CHAPTER 4 - Dancing
The next morning found the team back at it. Jack and Ianto had negotiated things to both of their satisfaction the night before.
Things were pretty quiet all day. There wasn't any rift activity or anything else unusual being reported. Jack had spent the majority of the day in his office. He was supposed to be doing some reports but he had been having difficulty focusing most of the day. Despite his best efforts, his conversation with Gwen from the previous day kept popping into his head. He had done so well to avoid it all for so long, but he was coming to the conclusion that he was going to have to deal with it. He was just afraid that Ianto wouldn't want the same thing he wanted.
His thoughts were broken by Theo announcing he had a demonstration of some alien technology. They all filtered into the boardroom to see what he had figured out.
"Okay. This is brilliant." He put the device at the end of the table. It was a square pillar about two feet tall and looked to be made of shiny blue steel. At the top, it was rectangular; the two sides sticking out beyond the base forming what appeared to be handles. On one side of the top was a raised circle with a black knob about the size of a grape. Theo grabbed onto the handles and pushed forward. The entire top portion slid off to be held like a small computer screen. He tapped his fingers on the solid surface and a screen appeared, showing a number of buttons and a map. He interfaced it with the large screen up on the wall so everyone could see what he saw. He pushed a few more buttons on the screen and the circular device shot off the front and began hovering over the table. The view on the screen changed to show the tabletop. He pressed a few more buttons and the circular device began moving around the room and as it did the view on the screen changed to show whatever the device was above.
"So it's a camera?" questioned Gwen.
"It's much more than that. It is actually more like a drone. It can be sent to follow anyone or anything, giving a live visual of the object. But even more important than that, is this." He pressed a button and cross-hairs appeared in the picture. He moved it above himself and set the target. Pressing another button, the video feed showed what appeared to be a projectile of some sort going towards Theo's shoulder. They all looked at his shoulder to see what the projectile would do. Nothing happened.
"Okaaaay. That's….impressive." Ianto stated in a flat tone.
"Keep watching." Theo pressed a few more buttons and the view on the screen changed, showing a flashing red dot. He sat the controller down and began walking around the room. As he moved, the dot on the screen moved as well.
"So it can track things."
"Yes. The drone can target anything, a person, a car, a boat, a goat, it doesn't matter. Once you have a target identified, you shoot it. The drone shoots a chemical signature onto the object which can then be tracked with the base controller. It can change the chemical signature every time so that you can track multiple targets. The chemical signature is harmless to the object and can't be felt. The base acts as a charging station as well as the location for the multiple agents for the chemical signature. The best part is that it cannot be detected because there is no electronic pulse or energy released from the chemical signature like there is with a standard bug."
"Good work Theo. But like everything, I don't want it being used without my authorization." Jack clapped his hand on the other man's shoulder as he stood to leave.
"Okay. I guess it is impressive," Ianto conceded.
They all left the boardroom and returned to their workstations. Shortly after, they started readying themselves to leave. As usual, Ianto was the last one. Jack came down to find him in the kitchen area.
"I'll be at yours at seven to pick you up."
"Sounds good."
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When they arrived at the restaurant the Maitre d' took them straight to their table. They sat adjacent to one another. When they had first started going out on dates, they would sit across from each other. The problem with that for Ianto was Jack's constant need to touch. It wasn't that he didn't love touching Jack too; it was just the fact that he was very uncomfortable with PDA. When they sat across from each other, really the only way for them to touch was to hold hands across the table top, so they had started sitting adjacent. This way Jack could put his hand on Ianto's leg, or they could lean in a bit to touch arms, or whisper to one another. It also made it easier for Jack to grope his lover, which he often tried, but sitting adjacent made the young Welshman more comfortable, feeling it was more discrete.
They tried not to talk about work stuff when they went out; they spent more than enough time with work. Tonight's conversation had moved over several topics while they enjoyed an amazing dinner. Somewhere in the conversation Theo had come up.
"He's shit with relationships, but he's a hell of a pool player."
"Oh yeah? How do you know that?" Jack queried.
"We went out a couple of nights ago for a pint and to play some pool. Just like with everything he does, he was aces with the pool."
"And he's not good with the ladies?"
"Oh he's good with them, they all want him. But he always picks the wrong one. He found the latest 'girlfriend' in his bed with another guy when he went home to get something. The one before that stole his car."
"Ouch."
"Yeah. He's had eight girls move in with him since he's been here the past ten months."
"Wow! And people talk about me."
They continued talking but Jack found himself a little distracted. He realised that this meant Ianto had been out with Theo the other night. As silly as it seemed, it almost made him giddy to know that. He had been getting himself all worked up over nothing.
They finished up and paid the bill, returning to Ianto's flat.
"Coffee?"
"Sounds great."
The younger man went to prepare the coffee, leaving Jack in the lounge. He put on some soft music and lit a few candles while he waited. When the Welshman returned with the two cups of coffee Jack took them from him and placed them on the side table. He grabbed his lover's hand and slipped his arm around his waist.
"Dance with me."
The two men enveloped one another and began slowly moving to the soft music. The younger man nuzzled the other man's neck, taking in his intoxicating scent. Being with Jack could be so soothing to Ianto. It just felt like it was where he was supposed to be.
At some point Ianto captured his lover's lips in a kiss and they went from dancing to full on snogging, but their pace remained slow and languorous. So often they were frantic in their pace to meet their physical needs, but tonight they were relishing each other. Ianto loved kissing Jack. It was always so sensual; there were times Ianto thought he would cum just from Jack's kiss.
They soon found themselves in the bedroom. Continuing slow and soft, they began undressing each other.