It's back to work as usual - or is it?
This chapter rated PG.
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“I can’t believe I’m so nervous,” Jack admitted as he finished dressing. He pulled his suspenders up over his shoulders and checked his reflection in the mirror. Dressed for work except for his great coat, but it was gone. Anian had taken the coat to the dry cleaners Ianto had told him about, but even after the cleaners treated the coat and cleaned it four times, Anian could still smell the damp earth and scent from the grave and had asked Jack what he wanted to do. After much thought Jack had reluctantly decided to incinerate the coat and Anian had complied with his request. Perhaps he could wear Ianto’s leather jacket today, Jack thought with a sigh.
“About ready to go Jack?” Ianto called from the hallway.
“Almost. Mind if I wear your leather jacket to work at least for today?”
“I suppose you can,” Ianto replied walking into their bedroom, “but I think you should look at this first.” Ianto handed a large gift box to Jack.
Jack took the box from Ianto and placed it on the bed. There was a card attached. He fought the natural urge to open the box first and opened the card instead. The card front said Welcome back surrounded by a rainbow of balloons. Jack opened the card and read the note written in Tosh’s fine handwriting: “Jack, We’re so glad you’re feeling better and can’t wait to have you back at work. Please accept this gift with all our love, Tosh, Gwen, Owen, Harold, and Anian.”
Quickly Jack opened the box and smiled as he stroked his hand over a new great coat neatly folded inside the box.
“They thought you wouldn’t feel complete without your great coat and asked me where they could buy one. I told them about a couple of places in Cardiff and gave them your size. I hope you don’t mind,” Ianto said wrapping his arms around Jack from behind and kissing Jack’s neck. “Do you like it?”
“I love it,” Jack replied, his voice a bit husky with emotion. Ianto let go of Jack and pulled the coat out of the box.
“May I help you with your coat Sir?”
“Yes you may, Mr. Jones.” Jack turned around and with Ianto’s help slipped the new coat on. Ianto smoothed down the collar and then stood in front of Jack looking for approval. He smoothed his hands over the lapels and leaned in to kiss Jack. “There’s my dashing captain; now we’re ready for work.”
Jack grinned and took in the sight of his life mate in a black three piece suit with a burgundy dress shirt and matching silk tie. “Yes, we’re ready for work now Ianto Jones. Let’s go.”
Hand in hand they walked to work since it was a sunny day. Wanting to arrive in style, Jack chose to use the invisible lift. Descending into the Hub they saw Tosh at her work station busy working on programs. Hearing the lift, she looked up and smiled. Tosh came over and met them when the lift touched down. Jack let out a small “oomph” as Tosh hugged him with all her might. Jack hugged her back; he’d missed Tosh and just stood there for a moment enjoying the hug and the scent of Jasmine. “I missed you, Tosh,” Jack said.
“Missed you too,” Tosh replied finally releasing Jack from her arms so she could get a good look at him. Jack looked so much better than the last time she saw him; gone were the shadows under his eyes and he looked healthy and relaxed. “That coat looks good on you.” She was pleased it fit him so well.
“Of course it does,” Jack replied with a smile. “It’s a lovely present - thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Besides, our dashing Captain wouldn’t look complete without his great coat. And Ianto looks good enough to eat,” Tosh said with a wicked grin as she hugged Ianto.
“Oi, I’m the only one who gets to eat Ianto,” Jack replied.
Ianto rolled his eyes as Tosh laughed. “Too Much Information, Jack,” she admonished wagging her forefinger at Jack.
“Yes, TMI Jack; do I have to put you on decaf?” Ianto threatened.
Jack gasped in mock horror. “No, I’ll behave.”
Ianto smiled. “Good, then I’ll go make some coffee. Tosh, where is everyone?” he asked as they walked towards the kitchenette.
“Three Weevils were reported in Splott, so Gwen, Owen, Harold, and Anian went to take care of things. They should be back shortly.”
“Guess I’ll go to my office and start reading the reports Gwen said she’d leave on my desk,” Jack said.
