Torchwood Big Bang fic: Tynghedau
She thought she'd got them down, at least as far as their work habits went. Jack was here all the time, of course, but it was usually Ianto who was at work first. Oddly, he was later on the days when he'd slept at the Hub than when he went home. Eveku turned up bang on time, unless he'd had a particularly hot date, in which case he was up to half an hour late. Gwen would be late more often than not. If Jack was around, Ianto would start the coffee as soon as he'd switched on his computer; if not they all had to wait until Gwen showed her face. Once she'd tried to brew her own cup, when Gwen was running particularly late, but she now suspected that Ianto had sabotaged the machine in some subtle way. She had her own espresso machine at home, for fuck's sake; it shouldn't be so difficult to use the scaled up version in the Hub.
"Coffee?" Ianto handed her a cup then nearly spilt it over the keyboard when Jack yelled down from his office.
"Ianto, have you seen my braces?"
"You might have left them in the greenhouse when we were doing some maintenance in there." She couldn’t decide if it was sweet or really screwed up that Ianto still tried to find cover stories for how his clothes and Jack's clothes ended up all over the Hub, even though everyone knew about them. The maintenance story took a blow when Gwen appeared, twirling the braces.
"Must have been some maintenance for them to end up tied to the wall," she said, as she threw the braces up to a laughing Jack.
"Oh yeah." He winked at her before disappearing into his office to finish getting dressed. God, Kristen missed the days where her morning routine didn't involve her boss trying to round up his clothing.
She watched as Gwen made her way over to Ianto's desk.
"Have you seen this?" She held out a flyer. "The Roxy have teamed up with one of those steam boat companies. A double bill of romantic films from Hollywood's Golden Age." Gwen glanced upwards to where they could hear footsteps. Maybe she'd noticed, just like Kristen, a certain tension between the two men for the past few weeks.
"I'm not sure it's really Jack's thing," Ianto said, pushing the flyer back to Gwen. Kristen couldn't be sure, from the other side of the room, but she thought there was regret on Ianto's face as he pushed the leaflet away. She knew he liked old films.
"What's this?" She had to remember how quietly Jack could move when he wanted to. "'Romance on the River?' Cute. You and Rhys have fun."
It would be hard for Jack to sound any more dismissive, and even though she didn't actually like these people she still winced a little when Gwen said, "It's not for me and Rhys, I thought it was something Ianto might enjoy." There was a hint of challenge in her voice, and Kristen wondered what it would have been like if the three of them had been left in their own little world for a little longer, without outside forces to disturb the currents between them.
"Oh, well. I guess it looks kind of interesting, if you wanted to go. Cute could be good" Jack's backpedalling was just making things worse. She'd read through the file Anna pulled together for her on Jack Harkness, and his last real relationship was back in the 1970s with a woman called Lucia Moretti. Given that the woman had refused to see him on her death bed and left strict instructions in her will that her ashes were not to be placed anywhere Jack Harkness could visit, Kristen assumed it didn't end well. For all his charm, now that she'd seen him around Ianto and Gwen, she wasn’t really surprised.
"I was thinking of going. There's no need for you to sacrifice an evening. Eveku mentioned that he likes old films." Eveku looked surprised at this news, and Gwen looked indignant, but Ianto had clearly spent enough time around Jack to know the value of an exit strategy. "Anyway, I have archiving to do now. You can get me on comms if you need anything."
* * *
It turned out she had to go down to the archives herself. Jack might not have wanted a liaison officer, but being stuck with her he'd decided to make the most of it. The letters from concerned citizens were bad enough, but the boxes full of alien crap from grateful - things - were worse. She'd tried to palm the first box she'd been given off on Ianto, and she even thought she'd seen him file some of it, but the things had ended up back on her desk.
So she had a legitimate reason for being down there and she hadn’t set out to eavesdrop, but Anna had always told her to make the most of unexpected opportunities, so when she heard Eveku’s voice, she kept quiet and out of sight. Her positioning wasn’t ideal, but she could at least see part of Ianto’s face. She wondered if Jack knew how many nooks and crannies there were in this place that were out of sight and sound and camera range. Anna wouldn’t stand for it.
“What would you have done if I’d said I would go?” There was an edge to his voice but Eveku still sounded friendly. Ianto sounded - repressed was the closest she could get to that closed off, emotionless tone in his voice. She wondered if he had ever fooled anyone that way.
“I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair to involve you like that.”
“I don’t mind you using me to get a reaction out of Jack, just as long as you’re honest that that’s what it is. God knows, I enjoy seeing that composure of his shaken.”
