The End is Where We Begin. - Part 3
Part one is here
Lois took a deep breath, shivering slightly in the cold air of the Hub, whilst she trailed after Ianto as he began to show her around.
“Up here we have the cataloguing desk,” Ianto said, as he pointed over to the computer set up in the corner, “where we record any alien technology, or fragments of it anyway, that we find in the rubble of this chamber. Sadly there was quite a lot in here when it exploded, but we’re salvaging what we can, tagging and packing it and transporting it to the new facility.”
“Over there,” Ianto pointed to the blue screens, “we are searching through any biological material that we find. We’re hoping none of the alien material will be hazardous, but there is a risk with the Pterodactyl nest having been incinerated that her waste will have been spread over the chamber-“
“Pterodactyl?” Lois asked in astonishment.
“Myfanwy,” Ianto said matter of factly. “She’s moved up to Snowdonia now; couldn’t really expect her to stay in the city any longer. Which reminds me, one of your duties will be to coordinate deliveries of raw meat for her; we have contacts with the park authority who look after her for us but they can’t afford the food bills.” Ianto paused for a moment and looked around the space thoughtfully. “I’m not sure we can either to be honest, but she’s our responsibility.”
“A dinosaur?” Lois hastily darted back over to her things and dug in the deep pockets of her coat, her battered reporters notebook emerging along with a chewed pencil. Flicking to a blank page, she quickly began making notes, the strange hieroglyphics of her shorthand darting across the paper. “Any special dietary requirements for that meat?”
“Preferably organic, I don’t want her ingesting any growth hormones; she’s enough of a handful as it is. Oh and once a month she will need a delivery of dark chocolate, we have a deal with a local distributor. I’ll give you the full details later.”
Shaking her head slightly in disbelief, Lois looked at her page and grinned. She wasn’t even sure how to spell the word Pterodactyl, let alone translate it into shorthand, and had resorted to writing ‘dinosaur’ on the paper. Ianto began to stride across the platform and she found herself hurrying to follow him, pen and paper at the ready - and John watching with an amused smirk.
“With regards to the classification and storage, we are running low on supplies. We will need more archival ribbon, acid free paper, boxes, plastozote, oh and scalpel blades for cutting the foam, for some reason...” Ianto turned and shot John an amused glare. “They keep vanishing.”
“Don’t look at me, I’m a two weapon man and you know it. And I know for a fact she,” John glanced back at Johnson with a smirk, “has much better knives than that flimsy rubbish.”
“Oh and make sure you include labels,” Ianto carried on, ignoring John completely again as Lois scribbled away. “Someone resorted to just writing on the boxes last week and it’s not exactly a good way to start. No need to worry about the lead lined or protective stuff though, UNIT has kindly agreed to help with that.”
“Standard archival quality supplies, no problem.”
Ianto grinned to himself as he watched her slip into her new role quickly, her confidence starting to show through as she returned to her comfort zone. Yes, she was going to be just what he needed. “We will also need to plan for future use of this space once it’s cleared, priority being power connections, internet-“
Ianto paused as his phone rang and nodded his apologies to Lois before answering it. “Yes? Am I now, that’s rich coming from the one who’s supposed to be on maternity leave.” Chuckling slightly, but without the smile reaching his eyes, he nodded and Lois missed the next part as he slipped into what she presumed to be Welsh, his eyes slipping onto Captain John as he spoke. Judging by the grin on his face at the reply on the other end of the line, she doubted it was anything flattering that was being said.
“Really?" Ianto switched back to English and nodded to himself. "No problem, I’ll get someone on it. And you go get your feet up! You’re supposed to be blooming, or nesting, or something babyish by now. Enjoy it. I bet Rhys is dying to fuss over you...”
Lois couldn’t help wandering away as he carried on speaking, her curiosity leading her over towards the blue dividers, before John slipped in front of her, blocking her path. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, little miss PA.” Lowering his voice to a hissed whisper, Captain John leaned close and grinned as he spoke. “Don’t want you getting all upset now. Stick to the archives, it’s safer.”