Tosh went back to working on her programs. Ianto served them both coffee and then went over the reports with Jack telling what he knew from the videoconferences he’d had with Gwen and Harold. Soon their work was interrupted by the sirens, lights and cogwheel door rolling open allowing Gwen and Owen to enter. Gwen spotted Ianto and Jack and ran over to them.
“I’ve missed you two, it’s so good to have you back!” She gushed, hugging Jack first.
Jack hugged her back. “You’re just saying that because you know you can hand all of my duties back to me.”
“True,” Gwen agreed, “you’re welcome to all of the paperwork and the phone calls from UNIT and the PM,” she grinned at Jack. Turning, she hugged Ianto just as fiercely. “Ianto, good to see you in person and not on a bloody monitor.”
“Likewise; I hate videoconferencing,” Ianto agreed.
Gwen let go of Ianto. “Harold and Anian are just putting a Weevil in a cell. We would have just shooed it back into the sewers with the other ones, but it had an infected leg, so we decided to bring it in for treatment. Once it’s better we’ll release it back into its family group.”
“The other Weevils pushed it out of the sewers because it was sick - didn’t they?” Ianto asked.
“Yep, to protect the rest of them; it’s the best they can do, I suppose.”
Jack and Ianto nodded in agreement. They’d seen it happen on other occasions.
“I’ll give you al a few minutes to get things done and then I’d like to meet with all of you in the conference room,” Jack said.
“Sure Jack; I’ll tell the others,” Gwen replied and walked away to spread the word.
Owen strolled over to them. “We’ve got a few minutes before your meeting and I want to give you a quick check up and have a word with you and Ianto.”
“Sure Owen,” Jack agreed. The three started down the stairs to the medical bay when Jack hesitated on the steps.
A gentle hand touched his arm. “You alright, Cariad?”
Jack looked at Ianto touched by his concern. “Sorry, it’s just . . . it’s the last place I saw Grey and Hart,” Jack explained.
“I’m sorry Jack,” Owen said. He was down by the exam table with a file in his hand. “I didn’t think of it. Do you want to do this in your office instead/”
Jack took a deep breath and released it slowly feeling the tightness in his chest disappear. “No, I’ll be fine,” he assured them and finished walking downstairs to sit on the exam table.
Owen did a quick exam since he’d already seen Jack last week. “How are you feeling since I took you off the antidepressants last week?”
“Pretty good; I get a little sad every so often, but I’m able to shake it off. Talking with Ianto helps a lot.”
“Being sad is a normal emotional process. You and Ianto need to notice when the sadness lingers too long or gets intense; that’s when it might lead to depression. Report it to me when it happens so we can nip it in the bud quickly.” Owen finished writing a note in the file and closed it. “A couple of things I wanted to discuss with you two. First, I don’t think it’s a good idea for Jack to go out on missions alone. I want you teamed with someone.” Jack started to object, but Owen put up a hand to stop him. “Hear me out Jack; this would be temporary, just until you’ve had a couple of field trips under your belt to make sure you don’t suffer a flashback.”
Jack felt Ianto’s hand touch his arm. “He has a good point, Cariad.” Ianto said. He looked up at Ianto and saw nothing but love and concern in his eyes. Jack gently squeezed Ianto’s hand.
“You and Owen are right; I agree to team up on my missions.”
Owen let out a sigh of relief. “Great! The other thing was just a reminder for you to use the EPA scanner every morning you come into work. I’m assuming you’ve started trying to get pregnant again - right?”
Jack grinned and Ianto blushed. “I’ll take that as a Yes,” Owen said with a smile.
Ten minutes later they were all in the conference room. Ianto had served everyone coffee and then sat down in the chair to Jack’s right. Gwen, Owen and Harold were seated to Jack’s left while Tosh and Anian were to Ianto’s right.
