Rebuilding 11/12
Rebuilding
McRaider
Summary: They were all so angry at Jack, that none of them took the time to notice the subtle differences in his personality, how he reacted to things, and most of all how he couldn’t seem to look at any of them for longer than a few seconds without looking away.
Author’s Note: So I wasn't going to start posting this orginally until after Then there were Three, but I decided since I'm not sure of it's length yet, that would start posting and go from there (not something I normally do). We’ve all written the post-Last of the Time Lords story, but I feel like Jack gets lost somewhere in most of those. So, this is my take. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I have my own characters, I don’t feel the need to own these ones (that being said…if I did own it, Jack and Ianto naked…LOTS MORE!)
Rated: R for language (And Gwen Bashing, you have been warned)
Dedicated to: For all my reviewers, know that I enjoy writing this as much as you all appear to enjoy reading it! Thanks for the great reviews and the sequel will be up starting Monday :)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
“Tell me Gwen, seriously, practically, what do you want us to do?” Jack asked. The tension between he and Gwen had been steadily building ever since the wedding-hell ever since the day he’d told her off in his office. He’d danced with her at the wedding, said his goodbye, hoping against hope that she’d understand.
“To help those left behind.”
Ianto glanced over at his partner, his mind racing towards Flat Holm. Jack hated that place, he hated everything about it. He hated that it even had to exist because it meant Jack couldn’t save everyone. So when Jack stormed out of the room a few minutes later, Ianto held up his hand. “I’ll talk to him.” Ianto knew that Gwen’s constant pushing wouldn’t get her anywhere. Jack wasn’t a man who took pushing well. If it was anyone else, Jack probably wouldn’t hesitate to push back-twice as hard. But instead he controlled his anger and Ianto heard it later.
“Ianto-“ Jack began to stop his lover but Ianto held up his hand, glancing back at the trio in the room.
“Listen before you go flying off the handle. I’m not the one you’re angry at and I won’t be treated like it.” Ianto had since learned that this relationship equaled out the deeper they got. He stared hard at his lover for a moment, hands against his hips, mirroring Jack’s image.
“Sorry.” Muttered Jack slightly.
“You know I don’t disagree with you Jack, which seems to be rare. But let me point this out, Gwen keeps defying you, now I know it’s bugging you because it’s sure as hell showing in the late show.”
Jack smirked slightly at that, he glanced sideways as Owen and Tosh stepped out of the room. “What do you want me to do?”
“Let me give her everything it takes to go to Flat Holm. Jack, I hate saying this but sometimes someone has to get burned badly to get the message. That may be the case here. But she clearly isn’t getting the message we’ve all been sending her. So let’s teach her a brief lesson in “minding the boss 101”.”
Jack sighed well aware Gwen was watching. “Fine, but it can’t come from me.”
“It won’t.”
“Fine-Naked Hide and Seek tonight?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “You cheat.”
“Oh like you don’t, the showers are off limits!” Jack pointed at Ianto as if he were a bad boy, before he walked off.
o0o
“We could’ve used you an hour ago for naked hide and seek,” grinned Jack, playfully.
Ianto rolled his eyes, looking fondly at his lover. “He cheats, he always cheats.”
The conversation went the way both men had expected it to-minus her barging in on them having hot-hot house sex. That part had been unexpected, but Jack wasn’t going to let it ruin his night. He was getting pissed at Gwen again, but he played it like Ianto told him, never letting on that this was what they wanted. He knew on some level he should have been upset that he was about to break a little bit of that spirit he loved. But Ianto was right, Gwen wasn’t respecting him or any of his wishes, she was endangering the rest of the team by her actions and reactions.
Ianto left his cryptic message before he slipped back into the hot house, Jack had already removed his shirt and was folding it carefully. “Jack-“
“Sometimes…it’s a struggle for me not to hate her.”
Ianto nodded. “I know, and I know you hate that. She’s a good woman who generally means well but is a bit…arrogant.”
“A bit?”
Ianto shrugged as he all but sauntered towards his lover, wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck and smirking. “I was trying to be nice.”
Jack nodded as he pressed his lips to Ianto’s, his hands roaming over the silk clothes. “Trying, you put back on all your clothes. That’s just not right. I went to all the trouble of getting you naked and now I have to start all over again.”
“Oh, I’d be happy to get you a cup of coffee old man if you don’t think you can keep up.”
