Four days later – Friday Evening
It was an unseasonably warm evening and in different parts of Cardiff various very worried people were having intense and important conversations concerning individuals who were totally unaware of the concern they were inspiring.
Lisa & Steve
Lisa stirred her coffee and watched Steve Baxter as he made his way across the food court towards her, she sighed, she was going to have to do something about him, he was getting too clingy and assuming too much about what he thought was their relationship and what Lisa knew was just another way for her to control him. Sex made men so easy to manage, a little friction in a warm wet place and a clever woman could lead them around like pet dogs. She snorted, virtually the only thing that made her so-called marriage to Ianto bearable was the fact that the young man seemed to have no interest in her sexually, in fact he seemed practically frigid as a consequence of Harkness' abandonment of him; his entire attention was focused upon that whiny brat of his. She was lucky that she was so good at dissimulation, once Jones was convinced she loved him, making him believe she cared about the brat was easy. He was so desperate to be loved it was almost too easy to manipulate him. She despised Jones almost as much as she despised Baxter; she was surprised how easily he had accepted her back into his life given the state he had been in after loss of his lover but, she had to admit, he had been extremely useful in terms of getting the Torchwood team to trust and accept her and as her husband he gave her instant credibility around both the police and the city council
Baxter placed his coffee down and bent to kiss her. Lisa only just managed to keep the distaste from her face. Thank God she thought to herself, that I only have to put up with this slobbering idiot for another week or so, I just need to decide how to dispose of him. She plastered a fake smile on her face and leant across the table, 'how are things going with the arrangement for the auction?' she asked
Baxter grinned, 'everything is set up and ready to go' he said, 'all but one of the crime syndicates in Cardiff have deposited their joining fee, the Griffiths Group have withdrawn their expression of interest and my sources tell me Owen Griffiths and his lieutenants are preparing to leave the city. Do you want me to arrange...?' he paused delicately
Lisa shook her head, 'no let them go' she said, 'we won't be here to see the carnage when whoever wins the auction moves in to take control of the rift so why shouldn't Griffiths get away whilst he can?'
Baxter stretched his legs out under the table, brushing against Lisa's calf 'I can't believe that in less than two weeks we'll be out of here and beginning a new life on our own private island in the Seychelles.
'Mmm' said Lisa in a neutral manner, 'who else is registered for our event?'
Baxter pulled a small note book from his pocket and flicked through the pages, 'four fundamentalist terrorist groups representing three different religions from the Middle East, two mafia families, a couple of right wing groups from the USA, six Russian syndicates and...' he paused impressively, 'a small covert section of UNIT and the NSA'
Lisa raised an eyebrow, 'Excellent, they should push the bidding sky high. And the auction is scheduled for...?'
'Wednesday, via a secure VOIP channel' Baxter squirmed in his seat, 'I'm still worried though.'
'What about?'
'Partly about how you are going to deal with Jones and the brat but mainly I am concerned about Harkness.'
Lisa snorted, 'Don't be. I have a plan to manage Harkness and Ianto and Carwyn are crucial to it. Harkness will have too much on his plate to worry about what we are doing and my devoted husband and son will have so much going on they will hardly notice I'm not there'
Baxter reached across the table and picked up Lisa's hand, 'God, you are so sexy when you are planning something evil. '
Lisa slipped off her shoe and ghosted her toes over the bulge in Steve's pants, his eyes darkened with lust and he forgot that Lisa had not really shared any real information with him.
Ianto & Carwyn
Ianto quietly closed the copy of "Winnie the Pooh" that he had been reading to Carwyn and placed a soft kiss on the head of his sleeping son 'sleep safe, sweetheart' he said, 'I love you'
The little boy snuffled under his bedding and murmured, 'love you taddy' before relapsing into sleep. Ianto sat on the small bed and looked down at the dark hair of the little boy who was the centre of his world. Leaning to one side, he picked up the photo frame that sat next to Carwyn's bed, running his fingers of the smiling images.
'This is our family, the three of us' he said softly to the sleeping child, 'I want you to know that I love you both so much and I promise I would do anything to protect you, I want you to know that baban and remember it. Sometimes loving people means that you have to hurt them as a way to keep them safe. All I want is for the three of us to be OK. I hope you will forgive me for the things I have to do, maybe when you are older and you fall in love you will understand.' Ianto gently ran his fingers through his son's silky soft hair, smiling even as he felt his heart aching. Carwyn shifted in his sleep, trying to sprawl across the bed into his usual sleeping position, his small feet pressing against Ianto's leg. With a sigh, Ianto replaced the photo frame and got to his feet. He picked up Carwyn's favourite toy, a plush airplane, which had somehow made it onto the floor and tucked under the bedclothes, smiling as a tiny hand curled around the tail fin.
For a brief second Ianto paused in the doorway to gaze lovingly at his boy before heaving a sigh and heading downstairs to pour himself a drink.
