorry," Ianto said without a trace of real contrition. "I thought you'd told them we were putting the site into lockdown."
Perry raised his hand. (Perry always raised his hand. Some day, Jack would get through to him that this wasn't school.) "Will you be bringing back any of Two's artefacts?"
Ianto nodded. "I've got a few in mind. You can look over the list before we leave to check if there are items you want to study here. Anything not dangerous, I may look into shipping separately." He included Johnson and Rupesh in his comment.
Lois returned with the printout, and Ianto let the others take a look. Gwen said to Jack, "So we're closing Two entirely?"
Jack folded his arms. This was one of the options they'd discussed, and unless they found someone to take it over, the most logical choice. "For now. If we put everything into lockdown proper, nobody will be able to get into the place, and we can reactivate the site when we have a new Director."
He watched as Ianto made notes on the inventory with wish lists from the rest of the team. They'd go over Johnson's requests carefully; they still didn't trust her. Ianto had said "we." Jack wouldn't have and couldn't have asked him along on a visit to Frank, but he was the natural choice for a business trip to Scotland.
There were times Jack really wanted to put a name around the emotion he felt for the man who'd quietly and completely infiltrated his heart.
Two hours later, reins officially handed over to Gwen, actual day-to-day operations unofficially handed over to Lois -- Jack pretended he didn't know how much of Torchwood was run by its admins, and the admins did him the return courtesy of not pointing it out -- they were in the car and on the road.
"I think it's best if we go directly to Glasgow," Ianto said. "I brought the information for one of your alter egos, and you can rent a car using that identity as soon as we arrive. The team will assume you're with me."
Jack kept his eyes on the road. "You should have cleared this with me first."
"You'd have said no, and we'd still have to make the trip to Glasgow in a few weeks. Plus, you'd have raised suspicion with our new recruits, and while your air of mystery is intriguing, it's none of their business where you're going."
"But you knew."
He shrugged. "I knew. And I knew that if this weekend goes badly, you shouldn't be alone." In the back, a slim black garment bag hung from the hook. Ianto had brought Jack's one good suit, just in case.
Jack drove. After a while he said, "Thanks."
Ianto didn't reply. He reached out, and he took Jack's free hand, and held it for miles.
***
December 11th
***
"Knock off, then," Gwen had said, smiling over the last report on her desk. "It's Friday night, and you all did good work today." When Lois had suggested Gwen also leave for the night, she'd said, "When I'm done. Then Rhys and I are going to have a nice dinner, just the two of us." Her smile had grown and she'd shooed Lois away.
"Pub," Lois had said, imperiously, but she'd also cocked her eyebrows at Johnson, who then informed their doctor that he was going with. Johnson returned to her typical glower when she noticed Perry joining them.
And now, Perry was excusing himself to the gents', with the quickest of touches to Lois's chair.
"Could you order us another round when you're back?" she asked hopefully.
"Sure."
Johnson leaned forward the second he was out of sight. "Why is he here?"
"Camouflage," Lois replied, playing with her glass. "He's with us, no-one suspects."
"They don't suspect anything," said Rupesh. "You're sure this is the top secret organisation you were talking about?"
Johnson said, "Do you see anyone else fighting little green men in Cardiff?"
"And they do suspect, at least in a probationary way. I'm in charge of monitoring you both. Rupesh, clear your browser history more often, please." His taste in pornography ran towards the dull, but Lois would rather not have to look just to report back that there was nothing interesting.
"They're not monitoring you?"
"They haven't killed me or wiped my memories, so no." They would, Lois felt sure. Were she found out, they would shove a little pill down her throat, or they'd take her to the showers because Ianto hated cleaning up bloodstains.
"When are we making our move?" Rupesh asked, eyes flicking over to the corridor with the toilets. Perry would be back soon.
"When the order comes. Not before. Just lay low and do your job."
"You said you have discretion over the assignment," said Johnson. "If you think it's warranted, you could act at any time."
If there came a severe breach. If she believed the world, or Great Britain, to be in peril due to Torchwood's imminent actions. "Yes."
"Then we should act," Rupesh said.
Lois and Johnson shared a look, and she was relieved to see Johnson's face reflect her own thoughts: he was a fool, but a useful fool.
"The call is mine to make, not yours."
Perry was at the bar with the drinks. Johnson watched her eyes. "You know we'll have to take down Cooper and Jones when we take Harkness. What about Fletcher?" Though she didn't need to elaborate, she asked, "What's going on between you?"
"Nothing. Nothing important. He's very old-fashioned, and he likes me. I assume that six months from now, he may be ready to hold hands."
