"Once Lost" - Part 3 (NC-17)
Finally, here it is. The next installment of Janto fun! It's pretty much hot off the presses so I apologize for mistakes/typos. I will edit it after a bit.
---
Warm water washes through Jack’s hair and drips down his body, soothing the stiffness from his muscles. They never did make it to the bedroom last night but he doesn’t mind. The fact that Ianto’s lips are currently wrapped tight around his cock helps immensely as well.
Jack’s fingers drift lazily through the other man’s wet hair and stroke the back of his neck. Ianto hums, drawing an echoing gasp from the captain, whose hips buck several times before he can regain his control.
There’s not a single aspect of sex that Ianto doesn’t do well but Jack thinks that the man is one of the top five blowjobs that the former time agent has ever had. Considering the sheer magnitude of Jack’s experience, that’s saying something.
Of course, he’s never actually told Ianto how good he is. The young man probably already knows from observation and Jack would rather not give Ianto a big head. Well…
Ianto rolls his tongue and that is all Jack can take. Choking out a cry, he empties his balls into that talented mouth, his fingers clutching tightly against Ianto’s neck. It’s not long before the man is off his knees and kissing Jack soundly. He knows that the captain is fond of the taste of himself on his lover’s mouth and the embrace lingers for quite a long time.
Finally they break away and Ianto murmurs, “We’re going to be late.”
“They can miss us for a while.” Jack pulls him right back into another kiss.
In the end, he does let Ianto drag him off to work. The younger man has things to do and even though Jack doesn’t really, he likes being where the action is. He spends a good part of the morning flirting with Lois and trying to crack Rachid’s shell. Jack catches glimpses of what Ianto was saying about the doctor but the guy is definitely too serious for Jack’s tastes.
It’s close to noon when Gwen arrives. Jack is ‘messing around with his rod’ - as he’s taken to calling his research just to make Lois blush - when she wanders into his new office.
“Hiya, Jack. Busy?”
“Not particularly. What’s up?”
“I just came to see how last night went.” Gwen’s face shows a sort of contrived innocence with curiosity burning underneath.
“It was…all right. This morning was better.” He smiles and leaves it at that.
“Do you think this might be a permanent arrangement then or are you still planning on running off?”
“I believe that Ianto has convinced me to stay.” The smile still lingers. “If you could spare him for a few days in the not too distant future, I’d like to take him with me when I go to get my things. I think the adventure would help the two of us.”
Gwen nods. “That can be arranged. In the meantime, there’s someone here who’d like to see you.”
“Yeah?”
Gwen turns, pops her head out the door and gestures. A few moments later Martha Jones saunters into the room, followed by Johnson. Jack leaps out of his seat and has Martha wrapped into a bear hug before anyone but him knows what is happening.
“Hullo to you too, Jack!” Martha laughs but she hugs him just as tightly as he does her. Reluctantly, he finally lets her go.
“I hear that I owe you a lot, Ms. Jones. You are still going by ‘Jones’ right?”
“Yeah, it’s just been easier. Tom knew he was marrying a modern woman from the start, so no worries about it.” She winks and Jack’s heart swells. He’s been through a lot with this ‘modern woman’ and he loves her more than he could even say. “You don’t owe me as much as you think, though.”
“I don’t?” Jack gestures around himself. “You did all this and mended Ianto too.”
“I can’t take any credit at all for Ianto, but you’re welcome for my part in the rest.”
He’s glad that she’s not too modest to accept some praise and his continuing grin lets her know it. “And once you heard I was back, you couldn’t stay away from me, could you?”
Martha shakes her head as she laughs again. “As a matter of fact, I couldn’t. When Gwen told me the news at our lunch, I had to come see for myself. Are you making yourself useful, Captain?”
Jack hops to attention, “Yes, ma’am!”
“Glad to hear it! Johnson and I need Torchwood’s assistance.”
Becoming aware of the third woman in the room once more, Jack glances at her. She inclines her head politely, wearing a wry grin. Despite the fact that she’s killed him more times than he would have liked, he doesn’t really bear her ill will. Jack does wonder what her function is these days, however.
“I presume that you three have already discussed it?” A chorus of nods answers him. “What do you want me to do?”
Gwen is the one to answer. “For starters, we thought perhaps you would like your old position back.”
