Hide Your Feathers - Part 2/3
Summary: Ianto's act of kindness backfires on him, resulting on the terrified Welshman sprouting a pair of beautiful white wings.
Rating: pg -13
Warnings: Scenes of blood, mentions of sex
Spoilers: none
Character Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Preview: Jack just stared at him. He had never seen anything looking so sensual in his life. The Welshman was stood by the window wearing only his jogging bottoms, the sunlight was reflecting off his body and sprouting from between his shoulder blades was a pair of gorgeous white, feathery wings.
Other Notes - All Parts are complete and will be posted as soon as possible - hope you all enjoy.
Part 1
Part 3
Hide Your Feathers - Part 2
Chapters 8-12
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8. - The Long Route To Work
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Every step that Ianto took felt like Jack’s greatcoat was slipping further from his shoulders. He could picture himself stood on the pavement with his wings exposed for everyone to see. They would all point and stare at him; he would be taken away and experimented on.
Ianto slowed to a halt and gripped the coat tighter around his shoulders. His nervousness was radiating off his face.
“You’ll be fine, it wont fall off” Jack encouraged.
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me, that thing is so heavy and your gripping it to death, there’s no way it can fall off”
“Without the SUV the journey to work seems ten times longer”
“Yeah sorry, I left the SUV and walked for a change, not the best idea right?” Jack said.
Ianto didn’t answer he was too lost in thought.
The Welshman had never felt so paranoid simply from walking before. Every now and then he would glance down to check that his feathers weren’t sticking out from gaps in the coat or from underneath it. The sight of the tourist shop couldn’t come fast enough.
As soon as both men entered the tourist shop, Jack locked the door shut behind him and removed Ianto’s jacket “thanks for this but it’s a bit small for me”
“You should cut the snacks” Ianto joked.
Jack pouted at him “I’d put it more to my broader shoulders actually”
“That’s what they all say”
Ianto watched as Jack released the lock for the secret door and signalled for him to lead the way into the hub.
“This is going to be awkward Jack, how do I tell the others?” Ianto was still gripping Jacks coat tightly.
“Ianto, they’re going to find out sooner or later”
“I mean how do I announce my self? Shall I just whip off the coat and strut my feathers like I’m on stage?”
Jack quirked a brow “well you could…”
“It would be better just to call a boardroom meeting wouldn’t it?”
Jack nodded “yes it would”
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9. - Meeting
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“Now?” Owen moaned “a boardroom meeting now?”
“Yes, what’s wrong with now?” Jack asked with his arms folded.
“I’m busy”
“Reading the newspaper isn’t busy, it’s expendable so move”
“Alright alright” Owen stood up and tossed the newspaper down “where are the girls?”
“Heading to the boardroom, like you should be”
“I am” Owen whined as he walked “where’s Ianto?”
“He’ll be joining us in a moment”
“Is he better then? For someone so worried about him, you’ve said nothing yet”
“He’s better” Jack sighed. Owen didn’t do it often but sometimes he would rally questions at him.
“That was sudden but a good thing” Owen opened the door and walked into the boardroom “what’s the meeting about?”
Jack ignored him and took his usual place at the head of the table.
“Jack is this that meeting about space residue, its velocity and mass? Because I don’t have my note book and I’d like to take some notes” Tosh asked ignoring Owen rolling his eyes beside her.
“It was going to be but ive cancelled that for a different subject instead.”
“Oh, that’s a shame” Gwen said trying to sound sincere.
“Yeah, I was looking forward to that” Owen said, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.
Jack continued to ignore their comments and got straight to the point “today’s topic is about Ianto”
“God, I almost forgot!” Gwen suddenly exclaimed “is he ok after yesterday? I haven’t seen him yet”
“Calm down Gwen, he’s not in any pain anymore”
“You haven’t somehow got him pregnant have you?” Owen grimaced “because I don’t think I could cope with that”
“No, its not that and how could Ianto get pregnant? I’m the one from the 51st centaury so I have more of a chance of getting knocked up than he does”
“So your pregnant?” Owen asked “and tea-boy’s the father?”
“Shut up Owen, no ones pregnant” Jack stopped pacing and took a seat “Yesterday, despite Owen’s brilliant analysis something has happened to Ianto and I think its down to some alien device or energy.”