“I've read about half of the reports Gwen left on my desk so far and I’m very impressed with all the work you’ve done while Ianto and I’ve been gone,” Jack said looking at his team. “Ianto and I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for us.” Jack got a little emotional and couldn’t finish what he wanted to say. Ianto grasped Jack’s hand and gave it a little squeeze getting a small smile in response.
“You’ve all been so very supportive both during and after the events with Grey and Hart . . . we couldn’t have done it without you,” Ianto agreed. “We also think Torchwood’s partnership with Pack Security has more than survived its baptism of fire. Setting up Pack Security the way you did, Harold, showed brilliant insight and enabled us to support each other and do an even better job of protecting the pack, Cardiff and Torchwood at the same time.”
Harold’s smile lit up the room. “I’m just glad we had Torchwood and Pack Security’s partnership firmly in place before the Grey and Hart event.” Everyone agreed with him.
The rift alarm sounded, ending the meeting. It was business as usual for Torchwood and Pack Security.
Ianto spent most of the week in the Archives with Anian and was very pleased to find the young lycan had done a superb job filing away new artifacts which had arrived during Ianto’s absence. He found only one or two things he would have done differently and discussed them with Anian.
Gwen brought Jack back up to speed on the case reports and then they met with Harold to go over some new proposals including additional field training for the special teams utilized during the Hart/Grey event. Jack and Ianto had gone out together on some retrieval runs and Jack hadn’t suffered a flashback even when the lights had suddenly failed in a warehouse where they were tracking a Weevil.
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“Harold suggested we have a pub night at Blaidd gwâl Friday night, sort of a Pack Security/Torchwood mixer,” Ianto said as they stepped off the invisible lift. Back to their old routine, they were the first to arrive at the Hub. Ianto hung up Jack’s great coat next to his own black coat before heading to the kitchenette to brew the first coffee batch for the day. “Think it’s a good idea?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Yeah I do; let’s see if everyone’s available,” Jack agreed before heading down to the medical bay.
He finished making the coffee and carried Jack’s striped coffee mug over to the medical bay stairway and started down the stairs. “Should be fun as long as there is no pub quiz; you know you’re rubbish at answering . . . Jack?” Ianto had stopped on the stairs and stared at the image projected on the medical bay’s far wall.
“I’m pregnant,” Jack whispered staring at the results on the wall. Ianto finished walking down the stairs and came to stand by his life mate. Jack lifted his hand off the EPA machine and the display disappeared. He again placed his hand on the machine which scanned him and displayed the same results: Human Male Pregnancy Test Results Positive. “I really am pregnant.”
Ianto cupped Jack’s face in his hands and kissed him deep and long before pulling apart to catch their breaths. “Are you happy about being pregnant Jack?” Ianto asked stroking Jack’s stomach through his shirt.
“Truth be told, I’m happy and terrified at the same time,” Jack admitted accepting the mug of coffee from Ianto.
Grasping Jack’s free hand in his, Ianto replied, “It’ll be alright Jack; we’ll get through this together. Enjoy your morning coffee, because it’s decaf coffee for you from now on.” Ianto laughed at the horrified look on Jack’s face.
Owen was still in bed when his mobile started beeping loudly. He ignored it for several minutes, and then finally gave up. Blearily he opened the message on his mobile expecting a rift alert. Instead the message displayed: Human Male Pregnancy Test Results Positive. Owen groaned; he forgot Tosh had set up the EPA machine to inform him the moment Jack was pregnant. “Bloody hell,” was all he muttered.
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A note from socalrose: This is the end of this story arc, but not the end of story. It's taken over a year to complete this story arc. Thanks to everyone who has read my story and a special Thank You to those readers who went the extra mile to submit comments along the way.
I'm going to try something new with the next story arc - actually writing most of the story before I start posting. The downside is, it may take a few months before I actually start posting the story here. The next story arc, Moonlight and Loving, will include Jack's pregnancy (my first full-fledge mpreg story!) and how Ianto, Torchwood and Pack Security handle it. I'll keep you posted on how it's going.
Your comments, concerns and questions are always welcome!!!
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