Fic: Saving the World, One Piece at a Time
Title: SAVING THE WORLD, ONE PIECE AT A TIME
Characters: Jack, Ianto, OCs
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: Open
Spoilers: Minor, for series
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to the BBC.
Summary: Sometimes it’s the little things that matter the most.
“Don’t look now, but your uncanny animal magnetism has struck again.”
Jack shot Ianto a confused look. “What?”
The Welshman smiled faintly and nodded at something over Jack’s shoulder. When the Captain obediently followed the line of his gaze, he saw a middle-aged woman bearing down on him, her eyes firmly fixed on him as she advanced determinedly. Jack blinked, quickly running over the previous hour’s events in an attempt to figure out what had attracted her attention.
He and Ianto had come out to check on a Rift incursion and had picked up the - perfectly harmless - piece of space junk which had come through. Since it was a pleasant afternoon, he had suggested that they stay out for a little while and just enjoy the sunshine. Ianto had agreed and promptly produced a thermos full of his coffee. That was no real surprise; Jack was beginning to believe that they could fall through an interdimensional rift and wind up on the other end of the Universe, with the end of everything looming, and Ianto would somehow produce one last perfect cup of coffee. It was a talent that Jack envied and often fantasised about acquiring.
Then he tasted his own coffee and decided to concentrate of being devastatingly sexy and heroic instead.
“I swear I’ve never seen her before in my life!” he protested to Ianto as the woman came closer.
“That would make her the outraged mother or significant other, then,” Ianto observed sardonically.
“Hey!” Jack said indignantly, then straightened up from his slouch against the SUV and attempted a winning smile as the woman reached them. “Hello there; can we help you with anything? Directions? The time? Winning Lottery numbers?” he continued hopefully.
The woman blinked, gave him a slightly doubtful look then very obviously made up her mind to continue, laying a hand on Jack’s arm and smiling at him nervously. “I realise we haven’t been introduced,” she said in a soft Welsh accent, “but I was wondering if I might borrow you for a little while?”
Jack blinked, genuinely thrown off-balance for a moment. “Borrow me?” he echoed, shooting a nonplussed look in Ianto’s direction and glaring a little at the smirk on the younger man’s face as he sipped his coffee sedately. “Er... what for?”
The woman blushed. “Well, it’s a little embarrassing to say this out loud-” Jack’s imagination went into overdrive, wondering what was coming next, “-but I’m over there in the registrar’s office to get married and I’ve hit a snag.”
“Bridegroom not turn up?” Jack asked before he realised he had opened his mouth. He immediately received a kick on his ankle and a glare from Ianto, but the woman didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh no, nothing like that,” she said dismissively, as if that was something low down on the list of possible disasters. “No, our witnesses haven’t turned up and if we don’t marry now the next slot isn’t for another two months. Normally I’m the patient type and it wouldn’t matter, but we’ve booked the hotel for the buffet and I couldn’t face going back and telling everyone that I’m not married and we have to do it all over again. You have no idea how difficult it was to get everyone to agree to a date this time around!”
“Oh, trust us, we do!” Ianto butted in.
Jack grinned; good humour restored as he remembered some of the horror stories Ianto had told him about Gwen and her wedding plans. “So you want me to be a witness?” he hazarded.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” the woman agreed earnestly, still blushing. “We’d banned everyone else from attending the actual ceremony because of the fuss they were making but Vernon and his wife are still on the wrong side of Cardiff with two flat tyres and we’re running out of time. I know it’s an imposition-”
“It’s nothing of the kind,” Jack assured her with a charmed smile. He quickly finished his coffee and handed Ianto the mug. “I shouldn’t be too long, Ianto, so you can-”
“Oh, I meant both of you,” the woman said hastily. “We need the two witnesses. Unless you’d prefer to stay here,” she fretted in Ianto’s direction.
Ianto simply smiled and quickly dumped the thermos and mugs inside the SUV before locking it up. “I can’t think of a better way to finish off the afternoon,” he assured her.
