Beautiful Iris 5/20
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Tosh/Owen
Summary: when a seemingly cut-and-dried incidnt calls out Torchwood early one morning all is not as it originally seems. Alien technology leads the team into a trap of danger and curiosity, propelling them to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces. Split into two, the team must find a way back before past events puts one member of Torchwood into danger.
Spoilers: season1 up to episode 7.
A/N : I haven't written anything for a while, so I decided to finish this fic. It now has 20 parts an an actual ending :) please r&r
Disclaimer these characters are not mine. I'm just borrowing RTD's toys and promise to put them back when I'm done :)
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
Gwen hopped around the kitchen on one foot, steadying herself on the large wooden table that stood in the centre, almost falling when she heard footsteps behind her. She groaned at the pain in her foot as she limped across the kitchen quickly in order to sit back down. Jack had promised to tie her to a chair if he caught her hopping around again, and for once she didn't think he was kidding.
“Before you say anything, I wasn't moving,” she explained. “I was just trying to get comfortable.”
"The Captain is out."
Gwen looked at the figure in the doorway and frowned at the sight of Iris who walked towards her and sat opposite her at the table.
"That's a rather unusual looking coat," she said. “Where did you get it?”
“I think it was a boutique In London,” she lied. "New designs from America- it's going to be really fashionable.".
"It's rather unusual to see a lady in clothing like that." Iris inspected her. “It looks like a hunter’s jacket.”
"I'm not from the same mould as others.”
“Obviously not. I had trouble believing you were a lady at all from your attire.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Your whole appearance," Iris said. “You have to admit, it’s rather masculine.”
Gwen looked down at her outfit; leather boots that matched her jacket, skinny jeans and a red blouse. “It's what I wear where I come from,” she said.
“Its not at all flattering.”
“It's comfortable, and comfort is more important than fashion in my line of work.”
“And what's that?” she asked.
“A lot of things, I don't think you would understand.”
“You think that I'm small-minded because I've lived a sheltered existence?”
“No, you're just --” Gwen sighed. “I don't think we've got off on the best foot."
“I suppose that comes from being from different worlds.”
“Very different worlds,” Gwen admitted. “I really don't belong here.”
“You and your friends certainly do seem a little different.”
“Believe me, Jack is outrageous wherever you come from.”
Iris put her hands on the table and leaned over it, looking at Gwen with interest. “Why do you call the Captain that?”
“It's his name.”
“And he's just a friend?”
“A very good friend and a colleague.”
“And is Mr. Jones a colleague, too?”
“Yes. And a friend."
“You don't give much away,” Iris said. "You're very secretive.”
“I'm not secretive.”
“Then tell me more then?”
“Well, my name is Gwen Cooper and I'm a special operative, those two men are my colleagues Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones. Neither of them are my keeper and I have my own mind so I would appreciate it if you treat me that way.”
“You're just as stubborn as my father,” Iris smiled. ”I admire that.”
Gwen smiled back apologetically. “I'm sorry. This is all very new to me”
“Don't worry about it.” Iris stood up and offered her hand to Gwen. “Stand up and I'll show you where you'll be sleeping. We're a little cramped I'm afraid; you're sharing with me and Mr Jones and the Captain have to share. Do you think they'll mind?”
"No." Gwen couldn't help but smirk. “I'm sure they won't have any problems.”
“Really?”
“Oh, they're very close.”
Tosh and Owen marched onto a crime scene, ducking under police tape to look at two more bodies.
"We really don't have time for this," Owen said as he crouched down and put on some gloves. "We're three men down. We should be finding a way to get them back instead of this"
"We still have a job to do, Owen. Jack would kill us if we just ignored everything else that was happening."
"Yeah, I know, but it's still annoying isn't it?"
"Right, what have we got?" Owen pulled back the first victims clothing to inspect the large chunk that had been taken out. "Weevil attack."
"Same here." Tosh looked at the other body. "They must be running out of rats down there."
"Poor sod, imagine being mauled to death by a Weevil?"
"I'm picking up a faint trace of rift energy." She scanned the second victim, then the first. "On both."