Rupesh laughed, and again, she shared a moment with Johnson that didn't include him. But it was true. Lois had noticed that Perry was trying, in his sweet and time-displaced way, to court her. And she found as he went about it that she liked him, too. "Let me worry about Perry." She'd make sure he was out of the way if and when they made their move, and she'd explain to him after that Jack had been a threat.
"Be sure that you do," said Johnson, and then she raised her head as Perry came back to their table with the drinks. "Fletcher."
"Here you go, Miss." Johnson hated being called 'Miss,' and it was just possible that he did it to annoy her, but his poker face on the matter was even better than Ianto's. Lois kept her laughter inside as she took her own drink, and thanked him with a smile, and wondered, just perhaps, if her mission could be postponed indefinitely.
***
December 13th
***
The grounds at the home were festooned with tinsel and lights, something bright for the residents to enjoy. Jack always felt ambivalent about these facilities. His friends, the lucky ones, grew grey-haired and bent, and were shuttled to care homes by their children, but Jack was the oldest old man of all, and would never find himself packed off to a place like this.
Or would he? He might go on and on, aging slowly, until a million years from now, bald and wrinkled and muttering to himself (not incontinent, please, not incontinent), he'd be in care with nothing to do but play bingo for a billion years and wonder why his great-great-great-great-grandchildren stopped visiting.
"Your hair looks fine," Ianto said, shaking him from his thoughts. Jack stared at him blankly, until Ianto added, "You've been smoothing it for two minutes."
Jack looked at his hand as if seeing it for the first time. Ianto had joined him last night after finishing up in Glasgow, but hadn't asked any questions about Frank. He'd returned the rental car to the local agent, retrieved a late supper when he found out Jack hadn't remembered to eat, and packed away Jack's things in the morning.
Today's visit would be short. Jack had spent two days playing chess and talking, with one chilly stroll out on the grounds, and now it was time to say goodbye. The next time he saw Frank, it would be at his funeral.
"While you're here," Ianto said, "I'll go pick up supplies for the trip home." And now he was giving him space so Jack had time for his farewell, another small kindness of the many he'd offered this weekend.
"We'll get them on our way out of town. Come on," Jack said, getting out of the car.
"Inside?"
"Sure. Don't mention Phil, because he doesn't know."
They went inside together, signing in at the visitor's desk. Jack knew the way to Frank's room now, stopping to smile at the residents, at the staff. A wink and a grin had served him well over the years to gain admittance through many a door, and he used them now, making his way through the corridors.
"Hey, old man," Jack said, opening the door to Frank's room and waving at his roommate. "Morning, Sam."
"You're late," said Frank, twisting his wrinkled mouth into a welcome. He looked past Jack. "Who's this?" His gaze went to Sam, though, as if Jack needed the reminder of their audience.
"Ianto Jones," Ianto said, going over and extending his hand. "It's good to meet you, Mr. Harrison."
Frank shook Ianto's hand, but his face went odd. Jack had mentioned Ianto to him already, but it would be disconcerting to meet his father's lover, someone young enough to be Frank's own grandson. Even as they found chairs and sat by Frank's bedside, chatting idly about Cardiff and the weather, Frank's eyes kept darting back to Ianto.
Jack found story after story to tell, edited for Sam's benefit and lengthened to stretch out the visit that much longer. They had to leave, they did, but he wanted to stay. "And then she said … "
There was a knock at the doorframe. "Hi, Dad," said a voice Jack didn't know. He turned, expecting a member of Sam's family, but instead came face to face with one of his granddaughters. "I didn't know you had company."
Jack and Frank exchanged glances. Frank's family didn't know, would never know, and that was the price, that was their safety. "It's all right, Bonnie," Frank said. "My friends here were just leaving."
And that was it. No more time, no more words.
Ianto stood up. "Oh, you're Bonnie? Frank's told us so much about you," he said warmly, approaching her with a firm stride and a wide smile. He took her hand graciously, and at the same time, pulled her around just enough, Jack saw, that she was temporarily facing Sam's bed instead of Frank's. Both Bonnie and Sam were looking at Ianto for a few important seconds.
Jack leaned over and pressed a kiss against Frank's forehead. "Love you, always," he said in a whisper.
"I know," Frank whispered back, and they broke apart for the last time. "Take care of yourself," he said in a normal voice. "Give Alice my love."
Jack nodded, his throat closing around any further words.
As they left, Jack heard Bonnie say, "Who was that?"
"Old friend," Frank told her, and if he said more, Jack was already too far down the corridor to hear.