Jack let out a low playful growl.
o0o
Jack stepped back into the hub, his face was haunted, and Ianto felt his heart ache for the older man. The only problem with teaching Gwen a lesson was that Jack was of course forced to suffer through her temper tantrum. Ianto didn’t hesitate; he stepped over, took Jack’s hand and sat him down on the couch across from the various stations. He wrapped his arms around Jack’s shoulders and a moment later the two were curled together. Ianto sang a quiet song, hoping to bring his lover back from that horrible place with comfort.
“I think she got the message.” He whispered.
Ianto nodded, “I don’t doubt it. Are you all right?”
“No, I will be.” He replied softly, clinging up to his lover. “I always forget how horrible that place is.”
“I know.”
They sat there in silence, feeding off one another’s strength and love. Ianto smiled, this was what couples did. Well to be fair, most normal couples didn’t save the earth on a regular basis, but when times got tough, they supported one another, and they were there for each other. He loved Jack Harkness, he’d meant what he said, and he loved this man. And as he lay there, he knew that the feeling was 100% mutual.
When Gwen came in early the next morning, Ianto was prepared; Jack had done his number already. The man still fast asleep downstairs in their old bedroom. She walked into Jack’s office to find Ianto sitting there in a dress shirt and pants. Clearly Ianto had just woken up because he hadn’t quite righted himself just yet. Gwen wondered if he was sleeping here, that was strange. “Where’s Jack?”
“Why?” Ianto asked looking up at her in a way that could only be described as annoyed.
“I want to talk to him.”
“No.” Ianto replied shaking his head.
“I’m sorry?”
Ianto shook his head. “No you’re not, and that’s the problem. I said no Gwen.”
“Is he here?”
Trying to control his anger from boiling over before the conversation had even started Ianto looked at her again. “Even if he wasn’t, you’re not speaking to him.”
“Did you leave that package on my desk?”
“Yes.”
“How could you go behind Jack’s back like that-I’m surprised he’s even-“
Ianto slammed his hands against the desk in a Jack fashion and stood up, for the first time allowing his larger and taller frame to intimidate. “Silence!” He barked in an un-Ianto fashion. “Let me make this perfectly clear because it’s obvious you didn’t get the last dozen memos. Jack. Is. The. Captain. He’s. In. Charge. That means when Captain Jack Harkness tells you something you listen, you don’t question his every motive, you don’t question his every thought. If you want to live you’ll shut up and do as you’re told. Now, this is your last warning Gwen Bloody Williams, you step one more toe out of line and I’ll retcon you back to infancy. I’ve had about enough of your ‘I’m so important’ mentality. The world doesn’t revolve around you and neither does Torchwood. There’s no I in team Gwen, so stop acting like you’re the boss. You’re supposed to be the heart-go figure out where you dropped it and reattach it.”
He waited, pleased when she just stared at him with her big brown eyes. He handed her a small bottle. “You’ll take this to Nikki Bevan-“
“I won’t retcon her-“ She must have realized what she said because suddenly she closed her mouth immediately.
Ianto took a step towards her, having learned a thing or two about intimidate. He slapped the pill bottle in her hand. “You’ll take it to her. You will offer it to her, if she refuses that’s her choice, but you will NOT defy these orders. And another thing, Jack told you to keep your life together, yet you throw Rhys around like he’s a rag doll. Pull yourself together, grow up and start acting like an adult. Now, Get. Out.” he pointed towards the door.
She immediately hurried away from him, for the first time in her life, truly frightened of Ianto. But for good reason, he was the retcon man, and he could easily wipe her memory all the way back to infancy. She saw a man there, a man she didn’t know-and suddenly it hit Gwen, she’d never known Ianto, he was just there, always had been.
Jack smirked from where he was lying in bed, while perhaps Ianto was a bit harsh, he hoped beyond hope that Gwen had finally gotten the message. He moaned when he felt a warm body slide in against him. “There isn’t enough room for two,” muttered Ianto.
“Sure there is, you’re just not in the right position. Thank you.”
“Jack we already had sex twice this morning, I’m not a teenager anymore and I already took a shower, there is not position that doesn’t involve sweat, semen and another shower. You’re welcome.”
Jack chuckled as he wrapped his arms and legs around Ianto. “Shower?”
“My god you’re the teenager!”