Will My Arms Be Strong Enough 16/45
Title: Will My Arms Be Strong Enough? 16/45
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys...and others!
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Rhys, John Hart, two OC's, Andrea (Andie) Carlowe and Nick Jones.
Spoilers: Set after Exit Wounds.
Summary: A somewhat fluffier chapter in which the team get some time to relax...but can it last?
Chapter 16
No one spoke for a long time. They all stared around in shock at their surroundings. Then Ianto coughed. “Well, here’s one consolation; we’re a long way away from the Brecon Beacons.”
Jack clapped his hands. “That’s the spirit, Ianto!” Everyone stared at him; after all, Ianto’s comment had been thick with dry humour. “Oh, come on, guys!” pleaded Jack. “I’m sorry, but…no one else had spoken for seven minutes!”
“Well, I think it’s a great idea,” piped up Andie as she and Nick started to unload the tents from the SUV. “Jack’s right. We all need a break and this place is perfect.”
“Oh, it’s a good idea, that’s for sure,” said Gwen. “I love this place, but I can’t help but think that there’s a slight ulterior motive…remember what happened last time we went to the countryside?”
“If I do have an ulterior motive, it’s only to share a sleeping bag with my partner,” answered Jack with a smile that caused Ianto to blush softly. “Trust me, kids; there are no cannibals or anything to do with Torchwood out here. I’ve checked already.”
“Oh!” Ianto’s soft voice rippled around the campsite. “So, that’s what you were doing when you were spending all that time on the computer!”
John, meanwhile, was cursing in every single language he knew as he wrestled with the tent. Every time he came even close to anything resembling a tent, it would tumble around him.
“You know, some of us just aren’t made for tents!” he growled when he saw Jack sniggering.
“Need a hand getting it up, John?” asked Nick with a small smirk, which quickly turned into a shocked gape when everyone stared at him. “Oh, come on! I meant the tent!”
“I’m sure you did,” answered Jack, his face perfectly straight.
“Oh, please!” spluttered Nick. “I was just asking John if he needed a hand to get his tent up, since he can’t seem to do it himself! It’s a decent thing to -”
“Nick,” said Andie, through her giggles. “I’d just shut up now.”
Ianto chuckled rather sadly. “Do you remember the last time someone we know had trouble with tents?” he said to Jack. “God, it seems like ages ago that Owen was sniping at Tosh…”
“Yeah,” murmured Jack. “Yeah, it was.” He sighed. “Why does he remind me so much of Owen?”
Ianto looked puzzled. “John reminds you of Owen?”
“No, Nick does,” answered Jack. “I mean…he’s just so young, but he’s lost so much, just like Owen had when I first brought him here.”
He turned to look at his partner. “I know it’s probably too late now, but…did I do the wrong thing in bringing him into Torchwood?”
Ianto smiled. “Jack, look at him,” he said, pointing over to where his cousin was laughing with Andie. “I can tell you now; I’ve not seen Nick this happy since…well, probably not even since his wedding day, if I’m honest. And it’s because of you. You gave him a chance at a new life.”
He squeezed Jack’s hand gently. “Jack, my cousin was a broken man when you first approached him. And, while I still stand by my belief that he wasn’t ready to find out about what happened to Alison when he did, I’ve had some time to think and…I admit that John was right. Nick did have the right to know the truth. He couldn’t have even started to heal if he hadn’t known the truth. It’s like I said to you; I was broken when I first came here, but you put me back together…starting with the day that you killed what was left of Lisa.”
“Ianto -”
“No, Jack. I won’t let you do this to yourself. You put me back together…and now you’re doing the same for Nick. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
Jack shook his head. “No. John did most of that. You may not trust him, Ianto, but you know it’s true. He’s done just as much to help Nick as I have, maybe even more.”
Ianto sighed. “I know he has. It’s just…I’m scared. I know Nick’s strong, but…after everything he’s been through, I’m just worried that it won’t take much to send him spiraling downwards again. I don’t want to see that happen, Jack, not again.”
“I know. But look, Ianto - John’s definitely serious. I know the man better than he knows himself and I know the signs that he’s serious.”
“How do you know?”
“I know,” Jack hesitated, “because the last time I saw him like this was with me.” He waited for Ianto to comment, but when he didn’t, he changed the subject. “We should get some firewood.”