Jack & Gwen
Jack was gazing sightlessly as Owen's autopsy report on the unidentified alien that the Rift had spit up earlier that day, although the team were already at the scene the unfortunate being had died almost instantaneously, suggesting to both Jack and Owen that whatever atmosphere the creature had been born into it was not an oxygen based one. He knew he should be taking more of an interest in the report since Owen had been uncharacteristically excited by his findings but all he could think about was Ianto. Why was he so desperate to keep Jack and Carwyn apart? What could be the harm in Jack looking at Carwyn's photograph? Jack started to do some pregnancy math and came to the only conclusion possible
'Carwyn is mine, he's mine' he laughed joyously, a child with Ianto was all he had dared himself to hope for, then he sobered, 'but how? And why didn't Ianto tell me? Why is he keeping us apart?' Jack thought back to how strange Tosh and Owen had been when he came back, how they kept insisting that he should speak to Ianto and how complicated the situation was. He knew he had lost the chance to have that sort of conversation with his beloved Welshman and he also knew that Tosh would not talk about Ianto behind his back and Owen would not break doctor/patient confidentiality. He needed someone who was not a close friend of Ianto's, who would be willing to share gossip, who would happily tell him anything he asked, he needed...
'GWEN!'
The tap-tap of high heeled running echoed through the Hub and Gwen shot into Jack's office.
'You bellowed,' she asked with a grin
'Yeah' Jack gestured towards the sofa, 'have a seat.' He moved around the desk to join the clearly excited woman.
Gwen angled herself to look into Jack's face. At last, she thought to herself, he has realised that he needs me. Without that fucking Ianto Jones demanding his attention all the time he has been able see how brilliant we can be together. She rested her arm along the back of the sofa and gently stroked the back of Jack's hand, ignoring his hastily repressed shudder. 'What can I do for you Jack?' she purred seductively
Jack swallowed hard, Christ this was making him uncomfortable, he pasted on his trademark smile and leant towards her, 'We haven't had a chance to catch up properly since I got back. So, how is everything with you?' He endured almost twenty minutes of Gwen's inane chatter before he allowed himself to ask, 'what's the story with Ianto and Carwyn?'
Gwen's eyes went slightly glassy and much of the enthusiasm died out of her voice. 'It was so sad. Ianto had cheated on you, Jack ; it must have been a couple of months before you left us because about eight months later a social worker turned up at Ianto's flat with Carwyn. His mother had been killed in a car crash and, as she had no living relatives and Ianto was registered on the birth certificate as the father, Carwyn became his responsibility. It was lucky really because he had tried to kill himself a couple of times.' She gave a bitter laugh, 'such an attention seeker but once Carwyn arrived he pulled himself together.'
Jack felt sick, he cheated on me? With a one night stand? Oh Yan, no, no. I know we never talked about exclusivity but he must have known I hadn't been with anyone but him for months. Oh. but multiple suicide attempts, gods I must have hurt him so much. A single one night stand doesn't mean anything. Does he think I'm so petty that I would take my anger out on a child, on his child? How could we have got each other so wrong? With an effort he tuned back in to what Gwen was saying.
'We were all worried when UNIT sent Lisa Hallet to act as Director but she and Ianto became very close very quickly so she assimilated into the team really easily. Then when they got married we were all please because it was good for Carwyn too, especially as his mum was from the same ethnic background.' She sighed and gave a syrupy and sentimental grin, 'they make such a lovely family.' She looked at Jack, blinked and edged closer to him, 'Ianto and Lisa are happy, Tosh and Owen are happy, when is it my turn, Jack? When are you going to make me happy, hmm?'
Jack pressed himself back against the arm of the sofa in a futile attempt to avoid her advances, grabbing her by her shoulders to try and keep her away but Gwen was having none of it, she launched herself at Jack, clawing at his flies with hot hungry hands. With a shrill cry Jack thrust her away from him and she hit the ground with an undignified thud and scowled up at Jack, furiously
'You fucking feeble excuse for a man' she spat as she scrambled to her feet, 'once you have stopped crying like a love sick girl over that stupid pile of shit and his bastard brat, let me know and I'll throw you a shag you for old times' sake. But make it soon because I'm getting seriously bored with this angsty shit you are pulling. Jones will never take you back, he hates you, he is playing with you – puling you close and then pushing you away. He knows how much that will hurt you. He must be laughing to see how pathetic you are – he doesn't love you, he despises you. His family is everything to him and you...you are nothing Jack, less than nothing.' She turned on her heel and stalked out of the office and back to her desk
Jack had heard nothing of her words, just the tone. The vicious taunting cadence took Jack back to The Valiant, to those times when the Master had amused himself by cutting away chunks of Jack's flesh whist lecturing him about what a freak he was and how relieved his lover must be to be free of his detested attentions. With a smothered sob he curled into the smallest ball he could and grieved afresh for Ianto because for the first time he truly believed that Ianto had betrayed him, did not love him and he would never rest in his arms again.
