Meet the Parents 8/?
Story Summary: Ryan’s parents are visiting. Crossover with Torchwood.
Chapter Summary:
Spoilers: Torchwood: Goes AU before Exit Wounds. Children of Earth mentioned only in the abstract.
Pairings: Eric/Ryan, Jack/Ianto, and past Jack/Horatio.
Rating: PG-13
Tosh arrived on Ryan’s doorstep at six am, her laptop case hanging from one shoulder and an overnight bag on the other.
“We would have picked you up, Toshiko,” Jack said after letting her in.
“You need your rest,” Tosh snorted, setting down her overnight bag. “I know how rarely you sleep, even when the Rift is quiet.”
“Did not need to hear that,” Ryan grumbled as he emerged from his room. “Aunt Tosh?”
“Ryan!” Tosh set her laptop case down gently and then flew across the room to hug the younger man. She drew back in surprise. “You’ve grown!”
“Well, CSI or not, beanpole thin isn’t a good look for a cop, Aunt Toshiko,” Ryan said. “Weren’t we supposed to pick you up this morning?”
“I caught a cab. If I know you three, this is the first time you’ve slept at all since this case started.”
“I’ve slept,” Ryan protest. For all of five seconds in the locker room before Delko started throwing his hissy fit, but Tosh didn’t need to know that part.
“Not enough,” Tosh said, eyeing the dark circles under Ryan’s eyes.
“As much as I’ve been able to with my caseload,” Ryan admitted. “I’ll take a few days off after we close this one. God knows I’ll need it.”
“Probably,” Tosh smiled.
“I need to grab a shower before we head in,” Ryan said. “Do you guys need one?”
“Oh, we already had one,” Jack replied with a toothy grin.
“Don’t say another word. I don’t have time to disinfect the shower before we head in and the locker room showers are horrible. Now I’m going to take a shower and forget you ever said that,” Ryan announced, making a break for the bathroom.
After their son was firmly locked in the bathroom, Ianto turned to Jack. “If I remember correctly, Jack, we took separate showers.”
Tosh laughed. “You’re bad, Jack.”
***
Once they arrived at the Crime Lab, they headed to their unofficial meeting place in the break room. They were early, but they weren’t the first to arrive. Calleigh was already sitting at the table, intently studying the case file in front of her.
“Hey, Ryan,” she greeted, not looking up from the file in front of her.
“Hey, Calleigh. How was court?” Ryan replied.
“The usual. I’ve got to go back today,” she said, frowning at the file. “The defense has more questions about the methods I used to determine that the bullet came from the suspect’s gun.”
“Methods? Didn’t you just match the groove marks on the bullets?”
“Yup.”
“They’re that desperate, huh?”
“Yeah,” Calleigh chuckled. “It’s an open and shut case. But the defense attorney’s fresh out of law school. I think it’s the first case he’s done on his own.”
“Ouch.”
Calleigh finally looked up from the file and noticed the others. “Oh, hello.” She looked at Ryan in askance.
“Yeah, these are those Special Ops guys who’re helping with the crash on the causeway. This is Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones, and Captain Jack Harkness.”
“Hello,” Jack said, with his typical introductory ogling.
“People here in the States do tend to take sexual harassment seriously, Jack,” Ryan reminded his father.
“Have we met?” Calleigh asked.
“Oh, if we’d met, you would remember,” Jack answered.
“Please don’t file a complaint, Calleigh. I swear he was dropped on his head a few times when he was a baby,” Ryan said in deadpan.
“I take it you two know each other?” Calleigh asked.
“He’s my cousin. We’re not spreading that around though.”
“Got it,” Calleigh agreed, with a look of understanding. He had enough issues without it getting out that he had family connections with the guy who was officially in charge of the seemingly high profile case he was currently working.
“Good morning,” Horatio said, entering the break room. “Calleigh, aren’t you supposed to be at the courthouse in twenty minutes?”
Calleigh looked at her watch. She didn’t have to be at the courthouse for another hour and a half. She looked at Horatio, his face implacable as ever, and forced down a sigh before putting on a winning smile. “Thanks, H. Time must have gotten away from me.”
After she’d left, Ryan spoke up. “What was that about?”
“We have several reported sightings of our creature. We also have reports of several break-ins in the area surrounding Bicentennial Park. Something, moving too fast for the security cameras to catch, made off with over five thousand dollars worth of electronics.”
