(no subject)
Title: PTSD: Post Torchwood Stress Disorder (5/7)
Characters: Jack/Ianto (with Owen, Gwen and Tosh)
Rating: R
Words: 3475 (this part)
Notes: See part one. Seriously, they threaten to overwhelm the story. The very awesome kensieg once again beat this thing with the beta stick.
Summary: It's been two and a half years since Canary Wharf. It's been a year since Lisa. And Jack is just now realizing what the real toll has all been on Ianto and the other survivors of Torchwood One. Now he needs to fix a big thing done badly before anyone else dies.
Jack really figured Ianto would be back before dinnertime. He was certain he’d be back before dark. It wasn’t dangerously cold, but a five-hour walk in London in March was a bit odd. He understood that Ianto was asking for a little time alone and that calling his mobile and pestering him wasn’t going to ingratiate him to the man, but Jack was starting to worry.
He pulled out his own mobile and hit the speed dial. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Ianto’s bag rang from the small dresser across the room. “Dammit, Ianto,” he mumbled. It got him off the hook for being a nagging boyfriend, but it didn’t stop him from worrying.
An hour later he picked up his phone again. “Tosh? Remember that emergency plan we were sure we wouldn’t need?”
() () () () () () ()
In hindsight, Jack figured he really should have figured this one out without resorting to calling Tosh. Ianto had lived in London long enough to have all the bus routes figured out, so the fact that he’d gotten across the city wasn’t surprising. Jack drove. He wasn’t sure that Ianto would really want to fight with the insane number of transfers a trip like this must have entailed in order to get back to the hotel.
There was a long, low cement wall along the actual wharf. Across a small grass parkway there were several new office buildings and what Jack supposed was a manufacturing plant of some kind. Ianto was sitting on the wall staring at the buildings, not the water.
Jack approached from an angle where Ianto would see him coming. “Hey,” he said quietly as he reached his side.
Ianto looked up, startled nonetheless. He looked around. “How did you know where I was?”
Jack gave him a guilty smile, “Promise not to hit me?”
“Hit you?” Ianto asked, unconsciously leaning away from Jack, having no idea what would have prompted that remark.
Jack pulled him back in and for a second Ianto thought Jack was going to kiss him, but instead Jack reached under the collar of his coat and suit jacket and fumbled with his shirt. When he pulled his hand back there was a small green and black dot on his finger.
Suddenly Ianto understood why Jack feared getting pounded. “You had me tracked?”
Jack stuck the dot to his wristband so it wouldn’t be lost. “Your friend is still missing and no one has ruled out foul play. Forgive me for being paranoid enough to make sure that you didn’t disappear too.” There was enough of an edge in his voice to let Ianto know he wasn’t the least bit sorry for what he’d done.
Ianto made a face, but conceded the point. Jack’s voice was still a bit sharper than he’d wanted it to be when he said, “You’ve been gone almost seven hours. Do have any clue what time it is?”
Ianto made a great show of looking at his watch. There was no way he had been gone that long. Jack was given to fits of hyperbole when he was upset. He’d just set him straight and - “Oh.” No, no hyperbole this time. He really had been gone that long. It was nearing eleven now. Once the sun had gone down he’d had no subjective way of marking the time and just couldn’t be arsed to check his watch. “Sorry.”
Jack hopped up onto the wall next to him. “It’s okay. But I tried calling a while back - scared the crap out of myself when your overnight bag rang back at me. Then I started worrying and… well…”
“I put my phone in the bag for the funeral. I didn’t want it going off and I didn’t want to be checking for messages if I just turned it off and left it in my pocket. I forgot to get it back out.” Ianto leaned over and put his head on Jack’s shoulder.
Jack reached over and put Ianto’s phone in his inside coat pocket where it belonged. Ianto straightened his jacket and tugged his overcoat closer around himself.
They sat quietly for a long time, staring as the remaining lights in the office buildings flicked off one by one, late workers and cleaning staff completing their tasks and finally heading home.