Jack can only give her a blank stare; then he turns his gaze on the others. They simply wait for his answer. “You want me to lead the team again?”
“To be honest, Torchwood needs more stable leadership than I can provide. However, we’re trusting that you’ll make sound decisions. If I don’t agree with something, we call Martha. It doesn’t matter whom she backs, once she makes a decision the argument is over. I guess you can call it leadership by committee but only when there is a disagreement. Sound all right?”
All right? It sounded too good to be true. “Hell yes.” Then something else occurred to him. “What about Ianto?”
Martha gives a trademark, arched eyebrow. “What about him, Jack?”
“Well, shouldn’t he have some say in things too?”
“The whole team has a say, that’s why we’re a team. This arrangement will only matter in important decisions. Things that leadership would have to take care of.”
“I have a feeling that if Mister Jones doesn’t like something, he’ll make his thoughts abundantly clear,” adds Johnson, whose smile has deepened. Jack knows that the woman must be commenting about something that he’s missed and he feels a burning curiosity about it.
“Still willing, Jack?”
He looks down at the hand that Martha is holding out to him and he gives it a firm shake. “I am.” Jack can’t wait to get Ianto alone and share the news. He has a hunch that won’t happen for a while though. “You said you needed Torchwood’s help?”
“That I did. Johnson?”
With a nod, the woman steps forward and begins to brief him about a ship that U.N.I.T. salvaged several weeks prior from a field south of Salisbury. “We found traces of a life form that apparently survived the crash. Unfortunately the trail went cold pretty shortly. That is, it did until two days ago. We have reason to believe that whatever this alien is, it has made its way to Cardiff. Perhaps it has discovered the rift and it’s trying to get home.”
“Or it came out of the rift in the first place.”
“That is another possibility.”
“Any ideas on what exactly we’re looking for?”
“I’ve brought CCTV footage. It’s not very good but it’s the only thing we’ve got.”
“Let’s see if Lois can fix it up.”
The four of them troop out of the office and make their way to Lois’ workstation. Her space looks a bit like mission control and Jack immediately pops the disc Johnson hands him into the main computer.
Immediately they are greeted by a grainy video on the largest monitor. Of course it was taken at night and they can only catch glimpses of a large blob of black moving through the darkness.
“Lois, do you think you can clean up the image for us?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Gimme a minute.”
Taking hold of the mouse, she brings up an editing program and sets to work. Despite what Gwen said the day before about the woman still learning to fill Tosh’s shoes, Jack’s impressed. He begins to think he’ll have to recruit someone else to make the coffee soon. Either that or he’ll have to convince Ianto to resume the duty. They would definitely both enjoy what Jack uses for convincing.
“Here we go.” The video starts again and the black smudge is definitely clearer. They can now see that it is definitely a humanoid; a humanoid that looks like it might be covered in hair.
“I dated a guy that looked like that once. He loved to have his belly scratched.”
The four women collectively ignore him but he hears Martha snort and Lois is trying, unsuccessfully as it turns out, to hide a smile.
“A civilian seeing that thing might think it was a werewolf or something.”
“It’s not very canine-looking though. Sasquatch maybe?”
“Yeah, probably more like that. I can see the headlines now. ‘Bigfoot Comes To Cardiff.’”
“And us throwing one big Retcon party afterward.” Jack frowns at the picture.
“I don’t know that we would have enough.”
“What would be a better option?” Lois wonders aloud. “Having everyone believe it’s Bigfoot or having them know that it’s really an alien - possibly a hostile one?”
“Who’s to say that Bigfoot wouldn’t be hostile?”
“Maybe he’d just be randy. What with those big…feet.”
“Jack!”
“Getting in trouble again, Sir?” Ianto’s dulcet tones are music to Jack’s ears and he turns his smile to the man now leaning against the door frame.
“Always! Get your ass in here and give us your perspective.”
The other man wanders in, stopping close enough to Jack’s side for the elder man to feel his warmth. Ianto peers at the image on the monitor and then looks askance at Gwen. “What am I looking at?”
“Escaped alien. Johnson here believes that it may be loose in the area.”
“An alien loose in Cardiff? Now there’s a novel idea,” Ianto intones dryly, drawing a bark of a laugh from Jack.