“What do you mean something happened to him?” Tosh asked, “He’s ok right?”
“He’s ok in most ways…”
“Jack where is he?” Gwen demanded. “We haven’t seen him all morning and now im getting worried that something bad has happened to him!”
“I’m here” A small voice sounded from the door. The whole team apart from Jack turned and gasped at Ianto who was stood with his wings expanded. He looked very miserable.
“Ok that is so not backache” Owen said.
Gwen and Tosh both walked over to him and smoothed his feathers.
“Do you two mind? This isn’t a petting zoo,” Ianto said uncomfortably.
“But Ianto honey you look beautiful” Gwen said, the amazement reflecting in her voice.
“So ive been told but I cant stay like this, its so wrong”
“What happened to you?” Tosh asked
“I don’t know” Ianto sobbed “I think its something alien but ive been near no devices, it wasn’t that froggy thing that Owen was dissecting because they’re on our records already and marked as safe so I have no idea.
Tosh put her arms around Ianto and hugged him.
“Jack” Gwen turned to face him.
“Mm”
“Me and Tosh can go through records and try to find some explanation for this.”
Jack nodded “Good idea, Owen can you run medical checks while the girls go through the records?”
“Will do”
“Hold it a moment” Ianto interrupted “I feel fine save the fact I have a hulking great pair of wings attached to my back, surely I’d be more use in the archives?” he folded his wings back up.
Jack walked up to him and braced his hands on either side of Ianto’s shoulders “I just want to know that your ok, there might be something wrong with you that you cant see or feel”
Ianto looked into Jacks eyes; he knew he was right and that look always made him give in “ok, fine”
Jack gave him a quick peck on the lips “thankyou, I’ll be in the archives while Owen runs your tests, I want everyone back here with findings in about an hour.”
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10. - A slightly different x-ray
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“Well I have to say… that is the strangest human x-ray that I’ve ever seen” Owen said as he pinned the picture up against the light screen so that Ianto could see.
“That’s me?” he shivered. He was sat on the gurney just in his trousers and had pulled his wings around his body in an attempt to keep warm.
“Yes this is you, see how the bones in your wings join perfectly to your normal skeletal structure?” Owen pointed at the display with a thin wooden stick “its almost as if you were born like this… which you weren’t but do you get what im saying?”
“It looks as if it was meant to be?” Ianto said quietly.
Owen nodded “that’s exactly it”
“But I don’t know how this happened to me”
“Nor do I and I apologise for dismissing this as backache”
“Well it’s not your fault, at first that’s what it felt like but in the night I literally grew wings… there was so much blood and pain…”
Owen felt sorry for him “and you woke like that?”
“Yes… exactly like this but with no explanations as to how…”
“We’ll figure it out but right now I think we should continue with tests”
Ianto nodded “it will put Jack at ease… what do you want me to do?”
“Can you stretch out both wings please.”
Ianto hopped down to the floor and extended both wings to their maximum length. “Like this?” he asked.
Owen nodded in amazement. Ianto’s wingspan was taking up most of the space in the autopsy room. “Yeah that’s just fine”
Owens tests lasted for almost the whole hour. He’d taken blood tests, feather sample, numerous x-rays, other tests that Ianto didn’t understand and stored all of the information into the Hub’s database.
“What’s the verdict doctor?”
“Well, apart from looking like the angel Gabriel, your fit and healthy.”
“I just hope the others have found out the cause for this.”
“Yeah, and I cant blame this one on sex with Jack”
Ianto laughed “why not? You blame everything else wrong with me on ‘sex with Jack’.”
“Well, as you know, I have my doubts about him being human sometimes but I don’t think that by shagging you he’s gone and turned you into an angel”
“He calls me angel sometimes” Ianto said in a stupid dreamy voice just to annoy Owen and it worked.
“God, I don’t want to know.”
After Owen had helped Ianto back into his ripped shirt, both men ascended into the main area of the Hub. “Its all stored on the computer system but I just need to sign this document” Owen fumbled around in his doctors overcoat for a pen. “Uh, do you have a pen?”
“Sorry no, ive been meaning to stock up on biros, were always running out.”
“Bloody Torchwood, you’d think that amidst all of this futuristic alien technology, it would be easy to find a bloody pen.”
