Chapter 2
"What?"
"I told you we were saved by an orange glow but there was a man. He opened a vortex and brought us through. I never saw his face but I felt him. It's taken me a while but that's him." Conway told me.
"Okay. Are you sure?" I asked him.
"'Corse I'm sure. I don't understand it but I know it was him. Just then he had the same mixed up feelings. They don't make sense. He has the same body shape as well." He told me.
"Ianto, where are we heading?" The com asked. I jumped.
"Um… Hang on." I told Jack walking over to Shorty's desk and looking on the screen. "Warehouse 58. Three in front of you." I told him.
"Are you okay?" He asked. He had to ask two more times before I took notice of what he was saying.
"Fine, Ribs are just playing up." I told him, looking over a Conway.
"Maybe you should go and lay down." Said Jack sounding concerned.
"Don't worry about me, deal with the spider." I told him grabbing Conway's hand and dragging him to the lounge. Shorty's com suddenly cut in.
"Stop distracting him." She yelled at me.
"Go Jack. Save Cardiff." I told him with a smile.
"Be careful Ianto. I'll see you later." The com cut out. I looked at Conway, his face was blank.
"Why?" He asked himself.
"As soon as Jack gets back I'll talk to him." I told Conway. He suddenly chuckled, as if the conversation hadn't taken place.
"So you coming to the concert tonight?" He asked.
"Sure am." I old him. Shorty had given me and Conway tickets for Christmas and I have been looking forwards to it ever since.
"Mosh-pit." He yelled, jumping up and down. I laughed.
"I've got to go home and get changed." I told him.
"After the concert were going to go drinking. My uncles dropping us off. We can stop in at your place on the way home." He told me.
"Hey, shows starting." He said walking over and sitting on Shorty's desk chair. I grabbed his chair and sat next to him. "That's hot." He commented looking at the screen as Jack walked into the warehouse with a huge gun over his shoulder.
"Don't get any ideas. He's mine." I said with a laugh. The others followed him in, the same guns sitting on their shoulders. My childish side always came our when I was around Conway and Shorty. I could let myself go and act like the crazy, stupid, over-excited teenager like I was in collage. Shorty was still in her teens and I wanted her to be around people her age. I watched her as she ran across the screen towards the creature, gun raised, firing. The huge ray hit the spider between four of its eight eyes. It convulsed and everyone bolted for the door. Jack was last and as he went through the spider exploded.
"No!" I yelled in despair.
"What?' Cried Conway jumping to his feet.
"I'm going to have to clean that coat." I said quietly. He began to laugh at me.
"Shut up or I'll make you." He shut up immediately. I watched the team wonder onto another screen where the SUV was parked. Jack was covered from head to toe in slimy black liquid.
"Lunch?" I asked him.
"Hell yeah." He said grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. He walked in front of me, his body moving in an amazing manor, his tight jeans showing off his ass.
"Fuck." I whispered to my self as I followed him into the kitchen.
"You know you like it." He told me grabbing a loaf of bread. I opened the fridge and bent to get the meat off the bottom shelf.
"So do you." I told him. He suddenly grabbed my hips, pulling me against his growing erection. I stood up and turned in his arms, his hand brushing against the crutch of my pants. He was taller then me so I stood on my toes, reaching up so our mouths were inches apart.
"Not in a million years." I told him, kissing him quickly on the lips and moving across to the bench.
"Bloody tease." He muttered.
"And now you know how Jack feels." I said not looking up.
7:15pm
I kissed Jack.
"Hurry up Ianto. We still have to get to your house and were fifteen minutes late." Winged Shorty shifting from foot to foot just inside the cog door.
"Coming." I called moving away from Jack.
"Have fun." He said.
"Don't get into any trouble with John." I told him running towards Conway and Shorty who were not walking along the corridor behind the cog door.
"Try not to." He called as it slid into place. We walked along the corridors in silence, and then through the tourist information center. As I closed the door behind me and followed the others across the Plass towards the car park. Shorty and I climbed into my car and Conway drove theirs. Shorty was bouncing excitedly in her seat.
"You really need to calm down, you'll be worn out before you even get there." I commented turning into a side street. She ignored me.
"Are you sure you should go?" She asked turning to look at me. "I mean the mosh-pit isn't pretty and you have broken ribs." She commented.
"I have been waiting for this since Christmas, if I was in a comer I would have woken up, gone to the concert, then fallen back it." I told her, she laughed. I turned into my apartment block and Conway pulled into the parking space beside us. "Do you guys want to come up or wait here?" I asked.
