The New Boss - Chapter Twenty -One
Title: New Boss - 21/?
Rating: MA 15+
Fandom: Torchwood
Genre: AU/ Romance
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Spoilers: None. AU but the names of the Episodes are mentioned
Summary: There is a new Boss for Torchwood Cardiff.
Cooking for fun
Words: this part 1,736 - So far - 36,692
Torchwood- Copyright BBC.
beta’d by the wonderful wanda1969
‘thoughts are in italics and single quotes’
Chapter Twenty-One
The team all had dinner together. It was a special meal, beautiful food and the most decadent desserts. It was the special treat they had been promised, and it was enjoyed by all.
The team were given their hour to practice on the stage. The props were easy and there were no real costumes, just an apron for Gwen.
After their time was up, Jack clapped his hands and said in his best ‘luvvies voice’, “Darlings are we organised for our big production?”
Tosh and Owen giggled and Ianto rolled his eyes, then laughed.
Gwen looked at Jack. She was stunned, ‘why was Jack putting on such a strange voice? It must be a joke. I don’t get it. The others seem amused.’ Gwen smiled, ‘I don’t want to be left out.’
They all went to the coffee area and Ianto produced some beans and made some of his special mocha coffee drinks.
As they sat there quietly discussing the day and their thoughts about the performance, Jack keep looking at Ianto, thinking, ‘He is really getting under my skin, I really want - no - need - to get to know him better.’
Ianto could feel Jack’s eyes on him. He gave Jack a little smile. It felt good, that he was watching him. ‘Maybe,’ thought Ianto, ‘this might be something - something good.’
---------------------------------------------------------
The next day started off with a morning session of presentations from the different locations. Jack’s report was quite funny, as he explained he had only been at Cardiff for a short while and the fun in working out how Cardiff isn’t England, and how to be a good Cardiff person you need to like rugby, beer, leeks and sheep, but possibly not in that order. His run down was precise and highlighted to the other branches the excellent work his team was doing.
After morning tea and a very short session, Evan stood up and told everyone they were going to make lunch, three courses, as a team building exercise. There were groans, and voices could be heard saying ‘it’s kitchen nightmare all over again.’ ‘I burn boiled water’, and ‘Just keep the stomach pump nearby.’ Evan gave out three envelopes, one to each team, they got to pick them randomly.
Jack opened the envelope. “And the winner is... Just kidding.” He just stared at the writing on the piece of paper. Read it, read it again and looked at his team and started to laugh.
“We have to make cup cakes. We’re to cook them from scratch and decorate them, and they have to be ready for after lunch. We can’t access the internet and the only recipe we can use is this one. You ready for this?” Jack read out the recipe that was on the paper:
“equal flower that goes up
to the sweet and slippery - 0.125 kg
2 chickie carriers
a sort of car nilla - splashy small
splash of moo if needed
cook in paper and decorate with what you find x 4”
“Does that make sense to anyone?”
Ianto replied, “Simple, equal amounts of self raising flour, sugar and butter, 2 eggs, vanilla, and extra milk if required.”
They all looked at him in surprise.
“I make the cup cakes we have at work every now and again. The recipe I use is:
125 g self raising flour
125 g castor sugar
125 g butter
2 eggs
teaspoon of vanilla
milk if needed
Sometimes I put in chocolate chips, or cocoa powder, or even sometimes mashed banana, you mix it all up with a mixer, put into cup cake holder, they are paper, and bake in the oven for about 15 20 minutes on 180c.” He looked at the others, who were sitting there open mouthed, staring at him. “What? I like to bake,” exclaimed Ianto, as he looked at the others. “Can’t I enjoy cooking?”
“How many does that recipe make?” asked Tosh.
“12 medium sized cakes.”
“We’ll need more than that.”
“Just double or triple the recipe, we need to get started soon - as they will have to be cold before we can ice them.”
“Okay, kids, to the kitchen,” declared Jack.
It didn’t take long to get organised. All the equipment was out and the ingredients were all at hand.
“What flavours? plain, chocolate, choc chip, banana?” asked Ianto, as he looked at the supplies. “There is the stuff to make all of those.”
“Let’s make them all,” suggested Jack. “There are four mixers, we can all make one and Ianto can supervise us. I want to make chocolate choc chip. Love my chocolate.”
