Fic - Three Months Later - Ianto
Yet another sequel. This follows Under New Management, and Three Months Later. Will make no sense whatso ever without them. There is one more story to come in this universe. Currently called Secrets-verse, but if you think of a better name let me know. Now called Overtime, thanks to lady_razzle. Also thanks to protoplasma who came up with 'People Management' which I'm going to use for the next story.
Title: Three Months Later - Ianto
Author: szm
Rating: G
Summary: Why did Ianto miss his meeting with Jack?
Betaed by the amazing crowson75
Ianto’s mobile juddered across the bedside table and clumsily he reached for it .He managed to pull himself into a half sitting position and bring the phone to his ear.
“‘anto Jones,” he said into the mouthpiece, voice thick with sleep.
“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you but we have a situation,” came Tamsin’s voice down the line. “It’s Section 33.”
Ianto climbed out of bed. “I’ll be there in half an hour. Seal off that floor.”
“Already done, Sir.” Tamsin hung up.
Ianto spared a thought for his bed. This had been the first time in a week he’d seen it, let alone slept on it. Although being so tired that when he did sleep he didn’t dream, was no bad thing.
**
It was actually only a little over twenty minutes before he was walking down one of Torchwood One’s non-descript corridors with Tamsin Wilson.
“I’m sorry to have to call you in, Sir,” she said.
“It’s fine Tamsin. What’s happened?” Ianto asked, holding back a yawn.
Tamsin gave him worried glance. She was beginning to notice when he was run down; she had been the one who insisted he went home last night, and didn’t just sleep on the sofa in his office again. Ianto made a mental note to find something to distract her with. Although she had a nephew and her late sister’s mother-in-law to look after, which usually kept her too busy to worry overmuch about Ianto anyway.
“You remember Richard Segar?” she asked.
“Yes,” replied Ianto. “He works in the labs, we’re pretty sure he’s a UNIT plant. We’ve been feeding him misinformation for months.”
“Well, last night he decided to have look around. He disabled the security feed, but best we can tell he broke into Section 33…”
Ianto groaned. “Does UNIT know?”
Tamsin shrugged as they reached the door to the lab labelled section 33. “We haven’t heard anything yet. But as far as we’ve been able to observe, today’s his check-in day.”
Ianto held the door open and Tamsin slipped inside. There were three men sitting around the table - Dr Logan; head of the science department, Niles Cook; Dr Logan’s assistant, and Harry Miller; head of security. They all looked up as Ianto and Tamsin walked in. Ianto felt a brief pang of insecurity; he was the youngest person in the room.How had he managed to end up here?
After Canary Wharf, he’d just been trying not to think. Rebuilding Torchwood One gave him something to do other than sit at home, and think about cold metal hands pulling Lisa away from him. He’d ploughed on, determined that Lisa wouldn’t have given her life for something that failed. Every day he expected someone to realise, he no idea what he was doing. But until then…
“Gentlemen,” he announced to the room taking a seat. “How are we doing?”
“This floor’s been sealed off,” said Harry Miller without preamble . “And I’d recommend we evacuate the building.”
“That’s hardly necessary,” interrupted Niles Cook. “The artefact is the most stable it’s been in months. We’re planning to move it to the secure location in a few days. There wouldn’t have been a problem if Segar hadn’t interfered with it.”
“We’ve lost seventeen people to that thing,” replied Miller hotly. “We should take every precaution.”
“Every reasonable precaution, certainly,” replied Cook. “Like keeping people without the proper clearance away from it in the first place!”
“That’s enough,” said Ianto firmly. “This isn’t helping and I don’t want to listen to you two bicker.” He paused for a moment looking at each man in turn, neither of them looked happy. “Dr Logan, is there any chance we will be able to rescue Mr Segar?”
Dr Logan was a small man who looked about fifty, but Ianto suspected he had started looking about fifty when he was twenty-five and would stay like that until he was eighty. It was impossible to judge his age from his appearance. He slowly took his glasses off and cleaned them on a piece of cloth he pulled from his pocket.