"I need to use your bathroom." Shorty told me. We walked over to the lift and Shorty bounced impatiently until we reached the top floor. I was beginning to wonder if excitement was the reason for Shorty's bouncing. Idella, was bouncing excitedly inside the door as we stepped threw.
"Make yourself at home." I told them, heading for my bedroom. I heard Idella resume her position on the lounge then growl as Conway tried to sit next to her. I pulled on a light coloured t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Before walking back out into the lounge room where Shorty was now sitting on the arm of the lounge stroking the Great Danes head,, Conway was standing near the door to my balcony, looking out across the view of Cardiff. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a can of dog food, feeling sorry for the poor dog. "How can I make you eat this stuff?" I asked myself as it slopped into a bowel. I put it on the floor. "We going?" I asked them, walking towards the front door. Idella wined but stayed where she was. "I'll be home tomorrow, girl." I told her before walking out into the hall way.
"I didn't know you had a dog." Shorty commented, bouncing down the hall. Obviously it was the excitement.
"Not many people do. I probably shouldn't, she's always there alone, I just can't bring myself to get rid of her. She was Lisa's." I told them, walking into the lift. Pain stung my heart as I said the name.
"She's beautiful." Shorty told me trying to distract me. We climbed out of the lift and Conway and Shorty climbed into the front seats of their porch. I climbed in the back. The smell of new car still lingered in the air and I breathed it in. It was a five minute drive to their apartment block. There family of twelve owned a whole floor, thanks to a little help from the Queen of England and her 'research'. We finally pulled into the apartment block where we headed to their floor. Most of the family were sitting in the lounge room watching TV. Ffraid ran over and hugged me.
"Ianto. It's been a while." She commented pulling me over to the lounge as Shorty and Conway disappeared into their bedroom.
11:30pm
I downed another tequila shot. Shorty was sitting on my lap and Conway had disappeared about fifteen minutes ago, probably out fucking some guy in a dark alley way. The pain of my hips was slowly dieing as I filled my body with alcohol. I picked up Shorty's cruiser and took a swig.
"Hey." She winged.
"I bought it." I commented handing it back. She skulled the rest of the bottle.
"We are going to be sooo fucked tomorrow." She commented getting up and walking towards the bar.
"I'll have another beer." I called after her. She stuck her finger up as a girl dragged a chair across so she could sit at the table.
"Girlfriend?" She asked motioning towards Shorty.
"No." I told her with a smile. "I have a boyfriend." I always love to watch their faces when you tell them.
"Oh, sorry." She said walking away as Shorty came back and dumped the glass in front of me.
"We going to leave soon. Lets go find a gay bar." She commented.
"Might have to wait until your brother makes an appearance." I told her looking towards the door.
"Oh yeah. But he'll probably be gone all night." She told me grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door. I skulled the drink and dumped it on a table just inside te door before following her along the street.
6th of February, 2009
I groaned and rolled over, gaining myself a mouthful of grass. I rolled back quickly.
"Shorty." I moaned stretching out, my arm contacting with skin.
"Ianto." She mumbled rolling towards me.
I opened my eyes to look at her, at some point during the night we had lost our shirts.
"You look like shit." I complemented her.
"So do you." She told me. I smiled.
"What's the time." I asked moving my hands so I was hugging her.
"Um…" She looked up at the sun. "Around ten, elevenish." She told me.
"Maybe we should head to work." I commended.
"No." She mumbled pushing her face into my bare chest. I chuckled.
"Come on." I said sitting up and pulling her with me. My ribs throbbed painfully as I climbed to my feet then bent down to help her up. We stumbled through the park where we found Conway walking down the street.
"Where have you two been? I've been looking for you for hours." He called out running towards us. "Peda on his way to get us." He told us as he reached us. I ran my hand across my face.
"Have fun?" I asked them sitting on a wooden bench at the edge of the path.
"'Corse." Exclaimed Shorty. "We should go drinking more often."
"Do you even have a hangover?" I asked her as she bounced up and down in front of me.
"No. We don't absorb the alcohol. It gives us the same feeling of drunkenness but we don't get hangovers." She told me.
"Lucky." I mumbled. The porch pulled up in front of us and we climbed in. I lay across the back seat with my head on Shorty's lap and Conway sat in the passenger seat. When we arrived at the hub we caught he invisible lift down.
