Partners in Every Way - Chapter Ten
15 June 2008
“You can’t be thinking of letting him go.”
Ianto sighed. He’d known, of course; he’d known what Jack had been thinking, and a very large part of him agreed; anything to get the man out of their time. Certainly, the dragon within wanted revenge for Hart killing Jack, but more than anything he just wanted the man gone.
“I don’t see any alternative, Gwen,” Jack answered her, leaning back in his chair at the boardroom table. “We can’t keep him here indefinitely, and you think killing him is out of the question…”
The dragon wasn’t so certain that killing Hart was a bad thing, but kept quiet. He didn’t trust the man not to pull something, but if this was what Jack wanted, then he’d back his mate.
“So, that’s it?” Owen asked. “We give him what he came for, and he just sods off and leaves us alone?”
“I personally don’t see why rewarding him for throwing you off a roof is a good thing,” Toshiko added.
“Who said anything about rewarding him?” Jack smirked. “I say we give him the canisters…but not the pyramid we got from the Blowfish. Let’s see how close he gets to that diamond without it.”
They’d been cornered by Toshiko when they’d come back from talking to Hart, and she had confirmed that the pieces from the cylinders and the device they’d taken from the Blowfish were made of the same material. It really was a foregone conclusion that the four parts belonged together in some way, although it was a mystery how Hart had gotten in contact with the Blowfish without triggering the Rift to his presence in Cardiff. It was too much of a coincidence - and no one on the team believed in coincidence - that the pyramid ends up in Cardiff at the same time as the cylinders and they not be connected.
“Look,” Jack went on, leaning forward and leaning his elbows on the tabletop, “he won’t stay in that cell forever. He’ll get out, and then he’ll do everything he can to get what he wants. Who knows what might happen then? Sending him on his way is the best thing for everyone involved.”
“And if he decides to come back?” Ianto asked. “He won’t be satisfied until he gets the last piece of his puzzle, if the diamond really is that valuable.”
“If he comes back,” Jack said blithely, “you can eat him.”
“Is that a promise?” He bared his teeth in a smile that he hoped promised all sorts of retribution.
“You really wouldn’t eat him,” Gwen said, her face paling slightly.
The smile must have worked, then. “Of course not,” he waved the very idea off, “I don’t want to get indigestion. I’d most likely just flame him and have done with it.”
“I can’t believe you’re even thinking about killing someone!” Gwen was looking angrier by the moment.
“And what would you do if it was Rhys who’d been killed?” Ianto challenged. “What would you have done?”
“You can’t even compare Rhys and Jack,” Gwen snapped. “Rhys is normal; Jack comes back if something happens to him!”
“Yes, he comes back, but it’s agony for him!” The dragon hated that Gwen treated Jack’s immortality as if it were some sort of gift. “You seem to have no problem with condoning Hart killing Jack…when he didn’t have any idea that Jack was even immortal! But when I want to defend my mate, you get all self-righteous and disagree! It makes me wonder if you’d even try to defend Rhys if something came after him, if you feel that way!” It was a low blow, but Gwen’s cavalier attitude toward Jack’s resurrections made him so very angry, he couldn’t help but strike at her in some way, and verbally was the safest. It went against the vow he’d made in front of the Fae to threaten her physically.
In an ironic twist, it seemed that John Hart understood that it wasn’t all pretty when Jack came back, judging from his words down in the cells about Jack feeling the trauma of it. The one person who shouldn’t get it…did. And the one person who should have had more compassion toward her teammates…didn’t.
“Stop it, the pair of you.” Jack’s voice cut across their argument like a knife. He glared at Gwen, who seemed to back off, and then turned to look at Ianto, giving his mate a small, grateful smile. Ianto nodded, dropping the subject, settling back in his seat and knowing that his mate was glad that the dragon was willing to defend him, but there was a time and a place.
“Now, back on topic,” Jack went on. “Yes, we don’t have any guarantee that Hart won’t come back, but at the same time there are only two things we can do: let him go, or kill him. We could also turn him over to UNIT, but I don’t want the possible future knowledge Hart has to get into their hands.”
“And I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to be in UNIT’s custody,” Toshiko said with a shudder. Ianto reached over and rested her hand on his shoulder, and she smiled weakly at him.
“So, those are our choices,” Jack finished. “Release, or kill.”
Ianto would have preferred ‘kill’, and suddenly he wondered if he’d have felt the same before that lost year. Would he have been so quick to use his flame or his teeth or claws in order to become an executioner? Yes, he would still have protected Jack with everything that he was, but he had to be honest with himself: the Master’s rule had changed him irrevocably. Before, he would have acted in defense. Now, he was actually considering taking a life without pity or concern.
