Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's all owned by the folks at the BBC and was created by the fabulous brain of Russell T Davies.
Author Notes: My take on how Martha will fit in at Torchwood and how she will affect things, particularly a certain tea boy. All comments are very much welcome, especially since this is my first Torchwood fic and my first stab at writing the wonderful Captain Jack. There's four chapters in all so it's not a long fic. Enjoy!
The first things Martha noticed when she woke up was that Jack's coat had been thrown over her like a blanket and that someone had left a mug of hot coffee close by on the desk. The smell was what had woken her up and before her eyes were even properly open, Martha had sat up and reached for the mug.
The coffee tasted amazing, and Martha immediately felt more awake. How did people wake up without caffeine? Especially when it tasted this good. She knew just from the taste who had made this particular cup. It was too early for it to be anyone else, except Jack and she'd found out that the only coffee he could make was tar black and bitter and completely undrinkable.
The Hub was quiet, she could see that most of the workstations were dark. A note in Jack's scrawl tucked into one of her discarded shoes reminded her of the time they'd agreed to meet at the firing range for some practice, and told her to give his love to her boyfriend, Tom, when she emailed him. Martha grinned and shook her head, she had no idea what Tom would make of Jack if they ever met. It was a pretty hilarious thought.
But before she started on her morning email to her boyfriend, Martha decided as she felt the caffeine doing its job, she wanted to track down her benefactor and she knew just the place to do it.
When she'd gotten dressed and looked more presentable (sleeping on the sofa in Jack's office had not produced a good look for her), she made her way to the kitchen area and, as she'd suspected, found Ianto Jones setting out mugs and spoons on the counter. Martha leant against the door and watched him for a bit, keeping out of sight.
Ianto confused and frustrated her. She knew that she felt sorry for him; she'd been stuck with unpleasant jobs at the hospital, the ones that everyone hated. And she'd never seen any of the team say anything to Ianto about it as he worked on in the background, or ask him if he needed help. Owen got down right abusive towards him sometimes. She'd had that happen too and it always stung.
Ianto though, he seemed to be shut off into his own little world, attached to the team but not part of it. She'd never seen him upset about his job, he just did it. It all slid off him.
But Martha could tell that Ianto Jones didn't like her. She'd seen it in the way he looked at her, like he couldn't wait for her to leave. She had past experience of that too. But she couldn't work out what she'd done to deserve it, he'd been like that since she'd first stepped into Torchwood. That was why it was more than a little confusing that he'd left her a good cup of coffee for when she woke up.
Martha suddenly glanced down at her cup, hit by the nasty memory of what one of the hospital residents used to do to the interns he didn't like. Had Ianto spat in the coffee? She wrinkled her nose at the thought, but decided that it didn't really matter when she'd drunk half a cup of it already. She could always get a fresh one and watch him make it herself.
"Morning, Ianto," she called quietly as she stepped into the kitchen.
Ianto paused, his spine stiffening, before he turned around to face her. Martha moved closer, keeping a small smile on her face as she blocked his exit. Oh yes, he really didn't like her. He didn't even react like that when handing Owen his coffee as Owen said something particularly obscene. It was only her that got a reaction like that.
His expression had already closed up, and Martha itched to grab him by his immaculate suit and shake him until something like a real expression took over his face. What had she done to this man to make him act like a robot?
"Good morning," Ianto replied politely. "You're up early."
"All thanks to your coffee," Martha waggled her mug at him with a grateful expression because really, it had been great coffee, salvia or not. "It was amazing, thank you."
For a few seconds, Ianto's mask slipped and he looked pleased and surprised at her words. Then the expression smoothed out and he nodded with a friendly but bland smile.
"All part of the job," he replied, reaching out for her mug. "Would you like another cup?"
"I won't say no to that."
So Martha leant back against the counter, watching him as he carefully measured out the coffee. His eyes managed to watch her as he worked, clearly wondering what she was finding so interesting. But Martha stayed silent. Anything she said she knew Ianto would answer with completely polite empty shallow words. She wouldn't get anything real out of him.
"Here you are."
Ianto handed her the refilled mug, his hand slipping away from hers as soon as it could. Martha stared at him; there was no change of expression on his face as he went back to preparing the team's morning drink orders. She felt like screaming, her grip tightening on the mug's handle. It was like trying to talk to a brick wall.
She could handle Owen's snide comments and sneering put-downs, Toshiko's open curiosity, and Gwen's unsubtle attempts at extracting information from her. But Ianto's distant and cold behaviour got to her because she hadn't bloody done anything to deserve it and he wasn't offering her any explanations.
She knew he wouldn't admit to it if she confronted him cos, despite the obvious dislike, he was still cordial and polite towards her. Of course he was. Nothing seemed to get through that shiny protective professionalism he wore at all times.
Or did it? She remembered that crack in the armour, that brief expression of surprise and pleasure at her gratitude, and an idea sparked in her brain. Perhaps she could get through to him and maybe get to the bottom of this.