“How big was the ship you recovered?” Gwen asks the black-clad woman.
“Two-seater, not very big relatively speaking. There were only signs of one alien leaving the area but that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be something else at large.”
None of them liked the idea of a ‘something else’ and their glances showed it.
“Nothing is ever easy,” Jack sighs.
“Now, if it were easy, it would be boring, Sir.”
“And none of us want to be bored, do we?”
“Indeed not.”
“It would be a nice change, though,” Martha notes. She’s answered by a round of nods and ‘You’re rights.’
“Well team,” Jack claps his hands, “let’s get to it. Pair up and scour the city?” He sees the look that Ianto sends to Gwen, perhaps wondering why Jack is giving the orders. She just smiles at him in return.
“Sounds good. No need to ask who’s going with you. Martha, you with me?”
“Sure. We’ll take this section of city,” she points to a nearby map of Cardiff and the surrounding area, “Jack, you and Ianto take this one and Lois and Johnson take this one. All right?”
Everyone nods in agreement and starts to pack up. Jack moves closer to Martha and Johnson who’ve started speaking together. “You ladies got a minute?”
“Sure Jack.”
“I want to show you something that we found,” he gestures for them to follow him back to his office, speaking as he goes. “Well, I say we but they found it before I showed up. I wanted to know if either of you recognize it.”
Moving over to the bench, he picks up the rod and hands it to Martha. She turns it over in her hands, peering at it. Then she shakes her head as she hands it to the other woman. “Never seen anything like it.”
Jack feels disappointed but he just nods. “I was hoping that you might have but never mind. I’ll puzzle it out eventually.”
“Do you think it might have come along with our friend?”
“It’s possible, though rift junk turns up all the time. Could be from anywhere - or any time for that matter.”
“True,” Martha has another look at the rod, “I’ll let you know if any information drops into my lap.”
Jack’s about to make a quip but she gives him a look. He doesn’t know how these women do it. Nobody ever reacts to his stares that way. Then he thinks about how people do react to his stares and he is cheered immensely.
“Thank you, Doctor Jones.” She whacks him on the biceps and he throws his arm around her shoulder to steer her out of the office. Ianto is waiting in the hallway and he glances at the two as they emerge. There’s a bit of jealousy there - invisible to anyone who doesn’t know Ianto like Jack knows Ianto. This is going to take longer than he’d supposed.
Rome wasn’t built in a day…even with all of those muscular, sweaty slaves.
With that enticing thought in mind, he bids the women farewell and takes his partner off for some alien hunting.
---
Ianto is characteristically taciturn as he pilots the Range Rover - the rebuilt Torchwood has two of them - toward their destination. The silence is normal but the mood isn’t quite. At first Jack attempts to keep it light in his usual manner but it’s a strain and eventually he stops trying.
Instead he focuses on their surroundings for a while. It’s amazing how a city can change in just a year or two. Not in major ways, of course, but there are new shops where vacant lots used to be or construction zones where an old house stood for years. Like so many other things, Jack takes the passage of time for granted and that often means that he forgets to notice subtleties.
“You’re not jealous of Martha now are you Ianto?” Sometimes the direct way is the best one.
“Why would I be?”
“I don’t know but something certainly seems to be on your mind.” The captain keeps from looking at his partner but even so, he can feel the storm brewing. “I told you before that nothing ever happened between her and me.”
“You’ve told me a lot of things, Jack.”
“Most of them were true.”
“Most.”
“Has everything you’ve ever told me been the absolute truth?”
No answer. Jack snorts. “I guess that means my arse does look big in these trousers.”
He grins when he feels the tension ease just a smidgen. Another moment of silence passes and he continues, “I swear to you that nothing will happen between Martha and myself.”
“But do you want it to?” Now there is a good question. In the end, Jack shakes his head. “She’s in love with someone else, someone I'm still in love with too if it comes right down to it.”
His tone is wistful and Ianto spares him a glance. “That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, Jack. And I hope you’re not referring to her husband there or we’re going to have some words.”
“Hah! No way. Although….”
“Jack.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ianto. You have no cause to be jealous of Martha or anyone else. I meant what I said last night. Besides, she would never have me.”
“With those 51st Century pheromones?”
