Title: Traditional Love

Author: Caz251

Summary: Tosh and Lurch set the boundaries of their relationship.
Characters: Toshiko, Ianto and Lurch

Spoilers: Spoilers for Torchwood and The Addams Family.
Warnings: General weirdness

Disclaimer: I don't own either the Addams Family or Torchwood, no matter how hard I wish it were so.

AN: This may not pan out the way people hoped, or the way I had thought of to be honest, but I have found that this verse seems to have a mind of it's own.

AN2: I also realised the other day that I had 22 stories in this verse posted, this story makes it 24. This verse grew from a crossover challenge on antigwenallies. I had 1 story in mind for the challenge and wrote another 2 as backstory, and the rest of the verse spawned from that. I just want to say that I love writing this verse and thank you to everyone who reads and enjoys it. The 25th story in this verse will be a 3 parter - Kitty Cats Great Adventure - which I will begin to post tomorrow.

Toshiko looked up from her computer, surprised to see Ianto at her side with not a cup of coffee, but rather another letter from Lurch. She smiled before thanking him and taking the letter, she wasn't sure what to think of her complicated relationship with Lurch. She thought of him as a friend surely, but she was not sure that she felt anything more than that for the man. She didn't want to string the man along, but she liked his company. She wished that he would just come out and explain his intentions towards her and that way she could decide what course of action she would take. It had been a while since she had seen the other man, since their date in fact, the other man had gone back to the Addams home in the States to deal with a few concerns while the family were in Scotland, and he had only been back a few days.

They had spoken on the phone a few times though, and while Lurch was a man of few words what he did say was always interesting or well thought out and she enjoyed their talks. She could see them becoming really good friends if nothing else. The man really was a good person and she would never wish to harm him in any way, it was obvious to her that she cared for him, but she wasn't sure that the care she felt for him could ever transform into a romantic love. She had loved few people romantically in her life, the most prominent being Owen and Tommy, and while she had let both of those loves go, she longed for the feelings once more. Not necessarily the unrequited nature of her and Owen's love, but the intense feeling of loving someone.

She looked at the letter in her hand, wondering what the man had to say and whether or not she should open the letter now or later. Checking the progress of her translation program on her computer she realised that she had more than enough time to read the letter while it completed its translation. Opening the envelope she pulled out the letter, loving the fact that Lurch had taken the time to write, it reminded her of an age gone when most communication was undertaken by letters. Although she loved and would be lost without her computer or her gadgets, letter writing was an art that she never wanted to die out.

Dear Lady Toshiko,

I hope that you are well. It has been a few days since we have last spoken, I hope things have been going well for you. I write to enquire as to whether I could take you for lunch tomorrow. If this is acceptable to you I will collect you from work at 1pm and arrange a reservation for the two of us.

Your Friend,

Lurch Esq.

Permanent Retainer of the Family Addams

Toshiko read through the short letter twice, hoping to make sense of what was going on all around her. The fact that this time there was no mentions of chaperones confused her, did Lurch think that they no longer needed chaperones or was he merely taking her out to lunch as a friend, rather than a date. He had signed the letter as her friend maybe that was all that he wanted from her. Toshiko smiled lightly, she hoped that was the case, she really did like the thought of the man wanting to be her friend. She hoped that he wasn't intending to move their relationship past that boundary of friends though, or that she hadn't given him mixed signals by agreeing to lunch. Hopefully he was just referring to a friendly lunch meeting, but she wasn't sure. Uncertain as to whether or not to accept she sat at her desk staring at her screen as her translation program worked its magic. She was considering speaking to Ianto, but she didn't know whether or not that was appropriate. He was her friend and they had spoken about their relationships and dates before, but she didn't know if it was acceptable to ask him his advice in this instance as it concerned someone that she was sure the man thought of as family.

Deciding to ask him anyway and let him decided whether to answer or not Toshiko stood up and started to make her way to the archives to speak with him when he started to walk towards her from the kitchenette, his jacket on and a list in his hand.

"Shopping?" Toshiko asked quietly, wondering if this was a bad time to discuss her issues, she supposed that they were at work and it wasn't really an appropriate form of conversation for the workplace.