***
II. Gladsome tidings now we bring
Author: nancybrown
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto (past Jack/everyone), Gwen, Mickey, Martha, Lucy Saxon, Lois, Johnson, Rupesh, OCs (other Whoniverse mentions and cameos)
Rating: PG-13
Words: 13,500 (2800 this part)
Spoilers: CoE (characters only), DW: EoT
Summary: Three stories for a winter night, or, Torchwood in the dark of the year.
Warnings: original characters, no unifying plot, schmoop, angst, (schmangst?), mentions of TYTNW
Beta: fide_et_spe and lawsontl both took a look at this, helped kick it into shape, and have my deepest thanks; remaining mistakes are all mine
Author's Note: Part of an alternate third season where Lois, Johnson, and Rupesh have joined the team. Written for
the_longest_night. Parts will be posted leading up to the Winter Solstice.
***
I. Too fragile for winter winds
***
December 10th
***
The phone rang on Jack's private line, the number only a few people knew. He didn't recognise the caller ID. "Harkness."
"Hello, old man," said a thready voice.
"Hold on." He covered the speaker with his hand. "I need to take this." Leaving the team in the Boardroom with their lunch, Jack hurried to his office and shut the door. "Frank," he said as warmly as he could. "How are you?"
"Is this a bad time?" Thready was the right word. Frank's once robust voice had reduced down to a thin wheeze, time compressing in on him like a vice.
"Never. Someone else can save the world for a few minutes."
"Don't let them get used to it. I don't want to hear you've been slacking off in your old age."
"What, I don't get to be a pensioner, complaining about kids these days?"
"Knowing you, you'd be chasing the pretty nurses around the home."
"It's a tough job, but I'm up to it. How are they treating you?" Jack relaxed in his chair, enjoying Frank's long-distance company. He still ached in places he'd long thought healed over ever since he'd found and lost one son in the course of a few days. Talking to the other eased the sorrow, but even now, the sounds of the harried breaths Frank took spoke of how soon he'd lose this child as well.
"The food's terrible, the company's worse," there was a grin in his tone, and Jack pictured him directing it at another old geezer listening in nearby, "but the view's nice."
"That's good."
"I'm calling because I know you lot get busy at Christmastime."
Jack glanced at the calendar. Two weeks away, and he was already anticipating aliens of some sort trying to eat London. "We do."
"So I wanted to call early for once." Jack could hear another shadow in the words. He'd been around the dying, among them even, enough to know when someone was saying goodbye.
He looked at the calendar again. "Frank, what are you doing this weekend?"
***
"Ianto? A minute?"
Ianto got up from his chair and his half-finished food, and ignored the knowing smiles from the rest of the team. "Problem?"
"Could be." Jack led him back to his office and shut the door. "Barring emergencies, I'm going to take a few days off. I'll be back Sunday night." He placed a hand on Ianto's arm. "I'll tell the others, but I know you don't like surprises."
Ianto glanced down at the hand; they'd been avoiding touching one another at work, something which was turning out to be a much bigger aphrodisiac than Jack had anticipated. For the past week, it had been like the old days when they couldn't keep their clothes on much past the entranceway to the flat.
"Thank you. How is Frank?"
Jack blinked. "Should I ask how you knew or just sign you up for psychic training in the field?"
Ianto gave Jack his cute 'I know more than you sometimes' smile. "Let me keep my mysteries and I'll let you keep yours."
A smile ghosted in return over Jack's face. "He's going downhill. He's got his own family, but I really should visit him."
"Were you planning on leaving today?"
"Yeah."
"Give me an hour before you tell the others?"
Jack nodded. He half-expected Ianto to lean in for a quick kiss, but again, not at work.
***
True to his word, Ianto returned from his errands an hour later. Jack waited for him to join the others, but before he could say anything, Ianto said, "We'll also need our copy of the full inventory to compare against theirs." He stood, as if awaiting orders.
Confused, Jack said, "All right."
Ianto turned to Lois. "Could you please pull up the inventory list we have on record for Torchwood Two? I'll need a hard copy. It's the usual passcode."
"On it."
"Thank you." He smiled courteously at her. Ianto always made a point of being nice to Lois. Jack assumed this was partly to avoid taking her for granted as the team had done to him in his own early days, and partly because he genuinely liked her. If it was also a social experiment, in which his example encouraged everyone else to use "Please" and "Thank you" with their admin, then that was a success as well.
Ianto turned to Gwen. "Has he remembered to tell you we'll be back from Glasgow sometime Sunday evening?"
Gwen's attention to Jack. "You're going to Glasgow?"
Ianto wore his innocent face. It was a perfect cover story that no-one would question, and kept Jack from having to give personal details about his life to the newer team members.