He was a bit shaken by that thought. The dragon had felt absolutely no remorse at killing the Master, and he doubted he would if he took John Hart’s life. Had he changed that much that he could so callously murder someone?
But then, his mind harkened back to the murder of his family, and while Ianto had tried his best to push the details deep into his mind so they would not come back to haunt him as much as they usually did, he realized that he’d felt the same way when he’d attacked and killed those knights who had slaughtered his parents and sister. So, this wasn’t new; perhaps it was just that he hadn’t had someone that he’d loved enough to let the beast free when they were in danger? Examining his feelings, Ianto felt he would do the same thing if it was Owen or Toshiko or Kathy or Estelle or Alice and Steven that had been injured or killed. And yes, he would even move to defend Gwen, even though he had the distinct impression that doing so would gain him even more of the ex-copper’s condemnation, especially if it turned deadly.
He could feel Jack’s eyes on him, and Ianto met his gaze, nodding slightly. “All right,” his mate said, “I think the best option would be to get Hart some Rift coordinates and send him on his way. Once he’s gone I doubt he’ll be back, since he doesn’t really have a need to return. He won’t know about the piece that we have, and we don’t have to tell him. Personally, I’d like to take that diamond and shove it up his ass.”
Owen snorted at that. “A gemstone suppository is just what that bastard needs.”
“I’ll check to see if we have anything coming up in the next couple of days,” Toshiko said, standing. “The sooner he’s gone, the better.”
“And while you’re doing that,” Ianto said, “I’ll see about getting us some breakfast.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jack stood as well. “As soon as we get rid of him, the better I’ll feel.”
**********
It turned out that getting rid of John Hart was quicker than Ianto had thought.
Even before he could pick up the phone to call their favorite breakfast place for an order, Toshiko announced that the Rift was still active at the place where Hart had come through originally. Ianto was relieved; he wanted this over as much as Jack did. The protective instinct in him was very strong, and it would only fade once Hart was on the other side of the Rift and back in his own time.
The dragon wondered if it was going to be like this with Jack forever. If so, it would take some getting used to.
“Toshiko, get the canisters ready,” Jack said, after she’d reported the Rift still being active at the car park. “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can have the rest of the day off.”
“I could use the sleep,” Owen quipped, leaning against the back of Toshiko’s chair. “I’ve got a Skype appointment with Diane later on tonight. Bloody nine hour time difference.”
Ianto smiled at that. He hoped that a long distance relationship would work for the medic; he remembered that Diane had been good for him, before Manger had twisted Owen’s perceptions and had convinced him that she’d been taken by the Rift. Even if, at the time, he’d thought the entire affair had been a bad idea.
Well, he’d been wrong, and chances were he’d be wrong again in the future.
Jack was grinning. “Give her our best, all right?”
Owen rolled his eyes. “Like we’d talk about you losers,” he teased.
“Why should they mention us,” Toshiko laughed, “when they could be having cybersex?”
“You have a filthy mind, Toshiko Sato,” Owen said mock-severely.
“Takes one to know one,” Gwen put in, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.
“If you stick your tongue out at me, Cooper, then I’ll have proof you never left school.”
And for that, Gwen did just that.
Ianto couldn’t help but laugh, and his mate’s chuckles joined his, echoing though the lower gantries of the Hub.
**********
They took two vehicles up to the car park where the Rift crack still sparked and snapped.
Ianto could feel it against his skin as he and Jack wrestled Hart out of the SUV. Jack had insisted on keeping their guest handcuffed with a special set of cuffs that were made of hypersteel, and happened to be a set they’d confiscated off Hart in the first place. The ex-Time Agent seemed very subdued, which led to Ianto wondering just what the ephemeral was up to.
It couldn’t be this easy.
“The Rift opening is just over there,” Toshiko said, gesturing with her PDA toward a corner of the rooftop car park. “It should be open for a few minutes more.”
“Key,” Jack said, holding his hand out to Ianto, who pulled the key from his trouser pocket and handed it over. His mate unlocked the cuffs, and Hart wrung his hands out overdramatically.
“Did you have to make them so tight?” he whined, rubbing his wrists.
Jack rolled his eyes. “Please. Don’t forget I know what you’re in to. Those cuffs weren’t tight enough.”
Hart gave him a winsome smile. “Which just goes to show how great we’d be together. Are you sure you won’t change your mind?”
