Chapter One


Eyes closed I lean back against the railing, I can feel the cold metal press into my back even through the thickness of my suit. Jack's standing on the step above me and I can feel the smug amusement rolling off him as we both wait for out 'guest' to arrive.

"You're awfully pleased with yourself," I mutter not bothering to open my eyes. I feel Jack's hand briefly rub down my arm, stopping so the back of our hands brush as we stand shoulder to shoulder.

"We need her help Ianto, between the two of us, we may know a fair bit but she's the expert," Jack said and I open my eyes to peer up at him.

"I know, but you're still too happy about this," I raise an eyebrow as he grins down at me, the man is impossible sometimes.

"I admit, it could be fun,"

"It could be disastrous," I retort, there is no way this visit is going to go smoothly for me; at the very least I'm going to end up completely embarrassed. God why did I agree to this? Why did I let her agree to this?

"Do you even remember when you two first met?"

"I've had worse first meetings." Jack shrugs

I look at him in disbelief, "She slapped you, the minute you opened the door! I didn't even have a chance to introduce you."

"I've also had better first meetings," Jack leers down at me, both of us remembering our first meeting in the woods with the weevil and I can't help the smile that creeps across my face as he gently bumps against me.

"Hey, at least I didn't sleep with her," Jack grins and I swear if I had have been drinking at that moment I would have choked on it. Jack often managed to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

"Not for lack of trying, from what I hear," I retort, Jack pretends to look abashed and fails miserably.

"Your grandfather was scary! No soldier was touching his daughter. He used to come after me with a shotgun for crying out loud," Jack actually sounds offended for a moment but I can sense nothing but amusement from him.

"Yes, well at some point you're going to have to re-meet him as the man dating his grandson," I smirk at him but I'm distracted by another presence entering the hub, one I haven't felt for months but know as well as I know myself.

I can feel Jack's affection as he watches me realizing what's happening as I turn eagerly towards the door as it roles open.

Mum steps through the door and I can feel her awe as she stares around the room. I thought she'd seen the hub before but Jack did tell me once it had been redesigned in the late 90s so maybe she hadn't seen it since then. She's dressed in her normal clothes, there was very little mum would get dressed up for; if she was going somewhere she was going to be comfortable. Her normal briefcase and laptop are in her hands as she pauses just outside the cage and smiles up at us.

For some reason I'm suddenly unsure what to do, I know the team is probably watching us on the CCTV so do I greet her like I normally would or should I be more professional?

Jack obviously doesn't care either way as he bounds down the stairs and pulls her into a hug. Mum only just manages to put her laptop on the ground before he's grabbed her and it teeters slightly looking like it's about to fall. Knowing how delicate the specialized sensors were I reach out and steady it, the faint blue glow that flickers around it the only sign that anything unusual has happened.

Mum lifts her briefcase and bops Jack on the head with it, and not lightly either if the thunk it makes is anything to go by, then again Jack does have a bit of a hard head.

Jack steps back rubbing his head and without another word mum and I step forward and she pulls me into a tight hug; which I'm more than happy to return whether the others are watching or not, "Hi mam,"

She pulls back holding me at arms length appraising my appearance, whatever she was looking for she seems to find it as she smiles at me with a nod and turns to look at Jack.

"Glad to see you're taking care of my boy Jack," she even managed to say it with a completely straight face even though I can sense the teasing coming from her I still flush in response.

"Mam," I groan and I imagine I sound somewhat like a child, only proving the point that I'm still young enough to need taking care of, but I don't care. It's only Jack here and he knows me better than anyone else, except for Mam of course.

Both of them grin at me and I roll my eyes. Slipping the briefcase from Mam's hand I also pick up her laptop as Jack offers her his arm.

They whisper quietly between themselves as we make our way up to the conference room where the others are waiting. I know that they're talking about me but I don't mind, neither of them can hide anything from me, nor do they need to.

As they walk up closer to me, Mam giving me a fond smile and Jack a wink. I briefly wonder what has been said and then the information floods from Mam's mind in a series of emotions that I've spent years learning to interpret. As I suspected she was checking up on how I'd been both at work and personally and who better to get the information from than the Boss I'd been dating for almost a year.