"Well of course you are, nothing like a simple case when you're fucking busy, is there?"
"Murphy's law." She scanned the chest, her hand held device set off warning tones. She pulled down their clothing, pulling out another identical device hanging around his neck, although the lights were dull. "Owen!"
"What?"
"Check to see if your victim has anything familiar hanging around its neck?"
"Shit.”
"Let's get these back to base."
"Give the police the usual spiel." Owen dragged the first body up and over his shoulder. "I'll load the wagon."
"The energy seems to be coming exclusively from the victims, nothing in the immediate vicinity to suggest anything untoward. It's the devices I would guess, they're giving us energy readings."
Owen struggled with the body. "It's times like this I miss Ianto," he said. "I'm never going to get the blood out this shirt without him."
Jack stopped searching the fields and took a seat on the ground, running his hands through his hair as he watched Ianto work tirelessly. He looked at the younger man as he relentlessly searched every inch of the large paddock, even going so far as delving his hands into the deep mud puddles caused by the recent downpour. He stood up and walked over to him, putting his hand on his back.
“Take a break,” he said.
“It has to be here somewhere.” Ianto shrugged off Jack's touch and continued to search, wiping his hands on his trousers to clean them. “If we travelled here it must have come with us. All we need is one of the components and it can lead us to the others.”
“Just sit down for a moment.” Jack tried to persuade him, but Ianto refused to stop, and continued searching every area he could. “Please.”
Ianto stood up and turned around to face Jack, following him over to the only dry patch of land underneath the large draping oak tree. He sat down, leaving a space between them and tucked his knees into his chest. He stared at the ground for a moment, actively searching without making it too obvious.
“Did Iris show you the room?" Jack asked.
“Yes. If you recall I spent a good few hours there concussed and mad at the monkey who stole my cheese” Ianto didn't remove his gaze from the ground.
“It's very nice of Mr. Hughes to put us up somewhere so nice, I was half expecting to sleeping in the barn.”
'where did you sleep last night?"
"Up in the attic, I didn't want to disturb you."
“So, why can’t you stay there?”
“It’s freezing up there and there’s a hole in the roof above the bed.”
“Where's Gwen going to sleep?”
“With Iris.” Jack turned to look at Ianto and edged a little closer to him. “You don't mind sharing a bed with me do you? Because I can sleep on the floor, or we can top to tail.”
“Why would I mind?”
“Maybe my animal magnetism is too much for you.”
“I'll restrain myself somehow,” Ianto said dryly, taking little notice of the conversation.
“Ianto--” Jack closed the gap between them and nudged him with his elbow. “What's wrong?”
Ianto looked over at Jack and then shook his head, refocusing his gaze to his feet. “You really need to ask that?”
“We'll get back.”
“You keep saying that,” Ianto said. “I'm starting to doubt how much you believe it yourself.”
“It's early days yet, we've got a lot more ground to search. If it's not here it'll be with Tosh and Owen by now.”
The silence drifted a wedge between them again and Ianto looked up into the sky; the dark clouds from earlier in the day had long gone and only blue sky remained. The sun was starting to dry the wet ground and in some places, in the shade under the large oak tree, the dirt was so hard it was cracking. Ianto bent down and plucked a daisy from the grass and twirled it between his thumb and forefinger, stopping for a moment to pick off the thin white petals one by one. He took a deep breath.
“I used to love the country when I was a kid.”
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. My dad would take me and my sister out. We'd go camping and do all the clichè stuff like cook fish on a stick and wash in streams and stuff."
"Sounds fun."
"I hated it." Ianto laughed a little. "We got all muddy and my sister moaned all the time, then he shouted at us. But after tea we'd make up and it would all be right again, just for him to start shouting again in the morning. "
"Typical family holiday."
"He was a very calm man usually, but there was something about being out in the country that changed him into someone I didn't want to be around."
"It's the quietness," Jack said. "It affects us all in totally different ways."
"Being here just reminds me so much of things I'd rather forget."
"When we get back--"
“If we get back," Ianto corrected.
