Chapter 7: The Meeting
"Tad, watch me!"
"I'm watching."
"Watch me!"
"I am," Ianto couldn't help but smile. It had only been five months since he had adopted Harry, but he was truly feeling like a father. Watching his son on the swings, he was filled with a warmth. This person was his responsibility, to protect and to love. This small, helpless child made him happier than he had ever been.
In the park, watching his son swing higher, things were good. His mind was at rest. But at night, in the dark, he saw the bodies of his friends. In the silence, he heard the electronic screams of Lisa. The only thing that gave meaning to Ianto's life was Harry. There was no meaning in the two secretarial jobs and three barista jobs he had already had that year. His life was torn between the love and joy he felt for his son and the hopelessness he felt on his own.
A small body slammed into him and a toothy smile radiated up from Harry's face. "Did you see me?" He panted.
"I did," Ianto lifted Harry into his arms and the little head dropped to his shoulder, "you went really high. Are you done? Ready to leave?"
Harry mumbles a no but the gaping yawn told Ianto otherwise.
"What if I tell you we can come back tomorrow?"
Harry paused and considered the question, like he any choice in the matter. "That would be fine."
"It would be fine?" Ianto couldn't help but chuckle at the attempt at maturity. "Well then, we'll see how high you can swing when we come back."
After Lisa's death and Ianto's subsequent three day disappearing act, Harry had been extremely clingy. Every night he wanted to sleep with Ianto and most nights Ianto gave in. Every day Harry didn't want to go to school and Ianto would be forced to pull small fingers from his clothes as Harry was passed to the teacher kicking and screaming. It would have been impossible to explain what had really happened, so Ianto had told everyone an edited story about how someone close to Harry had died and it had brought up his abandonment issues from before his adoption. In the end, Harry's feelings had settled and the last remnant of the trauma lay in the way Harry always carried around the stuffed rabbit that he had been given at the group home.
But even with the outward signs of distress fading, it worried Ianto that his behavior had affected his son in such a negative way. It broke his heart to see Harry cry, knowing that he wouldn't always be able to protect him from pain. But he knew that for the rest of his life he would do everything he could to not be the cause of Harry's pain.
"Bunny!"
At Harry's yell Ianto hit the brakes, forcing the car behind them to swerve out of the way. The other driver yelled profanities as he passed them. Ianto turned around, ready for anything, but all he saw was a little boy crying his eyes out.
"What is it? Harry?" Ianto asked, as he pulled the car over.
"Bunny," Harry whimpered.
"What about Bunny?"
"He's gone." These words were wailed from the back seat.
"Did you leave him at home?"
"No, the park!"
"He's back at the park." Ianto's eyes bugged out and Harry burst into a fresh set of tears. Ianto couldn't help but curse under his breath, Harry wouldn't be able to sleep without that bloody stuffed rabbit and it was already getting dark. Making up his mind, Ianto continued to drive toward their flat.
"No, go back!" Ianto winced at the high-pitched shriek, "You have to save Bunny!"
"Harry," It was meant to sound calming but it came out as more irritated.
"Tad, go back."
"Harry, listen," Harry sniffled and cried but the wails died down. "I'm going to leave you with Ms. Lewis and then I'll go get Bunny."
"You will?" Ianto wasn't sure that his son could sound any needier than he did in those two words and it briefly crossed his mind that he would do anything for his son, he would kill for him, he had killed for him. That line of thinking was too much for Ianto, so he pushed it to the back of his mind and continued to drive.
They had moved shortly after Lisa's death. The place that Ianto had before was somewhat run down, it wasn't falling down but it wasn't the ideal place to raise a child in. There was paint coming off the walls and at night the pipes creaked loud enough to wake Harry up.
One day, an older boy told Harry that there was a monster in the pipes and that was why they creaked at night. Harry cried every time the pipes would wake him up and it would take Ianto an hour of cuddles to get him to go down again.
When they moved to their new flat, the first question Harry asked was if there were monsters living there too. Knowing what he did about the world, Ianto could not tell Harry there were no monsters, so instead he got down to Harry's eye level and promised him that he would never let anyone or anything hurt him. Ianto knew that realistically he could not keep this promise but it was one he would try to keep every day of his life.
It turned out to be good thing that Ianto didn't swear there wouldn't be any monsters in their new flat, because later that same week they bumped into the woman across the hall. And to put it lightly, human would not be the right word for her. Ms. Lewis was in fact Diplosian from the planet Diplos.
Knocking on the door now, Ianto hoped she would be in as he hadn't called ahead. Harry had cried himself to sleep in the car and he hadn't wanted to risk waking him. Since meeting, Ms. Lewis, as she insisted to be called by everyone, had become a trusted ally. Now that the father and son duo lived farther from Rhiannon, it was good to have someone that was willing to help out now and again. And if Harry happened to speak words from a language Ianto had never heard before, it was a small price to pay.
