Ianto stood in front of the half raised tent. He scowled at the sky with its ominous clouds overhead. Grey streaking the bases of the clouds, warning that rain was likely to be imminent, but this was the Brecon Beacons and rain was the normal weather pattern. To have clear skies and no drizzle or rain was a blessing.
Ianto's thoughts drifted from the weather and to the tent in front of him. How was he meant to disassemble this, he thought.
He moved around to the back of the tent to see what damage had been done when the SUV had been driven over it.
As he stood with his hands on his hips staring at the pegs that were driven completely into the ground, the sky above opened up, the clouds making good on their promise.
He ran for the front of the tent.
He pulled up the flap and quickly crawled in, sprawling face down on the canvas floor to catch his breath. He had one arm raised to push the roof of the tent off his head. He had to lie down as the roof dropped sharply to the ground shortly after the front pole.
He felt the flap lift up again and looked behind himself to see Tosh rushing in. She nearly tripped over his feet, so he pulled them up a bit and watched as she sat down in the corner shaking her hands to dislodge the water. He smiled at her and received one of her tentative smiles in reply.
Next to enter was Jack. He grinned broadly at them both as he entered, holding the flap wide so that they could both see the rain pouring down outside. Even though it was only mid afternoon, the clouds and rain were making the day appear to be later with their gloom. Jack had paused in the doorway, water glistening in droplets on the wool of his great coat.
Jack looked to where Tosh was sitting and he moved over to sit opposite her. As he knelt down onto his knees, he placed his hands on them. He then leant forward slightly and shook his head, dislodging water off his hair onto both of them, the water flying off the strands of his hair.
Ianto watched the droplets as they flew off into the air. His eyes following their various flight paths, arching gracefully before descending quickly to land on the surfaces inside the tent.
"Jack!" Tosh complained at him, but Ianto noted that it also seemed she couldn't help smiling at the same time at his actions.
Ianto felt the water droplets landing on his legs, staining his jeans. They already had a wide variety of stains on them and water should be the least of his worries but Ianto wasn't pleased.
He glared at Jack, who just smiled and shrugged at him before joining him to lie down along the tent floor.
Ianto's back was to Jack, but he could feel the heat emanating off the man as they lay side by side.
The rain continued to drop onto the tent; heavy and sliding down the canvas waterproof surface like oil on water.
"Why do the worst things happen to us?" Tosh asked quietly from her corner. Her eyes were downcast, not meeting Ianto's glance and Ianto also presumed that Jack would have been looking at her too.
He heard Jack sigh heavily. "I will always come for you," Jack said quietly.
Ianto rolled over to face him, raising one eyebrow in query and murmured that he might have almost been too late earlier that day.
"Hey!" He said as he reached over to caress the red marks on the underside of Ianto's chin. "I came, you are alive. Shhh, I've got you."
Ianto felt the smoothness of the pads of Jack's fingertips as they slowly slid over his skin. Jack's fingers were gentle and feather-light. A trail of heat was left behind along the path, as if Jack's fingers were a comet and the path was its tail.
Ianto stared into Jack's intense face. Before he was conscious of it himself, he had plastered himself to Jack. He forced Jack to roll onto his back and he mashed their lips together.
He was greedy in his kiss and Jack was responding just as wantonly. He ran his hands down Jack's arms from his shoulders and grasped his wrists. Ianto pulled them up to lie next to Jack's head, pushing his groin into Jack's at the same time. Their legs tangled as their tongues tangled. He could feel heat all along his body, as he pressed further into Jack.
Ianto felt Jack angle his head up to change the direction of the kiss and he took the opportunity to dive further into Jack's mouth. Ianto moaned at the sheer pleasure of the kiss, at the smell of Jack engulfing him.
"Oh, that is so hot!" Ianto heard Tosh say.
He broke off from the ecstasy and heat of Jack's mouth to turn his head to the side. Jack did the same.
Sitting alongside them now was Tosh, her hand holding up the roof of the tent as she grinned widely at them both. A grin she normally reserved for when a discovery or one of her experiments worked proving her brilliance. Ianto loved that smile.
