VII: The Most Wonderful Day of The Year (Rift Willing)

Ianto woke the next morning to a text alert from Jack's mobile. He knew it was Owen because Jack had given the good doctor the theme to Ghostbusters for some reason only the doctor seemed to appreciate. Groaning, Ianto rolled over to glance at his clock only see it was several hours past the time he'd usually be up and already brewing his second round of coffee at the hub. Which meant that Owen was probably calling to see where they were and why they weren't in yet.

He sat up and stretched only to find Jack still lying in bed with his arm flung over his face.

"Going to check it?" he asked. Jack mumbled an answer. Before Ianto could decipher it, his own mobile rang; it was Tosh.

"Ianto!" she exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

Beside him, Jack groaned and rolled over, burying his face in the pillow. Ianto sighed as he answered.

"I'm fine, Tosh. Just overslept a bit."

"It's almost ten o'clock," she pointed. "You must be really tired."

"Torchwood does that to you," he replied dryly.

"You didn't take any calls last night, did you?" she asked, the slightest hint of accusation in her voice, as if saving Cardiff was the last thing he should have been doing instead of actually sleeping, in his bed, all night.

"Not after we ran down those Blowfish," he replied, remembering the alert that had woken them from a long and rather embarrassing nap on the couch in Jack's office. He, Jack, and Gwen had spent the rest of the afternoon tracking down a pair of alien pickpockets wreaking havoc across the shopping centers of the city. Tosh had stayed behind to coordinate while Owen went out on a retrieval that turned out to be nothing more than a small meteorite. They had then spent most of the night containing the situation after an unfortunate confrontation outside High Street Arcade. Jack and Ianto had literally stumbled to Ianto's car at midnight and fell into bed the moment they had reached the flat. Ianto wasn't in his suit, but he didn't remember taking it off either.

"Is everything all right?" muttered Jack, finally sitting up. His hair was sticking up in every direction possible, and Ianto raised an amused eyebrow to keep from laughing as the other man scrubbed at his head in a vain attempt to settle it down, only to make it worse.

"Is that Jack?" asked Tosh. Ianto could almost hear the grin in her voice.

"Yes, he's here. What's going on?"

"Owen was looking for him, wanted to go over the autopsy on that Blowfish Jack shot. And I could use your help with one of the artifacts we found the other day. I can't find anything in the archives about it."

"Right." Ianto sighed. "Sorry, Tosh. We'll be there in an hour. And we'll bring lunch, to make up for it."

"You're both exhausted, Ianto, and Jack got shot. You have nothing to make up for."

"You're at work," Ianto pointed out.

"Well, we all came in a bit later than usual, hoping you'd both sleep in," she laughed. "At least the Rift was quiet for one night."

"Thank Merlin for that," Ianto muttered under his breath. Jack gave him a strange look, and Ianto rolled his eyes in return.

"We'll be there soon, Tosh. Thanks for the wake up call."

"I'm sorry to bother you, but see you soon."

Ianto dropped his mobile on the comforter and fell back onto his pillow with a groan. Jack immediately wrapped his arms and legs around him, burrowing his face into Ianto's shoulder.

"They want us to come back," he murmured against Ianto's neck.

"They do," Ianto replied reluctantly. What he wouldn't give for a day off, a night out—anything but aliens and artifacts and bloody Torchwood all day, all the time. God. Just one real break, Rift willing be damned sometimes.

"Now?" asked Jack, nipping at Ianto's ear. Ianto stretched his neck, letting Jack kiss his way down to Ianto's collarbone. What was so important about an autopsy and the archives anyway? Why couldn't they just stay in bed all day and—

"Yep. Now. Told them we'd bring lunch."

More kisses made it even harder to think about getting out of bed at the moment. "Didn't we just leave that place?"

"We did. And now we have to go back." He groaned at the thought, or maybe that was because Jack's tongue had found a particularly sensitive spot behind Ianto's ear.

"Shower first?" murmured Jack, his hands starting to roam across Ianto's chest and down toward his thighs, touching and teasing in that oh-so-perfect way Jack had.

"Definitely."

"Together?"

"Of course. Saves time."

Jack grinned as he leaned over and kissed Ianto. "Then let's get up and get started."

Glancing down, Ianto raised an eyebrow. "I'm already up, how about you?"

With a grin and a growl, Jack pulled off the covers and practically dragged Ianto into the warm shower.

Four texts, three calls, and two hours later, they finally made it to the hub with lunch. Yet after that, Ianto didn't see Jack for the rest of the day.


