Okay, I know – another story but this one has been nagging me since I wrote the Countrycide extract of The Adventures of Ianto Jones. You don't have to read that to understand this story – the stories are just partly linked in a small way. Please read and review.
Gwen, Jack, Tosh and Owen were in the conference room. Owen was stood at the front by the television screen explaining the mission the team were about to go on. "This is Riverdale School in London," Owen informed the team as Ianto entered the room carrying a tray full of hot coffee, as Ianto started to hand out the mugs of coffee, Owen continued. "There seems to be some kind of alien activity going on within the school though the school seems perfectly normal inside. The children are acting normally and there's nothing suspicious with the staff."
As Ianto handed Jack his mug, Jack interrupted Owen's speech. "Can't Torchwood London deal with it?"
"I thought Torchwood London was finished in the Battle of Canary Wharf," Ianto spoke up, quickly blinking away the memories of the battle. "I've had no reports of them rebuilding Torchwood One again."
"I rebuilt Torchwood London again before you joined here," Owen explained. "I chose the members of the team myself the day after I scavenged the ruins of the original Torchwood. Some of the items I found in the ruins helped me chose the members. I made sure they were members of the original Torchwood London to scare them into keeping the organization secret this time."
"So why can't Torchwood London deal with the problem?" Jack asked again as Ianto sat down, both were clearly interested in the case though both for completely different reasons.
"When I set them up there were five of them however recently two of them died in a Slitheen encounter – two of them are undercover in the school. Tom, the leader of Torchwood London, called me up last night asking for our help – he's finding it difficult organizing the operation on his own. As we haven't had any rift problems for a while I told him I'd go over to help even if no one else went," Owen went through what was happening.
"I don't think it's wise for all of us to go," Gwen reminded everyone. "Something could come through the rift at any moment. We can't leave Cardiff unprotected but Owen can't go alone."
"Thomas Baldwin?" Ianto asked, looking at Owen and pretty much ignoring what Gwen had said. Owen flicked through the files in his hands.
"Err, yep. Baldwin is his surname," Owen confirmed. "Do you know him?" Everyone's attention turned to Ianto who just nodded.
"I worked on the same floor as him," Ianto explained. "We spoke quite a lot." Ianto turned to Jack. "If you don't mind sir, I'd like to go with Owen." Jack didn't answer Ianto, instead Jack stared ahead of him, looking straight at Tosh – thinking. Everyone else kept quiet, not daring to break the silence and watched as Jack continued to look at Tosh. Tosh sat uncomfortably in her chair and the rest of the team felt rather awkward.
"The case seems pretty complicated," Jack finally broke the silence yet his gaze didn't move away from Tosh. "It'd be best if at least four of us went… Tosh, do you think you'll be able to handle things here on your own? You can direct us from the CCTV cameras and you can deal with anything that comes through the rift – if things get too difficult inform us and I'll send some people back to help you." Tosh considered what Jack was saying for a few minutes before agreeing. This was an unusual situation and everyone knew Jack didn't like leaving someone in charge of the hub for more than a day but there was nothing else they could do. "We'll leave in half an hour." Everyone nodded and Ianto stood up.
"I'll go and pack equipment, food and drink," he said before leaving the conference room.
"I'll come and help," Gwen called after Ianto as she stood up and ran after him. Jack stood up and walked towards the door.
"Tosh, come with me," he ordered. "I need to show you a few things." He hurried out of the door and Tosh ran after him – leaving Owen in the conference room alone to tidy the presentation away. Owen turned the television screen off before leaving the room himself.
Ianto and Gwen were in the kitchen packing some food into black rucksacks. "Careful you don't put too much food in. We can go food shopping once we get there," Ianto warned Gwen as he watched her empty a whole cupboard full of food into one of the bags. "And Tosh might get a bit peckish."
"I'm just being cautious Ianto," Gwen replied. "What if we break down in the middle of nowhere?"
"We could walk," Ianto shrugged.
"And we'd need food for energy," Gwen pointed out.
"Good point," Ianto admitted, but was still rather worried when Gwen emptied another cupboard full of food into a different bag. "Are you sure Rhys will be happy with you running off to London so suddenly?"
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Gwen asked playfully, avoiding answering the question.
"Of course not," Ianto smiled. "But just remember you have a life outside of Torchwood."
"How much time are you spending with Jack," Gwen laughed as she zipped up the bag she was holding. "You're turning into him." The pair laughed as they left the kitchen and headed towards the SUV.
It was half an hour after the meeting had ended and Tosh was still with Jack in Jack's office. "Haven't you got to go now Jack?" Tosh asked as she saw Gwen, Owen and Ianto in the main area of the hub all packed and ready to go. Jack glanced up at his clock.
"Oooh, yeah, I do," Jack nodded and looked back at Tosh. "Thanks for reminding me." Jack picked up his coat and hurried to the door. "Now remember don't try to handle anything to big alone."
"I won't Jack!" Tosh smiled. "Now go and enjoy your holiday in London." Jack grinned before turning and running out of the door. Tosh stood alone in the office and watched as Jack led Gwen, Owen and Ianto out of the hub. They were all laughing as they left and for a few moments after they had exited the cog door leaving Tosh alone in the hub, Tosh started to wish she had gone with them. She shook her head reminding herself someone had to look after the hub and she was pretty happy that for once it wasn't her leaving Ianto behind.
The rest of the team were in the car on their way to London. "Aren't we stopping by our flats for clothes and essentials?" Gwen asked as the SUV drove past her road.
"We don't have enough time," Ianto answered as he looked down at his watch. "We need to get to the B&B we're staying in tonight before eight and it's already six." There was a pause before Ianto added. "We're three hours away from the B&B at the moment." The car suddenly sped up and Jack turned to Owen (who was driving).
"That doesn't mean you need to speed up," Jack exclaimed and the car suddenly sped down.
"So you want to spend the night sleeping in the car?" Owen challenged as he slowed the car down to an almost stop after checking if there was a car behind them.
"No need to go this slow," Jack sighed. In the back of the car, Ianto looked down at his watch once again and studied the map in held in his hands.
"If you drive just under the speed limit we should get to the B&B within the time limit," Ianto explained to Owen before setting the map down to his side. The conversation then fell into silence and Jack, Gwen and Ianto spent the time of silence looking out of the window, watching the light outside slowly fade.
After ten minutes of just staring out of the window, Ianto begin to get fed up of the silence. He turned around in his seat away from the window and was about to speak when Gwen beat him to it. "What are the names of the other members of Torchwood London?" Ianto was surprised that Gwen had asked the same question that he had just been about to ask. He had no idea why Gwen wanted to know, she probably wouldn't know any of them. Ianto guessed Gwen just wanted to make conversation.
"I can't remember the rest of them," Owen shrugged, looking back at Gwen for a brief second before turning his attention back to the road. "I can only remember Tom because we kept in contact with each other." Conversation fell again and once they reached the border between Wales and England Ianto couldn't stop thinking about Lisa and the Battle of Canary Wharf. When he lay in bed that night he continued to think about Lisa and the Battle of Canary Wharf – maybe it had been a mistake agreeing to go with the team. If he was going to be haunted by Lisa until he got back to Wales, Ianto knew he wasn't going to have a fun time in London.