“It’s been roughly two and a half years. Not that long really. But in that time UNIT has completely removed any traces of Torchwood Tower, the conversion units and anything else alien from this site. Any remaining, salvageable alien artifacts were shipped off to us or Glasgow. Anything more benign was just plain destroyed. In that time they’ve put up office buildings for… I don’t know toilet tissue manufacturing firms or something and no one knows what happened here. I don’t know why I expected a monument or a plaque or something. I walked around for three hours looking for something.”
Jack wrapped his arm around Ianto’s waist, realizing that in two and half years, Ianto had never come back to this spot. Jack knew that both Torchwood business as well as personal business had Ianto back to London every other month or so, but it was very clear to Jack now that Ianto’d never come here. “You know why there couldn’t be.” He had nothing else to offer.
Ianto just nodded against his shoulder.
Jack turned his head to place a soft kiss on Ianto’s ear and was startled at how cold his skin was. “You’re freezing.” He hadn’t meant to say anything. He’d planned to sit out there with Ianto until he’d gotten whatever he needed out of being back at the site of the Tower.
Ianto’s hand came up to his ear as if to see if Jack was right. Like he couldn’t tell if his ears were cold. “I hadn’t noticed,” he said quietly as he felt the cold skin with only slightly warmer fingers.
“There’s a 24/7 shop on the corner a few blocks back. I could go get you a cup of tea or something,” Jack offered.
The corners of Ianto’s mouth turned down sharply as he glared at the office buildings. “We can stop on the way back to the hotel if you want. There’s no reason for me to stay here.”
Jack read the wealth of meaning in that statement. “Come on. The car is about two blocks down.”
Jack used just a bit of guilt to get Ianto to agree to stop for a late dinner on the way back. But even after burgers and chips - most of which Ianto shredded instead of eating - and the herbal tea Jack had insisted on, Ianto was still shivering in the car on the way back to the hotel.
When they got upstairs, Jack cranked on the shower and waited until steam billowed out. He helped Ianto undress and deposited him into the steam and hot water with a kiss and told him he’d be in waiting for him in bed. It had been a fucking long day.
() () () () () ()
Ianto was the first to suggest sex when Jack was having a bad day. He knew it was Jack’s way of reconnecting after he’d suffered any kind of loss. It had never been his way before, but that night Ianto began to understand why Jack sought out the solace of another body when he was grieving. It wasn’t necessarily about forgetting the loss; it was about remembering what you still had. There’s always something left to lose, Jack had told him that night. The night he’d lost Lisa and truly believed that he’d be better off dead than alone. Even though Ianto had punched him, even though Jack had held a gun to Ianto’s own head and ordered him to execute the one person who gave him purpose… even through all of what had happened, Jack had been telling him, even then that he wasn’t alone. That once Lisa was gone, he’d still have people who loved him.
Jack had crawled into the hotel bed in his boxers and t-shirt. Ianto came out of the bathroom naked and crawled between the sheets and snuggled up to Jack. “This is the first time I can think of that you’ve gone to bed in your clothes.”
“And one of the first times I can think of that you haven’t.” Jack pulled him in and gently kissed his neck. “Usually I get the fun of peeling you out of them.”
Jack mentally flipped karma the bird. He’d not wanted Ianto to think he expected him to repay his kindness with sex, he could be funny about that, rarely accepting Jack’s kindness as simply that. So he’d gone to bed in his underwear, assuming that Ianto would just want to go to sleep and put the day behind them. Now he had worry that Ianto would read that as a rejection of him. He carded his fingers through Ianto’s hair. “Tell me what you want tonight,” he whispered kissing Ianto’s shoulder tenderly.
“Remind me that not everyone leaves me,” Ianto said, pulling Jack over on top of him. “And that if they have to for some reason, they’ll come back.”
Jack shucked off his t-shirt and shorts and lay over Ianto’s body. “I’ll always come back for you,” Jack promised before proceeding to show Ianto exactly how much he wasn’t alone.
() () () () () () () ()
The next morning they’d eaten breakfast in the hotel café. Ianto still looked tired and drawn, but there was a small amount of peace in his face that hadn’t been there the day before. After scones and fruit and coffee - which Ianto actually ate this time, much to Jack’s relief - Jack drove them back to Cardiff. When they pulled Ianto’s car into its spot, Ianto reached over and took Jack’s hand looking suddenly nervous. “Can you come in for a minute?”