“Well,” he began in his usual slow, measured tones. “There is a chance, but I’m afraid not a good one. The artefact bends space, it is impossible to map and is in a constant state of flux. It was deemed too dangerous to work on and you yourself stopped experimentation on it months ago. We simply don’t know enough about it.”
Ianto counted to ten in his head. Dr Logan had been unhappy with the decision to stop research on the artefact and move it to a remote location. However, after they began losing people in the distortion field surrounding the artefact, Ianto didn’t see any other option.
“Could we take a look at it?” asked Ianto smoothly, pretending not to see the horrified looks on Miller and Cook’s faces. It seemed Mr Cook wasn’t so sure about the artefact’s stability now.
Dr Logan merely shrugged. “Of course.” He stood up, motioning Ianto towards a door at the back of the room. The doctor opened the door; inside was a misshapen ‘bubble’ approximately two-feet across. However, inside the bubble was a huge, epic landscape. It twisted in and around itself, making Ianto’s eyes water.
“We believe the field expanded when Segar touched the artefact, it’s shrinking again now. I estimate that in three days, all we’ll be able to see will be the artefact again. By that point, it’ll be impossible to bring objects back out of the distortion field. Until then we can monitor the activity within the field, and if we see Mr Segar we can attempt to pull him out using the lab equipment,” explained Dr Logan carefully. “Of course I’ll need some extra staff. There is an infinite amount of space inside the field to search, and Niles and I can’t do it alone for three days.”
“Mr Miller, if you could get me a list of people with the right security clearance we’ll draw up rescue teams. Dr Logan, you and Mr Cook continue to monitor the artefact and keep us all apprised of any changes,” said Ianto firmly. Dr Logan nodded slowly and the others began to gather their papers. “If you could keep me apprised of your progress, I’ll check in with you hourly.”
Ianto turned and left the room, Tamsin following behind.
**
Ten minutes later, Miller arrived with the list of personnel. He and Ianto assigned a duty roster for the next 72 hours, ensuring someone was always searching.
Normally the outside of the field mostly remained constant, just slightly bigger than the piece of twisted metal it surrounded. This was itself about the size of a breadbox. But on a few occasions the outside of the field had flared and expanded, absorbing the people and things around it. It was only when it expanded that it was visible. Only one person had ever been rescued.
There were lots of theories about the artefact and it had been a part of Torchwood’s collection since 1920. The group originally studying it had been called Torchwood Four. They and the Torchwood Four building had all been lost during the biggest flare-up and after that, the artefact had been shipped back to Torchwood One during Yvonne’s time.
The theory most accepted was that it was some kind of debris from a TARDIS. There was speculation that the Doctor’s people had been involved in some kind of war that had left debris spread across time. It would explain why the distortion field was bigger on the inside, and if it were in some way damaged, it would explain why it was so unstable. There was also speculation that something like this was the cause of the ‘Bermuda triangle’ myth.
Soon, the rescue teams were all set up and Ianto was reviewing the security logs from the night before. Segar must have been planning this for a while, probably frustrated by the lack of information available about section 33. He’d attempted to hack into the security files around the same time the project had been put on hiatus. That’s what had first aroused suspicion about him. Ianto hoped this didn’t mean UNIT had any idea what they had. They always tried to lay claim to anything remotely to do with the Doctor.
Tamsin walked into his office, Ianto nodded and she took a seat in front of the desk. “Sir, what do you want to do about today’s schedule?”
“Is there anything we can’t reschedule?” he asked, closing the security files down on his computer and bringing up the day’s schedule.
“You have a conference call with the PM this afternoon..?” Tamsin looked at him expectantly.
“I’ll take that, but reschedule the one o’clock interdepartmental briefing until after the three-day window.” He looked at the timetable and winced. “I suppose it’s too late to put off Captain Harkness. I’d rather he wasn’t wandering around the building today.”
