Meet the Parents 7/?
Story Summary: Ryan’s parents are visiting. Crossover with Torchwood.
Chapter Summary: In which files are read and parents worry.
Spoilers: Torchwood: Goes AU before Exit Wounds. Children of Earth NEVER HAPPENED!! CSI: Miami: general spoilers for the series, specific for the Harm for the Holidays novels.
Pairings: Eric/Ryan, Jack/Ianto, and past Jack/Horatio.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Before returning to Ryan’s apartment, the three men stopped to pick up some take-out from the Chinese Carry-Out a few blocks from the apartment complex. Ianto knew he hadn’t eaten a proper meal since leaving Cardiff and doubted Ryan had done any better over the past few days.
It was a testament to just how little rest Ryan had gotten in the last two days that he let Ianto bundle him off to bed immediately after eating, leaving the mess from their dinner on the kitchen table. Ryan’s hours might not be on par with the shifts Torchwood his parents worked, but they were nowhere near the nine to five zone like he’d made them out to be.
After cleaning the mess in the kitchen, Ianto found Jack sitting in Ryan’s living room examining a manila folder with the Miami-Dade PD logo on it. Coming up beside Jack he noticed the name on the file. “You’re reading Ryan’s personnel file?” Ianto asked with a frown.
“Yup,” Jack answered.
“Why?”
“Horatio had a copy in his office. I couldn’t resist.”
“You know if you wanted to violate his privacy you could have done it from the safety of the Hub. Tosh would have gladly hacked their systems if you’d asked her,” Ianto admonished.
“Yeah, well that was before,” Jack said.
“Before what?”
“I talked to this pretty lab tech today. She was more than happy to talk about Ryan. I think she’s got a crush on him,” Jack smiled. “Anyway, Ryan’s been downplaying some of his on the job accidents.”
“How so?” Ianto asked.
“Apparently that gun he had pointed at his head was actually a nail gun, and it went off in his face. Delko- who was supposed to be on call that day instead of Ryan- showed up in time to rush him to the hospital.”
Ianto had the sudden need to sit down. “Anything else?”
“Apparently he was standing behind a Hummer when it was hit by a rocket,” said Jack. “He spent the better part of the next twenty-four hours comatose in a hospital bed, and then went back to work almost immediately. Yeah, I’m gonna have a talk with Horatio about that.”
“He let Ryan go back to work after being in a coma?” Ianto asked in disbelief.
“Insisted on it apparently. Not that Ryan put up much of a fight. Apparently someone was trying to kill them all, and Ryan took offense to that.”
“Of course he did,” Ianto muttered.
“There’s some other stuff, but I think we’re going to have enough nightmares tonight as it is,” Jack said closing the file.
“Why did we let him go off on his own again, Jack?” Ianto asked.
“Because he wanted to, because he was old enough, because we had our own issues to work out and dragging him into them would have just made things worse,” Jack listed.
“Because I still had Lisa in the basement and had enough to worry about,” Ianto sighed.
“And you were scared about what would happen if she got loose while he was there,” Jack said.
“What a mess that was,” Ianto chuckled mirthlessly. “If Ryan had been there when that happened…”
“He wasn’t,” Jack reminded him.
“So he’s not safe with us, and if this file is to be believed then he’s not safe without us either,” said Ianto.
“Ianto Jones, questioning the integrity of a file. Never thought I’d see the day,” Jack teased.
“I’ve doctored more than a few files in my time, Jack,” Ianto reminded him. “So, what are we going to do? Drag Ryan back to Cardiff kicking and screaming? Or do we trust him not to get himself killed over here? He certainly hasn’t been doing the best of jobs on that.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Jack promised. “And if all else fails, Owen packed some sedatives in my pack. We’ll just tell the flight attendants he’s drunk.”
“We can’t drug our son,” Ianto said, barely suppressing his grin.
“Not even if it’s for his own good?” Jack teased.
“No,” Ianto said.
“Hey, we’ll handle this,” Jack said, putting a comforting hand on Ianto’s shoulder.
“I know. I’m just finding it a lot easier to empathize with my sister lately. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“If Rhiannon and Johnny can do this, so can we,” said Jack.
“David and Mica are adolescences, Jack. Rhiannon and Johnny can still ground them if they get into trouble.”
“We could lock Ryan in the vaults,” Jack offered.
“Cruel and unusual punishment, Jack. Don’t even joke about that. The smell is enough to drive Ryan mad. We’d never get him out of the shower if we made him spend any extended period down there with the Weevils,” said Ianto.
“Forgot about that,” Jack murmured.
“I think we just confirmed that we’re the worst parents in history,” Ianto sighed.
“Not the worst,” Jack denied. “Just not the best.”
Ianto nodded his agreement. “I can live with that.”
“Good, because we need to have this pity party wrapped up before Ryan wakes up tomorrow.”
“Right, can’t let Ryan know his parents are anything less than perfect.”
“I think we’re a few years too late there, Ianto. I think the general idea is to convince him that we at least know what we’re doing.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard. If we can convince the general population of Cardiff, Ryan shouldn’t be a problem.”
***
Eric lay awake with a stinging cheek. He was going to kill Wolfe. No really, he had it all planned out. He’d lure him to his apartment under the pretense of discussing a case and then unleash the fury that was Estrella Delko-Stanley on him. Oh, his sister would tear Wolfe to pieces.
Weight Watchers. Wolfe had slipped a coupon for Weight Watchers into the damn envelope. When Estrella had realized what it was, she’d smacked him so hard he was going to have a bruise in the morning. Wolfe would probably guess where he got it too, the smug bastard.
And why was Estrella so pissed about that anyway? She knew she didn’t need Weight Watchers. None of his sisters did. Women were weird. No wonder things never got off the ground with him and Calleigh.
Eric rolled over onto his side and, still plotting his revenge, drifted off to sleep. His dreams would be a great deal pleasanter than some that would be had tonight. Out in the city, something was hunting.
AN: Classes have started and I have three different English courses, Into to Literature, American Literature I, and Creative Writing. Yeah, free time? Not something I have much of right now. Also, on top of that, I have the flu. *Sigh*. EDIT: Not the flu. But it does qualify as a medical emergency. Don’t worry, I’ll live.
Chapter Eight