“No, when we get back.” The older man sat up and put his hand on Ianto's shoulder. “Relax and enjoy the beauty for a few days, you'll miss it when you're back in Cardiff with a mountain of paperwork and Owen nagging you for coffee every two minutes.”
"You could stay here forever and nobody would even notice you were gone and you think I'm the same. Just because I spend every waking minute with you it doesn't mean I have nobody to get back to.” Ianto's voice came across bitter and his eyes seemed dark with frustration. Jack moved away from him, starting to stand up and Ianto sighed, looking up at him. He grabbed his hand. “I didn't mean that.”
“Yes you did.”
“No, I didn't.” The younger man placed his other hand over Jack's wrist, feeling the pulse through his fingertips. “I'm just scared. I want to blame you and it's wrong for me to do that.”
"You're right though." Jack turned around to face him and sat back down, putting his hand over the younger man's. “I'm not exactly missed back home.”
“If you weren't here I would miss you,” Ianto said. "I wouldn't know what to do.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” Jack smiled and Ianto looked at him for a moment, smiling back faintly. “No, really, it will.”
“I don't even want to think about where my flattery could get me. Knowing you I would end up naked and tied to a bedpost being tickled by an Ostrich feather.”
“Ostrich feather?” Jack asked, arching an eyebrow at Ianto who looked at him. “Kinky.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes, you have a kinky streak.”
“I do not have a kinky streak.”
“You want to be stripped naked, tied up and tickled with an Ostrich feather; that's the definition of kinky in my book.”
“I have no interest in doing anything remotely kinky with you Jack, so you can rid your mind of any ideas that I am in any way interested.”
“You're already holding my hand,” he said looking down at their hands. Ianto's fingers were still laced between Jack's.
“I know.” The younger man looked down and made no attempt to move.
“It's 1901,” he said. "It's very much frowned upon.”
“I'll stop then.” Ianto started to move his hand away and Jack stopped him, placing his other hand on top.
“I didn't say that I frowned upon it.”
“I doubt that Mr. Hughes would find it acceptable for two men to be holding hands in his field Jack,” Ianto said, looking at jack who lifted their hands to his lips and kissed Ianto's fingers. “Or indeed doing that.”
“I'm not doing anything.”
“I think we should probably start searching again before--”
“Before what?” Jack asked.
"Before we--" Ianto swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to control his rapidly increasing heart rate as Jack looked at him. He could feel the heat of the Older man's eyes burn through him and looked away, removing his hand. “Before it gets dark.”
“It's half past two in the afternoon.”
“There's a lot of field left to search.”
Ianto stood up and walked away to where he had ceased searching earlier and Jack followed, pressing up against his back. Ianto stood still, feeling almost paralytic, somehow unable to move away from the warmth of him. The Captain let his lips brush the younger man's ear and trailed his fingers lightly over his skin.
“You shouldn't care so much what other people think.”
“I don't,” Ianto breathed, looking down at the fingers that ran over the buttons on his waistcoat, unfastening it slowly. “What are you doing?”
“It's hot; you must be warm in all those layers.”
“I'm fine.”
“You’re not.” Jack touched Ianto's neck with his lips, pressing a kiss into his skin. “You're burning up.”
“Do I even need to point out to you that this is far beyond acceptable levels of sexual harassment?”
“Do you see an office?” Jack asked. “I see no office.”
"I--" Ianto opened his mouth to speak and looked around, feeling Jack's hand slide up his chest, between his open waistcoat, and onto his neck, unfastening his top button. “Well no but--”
“Besides, it's only sexual harassment if you don't enjoy it. I looked it up.”
“And how do you know that I enjoy it?”
“If you didn't then you would have moved by now,” he whispered. "And you certainly wouldn't be as hard as you are.”
Ianto turned around and looked Jack in the eyes. “This is not the time to try and seduce me.”
“And you're saying that there will be a time?” Jack asked. “Because you look great in tweed and we're sharing a bed tonight.”
“Try anything and you're on the floor.”
“And you said you weren't kinky,” he teased.