“After you killed me? No fucking way.”
“Worth a shot.” Then he grinned. “How about a new teammate? I wouldn’t mind being around all this gorgeousness on a semi-permanent basis.”
“No.”
“Come on -“
“No.”
Hart pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“I want you gone, John. And I don’t want you ever coming back, do you understand? If you do, Ianto will have something to say about it.”
Hart’s pale eyes darted from Jack to Ianto. “Yeah, it’s not worth my life messing with the Torchwood Dragon.”
The what?
Ianto opened his mouth to ask Hart just what he meant by that, but the ephemeral was already speaking once more, and the dragon dismissed it as another attempt at a cute nickname. Well, at least it was better than Eye Candy.
“I’ve always been a bit of a coward, you know that Jack.” Hart held out his hand. “Wrist strap?”
Jack pulled it from his pocket and gave it back. Hart slipped it back on his arm, flipping up the cover to punch a few buttons. Then he held his hand out once more. “Canisters?”
Those Toshiko had, and she passed them over one at a time. Owen didn’t look happy about it, and it was obvious Gwen was barely biting her tongue in order to hold back whatever scathing words she really wanted to say.
Hart secreted them about his person, his expression smug. “Listen -“
“No,” Jack reiterated. “Just go.”
“If that’s what you want.” Hart turned toward where the Rift energy pulsed. Then he stopped, spun, and quicker than anyone could react he put his hand around the back of Jack’s neck and pulled him for a kiss.
Ianto growled angrily, but before he could break them apart Jack did it himself, pushing Hart away. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his greatcoat. “Goodbye, John.”
Hart stepped back, and then spun on his heel, and with a touch on his vortex manipulator the golden tangled light of the Rift appeared. He strode toward it and just as Ianto was thinking that it was all over, Hart turned back around.
“By the way,” he said, a playful smirk on his features, “I’ve found Gray.”
A pain-filled, wordless exclamation sounded from Jack, and Ianto was three paces forward when Hart backed into the golden Rift energy and vanished, the light of it making the man’s eyes glow eerily. They were the last things Ianto saw before he vowed to kill the man the next time he saw him, for taunting his mate with the knowledge that his only family was still alive, somewhere out there in time and space.
Nothing would save John Hart from the dragon’s wrath if he showed his face again.
“You can’t be thinking of letting him go.”
Ianto sighed. He’d known, of course; he’d known what Jack had been thinking, and a very large part of him agreed; anything to get the man out of their time. Certainly, the dragon within wanted revenge for Hart killing Jack, but more than anything he just wanted the man gone.
“I don’t see any alternative, Gwen,” Jack answered her, leaning back in his chair at the boardroom table. “We can’t keep him here indefinitely, and you think killing him is out of the question…”
The dragon wasn’t so certain that killing Hart was a bad thing, but kept quiet. He didn’t trust the man not to pull something, but if this was what Jack wanted, then he’d back his mate.
“So, that’s it?” Owen asked. “We give him what he came for, and he just sods off and leaves us alone?”
“I personally don’t see why rewarding him for throwing you off a roof is a good thing,” Toshiko added.
“Who said anything about rewarding him?” Jack smirked. “I say we give him the canisters…but not the pyramid we got from the Blowfish. Let’s see how close he gets to that diamond without it.”
They’d been cornered by Toshiko when they’d come back from talking to Hart, and she had confirmed that the pieces from the cylinders and the device they’d taken from the Blowfish were made of the same material. It really was a foregone conclusion that the four parts belonged together in some way, although it was a mystery how Hart had gotten in contact with the Blowfish without triggering the Rift to his presence in Cardiff. It was too much of a coincidence - and no one on the team believed in coincidence - that the pyramid ends up in Cardiff at the same time as the cylinders and they not be connected.
“Look,” Jack went on, leaning forward and leaning his elbows on the tabletop, “he won’t stay in that cell forever. He’ll get out, and then he’ll do everything he can to get what he wants. Who knows what might happen then? Sending him on his way is the best thing for everyone involved.”
“And if he decides to come back?” Ianto asked. “He won’t be satisfied until he gets the last piece of his puzzle, if the diamond really is that valuable.”
“If he comes back,” Jack said blithely, “you can eat him.”
“Is that a promise?” He bared his teeth in a smile that he hoped promised all sorts of retribution.
“You really wouldn’t eat him,” Gwen said, her face paling slightly.
The smile must have worked, then. “Of course not,” he waved the very idea off, “I don’t want to get indigestion. I’d most likely just flame him and have done with it.”