Tamsin smirked. “He arrived at reception five minutes ago. Sorry, Sir. Also, UNIT’s on the phone; Maggie’s got them on line one.”
“What are the odds that they’re not missing Segar yet?” asked Ianto with little hope.
“Slim to none, Sir. Maggie says the Colonel on the phone sounded upset.”
Ianto pinched the bridge of his nose. “Take Captain Harkness to the boardroom and keep him there. Hopefully I can wrap-up this phone call quickly.”
Tamsin nodded but looked unconvinced. Ianto didn’t blame her. “Sir, if we don’t find Segar? What are you going to tell them?”
Ianto shook his head picking up the phone as Tamsin stood to leave. “I have no idea,” he replied grimly. “Maggie, put the Colonel through please,” he said into the handset as Tamsin left.
**
“…And I still don’t see why you’re so upset about the supposed disappearance of one of my employees. Unless you have some kind of involvement that I don’t know about?” Ianto left the question open, as the Colonel on the other end struggled for an answer. There was a soft knock and Tamsin’s head came into view around the door. Ianto waved her in and she sat opposite him at the desk.
“Well, in that case I suggest that… No, of course I’m not suggesting that we don’t need UNIT… Colonel. I’m well aware of what happened at Canary Wharf, far more than you, I assure you. Now, if you have any other pointless questions I suggest you ring back later. I’m afraid I’m far too busy right now.” Ianto hung up.
Tamsin smiled sympathetically. “You think they’d learn not to bring up The Battle.”
Ianto frowned. “I probably shouldn’t have hung up on him though.”
“You handled it far better than I would have,” she replied. “Captain Harkness is still waiting.”
Ianto sighed. “Get John Denver to conduct the meeting,” he said handing Tamsin a sheaf of notes. “Make sure he mentions the inspection - I don’t like the reports we’re getting from Cardiff. Or rather the lack of them.”
“Are you okay Ianto?” asked Tamsin as she stood.
Ianto gave her his best disarming smile. “Just tired, and it’s going to be a long couple of days. Get going, I need to ring UNIT back.”
“And tell them what?” asked Tamsin.
“That I’m sorry for my outburst. Then after they wheedle a bit, I’ll tell them we believe Richard Segar has run off with state secrets, and would they mind ever so much helping us poor, helpless, little Torchwood find him.”
Tamsin sniggered. “You think their going to buy that?”
Ianto sighed. “No, but they’ll at least have to check it out.”
**
Ianto was taking a turn at the monitors searching the distortion field, when he saw Tamsin again several hours later.
“Sir,” she said stiffly, holding the top of her head.
Ianto gestured to one of the lab techs to take over at the monitor, and followed Tamsin into the hallway.
“Captain Harkness is loose in the building,” she said bluntly, clearly annoyed. “I’ve informed security. He knocked me out for a few minutes, he could be anywhere.”
“He didn’t fall for the dippy blond act then?” asked Ianto with a smirk. Tamsin just glared at him.
They walked quickly down the corridors and were soon at Ianto’s office. Ianto opened the door for Tamsin.
“Really Sir, I apologise again,” she said, as she slipped into the office.
“Tamsin, don’t worry about it. He’ll turn up. Least of our worries right now,” replied Ianto.
Tamsin frowned. “Honestly, I’m so mad! I can’t believe I let him get behind me like that.”
Ianto sighed and moved towards the desk. Today was turning out to be less than perfect.
Just then, something popped up from behind his desk like a demented jack-in-the-box. “Well kids, looks like you found me,” announced the apparition.
Tamsin had her gun drawn and trained on the target before Ianto could blink. Ianto realised it was Captain Harkness as he said, “Hey whoa there!” and raised his hands.
“Tamsin, put the gun down please. I’m sure Captain Harkness doesn’t plan on doing anything untoward,” said Ianto, sounding exhausted even to his own ears.