"How's the hangover?" Jack yelled in my ear as he hugged me. I pulled back and clutched my throbbing head.
"I hate you." I mumbled walking over and laying across the lounge. Everyone laughed at me as I rolled to face the back of the lounge.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew was that Jack was shaking me.
"Come on. I'll drive you home." He told me helping me to my feet. The car ride seamed to take forever before we finally pulled into my apartment block. He helped me out of the car and we climbed into the lift. Idella went crazy as we walked inside.
"Can you feed her, please." I asked him as I made my way into the bedroom.
"I didn't know you had a dog." He commented as the Great Dane licked him hand.
"You don't know everything about me and I haven't had her for long." I commented. "Dog foods in the top cupboard." I told him pulling off my cloths and climbing into bed in my boxers. After a few minutes he climbed in next to me. I pushed my face into his chest, breathing in the 51st century pheromones. Idella climbed up onto the bed, finding a space between our legs and resting her head on my hip.
30th of February, 2009
I pulled the bag over the weevil's head and shoved the needle into its neck.
"Shorty." I called looking around the dark car park.
"Other side of the SUV." She breathed into the com. I jumped up, leaving the weevil on the groan and ran to find her. She had her hand clutching the large gashes down her chest. I ran over and knelt next to her. I pulled her hand away so I could look at the extent of the damage.
"Shit." I mumbled ripping my shirt open and pulling it off, pressing it into her body. "Come on. Let's get you back to the hub." I moved my hands under her and pulled her up into my arms. She gasped from pain and I lay her across the back seat.
"You know there probably going to be healed before we get back to the hub." She commented, raising one of her thin eyebrows at me. "Yay for Jack." She mumbled. I gave her a weak smile remembering how Jack reacted when his 'curse' was passed onto the family.
"I'll grab the weevil." I told her, closing the door and walking over to the sleeping weevil. I hauled it over my shoulder and lay it in the back of the SUV. I climbed into the drivers seat and sped along the road towards the hub. One arm wrapped around Shorty's shoulder and the weevil hanging over the other I made my way towards along the long halls of the hub. I led Shorty over to the lounge, laying her down before I took the weevil down to the cells. I came back to find Conway gently working on Shorty chest. Jack was leaning against his desk.
"What happened?" He asked when I came to stand next to him.
"I wasn't quick enough." She gasped.
"Sorry." Mumbled Conway. My ribs were aching from the strain I had put them under and I sank into Conway's chair.
"It appeared out of nowhere, it went straight for my throat and Shorty tried to push it out of the way but it got her with its claws." I explain. "Thanks, by the way." I said to her.
"Don't mention it." She gasped again.
"Sorry." Conway mumbled and she hit him across the arm.
"That hurts."
"You think." He mumbled at her.
"What crawled up your ass and died?" Demanded Shorty.
"The body that I was working, the one we found yesterday. It exploded." He explained. We all laughed at him. "I just spent an hour trying to get blood out of my hair. Earth shampoo is crap." He said to us. I walked towards the autopsy area to inspect the damage. Blood was sprayed up the walls and across the roof, what I would expect is brain is sprayed up the stairs and across the walls closest to the door.
"I'll get cleaning." I told them heading for the cleaning supplies cupboard. As I filled a bucket with warm water.
9:30pm
Jack found me on my hands and knees in the autopsy bay, still scrubbing at the alien blood that coated the tiles.
"You work to hard." He told me, sitting on the top step.
"Probably." I mumbled dipping the scrubbing brush into the black water. I sighed and sat back on my feet.
"But Conway will probably need it again tomorrow and he can't work with alien guts everywhere." I commented.
"And you can't work if you are so tired you can't stand." He said leaning on the bottom rail.
"As I said probably." I looked around the room. The floor was still an inch thick in blood but I had managed to scraped it off the walls. I sighed and he walked down and picked me up. I hugged him.
"Come on. You can finished tomorrow. You have to get home to Idella anyways." He said pulling me up the stairs and towards the cog door. I grabbed our coats off the edge on my desk and made our way along the corridor. I was about to climb into the drivers seat when Jack sprinted off.
"Jack?" I called forgetting about the car and following him towards the water tower. That was when I heard it. The soft whirling sound. The blue box slowly appeared, smoke was poring out through the small slits between the doors. Jack had his key ring out and was sorting threw them finally pushing one into the lock and the door swung in ways. I had never seen the TARDIS in read life but Jack had described it to me. Smoke billowed out and suddenly two people stumbled out and feel at our feet.