Jack wasn't sure why Owen needed his help with the autopsy. It seemed like a pretty normal looking Blowfish to him. He felt bad about shooting it, but it had shot him first, and although he hadn't died, it had been painful none-the-less. The alien's partner had been mad as hell, which was why it was still locked up in the vaults, literally sedated up to the gills with whatever knocked out a Blowfish according to Owen. They'd deal with it later. Somehow. Whatever.

Jack tuned out Owen's lengthy rambling about Blowfish anatomy as he thought about the steamy shower he'd shared with Ianto that morning: it had been so long since they'd shared anything more intimate than a quick shag (and even that had been a while, for them). Sometimes he wished he could run away with Ianto, even for just a day, a night, a hour, and live a normal life like normal people, and not the Torchwood life of aliens and guns and space junk, not to mention all the other crap that had really worn him to the bone for once.

"Jack?" asked Owen. "Jack, are you listening? Or are you sleeping standing up now?"

Jack shook his head. "Just thinking." He grinned to himself, which immediately put Owen on guard.

"I do not want to know what about," he stated. "Now, as I was saying—"

"Where are the others?" interrupted Jack, hoping to change the subject.

"Who?" asked Owen, immersed in the wide-open abdomen of the Blowfish.

"Where's Gwen? I haven't seen her since lunch and that was hours ago."

"I think she's meeting with Mr. PC Davidson about last night." Jack glanced up in concern. "No, she's not about to spill the beans, she's just reassuring him it's been dealt with in the normal, effective Torchwood manner. And that you're fine, as always, in spite of being shot in the chest."

"One of these days he's going to stop believing that."

"If he had half a brain, yeah, he might." Owen shrugged. "But we're fine for now. Good connection for crowd control, at least."

"And where did Tosh and Ianto disappear to? Are they still in the archives?"

"Guess so," Owen replied, sounding only half interested. "Tosh had something she wanted to go over with him."

"What?" asked Jack, curious as he glanced through the doorway that led to the archives. He'd much rather be down there with Ianto than elbow deep in Blowfish guts.

"Dunno. But we're just about done here," he said, grinning widely. "And as much as I hate to say it, there is nothing wrong with this Blowfish. No viruses, no drugs, nothing. Just your typical alien criminal preying on the good people of Cardiff."

"I don't know why you needed me for that," Jack grumbled. "I have a ton of paperwork to be getting on with before Ianto calls me out for falling behind."

Owen grimaced. "Please don't use the words Ianto, call, and behind in the same sentence, Jack. I really don't need that mental image."

Jack grinned. "You sure? Because I could paint a very pretty picture for you."

"Forget it. I can handle Blowfish intestines, but I cannot handle anything about your sex life. Or his."

"Your loss," laughed Jack. "Because sometime's it's—"

He was stopped by one of the computers going off. Relieved for an excuse to leave the medical bay, Jack ripped off his surgical gloves and ran upstairs, pulling up the alert on Tosh's computer. He almost whooped for joy and groaned at the same time.

"Rift activity out in Abergavenny." He frowned. "That's unusually far. Wonder what it might be."

He was just about to tap his comm unit when it buzzed him first. "Jack?" asked Tosh. "What's the alert?"

"Something out in Abergavenny. Doesn't look too big. I can head out there with Ianto if you two want to keep on with your pet projects."

"I'm done here," called Owen from the medical bay. "I'm free to go, be nice to get out for a while."

"You were out yesterday on that meteorite retrieval," Jack tossed back.

"I like fresh air," Owen shouted in return.

"You don't breathe anymore."

"Then I like Abergavenny."

"You hate it. I'm taking Ianto."

"We're actually right in the middle of something, Jack," said Tosh, sounding reluctant. Jack thought he heard some sort of protest from Ianto in the background. "Go ahead and take Owen. The scanner should be at my station to pinpoint what you're looking for."

Jack found it right away. Then he turned and found Owen already pulling on his coat and sighed; the doctor it was, then.

"All right, we should be back in a few hours. Hold down the fort, you two."

"We'll be fine, Jack. Be careful. It could be difficult out there."

Jack walked into his office and grabbed his coat. "Why? It's Abergavenny, not the back alleys of London."

"It's New Year's Eve," she pointed out. "The roads will probably be busy and the crowds might be a bit more intense."