"I was gonna wait until everyone was together to mention it."
"Sorry," Ianto said without a trace of real contrition. "I thought you'd told them we were putting the site into lockdown."
Perry raised his hand. (Perry always raised his hand. Some day, Jack would get through to him that this wasn't school.) "Will you be bringing back any of Two's artefacts?"
Ianto nodded. "I've got a few in mind. You can look over the list before we leave to check if there are items you want to study here. Anything not dangerous, I may look into shipping separately." He included Johnson and Rupesh in his comment.
Lois returned with the printout, and Ianto let the others take a look. Gwen said to Jack, "So we're closing Two entirely?"
Jack folded his arms. This was one of the options they'd discussed, and unless they found someone to take it over, the most logical choice. "For now. If we put everything into lockdown proper, nobody will be able to get into the place, and we can reactivate the site when we have a new Director."
He watched as Ianto made notes on the inventory with wish lists from the rest of the team. They'd go over Johnson's requests carefully; they still didn't trust her. Ianto had said "we." Jack wouldn't have and couldn't have asked him along on a visit to Frank, but he was the natural choice for a business trip to Scotland.
There were times Jack really wanted to put a name around the emotion he felt for the man who'd quietly and completely infiltrated his heart.
Two hours later, reins officially handed over to Gwen, actual day-to-day operations unofficially handed over to Lois -- Jack pretended he didn't know how much of Torchwood was run by its admins, and the admins did him the return courtesy of not pointing it out -- they were in the car and on the road.
"I think it's best if we go directly to Glasgow," Ianto said. "I brought the information for one of your alter egos, and you can rent a car using that identity as soon as we arrive. The team will assume you're with me."
Jack kept his eyes on the road. "You should have cleared this with me first."
"You'd have said no, and we'd still have to make the trip to Glasgow in a few weeks. Plus, you'd have raised suspicion with our new recruits, and while your air of mystery is intriguing, it's none of their business where you're going."
"But you knew."
He shrugged. "I knew. And I knew that if this weekend goes badly, you shouldn't be alone." In the back, a slim black garment bag hung from the hook. Ianto had brought Jack's one good suit, just in case.
Jack drove. After a while he said, "Thanks."
Ianto didn't reply. He reached out, and he took Jack's free hand, and held it for miles.
***
December 11th
***
"Knock off, then," Gwen had said, smiling over the last report on her desk. "It's Friday night, and you all did good work today." When Lois had suggested Gwen also leave for the night, she'd said, "When I'm done. Then Rhys and I are going to have a nice dinner, just the two of us." Her smile had grown and she'd shooed Lois away.
"Pub," Lois had said, imperiously, but she'd also cocked her eyebrows at Johnson, who then informed their doctor that he was going with. Johnson returned to her typical glower when she noticed Perry joining them.
And now, Perry was excusing himself to the gents', with the quickest of touches to Lois's chair.
"Could you order us another round when you're back?" she asked hopefully.
"Sure."
Johnson leaned forward the second he was out of sight. "Why is he here?"
"Camouflage," Lois replied, playing with her glass. "He's with us, no-one suspects."
"They don't suspect anything," said Rupesh. "You're sure this is the top secret organisation you were talking about?"
Johnson said, "Do you see anyone else fighting little green men in Cardiff?"
"And they do suspect, at least in a probationary way. I'm in charge of monitoring you both. Rupesh, clear your browser history more often, please." His taste in pornography ran towards the dull, but Lois would rather not have to look just to report back that there was nothing interesting.
"They're not monitoring you?"
"They haven't killed me or wiped my memories, so no." They would, Lois felt sure. Were she found out, they would shove a little pill down her throat, or they'd take her to the showers because Ianto hated cleaning up bloodstains.
"When are we making our move?" Rupesh asked, eyes flicking over to the corridor with the toilets. Perry would be back soon.
"When the order comes. Not before. Just lay low and do your job."
"You said you have discretion over the assignment," said Johnson. "If you think it's warranted, you could act at any time."
If there came a severe breach. If she believed the world, or Great Britain, to be in peril due to Torchwood's imminent actions. "Yes."
"Then we should act," Rupesh said.
Lois and Johnson shared a look, and she was relieved to see Johnson's face reflect her own thoughts: he was a fool, but a useful fool.
"The call is mine to make, not yours."
Perry was at the bar with the drinks. Johnson watched her eyes. "You know we'll have to take down Cooper and Jones when we take Harkness. What about Fletcher?" Though she didn't need to elaborate, she asked, "What's going on between you?"
"Nothing. Nothing important. He's very old-fashioned, and he likes me. I assume that six months from now, he may be ready to hold hands."
