Ianto woke the next morning in a much better mood then he'd been in the day before. He was reluctant to admit it, but part of it was because of Faith. Annoying though she may be, she was rather growing on him.
"Good morning." Faith chirped when he came out of his room. "I made you some muffins." she said as she held out a plate of what looked to be black rocks.
"Did you?" he asked hesitantly. "You shouldn't have." he said as he took one. "I didn't know you could cook."
"Neither did I." she answered. "But I found a cookbook on one of your shelves and thought I'd give it a go." she smiled. "Well, what do you think?"
"It's interesting." Ianto said as he forced himself to swallow the piece he'd been able to get his teeth into, only to find the inside was still pure batter. "A liquid center, always a nice surprise."
"You don't like them." she said, her chipper attitude quickly fading. "I did everything the recipe said to." she told him as she held up the book.
"Not everyone is a cook." he said as he tossed the rest of the muffin. "I need you to do something."
"I assume it's not making dinner." she said gloomily.
"No, no." he shook his head. "I need you to just stay here today." he said. "I need to talk to Jack and the others, and it'd be best if I wasn't looking like a raving madman while doing it."
"So, you're going to tell them about me?" Faith asked, worry showing on her face.
"If you want us to help, I have to." Ianto answered as he gulped down some water trying to get rid of the charred muffin bits.
"So, I'm to just stay here in your flat all day?" she asked, not liking the sound of being cooped up at all.
"No, you can go outside, wander around, so long as you promise not to leech." he said as he grabbed his coat. "Promise."
"I promise." Faith said with a nod. "It's going to be hell, but I do keep my promises." she assured him.
"All righty then." he said as his hand rested on the door knob. "I'll see you later, hopefully with some good news. Oh, and when you go out, don't do it invisibly. Let people see you."
"I will." she said, thinking a large part of her fun would be gone that way. "What if they refuse?" Faith asked as Ianto was about to close the door behind him.
"If they do, we'll figure something out, if you can keep your promise." he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile, and left.
Faith was bored out of her mind just sitting about Ianto's flat. By eleven she'd compeletely lost interest in anything on television and had decided to clean up a bit. That she figured she could do without burning anything. She hoped.
"I can't believe you did that, Gary!"
"Like you have any room to talk, you've shagged half of Cardiff!"
"You said you'd gotten over that."
"Well I lied then didn't I? How does it feel, Simone?"
Faith could hear a man and a woman arguing next door. She tried to ignore, even though she could feel their emotions oozing as they fought on. She busied herself scrubbing the bathtub, trying to concentrate on anything but them.
"Oh, please shut up." she whispered. The urge to feed off those strong feelings coming from the other side of the wall were gnawing away at her. Her hands began to shake and finally, she threw the sponge down in defeat. She had to get out of their. She had to keep her promise.
"What are you doing with my football gear, Simone?"
"Tossing it all out the window!"
"Don't you dare."
"What are you going to do to stop me, eh Gary?"
"Oh, you've pleanty of stuff that can pay for it if you do, you little slag!"
"Don't call me names..."
"You've done enough to earn them, might as well use 'em!"
The last statement was followed by a crashing sound outside and yells from the sidewalk below. Simone had gotten some form of revenge and Gary, Faith was sure, was getting ready to do the same. Quick as a shot, Faith was out the door, covering her ears and heading out the door of the building.
"Jack, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something." Ianto said as he handed Jack a cup of tea.
"What is it?" Jack asked as he took the tea.
"Well, see, the thing is..." he began, but was quickly interupted as Gwen came running in.
"We've got a bit of a situation at the docks." she said. "Some weevils are on the loose."
"Let's go then." Jack said as he stood up and grabbed his coat. "Can this wait?" he asked Ianto as he headed for the door.
"Yeah, sure." Ianto said, hoping it could.
"We'll be back as soon as we can." Jack said with a smile as he dashed off after Gwen and Tosh. "You two play nice while we're gone." he called back to Ianto and Owen.
"So, you feeling better?" Owen asked after the others had left. "You looked like hell."
"Aww, thanks." Ianto replied. "I think it was the new soap I'm using, supposed to bring out that sought after haggard look." he added as he headed back to the kitchen.
