Chapter 3 - Deniable Attraction

Ianto was lying on his back in the centre of his bed staring endlessly into the expanse of his very dull ceiling. It was white, no patterns, no odd lumps, not even a crack. It was simply white. White, the colour that encompassed the entirety of his flat. He still hadn't put up any posters or photos, let alone unpack any boxes. Unpacking and organizing required thought and Ianto did not want to be thinking right now. So he lay.

He lay in his bed, only a double, but without Lisa it felt enormous. His thoughts drifted to Lisa. She was still sleeping, hopefully peacefully, within the confines of that van. He was getting sick of that van, having to move it periodically so that the residents in the area wouldn't phone 999 about a strange man who spent most of his time loitering in a large white van in public areas. Soon he could get rid of that van and Lisa would be safe with the walls of Torchwood 3, all thanks to the successfulness of his plan.

The plan had worked. It worked far better than he had, well planned. Tomorrow officially starts his first day as a fully paid employee at Torchwood 3. He lured Captain Jack Harkness out across the city with a false Weevil alert and stopped him dead in his tracks. Jack was not pleased, to say the least. Went off on a big tangent about not stalking and wiping memories, even threatening to run him down, but in the end the prospect of hunting a pterodactyl, well really a pteranodon as he learned, got him just as excited as it did Ianto.

So they went dinosaur hunting, again he'd later learn it technically was not actually a dinosaur, but he'd ignore that fact as it took away from the excitement of their little adventure. Ianto got to play the bait, second field mission and he was the bait. Again he got excited at the idea, well until he realized bait implied getting the attention of bloody huge flying beast with enormous teeth. Actually pteranodon's didn't have teeth which once again takes away from the excitement of the story, but it did have claws and a huge arsed beak. The exciting part was that Ianto Jones would hold off the beast armed with nothing more than a bar of dark chocolate. Who would've thought that pteranodon's had a sweet tooth, or was that beak?

They had just worked out their plan and Jack was tempting to soothe the creature with soft words and what does the bastard do? He offers the bloody dinosaur a job. That was definitely a bit of a piss off, but his protests would have to wait, they had a massive winged creature to sedate.

That was when the plan went to shite. They were successful in catching it, Jack injected it with the tranquilizer and knocked the thing out cold. What Ianto wasn't expecting was how good the site of Jack flying about laughing, like a child on Christmas morning, made him feel. The man wasn't scared at all and seemed to trust that Ianto would have his back, while simply having the time of his life.

And then, when Jack was just above Ianto, he fell into the younger mans arms and they collided to the ground, narrowly rolling out of the way dodging the drugged reptile. Ianto lay on top of Jack gazing down into the other mans eyes, both laughing carelessly. For the first time since he dragged himself and Lisa from the ruins of Torchwood One, Ianto was happy. And that scent Jack was giving off was doing things to him, what had he called it, 51st century pheromones? Either way he smelt great. And the warmth, he hadn't been this close to anyone in awhile and it felt good, so he lingered.

He lingered, for how long he wasn't sure. All his mind was thinking about in that time was what it would be like to just close the gap between them and kiss the other man senseless. Senses, that was when he finally came to them. Lisa lay stuck by herself within the confines of a small space for going on two weeks now, he couldn't do this to her. Yes the thought also allowed him to ignore that he almost full on snogged another bloke. So he did what any other self-respecting man would do who was faced with confronting a change in ones sexuality, he took off.

He was almost out the door when he heard the other man speak, stopping him in his tracks.

"Hey. Report for work first thing tomorrow," Jack called out after the retreating man. "Like the suit by the way."

And now here he lay trying to forget everything that transpired today. Forget how good that man smelt, forget how good it felt to be so near him, forget how close he came to betraying Lisa and kissing another man. Forget the sudden dread that was creeping in the back of his mind, dread with how bad he was actually feeling about having to deceive Jack, a man he just met. But he will do it, do it for Lisa and their future.

"Alright everyone, quick team meeting and then go home for the night!" Jack shouted out, his voice echoing throughout the Hub as he the invisible lift descended. Pteranodon still sleeping peacefully at his feet.

"What is that?" Owen asked pointing towards the sleeping pteranodon as he approached.

"That is our new guard dog!" Jack exclaimed unable to control his excitement at the thought of having his very own dinosaur as a pet.

"Your kidding," Suzie interjected staring daggers at the thing.

"I think its fascinating!" Tosh jumped in as she knelt down and stroked its beak gently.

"That's the spirit, Tosh," Jack said as he stepped off the lift to address his now fully assembled team.

"So you're dragging us over to show off the new team mascot?" Owen asked in a sardonic tone as he took out his stethoscope and began checking it over. Hoping no one could see he was actually quite excited at the prospect of having a pet dinosaur. "I'm not cleaning up its shit."

"Which brings me to my second point," Jack beamed at the group.

"No Jack. Tell me you didn't," Suzie interrupted him realizing where the conversation was heading.

