Title: House of Glass and Fog
Word Count: Overall ~30,500 words, chapter ~4,100
Pairings/Characters: Jack/Ianto, Torchwood Team
Rating: MA overall
Warning: Slasharama
Spoilers: Season one through Something Borrowed
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Jack, Ianto and all related Torchwood material but I don't. Someday I will… Someday!
The next coherent thought Ianto had wasn't until the following morning when he woke up to a hand cupping his face and Jack calling his name.
"Ianto, come on wake up," Jack said loudly, trying to rouse the other man. When he only made a non-committal grunt, Jack increased the pressure on the Welshman's face. Jack had been stunned to find Ianto passed out on the common couch with the remains of his favourite decanter littering the floor.
Ianto rarely drank and never when he had clean-up work to. It worried Jack to no end to discover him in such a state. Jack also had no idea why Ianto had come back to the Hub to drink when he had clearly told the other man to go home after all of the guests were sorted.
"Ianto," Jack tried again, grabbing a trash basket as the archivist finally opened his eyes and gagged a little.
"What the hell?" Ianto slurred, his accent deep and rich.
"I have no clue," Jack replied, turning the other man on his side in case he was sick. "It seems you did some great partying all alone though."
"How much did I drink? I haven't felt this horrid in a long while." Ianto moaned, clutching his stomach when it rolled dangerously.
"No idea, but you did clean us out of bourbon," Jack replied helpfully. "And if you do up chuck try and get it in the bin, I am rather fond of the couch. We've had it since the 80's."
"I'll do my best Sir." Ianto pulled the bin closer to his face, shuddering as his head began to pound with the tiniest movement.
"Did you finish moping up before celebrating?" Jack asked, tracing the shell of Ianto's ear with a calloused finger.
Had he finished clean up? Ianto honestly could not remember; what the hell had he been doing last night? "I'm not sure, Sir." He replied, swallowing thickly.
"You're not sure? Ianto, this isn't just you can do half arsed! If we let these things slip we are going to have bigger problems than retconning a few guests!" Jack pulled away from Ianto, now more annoyed than worried with his carelessness.
"I thought I made it clear that last night was supposed to be some of your best work. After all of the shit that Gwen put up with yesterday, I assumed the team understood how important it was to do this for her and do it well," Jack finished, giving Ianto a dark look.
"I know," Ianto said softly. But he didn't know; the last clear memory he really had was watching Rhys and Gwen dancing at the reception. Everything else was distinctly fuzzy. He must have started drinking quite early. "I'm sorry Sir. I will go check the logs to see if I marked the clean up as complete."
Jack sighed. "Go have a shower and a cup of coffee. I will check the logs and if there's anything left to do we can finish when you've pulled yourself together."
"You shouldn't have to do that," Ianto said, slowly sitting up. Even with slow and sluggish movements, he felt his dinner crawl up his throat. Unlike his previous attempts he could not force it back down and ended up vomiting heavily into the bin.
"No, but I will. Go shower, we can deal with everything else later." Jack placed a soft kiss on Ianto's sweaty forehead, and then slowly helped the smaller man up.
"I…" Ianto began but stopped when Jack gave him 'this is not negotiable' look. "Okay," he conceded a moment later.
"You can use the shower in my quarters." Jack led Ianto over to his office and made sure the other man could get down the ladder before leaving him alone.
While Ianto was in the shower, Jack put on a pot of coffee and pulled out a bottle of aspirin from his desk drawer. From the way the younger man looked, Jack was certain he would need a few of the pills before getting any real work done. Jack then checked the log and smiled softly when the clean up appeared completed except for a vehicle and body concealment.
A few minutes later, Ianto shuffled up from the hatch, looking a little more alert. Jack passed him a cup of coffee and 2 aspirin.
"Thanks," Ianto said, swallowing the pills quickly with a large mouth full of slightly burnt coffee. "Jack, I'm sorry about last night. It was unacceptable for me to leave my duties incomplete and get so drunk I blacked out."
'Always perfectly mannered, even when he feels like shit,' Jack thought. "Ianto, I was thinking a lot about the situation while you were in the shower."
