A Song as old as Time - Part 3
Title: A Song as old as time (3 of 12/13)
FanFic_50 Prompt: Between
Rating: This part PG, over all pg13.
Summary: A chance visit to a bar and the unexpected arrival of an old acquaintance raises a lot questions for Jack and creates a dangerous situation for Ianto.
Notes: This is set during the first series after 1x06 Countrycide, but before 1x08 They Keep Killing Suzie.
This is part 3 of 12/13, ten part is written, the eleventh is in the process of being written.
Part 1 Part 2
Jack is still sitting with Jubel when Ianto finishes his set. Now is the time when he would usually finish his drink and make a hasty exit. But not tonight, he tells himself, as he watches Ianto talking and smiling at the barman who seems to be asking him what he thought of the of the new microphone set up. Tonight is going to have to be the night that he tells Ianto the truth.
But where to begin? He sighs and glances at the door, he really hadn’t expected to have an audience, especially one that won’t hesitate to offer his opinion of the matter. He wonders if maybe he could make up an excuse to Jubel so he can leave and then go and wait outside for Ianto to leave the bar then just pretend to have been walking by.
Jack discounts that idea almost as soon as he thought it. There have been enough lies between him and Ianto without adding to them unnecessarily. Not for the first time Jack wonders why speaking to Ianto about this so difficult. He’s used to thinking on his feet, coming up with plausible and ultimately untrue answers at a moments notice. It’s what had made him first a good Time Agent and later a good conman.
The problem, Jack knows, lies in the fact that in all those situations the only one to benefit from the lies had been himself. He hadn’t thought or cared about the other person’s feelings, reasoning that if they were stupid enough to believe him, then they deserved all that they got. Back then he just hadn't cared.
Then one night over London, oh so many years ago now, his life had changed and now he does care. He cares what Ianto thinks of him, cares enough not to want to hurt him any more than he already has done.
Jack is still thinking when Jubel taps him on the arm, "You all right?"
"Yeah, call of nature. I’ll just be a minute," Jack says quickly, getting up from his seat. It’s a lie, but it’ll buy him a few minutes to try to come up with something to say to Ianto.
"I’ll still be here when you get back. I promise not to steal your ship this time."
"Just as well I don’t have one then."
Jubel looks puzzled for a moment, then smiles and points at Jack wrist computer, "You’re not still using that old thing, are you?"
"Not exactly," Jack says making a hasty exit for the gents before Jubel can continue the conversation, unwilling to let him know that he is, for all intents and purposes, suck here. Sure he’s got enough contacts that should he need to leave the planet in a hurry he probably could. But truth be told right now there really isn’t anywhere else he’d rather be.
Reaching the door, he glances back to sees Jubel waving Ianto over to sit next to him. Giving Jubel a thumbs up in response, Ianto pushes through the crowd, grateful to be offered the only free seat left in the bar.
As soon as Ianto has sat down Jubel begins talking to him. Jack can't hear what Jubel is saying, but from Ianto's expression it is probably amusing.
It’s almost a relief to have the decision taken out of his hands, now he has to speak to Ianto. It’s either that or leave him in Jubel’s dubious company for the evening and risk Jubel telling Ianto his about his empath idea and trying to convince him that leaving Torchwood and Cardiff would be a good idea.
Jubel could be very persuasive when he wanted to be. Jack’s one comfort is the fact that Jubel had always been the moral one by Jack’s standards. Jubel was always the one who’d turn down jobs because too many innocent people might get hurt, the one who’d refused to comply with the data sharing directive on the new Devonian colonies because it was being used to hunt down and kill so called rebels.
So however much Jubel might talk about the money Ianto would be worth he’d never take him anywhere against his will. He might make unrealistic offers of employment, pretend to be Ianto’s manager and promise all sorts of things that he has every intention of delivering, despite the fact that he has no actual way of meeting those promises, but he wouldn’t ever set out to deliberately hurt somebody.
When Jack returns Jubel and Ianto are still sitting at the bar, Ianto no longer looks amused, rather he appears to be furious, although not, Jack notes, at Jubel.
"What’s he been saying to you?" Jack asks, walking over to them.
"Only the truth." Ianto sounds hurt and tired, all traces of his earlier happiness having disappeared.
Jack glares at Jubel. "I told you, he's not psychic or empathic or looking for another job. He's just a cute guy who works for me."
"Because you know so much about me," Ianto snaps before Jubel has a chance to reply. "Or is that what this is about? Do you still not trust me? You could have just asked, you don’t need to spy on me."
"I’ve not been spying on you, it wasn’t like that." Jack puts a hand on Ianto's arm only to find it slapped away.
"Leave me alone."
"Listen, I can explain." Jack wonders if admitting that occasionally he can be a complete idiot would count as a valid explanation or if it would just make things worse.
Ianto scowls at him. "I don't want to hear it." Picking up his guitar he turns to leave. "And I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to the rest of the team. Goodnight, Sir."
Jack watches him leave and wonders if there was any possible way it could have actually gone any worse.
"Aren’t you going to go after him?" Jubel prods Jack in the arm. "I thought you were interested in him."
"There’s no point. He’s too angry right now to even listen to me." Ianto did calm and completely furious like nobody else Jack had met. Going after Ianto right now would only make a bad situation worse. No, he’ll wait until the morning.
"I'm sorry." Jubel hands Jack his drink. "Here, I think you could do with this more than me. I thought he knew that you came here to listen to him sing. I mean, you said you work with him. How was I supposed to know you’d been watching him in secret?"
"It’s not your fault." Jack knocks back the drink. There wasn't any way that Jubel could have known, he tells himself. He has nobody to blame but himself. It doesn't make him feel any better though.
Jubel buys them another round of drinks and they talk about old times. The scams, the women, the men, the aliens and all the narrow escapes from various authorities they had managed to annoy one way or another.
Eventually Jubel yawns and climbs a little awkwardly off the barstool. "I must be getting old, I’m going to have call it a night."
Jack thinks he really should have got used to being alone by now, but tonight the craving for company, for the sound of another voice is so strong that he finds himself asking Jubel not to go and he catches hold of his arm. "Come on, you’re not that old and it's still early, stay for another."
Jubel appears to think for a moment before replying, "Why don't we go back to my ship? I've got a couple of bottles of that Parnassian liqueur, the stuff we got back on that casino place we went to out on the Ferullian Spiral." He looks at little distant for a moment, "That was one hell of a weekend."
"It certainly was." Jack shrugs on his coat and follows Jubel out into the night.
Part 4