“Like I said, I shouldn’t have involved you. It was pointless anyway.” From what she could see, she thought Ianto was blushing but some humour had crept back into his tone. “Jealousy, far too 21st century for Jack.”
“That’s not what it looks like from where I’m standing.” She winced as Ianto finally looked around at the other man, too quick, too hopeful, too open. She was amazed that Yvonne Hartman and Jack Harkness both hired someone whose emotions were such a liability.
“Do you want to go for a drink?” She felt as surprised as Ianto looked at Eveku’s proposition. She’d had him down as the sane one. Eveku laughed. “Not like that. You don’t need a more complicated love life, Ianto Jones. You need a friend.”
Kristen crept away as they discussed the merits of various pubs near the Hub. Just like Anna said, you never knew what might come in handy. Jack might not do jealousy, but he definitely had possessiveness down to a fine art. If Ianto was sleeping with Eveku, she didn’t think Jack would bother much beyond asking if he could join in, but this friendship was something else. She wondered what Jack would make of it. It was almost worth giving up the secret to see. Almost.
* * *
She'd managed to find a place for nearly all the junk she had to file, and she left the remainder on small table with a note for Ianto. When she made her way back to the main level of the Hub, Gwen was bashing at her keyboard, and Jack was skulking about on the upper levels of the Hub. She thought they must have taken advantage of everyone else being in the archives to have an almighty row. She kept her head down and noticed Eveku doing the same when he returned. It wasn't until lunchtime that Jack came down. "I'll be in the archives if you need me."
Gwen didn't say anything but her keyboard stopped getting quite as much punishment. She managed to field Jack's calls until mid-afternoon, when the Government Chief Whip called. After about fifteen minutes of trying to get a word in edgewise, she promised to get Jack to call him back and headed down to the archives herself. Kristen's attention was drawn back to her inbox and all her attention absorbed by drafting an email to the First Minister explaining why there was not going to be a memorandum of understanding between Torchwood and the Assembly, while still ensuring that the terms of the theoretical memorandum favoured them. She might not be Torchwood's biggest fan but allowing politicians operational control over the actions of an autonomous organisation was a bad precedent and one she didn't want to be responsible for. It wasn't until Eveku placed a mug of coffee on her desk that she stopped trying to work out whether 'are minded to' or 'are open to' would be better. She stretched and heard her back pop. She saw the clock on her work station and looked around the deserted Hub.
"Have they been back at all?"
"Nope."
She looked at Eveku. "Threesome?"
He grinned back at her. "Quite possibly. I'll go check, unless you want to?"
"No thanks. I can do without seeing any more of Jack than we do each morning." Eveku grinned and headed down to the archives, and she turned back to her screen.
She'd finished her draft and saved it, ready to be read the next morning before sending, when she next looked at the clock. It was past six, and the Hub was still deserted. Something wasn’t right. Drawing her gun she ran a heat scan of the base. It looked like there was a cluster of four human heat signatures in one of the secure archive rooms. Quickly, she set up a time delay lockdown to begin in an hour, and set up an email to be sent to her former boss at the same time. Anna could scramble a unit in under five minutes, and they'd be in Cardiff in less than half an hour. She checked the scan again; no other life forms according to the sensors.
She was still cautious as she crept down the stairs, gun in one hand, hand-held unit in the other, guiding her to what she hoped was the rest of the team. She reached the door to the room and paused, listening. She couldn't hear anything from inside, but that wasn't surprising. These rooms were designed with thick doors and walls to store the things that had the potential to be dangerous, but didn't need to locked away in the safe. They were mostly used for items whose purpose couldn't be ascertained. Putting the portable unit in her pocket she stood to the side of the doorway and took a deep breath. Slowly she pushed the door open with her foot, peering round the corner and ready to withdraw if needed. She craned her neck further, then moved her body until she was standing in the door way.
"What the fuck is going on?" She looked at her colleagues, sitting around the room and took a step forward.
"Don't let the door slam!" Gwen was closest and leapt up. Kristen held out her hand to stop the door from closing behind her.
She grabbed a case that was lying against the wall nearest to her and propped the door open. "Please tell me you did not all end up locked in this room because you let the door shut and no-one has a key. This isn't Acme Aliens!" She turned to Ianto.
"Why the hell don't you have a key? I thought the archives were supposed to be your thing?"
"I might have been slightly distracted." He carefully was not looking at Jack as he spoke.
Kristen turned to Gwen. "What about you?"
"I got a bit of a shock." Gwen did look at Jack, who grinned back at her.
"Then why walk into the room?"