"And what did you decide?" Ianto asked, tightening his tie nervously.
"More like what I realized." Ianto gave Jack a bewildered look. "I realized that you do double the work of the rest of the team and it's stupid not to expect you to let off some steam once and a while." Ianto seemed truly shocked at what Jack said.
"Sir, that's not true!"
"Yes it is. You do almost all of the administrative, take care of the archive, and go out into the field. You have the equivalent of three full time jobs here. When Gwen gets back I think we need to re-distribute your work load a little."
Ianto scrunched his face up, obviously not happy. "It's my job, Sir."
"Despite what Owen says, it has never been your job to: make coffee, get take out, clean the Hub, or run personal errands for the team." Jack took Ianto's coffee mug, set it on his desk and pulled the smaller man close. "It's is time for us to grow up a little and share the load."
"Does that mean you will be making your own coffee from now on?" Ianto said with a sly smirk.
"Unfortunately I am going to have to leave you on coffee detail permanently. No room for a rota there but everything else we can work on." Jack placed a tender kiss on Ianto's lips. "Can you handle that?"
"Not picking up Owen's dry cleaning any more, I think so. Thank you Jack," Ianto whispered softly. If Ianto was honest with himself, he had been feeling a little overwhelmed because of his increased fieldwork. Ianto would never ask to have his duties lessened but if this was what Jack thought was best he wouldn't complain.
"Now, why don't you get a bit more sleep before Owen comes in. Tosh isn't coming in until late afternoon so us men can go on an adventure to dump poor Mervyn and his car."
"Poor Mervyn, my arse. Maybe if he had kept it in his pants he would still be kicking. A lesson you could take to heart." Ianto grinned, allowing Jack to loosen his tie and remove his jacket.
"I thought you liked me best without my pants on?" Jack leered.
"I'll concede that point on the condition you do not remove your pants around any aliens." Jack pushed Ianto onto the couch and knelt down.
"I think I can manage," Jack replied, continuing to undress Ianto. "Now get some sleep."
"Okay," He said around a yawn. Jack pulled a blanket he kept on the back of the couch onto Ianto and tucked it around the younger man. "Feed Janet and Myfanwy for me?"
"Of course," Jack pressed his forehead against Ianto's gently and did not go back to his desk until he felt his lover's breathing deepen.
TORCHWOOD
The second time around, Ianto did not wake to Jack's caresses but the hushed and angry voices of Jack and Owen. He decided to let them fight it out on their own and pulled the blanket a little closer. Ianto tried to drift off again but couldn't tune out the other men's voices.
"I can't believe you just left him there!" Jack whispered harshly.
"He managed to find his way back here didn't he? I don't know why you're having kittens about this." Owen replied, sounding completely unconcerned.
"Because he drank himself to the point where he couldn't remember whether or not he had finished clean up." Ianto could hear Owen shift guiltily.
"What the hell do you want me to do about it now?"
"Cut the asshole down by 50% today and file all of the reports."
"And scour the SUV," Ianto finally called from the couch. He had really tried to sleep through the noise but he rarely fell back asleep after he had woken up.
"What, no way!" Owen countered with a sour look on his face.
"Owen," Jack warned, not in the mood to deal their resident zombie doctor.
"Fine, I'll scrub the bleeding SUV."
"Good. Now I will go make us some coffee to go and we can dump our dear friend Mervyn in a lake somewhere." Ianto said, pulling himself off the couch and shrugging on his shirt. Ianto grabbed the rest of his clothes and headed up to the kitchen to make two travel mugs of coffee.
"I think you might be right about keeping an eye on him Jack," Owen said as he watched Ianto's retreating back. "He seems tired, more than just a hangover tired, and he's lost at least a few kilos since his last physical. I think something has been bugging him for a while."
"I know…" Jack trailed off. "I think last night was to do with something more than stress from work."
Owen grimaced. "If it wasn't about that then what was it?"
"If I knew do you really think I would let him be off making coffee?" He growled back.