“Jack’s office?”
Ianto cringed as Owen knocked the many piles of paper from Jack’s desk to the floor in his search for the pen.
“Ianto, don’t look at me like that, you know Jack’s documents are never organised anyway”
“But its still messy… messier…”
“I still can’t find a bloody pen!”
“Jack prefers fountain pens, I think he keeps one in his draw.”
Ianto opened the top draw and handed Owen the pen. The doctor scribbled a few letters and then the pen ran out “bloody hell!” he threw it down in annoyance.
“Alright, calm down” Ianto was rummaging through the top draw again. “Uh… handcuffs, lubricant, smarties…” he looked up at Owen’s disgusted expression “I’m just joking Owen”
“Sure you are… any pens or ink cartages?”
“Nope just a pot of black ink, I really need to bring in some pens, were so used to typing things up around here but this is ridiculous” he tossed the pot to Owen. “Not much we can do with this, unless you had a… OW!” Ianto yelped as Owen plucked a feather from the base of his wing.
“Feather?” Owen said innocently as he dipped the end into the ink and signed the document.
“Yes feather… that bloody hurt”
“Stop complaining, you’ve got two whole wings full of the things”
“Yeah but you could’ve found a loose one!” Ianto scolded, rubbing at the sore part of his wing.
“Stop preening like a bloody dove and lets get back to the boardroom.”
Ianto stopped and looked up at him “dove…”
“Well I thought it was kinder than pigeon or seagull.”
Ianto wasn’t listening “I think I know part of the reason for this, we’ve got to get back to the boardroom.”
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11. - The Cause
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“Ianto, I’m sorry but we couldn’t find anything,” Jack said as soon as both Owen and Ianto entered the room.
“Its fine, I don’t think that this will be on the records but listen to this” he tried to sit down but found it uncomfortable trapping his wings behind his back and the chair so in the end he let them drape loosely to the floor. “Yesterday, before the feathers that is, I found a dove.”
“The torn and broken one?” Jack asked.
“Yes and I picked it up but then I was distracted for a moment and when I looked back, the dove was gone.”
“Just like you told me yesterday Ianto but I don’t get it, what are you trying to say?”
“But then I saw a dove fly over my head, uninjured and beautiful.” Ianto was hoping that he was making a breakthrough, what if it was just a coincidence after all? “Those fantail doves aren’t exactly common here so what if it was the same on Jack? Isn’t it a twist of fate that I touched the dove and wake up the next morning with a replica of its wings?”
“If its an alien dove perhaps?” Gwen said.
“I don’t think it’s an alien dove per say but I think that what you’ve told me Ianto, may have a link”
“Good”
“Now you’ve mentioned it I think we do have it on our records but not under ‘angel’ or ‘wings’”
“We do?” Tosh asked.
Jack nodded and brought up the Torchwood search engine on the main screen “Ianto, you may be in luck as I think I know what this is.”
“I hope so”
Jack brought up a picture of a matted stag on the screen. Its leg was stuck in a trap and there was a pool of blood on the floor. “Ok, firstly pretend that this stag is the dove but in a different situation.”
The next picture showed a man setting the stag free from the trap. “Ok, now pretend that this man is Ianto helping the dove, but Ianto’s hotter than this guy here.” He added.
Ianto rolled his eyes.
The third picture showed the man looking confused as a majestic stag trotted past him. “Are you getting it yet?” Jack asked.
“I think so” Ianto said “and if I’m right then I can pretty much guess the next picture.”
Jack brought up the final picture. It showed the man stood infront of a mirror with a set of magnificent antlers.
“Whoa!” Owen exclaimed “Ianto mate, you’ve honestly got it better, imagine waking up as Bambi’s dad?”
Jack switched off the screen “these aliens are called Samaritans because when they land on a new planet, they take the form of animals or something similar depending on what planet it is and pretend to be injured. Then after a person has helped them they ‘bless’ that person with a trait of their selected animal as a thankyou, it’s their way of thanking the good people of the planet that they’ve landed on.”
“Surely that’s not a good thing right?” Gwen asked.
“Its not, Torchwood dealt with the poor deer man before I joined up.”
“How did they do that?” Tosh asked.
“By surgically removing his antlers and giving him retcon, the scars always remained though.”