When he indicated that he was going on their weekly shop she just nodded before checking the status of her translation, taking note that it was only half way before asking to accompany him. She could speak to him while he shopped and it wasn't as if she had much to do today other than her translations if there wasn't any rift alerts. Ianto smiled at her accepting her company, and then yelled up to Jack that he was away and that she was joining him. They took Ianto's car rather than the SUV, leaving it in case the team needed it for something, and drove to Tesco, the drive was peaceful and Toshiko used the trip to gather her thoughts, she really didn't know how to start the conversation between them. In the end she decided just to come out with it and ask him what she needed to know. They had just started the shopping when she spoke, "What does Lurch want from me? Friendship, more?" she asked quietly, trying not to sound worried or nervous.

She could tell that it wasn't working though since they had become friends Ianto had become very used to her and reading her emotions from what she said. She smiled a bit at his chuckle, he wasn't making fun of her she could tell, but rather found it slightly amusing that she was nervous, it wasn't really an emotion or state of mind that was often connected to her. She was a lot more self-assured now after her time at Torchwood and she had come into her own a lot since the debacle with Mary.

"He wants your friendship", Ianto began, smiling at Tosh as she began to look a lot less unsettled. "Lurch is one of the nicest people there is, but he does not have any real friends outside of our family and his own, and I think you will be a perfect friend to him. He certainly enjoys your company, and you seemed to enjoy his."

Tosh relaxed a bit at his words then spoke again, "I take it that is why this time there is no chaperones because it's just a meeting between friends rather than a date."

Ianto nodded, "I think it was that date that made Lurch realise you would be better off as friends, I think you noticed it as well, you make great friends, but there is no spark between you. I don't suppose that there is any harm in telling you that Lurch has a bit of a crush on you, but he appears to have come to the conclusion that a crush is all that it will ever be, there is nothing that would help it become more than that between you. Lurch has seen many courtships between members of our family, in Uncle Fester's case a disastrous wedding as well; I think he wanted that for himself, the courtship I mean."

Toshiko giggled a bit, she had heard all about Fester's disastrous wedding from Ianto before and she could certainly say she wished nothing of the sort on anyone, and anyone who wanted that for themselves was completely insane. They completed the rest of the shopping rather quickly, talking about everything and nothing as they did so, before going to pick up some lunch for the team. Arriving back at the hub they all met up in the board room to eat and discuss any issues that had come up that morning and the plans for the rest of the afternoon. Paperwork and other assorted projects seemed to be what was in store for them as the rift monitor was showing no signs of rift activity that would be needing dealt with, so unless there was an invasion by other means or the weevil population got out of control, something unlikely as they were now for the most part out on Flat Holm Island, it was looking to be a quiet day.

Toshiko caught up with Jack as he left the board room heading back towards his office, she smiled at him and quickly got to the point, asking if she could leave for lunch with Lurch the next day barring the apocalypse of course. Once she had his agreement she hurried back to her desk. Her translation program was still not complete, it was only at 95% which gave her a while to compose a reply to Lurch before she had any other real work to do, she always kept her paperwork up to date.

Sending the letter back with Ianto that evening Toshiko went home in a lighter mood, she had been worried about how things were going to turn out with her and Lurch, she could easily see a love forming between them, but only in the same way as between her and Ianto, that of friends. A traditional love, one that had spanned the ages; a loving friendship.

Work the next morning seemed to drag, there was nothing going on really, the only thing of any entertainment was Gwen and her ranting. The woman was apparently going to tea with Morticia that afternoon, and she really wasn't looking forward to it. What Gwen didn't realise was that she was moaning about the woman in front of Ianto who was bound to take offense on his aunts behalf. Toshiko couldn't wait to find out what he intended to do to the woman to get her back for her slurs on his family. She didn't know what it would be or when, but she knew that she wanted front row seats to the spectacle when it occurred.

Lunchtime came around and she left via the tourist office, meeting Lurch who was waiting for her with the car. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek, having to stoop to do so, before opening the car door for her. The drive to her favourite restaurant was calm and peaceful, but not silent, they had a nice conversation about some of their favourite things and by time they entered the restaurant they were chatting like they were old friends. Lunch was lovely and Lurch was a great conversationalist if you could understand him, and she was glad that she was able to. She was sure that their friendship would be one that would stand the test of time, even when he went back to America with the family she could see them keeping in touch. He would never replace Ianto, but he was no doubt going to be her second best friend in the world.

She breezed back into work after her lunch, feeling calm collected and ready to take on the world, her nice lunch having raised her mood exceptionally. She sat at her station and began to work on something that she kept for moments like this when she felt on top of the world. After all, sensitive problems should be left until you are best equipped to look into them. A smile on her face she ignored all that was going around her as she dove into the equations for the time lock program that she was working on.