Gwen opened her mouth, as though she actually thought she could give a reasonable answer to the question when Kirsten held up a hand to stop her. She had just turned to Eveku to ask him how he'd ended up stuck in the room when she heard the door creak. It was about a foot away from closing. She'd moved further into the room as she'd been speaking but now she rushed back to push the door open and realised why jamming it open hadn't worked. Something was pushing the door shut.
"Help me," she said, braced against the door, trying to keep it open. Despite Ianto and Eveku joining her to push against the door, it slammed shut.
"Shit." Ianto summed up what they were all feeling.
Kristen pulled out her hand held computer and handed it to Ianto. "All these rooms have a manual lock and an electronic over-ride right?"
"Yes," Ianto looked up from the screen. "But the electronic over-ride has already been activated. That would be why we're locked in."
"Guys, is that supposed to be glowing?" She spun round to see Eveku pointing to a small sphere on one of the lower shelves.
"It wasn't earlier." Ianto turned to Kristen. "It was one of the things you brought down here; where did it come from?"
"A grateful fan, the same as the rest of the crap I archived. Someone called Nikki Bevan."
"Shit." It was Gwen who spoke that time.
"Gwen, I thought you were dealing with that situation. I definitely remember telling you to deal with it." Jack, for some reason, was glaring at both Gwen and Ianto.
"I thought it was sorted." Gwen shrugged.
"Could we focus on the important things, like what it is and why it's glowing?" Kristen asked. She could really do without the meaningful looks and awkward pauses that seemed to be Jack’s preferred method of communication.
"Well it's down here because none of us knew what it was, so I'm gonna guess no-one knows why it's glowing either,” Jack offered. On seconds thought, she might prefer him without words.
"It's tied to the lock-in," Ianto said, not looking up from the computer screen. "Someone started it from outside the Hub but now that thing is controlling it."
There were a series of clicks from the sphere as it opened out and an image formed above it. The words IceBreaker v 3.4
appeared followed by instructions and a number to call for technical assistance. Kristen had her phone out of her pocket when
Jack stopped her. "Don't bother. That number won't exist for another hundred years, give or take."
"So you know what it is now?"
Jack pointed to the writing. "Well yeah, it's an Ice Breaker. The Time Agency still had a couple when I joined -- later model, and they'd fallen out of favour -- so I didn't recognise it in its dormant state."
"But what does it do?" Kirsten was losing patience with the situation, "Say, 'break the ice' and I will shoot you."
"Well then it's going to be hard to explain. That is what it does. You've heard of ice-breakers right? People without my charm and charisma use them to relax everyone in a group, make them more open and trusting of each other. This does the same thing." He pointed to the writing. "We're stuck in here until we've each revealed a truth untold." Kristen looked around the room at three horrified faces. She was fairly displeased herself. The only person who didn't seem all that bothered was Eveku.
"Jack, please tell me you know how to fix it?" Gwen asked.
"Not really. Like I said, they'd fallen out of fashion by my time. But they aren't dangerous, and they're fairly simple. Ianto, take a scan. There must be a manual over-ride somewhere." He smiled at Gwen. "A couple of hours and we'll be out."
"There might be a slight problem with that." Kristen looked at her watch. "In thirty three minuets the Hub is going to go into lockdown. I set it up before I came down here, I didn't know what I'd find." Jack looked at her with approval. He wasn't going to be so happy in a minute. "And once that happens an automatic email is going to be sent to an offshoot of MI5 authorising them to take control of the Hub as a potential ground zero for some sort of alien incursion."
"You did what?"
"They’re probably going to send UNIT; they can get us out. Maybe it will all work out for the best." It was a weak argument and she knew he wasn't going to buy it but she had to try.
"There is no way that bunch of UNIT clowns are taking control of my base."
Kirsten pointed to the sphere. "Then you'd better get sharing."
"I don't think it's all that bad, we can just -"
Eveku was cut off by Gwen. "I've told Rhys I've stopped taking the Pill but I haven't," she blurted.
Oh, God, Kristen thought. This was going to be the most awkward thirty minutes she'd ever spent.
"He doesn't understand. Kids and Torchwood aren't going to mix. And I can't give this up, not even for him."
"It's been done before, you know," Jack said. "People having children and still being part of Torchwood."
"People, Jack? What about women?"
He looked away from her. "Not as often, I admit. But it has happened. If someone could manage it back in the seventies, I'm sure you can work something out now. I guarantee she didn't have a husband like Rhys to support her."
"Did things change once she had her child; could she still do the job?" Gwen asked.
"Everything changes, Gwen. But she was still a good agent."
"And was she a good mother?"
Jack looked away from her. "We didn't really have heart-to-hearts about that sort of thing. She seemed to be. Her daughter turned out okay in spite of everything, so she must have been."