"Okay, I get it, neither of us know!" Silence surrounded the two men as they waited for Ianto to come back from making coffee. Something wasn't right with their resident Tea-boy.
After a waiting for far longer than it took to make a simple cup of coffee, Owen became impatient. "What is taking him so long? Come on, lets go dump that Chiv loser before the SUV starts to stink."
"Too late," Ianto announced, re-entering Jack's office just as Owen was about to leave. Ianto handed Jack his blue travel mug and turned to face Owen. "If you had put the bastard in cryo before buggering off for the night it might be a different story."
"You took him home with you!" Jack said, clearly disgusted at the thought.
"And let him leak all over the upholstery." Ianto gave Owen a withering look. "Good job zipping the bag up all the way."
"OWEN! The whole thing is going to need professional cleaning; that is coming out of your pay."
"Wait just a second!" Owen protested. "That isn't fair."
"Explain how it isn't and I might reconsider." Jack smirked and Owen spluttered, clearly having no argument.
"Now that we have determined who is responsible for destroying the SUV can we please go? I still feel like shit," Ianto took a step towards the door in hopes in getting the small party moving.
Instead moving out of Jack's office, Owen walked up to Ianto, grabbed his hand and pinched a small patch of skin.
Ianto pulled away quickly, giving Owen a nasty look. "What the hell was that for?"
"No wonder you feel like shit, you're mildly dehydrated. Go have a bottle of water while we find a substitute corps for the Chiv. And no more coffee!" Owen grabbed Ianto's travel mug and set it on Jack's desk.
"Morgue 1250, closest I could get to that ugly git. If that bitch hadn't eaten half his bowls we probably could have used his body." Ianto replied, looking at his wasted coffee forlornly.
"Trust me, you will feel better drinking water instead of coffee," Owen said, noticing Ianto staring at the mug.
"Fine, now can we go, please?" Jack and Owen nodded in agreement. The three men finally left Jack's office and split off when Ianto headed for the kitchenette again and Jack and Owen headed for the garage. Not even thinking about the mutilated man in the back, Jack threw open the boot and quickly slammed it when a distinct rotting odour was flushed out.
"Fuck, Owen that is sick!" Jack cried, scrunching up this face at the smell. "I don't get why you couldn't have dumped this off last night."
Owen shrugged. "Didn't want to walk in on you and tea-boy going at it again."
"But you knew he was supposed to leave with you."
"Yeah and after you buggered off on him after dancing, he looked like a puppy that had been booted so I thought he might chase after you. You know, trying to score some affection or something."
"Oh…" Jack looked rather confused. "I didn't realize he wanted much more than a dance."
"You're a idiot, you know that?" Owen pulled the boot open again and properly zipped up the body bag before pulling it out with little care for the man inside. More accurately what was left of him.
"Thanks so much," Jack snorted back, grabbing the other end of the bag.
"You are. If all you wanted is a fuck go find someone else. As much as he gets on my nerves, I've come to respect that twat." The two men heaved the black bag up on a stretcher and Owen began to roll it off to the door leading back into the Hub.
"Oh, so your suddenly his champion? And for the record he is more than a shag to me." Jack yelled at Owen's retreating back.
"Good to know," Owen replied mockingly. "But it isn't me that you need to convince of that." Owen picked-up his pace, frankly getting tired of listening to Jack's shite. Owen had tried, very hard, to convince Ianto he could do better when the captain abandoned them but Ianto was just too loyal.
"Nice to know you care so much, especially after you wanted me to retcon him and dump him in your words 'I don't fucking care where' after the Lisa incident."
"Fuck off, Jack. Tell Tea-boy we are leaving in 15."
TORCHWOOD
"I am not sitting in that SUV again until it's cleaned," Ianto said, placing a fresh cup of coffee on Jack's desk. The dumping mission had gone as expected and Mervyn's car was now burnt to a crisp, sitting on a highway half way to nowhere.
"No Weevil hunting for a few days?" Jack pouted.
"The only part of Weevil hunting you like is the shagging in the back seat. I think we can do that without subjecting ourselves to that stink."