Ianto nodded, seeming to come back to earth. “I’ll give you a hand.”
“Oh, you will, will you?”
“I meant with your wood - oh, for God’s sake, just get going!”
~*~
“Oh, look at them,” Andie whispered. Jack blinked slightly and looked back from where he’d been gazing at the stars. He almost laughed out loud at the sight that met his eyes.
On the other side of the fire, Nick was linking his gloved hands with John’s as he helped the former Time Agent hold a skewer with a pink marshmallow on the end of it over the flames. He was smiling softly as John’s face lit up like a child’s as the pink sweet started to turn brown and crispy on the outside. It was one of the most beautiful things Jack had seen in a long time (not counting Ianto, who was currently wrapped up in his RAF coat) and he couldn’t resist hunting for his camera and taking a picture of them.
“Aren’t they adorable?” he muttered to Ianto, who merely rolled his eyes.
With a small chuckle, John eased the skewer out of the flames and pulled Nick closer to him, sharing their body heat and offering the skewer to the young man. However, he had pulled back, teasingly, at the last moment, meaning that, when he leaned forwards, Nick ended up with a sticky coating of melted marshmallow on his nose. He blinked in shock for a second and then laughed as well, the sound reverberating around the silent campsite.
John rolled his eyes fondly at him and shuffled closer, before leaning over and kissing him on the nose, slowly licking off the marshmallow. Nick squeaked in shock, before reaching out and tickling him and laughing as the other man was caught off guard and fell backwards onto the grass, Nick tumbling on top of him moments later.
“Oh -” John started to say, but stopped when he saw that the young man’s hazel eyes were burning with a lustful fire that he’d never seen in them before.
“Shut up,” hissed Nick, before catching his lips in a fierce kiss and slipping one hand under his shirt. “God, you…you smell so good…”
“Oh, come on!” shouted Ianto. “Do you have to do that now?”
“Ignore him,” panted Nick, who was now slowly undoing John’s buttons. “Just ignore him…”
But Gwen seemed to agree. “Come on guys, Ianto’s right,” she said. “There’s a time and a place for that and I don’t think everyone here wants to see you two -”
“Oh, I wouldn’t mind!” laughed Jack. Ianto promptly smacked him round the head.
“Guys, seriously,” continued Gwen. “You’re both very good-looking, but…save it for the tent, yeah? Seriously, Nick; if it was you, would you want to watch Jack and Ianto doing that?”
Nick groaned. “Okay, okay, fine,” he muttered, forcing himself to sit up again, but not bothering to do anything about the mud stains on his jeans.
Jack quickly stepped in before Ianto could comment. “Why don’t we play a game?”
“No!” shouted Ianto. “We are not telling everyone who our last snog was! Besides, I really don’t think anyone round here needs to guess who my last snog was with!”
“Who said anything about who our last snog was with?” asked John. “We could play…” he trailed off when he realised that he didn’t know many twenty-first century campfire games…well, he didn’t know any clean ones, anyway.
“I’ve never had sex on the beach,” said Gwen rather randomly. When the others looked at her, she smiled. “What? It’s a good game - and it helps us find out a bit more about each other.” She looked around as Jack, Ianto and Nick each calmly ate a marshmallow.
John, however, looked completely lost. “What?”
“It’s a game called I’ve Never,” explained Nick. “Basically, you say something that you’ve never done and anyone who has done that has to…well, in this case, has to eat a marshmallow.” He waited for John to nod and show he understood and then smirked. “So…have you ever had sex on the beach?”
John smirked and then, quite calmly, and never once taking his eyes off Jack, who was blushing furiously, ate a marshmallow. Nick blinked. “Well, that answers that. Okay, erm…I’ve never cheated on a test at school.”
Ianto scowled and took one of the sweets. Jack gaped at him. “You cheated on a school test?”
“Once and it was a Latin vocabulary test when I was fourteen,” answered Ianto sourly. “Okay…I’ve never dressed up as a baby for a contest.”
Nick cringed, but took one of the marshmallows, blushing furiously. “Do not ask.”
John went next. “I’ve never gotten myself stuck in a hole that’s too small for me.” He smirked lewdly, only to blink when Jack ate a marshmallow. “What did you do?”
“Got very drunk and tried to, as Nick once put it, ‘fuck his door’, thinking it was me,” replied Ianto, who was barely holding back a laugh. “There’s a reason why he doesn’t drink, you know.”