“I... It can’t be worse than the 456.” She tried to keep her voice strong as she spoke, but couldn’t help the slight tremble in it.
“You really think so?” The Captain stepped aside and invited her to go ahead with a sweep of his arm. “Then by all means, sweet cheeks, take a peek.”
Lois stepped forwards, approaching the edge of the dividers. There were two set up parallel to each other to form a small corridor, hiding what was within from view whilst also allowing access. She took a deep breath, preparing to step around them and see what was beyond-
“Lois?” Ianto called out suddenly. “Change of plan. How’d you like to join a weevil hunt?”
Lois spun round slightly guiltily and tucked her braids behind her ear with a nervous flick of her hand. “Sure, why not.” She paused. “Um, what’s a weevil?”
“Alien.” Lois jumped and spun round yet again, feeling like a bit of an idiot for being so easily startled, but the whole place was giving her the creeps. Johnson’s voice came from behind the screen, before the older woman stepped out, snapping the gloves off her fingers and tossing them out of sight behind her. “Brutal. Vicious. Carnivorous sewer dweller that comes through the rift every now and then. A natural killer and damned hard to stop.”
“And yet your boys still manage it. Too well.” Ianto half snapped at Johnson.
“You wanted it contained, we contained it!”
“Contained it?” he replied sarcastically. “You didn’t contain it, you killed it! It was deceased, dead, it was an ex weevil!” Ianto shook his head in despair and pointed at Johnson. “Your boys are tracking another one over in Splott. Tell you what,” a slight grin ghosted over his face as he calmed down. “Why don’t you take Lois out and show her what is involved? I’ll finish up a few things here, just drop her off at the office when you’re done and I’ll meet you there.”
“You want me to take a...” Johnson glanced at Lois, eyeing her up and down with something faintly like distaste. “A civilian on a hunt? Are you serious?”
“She can stay in the car,” Ianto said with a gentle push to Lois’ back, making her step forwards to meet Johnson. “And we were all civilians once. She has to start somewhere and as we don’t have any captive weevils so far - thanks to someone’s gung ho attitude - this is it!” Stepping forward himself, his stern glare softened slightly as he looked at Johnson. “Besides, I trust you to keep her safe.”
With a begrudging nod, Johnson strode off towards the door. Lois looked confusedly around her for a moment before, with a nod from Ianto, she hastily gathered up her things and followed the other woman out.
The two men watched them go before with a smirk Captain John turned to face Ianto. “Alone at last. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were trying to get me all to yourself...”
“Thankfully, you do know better.” Ianto glanced past the Captain to the blue dividers, his gaze slightly fearful as he took them in, as though afraid of what lay within. “How is... it going?”
Captain John glanced at the dividers and his gaze grew thoughtful. “Nothing bigger than a digit so far. But we’re transferring the nights finds to join the rest.” Looking at Ianto carefully, John shook his head slightly. “I’m gonna say it again, I don’t know what you hope to achieve here eye candy. There’s no sign of any... I mean not that I wouldn’t object to a his and his matching pair but I don’t think there’s any hope of the same thing happening to this-“
“I don’t want another Jack.” Ianto spoke softly but clearly, his voice stern but slightly haunted as he kept his gaze fixed on the innocuous blue panels, knowing all too well what went on behind them. He never looked but he could picture all too well the small plastic containers holding the pieces of the man he loved. “I’m not doing this to bring him back. I just...” His gaze finally left the screens and drifted over the rubble surrounding them. “His... remains deserve to be treated with some respect.”
“Your call, boss.” John shrugged and fiddled with his wrist strap, checking the time. “Workmen will be here soon. Time for the day team to start.”
Ianto nodded distractedly and found his gaze drifting towards where Jack’s office had been. “Fine.”
