Creator's Notes:
Chap. 1: Boggling
Disclaimers and General Squees: I absolutely adore my newest friend Pip for betaing and giving me the best in British/Wales references to use (make us both smile and read some of her work, please-there are Janto brownies and coffee involved) and for Dan, my ever vigilant guardian reviewer who keeps me on my toes!
You should know (and by now you do hopefully) that I am not RTD, BBC, JB, GDL, or any affiliates (etc, etc, etc as Yul Brenner would say in the King and I). Neither am I the creator or subsidiary of Milton Bradley Inc. or any other game play whatsoever (except for this one really stupid game I made in math in high school called Superopoly-long story).
--On With the Show!--
The tempo of the light evening rain clings to my hair, dripping down to my boots. As I patrol the streets of Cardiff, seeking out menacing forms of life, my eyes sweep toward each innocent brow, looking for that subtle clue I need. The clue to begin the chase. After all, when you are with Torchwood, the chase is your life.
Finally, lit from above; it pops out at me. Neon signs and concentrated color beckon me forward toward my ultimate goal. The shopkeeper is an older man, seeing and knowing many things in his years on the planet. Each second that passes is another second too many. My eyebrows arch, an innocent dance of show and tell. Carl, for that is what the name tag implies, shakes his head, steady and unwavering.
My hands point and his eyes do not flinch in surprise. I hand the man money for his trouble. Coin; the common denominator on planet Earth. Also on this planet Earth there are three places I love almost more than anything. First is the Hub, where I see Ianto every day. Second is the Winchester Club, where I used the stopwatch once with Ianto to time shots, and the third is my current destination, Ianto's apartment.
"Jack, you brought me tulips? You know how I love tulips!"
"Of course, Ianto. Do you think I'd forget our three month anniversary?"
"It's been three months, hasn't it?" Ianto takes his pocket watch out of its protected pocket and admires it momentarily before opening the case, as if the watch displayed more than time. Of course, it does, his face seems to say inaudibly, it's a symbol of our commitment.
"Your place looks amazing."
"Yes, I'd say so. It's interesting what you can do with something even after a fire."
There is a knock on the door. "Now who could that be?"
His grin gives him away. "Jack, what did you do?"
His hands go forward in mock prayer. "Me, why I didn't do a thing! I might have just happened to drop a hint or two about your apartment being done."
"Naughty, Jack. I haven't even got a bottle set to chill."
Muffled sounds arose behind the door, but Ianto didn't have to strain to hear Gwen's voice. "Ianto, come on, let us in! We've got cake and wine!"
Jack almost burst into laughter, and covered his mouth. Ianto whispered to Jack. "On my new carpet? They must be joking."
Owen's demanding voice sounded off next. "Don't just leave us out here. Some of us have to use the loo."
"Shove it, Owen! You didn't have to stay in the kitchen and watch me make every dish."
"Quality control, Gwen. Quality control."
"No, it's called stuffing yourself silly." Ianto imagined the glare Gwen was surely giving Owen.
"I am so gonna get you for this." Ianto worked his way towards the door, using a subtle shift in deportment before he opened it. "Hello, everyone! Kitchen is this way."
"Promises, promises." Jack made sure to give Ianto's elbow a little squeeze so he wouldn't forget Jack was there. Like Ianto would ever forget such a thing. "I'll be your tour guide this evening." Jack clasps his hands behind his back as the team peeks out from the kitchen.
A short while later, Ianto and Jack sit on the couch surrounded by tiny plates of croquets and other such things. The three teams are huddled around a vintage coffee table, flanked by pleasantly red lamps that hit the lemon yellow wall at just the right angle.
"Revian!"
"That's not a word, Jack." Owen's eyes squinted in Jack's direction.
"Use it in a sentence." Tosh looked forward, interested in how Jack was going to pull this off.
"Okay." Jack breathed in unnecessarily and then spilled out a sentence with much bravado. "The tiki torch cast a revian glow on the luau."
"That's not how you play Boggle, Jack!" Owen's face made a slight grimace.
"I think it's alright, Owen. He's foreign, after all."