Jack grinned at the younger man. "Lock the door and get that hot ass over here." Ianto stalked back to the door and locked it, giving Jack a sharp leer.
"I didn't realize we had Weevil hunting scheduled for this afternoon."
TORCHWOOD
NC-17 Cut. For the full version visit: http:// ladyofcastillo. livejournal. com/ 7633. html (remove spaces)
TORCHWOOD
"God, I'm tired." Ianto said, settling himself back down on Jack's lap. He hadn't realized how much his night of drinking had taken out of him until now. Usually after having sex in the middle of the day Ianto was still able to pull himself together and go back to work. Right now he felt like cuddling with Jack and having a long nap. Not that Jack cuddled with him often.
"You can sleep on the couch for another few hours." Jack suggested, trying to get them out of his small chair.
"I really should finish some filing in the archives," Ianto said around a yawn.
"They'll be there in a few hours." Jack helped Ianto into his boxers and pulled him towards the couch for the second time that day.
"Promise to wake me up in a few hours? I already feel like I have gotten nothing done today." Ianto sprawled across the couch and pulled the throw around him as Jack picked-up their remaining clothes from the floor.
"Promise," Jack stopped his tidying and placed a gentle kiss on Ianto's lips. "Sleep tight." Jack continued cleaning up their mess, folding his lover's trousers and jacket so they wouldn't wrinkle and then took his place at his desk. The neatly organized stacks, thanks to Ianto, had been push into one large pile. Jack decided to spend the rest of his afternoon re-organizing everything and get a bit of paperwork done. The piles never seemed to shrink no matter how long he worked.
Exactly two hours later Jack looked up to check on Ianto. The younger man still seemed tired and Jack really did not want to wake him despite his promise. Instead of waking Ianto up, Jack turned on some soft music and figured when Ianto was really rested the noise would rouse him.
Sometime later Jack heard Ianto push himself into a sitting position and began looking for his pants.
"You didn't wake me up," Ianto groaned, noticing how late it was.
"You needed the sleep and there really wasn't any pressing work to be done. Jack rose from his desk and took the still sleepy man into his arms.
"But, I haven't got anything done today."
"And that is okay once and a while." Jack pulled Ianto into his arms and began to shuffle them back and forth to the music. "Anyways it is only 2 in the afternoon. Lots of day left to work."
"This is nice," Ianto mumbled into Jack's neck.
"Just making up for last night," Jack replied softly.
"What do you mean?"
"We could have danced a little longer before starting work is all."
Ianto pulled back slightly, a confused look running across his face. "We danced last night?"
"Yes, you don't remember?" Jack asked, concern lacing his tone.
"No, are you sure?"
"Very… What is the last thing you remember?" Jack cupped Ianto's face, waiting for a reply.
"Not sure," Ianto scrunched up his face as if in pain. "Just Rhy and Gwen dancing, them cutting the cake."
"Ianto that happened at 9. The last time I saw you was at midnight and you were still completely sober."
"No, that can't be right… Jack what happened last night?" Ianto asked, sounding more scared than confused now. Ianto couldn't understand how he had lost so many hours from just drinking. When he blacked out, yes he did loose a few hours but those hours were when he was drunk not stone cold sober. He had never lost more than an hour or two before or after.
"I don't know but I think Owen should take a look at you, alright?"
"Okay," Ianto conceded without a fight, which just alarmed Jack more. Ianto never agreed to go see Owen unless he was really hurting or Jack was begging. Jack swiftly threw Ianto his shirt and straightened out both of their messy locks as Ianto did up his buttons. They didn't look 100% presentable but Jack really didn't care; it wasn't a big secret around the Hub that Jack and Ianto were together.
"Owen, where are you," Jack called as they left the office. Ianto gripped his hand tightly; they only sign to show he was upset.
"Medical bay! What do you need?"
Jack waited until they breached the doorway leading to the autopsy before yelling down to Owen. "Can you check Ianto? He's having some memory problems from last night."
"More than the leftovers from his binge?" Jack and Ianto descended the stairs into the medical bay and saw Owen hunched over some sort of sample.
"He can't remember anything past 9."