“I can’t believe you’re even thinking about killing someone!” Gwen was looking angrier by the moment.
“And what would you do if it was Rhys who’d been killed?” Ianto challenged. “What would you have done?”
“You can’t even compare Rhys and Jack,” Gwen snapped. “Rhys is normal; Jack comes back if something happens to him!”
“Yes, he comes back, but it’s agony for him!” The dragon hated that Gwen treated Jack’s immortality as if it were some sort of gift. “You seem to have no problem with condoning Hart killing Jack…when he didn’t have any idea that Jack was even immortal! But when I want to defend my mate, you get all self-righteous and disagree! It makes me wonder if you’d even try to defend Rhys if something came after him, if you feel that way!” It was a low blow, but Gwen’s cavalier attitude toward Jack’s resurrections made him so very angry, he couldn’t help but strike at her in some way, and verbally was the safest. It went against the vow he’d made in front of the Fae to threaten her physically.
In an ironic twist, it seemed that John Hart understood that it wasn’t all pretty when Jack came back, judging from his words down in the cells about Jack feeling the trauma of it. The one person who shouldn’t get it…did. And the one person who should have had more compassion toward her teammates…didn’t.
“Stop it, the pair of you.” Jack’s voice cut across their argument like a knife. He glared at Gwen, who seemed to back off, and then turned to look at Ianto, giving his mate a small, grateful smile. Ianto nodded, dropping the subject, settling back in his seat and knowing that his mate was glad that the dragon was willing to defend him, but there was a time and a place.
“Now, back on topic,” Jack went on. “Yes, we don’t have any guarantee that Hart won’t come back, but at the same time there are only two things we can do: let him go, or kill him. We could also turn him over to UNIT, but I don’t want the possible future knowledge Hart has to get into their hands.”
“And I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to be in UNIT’s custody,” Toshiko said with a shudder. Ianto reached over and rested her hand on his shoulder, and she smiled weakly at him.
“So, those are our choices,” Jack finished. “Release, or kill.”
Ianto would have preferred ‘kill’, and suddenly he wondered if he’d have felt the same before that lost year. Would he have been so quick to use his flame or his teeth or claws in order to become an executioner? Yes, he would still have protected Jack with everything that he was, but he had to be honest with himself: the Master’s rule had changed him irrevocably. Before, he would have acted in defense. Now, he was actually considering taking a life without pity or concern.
He was a bit shaken by that thought. The dragon had felt absolutely no remorse at killing the Master, and he doubted he would if he took John Hart’s life. Had he changed that much that he could so callously murder someone?
But then, his mind harkened back to the murder of his family, and while Ianto had tried his best to push the details deep into his mind so they would not come back to haunt him as much as they usually did, he realized that he’d felt the same way when he’d attacked and killed those knights who had slaughtered his parents and sister. So, this wasn’t new; perhaps it was just that he hadn’t had someone that he’d loved enough to let the beast free when they were in danger? Examining his feelings, Ianto felt he would do the same thing if it was Owen or Toshiko or Kathy or Estelle or Alice and Steven that had been injured or killed. And yes, he would even move to defend Gwen, even though he had the distinct impression that doing so would gain him even more of the ex-copper’s condemnation, especially if it turned deadly.
He could feel Jack’s eyes on him, and Ianto met his gaze, nodding slightly. “All right,” his mate said, “I think the best option would be to get Hart some Rift coordinates and send him on his way. Once he’s gone I doubt he’ll be back, since he doesn’t really have a need to return. He won’t know about the piece that we have, and we don’t have to tell him. Personally, I’d like to take that diamond and shove it up his ass.”
Owen snorted at that. “A gemstone suppository is just what that bastard needs.”
“I’ll check to see if we have anything coming up in the next couple of days,” Toshiko said, standing. “The sooner he’s gone, the better.”
“And while you’re doing that,” Ianto said, “I’ll see about getting us some breakfast.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jack stood as well. “As soon as we get rid of him, the better I’ll feel.”
**********
It turned out that getting rid of John Hart was quicker than Ianto had thought.
Even before he could pick up the phone to call their favorite breakfast place for an order, Toshiko announced that the Rift was still active at the place where Hart had come through originally. Ianto was relieved; he wanted this over as much as Jack did. The protective instinct in him was very strong, and it would only fade once Hart was on the other side of the Rift and back in his own time.
The dragon wondered if it was going to be like this with Jack forever. If so, it would take some getting used to.