“And the stag?” Gwen asked.
“Torchwood never had to capture it, it was shot in natural hunting grounds as a normal dear and mounted on the wall of the local pub… sometimes I still go to that place…”
“So how do I get my wings removed?” Ianto asked.
“By my surgical genius” Owen said, “I’ll use a bit of alien med, there will be no scars”
“Thankyou for your help guys” Ianto said, “these wings really are beautiful but I can’t keep them.”
“I can perform surgery tomorrow if you want” Owen offered, “Tonight, however, I think you should have fun”
“Fun?”
“Well, why not? Ianto you have wings and that’s every kids dream, have you even attempted to fly yet?”
“Fly!?” Ianto looked dumbstruck.
Jack laughed “you might as well Ianto, I don’t expect that you want to go back to your flat tonight with the dangers of being exposed and you would look so hot swooping around.”
“But its insane, unnatural, people aren’t meant to fly.”
“But that’s what wings are for” Owen sarcastically reminded.
“Go on Ianto, give it ago while you’ve got the chance, I’d love a go at that me” Gwen urged enviously”
“But I don’t know how!”
“Just do what Myfanwy does and flap a lot!” Tosh motioned with her arms.
Ianto sighed. The rest of his team were staring at him “oh all right then, but just once.”
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12- Flying lesson
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“Ianto, as much as I love you, you look like a chicken laying an egg” Jack laughed “why are you bending your knees?”
“I don’t know” Ianto snapped “perhaps because ive never done this before!”
“Flap your wings!” Owen called.
When Ianto looked across at Owen to glare at him, he laughed internally. Tosh, Gwen and Owen were all stood together and flapping their arms madly.
Ianto stood and flexed both wings to full length. He brought them both down heavily, creating a huge gust of wind but didn’t move. He just wobbled on his feet slightly.
“Uh… now what?” he asked.
“That was good” Jack said clapping, now try jumping slightly at the same time.”
“Ok, here goes nothing”
Ianto repeated the move and lifted a few feet into the air.
“Keep flapping!” Tosh and Gwen called in unison”
“I am I am!” Ianto called back. Feathers were moulting all around him as he flapped frantically but he was gaining height.”
“Try soaring and gliding, it’ll give your wing muscles a rest” Jack called up “and your doing fine!”
“Right” Ianto mumbled nervously.
He was glad that Myfanwy was locked away; he couldn’t cope with that kind of confrontation right now. Soon enough Ianto grasped hold of the aspect of flying pretty quickly and was flying circles around the water tower.
“This is easy!” he called down “its great and I feel amazing!”
“You look amazing too,” Jack whispered huskily under his breath.
“Ianto were going home now, are you coming back down?” Owen called.
Ianto momentarily hovered in mid air and nodded his head “I’ll be right there… but I don’t quite know how to land.” He said nervously as he began to descend.
As the ground came closer Ianto shut his eyes and crashed but luckily it was into the warm arms of Jack.
Jack toppled over and Ianto ended up lying on top of him with his wings sprawled out either side. A shower of detatched feathers gently fell around them.
“This looks familiar” Jack said.
“Yes it does” Ianto replied.
Jack pressed forward and fastened his lips to Ianto’s.
“Whoa, time out!” Owen groaned “you have all evening for that! Preferably after ive gone home”
Ianto broke this kiss and stood up. He pulled Jack up after him. “That was amazing, who’ve thought wings could be so much fun!”
“I can think of more ways to make them fun…” Jack added suggestively.
Owen grimaced “Well, as I said, the three of us are going home, it seems that Jack has reached breaking point so have a great time and I’ll see you tomorrow.” he forced a smile.
“Bye love” Gwen kissed Ianto on the cheek and ruffled his feathers. “Sorry but they're so soft, I really couldn’t resist.
“Bye Gwen” Ianto said in a plain tone of voice.
“See you tomorrow” Tosh smiled and waved good-bye. She followed Gwen and Owen out of the Hub leaving Jack and Ianto alone.
“So” Ianto turned to Jack.