Jack nodded, noting that the peace Ianto had found that morning was completely gone. “Of course. You don’t look so good. You okay?”
Ianto shook himself and took a deep breath. “I will be,” he answered since Jack seemed to be less than impressed when he said that he was.
Ianto led them into the flat and gestured Jack to the sofa. “Do you want some coffee or something?” he asked as he hung his windbreaker in the closet and took Jack’s coat for him.
Jack took his hands once the coats were put away. “I want you to tell me what’s suddenly made you so nervous.”
Ianto nodded across the room to the sofa again. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
Jack sat on the sofa as directed, having no idea what was going on. He looked around Ianto’s immaculately clean flat. Unsurprising really, given Ianto’s nature and the fact that he spent a great deal of his time - even his nights - at the Hub. He jumped when he felt his hand grabbed and something small and cold placed in it. “Damn, Ianto! I didn’t even hear you come back in.”
Ianto was sitting on the sofa next to him looking sheepish. “I know. Sorry.”
Jack looked down at his hand and found an old skeleton key on a chain. He suddenly understood why Ianto had snuck up on him so completely. “Where the hell did you get this?”
“It was one of the things I was archiving when everything went to hell in London. It came in through the rift.” There was a slight pause but before Jack could think of anything to say, Ianto continued with, “Well, that’s most of the truth. They … Lisa’s division - bio/medical research - they asked me to help with the work on it. See… it doesn’t work on me.” Ianto had pulled his socked feet up onto the couch and was scrunched into the corner. “They wanted to know why.”
“A perception filter doesn’t work on anyone who knows it’s there or anyone with psychic abilities,” Jack said turning the key over in his hand. “So you either found it and had control over it so you knew where it was or…”
Ianto raised an eyebrow before resting his chin on his knees looking for all the world like a puppy who expected to be kicked. “They kept trying to hide it from me, tried to sneak up on me using it. It never worked. After a while they figured out that anyone with a reasonably high psychic level couldn’t be fooled by it.” Ianto shrugged. “That’s when Lisa told me that I had one of the highest scores in all of Torchwood. It’s not much use around most people. Lisa supposed it made me a little more empathetic than most. But unless there was some kind of alien tech that was activated by - or in this case deactivated by - psychic abilities I’m no different than anyone else.”
Jack pulled Ianto’s feet into his lap and put the key around his own neck. He began absently rubbing Ianto’s ankles. “Are you really that worried that I’ll freak out? I mean, seriously, I know what a perception filter and how it works. The fact that you have enough psychic ability to see through it really won’t shock me. Why do you think I’d - oh.” Jack cut himself off. “I’m not pissed that you have it.” He sighed and slid the key back and forth on the chain. “Not today. I’d like to know why you’re giving it to me now instead of just archiving it and saying it had just washed in through the rift or that it was in the boxes from London or something.”
“I can’t deal with the secrets any more, Jack. If you’re angry so be it, but there has been so much damn secrecy and pain and deception… I can’t do it any more.” Ianto pulled his feet back to hide behind his knees again. “Didn’t you ever wonder how no one knew Lisa was down there? We were all in and out of those cellars. Moving bodies around and storing the larger artifacts...”
“You put the perception filter on her?” Jack asked quietly as he removed the perception filter and dropped it into his shirt pocket.
Ianto nodded slowly. “I’d taken it off her that night because I needed Dr. Tanizaki to see her.”
Jack made a face, considering. “How’d you get back into the Torchwood London archives to get it when everything started going to hell?”
Ianto’s face went through a contortion as he went from a fond smile to a grimace that made him look like he’d accidentally chewed an aspirin. “It was something of a game with the group of people I worked with. Something like belling a cat. They kept trying to sneak up on me with it and get it around my neck. So it wasn’t uncommon for someone in the archive division to walk around with it on.” He swallowed thickly before continuing. “Albert was killed by the first wave of Cybermen that came through the halls. I found his body as I was trying to get out.” He had to stop and breathe. “I don’t know why it didn’t work for him. Maybe it did and he was just hit by a stray bolt.” He hugged his knees tighter rocking himself. “God, Jack, I felt like I was robbing the dead.” He scrubbed his face with his hands.