"You could have just asked me, you know," I say as they step past me so Jack can lead Mam into the room first.

"Where's the fun in that though?" Mam replies, "Besides Jack's a better gossip than you are." Jack looks like he's not sure whether to be offended or amused, but he quickly schools his features as the door slides open and we walk into the conference room.

The team looks up with varying degrees of interest as we enter. With some amusement, though no surprise I realize that Tosh's interest is also directed somewhat at myself. Trust Tosh to be the one to be curious about our relationship.

"Everyone, meet Doctor Valma Linth, she'll be helping us out on this case," Jack explains as he gestures for Mam to take a seat beside him at the table, the place where Gwen normally sat. The Welshwoman was grudgingly sitting on the other side of Owen and I'm pretty sure she was wondering why she was the one to give up her seat beside Jack instead of me, but she'd never say anything as petty as that in front of Jack.

I place Mam's bags beside her chair and she smiles at me, I can sense her pride at what a good boy I've grown into and quickly have to squash my amusement.

"Ianto, think you can work some coffee magic?" Jack asked giving me an escape for a moment, he'd obviously been able to sense I needed it before I let something slip that the others didn't need to see. We'd both agreed it would be easier if the other three didn't know my relationship with our visiting consultant.

"Of course Jack," I reply, sending him a thank you mentally as I give my normal 'butler' nod and leave the room heading for the coffee machine.

While the water heats I let my mind wander, I can sense uncertainty and worry from Jack, from Mam I can sense nothing, she's blocking me. Both of these facts confuse me and not for the first time I wish my empathic abilities were stronger so I can sense what the rest of the team is feeling.

My empathic ability worked only on those I was linked to and I couldn't get so much as a whisper from anyone else. I'd been linked to Mam, Tad and my sister my whole life, I don't remember ever not being able to sense them. I'd never had a connection with anyone else until Jack, not even Lisa. The first time we'd actually slept together, not just shagged in the office, when we'd woken the next morning and the link had just been there.

Hadn't that been a fun conversation.

Once I'd finally got around to introducing Mam and Tad to Jack, (and she'd gotten over her initial reaction to me dating the notorious Jack Harkness) I'd asked Mam about it. The best she could come up with was it had something to do with Jack's natural evolutionary advantage. We still weren't entirely sure why or how I'd linked to Jack, just that I had and it had done amazing things to strengthen our relationship.

If Jack knew how to block me, he never had. Mam however had raised a child who could sense what she was feeling, she had learnt to block very quickly and had soon taught Tad and eventually Rhiannon when she was older and more responsible. Personally I think Mam waited to teach Rhiannon because she liked having me as a lie detector.

The water finished heating so I began making their drinks, exactly the way they each liked them. I barely had to think about it anymore, as often as I made them all drinks it was second nature. Just like it was second nature to have the milk float out of the fridge and onto the bench beside me, knowing the team was busy and wouldn't see.


Balancing the tray on one hand while keeping it steady with my mind I press my hand to the button and wait for the door to open, all sound coming from the rooms suspiciously stops.

As I step into the room, everyone looks at me but I ignore, them concentrating on not spilling the drinks without using my abilities to help. Balancing my tray on the edge of the table next to Mam I calmly hand out the mugs to the correct people trying to ignore the awkward silence that seems to have settled over the room at my return. Mam is still blocking me so I can't sense anything from her and Jack is so full of nervous amusement that he is no help to me.

Finally looking up, I take in the faces of the rooms occupants trying to figure out what is going on. Mam is flicking through her reports, but she isn't reading them; most of her concentration would be focused on blocking me at the moment.

Gwen looks like she's about to faint, those huge eyes of hers are staring at me and I find myself wondering just how much bigger her eyes could get before they pop out of her head and Owen, had gone red.

Tosh smiles at me tentatively and I return the smile trying to reassure her. Tosh is my closest friend besides Jack and the thought of her being nervous around me bothers me.

Even if I couldn't sense his feelings, Jack would be the biggest tell in the whole group. For an ex-con man, I found him remarkably easy to read sometimes. Turning back to Mam I frown down at her and she finally looks up at me with that fake innocent expression of hers.

"What did you do?" I ask scowling down at her almost dreading the answer.