Ianto knocked again and heard a faint call to enter from inside the flat. As soon he entered to flat, Ianto caught sight of the silver skinned woman with her hair up in a red scarf. When they had first met it was a shock to say the least but Ianto quickly introduced himself and explained his familiarity with extraterrestrial species. It took a while longer to convince her that he meant her no harm. She was in fact now one of the few people familiar with Harry's unique set of abilities.
"Ms. Lewis," Ianto asked, "I was hoping you could do me and favor and watch Harry." He quickly went on to explain the situation and promised to return in less than hour, Bunny or no Bunny.
"Of course I'll watch the little darling." Ianto handed over the sleeping child, smiling at the posh way Ms. Lewis always spoke. As if she had been raised among the London Elite and not on another planet, thousands of light years away. Ianto just thanked God that she happened to land on Earth of all places.
By the time Ianto got back to the park, it was pitch black outside and the only car in the car park was a black SUV.
Ianto jogged back to where they had been playing earlier that day and where he remembered last seeing the bunny. As he slowly walked, tracing their steps of earlier, he heard a growling and snarling coming from up the hill to his left. He paused a moment and was about to continue when a humanoid shape darted across the trail just 30 yards in front of him. The thing paused for a second and as it turned its head, Ianto caught sight of a set of large sharp teeth. The beast was unmistakable, it was one of Cardiff's infamous weevils. Though they primarily stayed in the sewers, when they left the damp dwelling it was only to bring violence to the world above. Torchwood One had heard many stories of agents' lives being lost to the sharp claws and fangs.
It was with a sigh of relief that Ianto noted the beast had not seen nor smelt him. But the relief was short lived as a second figure appeared, yelling in triumph and tackling the weevil, sending both farther down the slope.
Instinct told Ianto to run as far and as fast as he could. But Ianto had long since abandoned instinct in favor of working for a company that encouraged its employees to be proactive to the point of stupidity.
When it was clear that no one else was coming to help the fool, for that is what he was, and the yells of triumph had begun to turn into cries of pain, Ianto began a quick descent of the hill, grabbing a club like stick on his way down.
By the time he reached the two, the weevil was on top of the man. The beast was making a wet snarling noise and seemed to have the man's throat in its jaws. For his part, the man was doing a marvelous job of continuing to scream while having his throat ripped out.
Ianto hit the beast twice in the back and as it swung around toward him he hit in the head before it lunged at him. He grabbed its arms and held it at bay. The long teeth, dripping with blood, were just inches from his face. It was so much stronger than him, he knew he would only be able to hold on second longer and the other man would be no help at this point. The last bit of hope was beginning to fade and regret was beginning to set in as the man, on the ground dying just a second before, tackled to the creature once again. It was quickly subdued with weevil spray and a bag was put over its head.
Danger now past, Ianto threw the stick he was still holding to the side and took the opportunity to study the person in front of him. The man was obviously Torchwood. If the way he dealt with the weevil hadn't given it away, his clothes would have. Agents always seemed to have a flare for the dramatic and this man was wearing a dark-blue RAF trench coat, complete with matching slacks, a button-down shirt and suspenders. Ianto only briefly let his mind wander to how well the coat fit the man's frame.
This was obviously Captain Jack Harkness. Infamous flirt and charismatic leader of Torchwood Three. Yvonne had spoken about him many times, it was always half complaining and half admiring. No matter the man's faults, he kept Cardiff safe from the countless dangers that came through the rift.
And now he was turning toward Ianto with suspicion in his blue eyes.
"Thanks," Ianto said, and immediately began to kick himself for not thinking of something better to say.
"No, thank you," the Captain said in his distinctly American accent, "And you are?"
"Jones, Ianto Jones." He went back to mentally kicking himself. There goes his James Bond obsession again.
Jack held his hand out and Ianto gave it a firm shake. "Nice to meet you Jones, Ianto Jones. Captain Jack Harkness."
With nothing else to talk about, Ianto brought their attention back to creature at their feet. "Lucky escape."
"I had it under control," Jack said defensively.
"You think so?" Ianto almost laughed and Jack tried to smile like this was just a normal night in the park. Two strangers just running into each other. Ianto wasn't going to let the Captain just blow him off. "Looked pretty vicious. You're, um…" Ianto reached out to where Jack had been bitten but then stopped in shock, "You were bleeding."
Jack chuckled, "Had worse from shaving."
Never one to let himself be sidelined, Ianto said, "Looked like a weevil to me." Jack froze.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The tension was almost palpable, "I'll take it from here." He reached down and hauled the weevil over his shoulder before walking away from Ianto. "Thanks for assistance." It sounded much less sincere with time around.
"Any time." Ianto called after him, "By the way, have you seen a stuffed rabbit laying around?"
A/N
Thank you all for being patient with this update. I hope you enjoyed it.