“But it’s how you got out. Albert was gone and you knew that there was nothing you could do for him. So you saved who you could. Yourself.” Jack took the perception filter out of his pocket and fingered the chain.
“And Lisa,” Ianto added. “Once I found where they had her I put it on her until it was over. People were willing to help me. They would have killed her on sight. Once things calmed down I was able to get help for her and explain that she wasn’t fully converted. I just kept it after that.”
“I’m going to lock it in the safe. I expect it to stay there,” Jack said as sternly as he could manage. Part of him was more and more amazed by Ianto’s ingenuity at every turn. It was kind of hard to be mad at the man who’d outsmarted him very, very neatly. “Anything else I should know about?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
Ianto shook his head.
“Good, then come here,” he got Ianto to flip around and put his head in his lap. Jack then grabbed the remote and flipped on the television. “We’re not expected back until after lunch. I say we take advantage of that fact and do nothing for a few hours. Sleep if you want.” He flipped through until he found an old Lucille Ball movie on cable. They watched in silence, Jack running his fingers through Ianto’s hair, Ianto wondering if he’d ever feel normal again.
() () () () () () ()
When the movie ended Jack broached the subject of lunch, but before any plans could be made, his mobile rang.
“This better be important,” he said with fake cheer.
Ianto sat up and leaned in to hear Tosh say, “Yes, it is. I think we have a lead on Andrew Wright. Are you back in town?”
Jack stood up and pulled Ianto to his feet. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Ianto drove them back to the Hub and fumbled with the key to the tourism office. Jack put a hand on his shoulder to steady him as they made their way to the lift and down to where Owen, Gwen and Tosh were gathered around a monitor.
“What? What have you got?” Ianto asked before they’d even made it down the steps.
“It’s not much but, we have a recent house lease signed in Bristol by a Doctor Grant Whewrid,” Tosh explained. “At first we thought it was an identity theft case because none of the data matched any other records, but it had your friend Andrew’s National Insurance number. But then Owen noticed something else.”
“It’s an anagram,” Owen interjected before someone could steal his thunder. It’s his cat’s name and then an anagram of ‘Andrew Wright’.”
Ianto made a face and turned sharply away. “I can’t believe I forgot that. He was always doing stupid shit like that. All of his email addresses were anagrams of his name. Look for…” he snapped his finger as he tried to think of the last anagram email address he’d known Andrew to use. “Ward Hintgrew. That was the last one he used in Torchwood London.”
Tosh shook her head. “No need. That was whom he listed as his reference on the lease. The weird thing is,” Tosh continued, “is that the lease was put into the system, but there was no installation of a phone or power or any other utilities for anyone by that name.”
“So, what?” Jack asked, “He closed out his old place, and got this one, but isn’t actually living there?” He watched as Ianto became visibly agitated.
“The place is in Bristol? That’s not that far.” Ianto fumbled in his jacket pocket for his car keys. “What’s the address, Tosh?”
Jack covered Ianto’s hand with his, “Hang on. We’ll all go. I’m still not sure that this isn’t some kind of set up. Call me paranoid, but if he’s gone back to old tricks to hide his identity he’s either trying to not be found or he wants you to be the one to find him.”
“Splendid,” Ianto groaned. For lack of any other immediate action he pulled out his mobile.
“Who are you calling?” Owen asked.
“I know it’s useless,” Ianto said punching through menus on his phone, “But I’m trying Andrew’s phone one more time. One last chance for him to explain all this weird shit before I pound him into next week when I do find him.”
Jack raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic comment, and Owen and Gwen both snickered behind their hands.
After a few seconds he clicked off the mobile. “Nothing. Can we go now?”
Tosh grabbed a small stack of papers off the printer and handed them to Jack. “Here’s a map and a copy of the lease info.”
“Everyone grab your jacket and hit the weapons store. We’re not going to wander into this blindly.” Jack went into his office and grabbed his own weapon from the desk drawer. He debated the wisdom of letting Ianto carry a gun in his current frame of mind, but he really didn’t want to have an argument with him. Even more, he didn’t want to send the signal that he didn’t trust him.
