General Notes: for anyone discovering my work for the first time, this story is part of a large, ongoing Alternate Universe series that involves multiple crossovers. It isn't strictly necessary to read everything that has come before this one as long as you're willing to take certain "facts" as truth. Please be forewarned that there is at least one male/male pairing (nothing weird, it's actually cannon.)
Bones Notes: This takes place in the current season, BUT certain facts have been altered to fit a different scenario at the end of Season 3, mostly in regards to Zack, Hodgins and Angela (also, I haven't seen every single episode of the last two seasons, so if I miss some important tidbit, I apologize in advance. I'm working on catching up on reruns.)
In a nutshell, Zack *didn't* become an assistant to a serial killer/cannibal, i.e. the Gormagon, at the end of Season 3, and Hodgins and Angela did eventually tie the knot. All three remain in the employ of the Jeffersonian. Further explanations will be given in later chapters.
There *have* been a sting of interns, however, since Zack is no longer an intern himself and it's only fair to let some other people have a chance to work with Dr Brennan. (So Sweets and Daisy did eventually meet and become an item.)
The first couple of chapters take place mostly in Cardiff, then the action moves to DC.
Personal Note: The rest of the inspiration for this piece was that wanted to see James Marsters (Captain John Hart) and David Boreanaz (Seeley Booth) together again, at least on "paper."
Crossovers (so far): Torchwood / Doctor Who, Bones, NCIS, CSI Las Vegas, House, Blood Ties – but only specific characters/character mentions.
Spoiler Warnings: Nothing current. By now I think we've pretty much all seen Children of Earth and the last couple seasons of Bones and NCIS.
Disclaimers: If it's been on television, it's a good bet that I don't own it, I'm just borrowing it to play for a little while. The only (regular) original characters are Nerys Jones, Wendy Shutten and Dr Shane Bruster. (For the sake of visuals, I've "cast" Sarah-Jane Potts, Gina Torres and Andrew-Lee Potts in those roles, respectively.)
Huge Thanks: go to my co-conspirators in the AU! You're continually feeding my Muses! Huge thanks also go to those of you who continue to read my work, you are fantastic and I appreciate you all SO much!!
The Ossuary
"You can do whatever you want, but remember,
it is also you who has to face the consequences of what you have done."
~Anonymous
Chapter One
April 25, 2010
"More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse."
Doug Larson
Cardiff, Wales
.
Captain Jack Harkness, a man some two thousand years old (although he would loudly argue with anybody who said he looked a day over thirty five), glanced up from the report he was skimming when he heard familiar footsteps coming towards his open office door. A moment later the other man entered. He was tall and slim and incredibly handsome, especially wearing a perfectly pressed suit, complete with waistcoat (no suit was complete without one, Jack had decided a while back, at least not on a certain handsome Welshman). The shirt he wore with the suit was burgundy (a shade of dark red) and the tie burgundy, black and silver. He would have looked even more handsome if his face weren't set in such a grim and unpleasant expression.
Without a word, he closed the distance between them and set a cup of coffee down at the Captain's elbow, the handle turned precisely to seven o'clock. He cradled a second cup in his hands and perched himself on the edge of the older man's desk. For several long moments they stared at one another in uncharacteristically stony silence.
"Just say it," the Captain broke it first. Although he wasn't from America, he had a perfect Midwestern American accent.
First he took a sip of his coffee. "I don't like it."
"Your coffee?"
He glared.
"I know you don't like it, Ianto," he leant back in his chair, cup in hand. "What do you expect me to do?"
"How about ignoring the whole thing? That's what any sensible person would do."
"I can't just ignore it and hope it's nothing."
"You can ignore it. You just don't want to."
He signed, but didn't respond.
Ianto didn't say anything right away either. He knew the look on Jack's face. There was no changing his mind, the best he could do was accept the situation and hope that it didn't turn out to be an utter disaster…or worse. "Who are you sending?" he inquired in the most neutral tone he could muster. It wasn't very neutral.
"Bobby. Shane—I already called Martha and asked if I could borrow him for a week or two—and Ziva. I want to see how she handles something like this," he answered the unasked question in the other's eyes. "And I'm going," he added quietly, breaking eye contact before the words were fully out of his mouth. He waited… but there wasn't an explosion. What he got instead was an icy stare and the clenching of the other man's jaw.
However, "I see," was all his Welshman had to say on the subject.
"Ianto—"
"It's your call, Jack. You're the boss." He stood up and started to leave him to his paperwork.
"Ianto please…"
He turned on the older man; his gaze was still frosted over. "He says jump and you jump. Please tell me again how much good this has done for us in the past? Oh that's right," he answered his own question in an acerbic tone, "I got a gun shoved in my face and Gwen almost died! And when we found you, your spine had been snapped completely in half because he'd shoved you off a fifty story office building!" he seethed.
Deep down he knew he was being unfair. John had also been there, uninvited of course, when Jack was pregnant with their daughter. He didn't know what he would have done without John's help the night Jack collapsed, when Seren's umbilical cord tore loose from the uterine wall…But the image of his partner laying there, dead, the day John pushed him off that building over three years ago, his eyes open, glazed over, his back broken… he and Owen had had to haul Jack to the ground, straighten him out, wait… hope. Pray that he was really as immortal as he said he was.
"Why do you have to go?" he wanted to know; he was aware of how jealous he sounded. He didn't care.
"In case you're right."
"You could just tell him to sod off, you know," he couldn't help sounding just a little bit hopeful. "If all you want to do is get out of Cardiff for a few days—"
"You know I can't do that. There is a chance, a slim chance, that he's telling the truth about what he found in D.C."
Fat chance is more like it… but despite his ire, Ianto allowed his boss…his husband… to gather him up into his arms. He allowed himself to be held. He wrapped his arms around the older man's waist. He'd have been a liar if he tried to deny how much enjoyed the intimacy; there had been a time when they never would have embraced like that at work, even in the privacy of Jack's office, not with everybody still in. He closed his eyes, took a breath. Let it out. Took in another, relishing his Captain's scent, those fifty first century pheromones. He snugged in a little closer, held on a little tighter. "I'd like to go with you," he said at last.
"Ianto—"
"I'm sorry," he shook his head. He knew it was out of the question—had known it before he even asked. Gwen had just had a baby, Abby was pregnant and on light duty. That put them two down as it was. Besides somebody had to stay home for their children.
"You know I wish I could take you, right?" Jack asked him, not sounding as if he was at all sure of the answer.
"I know how much you love me, Cariad. That's all that matters."
He swallowed. Sometimes it was so hard to believe…but then his Welshman smiled that smile of his and he knew that everything was all right—or at least that it would be. "I know you love me too," he said.
Ianto brushed his lips against the other's mouth, just a light kiss to reassure him. "When do you leave?" the venom had completely left his tone.
"First thing tomorrow morning. I already booked the flight."
"Afraid I might refuse to?" he managed to tease.
Jack shrugged. "It crossed my mind."
"I told you once before, nothing we do after hours will ever affect our working relationship. Not even something like this."
"You said that before you asked me to marry you. That—"
"That doesn't change a thing, Jack. I respect you. Sir."
His smile turned wicked; he leant in, savoured the kiss. "What d'you say we cut out early today?" he purred softly in the younger man's ear. "It's been a quiet…"
Ianto silenced him with another quick kiss. "Don't jinx it. Let's just run while we can."
He chuckled. "I like the way you think, Mr Jones-Harkness," he agreed. Tomorrow morning, he would be on a plane bound for Washington D.C. with Bobby, Shane and Ziva, but tonight it was just him and his Welshman…