“I mean it,” Ianto warned, his eyes dark. "Just stop
PART 6 HERE
Summary: when a seemingly cut-and-dried incidnt calls out Torchwood early one morning all is not as it originally seems. Alien technology leads the team into a trap of danger and curiosity, propelling them to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces. Split into two, the team must find a way back before past events puts one member of Torchwood into danger.
Spoilers: season1 up to episode 7.
A/N : I haven't written anything for a while, so I decided to finish this fic. It now has 20 parts an an actual ending :) please r&r
Disclaimer these characters are not mine. I'm just borrowing RTD's toys and promise to put them back when I'm done :)
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
Gwen hopped around the kitchen on one foot, steadying herself on the large wooden table that stood in the centre, almost falling when she heard footsteps behind her. She groaned at the pain in her foot as she limped across the kitchen quickly in order to sit back down. Jack had promised to tie her to a chair if he caught her hopping around again, and for once she didn't think he was kidding.
“Before you say anything, I wasn't moving,” she explained. “I was just trying to get comfortable.”
"The Captain is out."
Gwen looked at the figure in the doorway and frowned at the sight of Iris who walked towards her and sat opposite her at the table.
"That's a rather unusual looking coat," she said. “Where did you get it?”
“I think it was a boutique In London,” she lied. "New designs from America- it's going to be really fashionable.".
"It's rather unusual to see a lady in clothing like that." Iris inspected her. “It looks like a hunter’s jacket.”
"I'm not from the same mould as others.”
“Obviously not. I had trouble believing you were a lady at all from your attire.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Your whole appearance," Iris said. “You have to admit, it’s rather masculine.”
Gwen looked down at her outfit; leather boots that matched her jacket, skinny jeans and a red blouse. “It's what I wear where I come from,” she said.
“Its not at all flattering.”
“It's comfortable, and comfort is more important than fashion in my line of work.”
“And what's that?” she asked.
“A lot of things, I don't think you would understand.”
“You think that I'm small-minded because I've lived a sheltered existence?”
“No, you're just --” Gwen sighed. “I don't think we've got off on the best foot."
“I suppose that comes from being from different worlds.”
“Very different worlds,” Gwen admitted. “I really don't belong here.”
“You and your friends certainly do seem a little different.”
“Believe me, Jack is outrageous wherever you come from.”
Iris put her hands on the table and leaned over it, looking at Gwen with interest. “Why do you call the Captain that?”
“It's his name.”
“And he's just a friend?”
“A very good friend and a colleague.”
“And is Mr. Jones a colleague, too?”
“Yes. And a friend."
“You don't give much away,” Iris said. "You're very secretive.”
“I'm not secretive.”
“Then tell me more then?”
“Well, my name is Gwen Cooper and I'm a special operative, those two men are my colleagues Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones. Neither of them are my keeper and I have my own mind so I would appreciate it if you treat me that way.”
“You're just as stubborn as my father,” Iris smiled. ”I admire that.”
Gwen smiled back apologetically. “I'm sorry. This is all very new to me”
“Don't worry about it.” Iris stood up and offered her hand to Gwen. “Stand up and I'll show you where you'll be sleeping. We're a little cramped I'm afraid; you're sharing with me and Mr Jones and the Captain have to share. Do you think they'll mind?”
"No." Gwen couldn't help but smirk. “I'm sure they won't have any problems.”
“Really?”
“Oh, they're very close.”
Tosh and Owen marched onto a crime scene, ducking under police tape to look at two more bodies.
"We really don't have time for this," Owen said as he crouched down and put on some gloves. "We're three men down. We should be finding a way to get them back instead of this"
"We still have a job to do, Owen. Jack would kill us if we just ignored everything else that was happening."
"Yeah, I know, but it's still annoying isn't it?"
"Right, what have we got?" Owen pulled back the first victims clothing to inspect the large chunk that had been taken out. "Weevil attack."
"Same here." Tosh looked at the other body. "They must be running out of rats down there."
"Poor sod, imagine being mauled to death by a Weevil?"
"I'm picking up a faint trace of rift energy." She scanned the second victim, then the first. "On both."