Once everyone seemed prepared, Jack led them out to the SUV.
Characters: Jack/Ianto (with Owen, Gwen and Tosh)
Rating: R
Words: 3475 (this part)
Notes: See part one. Seriously, they threaten to overwhelm the story. The very awesome kensieg once again beat this thing with the beta stick.
Summary: It's been two and a half years since Canary Wharf. It's been a year since Lisa. And Jack is just now realizing what the real toll has all been on Ianto and the other survivors of Torchwood One. Now he needs to fix a big thing done badly before anyone else dies.
Jack really figured Ianto would be back before dinnertime. He was certain he’d be back before dark. It wasn’t dangerously cold, but a five-hour walk in London in March was a bit odd. He understood that Ianto was asking for a little time alone and that calling his mobile and pestering him wasn’t going to ingratiate him to the man, but Jack was starting to worry.
He pulled out his own mobile and hit the speed dial. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Ianto’s bag rang from the small dresser across the room. “Dammit, Ianto,” he mumbled. It got him off the hook for being a nagging boyfriend, but it didn’t stop him from worrying.
An hour later he picked up his phone again. “Tosh? Remember that emergency plan we were sure we wouldn’t need?”
() () () () () () ()
In hindsight, Jack figured he really should have figured this one out without resorting to calling Tosh. Ianto had lived in London long enough to have all the bus routes figured out, so the fact that he’d gotten across the city wasn’t surprising. Jack drove. He wasn’t sure that Ianto would really want to fight with the insane number of transfers a trip like this must have entailed in order to get back to the hotel.
There was a long, low cement wall along the actual wharf. Across a small grass parkway there were several new office buildings and what Jack supposed was a manufacturing plant of some kind. Ianto was sitting on the wall staring at the buildings, not the water.
Jack approached from an angle where Ianto would see him coming. “Hey,” he said quietly as he reached his side.
Ianto looked up, startled nonetheless. He looked around. “How did you know where I was?”
Jack gave him a guilty smile, “Promise not to hit me?”
“Hit you?” Ianto asked, unconsciously leaning away from Jack, having no idea what would have prompted that remark.
Jack pulled him back in and for a second Ianto thought Jack was going to kiss him, but instead Jack reached under the collar of his coat and suit jacket and fumbled with his shirt. When he pulled his hand back there was a small green and black dot on his finger.
Suddenly Ianto understood why Jack feared getting pounded. “You had me tracked?”
Jack stuck the dot to his wristband so it wouldn’t be lost. “Your friend is still missing and no one has ruled out foul play. Forgive me for being paranoid enough to make sure that you didn’t disappear too.” There was enough of an edge in his voice to let Ianto know he wasn’t the least bit sorry for what he’d done.
Ianto made a face, but conceded the point. Jack’s voice was still a bit sharper than he’d wanted it to be when he said, “You’ve been gone almost seven hours. Do have any clue what time it is?”
Ianto made a great show of looking at his watch. There was no way he had been gone that long. Jack was given to fits of hyperbole when he was upset. He’d just set him straight and - “Oh.” No, no hyperbole this time. He really had been gone that long. It was nearing eleven now. Once the sun had gone down he’d had no subjective way of marking the time and just couldn’t be arsed to check his watch. “Sorry.”
Jack hopped up onto the wall next to him. “It’s okay. But I tried calling a while back - scared the crap out of myself when your overnight bag rang back at me. Then I started worrying and… well…”
“I put my phone in the bag for the funeral. I didn’t want it going off and I didn’t want to be checking for messages if I just turned it off and left it in my pocket. I forgot to get it back out.” Ianto leaned over and put his head on Jack’s shoulder.
Jack reached over and put Ianto’s phone in his inside coat pocket where it belonged. Ianto straightened his jacket and tugged his overcoat closer around himself.
They sat quietly for a long time, staring as the remaining lights in the office buildings flicked off one by one, late workers and cleaning staff completing their tasks and finally heading home.
“It’s been roughly two and a half years. Not that long really. But in that time UNIT has completely removed any traces of Torchwood Tower, the conversion units and anything else alien from this site. Any remaining, salvageable alien artifacts were shipped off to us or Glasgow. Anything more benign was just plain destroyed. In that time they’ve put up office buildings for… I don’t know toilet tissue manufacturing firms or something and no one knows what happened here. I don’t know why I expected a monument or a plaque or something. I walked around for three hours looking for something.”