Levity from Ianto is definitely a good thing and it makes Jack feel a whole lot better. “Believe it or not, some beings do have immunity to them. Not many, of course.”
“Of course.” Ianto pulls off the road and puts the vehicle in park. “And here we are, Sir.”
“The only question is, what do we do now that we’re here?”
“Catch an alien?”
“Great idea but first we have to find an alien.”
“Lots of tools for that. Plus the good, old-fashioned ones.”
“Eyes and ears?”
Ianto turns to grab a bag from behind the seat. “The best kind.”
“Let’s go then.” Jack doesn’t wait for a reply, practically jumping out of the SUV.
“Yes, Sir.” Once outside the SUV, Ianto pulls what looks to be a PDA from the bag and looks down at the screen. He turns a slow circle and Jack moves to his side, peering down at the device.
“What have you got there?”
“This analyzes heat signatures within a certain radius. Two miles is usually the maximum in open areas like this. If we were in the city, it would be a lot smaller and a lot more difficult to differentiate.”
“So many more bodies.”
“Exactly. In a smaller area. Besides that, you have all the electrical heat sources to contend with as well. They read differently than the biologicals but it’s all so much noise on this,” he waggles the scanner.
Jack can’t help thinking that this improved, sciencey side of Ianto is incredibly fucking hot. As usual, Ianto reads his mind and gives a smiling shake of his head before walking off toward the woods. Okay, so maybe Jack’s predictable. Predictability isn’t always a bad thing.
He trails Ianto for a few hundred yards until the man suddenly stops. Jack stops beside him and Ianto speaks in a low tone.
“Biological heat signature up ahead. It actually looks,” he draws the words out with a puzzled frown, “like there are two of them. Sort of…”
“’Sort of?’” Jack’s response is quizzical. “What do you mean, ‘Sort of?’”
“Come on, let’s get a closer look.”
Ianto creeps ahead and Jack pulls his gun, his eyes scanning all directions. In instances like these he falls back on his training of so many years ago, his senses on high alert.
Finally they near the spot where the source of heat is located. Ianto holds up a warning hand. Jack doesn’t need the warning, he can hear sounds coming from up ahead and he knows what’s making them.
The expression on Ianto’s face when he spots the blanket on the ground - and the shagging couple on top of it - is priceless. Jack would have given a great deal for a photo of that face. Luckily, he manages to grab hold of his partner and drag him into the bushes before the teenagers notice them.
“Jack!” Ianto hisses as the captain pulls him down to watch the action.
“Hush,” he whispers close to Ianto’s ear, “do you want them to hear us?”
“Jack, we shouldn’t stay here. We’ve got work to do.” Ianto’s got a playful streak a mile wide but when it comes to fieldwork he can be far too serious sometimes.
“Mmm hmm.” He hears the disapproval in the other man’s voice but he’s not in such a big hurry to look for the alien. Not when the alternative is voyeurism.
Smirking, he reaches around Ianto’s body and pulls the fellow close against his chest. There is another hissed, “Jack!” but the elder man doesn’t let that deter him in the slightest. Bending his head, he kisses Ianto’s neck and murmurs, “Shhh!”
Then he rests his chin on Ianto’s shoulder and returns his attention to the couple. The girl is definitely pretty but Jack hopes that the boy has a very nice personality because he is never going to be a centerfold.
A certain relaxation from the man in his arms lets the captain know that he’s won this round. Not bad for his first day back on the job.
Stealing a glance from the corner of his eye, he sees that Ianto’s attention is focused on the shagging teens as well. Hooray for the power of persuasion! Jack thinks with a grin. He’s highly tempted to do a bit more than kissing but even though he knows his companion can be quiet in most situations, it would be rather difficult in the heat of the moment to keep from being discovered.
Instead the former time agent contents himself with light caresses of Ianto’s body and kisses to the man’s neck. By the time the young lovers come to their crescendo, which really doesn’t take too long, Jack has managed to work his partner up far more than he intended.
The two lovebirds haven’t even managed to get dressed before Ianto turns in Jack’s embrace and gives him a thorough snogging. When they finally come up for air, the captain notices that the kids have gone. He smiles at his panting lover and lightly pecks Ianto’s lips. “Back to work, Ianto.”
The archivist groans. “You are a cruel man, Jack Harkness.”