Rupesh laughed, and again, she shared a moment with Johnson that didn't include him. But it was true. Lois had noticed that Perry was trying, in his sweet and time-displaced way, to court her. And she found as he went about it that she liked him, too. "Let me worry about Perry." She'd make sure he was out of the way if and when they made their move, and she'd explain to him after that Jack had been a threat.
"Be sure that you do," said Johnson, and then she raised her head as Perry came back to their table with the drinks. "Fletcher."
"Here you go, Miss." Johnson hated being called 'Miss,' and it was just possible that he did it to annoy her, but his poker face on the matter was even better than Ianto's. Lois kept her laughter inside as she took her own drink, and thanked him with a smile, and wondered, just perhaps, if her mission could be postponed indefinitely.
***
December 13th
***
The grounds at the home were festooned with tinsel and lights, something bright for the residents to enjoy. Jack always felt ambivalent about these facilities. His friends, the lucky ones, grew grey-haired and bent, and were shuttled to care homes by their children, but Jack was the oldest old man of all, and would never find himself packed off to a place like this.
Or would he? He might go on and on, aging slowly, until a million years from now, bald and wrinkled and muttering to himself (not incontinent, please, not incontinent), he'd be in care with nothing to do but play bingo for a billion years and wonder why his great-great-great-great-grandchildren stopped visiting.
"Your hair looks fine," Ianto said, shaking him from his thoughts. Jack stared at him blankly, until Ianto added, "You've been smoothing it for two minutes."
Jack looked at his hand as if seeing it for the first time. Ianto had joined him last night after finishing up in Glasgow, but hadn't asked any questions about Frank. He'd returned the rental car to the local agent, retrieved a late supper when he found out Jack hadn't remembered to eat, and packed away Jack's things in the morning.
Today's visit would be short. Jack had spent two days playing chess and talking, with one chilly stroll out on the grounds, and now it was time to say goodbye. The next time he saw Frank, it would be at his funeral.
"While you're here," Ianto said, "I'll go pick up supplies for the trip home." And now he was giving him space so Jack had time for his farewell, another small kindness of the many he'd offered this weekend.
"We'll get them on our way out of town. Come on," Jack said, getting out of the car.
"Inside?"
"Sure. Don't mention Phil, because he doesn't know."
They went inside together, signing in at the visitor's desk. Jack knew the way to Frank's room now, stopping to smile at the residents, at the staff. A wink and a grin had served him well over the years to gain admittance through many a door, and he used them now, making his way through the corridors.
"Hey, old man," Jack said, opening the door to Frank's room and waving at his roommate. "Morning, Sam."
"You're late," said Frank, twisting his wrinkled mouth into a welcome. He looked past Jack. "Who's this?" His gaze went to Sam, though, as if Jack needed the reminder of their audience.
"Ianto Jones," Ianto said, going over and extending his hand. "It's good to meet you, Mr. Harrison."
Frank shook Ianto's hand, but his face went odd. Jack had mentioned Ianto to him already, but it would be disconcerting to meet his father's lover, someone young enough to be Frank's own grandson. Even as they found chairs and sat by Frank's bedside, chatting idly about Cardiff and the weather, Frank's eyes kept darting back to Ianto.
Jack found story after story to tell, edited for Sam's benefit and lengthened to stretch out the visit that much longer. They had to leave, they did, but he wanted to stay. "And then she said … "
There was a knock at the doorframe. "Hi, Dad," said a voice Jack didn't know. He turned, expecting a member of Sam's family, but instead came face to face with one of his granddaughters. "I didn't know you had company."
Jack and Frank exchanged glances. Frank's family didn't know, would never know, and that was the price, that was their safety. "It's all right, Bonnie," Frank said. "My friends here were just leaving."
And that was it. No more time, no more words.
Ianto stood up. "Oh, you're Bonnie? Frank's told us so much about you," he said warmly, approaching her with a firm stride and a wide smile. He took her hand graciously, and at the same time, pulled her around just enough, Jack saw, that she was temporarily facing Sam's bed instead of Frank's. Both Bonnie and Sam were looking at Ianto for a few important seconds.
Jack leaned over and pressed a kiss against Frank's forehead. "Love you, always," he said in a whisper.
"I know," Frank whispered back, and they broke apart for the last time. "Take care of yourself," he said in a normal voice. "Give Alice my love."
Jack nodded, his throat closing around any further words.
As they left, Jack heard Bonnie say, "Who was that?"
"Old friend," Frank told her, and if he said more, Jack was already too far down the corridor to hear.
***
II. Gladsome tidings now we bring