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Seven.
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"I can't believe he's never heard of Laurel and Hardy! Immortality makes me feel so old."
Being Human, series 1 episode 4.
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"Why did you let him keep his memory?" Owen asked, joining Jack at the computer screen to watch Gwen and Rhys cross the Plas, hand in hand.
"Because Gwen loves him, she needs him but she also needs him to know the truth, about Torchwood, so he can fully understand why she has to just run off in the middle of dinner or stay at work for days on end… And Rhys had shown he can cope with this knowledge, he can be there for her." Jack said quietly, flicking off the monitor and turning to Owen. "Did you check Ianto?"
"Yeah, his wrists are bruised from being tied and he's a bit shaken up but I think he'll be okay. He's also got weird bruises on his arm, look like finger marks, I guess they weren't exactly gentle with him." Owen shrugged, "His lover boy's away on some work thing so I told Jones he could come to the Pub with us." The Medic added. Jack raised a slight eyebrow, "He got shot at Jack, he needs a drink. I know I do after today. Ianto was fucking vicious today, like he was trying to prove something." Owen said, leading Jack down into the main room.
Jack nodded, "He's been acting off for a while." He pointed out, finally able to say it to Owen without worrying about upsetting the other man.
"I'll keep an eye on him, probably stress, hardly surprising in this job is it?" Owen said, they looked up as Ianto wandered in, a phone attached to his ear,
"I know I said I didn't want to see you again but… When you get back can we maybe grab lunch? Talk about stuff?" He was asking as he headed straight into the kitchen area, not even noticing them.
"Stress or boyfriend issues?" Owen smirked.
Jack sighed, "Do not tease him about this." He said as sternly as he could, "He doesn't know we overheard so just… Leave it."
Owen pouted, "You're no fun." He grumbled, "So? Come on! Pub."
"Alright, alright." Jack chuckled, "I guess I'm paying?" He added teasingly, moving over to the kitchen and sticking his head around the door, "Pub?" He mouthed at Ianto who was still on the phone. Ianto nodded and smiled and so Jack moved away to go and get his coat, a few minutes later Ianto emerged from the kitchen, sticking his phone back in his pocket as he picked up his own jacket.
They walked to the pub, none of them really feeling like staying sober enough to drive home. It took several drinks for Ianto to begin to open up, "What those fuckers did, god that was sick." He mumbled.
"Tell me about it." Owen agreed, "We should've bloody done more than retcon them."
"There was nothing that would have stood up in court." Jack said again.
Ianto fiddled with the beer mat, "But he shot me for fuck's sake! If there'd been more bullets in the gun then…" He trailed off and the other two looked up at him. "More drinks?" Ianto offered quickly, grabbing their glasses and heading off for the bar.
"He's pissed." Owen slurred.
Jack snorted, "And you're not?" He asked, receiving only a kiss in reply. The kiss deepened quickly as they took advantage of the fact that they were in a dark corner of the pub, Owen slid his hand up Jack's leg, giving a small growl as they were interrupted by Ianto returning.
"I might head home…" The Welshman muttered, taking in their position.
"Don't be stupid!" Jack said quickly, not wanting to hurt Ianto's feelings or make the man feel that he had to leave. Ianto frowned but sat down again, handing out their drinks, Owen ignored the man, instead pressing his lips to Jack's neck, his hand gripping the man tightly through his jeans. "Owen has no self-control." Jack told Ianto with a small eye roll as he held in a whimper.
Ianto blinked slightly before smirking, "I used to think your self-control was bad…" He said, a small grin on his face.
Jack grinned back, his hand moving to clutch at Owen's hair, "My self-control is incredible compared to Owen's." He replied, laughing and wincing at the same time as Owen nipped at his neck in disagreement.
"At least he's nice to you." Ianto mumbled, drunkenly, slopping some of his beer on his hand.
Jack frowned, "What do you mean?" He asked quietly, pushing Owen away slightly. Ianto shrugged as Owen pulled a face and drank his drink, "Ianto. What do you mean?" Jack repeated.
"Just that Owen's nice to you."
"And Scott's not nice to you?" Owen asked, moving on to Jack's drink now he'd finished his own.
Ianto frowned slightly, "He can be very nice… He's lovely." The young man smiled before his eyes grew sad, "But sometimes he can be a bit nasty. He doesn't understand why I have to leave all the time to go and work." He shrugged.
Jack raised an eyebrow, "But he treats you okay?" He persisted.
"Yeah, he treats me okay." Ianto nodded.