"Ianto?" Jack asked him quietly. He sounded as if his voice was coming from a long distance away.
Ianto blinked and when he opened his eyes again it was to the sight and smell of Tosh's hair. He blinked again to dislodge the sleep from his eyes and realised that he was on the couch, in the Hub.
"Ianto?" He heard Jack ask again, more clearly this time.
Ianto registered that he felt as well as heard his name.
He was tucked up against a chest, a strong arm wrapped down his back. He slid his head up, his cheek brushing against material of the shirt and looked up into Jack's concerned face above him.
"You moaned," Jack told him.
Ianto continued to stare at Jack, blinking the final remnants of the sleep from his eyes.
"You might need another round of pain killers, but I don't want to disturb Toshiko," Jack said as he motioned with his head towards Tosh's dark head on his chest.
Tosh was tucked into Jack's chest on the opposite side to Ianto. Her hand resting under her chin, her hair loose around her face. From what Ianto could see of her face she appeared very relaxed.
Ianto could feel the pain over his whole body, dull throbs and aches everywhere. Jack's arm was gentle and loose over his back, as if he knew the pain Ianto was in. His fingers, though, were moving, just a slight movement up and down over his shirt. Ianto felt those slow movements burning through his shirt and t-shirt. He was still dressed in the filthy clothes from the day before.
Ianto stayed pressed into Jack while he tried to remember back to see if that was a dream or if it happened. Did he really kiss Jack?
His first thought was of the stench of meat and he quickly closed his throat to stop the bile rising up again. He had already empted the contents of his stomach outside the "big house". He forced his mind to fast forward and he couldn't remember going back to the campsite to pack up.
He remembered sitting up against the cold, damp walls as Owen checked him over and Tosh helping him back to the village after the sun had risen.
He had watched it rise, as he lent against the wall of the house, bringing light and a fleeting feeling of warmth as it touched his skin. Jack and Owen had been arguing quietly near by as he watched the sun rise.
Then Jack went away for a while.
The sun rose high over the trees that lined the driveway to the house, Owen fussed around Gwen, checked Tosh over and then Jack was back, bringing anger with him. Ianto thought that even Jack's coat was bristling with it.
Once they were back in the village Jack shoved the man into the pub, Gwen following. Ianto marvelled at all the police milling around, asking questions. Paramedics wanting to prod and poke. He remembered the feeling of wanting to hide, to blend away.
Ianto sat on the back of the SUV, his hands on his knees and bending forward slightly to cope with the pain. He turned to look at the boot of the SUV and thought what a horrible packing job had been done. As if someone had just picked everything up and thrown it all in willy nilly.
He watched as Jack came back out of the pub and Owen joined him. They walked across the gravelled ground, anger and frustration evident in each step of both of them.
Gwen was put in the Ambulance, Owen obviously going with her for the trip back to Cardiff. There had been a short and angry conversation between Owen, Gwen and Jack before Jack pointed and left the two of them by the Ambulance.
It was a long drive back to the Hub in silence, Tosh in the front with Jack, he in the back, still sitting in that middle seat. He didn't think about it at all when he climbed in there, just got into that seat naturally. He could watch the world come towards them through the front windscreen. He looked neither right nor left. Just straight ahead.
Jack pulled into the car park below the Millennium Centre, leaping from the front seat and opening the back passenger side door before Ianto had time to remove his seat belt. He watched as Jack then strode around the rear and the other side to open Tosh's door. Jack was all solicitude as Tosh exited the SUV. Ianto had managed to remove his seat belt but stayed seated, staring straight ahead at the concrete wall of the car park, as he contemplated moving.
He blinked and realised that Tosh and Jack had entered the long corridor and the door had shut behind them. He shuffled over the seat to the open door, reaching forward to make sure the front door was unlocked, he slid out of the car and closed the door. He opened the front driver's side door and pushed the button to open the boot.
Ianto stood for a while with his hands on his hips as he surveyed the open boot and contemplated where to start on the mess that Jack had made. As he reached forward, muscles protesting at the strain, to pull out the first tent that had been thrown over the top of everything else he heard his name called in angry tones.