"You would think so, Jones."
"You're just jealous." Ianto looked into Jack's eyes, bemused at the turn of this evening's events and just slightly buzzed from his fourth glass of champagne. There's something so mystical and seducing about Jack's unassuming smile, Ianto thinks dreamily.
"Ianto, did you get any words?" Tosh pats his arm, reviving him from his daydream.
"What? Oh, um, Deviant."
"Ouch. That's brilliant. Didn't catch that, did we, Gwen?"
"Speak for yourself, Rhys. Got that right away."
"Bloody hell! We would've won the game with that!"
"It's hard when you play against Jones." Jack squeezed the younger man's knee, causing Ianto to smile for a brief second and jump just a little.
"I'll file that under things I never want to know again, Jack." Owen grimaced for the second time that evening.
Ianto's cell phone went off and he got up to retrieve it. Jack sprawled out just a bit, allowing his arm to glide over where Ianto had sat, for when he came back.
"Oh, dear. Best not to get too comfortable, Jack."
"Rift activity?"
"I'm afraid so." Ianto took out a sleek Stylus pen and began tapping the screen of his new phone; "Seems like we've got a pair of Weevils heading on two different trajectories. One is moving towards the Millennium Center and the other going a different direction."
"I'll clean up. You all go out and catch your aliens and whatever else it is." Rhys stood, offering his services to Ianto with upturned hands.
"Thanks, but no, Rhys. I'll take care of it. It's part of what I do."
"I'll see you when you get home, then." Gwen kissed Rhys on the cheek, eyes casting a sidelong glance at Jack, who was paying absolutely no attention to her, but thinking about necessary weaponry in his coat.
"Of course."
"I'll try to be in before you leave for work."
"Don't count on it, Gwen. Ready folks?"
"Great party, Ianto," Tosh offered as she walked through the open door.
"Yes, let's do it again soon." Jack smiled as they left and Ianto locked the door behind them all.
Gwen and Jack headed back towards the Hub while Tosh, Owen, and Ianto headed towards the factory district, following the second weevil.
"I'm still stuck on how you got deviant from that puzzle." Owen tapped his pen against the passenger's side dash board and then briefly chewed the middle just a bit.
"It's not that difficult, Owen. Really, you're just not a Boggle type person. There's no shame in that."
"Well, at least we weren't playing for booze or anything important."
"Ah, I've got it on satellite tracking." Tosh interjected.
"Which direction?"
"Head northeast."
"Right. Guess this is the end of the road then?" Ianto peeked out in front of the window, checking for the non-existent rain that had occurred earlier in the evening.
"At least it's not raining anymore." Owen gave a satisfactory smirk and they all piled out of the vehicle, a scream lashing through the night air.
"We'd best get to that weevil before it can do too much damage."
"Let's hope that applies to us as well, then." Owen gave a quick glance around and then cocked his weapon and the laborious search began.
The plaza was abandoned as Jack tracked the weevil on Ianto's mobile phone, promising not to drop his new toy in Cardiff Bay. He and Gwen set off in opposite directions, planning to track and trap the alien at the same moment. The weevil had erratic movement patterns, angry and harsh. He ran about flagrantly, as if begging to be caught. Normally, weevils weren't such blatant creatures.
The other half of the team criss-crossed different layers of the factory district, moving past alleys and dark shop fronts. Tiny puddles splashed behind their heels as the weevil let out another cry.
"Jack, we've found our weevil." Ianto turned away while Tosh and Owen examined the creature and prepared it for transport.
"So have we, Ianto."
"Is yours still alive?"
"I'm not sure. We think it might be sleeping."
"Ianto!" Owen waved him back to the body. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
"Jack, look on the neck of your weevil."
"What am I looking for?" Gwen turned the head of the weevil, slightly puzzled.
"Is that? A brand in the shape of a bug?"
"Not just a brand, it's green, Jack."
"But weevils don't have green blood."
"We need everyone back at the lab now."
"I think we get that, sir." In the background, Ianto could hear Owen asking Tosh to move a little quicker.