"Well of course you are, nothing like a simple case when you're fucking busy, is there?"
"Murphy's law." She scanned the chest, her hand held device set off warning tones. She pulled down their clothing, pulling out another identical device hanging around his neck, although the lights were dull. "Owen!"
"What?"
"Check to see if your victim has anything familiar hanging around its neck?"
"Shit.”
"Let's get these back to base."
"Give the police the usual spiel." Owen dragged the first body up and over his shoulder. "I'll load the wagon."
"The energy seems to be coming exclusively from the victims, nothing in the immediate vicinity to suggest anything untoward. It's the devices I would guess, they're giving us energy readings."
Owen struggled with the body. "It's times like this I miss Ianto," he said. "I'm never going to get the blood out this shirt without him."
Jack stopped searching the fields and took a seat on the ground, running his hands through his hair as he watched Ianto work tirelessly. He looked at the younger man as he relentlessly searched every inch of the large paddock, even going so far as delving his hands into the deep mud puddles caused by the recent downpour. He stood up and walked over to him, putting his hand on his back.
“Take a break,” he said.
“It has to be here somewhere.” Ianto shrugged off Jack's touch and continued to search, wiping his hands on his trousers to clean them. “If we travelled here it must have come with us. All we need is one of the components and it can lead us to the others.”
“Just sit down for a moment.” Jack tried to persuade him, but Ianto refused to stop, and continued searching every area he could. “Please.”
Ianto stood up and turned around to face Jack, following him over to the only dry patch of land underneath the large draping oak tree. He sat down, leaving a space between them and tucked his knees into his chest. He stared at the ground for a moment, actively searching without making it too obvious.
“Did Iris show you the room?" Jack asked.
“Yes. If you recall I spent a good few hours there concussed and mad at the monkey who stole my cheese” Ianto didn't remove his gaze from the ground.
“It's very nice of Mr. Hughes to put us up somewhere so nice, I was half expecting to sleeping in the barn.”
'where did you sleep last night?"
"Up in the attic, I didn't want to disturb you."
“So, why can’t you stay there?”
“It’s freezing up there and there’s a hole in the roof above the bed.”
“Where's Gwen going to sleep?”
“With Iris.” Jack turned to look at Ianto and edged a little closer to him. “You don't mind sharing a bed with me do you? Because I can sleep on the floor, or we can top to tail.”
“Why would I mind?”
“Maybe my animal magnetism is too much for you.”
“I'll restrain myself somehow,” Ianto said dryly, taking little notice of the conversation.
“Ianto--” Jack closed the gap between them and nudged him with his elbow. “What's wrong?”
Ianto looked over at Jack and then shook his head, refocusing his gaze to his feet. “You really need to ask that?”
“We'll get back.”
“You keep saying that,” Ianto said. “I'm starting to doubt how much you believe it yourself.”
“It's early days yet, we've got a lot more ground to search. If it's not here it'll be with Tosh and Owen by now.”
The silence drifted a wedge between them again and Ianto looked up into the sky; the dark clouds from earlier in the day had long gone and only blue sky remained. The sun was starting to dry the wet ground and in some places, in the shade under the large oak tree, the dirt was so hard it was cracking. Ianto bent down and plucked a daisy from the grass and twirled it between his thumb and forefinger, stopping for a moment to pick off the thin white petals one by one. He took a deep breath.
“I used to love the country when I was a kid.”
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. My dad would take me and my sister out. We'd go camping and do all the clichè stuff like cook fish on a stick and wash in streams and stuff."
"Sounds fun."
"I hated it." Ianto laughed a little. "We got all muddy and my sister moaned all the time, then he shouted at us. But after tea we'd make up and it would all be right again, just for him to start shouting again in the morning. "
"Typical family holiday."
"He was a very calm man usually, but there was something about being out in the country that changed him into someone I didn't want to be around."
"It's the quietness," Jack said. "It affects us all in totally different ways."
"Being here just reminds me so much of things I'd rather forget."
"When we get back--"
“If we get back," Ianto corrected.