Ianto turned his head and lent slightly to peer around the side of the car and back towards the door that led to the Hub.
"Ianto!" Jack snapped again, eyebrows meeting sternly above his straight nose, expressing his displeasure even if his tone of voice was the main giveaway.
"Cleaning up your..." Ianto started to say before Jack striding towards him and pointing his finger at him interrupted him.
"Don't you dare say it!" Jack declared.
Ianto looked in confusion at the man who stood close in front of him now.
"Clean up the mess you made of the boot?" Ianto asked, a puzzled expression on his face. "Why can't I? Oh!"
Ianto dropped his head to the ground; staring at the grey, dirty concrete as he remembered his accusation towards the team a month and a bit ago. He missed the look of pain that flew across Jack's face and the hand that he raised to touch Ianto's face before dropping it onto his shoulder.
"You are injured. Inside!" Jack commanded quietly.
Ianto glanced back up at Jack quickly before glancing away to focus on the door. He nodded his acquiescence and Jack dropped his hand away. Ianto wasn't sure if he imagined it or not if there was a caress in those long fingers as they slid off his shoulder.
Jack spun on his heels, the coat flying out before settling back around Jack's ankles like a child clinging to its mother. That coat had long fascinated Ianto and as he followed Jack over to the door he kept his gaze on the end of it flowing out and back.
The door clicked open, the snick loud over the hum of the air ducts of the car park. Ianto followed Jack again through the corridors and out into the weapons room.
Jack pushed open the double doors and stood there, pointing over to the main work area, until Ianto looked at him directly.
"Sit. You are not moving from that couch."
There was a short period of the two of them just staring before Ianto lowered his eyes again and walked gingerly out through the doors and over to the couch.
He slowly lowered himself onto the couch. Sitting stiff backed he looked up to find that Tosh was looking at him from her work station, concern and he hoped not pity on her face. Jack was another matter entirely. Hands on hips, feet braced apart and a stern look on his face.
"You stay there and do not move!" Jack told him. "Tosh, make sure he doesn't move from that couch. Some part of him has to be in connection with that couch until I say otherwise!"
"But, Jack," Tosh protested, "he hasn't done anything wrong! Why does he have to stay on the couch?"
"Because he was trying to unpack the SUV. He's in pain, needs to rest and the idiot was standing there about to keep working." Jack had turned to face Tosh as he talked to her.
Ianto raised his hand, "um, the idiot is sitting right here."
Both Tosh and Jack turned to Ianto, looks of surprise and chagrin on each respective face.
Jack spun on his heel and headed into the autopsy bay. Tosh and Ianto watched him clomp down the steps. He appeared to be muttering under his breath but neither could hear exactly what he was saying. They both lost sight of Jack, but they could hear him clanging and moving things around.
Then Jack was back in the main area. He walked past the still staring Tosh and Ianto and headed over to Ianto's work area. Ianto looked at Tosh, a question on his face. Tosh just shrugged her shoulders in reply. Jack came back towards them a bottle of water in his hands.
As he stepped up the stairs he tossed the water bottle to Ianto.
Ianto caught the bottle, on the second grab, his hands a little hesitant. He looked at Jack in confusion.
Jack had continued to walk towards him and he reached into his coat pocket to remove a pill bottle. He snapped it open and dropped two of the pills into his other hand and offered them to Ianto.
Ianto looked up at the man standing right next to him, blocking out the light from behind. Jack nodded slightly towards the pills, so Ianto reached over and took them. He placed them in his mouth and took a swig from the water bottle to swallow the painkillers.
Jack smiled at him and then walked away back towards the armoury and the doors leading back to the SUV. His coat again flying out and away from his legs, but this time it managed to wrap around Ianto's legs. The coat seeming to cling to him for as long as possible before Jack's momentum took it away. Ianto watched it float away from him
Tosh turned back to her workstation and Ianto watched her quietly potter around, obviously trying to find things to occupy herself and keep her mind off the night and day they had just been through.
Ianto tried to do the same, mainly by watching Tosh and trying to figure out what she was doing. He wasn't very successful.