Jack wrapped his arm around Ianto’s waist, realizing that in two and half years, Ianto had never come back to this spot. Jack knew that both Torchwood business as well as personal business had Ianto back to London every other month or so, but it was very clear to Jack now that Ianto’d never come here. “You know why there couldn’t be.” He had nothing else to offer.
Ianto just nodded against his shoulder.
Jack turned his head to place a soft kiss on Ianto’s ear and was startled at how cold his skin was. “You’re freezing.” He hadn’t meant to say anything. He’d planned to sit out there with Ianto until he’d gotten whatever he needed out of being back at the site of the Tower.
Ianto’s hand came up to his ear as if to see if Jack was right. Like he couldn’t tell if his ears were cold. “I hadn’t noticed,” he said quietly as he felt the cold skin with only slightly warmer fingers.
“There’s a 24/7 shop on the corner a few blocks back. I could go get you a cup of tea or something,” Jack offered.
The corners of Ianto’s mouth turned down sharply as he glared at the office buildings. “We can stop on the way back to the hotel if you want. There’s no reason for me to stay here.”
Jack read the wealth of meaning in that statement. “Come on. The car is about two blocks down.”
Jack used just a bit of guilt to get Ianto to agree to stop for a late dinner on the way back. But even after burgers and chips - most of which Ianto shredded instead of eating - and the herbal tea Jack had insisted on, Ianto was still shivering in the car on the way back to the hotel.
When they got upstairs, Jack cranked on the shower and waited until steam billowed out. He helped Ianto undress and deposited him into the steam and hot water with a kiss and told him he’d be in waiting for him in bed. It had been a fucking long day.
() () () () () ()
Ianto was the first to suggest sex when Jack was having a bad day. He knew it was Jack’s way of reconnecting after he’d suffered any kind of loss. It had never been his way before, but that night Ianto began to understand why Jack sought out the solace of another body when he was grieving. It wasn’t necessarily about forgetting the loss; it was about remembering what you still had. There’s always something left to lose, Jack had told him that night. The night he’d lost Lisa and truly believed that he’d be better off dead than alone. Even though Ianto had punched him, even though Jack had held a gun to Ianto’s own head and ordered him to execute the one person who gave him purpose… even through all of what had happened, Jack had been telling him, even then that he wasn’t alone. That once Lisa was gone, he’d still have people who loved him.
Jack had crawled into the hotel bed in his boxers and t-shirt. Ianto came out of the bathroom naked and crawled between the sheets and snuggled up to Jack. “This is the first time I can think of that you’ve gone to bed in your clothes.”
“And one of the first times I can think of that you haven’t.” Jack pulled him in and gently kissed his neck. “Usually I get the fun of peeling you out of them.”
Jack mentally flipped karma the bird. He’d not wanted Ianto to think he expected him to repay his kindness with sex, he could be funny about that, rarely accepting Jack’s kindness as simply that. So he’d gone to bed in his underwear, assuming that Ianto would just want to go to sleep and put the day behind them. Now he had worry that Ianto would read that as a rejection of him. He carded his fingers through Ianto’s hair. “Tell me what you want tonight,” he whispered kissing Ianto’s shoulder tenderly.
“Remind me that not everyone leaves me,” Ianto said, pulling Jack over on top of him. “And that if they have to for some reason, they’ll come back.”
Jack shucked off his t-shirt and shorts and lay over Ianto’s body. “I’ll always come back for you,” Jack promised before proceeding to show Ianto exactly how much he wasn’t alone.
() () () () () () () ()
The next morning they’d eaten breakfast in the hotel café. Ianto still looked tired and drawn, but there was a small amount of peace in his face that hadn’t been there the day before. After scones and fruit and coffee - which Ianto actually ate this time, much to Jack’s relief - Jack drove them back to Cardiff. When they pulled Ianto’s car into its spot, Ianto reached over and took Jack’s hand looking suddenly nervous. “Can you come in for a minute?”