“Aren’t I just?” He stands and offers Ianto a hand. “Let’s go.”
---
Warm water washes through Jack’s hair and drips down his body, soothing the stiffness from his muscles. They never did make it to the bedroom last night but he doesn’t mind. The fact that Ianto’s lips are currently wrapped tight around his cock helps immensely as well.
Jack’s fingers drift lazily through the other man’s wet hair and stroke the back of his neck. Ianto hums, drawing an echoing gasp from the captain, whose hips buck several times before he can regain his control.
There’s not a single aspect of sex that Ianto doesn’t do well but Jack thinks that the man is one of the top five blowjobs that the former time agent has ever had. Considering the sheer magnitude of Jack’s experience, that’s saying something.
Of course, he’s never actually told Ianto how good he is. The young man probably already knows from observation and Jack would rather not give Ianto a big head. Well…
Ianto rolls his tongue and that is all Jack can take. Choking out a cry, he empties his balls into that talented mouth, his fingers clutching tightly against Ianto’s neck. It’s not long before the man is off his knees and kissing Jack soundly. He knows that the captain is fond of the taste of himself on his lover’s mouth and the embrace lingers for quite a long time.
Finally they break away and Ianto murmurs, “We’re going to be late.”
“They can miss us for a while.” Jack pulls him right back into another kiss.
In the end, he does let Ianto drag him off to work. The younger man has things to do and even though Jack doesn’t really, he likes being where the action is. He spends a good part of the morning flirting with Lois and trying to crack Rachid’s shell. Jack catches glimpses of what Ianto was saying about the doctor but the guy is definitely too serious for Jack’s tastes.
It’s close to noon when Gwen arrives. Jack is ‘messing around with his rod’ - as he’s taken to calling his research just to make Lois blush - when she wanders into his new office.
“Hiya, Jack. Busy?”
“Not particularly. What’s up?”
“I just came to see how last night went.” Gwen’s face shows a sort of contrived innocence with curiosity burning underneath.
“It was…all right. This morning was better.” He smiles and leaves it at that.
“Do you think this might be a permanent arrangement then or are you still planning on running off?”
“I believe that Ianto has convinced me to stay.” The smile still lingers. “If you could spare him for a few days in the not too distant future, I’d like to take him with me when I go to get my things. I think the adventure would help the two of us.”
Gwen nods. “That can be arranged. In the meantime, there’s someone here who’d like to see you.”
“Yeah?”
Gwen turns, pops her head out the door and gestures. A few moments later Martha Jones saunters into the room, followed by Johnson. Jack leaps out of his seat and has Martha wrapped into a bear hug before anyone but him knows what is happening.
“Hullo to you too, Jack!” Martha laughs but she hugs him just as tightly as he does her. Reluctantly, he finally lets her go.
“I hear that I owe you a lot, Ms. Jones. You are still going by ‘Jones’ right?”
“Yeah, it’s just been easier. Tom knew he was marrying a modern woman from the start, so no worries about it.” She winks and Jack’s heart swells. He’s been through a lot with this ‘modern woman’ and he loves her more than he could even say. “You don’t owe me as much as you think, though.”
“I don’t?” Jack gestures around himself. “You did all this and mended Ianto too.”
“I can’t take any credit at all for Ianto, but you’re welcome for my part in the rest.”
He’s glad that she’s not too modest to accept some praise and his continuing grin lets her know it. “And once you heard I was back, you couldn’t stay away from me, could you?”
Martha shakes her head as she laughs again. “As a matter of fact, I couldn’t. When Gwen told me the news at our lunch, I had to come see for myself. Are you making yourself useful, Captain?”
Jack hops to attention, “Yes, ma’am!”
“Glad to hear it! Johnson and I need Torchwood’s assistance.”
Becoming aware of the third woman in the room once more, Jack glances at her. She inclines her head politely, wearing a wry grin. Despite the fact that she’s killed him more times than he would have liked, he doesn’t really bear her ill will. Jack does wonder what her function is these days, however.
“I presume that you three have already discussed it?” A chorus of nods answers him. “What do you want me to do?”
Gwen is the one to answer. “For starters, we thought perhaps you would like your old position back.”
Jack can only give her a blank stare; then he turns his gaze on the others. They simply wait for his answer. “You want me to lead the team again?”