“Toshiko, get the canisters ready,” Jack said, after she’d reported the Rift still being active at the car park. “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can have the rest of the day off.”
“I could use the sleep,” Owen quipped, leaning against the back of Toshiko’s chair. “I’ve got a Skype appointment with Diane later on tonight. Bloody nine hour time difference.”
Ianto smiled at that. He hoped that a long distance relationship would work for the medic; he remembered that Diane had been good for him, before Manger had twisted Owen’s perceptions and had convinced him that she’d been taken by the Rift. Even if, at the time, he’d thought the entire affair had been a bad idea.
Well, he’d been wrong, and chances were he’d be wrong again in the future.
Jack was grinning. “Give her our best, all right?”
Owen rolled his eyes. “Like we’d talk about you losers,” he teased.
“Why should they mention us,” Toshiko laughed, “when they could be having cybersex?”
“You have a filthy mind, Toshiko Sato,” Owen said mock-severely.
“Takes one to know one,” Gwen put in, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.
“If you stick your tongue out at me, Cooper, then I’ll have proof you never left school.”
And for that, Gwen did just that.
Ianto couldn’t help but laugh, and his mate’s chuckles joined his, echoing though the lower gantries of the Hub.
**********
They took two vehicles up to the car park where the Rift crack still sparked and snapped.
Ianto could feel it against his skin as he and Jack wrestled Hart out of the SUV. Jack had insisted on keeping their guest handcuffed with a special set of cuffs that were made of hypersteel, and happened to be a set they’d confiscated off Hart in the first place. The ex-Time Agent seemed very subdued, which led to Ianto wondering just what the ephemeral was up to.
It couldn’t be this easy.
“The Rift opening is just over there,” Toshiko said, gesturing with her PDA toward a corner of the rooftop car park. “It should be open for a few minutes more.”
“Key,” Jack said, holding his hand out to Ianto, who pulled the key from his trouser pocket and handed it over. His mate unlocked the cuffs, and Hart wrung his hands out overdramatically.
“Did you have to make them so tight?” he whined, rubbing his wrists.
Jack rolled his eyes. “Please. Don’t forget I know what you’re in to. Those cuffs weren’t tight enough.”
Hart gave him a winsome smile. “Which just goes to show how great we’d be together. Are you sure you won’t change your mind?”
“After you killed me? No fucking way.”
“Worth a shot.” Then he grinned. “How about a new teammate? I wouldn’t mind being around all this gorgeousness on a semi-permanent basis.”
“No.”
“Come on -“
“No.”
Hart pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“I want you gone, John. And I don’t want you ever coming back, do you understand? If you do, Ianto will have something to say about it.”
Hart’s pale eyes darted from Jack to Ianto. “Yeah, it’s not worth my life messing with the Torchwood Dragon.”
The what?
Ianto opened his mouth to ask Hart just what he meant by that, but the ephemeral was already speaking once more, and the dragon dismissed it as another attempt at a cute nickname. Well, at least it was better than Eye Candy.
“I’ve always been a bit of a coward, you know that Jack.” Hart held out his hand. “Wrist strap?”
Jack pulled it from his pocket and gave it back. Hart slipped it back on his arm, flipping up the cover to punch a few buttons. Then he held his hand out once more. “Canisters?”
Those Toshiko had, and she passed them over one at a time. Owen didn’t look happy about it, and it was obvious Gwen was barely biting her tongue in order to hold back whatever scathing words she really wanted to say.
Hart secreted them about his person, his expression smug. “Listen -“
“No,” Jack reiterated. “Just go.”
“If that’s what you want.” Hart turned toward where the Rift energy pulsed. Then he stopped, spun, and quicker than anyone could react he put his hand around the back of Jack’s neck and pulled him for a kiss.
Ianto growled angrily, but before he could break them apart Jack did it himself, pushing Hart away. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his greatcoat. “Goodbye, John.”
Hart stepped back, and then spun on his heel, and with a touch on his vortex manipulator the golden tangled light of the Rift appeared. He strode toward it and just as Ianto was thinking that it was all over, Hart turned back around.
“By the way,” he said, a playful smirk on his features, “I’ve found Gray.”
A pain-filled, wordless exclamation sounded from Jack, and Ianto was three paces forward when Hart backed into the golden Rift energy and vanished, the light of it making the man’s eyes glow eerily. They were the last things Ianto saw before he vowed to kill the man the next time he saw him, for taunting his mate with the knowledge that his only family was still alive, somewhere out there in time and space.
Nothing would save John Hart from the dragon’s wrath if he showed his face again.