"Twenty four minutes left," Ianto said, a pocket watch in his hand.
“Okaaay,” Eveku said. She thought he wanted to say something else but he looked at Gwen and stayed silent.
Kristen looked around the room. No-one else seemed inclined to speak. It was a good thing she had a supply of secrets that she was willing to discard.
"The reason my employment history stops a year ago is because I've been working for a black op. We would report directly to the Prime Minister except he doesn't want to be linked to what we do. Officially we don't exist, so we can smooth over problems in ways that other people can't."
"Assassinations."
She turned to look at Jack. "Don't try and pretend you have the moral high ground, Jack. You're stuck in the quagmire with me."
No one spoke for a while.
"Ten minutes to go," Ianto said.
Eveku turned to look at Jack. "How bad would it really be if UNIT come in to rescue us?"
"Very, very bad. Thanks to Carlos the Jackal over there, they'd have complete authority over the Hub and any personnel within the Hub until they were sure we were safe. If the situation was reversed, how long do you think we'd keep them in quarantine while we went through their headquarters?"
"Point taken."
Ianto grimaced. It almost looked like he was trying to decide what to say, but that was ridiculous. There couldn't be many things
he'd kept from Jack.
"I love you."
I was right, Kristen thought, this is going to be excruciating. Jack opened his mouth but Ianto spoke first.
"You don't have to say anything. In fact I'd prefer it if you didn't say anything and we could never speak about this again."
"Ianto, you can't bottle all this up. You should at least talk about your what your relationship-"
Ianto cut her off. "No Gwen, not talking about it, not thinking about it is exactly what I need to do. It might help you to have all your relationships in little boxes with the edges clearly marked out, all stable and classified, but that's not how it works for me. Putting a name to me and Jack, it's not going to change anything, I don't even know if there is a category for it."
Gwen looked shocked at the outburst. Ianto just looked incredibly miserable. And maybe Jack did have a heart after all, because he was the one to speak next.
"After Gray, I went to war. I told everyone that it was to avenge him, but really it was because I couldn't stand to be around my mother and wonder if she blamed me for losing him. She sent me messages every single week begging me to come home, but I ignored them. I was captured by the enemy, but by the time I was rescued, she was dead."
Eveku was looking at them like they were a zoo exhibit. "I had toast for breakfast."
She thought they were all about to yell at him for being flippant when the sphere became a dull, metal ball again. She tried the door and found it opened.
"What the hell is wrong with you all? It was an ice-breaker. That's what I tried to tell you at the beginning. We had to tell something true and something we hadn't said before, but apart from that it could have been anything. It didn't need the deepest, darkest secrets of your soul. But apparently you all hear the word truth and panic. This is the least emotionally healthy workplace I've ever been in, and I'm used to working with corpses."
They looked at each other as he left, shell-shocked. Kristen had always thought of herself as fairly well adjusted. It was a running joke among special forces and UNIT that Torchwood was made up of complete headcases, that it drew people in and changed them. Alex Hopkins had trained with Anna, he'd been rock solid until Torchwood got to him, and he blew his brains out after killing the rest of his team. But surely Torchwood wasn't affecting her? This was just a job, not her life or her salvation or her chance at redemption.
"You all need to see this." Her earpiece came to life with the sound of Eveku's voice, and they ran for the stairs.
A woman's face was on all of the computer monitors, and as Jack reached the top of the stairs, she began to speak. Kristen though it must be the mysterious Nikki Bevan. "Hello Gwen, and the rest of you. I hope you enjoyed the present; after all you're so fond of the truth. This is a warning from TorchWatch. We're not going to let you get away with what you've been doing; we are going to fight back. All the death, all the destruction you've brought us has made us stronger. We're going to stop you, no matter what. This was just a taste of what’s coming."
"Jack, look." Ianto stated speaking as the woman on the screen stopped. Kristen had faced a few life-threatening situations since joining Torchwood, but she was sure she'd never heard Ianto sound so panicked. She raised her eyes to where he was pointing. An old, thin faced man was standing on the upper gantry.
"Hello Jack," the man said. "I'm so glad I happened to meet Nikki and her wonderful organisation. They're going to make things so much better."
"What do you want, Bilis?" Jack ground out.
"To warn you of course. I'm not going to hold a grudge, Jack. You destroyed what was most precious to me, but to threaten to do the same to you in revenge would be petty. So I hope you believe me when I say that I take no personal pleasure in what is to come."
The man vanished, as did the image of Nikki on their monitors.
"Who was that?" Kristen asked.
Jack turned to her. "Trouble. Big trouble."
Chapter Five