Tamsin looked stubborn for a long moment. She wasn’t a field agent any more but she still hated people getting the drop on her. Eventually, she lowered the gun and Ianto inwardly breathed a sigh of relief; the last thing he needed today was one of Tamsin’s incidents.
“Sir, would you like me to call security?” she asked, never taking her eyes off Jack.
Ianto managed to convince her that he’d be okay and she headed for home. Which left him with the legendary Captain Harkness. Someone whom Yvonne Hartman had avoided dealing with if at all possible.
A saying about frying pans and fire sprung to mind.
Somehow Ianto found himself draped in his office chair trying not to answer the Captain’s questions too honestly.
“What do you want Captain?” he found himself asking, sick of the dancing around he’d been doing all day.
“I promised to take you out to dinner, and to be frank you look like you could use a break,” said the Captain, jumping up onto Ianto’s desk with a smirk.
That was it? Just dinner? Ianto had a million and one ways to turn him down, to get him out of the office. But in that second, Ianto found that he didn’t want to. Getting rid of the Captain would mean getting back to work, and Ianto was tired. It went bone deep and he craved just a couple of hours off. But he had responsibilities, a duty to upkeep.
He opened his mouth to ask Jack to leave. “Wanna order in?" he asked instead.
The brilliant grin Jack gave him in return made it impossible to withdraw the question. Ianto pulled the takeaway menus out of the bottom drawer and, after a moment’s hesitation; he pulled out his half-empty bottle of whiskey as well.
**
Somehow when the food arrived, they ended up sitting on the floor learning against the sofa. It was easy, far easier than anything since Canary Wharf had been. They talked about nothing in particular. Jack told impossible stories, which weren’t all that funny but Ianto laughed anyway, caught in the moment.
The time slipped away. Jack - somewhere in the talking he’d become Jack - was warm against Ianto’s shoulder and Ianto felt more rested than he had in six months. Jack shifted closer still and something changed, Ianto froze; there was an energy now strumming in the air. He turned his head and said “Jack?” trying to see if the other man knew what was going on. But Jack was right there, right in his space and just for a second, Ianto’s lips brushed against Jack’s.
Ianto jumped back as if he’d been electrocuted. He looked at Jack and saw something in his eyes… disappointment? Ianto looked at the clock to avoid the other man.
“It’s nearly nine…” he all but stammered. “We should clear this up.” Ianto jumped up, trying to ignore the other man while being hyper aware of him.
Jack helped, and too soon there was nothing left to do.
“Ianto?” asked Jack, forcing Ianto to look at him
Ianto panicked. “I should get home,” he interrupted. “It’s been a long day and it promises to be a longer one tomorrow.”
“What happened today?” asked Jack softly.
And then just like that it was over. Ianto felt his mask snap back into place. Now Jack - no, the Captain - was just one more person trying to wheedle information out of him. Ianto felt a bright, sharp flare of anger that this was what the Captain was really here for.
Ianto put on his best blank smile. “Just got caught up in some red tape, you know how it is.”
Ianto was relieved when security arrived to take Captain Harkness away. Relieved and not at all disappointed. Ianto headed over to the desk to organise a date for the Torchwood Three inspection. The one that somehow he’d agreed to conduct himself. He wondered what on earth the Captain hoped to gain by that.
**
Tamsin arrived at work at nine the next morning. Ianto hadn’t bothered going home; he’d slept on his office sofa and used the decontamination shower. Tamsin gave him a look but didn’t mention it, although security was bound to have told her.
They went over the schedule for the day and the reports from Section 33. Still no luck.
“Oh, and I have an interesting security report about your Captain Harkness,” she said finally with a smirk.
“He’s not my Captain Harkness,” replied Ianto, careful to keep his face as blank as possible. “What is it?”
“Of course, you often have Chinese in your office with visiting officials.” Tamsin smirked wider. “He got a telephone call from the Hub just after he arrived back at his hotel. He checked out in the early hours. Must be something going on in Cardiff.”