“Banana for me,” said Tosh.
“I’ll do chocolate, I also love chocolate - Jack we have so much in common,” Gwen replied, ignoring all the others, only talking at Jack.
Owen looked at Ianto, “I never realised you made the cup cakes. There was one you did that was very tasty, it was choc banana, I’d like to do that one.”
They all set to work, and were surprised with how easy they were to bake. Ianto helped when needed. Jack made sure he needed lots of help.
When the cup cakes were in the oven, Ianto produced coffee for all of them. As they sat drinking their coffee, Ianto said, “After they come out of the oven, they should take about half an hour to get cold enough to ice. I’ve made up icing in several colours I’ve found some cachous and some icing pens, some chocolate chips - don’t eat them all Jack - and flaked chocolate. We can let our imaginations run riot and decorate them.”
“What are icing pens and cacthoos?” questioned Gwen.
“Tubes of coloured icing that have a plain nozzle, you can squeeze them and get icing that you can write or draw with. Cachous are silver edible balls, for decorating,” explained Ianto, patiently.
“Cool,” said Tosh, “this is going to be fun.”
When they had the cakes out of the oven it was time for lunch. They moved in to the dining room and were surprised by what was there. It seemed the other groups had to make a fire and barbeque sausages and bake potatoes. The other group had to work where drinks had been hidden around the camp using cryptic clues.
“Beware Greeks bearing Gifts,” quipped Ianto as they had sausages and potatoes placed on their table. There was cheese and other condiments to go with them. The sausages were over cooked but the potatoes were cooked perfectly and they ended up having cheesy jacket potatoes for lunch.
After lunch, one group was given time to rehearse in the hall and the others were told they had an hour to either practice or do free activities. Jack got everyone back in the kitchen to decorate the cup cakes.
They enjoyed decorating the cup cakes. Owen had tired to draw body parts on the tops of his - there were hearts and livers with lots of red icing for blood. Gwen had drawn flowers and love hearts. Tosh had used the chocolate chips and pressed designs on the tops.
Ianto looked at them and said, “Nice tessellations, and is that a Mandelbrot set?” Tosh grinned and nodded.
Jack had made the icing he used brighter by adding more colour and each cake was a very bright with cachous pressed on the top.
Ianto had taken a few of each made by the others to decorate himself. He had made them into butterfly cakes, as it was one of his favorites as a child. He cut the tops off, cut them in half, put some chocolate icing in the middle and positioned the ‘wings’ on top, finally sprinkling icing sugar on top.
The cup cakes were finally ready to go, set out neatly on the stands that Ianto had also found in the kitchen. They all looked impressed by how they had turned out. “Great job kids, I believe we have aced this task,” Jack said, proud of his team.
It was time for the next session. As they walked over Jack whispered to Ianto, “you constantly surprise me, Mr Jones. Is there anything you don’t know or can’t do?”
Ianto blushed and was about to reply when Gwen yelled out.
“Jack, wait for me. I need to talk to you.”
Jack groaned and Ianto sniggered, “Here comes your groupie Jack.”
Gwen grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him away from Ianto, and stopped.
“Jack, why are you spending so much time with him? You know I want to spend more time with you? I know this is a work do, but he’s only a PA. Not as important as I am, or even Tosh or Owen.”
Jack decided he couldn’t take one more minute of Gwen’s harping on. She always seemed to be putting Ianto down and pushing herself on him. He had tried subtle many times but she was still not getting the message.
“Gwen, how is your boyfriend, Rhys? We should all get together and have a team dinner so we can all meet your boyfriend. It is important not to let family drift. You need to keep connected with your guy. It would be good for him and you to see how - sorry who everyone is and with.”
Gwen looked at Jack, confused, “You want to meet Rhys?”
“Yes, he is important to you - he is your boyfriend. You need to keep work and relationships separate.”
Gwen stood still, looking after Jack as he walked on. ‘I hope that gets through to her,’ he thought.
The next session was another talk fest. Then it was time for afternoon tea.
Everyone seemed to like the cup cakes, enjoying the different flavours and decorations. It was a success.
The last session prior to dinner was working together as a team to build a contraption to get a person from one side of the room to the other side. If it didn’t work the person, who in this case was a doll called Suzie, would fall to her death. It was fun, but they kept killing Suzie.