Jack nodded, noting that the peace Ianto had found that morning was completely gone. “Of course. You don’t look so good. You okay?”
Ianto shook himself and took a deep breath. “I will be,” he answered since Jack seemed to be less than impressed when he said that he was.
Ianto led them into the flat and gestured Jack to the sofa. “Do you want some coffee or something?” he asked as he hung his windbreaker in the closet and took Jack’s coat for him.
Jack took his hands once the coats were put away. “I want you to tell me what’s suddenly made you so nervous.”
Ianto nodded across the room to the sofa again. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
Jack sat on the sofa as directed, having no idea what was going on. He looked around Ianto’s immaculately clean flat. Unsurprising really, given Ianto’s nature and the fact that he spent a great deal of his time - even his nights - at the Hub. He jumped when he felt his hand grabbed and something small and cold placed in it. “Damn, Ianto! I didn’t even hear you come back in.”
Ianto was sitting on the sofa next to him looking sheepish. “I know. Sorry.”
Jack looked down at his hand and found an old skeleton key on a chain. He suddenly understood why Ianto had snuck up on him so completely. “Where the hell did you get this?”
“It was one of the things I was archiving when everything went to hell in London. It came in through the rift.” There was a slight pause but before Jack could think of anything to say, Ianto continued with, “Well, that’s most of the truth. They … Lisa’s division - bio/medical research - they asked me to help with the work on it. See… it doesn’t work on me.” Ianto had pulled his socked feet up onto the couch and was scrunched into the corner. “They wanted to know why.”
“A perception filter doesn’t work on anyone who knows it’s there or anyone with psychic abilities,” Jack said turning the key over in his hand. “So you either found it and had control over it so you knew where it was or…”
Ianto raised an eyebrow before resting his chin on his knees looking for all the world like a puppy who expected to be kicked. “They kept trying to hide it from me, tried to sneak up on me using it. It never worked. After a while they figured out that anyone with a reasonably high psychic level couldn’t be fooled by it.” Ianto shrugged. “That’s when Lisa told me that I had one of the highest scores in all of Torchwood. It’s not much use around most people. Lisa supposed it made me a little more empathetic than most. But unless there was some kind of alien tech that was activated by - or in this case deactivated by - psychic abilities I’m no different than anyone else.”
Jack pulled Ianto’s feet into his lap and put the key around his own neck. He began absently rubbing Ianto’s ankles. “Are you really that worried that I’ll freak out? I mean, seriously, I know what a perception filter and how it works. The fact that you have enough psychic ability to see through it really won’t shock me. Why do you think I’d - oh.” Jack cut himself off. “I’m not pissed that you have it.” He sighed and slid the key back and forth on the chain. “Not today. I’d like to know why you’re giving it to me now instead of just archiving it and saying it had just washed in through the rift or that it was in the boxes from London or something.”
“I can’t deal with the secrets any more, Jack. If you’re angry so be it, but there has been so much damn secrecy and pain and deception… I can’t do it any more.” Ianto pulled his feet back to hide behind his knees again. “Didn’t you ever wonder how no one knew Lisa was down there? We were all in and out of those cellars. Moving bodies around and storing the larger artifacts...”
“You put the perception filter on her?” Jack asked quietly as he removed the perception filter and dropped it into his shirt pocket.
Ianto nodded slowly. “I’d taken it off her that night because I needed Dr. Tanizaki to see her.”
Jack made a face, considering. “How’d you get back into the Torchwood London archives to get it when everything started going to hell?”
Ianto’s face went through a contortion as he went from a fond smile to a grimace that made him look like he’d accidentally chewed an aspirin. “It was something of a game with the group of people I worked with. Something like belling a cat. They kept trying to sneak up on me with it and get it around my neck. So it wasn’t uncommon for someone in the archive division to walk around with it on.” He swallowed thickly before continuing. “Albert was killed by the first wave of Cybermen that came through the halls. I found his body as I was trying to get out.” He had to stop and breathe. “I don’t know why it didn’t work for him. Maybe it did and he was just hit by a stray bolt.” He hugged his knees tighter rocking himself. “God, Jack, I felt like I was robbing the dead.” He scrubbed his face with his hands.