"Well, ah. I sort of did, he starts tomorrow," he said smiling to himself as he recalled the excitement of the night. Catching a dinosaur and an Ianto Jones all in the same night. Just now realizing he completely forgot to look into the Weevil sighting he originally went out to investigate.

"What was it that finally convinced you? A quickie in an ally, or a promise to polish the pipes," Suzie chided.

"Actually he helped catch a dinosaur, I'll have you know," Jack retorted sounding more than a little affronted. He would never hire someone for, let alone abuse his potion, such a reason, though he did conveniently leave out the part where he and Ianto tumbled about on the ground and almost kissed. "He's proven he can both handle himself and that he'll have my back when it counts."

"Bet that's not the only body part he'll be having…" Owen decided it best to cut himself off when Jack glared menacingly his way.

"I for one am excited, it's a bit of a workload for just us four," Tosh said truthfully. Even if her and Ianto don't talk much having a kindred spirit floating about would be nice.

"Thank you, Tosh," Jack said. "Now everyone go home and be here for 7:30am, Ianto starts at 8:00am and I want you all ready to greet him."

The group dispersed gradually making their way to the exit, Suzie and Owen grumbling unhappily to each other and Tosh looking rather excited to see her new co-worker again.

Jack jumped about setting up a nest for the Hubs newest occupant. A nice big hole in the wall just below the invisible lift exit. They'll have to find a feeding place ground level and hope she learns to feed from it, else Ianto won't be to thrilled at having to climb that long ladder twice a day lugging 4 stone of fish with him.

Ianto Jones. The man who has been hanging around for almost two weeks driving Jack crazy, yet somehow Jack had managed to completely overlook the man. His opinion of the younger man changed drastically all within the passing of a few seconds. One second wanting nothing more than to run him down in the middle of the street with the SUV, the next mere inches away hoping he'd get over his 21st century mentality towards sex and sexuality and just kiss him.

Oh Jack could see it in Ianto's eyes, how badly the other man wanted to kiss him, could feel his body reacting to the close proximity, body rubbing against body. But Jack has been around long enough to know its got to be at their own pace. He just wanted to make sure that when Ianto Jones finally caught up with his desires Jack would to be there to help him along. He couldn't help but think that things were about to get interesting.

Jack exited the tourist booth just as the clock stroked eight the following morning to find one Ianto Jones waiting patiently for him, thermos and disposable cups in all. He poured one for Jack and handed it to the older man.

"Good morning, sir," Ianto greeted Jack's arrival.

"Good morning. And its just Jack," he replied as he accepted the offered drink. "I have to admit I'm glad you worked out. Don't think I could have gone back to regular coffee after having this."

Ianto smiled at the compliment, probably the only aspect of himself that one could compliment without making him fluster with embarrassment. If he had confidence in one part of his being it was that he could brew damn good coffee.

"As you wish, sir," Ianto replied not even realizing his slip up. He was taught to always address both his elders and people of authority as either sir or ma'am, no exceptions. It was nothing to do with the business environment of Torchwood One, it was all his parents doing.

"This way, Ianto," Jack said waving Ianto over towards the tourist office, smiling at the continuation of the use of 'sir.' Jack fancied that it was Ianto's way of subtly flirting with him, even if it wasn't meant to be. It was just the way it sounded coming off the young mans tongue, in those beautiful Welsh Vowels, it came out sounding positively dirty.

Jack couldn't help but feel embarrassed as the two of them walked into the tourist office. The room was covered in dust and everything was completely out of date. Not a soul had tended to this place in over a decade. The plan was to whisk Ianto in and show off their secret passage, cause everyone loved secret passages. It didn't matter where they led, they were secret therefore loved by all. Especially ones leading to massive underground bases designed to protect the world from alien threats.

Ianto however didn't even bat an eye as Jack hit the button to unveil the secret passage in the wall. He just stared around scowling at all the dust, clearly unimpressed by the lack of cleanliness. Just Jack's luck, a clean freak. The one person in all the world that you could throw in front of a million cool gadgets, dinosaurs, vaults filled with all kinds of exotic creatures and the only thing he asks is…

"When was the last time someone dusted in here?"

To say that Jack was disappointed was an understatement. If the state of the tourist office had Ianto this distracted by lack of cleanliness the rest of the tour was going to be terrible. The rest of the Hub was far worse, takeaway boxes littered everywhere, dirty mugs scattered all over from God knows when. He was pretty sure no one has done dishes in at least a month. So much for showing off, Jack got the feeling he was going to spend the rest of the tour feeling like a scolded child who forgot to clean his room again.

Jack managed to pry Ianto away from the tourist office before the young man had a chance to locate a duster and dragged him down towards the heart of the Hub. The two stood together as the cog wheel rolled aside and Ianto got his first look at the large expanse that was Torchwood 3.

"Jesus," Ianto whispered in awe of everything before him.

"Impressive, right?" Jack asked positively beaming with excitement seeing Ianto finally taking an interest.

