Title: Jack and Ianto private archives, season 1.
Chapter 7 – The Captain's Skeletons
POV: From Ianto's point of view.
Characters: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones and the whole team.
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Ianto and Lisa are now settled in.
Warning: always check for the point of view!
Disclaimer: I'm not making any money out of this, I'm just doing it for fun and because I love them, as you do.
Beta: Otrame
...
There were only two doors left in Torchwood Three opposing Ianto's curiosity, the problem being both of them were located in the third basement. The most intriguing was the one next to the car park entrance. As it was slotted in between the showers and the next corridor, it could only be a very small room. But the door was reinforced and it had not only two mechanical locks but also a DNA recognition lock. That was what made it so interesting. Ianto had seen that kind of system in London but it wasn't operative. Here it was.
Never mind. That door was never open and even if it was on the same level, it was far from Lisa's room. It wasn't an immediate threat.
The other, on the other hand, was much more problematic, being next to the corridor to Lisa's room. That door was protected with two standard security locks. That was not much of a challenge for Ianto, if it wasn't for the vicious warning system Ianto was lucky to spot in time. But then, again that door used to remain closed.
Except, right then, it was open.
Ianto went straight to it as naturally as he could. Most of the time that was the most efficient way to play people around. He peered at the door. It was some paper archives. It seemed tidier than the ones he was granted access to. On the wall behind the Captain were shelves with lined old Torchwood Diaries. Jack had taken four of them to a large table and was searching for something. The other walls were hiden behind filing cabinets with dates and names on them. The whole Torchwood memory was stored there.
"Ianto?" Jack startled.
"I've been seeing light." Ianto explained, gesturing in the car park direction with the polish in his hand. "Can I be of any help, sir?" he added casually.
"No, thanks."
Ianto spotted a camera, the only one on this level. It was not linked to the general CCTV system, meaning it was probably directly linked to Jack's terminal.
"Right sir. I was on my way to make some coffee; do you want me to bring yours here?"
"No, it's okay. I'm going back to my office, I'll have it there."
Since the Captain had come back from his two days' disappearance he was clearly bothered about something but wouldn't share with anyone. Jack had been looking through what was left of the Torchwood One database or more accurately what the Cardiff's team thought was left of that database, because Ianto knew better. Now Jack was searching old diaries. Not that it would have really mattered, except for Jack wandering around so close to Lisa.
Jack came back to his office, bringing along the diaries, and got straight to the business of studying them. Jack was a fast reader, nearly as fast as Ianto was. Most would have assumed Jack was just skimming over, but he wasn't. In fact, to Ianto he looked more like the Captain was trying to sort something out of his reading.
"Oh, Ianto… Thanks." he mumbled as Ianto bring him his cup of coffee. Jack took the cup then gently but without ambiguity gestured Ianto out of the room.
Ianto make sure to stay very cautiously discreet about what ever was bothering Jack. It was in the end the best way to gain anyone's confidence.
Three days later, the Captain was getting on everyone's nerves, poking around as he was, not only without explanation but clearly wanting everyone to ignore it. Now Jack had sent the whole team back home early, and Ianto wondered about the possibility for sexual release. It would have to be Ianto going starting it or Jack was once again going to spend the night in his very private archives, preventing Ianto from taking care of Lisa.
"Ianto! I said home!"
"Yes I've been told, sir."
"So. Why are you still here?"
"I was thinking about… you… and me… sir."
"Sorry. I'm tired, Ianto. Go home?" Jack said actually more tired than annoyed.
"Tired and stressed, if I may say so, sir."
"You and your innuendo. What are you suggesting Mister Jones?"
"A very long shower… for the both of us, of course. And I could supply a bit of a massage, as well."
The Captain closed his eyes and for a second Ianto thought he was dismissed then Jack reopened them along with a wide grin.
"That's a great idea, Mister Jones. One of a genius, I'd say."
Jack was really an easy one.
Ianto had suggested the shower sex expecting to rid Jack of the pheromones but it was as if he was infected with them or even producing them. So, as usual, Ianto completely lost control over his own body and will. After a first round under the shower and a second one on the so-called bed, he tried to initiate a massage and it turned into a third and hopefully last round. That man couldn't be human.