Tamsin handed over the report to Ianto. “That is interesting,” he agreed.
************
Sequel - People Management
Title: Three Months Later - Ianto
Author: szm
Rating: G
Summary: Why did Ianto miss his meeting with Jack?
Betaed by the amazing crowson75
Ianto’s mobile juddered across the bedside table and clumsily he reached for it .He managed to pull himself into a half sitting position and bring the phone to his ear.
“‘anto Jones,” he said into the mouthpiece, voice thick with sleep.
“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you but we have a situation,” came Tamsin’s voice down the line. “It’s Section 33.”
Ianto climbed out of bed. “I’ll be there in half an hour. Seal off that floor.”
“Already done, Sir.” Tamsin hung up.
Ianto spared a thought for his bed. This had been the first time in a week he’d seen it, let alone slept on it. Although being so tired that when he did sleep he didn’t dream, was no bad thing.
**
It was actually only a little over twenty minutes before he was walking down one of Torchwood One’s non-descript corridors with Tamsin Wilson.
“I’m sorry to have to call you in, Sir,” she said.
“It’s fine Tamsin. What’s happened?” Ianto asked, holding back a yawn.
Tamsin gave him worried glance. She was beginning to notice when he was run down; she had been the one who insisted he went home last night, and didn’t just sleep on the sofa in his office again. Ianto made a mental note to find something to distract her with. Although she had a nephew and her late sister’s mother-in-law to look after, which usually kept her too busy to worry overmuch about Ianto anyway.
“You remember Richard Segar?” she asked.
“Yes,” replied Ianto. “He works in the labs, we’re pretty sure he’s a UNIT plant. We’ve been feeding him misinformation for months.”
“Well, last night he decided to have look around. He disabled the security feed, but best we can tell he broke into Section 33…”
Ianto groaned. “Does UNIT know?”
Tamsin shrugged as they reached the door to the lab labelled section 33. “We haven’t heard anything yet. But as far as we’ve been able to observe, today’s his check-in day.”
Ianto held the door open and Tamsin slipped inside. There were three men sitting around the table - Dr Logan; head of the science department, Niles Cook; Dr Logan’s assistant, and Harry Miller; head of security. They all looked up as Ianto and Tamsin walked in. Ianto felt a brief pang of insecurity; he was the youngest person in the room.How had he managed to end up here?
After Canary Wharf, he’d just been trying not to think. Rebuilding Torchwood One gave him something to do other than sit at home, and think about cold metal hands pulling Lisa away from him. He’d ploughed on, determined that Lisa wouldn’t have given her life for something that failed. Every day he expected someone to realise, he no idea what he was doing. But until then…
“Gentlemen,” he announced to the room taking a seat. “How are we doing?”
“This floor’s been sealed off,” said Harry Miller without preamble . “And I’d recommend we evacuate the building.”
“That’s hardly necessary,” interrupted Niles Cook. “The artefact is the most stable it’s been in months. We’re planning to move it to the secure location in a few days. There wouldn’t have been a problem if Segar hadn’t interfered with it.”
“We’ve lost seventeen people to that thing,” replied Miller hotly. “We should take every precaution.”
“Every reasonable precaution, certainly,” replied Cook. “Like keeping people without the proper clearance away from it in the first place!”
“That’s enough,” said Ianto firmly. “This isn’t helping and I don’t want to listen to you two bicker.” He paused for a moment looking at each man in turn, neither of them looked happy. “Dr Logan, is there any chance we will be able to rescue Mr Segar?”
Dr Logan was a small man who looked about fifty, but Ianto suspected he had started looking about fifty when he was twenty-five and would stay like that until he was eighty. It was impossible to judge his age from his appearance. He slowly took his glasses off and cleaned them on a piece of cloth he pulled from his pocket.