“No, when we get back.” The older man sat up and put his hand on Ianto's shoulder. “Relax and enjoy the beauty for a few days, you'll miss it when you're back in Cardiff with a mountain of paperwork and Owen nagging you for coffee every two minutes.”
"You could stay here forever and nobody would even notice you were gone and you think I'm the same. Just because I spend every waking minute with you it doesn't mean I have nobody to get back to.” Ianto's voice came across bitter and his eyes seemed dark with frustration. Jack moved away from him, starting to stand up and Ianto sighed, looking up at him. He grabbed his hand. “I didn't mean that.”
“Yes you did.”
“No, I didn't.” The younger man placed his other hand over Jack's wrist, feeling the pulse through his fingertips. “I'm just scared. I want to blame you and it's wrong for me to do that.”
"You're right though." Jack turned around to face him and sat back down, putting his hand over the younger man's. “I'm not exactly missed back home.”
“If you weren't here I would miss you,” Ianto said. "I wouldn't know what to do.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” Jack smiled and Ianto looked at him for a moment, smiling back faintly. “No, really, it will.”
“I don't even want to think about where my flattery could get me. Knowing you I would end up naked and tied to a bedpost being tickled by an Ostrich feather.”
“Ostrich feather?” Jack asked, arching an eyebrow at Ianto who looked at him. “Kinky.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes, you have a kinky streak.”
“I do not have a kinky streak.”
“You want to be stripped naked, tied up and tickled with an Ostrich feather; that's the definition of kinky in my book.”
“I have no interest in doing anything remotely kinky with you Jack, so you can rid your mind of any ideas that I am in any way interested.”
“You're already holding my hand,” he said looking down at their hands. Ianto's fingers were still laced between Jack's.
“I know.” The younger man looked down and made no attempt to move.
“It's 1901,” he said. "It's very much frowned upon.”
“I'll stop then.” Ianto started to move his hand away and Jack stopped him, placing his other hand on top.
“I didn't say that I frowned upon it.”
“I doubt that Mr. Hughes would find it acceptable for two men to be holding hands in his field Jack,” Ianto said, looking at jack who lifted their hands to his lips and kissed Ianto's fingers. “Or indeed doing that.”
“I'm not doing anything.”
“I think we should probably start searching again before--”
“Before what?” Jack asked.
"Before we--" Ianto swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to control his rapidly increasing heart rate as Jack looked at him. He could feel the heat of the Older man's eyes burn through him and looked away, removing his hand. “Before it gets dark.”
“It's half past two in the afternoon.”
“There's a lot of field left to search.”
Ianto stood up and walked away to where he had ceased searching earlier and Jack followed, pressing up against his back. Ianto stood still, feeling almost paralytic, somehow unable to move away from the warmth of him. The Captain let his lips brush the younger man's ear and trailed his fingers lightly over his skin.
“You shouldn't care so much what other people think.”
“I don't,” Ianto breathed, looking down at the fingers that ran over the buttons on his waistcoat, unfastening it slowly. “What are you doing?”
“It's hot; you must be warm in all those layers.”
“I'm fine.”
“You’re not.” Jack touched Ianto's neck with his lips, pressing a kiss into his skin. “You're burning up.”
“Do I even need to point out to you that this is far beyond acceptable levels of sexual harassment?”
“Do you see an office?” Jack asked. “I see no office.”
"I--" Ianto opened his mouth to speak and looked around, feeling Jack's hand slide up his chest, between his open waistcoat, and onto his neck, unfastening his top button. “Well no but--”
“Besides, it's only sexual harassment if you don't enjoy it. I looked it up.”
“And how do you know that I enjoy it?”
“If you didn't then you would have moved by now,” he whispered. "And you certainly wouldn't be as hard as you are.”
Ianto turned around and looked Jack in the eyes. “This is not the time to try and seduce me.”
“And you're saying that there will be a time?” Jack asked. “Because you look great in tweed and we're sharing a bed tonight.”
“Try anything and you're on the floor.”
“And you said you weren't kinky,” he teased.
“I mean it,” Ianto warned, his eyes dark. "Just stop
PART 6 HERE