CHAPTER 3 – Sand

The following morning while Ianto was making the mornings coffee, Jack entered the kitchen area and slipped his arms around Ianto's waist from behind. Trailing kisses up the side of his neck, he whispered in the younger man's ear.

"Good morning."

The Welshman smiled as he turned to face his lover. He leaned forward to capture the immortal's lips in a kiss.

"Morning. Anything going on today?"

"Nothing yet. But we can change that," he said pulling the younger man's hips closer to his own.

"Gwen and Theo will be here soon. But I could use some help down in the archives at half ten."

Jack grinned and leaned in for another kiss. It was interrupted when the cog door sounded Theo's arrival. After greeting one another they all headed to their work stations. Gwen trailed in shortly after.

Up in his office Jack was playing things over in his head. Well, Ianto seemed to be his "normal" self this morning. Still, he hadn't even mentioned his activities of the night before. Was he keeping it from Jack because he didn't want him to know, or was Jack just being paranoid about nothing? He had the same conversation with himself most of the previous night, being that there was no way he was going to get any sleep. This was really beginning to bug him. He sat watching Ianto from his office to see if he might figure something out. He watched as the Welshman made coffee for his teammates and delivered it to them. When he gave Gwen her's, he stayed and spoke with her for some time. Maybe he was talking about what he had done the previous night. The rift activity alarm pulled Jack from his thoughts and he exited his office.

"Gwen, what's going on?"

"Rift activity on Queen Street. It wasn't a huge spike and I am not getting any readings that indicate life forms. Things are probably pretty busy down there this time of day though, someone should probably check things out to make sure there wasn't something dangerous sent through."

"Right. Gwen, you come with me. Theo, you and Ianto keep an eye on things here and let us know if you get anything else."

Jack and Gwen jumped in the SUV and headed out. When they got to the coordinates of the rift activity, there was nothing obvious. They got out looking around. Gwen tried to remain inconspicuous as she scanned the area for alien life forms or technology.

"Jack, there was something here. There is a residual heat signature from some type of machine or equipment, something electronic and definitely alien. Whatever it was isn't here now though. My guess is someone has picked up whatever it was."

"Okay. Let's just talk to a few of the people around to see if anyone saw anything."

They split up and started talking to people. After fifteen minutes or so they met back at the SUV.

"Any luck?"

"No. People pay no attention to what's going on around them. I guess ignorance is bliss."

"Sometimes knowing as much as we know isn't so great. There are a lot of things I've seen that I wish I never would have. Maybe being blissfully ignorant is the way to go."

Jack's statement took Gwen to that horrifying experience they had at Brecon Beacons. Maybe ignorance was better sometimes.

As they got into the SUV, Ianto contacted Jack on his comm.

"Jack, another rift spike. It's out towards Llanishen. I'm sending you the coordinates. We aren't getting readings of anything unusual though."

"Okay Ianto. We're going to go ahead and check it out just to make sure."

This was good; it would give Jack a chance to talk to Gwen to see what she knew about what Ianto had done the previous night; maybe he had told her when they were talking earlier. He just had to figure out how to work it into the conversation.

"So how are things going Gwen?"

"Brilliant! I just can't get enough of Dylan. I never knew how wonderful being a mam would be. It makes everything we do here have more meaning. And to think I owe it all to you!"

"Uh, I think I would remember if I had something to do with you having a baby."

She swatted at his arm. "Jack. You told me not to let the job consume me. To be normal; eat lasagne, kiss my boyfriend. You had to remind me a few times, but I can't imagine my life without Dylan and Rhys."

They both sat quietly for a few minutes before Gwen spoke again.

"Maybe you should take some of your own advice."

He glanced at her before returning his gaze to the road ahead of him.

"Yeah, well, normal doesn't really apply to me does it? Besides, I've tried and things didn't really work out."

"But how does keeping yourself at arms length and never letting anyone close make anything better? Instead of being miserable for all eternity why not be happy while you can? Wouldn't it be better to be happy and share with someone for a while?"

"Everyone will always leave. Then I have to deal with the hurt of losing them."

"Jack, I know it hurts to lose people we love. Look at Tosh and Owen. Yes, it was incredibly painful to lose them and there will always be a hole, but think about it. When you think about them now, do you think of the pain or the good things about knowing them? You will always have them here." She placed her outstretched hand over his heart.

Jack kept his gaze straight ahead and didn't respond. He wondered how the conversation had gotten here. He was just trying to get some information about where Ianto had been; he didn't actually want to deal with anything like feelings and life. As he took his thoughts further he realized that the reason he wanted to know what Ianto had been doing was because he was having "feelings" about things. Well shit. What had Ianto Jones done to him?

The GPS indicated they had reached their destination. Gwen grabbed some of the equipment and they exited the SUV. They were at the edge of a grassy meadow.

Gwen pointed, "About 30 feet this direction."

As they approached the coordinates, they saw a big pile of sand.

"Sand? You're kidding me." Gwen was a bit miffed.

"Well, I guess it's just as likely as anything to come through. Any other readings, or is it just sand?"

"Just sand."

"Okay then, I guess we should head back." Jack turned back to the SUV. He was kind of dreading the return trip. Gwen had made him think of things he really wasn't ready to deal with and he certainly didn't want to spend the drive back talking about it. Yeah, maybe she had some valid points, but he wasn't ready to think about it. Damn pink elephant!

Gwen considered whether she should try and continue the conversation they had been having. She knew Jack was stubborn, but she could easily give him a run for his money in that category. She really just wanted him to be happy. Yes, there were unresolved feelings for him, but she had made her choice and was happy with where she was. She wanted the same for him. Oh, what the hell; she'd give it another shot.

"Jack. I care about you and I want you to be happy."

"Gwen, can we just leave it?" His tone made him almost sound defeated.

She decided that maybe she had at least planted a seed and would let it go for now.

pdpdpdpdpdpdpdpdpd

When they got back to the hub things were pretty quiet. Theo was working with some alien technology that they hadn't figured out. Ianto was nowhere to be seen; probably down in the archives.

"Hey! What did you find?"

"A whole lot of nothing and sand," Gwen said somewhat exasperated.

"Sand?"

"Sand."

"Okay. Guess I won't have to work too hard to figure that out. We haven't had anything good in weeks."

"Great. Now you've jinxed us. Jack, if all hell breaks loose its Theo's fault."

Jack shouted back over the rail as he went to his office, "We'll just send Theo out to deal with it then."

Ianto had heard Jack and Gwen return and made it back up to the kitchen area.

"Coffee Gwen?"

"That would be great Ianto."

He worked his magic and delivered the elixir to his colleagues before heading up to Jack's office with his cup.

"Coffee?"

"Always. Thanks Ianto." Jack took the cup from the younger man and pushed back a bit in his chair.

The Welshman came around the desk and stood leaning against it with his ankles crossed.

"Anything exciting?"

The older man smiled, "No. Just sand."

"Sand?"

"Sand. Sorry I wasn't here to... help you in the archives this morning." He shot his lover a grin to emphasise his meaning.

The younger man responded, "I was going to... take things into my own hands, but decided to wait until you could assist me."

The immortal ran his hand up his lover's thigh.

"Do you think you might be able to work late tonight to get things taken care of?"

"Will I be compensated?"

"I'm sure we can negotiate something that will meet both of our needs."

Okay. Jack was back. He had managed to stuff all that "feelings" shit down deep enough and was back to focusing on carnal need, flirting, and innuendo. That, he could deal with.