“Mm”
“I think that I ought to take Owen’s advice and have some fun with my wings”
“You do, do you?” Jack smiled as he snaked an arm around Ianto’s waist. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
Ianto moved forward but stopped so that his face was millimetres away from Jack’s “oh numerous things but you’ll just have to wait and find out…”
To Be Continued…
Rating: pg -13
Warnings: Scenes of blood, mentions of sex
Spoilers: none
Character Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Preview: Jack just stared at him. He had never seen anything looking so sensual in his life. The Welshman was stood by the window wearing only his jogging bottoms, the sunlight was reflecting off his body and sprouting from between his shoulder blades was a pair of gorgeous white, feathery wings.
Other Notes - All Parts are complete and will be posted as soon as possible - hope you all enjoy.
Part 1
Part 3
Hide Your Feathers - Part 2
Chapters 8-12
-------------------------------------
8. - The Long Route To Work
------------------------------------
Every step that Ianto took felt like Jack’s greatcoat was slipping further from his shoulders. He could picture himself stood on the pavement with his wings exposed for everyone to see. They would all point and stare at him; he would be taken away and experimented on.
Ianto slowed to a halt and gripped the coat tighter around his shoulders. His nervousness was radiating off his face.
“You’ll be fine, it wont fall off” Jack encouraged.
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me, that thing is so heavy and your gripping it to death, there’s no way it can fall off”
“Without the SUV the journey to work seems ten times longer”
“Yeah sorry, I left the SUV and walked for a change, not the best idea right?” Jack said.
Ianto didn’t answer he was too lost in thought.
The Welshman had never felt so paranoid simply from walking before. Every now and then he would glance down to check that his feathers weren’t sticking out from gaps in the coat or from underneath it. The sight of the tourist shop couldn’t come fast enough.
As soon as both men entered the tourist shop, Jack locked the door shut behind him and removed Ianto’s jacket “thanks for this but it’s a bit small for me”
“You should cut the snacks” Ianto joked.
Jack pouted at him “I’d put it more to my broader shoulders actually”
“That’s what they all say”
Ianto watched as Jack released the lock for the secret door and signalled for him to lead the way into the hub.
“This is going to be awkward Jack, how do I tell the others?” Ianto was still gripping Jacks coat tightly.
“Ianto, they’re going to find out sooner or later”
“I mean how do I announce my self? Shall I just whip off the coat and strut my feathers like I’m on stage?”
Jack quirked a brow “well you could…”
“It would be better just to call a boardroom meeting wouldn’t it?”
Jack nodded “yes it would”
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9. - Meeting
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“Now?” Owen moaned “a boardroom meeting now?”
“Yes, what’s wrong with now?” Jack asked with his arms folded.
“I’m busy”
“Reading the newspaper isn’t busy, it’s expendable so move”
“Alright alright” Owen stood up and tossed the newspaper down “where are the girls?”
“Heading to the boardroom, like you should be”
“I am” Owen whined as he walked “where’s Ianto?”
“He’ll be joining us in a moment”
“Is he better then? For someone so worried about him, you’ve said nothing yet”
“He’s better” Jack sighed. Owen didn’t do it often but sometimes he would rally questions at him.
“That was sudden but a good thing” Owen opened the door and walked into the boardroom “what’s the meeting about?”
Jack ignored him and took his usual place at the head of the table.
“Jack is this that meeting about space residue, its velocity and mass? Because I don’t have my note book and I’d like to take some notes” Tosh asked ignoring Owen rolling his eyes beside her.
“It was going to be but ive cancelled that for a different subject instead.”
“Oh, that’s a shame” Gwen said trying to sound sincere.
“Yeah, I was looking forward to that” Owen said, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.
Jack continued to ignore their comments and got straight to the point “today’s topic is about Ianto”
“God, I almost forgot!” Gwen suddenly exclaimed “is he ok after yesterday? I haven’t seen him yet”
“Calm down Gwen, he’s not in any pain anymore”
“You haven’t somehow got him pregnant have you?” Owen grimaced “because I don’t think I could cope with that”
“No, its not that and how could Ianto get pregnant? I’m the one from the 51st centaury so I have more of a chance of getting knocked up than he does”
“So your pregnant?” Owen asked “and tea-boy’s the father?”
“Shut up Owen, no ones pregnant” Jack stopped pacing and took a seat “Yesterday, despite Owen’s brilliant analysis something has happened to Ianto and I think its down to some alien device or energy.”
“What do you mean something happened to him?” Tosh asked, “He’s ok right?”