Captain John Hart followed his gaze and shook his head slightly, not for the first time wondering whether he had saved one man by condemning another. Sniffing in the cold air, he hooked his thumbs over his holster and strode back towards the entrance, pausing for a moment in the doorway. “Same time tonight?”
Ianto turned and looked over his shoulder at the Captain and nodded once. “Same time tonight. Goodnight John.”
Chuckling slightly to himself, Captain John Hart tossed off a lazy salute before leaving the younger man behind. “Good morning, sir.”
Ianto tried not to react to the Sir, but it felt so strange to be directed at him. He felt like such a fraud trying to lead this lot. Most of them were older than him. Most were more experienced. He felt like any moment now someone was going to see through him and take it all away, send him back to make them all coffee instead. Sometimes he secretly craved it, the simplicity of knowing his place, knowing what to do - and doing it well. Like making coffee.
Coffee. They had managed to find the crumpled remains of his coffee machine the other week. It was weird how much it had upset him to find it - and a shard of Tosh’s favourite mug - among the rubble. It was such a stupid thing, but he had had to leave the Hub and walk along the bay to regain his composure, suddenly struck by the knowledge that it was really all gone. Not just Tosh, or Owen or even Jack but the home they had shared in that dank, dark hole was gone. No amount of digging would bring it back.
Walking over to where Jack’s office had been, Ianto reached out and carefully untied the simple yellow ribbon from the pipe. Wrapping it carefully into a loop he tucked it into his suit jacket, the same as he did every morning. Nodding at the rubble, he stepped back and looked around the mess that was once home to him and his friends.
He couldn’t bring it back.
He had never thought he could think of anywhere as home again after the loss of Torchwood One, but he had finally fit in here. He still didn’t know how he would cope being back in this space without Jack. But maybe it was better that it had been so wrecked. There were fewer memories waiting in the stones to trip him up or surprise him, catching him unawares when he least expected it. That home was gone.
But he was Ianto Jones. He had started from scratch so many times before, he was practically an expert. He would simply do so again.
After all, what were second chances for?
Part Four
Lois took a deep breath, shivering slightly in the cold air of the Hub, whilst she trailed after Ianto as he began to show her around.
“Up here we have the cataloguing desk,” Ianto said, as he pointed over to the computer set up in the corner, “where we record any alien technology, or fragments of it anyway, that we find in the rubble of this chamber. Sadly there was quite a lot in here when it exploded, but we’re salvaging what we can, tagging and packing it and transporting it to the new facility.”
“Over there,” Ianto pointed to the blue screens, “we are searching through any biological material that we find. We’re hoping none of the alien material will be hazardous, but there is a risk with the Pterodactyl nest having been incinerated that her waste will have been spread over the chamber-“
“Pterodactyl?” Lois asked in astonishment.
“Myfanwy,” Ianto said matter of factly. “She’s moved up to Snowdonia now; couldn’t really expect her to stay in the city any longer. Which reminds me, one of your duties will be to coordinate deliveries of raw meat for her; we have contacts with the park authority who look after her for us but they can’t afford the food bills.” Ianto paused for a moment and looked around the space thoughtfully. “I’m not sure we can either to be honest, but she’s our responsibility.”
“A dinosaur?” Lois hastily darted back over to her things and dug in the deep pockets of her coat, her battered reporters notebook emerging along with a chewed pencil. Flicking to a blank page, she quickly began making notes, the strange hieroglyphics of her shorthand darting across the paper. “Any special dietary requirements for that meat?”
“Preferably organic, I don’t want her ingesting any growth hormones; she’s enough of a handful as it is. Oh and once a month she will need a delivery of dark chocolate, we have a deal with a local distributor. I’ll give you the full details later.”
Shaking her head slightly in disbelief, Lois looked at her page and grinned. She wasn’t even sure how to spell the word Pterodactyl, let alone translate it into shorthand, and had resorted to writing ‘dinosaur’ on the paper. Ianto began to stride across the platform and she found herself hurrying to follow him, pen and paper at the ready - and John watching with an amused smirk.