She gave them both a delighted smile and started shooing them across the road and in the direction of a gracious but slightly weather-beaten grey stone building. As they progressed, they found out that she was Margaret Evans and that she was hopeful of becoming the wife of a David Lewis, that Vernon Hopkins was going to get a piece of her mind when she saw him next, that they had managed to get a bargain price for a very nice sit-down buffet at the hotel and that they were hoping to get nice weather for their week’s honeymoon in Spain, since they hadn’t been able to afford the one they’d hoped for in Italy.
“David does love his food and there was a very nice tour of Tuscany but the company put its prices up so we had to settle for Spain. Not that there’s anything wrong with Spain, of course, but you hear stories of fish and chips and beer and that’s not very exotic, is it? Have either of you travelled?” she inquired artlessly as they were inexorably herded towards the right door.
“I’ve... been to a few places,” Jack agreed gravely, ignoring the muffled snicker that earned him from Ianto. “Maybe you can make Tuscany some other time,” he said, exchanging a meaningful look with Ianto above Margaret’s head.
Ianto nodded slightly and Jack watched with admiration as Mr Jones proceeded to gently pump Margaret for the relevant information. He was still doing it as they entered a large, airy room lit by sunlight pouring through tall arched windows along one wall. Someone had gone to some trouble to personalise the space, with console tables on either side of the registrar’s desk sporting a mass of beautiful flowers and candlesticks polished to within an inch of their life. On the white wall at the far end of the room was a huge tapestry of a red dragon wrapped around a fair representation of Cardiff Castle, while along the wall opposite the windows were large photos of Cardiff across the centuries.
Standing in front of the registrar and her assistant was a tiny dark gnome of a man, looking more than a little uncomfortable in a badly fitting suit that had Ianto making a small sound of distress. His agitation lifted visibly when Margaret appeared, his relief echoed by the registrar, who positively beamed at them. The preliminaries were swiftly dealt with - Margaret and David visibly impressed by the fact that they were going to have a bone-fide Captain acting as a witness for them. Ianto had begged the registrar’s indulgence for another five minutes and dragged a startled-looking David off to another room, leaving Margaret to announce her immense satisfaction over the fact that:
“Mary Watkins only had a police constable at her wedding, so she’ll have to stop sticking her nose up in the air when I tell her about you!”
“Glad to be of service,” Jack said meekly, ruthlessly suppressing the bubble of mirth that threatened.
True to his word, Ianto was back in five minutes exactly, and somehow David’s suit now looked like it had been made to fit his wiry figure. Everyone settled down and the registrar took them through the ceremony. Jack couldn’t help but contrast this simple moment to the alarms and chaos of Gwen’s wedding and his smile got that little bit more genuine. These were the moments he lived for now; the tiny little acts of love or kindness that bound ordinary people together. There was a quiet strength and beauty to what he was witnessing. Neither the bride nor the groom were young, and the glow on their faces as they faced one another and recited their carefully practised words wasn’t the wild blaze of impassioned love, but the surer swell of an emotion founded on friendship and mutual respect.
It was over fairly quickly and painlessly and Jack and Ianto carefully signed the papers to make everything legal. Jack suddenly paused as he realised that he had automatically put Ianto’s address as his place of residence, but when he looked up and saw the glow in Ianto’s eyes, he didn’t hold back on the smile he gave him in return. The registrar glanced down at the papers and murmured that she did civil partnership ceremonies, as well. That set Ianto blushing furiously and casting about for a distraction.
“We don’t have any confetti.”
“Oh, we don’t want any of that,” Margaret declared. “It gets everywhere and it’s horrible if it rains.” She reached up on tip-toe and kissed Ianto on the cheek. “Thank you for the thought, though. Now, would you like to come to the buffet? There’ll be more than enough food, I know, and at least we can offer you a glass or two of champagne as thanks.”
Jack actually felt tempted, but before he could say anything, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Fishing it out he saw there was a text from Gwen asking when they would be back as she was hoping for an early leaving time so she could spend an evening with Rhys. “I’m afraid we have to get back to work,” he said regretfully. Tucking his phone back in his pocket, he placed both hands on her shoulders and kissed her carefully on each cheek. “Long life, good health and a loving bed to you both, Mrs Margaret Lewis,” he said before moving over to shake David by the hand.
“Thanks for the assist,” David said a little ruefully. His dark sharp eyes eyed Jack thoughtfully. “Pob lwc i chi,” he said with a smile before transferring his attention to Ianto. “Still not sure what you did with the suit, but it’s nice to not look like I’m wearing my Dad’s clothes!”