“He’s ok in most ways…”
“Jack where is he?” Gwen demanded. “We haven’t seen him all morning and now im getting worried that something bad has happened to him!”
“I’m here” A small voice sounded from the door. The whole team apart from Jack turned and gasped at Ianto who was stood with his wings expanded. He looked very miserable.
“Ok that is so not backache” Owen said.
Gwen and Tosh both walked over to him and smoothed his feathers.
“Do you two mind? This isn’t a petting zoo,” Ianto said uncomfortably.
“But Ianto honey you look beautiful” Gwen said, the amazement reflecting in her voice.
“So ive been told but I cant stay like this, its so wrong”
“What happened to you?” Tosh asked
“I don’t know” Ianto sobbed “I think its something alien but ive been near no devices, it wasn’t that froggy thing that Owen was dissecting because they’re on our records already and marked as safe so I have no idea.
Tosh put her arms around Ianto and hugged him.
“Jack” Gwen turned to face him.
“Mm”
“Me and Tosh can go through records and try to find some explanation for this.”
Jack nodded “Good idea, Owen can you run medical checks while the girls go through the records?”
“Will do”
“Hold it a moment” Ianto interrupted “I feel fine save the fact I have a hulking great pair of wings attached to my back, surely I’d be more use in the archives?” he folded his wings back up.
Jack walked up to him and braced his hands on either side of Ianto’s shoulders “I just want to know that your ok, there might be something wrong with you that you cant see or feel”
Ianto looked into Jacks eyes; he knew he was right and that look always made him give in “ok, fine”
Jack gave him a quick peck on the lips “thankyou, I’ll be in the archives while Owen runs your tests, I want everyone back here with findings in about an hour.”
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10. - A slightly different x-ray
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“Well I have to say… that is the strangest human x-ray that I’ve ever seen” Owen said as he pinned the picture up against the light screen so that Ianto could see.
“That’s me?” he shivered. He was sat on the gurney just in his trousers and had pulled his wings around his body in an attempt to keep warm.
“Yes this is you, see how the bones in your wings join perfectly to your normal skeletal structure?” Owen pointed at the display with a thin wooden stick “its almost as if you were born like this… which you weren’t but do you get what im saying?”
“It looks as if it was meant to be?” Ianto said quietly.
Owen nodded “that’s exactly it”
“But I don’t know how this happened to me”
“Nor do I and I apologise for dismissing this as backache”
“Well it’s not your fault, at first that’s what it felt like but in the night I literally grew wings… there was so much blood and pain…”
Owen felt sorry for him “and you woke like that?”
“Yes… exactly like this but with no explanations as to how…”
“We’ll figure it out but right now I think we should continue with tests”
Ianto nodded “it will put Jack at ease… what do you want me to do?”
“Can you stretch out both wings please.”
Ianto hopped down to the floor and extended both wings to their maximum length. “Like this?” he asked.
Owen nodded in amazement. Ianto’s wingspan was taking up most of the space in the autopsy room. “Yeah that’s just fine”
Owens tests lasted for almost the whole hour. He’d taken blood tests, feather sample, numerous x-rays, other tests that Ianto didn’t understand and stored all of the information into the Hub’s database.
“What’s the verdict doctor?”
“Well, apart from looking like the angel Gabriel, your fit and healthy.”
“I just hope the others have found out the cause for this.”
“Yeah, and I cant blame this one on sex with Jack”
Ianto laughed “why not? You blame everything else wrong with me on ‘sex with Jack’.”
“Well, as you know, I have my doubts about him being human sometimes but I don’t think that by shagging you he’s gone and turned you into an angel”
“He calls me angel sometimes” Ianto said in a stupid dreamy voice just to annoy Owen and it worked.
“God, I don’t want to know.”
After Owen had helped Ianto back into his ripped shirt, both men ascended into the main area of the Hub. “Its all stored on the computer system but I just need to sign this document” Owen fumbled around in his doctors overcoat for a pen. “Uh, do you have a pen?”
“Sorry no, ive been meaning to stock up on biros, were always running out.”
“Bloody Torchwood, you’d think that amidst all of this futuristic alien technology, it would be easy to find a bloody pen.”
“Jack’s office?”