Rating: MA 15+
Fandom: Torchwood
Genre: AU/ Romance
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Spoilers: None. AU but the names of the Episodes are mentioned
Summary: There is a new Boss for Torchwood Cardiff.
Cooking for fun
Words: this part 1,736 - So far - 36,692
Torchwood- Copyright BBC.
beta’d by the wonderful wanda1969
‘thoughts are in italics and single quotes’
Chapter Twenty-One
The team all had dinner together. It was a special meal, beautiful food and the most decadent desserts. It was the special treat they had been promised, and it was enjoyed by all.
The team were given their hour to practice on the stage. The props were easy and there were no real costumes, just an apron for Gwen.
After their time was up, Jack clapped his hands and said in his best ‘luvvies voice’, “Darlings are we organised for our big production?”
Tosh and Owen giggled and Ianto rolled his eyes, then laughed.
Gwen looked at Jack. She was stunned, ‘why was Jack putting on such a strange voice? It must be a joke. I don’t get it. The others seem amused.’ Gwen smiled, ‘I don’t want to be left out.’
They all went to the coffee area and Ianto produced some beans and made some of his special mocha coffee drinks.
As they sat there quietly discussing the day and their thoughts about the performance, Jack keep looking at Ianto, thinking, ‘He is really getting under my skin, I really want - no - need - to get to know him better.’
Ianto could feel Jack’s eyes on him. He gave Jack a little smile. It felt good, that he was watching him. ‘Maybe,’ thought Ianto, ‘this might be something - something good.’
---------------------------------------------------------
The next day started off with a morning session of presentations from the different locations. Jack’s report was quite funny, as he explained he had only been at Cardiff for a short while and the fun in working out how Cardiff isn’t England, and how to be a good Cardiff person you need to like rugby, beer, leeks and sheep, but possibly not in that order. His run down was precise and highlighted to the other branches the excellent work his team was doing.
After morning tea and a very short session, Evan stood up and told everyone they were going to make lunch, three courses, as a team building exercise. There were groans, and voices could be heard saying ‘it’s kitchen nightmare all over again.’ ‘I burn boiled water’, and ‘Just keep the stomach pump nearby.’ Evan gave out three envelopes, one to each team, they got to pick them randomly.
Jack opened the envelope. “And the winner is... Just kidding.” He just stared at the writing on the piece of paper. Read it, read it again and looked at his team and started to laugh.
“We have to make cup cakes. We’re to cook them from scratch and decorate them, and they have to be ready for after lunch. We can’t access the internet and the only recipe we can use is this one. You ready for this?” Jack read out the recipe that was on the paper:
“equal flower that goes up
to the sweet and slippery - 0.125 kg
2 chickie carriers
a sort of car nilla - splashy small
splash of moo if needed
cook in paper and decorate with what you find x 4”
“Does that make sense to anyone?”
Ianto replied, “Simple, equal amounts of self raising flour, sugar and butter, 2 eggs, vanilla, and extra milk if required.”
They all looked at him in surprise.
“I make the cup cakes we have at work every now and again. The recipe I use is:
125 g self raising flour
125 g castor sugar
125 g butter
2 eggs
teaspoon of vanilla
milk if needed
Sometimes I put in chocolate chips, or cocoa powder, or even sometimes mashed banana, you mix it all up with a mixer, put into cup cake holder, they are paper, and bake in the oven for about 15 20 minutes on 180c.” He looked at the others, who were sitting there open mouthed, staring at him. “What? I like to bake,” exclaimed Ianto, as he looked at the others. “Can’t I enjoy cooking?”
“How many does that recipe make?” asked Tosh.
“12 medium sized cakes.”
“We’ll need more than that.”
“Just double or triple the recipe, we need to get started soon - as they will have to be cold before we can ice them.”
“Okay, kids, to the kitchen,” declared Jack.
It didn’t take long to get organised. All the equipment was out and the ingredients were all at hand.
“What flavours? plain, chocolate, choc chip, banana?” asked Ianto, as he looked at the supplies. “There is the stuff to make all of those.”
“Let’s make them all,” suggested Jack. “There are four mixers, we can all make one and Ianto can supervise us. I want to make chocolate choc chip. Love my chocolate.”