Ianto smiled. “I had a good teacher. Now, do you want some photos before you go?” He held up his phone. “Perhaps a couple of you signing the register?”
Jack quickly got through to Gwen to assure her that they would soon be on their way back while Ianto took some photos and promised to send them on to the happy couple. They stood outside and waved them off, then made their way back over to the SUV.
“Well?” Jack demanded when they had settled in and he started to drive in the direction of the Bay.
“All sorted,” Ianto said, holding up his PDA. “They have one week in a luxury villa in Tuscany, use of a hire car, a tour of a local vineyard arranged and registrations at two of the best restaurants in the area.”
“I sense some creative juggling of the budget in the near future,” Jack said in amusement.
“Not all that much,” Ianto said with a shrug. “Torchwood owns the villa and an ex-employee owns the vineyard.” He caught Jack’s confused look and smiled. “Torchwood One had an extensive portfolio of property both in Britain and abroad. They used some of it for training or recuperation purposes. The vineyard was acquired just after the Second World War. When I came to Torchwood Three, the portfolio came with me.”
“And when was I going to find out about this?”
This time the smile Ianto gave him was definitely mischievous. “The details are all in the files I gave you to read, Captain. If you recall, you waved them away with an airy ‘later, when I’m bored enough’.”
Jack winced. “You know how much I hate paperwork, Ianto.” He was unhappily aware of the faint whine to his voice.
“Which is why I try and save you from as much of it as possible,” Ianto agreed. “I could just give you a list of what we have, if you like? The chateau’s the grandest, although it is haunted.”
Jack blinked. “We have a chateau?”
“We have a haunted chateau,” Ianto corrected.
Jack burst out laughing. “Oh, I want to see this list, Mr Jones!”
“I’ll make a point of digging it out and we can go over it tonight, sir,” Ianto assured him with a primness that was belied by the mischief dancing in his eyes.
“Now that is the kind of paperwork I could get to enjoy,” Jack shot back and they made their way back to Torchwood and left Mr and Mrs Lewis to embark on the great adventure that was married life.
OOOO
Characters: Jack, Ianto, OCs
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: Open
Spoilers: Minor, for series
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to the BBC.
Summary: Sometimes it’s the little things that matter the most.
“Don’t look now, but your uncanny animal magnetism has struck again.”
Jack shot Ianto a confused look. “What?”
The Welshman smiled faintly and nodded at something over Jack’s shoulder. When the Captain obediently followed the line of his gaze, he saw a middle-aged woman bearing down on him, her eyes firmly fixed on him as she advanced determinedly. Jack blinked, quickly running over the previous hour’s events in an attempt to figure out what had attracted her attention.
He and Ianto had come out to check on a Rift incursion and had picked up the - perfectly harmless - piece of space junk which had come through. Since it was a pleasant afternoon, he had suggested that they stay out for a little while and just enjoy the sunshine. Ianto had agreed and promptly produced a thermos full of his coffee. That was no real surprise; Jack was beginning to believe that they could fall through an interdimensional rift and wind up on the other end of the Universe, with the end of everything looming, and Ianto would somehow produce one last perfect cup of coffee. It was a talent that Jack envied and often fantasised about acquiring.
Then he tasted his own coffee and decided to concentrate of being devastatingly sexy and heroic instead.
“I swear I’ve never seen her before in my life!” he protested to Ianto as the woman came closer.
“That would make her the outraged mother or significant other, then,” Ianto observed sardonically.
“Hey!” Jack said indignantly, then straightened up from his slouch against the SUV and attempted a winning smile as the woman reached them. “Hello there; can we help you with anything? Directions? The time? Winning Lottery numbers?” he continued hopefully.
The woman blinked, gave him a slightly doubtful look then very obviously made up her mind to continue, laying a hand on Jack’s arm and smiling at him nervously. “I realise we haven’t been introduced,” she said in a soft Welsh accent, “but I was wondering if I might borrow you for a little while?”
Jack blinked, genuinely thrown off-balance for a moment. “Borrow me?” he echoed, shooting a nonplussed look in Ianto’s direction and glaring a little at the smirk on the younger man’s face as he sipped his coffee sedately. “Er... what for?”