They both jumped at Jack dumping one of the tents onto the floor of the Hub. Ianto started to stand, groaning at the movement.
"Ianto! Sit!" Jack ordered from just outside the armoury.
Ianto couldn't see him around the water tower but that didn't stop him from yelling at Jack. "You don't know where to put it away!'
"I have been into the Archives before, Ianto. They will survive happily where ever I put this stuff and when you are better you can arrange it to your satisfaction. The world won't end because a tent hasn't been folded right!" Jack yelled back.
Ianto humphed and slumped back into the couch. Jack must have heard his displeasure or he just understood Ianto fairly well as his next instructions were to Tosh.
"Make sure he stays put, I'm off to get the rest," Jack said as they head him once more exit through the red doors at the back of the armoury.
Ianto resisted the urge to poke his tongue out at the space recently vacated by Jack. He went back to staring at different parts of the Hub. The pain killers were starting to kick in, so it wasn't hurting for him to drop his head back onto the top of the couch so he could look up at Myfanwy's nest. They had locked her in prior to leaving yesterday and Ianto was dreading the mess she must have made in there.
"Tosh," Ianto said, "we need to let Myfanwy out."
"Hmm, sure," Tosh replied distractedly.
Ianto sighed as he realised that Tosh wasn't really listening to him, but was absorbed in the piece of tech that she was dissecting on her desk. The red wire apparently was of more interest to her than Ianto.
Ianto looked back up to the nest, glanced back at Tosh and made up his mind to disobey Jack. He got two paces before Tosh spoke.
"Where are you going Ianto?" she asked.
"Myfanwy needs letting out. She's been in there nearly two days." Ianto explained.
"I will tell Jack when he gets back, a couple of minutes won't hurt her." Tosh said as he continued to delicately prod at the mess of wires.
Ianto stared at her before taking the two steps back and sitting back down on the couch, frustrated beyond measure.
He wanted, needed something to distract him from the memories, but nothing was forthcoming.
Jack continued to dump things onto the floor of the Hub as he emptied the SUV. It was a slow process and Ianto winced each time he heard Jack be less than gentle with their supplies. He could not see what item was making what noise, so he started a guessing game in his head. Checking off items that he knew he had packed earlier yesterday. Ianto kept counting minutes and noises and making lists.
Jack walked around the far side of the tower and approached Tosh.
"Has he tried to move?" He asked her.
"Once," she replied not glancing at Jack as she spoke, "he wanted to let Myfanwy out."
"Fond of our pet it seems," Jack replied.
Ianto snorted and was not pleased to being talked about again as if he wasn't there. "Not fond of the mess she has possibly made and guess who gets to clean that up?"
"Alright," Jack said as he flipped open his wrist strap and pressing a few buttons he opened up the cage to her nest.
There was a welcoming screech from within that echoed through the cavernous space before they saw Myfanwy shooting out from her nest to circle around the space.
Jack laughed at the pterodon's movements, enjoying watching her celebrate her freedom.
"The vaults need seeing to," Ianto stated.
"I'll do it while I put that down in the Archives," Jack agreed as he pointed back towards the sculpture and the pile of equipment that was on the other side, unseen.
Jack strode off to do exactly what he had just said, again leaving Tosh and Ianto alone in the main section.
Ianto watched Myfanway for a while, but again he kept finding his thoughts turning to the horror of Brynnblaidd.
He looked at Tosh and then glanced over at Owen's machine. He thought back to Jack's instructions and he again stood up, but this time he took one of the cushions from the couch with him as he did so.
He started to walk towards Owen's workstation when Tosh stopped what she was doing and turned towards him.
"Ianto, Jack said you weren't to leave the couch!"
"No, he said some part of me has to be in connection with the couch until he said otherwise." Ianto disagreed. "See," he said as he lifted up the cushion to show her, "heres me in connection with part of the couch."
He smiled at Tosh, silently pleading with her to understand that he was going as stir crazy as Myfanwy sitting on the couch.