Jack scowled. “Now, is that never talking about it again?” he asked.
Andie went next. “I’ve never been pregnant. Oh, and yes, Nostrovite pregnancies count.”
Gwen blushed and pulled out a marshmallow. But, to Nick’s surprise, she wasn’t the only one to do so - Jack and John also followed suit, the former with a small shudder.
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I could,” answered Jack. “But it won’t make it any less true.”
“Same here,” chimed in John.
“But…but how?” Nick looked ready to cry from shock.
“Pheromones aren’t the only things that tend to run wild by the time you get to the fifty-first century,” joked Jack. “Seriously, physiology changes a lot over time, to the point that men can carry children by the forty-second century.”
Ianto gave his cousin a comforting smile. “Don’t worry Nick; if it could happen you would know. If it could happen, Jack and I would have probably had at least ten children by now.”
~*~
“You’re not freaked out by the pregnancy thing, are you?” asked John as he tossed his coat carelessly to the back of the tent. “Look, if it could happen, I would have told you.”
Nick shrugged. “Not freaked out, just trying to picture you carrying a child…and finding that I really can’t do it. I can’t see you with a big pregnancy bulge.”
John laughed and sat down on the sleeping bag, only to be taken by surprise when Nick grabbed him round the waist and dragged him next to him, before pinning him to the ground and pulling him close for a heart-stopping kiss.
“Are you sure?” gasped John, feeling shivers run down his spine, shivers that had nothing to do with the cold weather outside. He almost squeaked out loud when he felt Nick’s hand grab his wrist and show him exactly how sure he was. “Oh…”
“Oh, indeed,” growled Nick. “I think the girls are the only ones who’ll be getting any sleep tonight,” he added, his soft voice causing the temperature inside the tent to increase, even as he worked at John’s shirt, casting it carelessly behind him and then running his cold hands over the man’s firm chest. “Oh, yes…”
That was all the encouragement John needed and he grabbed the bottom of Nick’s shirt and, neither of them even bothering with the buttons, sent it flying over his head and into the far corner. He groaned in appreciation at the young man’s tanned torso and leaned up to kiss the tiny sprinkling of dark hair up near his collarbone.
Nick grinned. “Like what you see?”
John glared at him. “Shut up and do me.”
That only got him a slap on the arm. “Ooh…do you talk to your mother with that tongue?” asked Nick, before he finally worked his way to the top of John’s jeans and, bypassing the button and the zip, slid his hand down until he found what he was looking for.
“Oh, hello…” he crooned, smirking again as his movements caused John’s body to jerk violently and his breath to come in wild gasps.
“Shit, Nick!” shouted John. “I’m not going to last if you don’t…” but he never finished his sentence, as, at that precise moment, an intense chill swept over them, hitting their bones hard. He jumped as it hit him, accidentally banging his head against the floor.
“What is that?” asked Nick, leaping up and hastily pulling his shirt back on, not even minding that he was fastening the buttons wrong. “If it wasn’t real life, I’d say it was like a Dementor attack!”
“A what?!” asked John, also pulling his shirt back on. “Never mind; now’s not the time to explain.” He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision, his eyes watering, not only from the cold, but also from the pain brought on by that bump to the head. He could feel his heart beating harshly, so hard it almost hurt. Then, suddenly, out of nothing, the torch by their bed went out.
Nick swore loudly. “But…that battery was newly changed today!” He was clearly annoyed and confused, but there was no mistaking that he was also terrified. Trembling, he fumbled around in the darkness and opened the zip of the tent, just in time to see an equally disheveled Jack and Ianto appearing, both of whom looked intensely distressed.
“I don’t think it’s anything to do with the battery, Nick,” said John quietly as they stumbled out of their tent, joined moments later by the girls.
“What’s going on?” asked Andie. But before anyone could answer, Jack suddenly turned pale.
“No…” he whispered. “No…oh, no…”
“What is it?” Gwen’s high-pitched voice cut through the cold. “What’s going on?”
Jack tried to turn to look at her, but before he could speak, a high-pitched, terrified scream ripped through the air…before everything turned to blackness.
***
Next Time: You didn’t seriously think that nothing was going to go wrong, did you? Come on, this is Torchwood we’re talking about! But what has caught up with the team now?