“But it’s how you got out. Albert was gone and you knew that there was nothing you could do for him. So you saved who you could. Yourself.” Jack took the perception filter out of his pocket and fingered the chain.
“And Lisa,” Ianto added. “Once I found where they had her I put it on her until it was over. People were willing to help me. They would have killed her on sight. Once things calmed down I was able to get help for her and explain that she wasn’t fully converted. I just kept it after that.”
“I’m going to lock it in the safe. I expect it to stay there,” Jack said as sternly as he could manage. Part of him was more and more amazed by Ianto’s ingenuity at every turn. It was kind of hard to be mad at the man who’d outsmarted him very, very neatly. “Anything else I should know about?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
Ianto shook his head.
“Good, then come here,” he got Ianto to flip around and put his head in his lap. Jack then grabbed the remote and flipped on the television. “We’re not expected back until after lunch. I say we take advantage of that fact and do nothing for a few hours. Sleep if you want.” He flipped through until he found an old Lucille Ball movie on cable. They watched in silence, Jack running his fingers through Ianto’s hair, Ianto wondering if he’d ever feel normal again.
() () () () () () ()
When the movie ended Jack broached the subject of lunch, but before any plans could be made, his mobile rang.
“This better be important,” he said with fake cheer.
Ianto sat up and leaned in to hear Tosh say, “Yes, it is. I think we have a lead on Andrew Wright. Are you back in town?”
Jack stood up and pulled Ianto to his feet. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Ianto drove them back to the Hub and fumbled with the key to the tourism office. Jack put a hand on his shoulder to steady him as they made their way to the lift and down to where Owen, Gwen and Tosh were gathered around a monitor.
“What? What have you got?” Ianto asked before they’d even made it down the steps.
“It’s not much but, we have a recent house lease signed in Bristol by a Doctor Grant Whewrid,” Tosh explained. “At first we thought it was an identity theft case because none of the data matched any other records, but it had your friend Andrew’s National Insurance number. But then Owen noticed something else.”
“It’s an anagram,” Owen interjected before someone could steal his thunder. It’s his cat’s name and then an anagram of ‘Andrew Wright’.”
Ianto made a face and turned sharply away. “I can’t believe I forgot that. He was always doing stupid shit like that. All of his email addresses were anagrams of his name. Look for…” he snapped his finger as he tried to think of the last anagram email address he’d known Andrew to use. “Ward Hintgrew. That was the last one he used in Torchwood London.”
Tosh shook her head. “No need. That was whom he listed as his reference on the lease. The weird thing is,” Tosh continued, “is that the lease was put into the system, but there was no installation of a phone or power or any other utilities for anyone by that name.”
“So, what?” Jack asked, “He closed out his old place, and got this one, but isn’t actually living there?” He watched as Ianto became visibly agitated.
“The place is in Bristol? That’s not that far.” Ianto fumbled in his jacket pocket for his car keys. “What’s the address, Tosh?”
Jack covered Ianto’s hand with his, “Hang on. We’ll all go. I’m still not sure that this isn’t some kind of set up. Call me paranoid, but if he’s gone back to old tricks to hide his identity he’s either trying to not be found or he wants you to be the one to find him.”
“Splendid,” Ianto groaned. For lack of any other immediate action he pulled out his mobile.
“Who are you calling?” Owen asked.
“I know it’s useless,” Ianto said punching through menus on his phone, “But I’m trying Andrew’s phone one more time. One last chance for him to explain all this weird shit before I pound him into next week when I do find him.”
Jack raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic comment, and Owen and Gwen both snickered behind their hands.
After a few seconds he clicked off the mobile. “Nothing. Can we go now?”
Tosh grabbed a small stack of papers off the printer and handed them to Jack. “Here’s a map and a copy of the lease info.”
“Everyone grab your jacket and hit the weapons store. We’re not going to wander into this blindly.” Jack went into his office and grabbed his own weapon from the desk drawer. He debated the wisdom of letting Ianto carry a gun in his current frame of mind, but he really didn’t want to have an argument with him. Even more, he didn’t want to send the signal that he didn’t trust him.
Once everyone seemed prepared, Jack led them out to the SUV.