“Well,” he began in his usual slow, measured tones. “There is a chance, but I’m afraid not a good one. The artefact bends space, it is impossible to map and is in a constant state of flux. It was deemed too dangerous to work on and you yourself stopped experimentation on it months ago. We simply don’t know enough about it.”
Ianto counted to ten in his head. Dr Logan had been unhappy with the decision to stop research on the artefact and move it to a remote location. However, after they began losing people in the distortion field surrounding the artefact, Ianto didn’t see any other option.
“Could we take a look at it?” asked Ianto smoothly, pretending not to see the horrified looks on Miller and Cook’s faces. It seemed Mr Cook wasn’t so sure about the artefact’s stability now.
Dr Logan merely shrugged. “Of course.” He stood up, motioning Ianto towards a door at the back of the room. The doctor opened the door; inside was a misshapen ‘bubble’ approximately two-feet across. However, inside the bubble was a huge, epic landscape. It twisted in and around itself, making Ianto’s eyes water.
“We believe the field expanded when Segar touched the artefact, it’s shrinking again now. I estimate that in three days, all we’ll be able to see will be the artefact again. By that point, it’ll be impossible to bring objects back out of the distortion field. Until then we can monitor the activity within the field, and if we see Mr Segar we can attempt to pull him out using the lab equipment,” explained Dr Logan carefully. “Of course I’ll need some extra staff. There is an infinite amount of space inside the field to search, and Niles and I can’t do it alone for three days.”
“Mr Miller, if you could get me a list of people with the right security clearance we’ll draw up rescue teams. Dr Logan, you and Mr Cook continue to monitor the artefact and keep us all apprised of any changes,” said Ianto firmly. Dr Logan nodded slowly and the others began to gather their papers. “If you could keep me apprised of your progress, I’ll check in with you hourly.”
Ianto turned and left the room, Tamsin following behind.
**
Ten minutes later, Miller arrived with the list of personnel. He and Ianto assigned a duty roster for the next 72 hours, ensuring someone was always searching.
Normally the outside of the field mostly remained constant, just slightly bigger than the piece of twisted metal it surrounded. This was itself about the size of a breadbox. But on a few occasions the outside of the field had flared and expanded, absorbing the people and things around it. It was only when it expanded that it was visible. Only one person had ever been rescued.
There were lots of theories about the artefact and it had been a part of Torchwood’s collection since 1920. The group originally studying it had been called Torchwood Four. They and the Torchwood Four building had all been lost during the biggest flare-up and after that, the artefact had been shipped back to Torchwood One during Yvonne’s time.
The theory most accepted was that it was some kind of debris from a TARDIS. There was speculation that the Doctor’s people had been involved in some kind of war that had left debris spread across time. It would explain why the distortion field was bigger on the inside, and if it were in some way damaged, it would explain why it was so unstable. There was also speculation that something like this was the cause of the ‘Bermuda triangle’ myth.
Soon, the rescue teams were all set up and Ianto was reviewing the security logs from the night before. Segar must have been planning this for a while, probably frustrated by the lack of information available about section 33. He’d attempted to hack into the security files around the same time the project had been put on hiatus. That’s what had first aroused suspicion about him. Ianto hoped this didn’t mean UNIT had any idea what they had. They always tried to lay claim to anything remotely to do with the Doctor.
Tamsin walked into his office, Ianto nodded and she took a seat in front of the desk. “Sir, what do you want to do about today’s schedule?”
“Is there anything we can’t reschedule?” he asked, closing the security files down on his computer and bringing up the day’s schedule.
“You have a conference call with the PM this afternoon..?” Tamsin looked at him expectantly.
“I’ll take that, but reschedule the one o’clock interdepartmental briefing until after the three-day window.” He looked at the timetable and winced. “I suppose it’s too late to put off Captain Harkness. I’d rather he wasn’t wandering around the building today.”
Tamsin smirked. “He arrived at reception five minutes ago. Sorry, Sir. Also, UNIT’s on the phone; Maggie’s got them on line one.”