"That can't be good tea-boy. Hop up on the table," Owen said, finally addressing the other man in the room. "Do you remember hitting your head or falling down?" Owen waited until Ianto had pushed himself onto the exam table before tilting his head back and checked his pupils.
"No." Owen then checked the younger man's head or neck for signs of bruising or trauma.
"Have you felt dizzy, had a headache, or blurred vision?" Ianto shook his head when Owen released him.
"I can't find any indication that you have a concussion or any other trauma besides from your memory loss. This is weird. I am going to take a blood sample and see if that brings anything up. You sure you didn't drink some retconned champagne last night?"
"I would have forgotten the whole day if I had drank that. And is it really necessary that you take blood?" Ianto was a little annoyed that Owen didn't even think he was smart enough not to drink the doctored alcohol.
"Yes, you are going to have whatever tests Owen wants you to have," Jack, said firmly from the sidelines.
Ianto looked purely sour as Owen snapped on his gloves. "I hate needles," he muttered, knowing no one really cared.
"Jack come distract him, while I draw the blood. If you're tense it is just going to smart more." Jack came over from the corner he had been in and turned Ianto's face towards him as Owen rolled up his sleeve and secured the rubber band just above his elbow.
"You know, I am not a five year old that needs his mummy to hold his hand at the doctors."
"Yes, but I can do so much more than hold your hand," Jack said lecherously, stroking the other man's cheek. Despite Jack's trying to distract him, Ianto still startled a little when Owen slid the needle into his vein.
"Fuck," Ianto gritted through his teeth as Owen took a few vials of blood and then pulled the needle out.
"All done, you big wussy. I am going to run this through, if it doesn't bring up anything then we get to play with the really fun toys. Do not leave until I have the results. Understood?" Owen said sternly.
"Yes Mam, can I go out and play now?" Ianto grumbled, sliding off the exam table. He did not want to think about any of the other tests Owen might do. They would defiantly be worse than just a blood test.
"I suppose, just not with him," Owen replied, jerking a thumb in Jack's direction.
"Oh but he's the best playmate around!"
"Didn't need to know that mate, and why do I get to be the mom?"
"Do you honestly want to be him?" Ianto asked.
Owen blanched at the prospect. "No."
"HEY! I'll have you know I am handsome, dashing, and incredible in bed," Jack said, sounding a little indignant. Who wouldn't want to be him?
"Jack handsome and dashing mean the same thing," Ianto said, grabbing a cotton ball and pressing it to the small needle mark.
"I know. I can't help it that I need multiple synonyms to communicate my level of greatness." Jack shrugged, it wasn't his fault he was just that perfect.
"Bloody full of yourself and a show off, is what you are." Owen snorted.
"Am I?" Jack directed towards Ianto.
"I believe Rhys said the same thing before and my answer still hasn't changed." Jack growled playfully in return.
"If you two would like to move this somewhere else it would be appreciated, I actually have work to do," Owen tossed a plaster at Ianto and pointed to the stairs.
Ianto rolled his eyes and left the medical bay with Jack following closely behind. "I guess if even Owen is working, we should be doing something too."
Jack looked puzzled. "When am I not working diligently?"
"Don't answer that. I should go down to the archives for a few hours," Ianto said, stopping at the top of the stairs.
"Are you sure you will okay down there? We still don't know what's going on with your memory." Jack said cautiously, kissing Ianto on the forehead.
"Jack, I'm not made of glass. I just want to get a few hours worth of work done and not think about this yet. Is that okay?" Ianto asked, not sure that he wanted to be alone but he still had the instinctual need to hide in the archives. It was the one place he could go and truly hide from the world and his problems.
"Fine," Jack sighed. "But for reference I am going to watch you through the CCTV."
"You worry too much." Ianto leaned into Jack and gave him a warm kiss. "If I'm not back when Tosh comes in, call me and I will make some coffee and snacks."
"Alright but if you feel off come back up here. I'll be watching." Jack made the time old motion of 'I'm watching you' before heading back to this office.
"Pervert," Ianto called at Jack's retreating back.