The woman blushed. “Well, it’s a little embarrassing to say this out loud-” Jack’s imagination went into overdrive, wondering what was coming next, “-but I’m over there in the registrar’s office to get married and I’ve hit a snag.”
“Bridegroom not turn up?” Jack asked before he realised he had opened his mouth. He immediately received a kick on his ankle and a glare from Ianto, but the woman didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh no, nothing like that,” she said dismissively, as if that was something low down on the list of possible disasters. “No, our witnesses haven’t turned up and if we don’t marry now the next slot isn’t for another two months. Normally I’m the patient type and it wouldn’t matter, but we’ve booked the hotel for the buffet and I couldn’t face going back and telling everyone that I’m not married and we have to do it all over again. You have no idea how difficult it was to get everyone to agree to a date this time around!”
“Oh, trust us, we do!” Ianto butted in.
Jack grinned; good humour restored as he remembered some of the horror stories Ianto had told him about Gwen and her wedding plans. “So you want me to be a witness?” he hazarded.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” the woman agreed earnestly, still blushing. “We’d banned everyone else from attending the actual ceremony because of the fuss they were making but Vernon and his wife are still on the wrong side of Cardiff with two flat tyres and we’re running out of time. I know it’s an imposition-”
“It’s nothing of the kind,” Jack assured her with a charmed smile. He quickly finished his coffee and handed Ianto the mug. “I shouldn’t be too long, Ianto, so you can-”
“Oh, I meant both of you,” the woman said hastily. “We need the two witnesses. Unless you’d prefer to stay here,” she fretted in Ianto’s direction.
Ianto simply smiled and quickly dumped the thermos and mugs inside the SUV before locking it up. “I can’t think of a better way to finish off the afternoon,” he assured her.
She gave them both a delighted smile and started shooing them across the road and in the direction of a gracious but slightly weather-beaten grey stone building. As they progressed, they found out that she was Margaret Evans and that she was hopeful of becoming the wife of a David Lewis, that Vernon Hopkins was going to get a piece of her mind when she saw him next, that they had managed to get a bargain price for a very nice sit-down buffet at the hotel and that they were hoping to get nice weather for their week’s honeymoon in Spain, since they hadn’t been able to afford the one they’d hoped for in Italy.
“David does love his food and there was a very nice tour of Tuscany but the company put its prices up so we had to settle for Spain. Not that there’s anything wrong with Spain, of course, but you hear stories of fish and chips and beer and that’s not very exotic, is it? Have either of you travelled?” she inquired artlessly as they were inexorably herded towards the right door.
“I’ve... been to a few places,” Jack agreed gravely, ignoring the muffled snicker that earned him from Ianto. “Maybe you can make Tuscany some other time,” he said, exchanging a meaningful look with Ianto above Margaret’s head.
Ianto nodded slightly and Jack watched with admiration as Mr Jones proceeded to gently pump Margaret for the relevant information. He was still doing it as they entered a large, airy room lit by sunlight pouring through tall arched windows along one wall. Someone had gone to some trouble to personalise the space, with console tables on either side of the registrar’s desk sporting a mass of beautiful flowers and candlesticks polished to within an inch of their life. On the white wall at the far end of the room was a huge tapestry of a red dragon wrapped around a fair representation of Cardiff Castle, while along the wall opposite the windows were large photos of Cardiff across the centuries.
Standing in front of the registrar and her assistant was a tiny dark gnome of a man, looking more than a little uncomfortable in a badly fitting suit that had Ianto making a small sound of distress. His agitation lifted visibly when Margaret appeared, his relief echoed by the registrar, who positively beamed at them. The preliminaries were swiftly dealt with - Margaret and David visibly impressed by the fact that they were going to have a bone-fide Captain acting as a witness for them. Ianto had begged the registrar’s indulgence for another five minutes and dragged a startled-looking David off to another room, leaving Margaret to announce her immense satisfaction over the fact that:
“Mary Watkins only had a police constable at her wedding, so she’ll have to stop sticking her nose up in the air when I tell her about you!”
“Glad to be of service,” Jack said meekly, ruthlessly suppressing the bubble of mirth that threatened.