"Right. New Year's Eve." He had completely forgot that it was New Year's Eve. Damn. He hated New Year's Eve. Ever since Alex Hopkins had shot the team eight years ago, he'd dreaded the night and made sure to be out of the hub by midnight, usually holing up in a posh hotel on the Torchwood account. Except for this year. He'd been so busy he hadn't made any arrangements whatsoever and now it was probably too late. And he hadn't talked to Ianto either, who could very well have plans given he'd missed all of Christmas. With a sigh, Jack said goodbye and clicked off his comm. Maybe he could talk to Ianto later, see if he wasn't busy. Jack had blown Christmas with Ianto, but that was different; New Year's wasn't nearly as big a deal, and at the very least maybe they could get into dinner somewhere decent and spend the night at Ianto's flat after.

It would be at least an hour to Abergavenny and an hour back with traffic, not to mention however long it took to investigate whatever the Rift had spit up for them. Jack wished Ianto wasn't so busy with Tosh as he'd much rather spend the time with him, making plans for the night. As it was, he'd just have to go with it and hope for the best. Sometimes things had a way of working themselves out, after all, Rift willing.

Just not usually in Torchwood.


Ianto glanced at his watch: he had been in the archives with Tosh searching for something he suspected didn't actually exist for several hours now and was starting to feel a bit impatient. He needed coffee and Jack, in that order, although Jack was probably just reaching Abergavenny with Owen. So he set down the files he'd been staring at for at least five minutes without actually seeing them and turned to Tosh.

"I'm going to make coffee. Need a refill?"

Tosh glanced up in surprise. "That'd be brilliant. In fact, I need a real break. Honestly, I don't know how you spend so much time down here."

Ianto grinned. "Because it's calm and quiet. I can get more done without everyone chattering away or demanding something."

She pulled a face as they headed back toward the main part of the hub. "Too dark for me," she laughed.

"Not enough computers, you mean," he tossed back, and he joined her laughter as they reached the main floor. Gwen was sitting at her computer and glanced up, a flash of something vaguely resembling guilt on her face before she smiled broadly at them.

"Tosh! Ianto! How's it coming with the alien translation you're looking for?"

Seeing as Gwen had left immediately after lunch with hardly a word, Ianto wondered how she knew what they were working on. He shrugged it off as he headed toward the coffee machine.

"No luck with the archives," Tosh said behind him. "But I'm hoping my other projects will go better. How about you? How was your meeting with Andy?"

"Eye-opening," Gwen replied, her tone implying something Ianto couldn't quite put a finger on. "But I did manage to get what I needed, so everything's all set."

"What did you need from Andy?" Ianto asked over his shoulder, wondering if they had missed something with the Blowfish at the Arcade. Yet before Gwen could answer, Ianto turned back toward them with a frown. "Where are all the coffee beans? I could swear we still had some left. I wasn't planning on shopping until tomorrow."

Gwen looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Ianto. I was making myself a cuppa and knocked them over. They went everywhere."

Ianto froze. "So where are they now?"

"Well, Mfanwy ate about half them, and I threw the other half away because they were filthy. I'm sorry." She paused. "Do you want me to get some? I can run out right now."

"No, it's fine, I'll do it." He sighed, but then forced a smile as he turned toward Tosh. "Like you said, we're having no luck, and I wouldn't mind a bit of fresh air."

"That's fine," said Tosh. "You go ahead, I've got something new to start anyway."

"Thanks." Ianto was curious, but not so curious as to ask lest he be roped into helping again. He was just glad to be getting out of the hub after a few too many hours with Tosh in the archives; as much as he liked her, he was used to working alone. It would be good to take a brisk walk by himself. And then Gwen chimed in.

"Can I join you? We could use some tea as well, then I won't have to stop later."

Ianto blew out a breath, wanting to put her off, but unable to think of any sort of excuse; he nodded as he pulled on his short coat. "Of course. I suspect you're as sick of this place as I am and just looking for another excuse to get out."

She winked as she grabbed her coat and scarf. "You might be right about that. Or I might just fancy a walk with good-looking bloke." Ianto rolled his eyes, because that was a rare comment from Gwen indeed. He half wondered if she was playing him.

"I'm serious," she continued. "We've been so busy I feel like I've hardly seen you in days." She paused. "You could do with a bit of a haircut, couldn't you, to tidy up that good-looking comment I just offered."

Ianto ran a hand through his hair; it was definitely too long for his liking, but when did he have time to get it cut? Not in weeks. Behind him, he was fairly certain he heard Tosh giggle.

"And should I suggest you get a manicure and a facial, or would that be misogynistic of me?"