“To be honest, Torchwood needs more stable leadership than I can provide. However, we’re trusting that you’ll make sound decisions. If I don’t agree with something, we call Martha. It doesn’t matter whom she backs, once she makes a decision the argument is over. I guess you can call it leadership by committee but only when there is a disagreement. Sound all right?”
All right? It sounded too good to be true. “Hell yes.” Then something else occurred to him. “What about Ianto?”
Martha gives a trademark, arched eyebrow. “What about him, Jack?”
“Well, shouldn’t he have some say in things too?”
“The whole team has a say, that’s why we’re a team. This arrangement will only matter in important decisions. Things that leadership would have to take care of.”
“I have a feeling that if Mister Jones doesn’t like something, he’ll make his thoughts abundantly clear,” adds Johnson, whose smile has deepened. Jack knows that the woman must be commenting about something that he’s missed and he feels a burning curiosity about it.
“Still willing, Jack?”
He looks down at the hand that Martha is holding out to him and he gives it a firm shake. “I am.” Jack can’t wait to get Ianto alone and share the news. He has a hunch that won’t happen for a while though. “You said you needed Torchwood’s help?”
“That I did. Johnson?”
With a nod, the woman steps forward and begins to brief him about a ship that U.N.I.T. salvaged several weeks prior from a field south of Salisbury. “We found traces of a life form that apparently survived the crash. Unfortunately the trail went cold pretty shortly. That is, it did until two days ago. We have reason to believe that whatever this alien is, it has made its way to Cardiff. Perhaps it has discovered the rift and it’s trying to get home.”
“Or it came out of the rift in the first place.”
“That is another possibility.”
“Any ideas on what exactly we’re looking for?”
“I’ve brought CCTV footage. It’s not very good but it’s the only thing we’ve got.”
“Let’s see if Lois can fix it up.”
The four of them troop out of the office and make their way to Lois’ workstation. Her space looks a bit like mission control and Jack immediately pops the disc Johnson hands him into the main computer.
Immediately they are greeted by a grainy video on the largest monitor. Of course it was taken at night and they can only catch glimpses of a large blob of black moving through the darkness.
“Lois, do you think you can clean up the image for us?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Gimme a minute.”
Taking hold of the mouse, she brings up an editing program and sets to work. Despite what Gwen said the day before about the woman still learning to fill Tosh’s shoes, Jack’s impressed. He begins to think he’ll have to recruit someone else to make the coffee soon. Either that or he’ll have to convince Ianto to resume the duty. They would definitely both enjoy what Jack uses for convincing.
“Here we go.” The video starts again and the black smudge is definitely clearer. They can now see that it is definitely a humanoid; a humanoid that looks like it might be covered in hair.
“I dated a guy that looked like that once. He loved to have his belly scratched.”
The four women collectively ignore him but he hears Martha snort and Lois is trying, unsuccessfully as it turns out, to hide a smile.
“A civilian seeing that thing might think it was a werewolf or something.”
“It’s not very canine-looking though. Sasquatch maybe?”
“Yeah, probably more like that. I can see the headlines now. ‘Bigfoot Comes To Cardiff.’”
“And us throwing one big Retcon party afterward.” Jack frowns at the picture.
“I don’t know that we would have enough.”
“What would be a better option?” Lois wonders aloud. “Having everyone believe it’s Bigfoot or having them know that it’s really an alien - possibly a hostile one?”
“Who’s to say that Bigfoot wouldn’t be hostile?”
“Maybe he’d just be randy. What with those big…feet.”
“Jack!”
“Getting in trouble again, Sir?” Ianto’s dulcet tones are music to Jack’s ears and he turns his smile to the man now leaning against the door frame.
“Always! Get your ass in here and give us your perspective.”
The other man wanders in, stopping close enough to Jack’s side for the elder man to feel his warmth. Ianto peers at the image on the monitor and then looks askance at Gwen. “What am I looking at?”
“Escaped alien. Johnson here believes that it may be loose in the area.”
“An alien loose in Cardiff? Now there’s a novel idea,” Ianto intones dryly, drawing a bark of a laugh from Jack.
“How big was the ship you recovered?” Gwen asks the black-clad woman.