"Well, sorry I mentioned it." Owen said. "You know what you need?"
"Oh, please tell me." Ianto said.
"A woman and a good stiff drink." Owen replied.
"Just because a drunk woman does wonders for you doesn't mean it does for everyone, you know." Ianto said, rolling his eyes, wishing Jack had taken him with them.
"At least I have a life outside Torchwood." Owen muttered as he sat at his desk.
"So do I, more than you think." Ianto shot back before leaving the room.
"We have to be careful, Larry."
"You keep sayin' that, Trish, but I know."
"Well if you know, then keep your hands out of my blouse!"
"Come to work in a burlap sack, maybe I won't be so tempted."
Faith groaned as she heard a conversation, where she didn't know. It seemed that the longer she went without giving into the desire to feed of all the emotions around her, the more she was able to pick up. She didn't have to be anywhere near the people talking, yet she could hear them.
It was driving her up the wall not to be able to just give in. Why did she have to be in the middle of the city? Why couldn't she have picked someone in the country? Because she was an idiot, that's why.
"Oh, Percy. If only you were a man instead of just a dog..."
"Just keep in mind that I am a dog, lady."
Faith looked around the park and her eyes came to rest on a woman who appeared to be in her fifties watching her dog running about.
"Somethings should remain unheard." Faith muttered as she quickly walked along. The last thing she wanted was to read people's minds, but she couldn't help it. But she had yet to feed of the loneliness, rage, vengence or any of the other many, many emotions she'd come across so far that day. Of that she was supremely proud.
She spent another hour or two wandering around, trying to find a place where she wasn't picking up bits of tawdry conversation or people's disgusting and disturbing thoughts, but it was no good. Finally she headed back to Ianto's, stopping by the store around the corner and purchasing some ear plugs, anything that might keep sound out.
By the time she got back to the flat, she had a splitting headache and she was wishing she hadn't made that promise, or that she wasn't actually a woman, or alien, of her word.
"Who are you?" a small, old woman asked as Faith was getting ready to let herself into the flat. " I said, who are you?" she repeated. "I saw you come back with the Jones boy last night."
"With all due respect, I don't think it's any of your business." Faith answered, trying her hardest not to crack the woman over the head with her umbrella.
"This is a respectable building." the old woman went on. "There are families that live here."
"That's very nice." Faith answered.
"If you and that Jones boy are shacking up." the woman wagged her finger in Faith's face. "I'm having none of that."
"And as I said, you old bat, it's none of your bloody business who I am." Faith said as she swatted the wrinkled finger out of her face. "Go back into your flat, and mind your own business." she added, quickly losing her temper.
"How dare you!" the old woman gasped. "The nerve."
"You're one to talk." Faith laughed "You come out here, asking me who I am, what I'm doing with that "Jones boy", and you're going to preach to me about manners?" she stepped forward. "I've had a very rough day, my head is killing me and if you don't go back into your flat and leave me the hell alone, I'll beat you with your umbrella."
"Rude, insolent child." the old woman hissed. "No respect for your elders."
"Earn it, old woman, and I'll give it." Faith said as she opened the door, eager to try to get away from the invading voices. "Now, sod off!" she added as she slammed the door behind her, leaving the woman staring in horror.
Ianto was putting a few things away when his mobile rang, looking down, he recognized the number of the manager of his building.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Mr.Jones?" the voice on the other end answered. "It's Hank Lewis calling. I'm afraid I've gotten a few complaints about the noise coming from your place."
"Noise?" Ianto asked. "What kind of noise?"
"Music and the tellie." Mr. Lewis answered. "And Mrs. Gadarn has been ringing every ten minutes for the last hour complaining, telling me I need to toss some young woman out of your flat." he said. "I assume if there's a young woman in your flat, you know about it."
"Yes, I know." Ianto sighed. "I'll be 'round in fifteen minutes to clear all this up."
"Please hurry, Mr. Jones." Lewis pleaded. "Mrs. Gadarn is relentless."
"I've got to run home for a bit." Ianto told Tosh as he grabbed his coat.
"Is everything OK?" she asked, looking up from her screen.