“Banana for me,” said Tosh.
“I’ll do chocolate, I also love chocolate - Jack we have so much in common,” Gwen replied, ignoring all the others, only talking at Jack.
Owen looked at Ianto, “I never realised you made the cup cakes. There was one you did that was very tasty, it was choc banana, I’d like to do that one.”
They all set to work, and were surprised with how easy they were to bake. Ianto helped when needed. Jack made sure he needed lots of help.
When the cup cakes were in the oven, Ianto produced coffee for all of them. As they sat drinking their coffee, Ianto said, “After they come out of the oven, they should take about half an hour to get cold enough to ice. I’ve made up icing in several colours I’ve found some cachous and some icing pens, some chocolate chips - don’t eat them all Jack - and flaked chocolate. We can let our imaginations run riot and decorate them.”
“What are icing pens and cacthoos?” questioned Gwen.
“Tubes of coloured icing that have a plain nozzle, you can squeeze them and get icing that you can write or draw with. Cachous are silver edible balls, for decorating,” explained Ianto, patiently.
“Cool,” said Tosh, “this is going to be fun.”
When they had the cakes out of the oven it was time for lunch. They moved in to the dining room and were surprised by what was there. It seemed the other groups had to make a fire and barbeque sausages and bake potatoes. The other group had to work where drinks had been hidden around the camp using cryptic clues.
“Beware Greeks bearing Gifts,” quipped Ianto as they had sausages and potatoes placed on their table. There was cheese and other condiments to go with them. The sausages were over cooked but the potatoes were cooked perfectly and they ended up having cheesy jacket potatoes for lunch.
After lunch, one group was given time to rehearse in the hall and the others were told they had an hour to either practice or do free activities. Jack got everyone back in the kitchen to decorate the cup cakes.
They enjoyed decorating the cup cakes. Owen had tired to draw body parts on the tops of his - there were hearts and livers with lots of red icing for blood. Gwen had drawn flowers and love hearts. Tosh had used the chocolate chips and pressed designs on the tops.
Ianto looked at them and said, “Nice tessellations, and is that a Mandelbrot set?” Tosh grinned and nodded.
Jack had made the icing he used brighter by adding more colour and each cake was a very bright with cachous pressed on the top.
Ianto had taken a few of each made by the others to decorate himself. He had made them into butterfly cakes, as it was one of his favorites as a child. He cut the tops off, cut them in half, put some chocolate icing in the middle and positioned the ‘wings’ on top, finally sprinkling icing sugar on top.
The cup cakes were finally ready to go, set out neatly on the stands that Ianto had also found in the kitchen. They all looked impressed by how they had turned out. “Great job kids, I believe we have aced this task,” Jack said, proud of his team.
It was time for the next session. As they walked over Jack whispered to Ianto, “you constantly surprise me, Mr Jones. Is there anything you don’t know or can’t do?”
Ianto blushed and was about to reply when Gwen yelled out.
“Jack, wait for me. I need to talk to you.”
Jack groaned and Ianto sniggered, “Here comes your groupie Jack.”
Gwen grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him away from Ianto, and stopped.
“Jack, why are you spending so much time with him? You know I want to spend more time with you? I know this is a work do, but he’s only a PA. Not as important as I am, or even Tosh or Owen.”
Jack decided he couldn’t take one more minute of Gwen’s harping on. She always seemed to be putting Ianto down and pushing herself on him. He had tried subtle many times but she was still not getting the message.
“Gwen, how is your boyfriend, Rhys? We should all get together and have a team dinner so we can all meet your boyfriend. It is important not to let family drift. You need to keep connected with your guy. It would be good for him and you to see how - sorry who everyone is and with.”
Gwen looked at Jack, confused, “You want to meet Rhys?”
“Yes, he is important to you - he is your boyfriend. You need to keep work and relationships separate.”
Gwen stood still, looking after Jack as he walked on. ‘I hope that gets through to her,’ he thought.
The next session was another talk fest. Then it was time for afternoon tea.
Everyone seemed to like the cup cakes, enjoying the different flavours and decorations. It was a success.
The last session prior to dinner was working together as a team to build a contraption to get a person from one side of the room to the other side. If it didn’t work the person, who in this case was a doll called Suzie, would fall to her death. It was fun, but they kept killing Suzie.