“With regards to the classification and storage, we are running low on supplies. We will need more archival ribbon, acid free paper, boxes, plastozote, oh and scalpel blades for cutting the foam, for some reason...” Ianto turned and shot John an amused glare. “They keep vanishing.”
“Don’t look at me, I’m a two weapon man and you know it. And I know for a fact she,” John glanced back at Johnson with a smirk, “has much better knives than that flimsy rubbish.”
“Oh and make sure you include labels,” Ianto carried on, ignoring John completely again as Lois scribbled away. “Someone resorted to just writing on the boxes last week and it’s not exactly a good way to start. No need to worry about the lead lined or protective stuff though, UNIT has kindly agreed to help with that.”
“Standard archival quality supplies, no problem.”
Ianto grinned to himself as he watched her slip into her new role quickly, her confidence starting to show through as she returned to her comfort zone. Yes, she was going to be just what he needed. “We will also need to plan for future use of this space once it’s cleared, priority being power connections, internet-“
Ianto paused as his phone rang and nodded his apologies to Lois before answering it. “Yes? Am I now, that’s rich coming from the one who’s supposed to be on maternity leave.” Chuckling slightly, but without the smile reaching his eyes, he nodded and Lois missed the next part as he slipped into what she presumed to be Welsh, his eyes slipping onto Captain John as he spoke. Judging by the grin on his face at the reply on the other end of the line, she doubted it was anything flattering that was being said.
“Really?" Ianto switched back to English and nodded to himself. "No problem, I’ll get someone on it. And you go get your feet up! You’re supposed to be blooming, or nesting, or something babyish by now. Enjoy it. I bet Rhys is dying to fuss over you...”
Lois couldn’t help wandering away as he carried on speaking, her curiosity leading her over towards the blue dividers, before John slipped in front of her, blocking her path. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, little miss PA.” Lowering his voice to a hissed whisper, Captain John leaned close and grinned as he spoke. “Don’t want you getting all upset now. Stick to the archives, it’s safer.”
“I... It can’t be worse than the 456.” She tried to keep her voice strong as she spoke, but couldn’t help the slight tremble in it.
“You really think so?” The Captain stepped aside and invited her to go ahead with a sweep of his arm. “Then by all means, sweet cheeks, take a peek.”
Lois stepped forwards, approaching the edge of the dividers. There were two set up parallel to each other to form a small corridor, hiding what was within from view whilst also allowing access. She took a deep breath, preparing to step around them and see what was beyond-
“Lois?” Ianto called out suddenly. “Change of plan. How’d you like to join a weevil hunt?”
Lois spun round slightly guiltily and tucked her braids behind her ear with a nervous flick of her hand. “Sure, why not.” She paused. “Um, what’s a weevil?”
“Alien.” Lois jumped and spun round yet again, feeling like a bit of an idiot for being so easily startled, but the whole place was giving her the creeps. Johnson’s voice came from behind the screen, before the older woman stepped out, snapping the gloves off her fingers and tossing them out of sight behind her. “Brutal. Vicious. Carnivorous sewer dweller that comes through the rift every now and then. A natural killer and damned hard to stop.”
“And yet your boys still manage it. Too well.” Ianto half snapped at Johnson.
“You wanted it contained, we contained it!”
“Contained it?” he replied sarcastically. “You didn’t contain it, you killed it! It was deceased, dead, it was an ex weevil!” Ianto shook his head in despair and pointed at Johnson. “Your boys are tracking another one over in Splott. Tell you what,” a slight grin ghosted over his face as he calmed down. “Why don’t you take Lois out and show her what is involved? I’ll finish up a few things here, just drop her off at the office when you’re done and I’ll meet you there.”
“You want me to take a...” Johnson glanced at Lois, eyeing her up and down with something faintly like distaste. “A civilian on a hunt? Are you serious?”