She nodded her assent and Ianto moved over to Owen's workstation, carefully balancing the couch cushion on Owen's chair. It took two goes for him to be able to sit on the chair properly, but once he was there and comfortable, he pulled the keyboard towards himself and started a search.
Tosh and Ianto continued to work in a comfortable silence. The only sounds in the Hub now, apart from the constant noises of the water and mainframe, were the clacking of the keys as Ianto typed and the intermittent noises of Jack moving equipment to the Archives.
Jack bounded back into their presence, clapping his hands together and announcing, "right!" He then spotted Ianto sitting at Owen's desk and not on the couch.
"He's on a cushion," Tosh tried to point out helpfully.
Ianto just sat there waiting to see what Jack's reaction would be; his fingers poised over the keyboard no longer moving.
"So I see," Jack responded, "well, everything all done here, time for you two to go home."
Ianto turned to Jack, and he knew that he was unable to control the flare of fear that flashed in his eyes.
Jack glanced over Ianto's head to Tosh and Ianto did not dare to glance behind him to see what expression was on her face.
Jack looked down at the floor, sighed and then looked up again at the two of them. "You can stay here tonight if you want," he told them quietly.
Ianto heard Tosh put her tools down on the desk and move away from it.
Jack walked away from in front of his door heading towards the couch. He had removed his coat and Ianto wondered where he had thrown it, knowing that it was something else to add to his mental list of things to correct tomorrow.
"C'mon Ianto, we need that cushion back," Jack told him.
Ianto spun the chair around, nearly overbalancing off it due to the cushion. He managed to save himself from looking like a right pillock falling off the chair, in order to see Jack seated on one edge of the cushion that was still on the couch with Tosh tucked up against him and held securely by Jack.
Jack patted the black material of the inside of the couch where the other cushion should be.
Ianto waited a few moments before standing up and walking over to them, cushion in hand. He leant down to place the cushion back into its rightful place. Jack reached over to help push it into place and Ianto sat down on the opposite side to those two. He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. He thought he felt Jack's hand on his arm, but the touch was so fleeting he was unsure if it was real or another of his imaginings.
He felt the cushion dip and he opened his eyes to see Jack moving closer to him.
"Don't want to squish Toshiko," Jack explained, gesturing to Tosh who had kicked off her shoes and was trying to find a comfortable position to cuddle up to Jack.
"'kay," Ianto responded.
"Are we going to stay here all night?" Tosh asked as she finally got her feet tucked up in the position she appeared to be happy with.
"You can stay as long as you need," Jack said as he looked down at her with what Ianto could only describe as a fond expression. "But unless one of you feels up to sleeping on the gurney, this is the most comfortable place to be."
"There is..." Ianto started to say, thinking about the hatch in Jack's office, before stopping himself.
Both Jack and Tosh were looking at him, but Ianto didn't know how to finish that sentence. He wasn't sure if he wanted to reveal to Jack that he knew that he had quarters right here in the Hub or that if Tosh was aware of them.
Jack lifted his arm up to indicate that he was inviting Ianto to cuddle into him. "There is here and I promise not to bite. I'm comfy, aren't I Toshiko?"
Tosh nodded her agreement. She then stretched her arm across Jack and towards Ianto. Her hand was open, inviting Ianto to place his with hers.
He accepted her invitation, marvelling at the small fine bones of her fingers that were securely wrapped up by his larger hand.
"Thank you," Tosh told him.
He gently squeezed her hand in response and gifted her with a small smile, before looking back down at their joined hands.
He exhaled and pushed his shoes off his feet. He didn't even attempt to bend down to untie them, but just used the other foot to push and slide the shoes off. They thumped onto the floor; the sound was satisfying to Ianto's ears. He flexed his toes within the cotton socks and crossed his feet over, leg's stretched out under the coffee table.
He closed his eyes.
There he stayed, willing himself to sleep and his mind to stop rummaging through the past and over all the information that he had found and updated on the case notes on his desktop. His hand gently holding Tosh's.
And that brought him back to where he was now, curled up on the couch, in pain but nestled into Jack's warmth and watching Tosh sleep peacefully. Life might be horrible, but he was content.