“What are the odds that they’re not missing Segar yet?” asked Ianto with little hope.
“Slim to none, Sir. Maggie says the Colonel on the phone sounded upset.”
Ianto pinched the bridge of his nose. “Take Captain Harkness to the boardroom and keep him there. Hopefully I can wrap-up this phone call quickly.”
Tamsin nodded but looked unconvinced. Ianto didn’t blame her. “Sir, if we don’t find Segar? What are you going to tell them?”
Ianto shook his head picking up the phone as Tamsin stood to leave. “I have no idea,” he replied grimly. “Maggie, put the Colonel through please,” he said into the handset as Tamsin left.
**
“…And I still don’t see why you’re so upset about the supposed disappearance of one of my employees. Unless you have some kind of involvement that I don’t know about?” Ianto left the question open, as the Colonel on the other end struggled for an answer. There was a soft knock and Tamsin’s head came into view around the door. Ianto waved her in and she sat opposite him at the desk.
“Well, in that case I suggest that… No, of course I’m not suggesting that we don’t need UNIT… Colonel. I’m well aware of what happened at Canary Wharf, far more than you, I assure you. Now, if you have any other pointless questions I suggest you ring back later. I’m afraid I’m far too busy right now.” Ianto hung up.
Tamsin smiled sympathetically. “You think they’d learn not to bring up The Battle.”
Ianto frowned. “I probably shouldn’t have hung up on him though.”
“You handled it far better than I would have,” she replied. “Captain Harkness is still waiting.”
Ianto sighed. “Get John Denver to conduct the meeting,” he said handing Tamsin a sheaf of notes. “Make sure he mentions the inspection - I don’t like the reports we’re getting from Cardiff. Or rather the lack of them.”
“Are you okay Ianto?” asked Tamsin as she stood.
Ianto gave her his best disarming smile. “Just tired, and it’s going to be a long couple of days. Get going, I need to ring UNIT back.”
“And tell them what?” asked Tamsin.
“That I’m sorry for my outburst. Then after they wheedle a bit, I’ll tell them we believe Richard Segar has run off with state secrets, and would they mind ever so much helping us poor, helpless, little Torchwood find him.”
Tamsin sniggered. “You think their going to buy that?”
Ianto sighed. “No, but they’ll at least have to check it out.”
**
Ianto was taking a turn at the monitors searching the distortion field, when he saw Tamsin again several hours later.
“Sir,” she said stiffly, holding the top of her head.
Ianto gestured to one of the lab techs to take over at the monitor, and followed Tamsin into the hallway.
“Captain Harkness is loose in the building,” she said bluntly, clearly annoyed. “I’ve informed security. He knocked me out for a few minutes, he could be anywhere.”
“He didn’t fall for the dippy blond act then?” asked Ianto with a smirk. Tamsin just glared at him.
They walked quickly down the corridors and were soon at Ianto’s office. Ianto opened the door for Tamsin.
“Really Sir, I apologise again,” she said, as she slipped into the office.
“Tamsin, don’t worry about it. He’ll turn up. Least of our worries right now,” replied Ianto.
Tamsin frowned. “Honestly, I’m so mad! I can’t believe I let him get behind me like that.”
Ianto sighed and moved towards the desk. Today was turning out to be less than perfect.
Just then, something popped up from behind his desk like a demented jack-in-the-box. “Well kids, looks like you found me,” announced the apparition.
Tamsin had her gun drawn and trained on the target before Ianto could blink. Ianto realised it was Captain Harkness as he said, “Hey whoa there!” and raised his hands.
“Tamsin, put the gun down please. I’m sure Captain Harkness doesn’t plan on doing anything untoward,” said Ianto, sounding exhausted even to his own ears.
Tamsin looked stubborn for a long moment. She wasn’t a field agent any more but she still hated people getting the drop on her. Eventually, she lowered the gun and Ianto inwardly breathed a sigh of relief; the last thing he needed today was one of Tamsin’s incidents.