"Thank you, Ianto."
She stepped forward and squeezed his wrist with her free hand. Ianto froze, then turned his head to glance first at her hand and then at her face. His expression was uncertain.
Martha smiled at him, let go, and headed off with her coffee to write an email for Tom.
Ianto couldn't work out Martha Jones. She'd turned up one day, literally appearing out of thin air on a breezy stretch of moor land to distract a particularly nasty breed of alien as it was about to bite a chunk out of Gwen's arm. Then, when the alien had been properly dealt with, she'd rushed over to Jack and hugged him. Ianto didn't know what had shocked the team more – Martha's sudden appearance or the hug she'd shared with Jack.
Jack had laughed, spun her around and clung to her for long minutes. Ianto had never forgotten the way Jack introduced her.
"Martha Jones, the woman who saved the world."
"Captain Jack Harkness, the man who can't die," she'd shot back with almost a laugh but her expression had wobbled between a smile and something darker and Jack had smiled at her in a way that Ianto had never seen before.
What had she done to deserve that smile? It was completely genuine, caring and warm. Ianto had felt jealousy and craving gnaw in his guts at that smile, because it wasn't directed at him. It was because of Martha Jones and he couldn't work out why.
It was all made worse by the fact that a wall had come down between him and Jack ever since Jack had returned. Jack still flirted, he could never stop that, but that was it. No more intimate nights together or secret glances of skin on skin. Ianto had known, because he knew Jack, that Jack wasn't looking at what they'd had as long term. But it had become warm and necessary and Ianto hadn't been ready for it to end just yet.
All he could pinpoint the sudden change on was Jack's absence and Martha Jones.
After that day, Martha'd become part of the team and Ianto had taken to watching her. She laughed with Jack and wasn't phased by the alien technology Toshiko began demonstrating to her, but asked questions and told Jack about the last place she'd seen something similar. And all the time Jack watched her with this fond pleasure on his face that he never got when he looked at the team.
She had the same darkness in her eyes that Jack had now. It was different from before, when Jack was full of secrets and kept everything locked up tight inside of him. There had always been loneliness and longing in his eyes for something he never talked about. Now something had happened and Martha had been there and she and Jack shared the burden.
One evening, Ianto found himself researching her on the internet. She had a brother and a sister and both her parents were still alive. She'd gotten good grades at school. She was training to be a doctor. A normal girl with an average life. But Ianto knew that wasn't true. According to Jack, she'd saved the world.
He felt partly disgusted with himself for doing it, for being so unprofessional towards a colleague. But stronger than that was a driving need to know, to understand why she had that side of Jack that he couldn't reach. He had to know. And he told himself, it didn't hurt to know more about new mysterious team members after the incident with Suzie.
All he had was facts, facts without life and they didn't give him the answers he needed.
His professionalism that was so effective at work became a cold hard shield when he spoke to Martha. He was never rude, that would have drawn suspicions from Jack, but he was economical with his words and never interacted with her unless he had to. Because he was sure that she was part of the cause of this distance from Jack and Ianto's resentment was becoming a silent grudge.
Then one day, as he was clearing up the last of the sticky doughnut mess that Owen had left on his workstation, Ianto had spied something in Jack's office. Martha was crying. Her eyes were fixed on some far off point, tears pouring down her face without a sound. Jack was sat beside her with one of his hands clasping both of hers. The look on his face was open and sorrowful and he began talking to Martha in a quiet voice. Ianto had only watched for a few seconds more before slipping away to the kitchen.
All the pieces of Martha Jones that Ianto'd collected didn't give him any answers. He still couldn't see why Jack had changed and how Martha was involved, though he knew she had to be. He kept her at a distance, but she complicated things by being brave and outspoken and telling Owen where he could stick his nasty attitude.
And she was polite to Ianto, thanking him for the coffee he made her and touching his arm. The others treated him like a ghost, but Jack had made him feel solid and real and now Martha did too.
Nothing was making sense. It was beginning to give Ianto a headache.
"What about Ianto then? What's he really like?"
"Ianto? Ahhh, our man of mystery. There's not much to tell. He's good at his job, he looks good in a suit……"
"No, I mean, what's he like when he's not here, in the Hub? What's he like when he's not wearing that suit?"
"Now, why would you think I'd know that?"
"Jack Harkness, you can't even say that with a straight face!! What's been going on then?"
"A gentleman never tells."
"Oh, so you're a gentleman now?"
"You're very cheeky, Martha Jones. I like that."
"Come on then, tell me!"
"What's with all this sudden interest in Ianto? Wait, are you interested in him!?"
"No! No, he's very closed off, I just wondered why."
"Ah, well, he's had relationship problems. His girlfriend, Lisa, died at the Battle of Canary Warf and he found it hard to let go."
"Oh….I didn't know. My cousin Addie died there, she was working in Torchwood One."
"I'm sorry, Martha."
"That's ok. It feels like years ago now, after everything that's happened."
"Or didn't happen."
"Yeah."
-tbc