“Two-seater, not very big relatively speaking. There were only signs of one alien leaving the area but that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be something else at large.”
None of them liked the idea of a ‘something else’ and their glances showed it.
“Nothing is ever easy,” Jack sighs.
“Now, if it were easy, it would be boring, Sir.”
“And none of us want to be bored, do we?”
“Indeed not.”
“It would be a nice change, though,” Martha notes. She’s answered by a round of nods and ‘You’re rights.’
“Well team,” Jack claps his hands, “let’s get to it. Pair up and scour the city?” He sees the look that Ianto sends to Gwen, perhaps wondering why Jack is giving the orders. She just smiles at him in return.
“Sounds good. No need to ask who’s going with you. Martha, you with me?”
“Sure. We’ll take this section of city,” she points to a nearby map of Cardiff and the surrounding area, “Jack, you and Ianto take this one and Lois and Johnson take this one. All right?”
Everyone nods in agreement and starts to pack up. Jack moves closer to Martha and Johnson who’ve started speaking together. “You ladies got a minute?”
“Sure Jack.”
“I want to show you something that we found,” he gestures for them to follow him back to his office, speaking as he goes. “Well, I say we but they found it before I showed up. I wanted to know if either of you recognize it.”
Moving over to the bench, he picks up the rod and hands it to Martha. She turns it over in her hands, peering at it. Then she shakes her head as she hands it to the other woman. “Never seen anything like it.”
Jack feels disappointed but he just nods. “I was hoping that you might have but never mind. I’ll puzzle it out eventually.”
“Do you think it might have come along with our friend?”
“It’s possible, though rift junk turns up all the time. Could be from anywhere - or any time for that matter.”
“True,” Martha has another look at the rod, “I’ll let you know if any information drops into my lap.”
Jack’s about to make a quip but she gives him a look. He doesn’t know how these women do it. Nobody ever reacts to his stares that way. Then he thinks about how people do react to his stares and he is cheered immensely.
“Thank you, Doctor Jones.” She whacks him on the biceps and he throws his arm around her shoulder to steer her out of the office. Ianto is waiting in the hallway and he glances at the two as they emerge. There’s a bit of jealousy there - invisible to anyone who doesn’t know Ianto like Jack knows Ianto. This is going to take longer than he’d supposed.
Rome wasn’t built in a day…even with all of those muscular, sweaty slaves.
With that enticing thought in mind, he bids the women farewell and takes his partner off for some alien hunting.
---
Ianto is characteristically taciturn as he pilots the Range Rover - the rebuilt Torchwood has two of them - toward their destination. The silence is normal but the mood isn’t quite. At first Jack attempts to keep it light in his usual manner but it’s a strain and eventually he stops trying.
Instead he focuses on their surroundings for a while. It’s amazing how a city can change in just a year or two. Not in major ways, of course, but there are new shops where vacant lots used to be or construction zones where an old house stood for years. Like so many other things, Jack takes the passage of time for granted and that often means that he forgets to notice subtleties.
“You’re not jealous of Martha now are you Ianto?” Sometimes the direct way is the best one.
“Why would I be?”
“I don’t know but something certainly seems to be on your mind.” The captain keeps from looking at his partner but even so, he can feel the storm brewing. “I told you before that nothing ever happened between her and me.”
“You’ve told me a lot of things, Jack.”
“Most of them were true.”
“Most.”
“Has everything you’ve ever told me been the absolute truth?”
No answer. Jack snorts. “I guess that means my arse does look big in these trousers.”
He grins when he feels the tension ease just a smidgen. Another moment of silence passes and he continues, “I swear to you that nothing will happen between Martha and myself.”
“But do you want it to?” Now there is a good question. In the end, Jack shakes his head. “She’s in love with someone else, someone I'm still in love with too if it comes right down to it.”
His tone is wistful and Ianto spares him a glance. “That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, Jack. And I hope you’re not referring to her husband there or we’re going to have some words.”
“Hah! No way. Although….”
“Jack.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ianto. You have no cause to be jealous of Martha or anyone else. I meant what I said last night. Besides, she would never have me.”
“With those 51st Century pheromones?”
Levity from Ianto is definitely a good thing and it makes Jack feel a whole lot better. “Believe it or not, some beings do have immunity to them. Not many, of course.”