True to his word, Ianto was back in five minutes exactly, and somehow David’s suit now looked like it had been made to fit his wiry figure. Everyone settled down and the registrar took them through the ceremony. Jack couldn’t help but contrast this simple moment to the alarms and chaos of Gwen’s wedding and his smile got that little bit more genuine. These were the moments he lived for now; the tiny little acts of love or kindness that bound ordinary people together. There was a quiet strength and beauty to what he was witnessing. Neither the bride nor the groom were young, and the glow on their faces as they faced one another and recited their carefully practised words wasn’t the wild blaze of impassioned love, but the surer swell of an emotion founded on friendship and mutual respect.
It was over fairly quickly and painlessly and Jack and Ianto carefully signed the papers to make everything legal. Jack suddenly paused as he realised that he had automatically put Ianto’s address as his place of residence, but when he looked up and saw the glow in Ianto’s eyes, he didn’t hold back on the smile he gave him in return. The registrar glanced down at the papers and murmured that she did civil partnership ceremonies, as well. That set Ianto blushing furiously and casting about for a distraction.
“We don’t have any confetti.”
“Oh, we don’t want any of that,” Margaret declared. “It gets everywhere and it’s horrible if it rains.” She reached up on tip-toe and kissed Ianto on the cheek. “Thank you for the thought, though. Now, would you like to come to the buffet? There’ll be more than enough food, I know, and at least we can offer you a glass or two of champagne as thanks.”
Jack actually felt tempted, but before he could say anything, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Fishing it out he saw there was a text from Gwen asking when they would be back as she was hoping for an early leaving time so she could spend an evening with Rhys. “I’m afraid we have to get back to work,” he said regretfully. Tucking his phone back in his pocket, he placed both hands on her shoulders and kissed her carefully on each cheek. “Long life, good health and a loving bed to you both, Mrs Margaret Lewis,” he said before moving over to shake David by the hand.
“Thanks for the assist,” David said a little ruefully. His dark sharp eyes eyed Jack thoughtfully. “Pob lwc i chi,” he said with a smile before transferring his attention to Ianto. “Still not sure what you did with the suit, but it’s nice to not look like I’m wearing my Dad’s clothes!”
Ianto smiled. “I had a good teacher. Now, do you want some photos before you go?” He held up his phone. “Perhaps a couple of you signing the register?”
Jack quickly got through to Gwen to assure her that they would soon be on their way back while Ianto took some photos and promised to send them on to the happy couple. They stood outside and waved them off, then made their way back over to the SUV.
“Well?” Jack demanded when they had settled in and he started to drive in the direction of the Bay.
“All sorted,” Ianto said, holding up his PDA. “They have one week in a luxury villa in Tuscany, use of a hire car, a tour of a local vineyard arranged and registrations at two of the best restaurants in the area.”
“I sense some creative juggling of the budget in the near future,” Jack said in amusement.
“Not all that much,” Ianto said with a shrug. “Torchwood owns the villa and an ex-employee owns the vineyard.” He caught Jack’s confused look and smiled. “Torchwood One had an extensive portfolio of property both in Britain and abroad. They used some of it for training or recuperation purposes. The vineyard was acquired just after the Second World War. When I came to Torchwood Three, the portfolio came with me.”
“And when was I going to find out about this?”
This time the smile Ianto gave him was definitely mischievous. “The details are all in the files I gave you to read, Captain. If you recall, you waved them away with an airy ‘later, when I’m bored enough’.”
Jack winced. “You know how much I hate paperwork, Ianto.” He was unhappily aware of the faint whine to his voice.
“Which is why I try and save you from as much of it as possible,” Ianto agreed. “I could just give you a list of what we have, if you like? The chateau’s the grandest, although it is haunted.”
Jack blinked. “We have a chateau?”
“We have a haunted chateau,” Ianto corrected.
Jack burst out laughing. “Oh, I want to see this list, Mr Jones!”
“I’ll make a point of digging it out and we can go over it tonight, sir,” Ianto assured him with a primness that was belied by the mischief dancing in his eyes.
“Now that is the kind of paperwork I could get to enjoy,” Jack shot back and they made their way back to Torchwood and left Mr and Mrs Lewis to embark on the great adventure that was married life.
OOOO