“Sir, would you like me to call security?” she asked, never taking her eyes off Jack.
Ianto managed to convince her that he’d be okay and she headed for home. Which left him with the legendary Captain Harkness. Someone whom Yvonne Hartman had avoided dealing with if at all possible.
A saying about frying pans and fire sprung to mind.
Somehow Ianto found himself draped in his office chair trying not to answer the Captain’s questions too honestly.
“What do you want Captain?” he found himself asking, sick of the dancing around he’d been doing all day.
“I promised to take you out to dinner, and to be frank you look like you could use a break,” said the Captain, jumping up onto Ianto’s desk with a smirk.
That was it? Just dinner? Ianto had a million and one ways to turn him down, to get him out of the office. But in that second, Ianto found that he didn’t want to. Getting rid of the Captain would mean getting back to work, and Ianto was tired. It went bone deep and he craved just a couple of hours off. But he had responsibilities, a duty to upkeep.
He opened his mouth to ask Jack to leave. “Wanna order in?" he asked instead.
The brilliant grin Jack gave him in return made it impossible to withdraw the question. Ianto pulled the takeaway menus out of the bottom drawer and, after a moment’s hesitation; he pulled out his half-empty bottle of whiskey as well.
**
Somehow when the food arrived, they ended up sitting on the floor learning against the sofa. It was easy, far easier than anything since Canary Wharf had been. They talked about nothing in particular. Jack told impossible stories, which weren’t all that funny but Ianto laughed anyway, caught in the moment.
The time slipped away. Jack - somewhere in the talking he’d become Jack - was warm against Ianto’s shoulder and Ianto felt more rested than he had in six months. Jack shifted closer still and something changed, Ianto froze; there was an energy now strumming in the air. He turned his head and said “Jack?” trying to see if the other man knew what was going on. But Jack was right there, right in his space and just for a second, Ianto’s lips brushed against Jack’s.
Ianto jumped back as if he’d been electrocuted. He looked at Jack and saw something in his eyes… disappointment? Ianto looked at the clock to avoid the other man.
“It’s nearly nine…” he all but stammered. “We should clear this up.” Ianto jumped up, trying to ignore the other man while being hyper aware of him.
Jack helped, and too soon there was nothing left to do.
“Ianto?” asked Jack, forcing Ianto to look at him
Ianto panicked. “I should get home,” he interrupted. “It’s been a long day and it promises to be a longer one tomorrow.”
“What happened today?” asked Jack softly.
And then just like that it was over. Ianto felt his mask snap back into place. Now Jack - no, the Captain - was just one more person trying to wheedle information out of him. Ianto felt a bright, sharp flare of anger that this was what the Captain was really here for.
Ianto put on his best blank smile. “Just got caught up in some red tape, you know how it is.”
Ianto was relieved when security arrived to take Captain Harkness away. Relieved and not at all disappointed. Ianto headed over to the desk to organise a date for the Torchwood Three inspection. The one that somehow he’d agreed to conduct himself. He wondered what on earth the Captain hoped to gain by that.
**
Tamsin arrived at work at nine the next morning. Ianto hadn’t bothered going home; he’d slept on his office sofa and used the decontamination shower. Tamsin gave him a look but didn’t mention it, although security was bound to have told her.
They went over the schedule for the day and the reports from Section 33. Still no luck.
“Oh, and I have an interesting security report about your Captain Harkness,” she said finally with a smirk.
“He’s not my Captain Harkness,” replied Ianto, careful to keep his face as blank as possible. “What is it?”
“Of course, you often have Chinese in your office with visiting officials.” Tamsin smirked wider. “He got a telephone call from the Hub just after he arrived back at his hotel. He checked out in the early hours. Must be something going on in Cardiff.”
Tamsin handed over the report to Ianto. “That is interesting,” he agreed.
************
Sequel - People Management