"Suggest it to Rhys, and I'll kiss you for it," she laughed. Ianto couldn't help but smile as they left the hub together.

"Have Jack and Owen checked in?" he asked as they walked toward one of the small shops where he liked to pick out the best beans to brew. She opened her mouth to respond, then stopped.

"I haven't heard from them. Where did they go?"

"Rift alert in Abergavenny," Ianto replied.

"Oh, that's far," said Gwen. "Hopefully it was nothing much."

Ianto was quiet as they walked. He thought about texting or calling Jack, but didn't want to bother him in the field. It was obviously a testament to how much time they'd been spending together that not seeing Jack most of the afternoon felt so odd. He hoped Jack and Owen made it back for dinner. Because—

"Uffern gwaedlyd," Ianto said, stopping in his tracks and reverting to his Welsh roots. "It's New Year's Eve."

Gwen turned and looked at him funny. "Did you just realize that?"

"I did," he admitted, catching up to her. "We've been so busy I hadn't even given it a second thought."

"So no big plans, then?" she asked slyly, and Ianto shook his head.

"None whatsoever. Never had a chance to make any and wouldn't know what to do if I did." It was yet another thing he and Jack hadn't talked about, spending New Year's Eve together—at least, in terms of doing something special, like actually going out. Then again, given how they'd spent their Christmas, the Rift would probably drop a Raxacoricofallapatorian spaceship in middle of the Cardiff Bay if they tried to start the new year together doing anything but running around for Torchwood.

Gwen linked her arm in his. "Maybe you and Jack can go out later, at least get dinner or something."

"Rift willing," he murmured, and then shook his head. "No, we would have needed reservations weeks ago. It'll probably be take-away again." They arrived at the coffee shop and Ianto opened the door for her. "Do you and Rhys have any plans?" he asked.

"Rift willing," she echoed back at him, "we'll just spend a quiet night in. I doubt I'll even make it to midnight."

Ianto just nodded in agreement as he did his shopping quickly but quietly, trying not to be disappointed in something he really had no reason to be disappointed about: New Year's Eve was just another night, and for them, probably another night chasing the scum of the universe, protecting the good people of Cardiff so they could ring in the new year with dinner and dancing. Gwen picked out some tea, and after putting it all on the Torchwood account ("Happy New Year!" Ianto had offered somewhat whimsically) they headed back out to the Quay.

"Now, about that haircut," she said. "Where do you usually go?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and she gave him her wide-eyed innocent look. "I'm serious. Start the new year right, Ianto. We'll just nip in before we head back to the hub. We've got time."

Ianto glanced at his watch; it was almost four in the afternoon, and it had been a quiet day. Gwen was practically pulling him forward, so he reluctantly nodded; may as well take advantage when he could. "We should probably check in, though."

"I'll call Tosh," she said quickly, and pulled out her mobile. "Where are we going?" she whispered to Ianto as she waited.

"Marco's, it's just a short walk," he said, pointing to the left. She immediately turned them and started walking briskly.

"Hello? Tosh, yeah, it's Gwen. We've got the coffee, but as long as everything's quiet, we're going to make another stop." There was a pause as Gwen listened to whatever Tosh was saying. "Exactly. Oh, good. Thanks a lot, Tosh."

"Ask her if Jack and Owen are back," said Ianto.

"Are Jack and Owen back from Abergavenny?" she dutifully repeated, and shook her head at Ianto, although there was a smile on her face. "Right. Perfect. We'll be back in an hour, then."

Hanging up the phone, Gwen linked arms with Ianto once more. "Jack and Owen are on their way back, so we've got plenty of time. Let's go get you cleaned up."

"Cleaned up? I wasn't aware I was quite that scruffy. Are you like this with Rhys?" Ianto grumbled as he let himself be guided forward.

"Actually, he's the one who nags me about things," she laughed. "So it's nice to give it back to someone else for a change."

"Right. So glad I could be there for you." Ianto narrowed his eyes at his companion. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were up to something."

A quick flash across her face suggested he might be right, but then it was gone, replaced by the gap-toothed smile that was so familiar. Ianto put it out of his thoughts; this was Gwen, who was just mothering him like Tosh, not planning some big surprise. He'd go along with her, get his hair cut, and hopefully Jack would be back at the hub by then and they could work out something for the night.

Preferably something that did not involve Weevils, Blowfish, or anything extraterrestrial whatsoever—Rift willing, of course.


Author's Note:

Er, almost there. Really. Rift willing. Just give me a few extra days, though. It's tricksy, it is. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate the reviews!