Ianto woke up in Jack's bed. He was alone and he ached. The Captain had fallen asleep on top of Ianto preventing him from leaving unnoticed. Ianto hadn't meant to fall asleep, but he had. Now Ianto didn't linger. He had a quick shower and went up the ladder into Jack's office. There was no one there. On the large desk the old diaries were piled. The top one was entitled: Torchwood Diary - 1994, the 26 of March to 1995, the 4 of June – By Director Annabel Granger.
As far as Ianto knew Annabel Granger was the last Torchwood Three Director, she and all her team had been killed by her second-in-command the Doctor Alex Hopkins who after that committed suicide, leaving Torchwood Three in the hand of a nonhuman being code listed as NH512 by Torchwood, but calling him self Jack Harkness.
That was the kind of thing you could hear around the Mother House. At least, that was what the people responsible for what happened at Canary Wharf used to spread. Not that Ianto had ever trusted them with anything good.
Jack was nowhere to be seen, so he hurried down to check on Lisa without losing time. He had no idea where the man could be. That was getting really annoyingly upsetting. He had to find a way of taking the Captain out of his way or at least of his basement.
"Hi, where were you?" Jack asked as Ianto was coming back in the main Hub.
"Good morning, sir. You could tell. I was looking for you. Coffee, sir?"
"Coffee, sure. I was out looking for food. Salty or Sweets?"
"It will be salt, sir. Thank you, sir."
"Are you still going to call me, sir? Because after this night I would have thought…" Jack said as if at a loss.
"Yes, sir?" Ianto answered as if he wasn't getting the point, but with just that annoying little smile he added "I thought you liked to play this little game."
"If that's just a game, why not?"
"What else would it be, sir?" Ianto said as he reached for the coffee machine.
"A way to keep distances."
Ianto has his back to the Captain at the moment and it was probably for the best. Jack had taken him aback on that one. Jack was more subtle than Ianto would have guessed, but he was not going to let the Captain destabilised him. Ianto turn around to face him and asked very quietly.
"And why not? Why would that be a problem, sir? I'm may not be the first − not that I would mind – But I would like to keep my job and memory when you get tired of me."
"I beg your pardon! Ianto… you were the one hitting on me and I've never hired anyone on that basis…"
"That's not what Doctor Harper seemed to say."
"Owen? No, never, he is just pushing you, he knows better…" Jack stopped mid sentence. Ianto was watching him with that annoying spark in his eyes; the guy was playing him, again. "Bravo. You're good. I like that."
"Here's your coffee, sir."
"Thanks. Have your breakfast then you'll go home. I've got work to do, and with you around I doubt I'd be any good."
"I could help you?"
"No. Not on this one."
"You could always retcon me… just for the work done of course."
Jack choked on his muffin.
"No. That's not the point. You've been worked at London. You may already know things and you have proven to be discreet about it."
"So? What's the problem?"
"The problem is that I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Some people died."
"Not that unusual."
"These people had had transplant surgery."
"Some nosocomial syndrome?"
"I'm not sure, but they were contaminated. I don't know, how but something definitely killed these people. And it wasn't immediately."
"Something alien?"
"No, this is kind of complicated. I'm sorry Ianto. Get on home."
There was something personal in the way the Captain had reacted at Ianto's last question. There was no way Ianto was letting that go. Investigating and analysing archive data was exactly the kind of thing Ianto was good at.
"Stop me if I get it wrong; you want to know what killed some people… for some reason you think the answer is in these books, but you want the rest of the team out of it." Ianto said. And could bet it must have something to do with the fact that you're not what you're claiming to be. Ianto added for himself.
"Yep! You got the point."
"These people were Torchwood or civilians? Do you know where the surgery was done? Have you been able to identify some of the victims?"
"Both, Torchwood, and none of them." Jack answered.
"So what do you know?"
"I heard something along time ago that I wasn't meant to."
"What was it?"
" 'What a mess, they are all dying. In the end nothing will ever justify what had been done.' " Jack quoted.
"That's it?"
"Yes, that's it."
"When was that? Do you remember the date?"
"96, the transplants had been done between March 91 and May 92"
"I guess London's medical archives didn't make it through the devastation."
"I'm quite sure these files had been destroyed long before." Jack said.
"Okay. So? What are we waiting for? This looks like quite a challenging one." Ianto replied.
To be continued.