"Yeah, I've got a neighbor complaining about noise." he said.
"Did you leave something on this morning?" she asked.
"Must have." he shrugged. "Be back as soon as I can." he said as he headed out the door.
"There you are, Mr.Jones." Mrs. Gadarn said as she came out of her flat, looking around to make sure Faith wasn't about to pop out of nowhere. "That girl you've staying with you, she's a very bad sort."
"I'm sure there was just some misunderstanding." Ianto said as he took out his key, grimacing as the sound of music and voices blared from the other side of the door. "Sorry if she upset you."
"Upset doesn't begin to describe how I felt." the old woman said. "To have one's safety threatened at one's own front door..." she stopped as Ianto slammed the door to his flat. "Young people." she snorted as she went back in to her own place.
"Faith!" Ianto called as he turned the volume on the television down and turned it off, and did the same with the stereo. "Faith?" he called again. "What's going on?" he asked as he looked around. As he walked into his bedroom, he could see a strange bulge under his mattress and moved around to the side of the bed. "Faith?" he said as he lifted the mattress to find her laying there, her head covered by a pillow, sobbing.
"Ianto?" she said through the pillow.
"What's going on?" he asked as he pulled her from the boxspring and layed the mattress back down.
"The voices." she said as she held her hands over her ears. "All day, the voices."
"What voices?" Ianto asked as he made her sit on the edge of the bed.
"The voices of people all over Cardiff." she said. "Conversations and thoughts." she sighed. "It seems the longer I go without using them, the stronger they get."
"So you turned up the volume on the tv and stereo and buried yourself under my mattress?" he asked, trying not to laugh at the situation seeing as how she was truly distressed.
"And earplugs." she said as she took them out of her ears. "Fat lot of good they did me."
"But, you never did anything?" Ianto asked.
"No, I wanted to." Faith said, drying her face with the back of her hand. "You wouldn't believe some of the things I've heard today. Four extra-marital affairs, three quickies in the loo at the corner pub, two flaming rows..."
"And a partridge in a pear tree." Ianto finished.
"What?" Faith asked completely lost.
"Nothing, just a Christmas song." he explained.
"What does a bird squatting in a tree have to do with the birth of a religious figure?" she asked.
"About as much as the milking maids, leaping lords or swans aswimming." he said shaking his head. "Anyway, you've made it all day, even through all this, without leeching?"
"Yes." she nodded, still trying to figure out what he was talking about with that song. "I've never had this happen before, and I don't know if I can keep doing this, Ianto."
"I know." he said. "But you've done really well, Faith." he added, squeezing her hand.
"Did you talk to them?" she asked, hoping they'd know some way to make this easier for her.
"No, they kept getting called out." he answered.
"And each time they left you behind?" she asked, feeling annoyed, even if he didn't.
"It's a good thing, if I'd been out this last time with Jack and Gwen, I'd not have gotten the call from Mr.Lewis." Ianto said, trying to play it down, even it had bothered him at the time.
"You've the most horrible neighbor you know." she informed him.
"Mrs. Gadarn is the biggest reason Lewis called me." Ianto laughed. "She said you'd threatened her and that you were a "very bad sort", you made quite an impression."
"I'm good at that." Faith said with a smile. "I'd be surprised if I was the first to want to hurt the old bat though."
"No, you're not." Ianto said. "You're just the first to actually threaten to do so."
"You're all too nice." she said as she rubbed her temples.
"How you feeling?" he asked as he watched her.
"Slightly better, but still feel like hell." she answered.
"Come on, I think it's time you introduced yourself to the others." Ianto said as he held out his hand. "Feel up to it?"
"If my choices are going through all this again or meeting those ungrateful little twits, I'll go with the twits." she said as she took his hand and stood up.
"I'd leave out the ungrateful twit part when you ask for help." Ianto suggested.
"That's probably for the best." Faith sighed. "I can be quite sweet and charming when my life and sanity are in the balance."
"Let's see that put to action." he said as he opened the door and followed her out.
Notes: Thanks for your suggestions as to what to do with Faith. Glad this story seems to be going over so well. I have a feeling that the fact that it's a Ianto story helps. Hope you enjoy!!