Ianto cringed as Owen knocked the many piles of paper from Jack’s desk to the floor in his search for the pen.
“Ianto, don’t look at me like that, you know Jack’s documents are never organised anyway”
“But its still messy… messier…”
“I still can’t find a bloody pen!”
“Jack prefers fountain pens, I think he keeps one in his draw.”
Ianto opened the top draw and handed Owen the pen. The doctor scribbled a few letters and then the pen ran out “bloody hell!” he threw it down in annoyance.
“Alright, calm down” Ianto was rummaging through the top draw again. “Uh… handcuffs, lubricant, smarties…” he looked up at Owen’s disgusted expression “I’m just joking Owen”
“Sure you are… any pens or ink cartages?”
“Nope just a pot of black ink, I really need to bring in some pens, were so used to typing things up around here but this is ridiculous” he tossed the pot to Owen. “Not much we can do with this, unless you had a… OW!” Ianto yelped as Owen plucked a feather from the base of his wing.
“Feather?” Owen said innocently as he dipped the end into the ink and signed the document.
“Yes feather… that bloody hurt”
“Stop complaining, you’ve got two whole wings full of the things”
“Yeah but you could’ve found a loose one!” Ianto scolded, rubbing at the sore part of his wing.
“Stop preening like a bloody dove and lets get back to the boardroom.”
Ianto stopped and looked up at him “dove…”
“Well I thought it was kinder than pigeon or seagull.”
Ianto wasn’t listening “I think I know part of the reason for this, we’ve got to get back to the boardroom.”
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11. - The Cause
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“Ianto, I’m sorry but we couldn’t find anything,” Jack said as soon as both Owen and Ianto entered the room.
“Its fine, I don’t think that this will be on the records but listen to this” he tried to sit down but found it uncomfortable trapping his wings behind his back and the chair so in the end he let them drape loosely to the floor. “Yesterday, before the feathers that is, I found a dove.”
“The torn and broken one?” Jack asked.
“Yes and I picked it up but then I was distracted for a moment and when I looked back, the dove was gone.”
“Just like you told me yesterday Ianto but I don’t get it, what are you trying to say?”
“But then I saw a dove fly over my head, uninjured and beautiful.” Ianto was hoping that he was making a breakthrough, what if it was just a coincidence after all? “Those fantail doves aren’t exactly common here so what if it was the same on Jack? Isn’t it a twist of fate that I touched the dove and wake up the next morning with a replica of its wings?”
“If its an alien dove perhaps?” Gwen said.
“I don’t think it’s an alien dove per say but I think that what you’ve told me Ianto, may have a link”
“Good”
“Now you’ve mentioned it I think we do have it on our records but not under ‘angel’ or ‘wings’”
“We do?” Tosh asked.
Jack nodded and brought up the Torchwood search engine on the main screen “Ianto, you may be in luck as I think I know what this is.”
“I hope so”
Jack brought up a picture of a matted stag on the screen. Its leg was stuck in a trap and there was a pool of blood on the floor. “Ok, firstly pretend that this stag is the dove but in a different situation.”
The next picture showed a man setting the stag free from the trap. “Ok, now pretend that this man is Ianto helping the dove, but Ianto’s hotter than this guy here.” He added.
Ianto rolled his eyes.
The third picture showed the man looking confused as a majestic stag trotted past him. “Are you getting it yet?” Jack asked.
“I think so” Ianto said “and if I’m right then I can pretty much guess the next picture.”
Jack brought up the final picture. It showed the man stood infront of a mirror with a set of magnificent antlers.
“Whoa!” Owen exclaimed “Ianto mate, you’ve honestly got it better, imagine waking up as Bambi’s dad?”
Jack switched off the screen “these aliens are called Samaritans because when they land on a new planet, they take the form of animals or something similar depending on what planet it is and pretend to be injured. Then after a person has helped them they ‘bless’ that person with a trait of their selected animal as a thankyou, it’s their way of thanking the good people of the planet that they’ve landed on.”
“Surely that’s not a good thing right?” Gwen asked.
“Its not, Torchwood dealt with the poor deer man before I joined up.”
“How did they do that?” Tosh asked.
“By surgically removing his antlers and giving him retcon, the scars always remained though.”
“And the stag?” Gwen asked.