“Okay,” Jack said, taking charge. “Ryan, Toshiko, you two can interview the witnesses who called in the sightings. Determine if they’ve actually seen something alien or if mass hysteria is kicking in. Ianto, Horatio and I can handle the break-ins.” The creature should be long gone by the time Tosh and Ryan got there, Jack rationalized. And if it wasn’t, he trusted Tosh to look after Ryan.
“Got it,” Tosh nodded.
“Does Ms. Sato have her sidearm? We can issue her one, if she was unable to get hers through customs,” Horatio offered.
“Good question. Tosh, you got your gun?” Jack asked.
“I had to flash an MI-5 ID and put up with at least thirty different Bond Girl jokes from men who have clearly never read the novels, but yes, I’ve got my gun.”
“Any of the jokes involve Pussy Galore?”
“Not funny, Jack.”
“Sorry.”
***
While Ianto and Horatio interviewed the Best Buy manager about the break-in, Jack wandered the sci-fi aisle looking for something they could watch with Ryan when this was over. When Ryan was growing up, they’d always get a cheesy sci-fi flick or serial to watch and laugh at over all the mistakes. It was one of the few things they’d done as a family since he and Ianto still had so many issues to work out between themselves and had been trying to not to let Ryan know about.
Jack briefly picked up a miniseries with a little sticker on the cover that proclaimed it a new release, drawn by the marked down price. The synopsis on the back read like a Quartermass ripoff, and from the ten unsold copies, Jack guessed it wasn’t selling well, so he put it back. Besides, he heard that one of the main characters, disturbingly named Ianto Jones, was killed off rather suddenly. Instead he decided on the new season of Supernatural.
On his way back to where Horatio and Ianto were questioning the manager, Jack grabbed a random employee. “Ring this up for me,” he ordered, handing off the DVDs and enough American dollars to cover the expense.
“This is a crime scene Jack,” Ianto called over to Jack while Horatio dismissed the manager. “Try and show some professionalism.”
“What? Ryan likes Supernatural,” Jack protested.
“Then you could have sent him a copy for his birthday in seven months.”
“But we’re here now. Besides, why shouldn’t I spoil him?” Jack asked.
“Hmm,” Horatio murmured.
“What?”
“I’ve never heard you speak of someone that way in a platonic sense,” Horatio noted.
Jack fidgeted. He should have known Horatio wouldn’t let Ryan’s identity go. “Like I said, Ryan’s special.”
Horatio looked as if he was going to say more, but instead he froze. “Jack,” he said in a low voice. “Back exit. It’s staring right at us.”
“Damn,” Jack swore. “Can you give me a description?”
“Humanoid shape, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sweat pants. I can’t make out its face, but it’s hunched in on itself.”
“Possibly injured,” Ianto murmured.
“Are you sure it isn’t just some kid?” Jack asked.
“Last I checked, human irises didn’t tend to glow like headlights.”
“It’s never that easy, is it?” Jack sighed. “Ianto, meet me out back. Horatio, you go with him. Use the main entrance, please.”
Ianto nodded. “Lieutenant Caine, if you would follow me.”
Ianto and Horatio left and Jack collected his purchase before wandering in the direction of the back exit. He gazed at the displays to give the impression he was still browsing. This ruse would probably be more effective if he hadn’t already checked out. Hopefully this creature wouldn’t be familiar with the market world of Kareshnat, which closely mimicked Earth’s market customs.
He never heard it move, only found out when its iridescent eyes were staring at him through a gap in one of shelves. He had a second to process that, then the shelf was falling on top of him and the creature was streaking away.
Under the fallen shelf, Jack was able to move enough to activate his comm. “Ianto, it’s headed your way.”
“Understood.”
It took Jack a few minutes to wiggle out from under the shelf and brush off the concerned manager who was hoping to avoid a lawsuit. By the time he got out the back door, the creature was sitting restrained at Ianto’s feet with Ianto’s stun gun poised at the back of its head.
“Another fantasy comes true, and I missed it,” Jack sighed.
Ianto and Horatio both raised a brow at the non-sequitur, but didn’t question him further.
Jack took a moment to get a better look at the creature. When it was trying to kill him a few minutes ago, he hadn’t gotten the chance to take in the creature’s appearance. Now, staring it straight in the face, he noticed a problem.
“Ianto,” Jack began. “Does this thing look anything like the Creature from the Black Lagoon to you?”
“Creature from the Black Lagoon? Do I look like I like water?” the android demanded.
AN: Dun dun dun. Sorry if the CoE reference offends the people who actually liked CoE, but I just had to put that in.
Chapter Nine