“Of course.” Ianto pulls off the road and puts the vehicle in park. “And here we are, Sir.”
“The only question is, what do we do now that we’re here?”
“Catch an alien?”
“Great idea but first we have to find an alien.”
“Lots of tools for that. Plus the good, old-fashioned ones.”
“Eyes and ears?”
Ianto turns to grab a bag from behind the seat. “The best kind.”
“Let’s go then.” Jack doesn’t wait for a reply, practically jumping out of the SUV.
“Yes, Sir.” Once outside the SUV, Ianto pulls what looks to be a PDA from the bag and looks down at the screen. He turns a slow circle and Jack moves to his side, peering down at the device.
“What have you got there?”
“This analyzes heat signatures within a certain radius. Two miles is usually the maximum in open areas like this. If we were in the city, it would be a lot smaller and a lot more difficult to differentiate.”
“So many more bodies.”
“Exactly. In a smaller area. Besides that, you have all the electrical heat sources to contend with as well. They read differently than the biologicals but it’s all so much noise on this,” he waggles the scanner.
Jack can’t help thinking that this improved, sciencey side of Ianto is incredibly fucking hot. As usual, Ianto reads his mind and gives a smiling shake of his head before walking off toward the woods. Okay, so maybe Jack’s predictable. Predictability isn’t always a bad thing.
He trails Ianto for a few hundred yards until the man suddenly stops. Jack stops beside him and Ianto speaks in a low tone.
“Biological heat signature up ahead. It actually looks,” he draws the words out with a puzzled frown, “like there are two of them. Sort of…”
“’Sort of?’” Jack’s response is quizzical. “What do you mean, ‘Sort of?’”
“Come on, let’s get a closer look.”
Ianto creeps ahead and Jack pulls his gun, his eyes scanning all directions. In instances like these he falls back on his training of so many years ago, his senses on high alert.
Finally they near the spot where the source of heat is located. Ianto holds up a warning hand. Jack doesn’t need the warning, he can hear sounds coming from up ahead and he knows what’s making them.
The expression on Ianto’s face when he spots the blanket on the ground - and the shagging couple on top of it - is priceless. Jack would have given a great deal for a photo of that face. Luckily, he manages to grab hold of his partner and drag him into the bushes before the teenagers notice them.
“Jack!” Ianto hisses as the captain pulls him down to watch the action.
“Hush,” he whispers close to Ianto’s ear, “do you want them to hear us?”
“Jack, we shouldn’t stay here. We’ve got work to do.” Ianto’s got a playful streak a mile wide but when it comes to fieldwork he can be far too serious sometimes.
“Mmm hmm.” He hears the disapproval in the other man’s voice but he’s not in such a big hurry to look for the alien. Not when the alternative is voyeurism.
Smirking, he reaches around Ianto’s body and pulls the fellow close against his chest. There is another hissed, “Jack!” but the elder man doesn’t let that deter him in the slightest. Bending his head, he kisses Ianto’s neck and murmurs, “Shhh!”
Then he rests his chin on Ianto’s shoulder and returns his attention to the couple. The girl is definitely pretty but Jack hopes that the boy has a very nice personality because he is never going to be a centerfold.
A certain relaxation from the man in his arms lets the captain know that he’s won this round. Not bad for his first day back on the job.
Stealing a glance from the corner of his eye, he sees that Ianto’s attention is focused on the shagging teens as well. Hooray for the power of persuasion! Jack thinks with a grin. He’s highly tempted to do a bit more than kissing but even though he knows his companion can be quiet in most situations, it would be rather difficult in the heat of the moment to keep from being discovered.
Instead the former time agent contents himself with light caresses of Ianto’s body and kisses to the man’s neck. By the time the young lovers come to their crescendo, which really doesn’t take too long, Jack has managed to work his partner up far more than he intended.
The two lovebirds haven’t even managed to get dressed before Ianto turns in Jack’s embrace and gives him a thorough snogging. When they finally come up for air, the captain notices that the kids have gone. He smiles at his panting lover and lightly pecks Ianto’s lips. “Back to work, Ianto.”
The archivist groans. “You are a cruel man, Jack Harkness.”
“Aren’t I just?” He stands and offers Ianto a hand. “Let’s go.”