"I guess that's a word for it. How the hell did you manage accumulate so much rubbish? Trash can not in the budget?"

"Seriously?" Jack asked gob struck by Ianto's complete disinterest in any of the fantastical things he's shown him. "I show you secret passages, leading to secret underground bases and technology you could only dream of seeing and that's all you can say? Next hire I'm taking them down through the invisible lift!"

"You have an invisible lift?" Ianto asked far more excitedly then he intended to sound.

"Ha! I knew you were impressed!" Jack beamed.

"Yes well, didn't want to stroke that ego of yours, couldn't have it any more inflated than it already is," Ianto said cheekily.

"Why didn't you say so, I have plenty of other things you cold stroke," Jack grinned watching Ianto avert his gaze towards the floor trying to conceal the red colour his face was quickly turning. One of the things Jack loved about 21st century humans was how easily embarrassed they were. Jack loved seeing people blush, people from his time had little shame and even less modesty when it came to sex, so blushers were a rarity. And to Ianto's dismay Jack found him positively adorable when the young man blushed. It was a look Jack would love to see again.

"Careful, sir, that's harassment," Ianto said all the while still smiling.

"Oi! Get a room, we don't need to be hearing that," Owen shouted from his desk effectively disrupting their moment.

"Right," Jack said as he gave Owen a glare, getting further annoyed at the smug grin on the mans face for the interruption. "Introductions. Doctor Owen Harper, resident genius Toshiko Sato and Suzie Costello, my second-in-command." Jack said as he pointed each of them out.

Suzie gave him a curt nod and abruptly turned around and went back to her work, Owen simply waved and did the same. Tosh made her way over and gave him a quick hug to welcome him to the group.

"I'm glad you managed to get Jack to change his mind, not sure what you did but it worked. He was bouncing off the walls with excitement last night when he told us," Tosh said smiling as Jack gave her a disapproving glare at the release of to much info.

But when he saw Ianto fluster again he quickly forgot about what Tosh had just said and enjoyed red glow Ianto was now giving off.

"Alright. Lets head to my office and discuss your roll here and then I'll show you around the rest of the base," Jack said as he led Ianto up the stairs leading to his office.

Ianto entered the room and closed the door behind himself. He gave the room a quick glance as he walked over and sat in the chair opposite the Captain. It was a decent sized office, had a desk, couch, filing cabinets and what looked like a vault of some kind in a corner. The desk was littered with large stacks of papers, nothing really out of the ordinary with the exception of one item, a chunk of coral that lay at one corner.

"So Ianto, tell me what exactly your roll at was at Torchwood One was," Jack asked as he jumped straight into work mode.

"Well I was a junior researcher, as you know. I primarily worked with data entry and statistic analysis. Other tasks included retrieval and returning of items from the archives, so I'm fully aware of the archiving systems and maintenance," Ianto answered.

"Here, all those are useless," Jack stated bluntly. "Sadly our operation isn't big enough to even bother with or gain anything from your skills. If you're interested in a job here I warn you're responsibilities will be rather, mundane."

"That's fine, sir. I take pride in my work no matter what the task. And as you have probably worked out over the past two weeks Torchwood is where I want to be."

"Good to hear. You will act as both my personal assistant and general administrator. Your responsibilities to the team as a whole will include; maintaining Hub cleanliness, making coffee runs, and ordering food once a day and twice if days run long. For me you will be expected both to collect relevant files to current cases from the archives and return finished ones. You will take messages while I'm out in the field and help with the minor day to day stuff. I'd also like you to get that tourist office fixed up and up to date. Don't think we didn't notice how quickly you were able to work us out, I don't want that to happen again. Are you with me so far?" Jack asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I will give you a full written listing of expected tasks tomorrow and remember anything not listed is not your responsibility. I can guarantee you both Suzie and Owen will try and dump as much of their more tedious responsibilities on you as they can. Do not let them or you will quickly be overwhelmed."

"Understood."

"I would also like to have you sit down with Tosh and have her teach you how to cover our tracks. Which includes Retcon and crowed management, scene clean up, planting stories and minor hacking. We tend to have a few regular journalists try to write a few stories surrounding what we do. Simply put you hack their computers and delete anything they have on us. Your file shows you have basic medical training, is that correct?"

"Very basic, I can administer needles, put in an IV, set broken bones but not much more."

"Still, that means we can take Owen out on more field missions if need," Jack added.

"Is that all?"

"I think that covers everything. Owen is in charge of the vaults, but I would like you to feed our new addition that we picked up last night and clean up after it."

"Not a problem," Ianto responded.

"So what did you want to name her?"

"You're asking me?"

"Well, you were the one who found her. Besides I remember you liked naming things so figured you I'd let you do the honours," Jack said smiling at the younger man.

"Hmm, well I always wanted to name a dog Myfanwy."

"Myfanwy, it is," Jack beamed with excitement as he jumped up out of his chair. "Come Ianto, let us go finish your tour."