“She can stay in the car,” Ianto said with a gentle push to Lois’ back, making her step forwards to meet Johnson. “And we were all civilians once. She has to start somewhere and as we don’t have any captive weevils so far - thanks to someone’s gung ho attitude - this is it!” Stepping forward himself, his stern glare softened slightly as he looked at Johnson. “Besides, I trust you to keep her safe.”
With a begrudging nod, Johnson strode off towards the door. Lois looked confusedly around her for a moment before, with a nod from Ianto, she hastily gathered up her things and followed the other woman out.
The two men watched them go before with a smirk Captain John turned to face Ianto. “Alone at last. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were trying to get me all to yourself...”
“Thankfully, you do know better.” Ianto glanced past the Captain to the blue dividers, his gaze slightly fearful as he took them in, as though afraid of what lay within. “How is... it going?”
Captain John glanced at the dividers and his gaze grew thoughtful. “Nothing bigger than a digit so far. But we’re transferring the nights finds to join the rest.” Looking at Ianto carefully, John shook his head slightly. “I’m gonna say it again, I don’t know what you hope to achieve here eye candy. There’s no sign of any... I mean not that I wouldn’t object to a his and his matching pair but I don’t think there’s any hope of the same thing happening to this-“
“I don’t want another Jack.” Ianto spoke softly but clearly, his voice stern but slightly haunted as he kept his gaze fixed on the innocuous blue panels, knowing all too well what went on behind them. He never looked but he could picture all too well the small plastic containers holding the pieces of the man he loved. “I’m not doing this to bring him back. I just...” His gaze finally left the screens and drifted over the rubble surrounding them. “His... remains deserve to be treated with some respect.”
“Your call, boss.” John shrugged and fiddled with his wrist strap, checking the time. “Workmen will be here soon. Time for the day team to start.”
Ianto nodded distractedly and found his gaze drifting towards where Jack’s office had been. “Fine.”
Captain John Hart followed his gaze and shook his head slightly, not for the first time wondering whether he had saved one man by condemning another. Sniffing in the cold air, he hooked his thumbs over his holster and strode back towards the entrance, pausing for a moment in the doorway. “Same time tonight?”
Ianto turned and looked over his shoulder at the Captain and nodded once. “Same time tonight. Goodnight John.”
Chuckling slightly to himself, Captain John Hart tossed off a lazy salute before leaving the younger man behind. “Good morning, sir.”
Ianto tried not to react to the Sir, but it felt so strange to be directed at him. He felt like such a fraud trying to lead this lot. Most of them were older than him. Most were more experienced. He felt like any moment now someone was going to see through him and take it all away, send him back to make them all coffee instead. Sometimes he secretly craved it, the simplicity of knowing his place, knowing what to do - and doing it well. Like making coffee.
Coffee. They had managed to find the crumpled remains of his coffee machine the other week. It was weird how much it had upset him to find it - and a shard of Tosh’s favourite mug - among the rubble. It was such a stupid thing, but he had had to leave the Hub and walk along the bay to regain his composure, suddenly struck by the knowledge that it was really all gone. Not just Tosh, or Owen or even Jack but the home they had shared in that dank, dark hole was gone. No amount of digging would bring it back.
Walking over to where Jack’s office had been, Ianto reached out and carefully untied the simple yellow ribbon from the pipe. Wrapping it carefully into a loop he tucked it into his suit jacket, the same as he did every morning. Nodding at the rubble, he stepped back and looked around the mess that was once home to him and his friends.
He couldn’t bring it back.
He had never thought he could think of anywhere as home again after the loss of Torchwood One, but he had finally fit in here. He still didn’t know how he would cope being back in this space without Jack. But maybe it was better that it had been so wrecked. There were fewer memories waiting in the stones to trip him up or surprise him, catching him unawares when he least expected it. That home was gone.
But he was Ianto Jones. He had started from scratch so many times before, he was practically an expert. He would simply do so again.
After all, what were second chances for?
Part Four