“Torchwood never had to capture it, it was shot in natural hunting grounds as a normal dear and mounted on the wall of the local pub… sometimes I still go to that place…”
“So how do I get my wings removed?” Ianto asked.
“By my surgical genius” Owen said, “I’ll use a bit of alien med, there will be no scars”
“Thankyou for your help guys” Ianto said, “these wings really are beautiful but I can’t keep them.”
“I can perform surgery tomorrow if you want” Owen offered, “Tonight, however, I think you should have fun”
“Fun?”
“Well, why not? Ianto you have wings and that’s every kids dream, have you even attempted to fly yet?”
“Fly!?” Ianto looked dumbstruck.
Jack laughed “you might as well Ianto, I don’t expect that you want to go back to your flat tonight with the dangers of being exposed and you would look so hot swooping around.”
“But its insane, unnatural, people aren’t meant to fly.”
“But that’s what wings are for” Owen sarcastically reminded.
“Go on Ianto, give it ago while you’ve got the chance, I’d love a go at that me” Gwen urged enviously”
“But I don’t know how!”
“Just do what Myfanwy does and flap a lot!” Tosh motioned with her arms.
Ianto sighed. The rest of his team were staring at him “oh all right then, but just once.”
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12- Flying lesson
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“Ianto, as much as I love you, you look like a chicken laying an egg” Jack laughed “why are you bending your knees?”
“I don’t know” Ianto snapped “perhaps because ive never done this before!”
“Flap your wings!” Owen called.
When Ianto looked across at Owen to glare at him, he laughed internally. Tosh, Gwen and Owen were all stood together and flapping their arms madly.
Ianto stood and flexed both wings to full length. He brought them both down heavily, creating a huge gust of wind but didn’t move. He just wobbled on his feet slightly.
“Uh… now what?” he asked.
“That was good” Jack said clapping, now try jumping slightly at the same time.”
“Ok, here goes nothing”
Ianto repeated the move and lifted a few feet into the air.
“Keep flapping!” Tosh and Gwen called in unison”
“I am I am!” Ianto called back. Feathers were moulting all around him as he flapped frantically but he was gaining height.”
“Try soaring and gliding, it’ll give your wing muscles a rest” Jack called up “and your doing fine!”
“Right” Ianto mumbled nervously.
He was glad that Myfanwy was locked away; he couldn’t cope with that kind of confrontation right now. Soon enough Ianto grasped hold of the aspect of flying pretty quickly and was flying circles around the water tower.
“This is easy!” he called down “its great and I feel amazing!”
“You look amazing too,” Jack whispered huskily under his breath.
“Ianto were going home now, are you coming back down?” Owen called.
Ianto momentarily hovered in mid air and nodded his head “I’ll be right there… but I don’t quite know how to land.” He said nervously as he began to descend.
As the ground came closer Ianto shut his eyes and crashed but luckily it was into the warm arms of Jack.
Jack toppled over and Ianto ended up lying on top of him with his wings sprawled out either side. A shower of detatched feathers gently fell around them.
“This looks familiar” Jack said.
“Yes it does” Ianto replied.
Jack pressed forward and fastened his lips to Ianto’s.
“Whoa, time out!” Owen groaned “you have all evening for that! Preferably after ive gone home”
Ianto broke this kiss and stood up. He pulled Jack up after him. “That was amazing, who’ve thought wings could be so much fun!”
“I can think of more ways to make them fun…” Jack added suggestively.
Owen grimaced “Well, as I said, the three of us are going home, it seems that Jack has reached breaking point so have a great time and I’ll see you tomorrow.” he forced a smile.
“Bye love” Gwen kissed Ianto on the cheek and ruffled his feathers. “Sorry but they're so soft, I really couldn’t resist.
“Bye Gwen” Ianto said in a plain tone of voice.
“See you tomorrow” Tosh smiled and waved good-bye. She followed Gwen and Owen out of the Hub leaving Jack and Ianto alone.
“So” Ianto turned to Jack.
“Mm”
“I think that I ought to take Owen’s advice and have some fun with my wings”
“You do, do you?” Jack smiled as he snaked an arm around Ianto’s waist. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
Ianto moved forward but stopped so that his face was millimetres away from Jack’s “oh numerous things but you’ll just have to wait and find out…”
To Be Continued…