"Is he good in bed?" Owen asked with a smirk, earning a soft slap off Jack and sending Ianto into drunken giggles.
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Ianto smiled as Jack walked into the tourist office, "Was just about to come and find you." He said, "If I order you guys lunch is it okay if I head off for an hour or so?"
"Sure, looks like we'll be quiet, keep your phone on though."
"Of course." Ianto said.
"Meeting Scott?" Jack asked lightly, perching on the edge of the desk as he watched Ianto order some pizzas online.
The Welshman nodded, "Yup, everyone still off meat?" He asked.
Jack frowned, "I think so." The alien meat was still at the front of their minds after all, and was likely still going to be distributed for a while. "Is everything okay with Scott?" He asked carefully, "What you said last night…"
"I was pissed Jack. I exaggerated." Ianto said quietly, keeping his eyes on the screen, "We just had a disagreement that's all, it's fine. I was angry at him, hurt because of him…"
"But you're okay?"
"We just need to talk." Ianto said, looking up finally, "Right, I've ordered the pizza, it'll be here in about half an hour, it's under my name as usual." He added, grabbing his jacket, "I'll be back in an hour."
Jack gave a small nod, "Two." He said quietly, wanting Ianto to sort this out, the man deserved happiness and if this Scott guy gave it to him then… Well… "We can spare you for two."
"Oh. Thanks." Ianto said, a grin crossing his face as he squeezed past Jack and out of the door.
Jack locked the tourist office door after Ianto before he headed back down into the Hub, chuckling as Gwen instantly inquired about lunch, "Ianto ordered us pizza, it should be here in about half an hour, maybe you could head up and get it?"
"Sure thing." Gwen smiled, watching as Jack headed over to the sofas where Owen was slumped, pretending to be reading some medical file.
"How are you feeling?" Jack asked gently, sitting down next to the man.
Owen gave a small shrug, "Tea-Boy's coffee and some paracetamol helped." He muttered.
"Don't call him that!" Jack snapped, all he got in reply was a raised eyebrow, "I've given him a couple of hours off, he's meeting Scott."
"Nasty Scott?" Owen asked with a smirk, Jack sent him a filthy look, this wasn't something to laugh about for Christ's sake! "Oh chill out Jack, they just had a row that's all, Scott must have said something to upset Ianto. Jones wouldn't have even mentioned it if he hadn't been so drunk."
"I guess…" Jack said, "He's just really… different."
"That's what happens when you fall in love." Owen replied and Jack frowned, love… Of course he'd known that Ianto loved this Scott but… It still stung to hear, Owen didn't seem to notice though, carrying on talking, "I'm gonna go back to bed." He said with a yawn. Jack barely heard him, still caught up in Ianto, had Ianto loved him? He'd been so sure that Ianto did but then again… Well he'd screwed up so even if Ianto had then why would he now… After all Jack was… Wait, what?
"Like hell you are!"
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"Sorted stuff with lover boy?" Owen drawled as Ianto walked into the board room, Tosh, Gwen scowled at the man and Jack shot him a warning look but Ianto simply gave a sharp nod before taking his seat. Jack smiled at him before becoming serious, "Right, now we've had several reports coming from Cyncoed about people hearing a strange singing noise, it's really high pitched and seems to be coming from right next to them even when there's nothing there."
"So we're looking for an opera singing alien?" Owen interrupted.
Jack raised a slight eyebrow at the man, silently telling him to shut up, he didn't need this right now, "Everyone who has heard the singing so far seem to currently be in the intensive care unit at the hospital, their bodies are shutting down slowly, we've already lost two of them so we need to work fast to find out what this thing is and how to contain and stop it." Jack said, "Ianto if you could check the archives for anything similar? Gwen, Tosh, go and talk to the people in the area, go door to door, see if they've seen, or heard anything, it seems to take a day or so for them to get ill so if they have heard the noise then get them to the hospital asap. Owen and I will head there now to see what we can find from the patients and the deceased." He added, already moving towards the door. Owen followed him quickly up to the garage, climbing into the SUV as Jack started the engine, the young man leant across to turn on the radio but was stopped with a glare, "Don't even think about it." Jack growled.
Owen frowned and leant back in his seat, "What crawled up your arse and died?" He muttered with a slight pout that made him look about ten.
"Put your seat belt on." Was all Jack said, speeding towards the hospital.
"You're being grumpy."
"And you're being a brat."
"A brat?" Owen snorted, "Jesus Jack, how old do you think I am?"
Jack turned to glance at the man, "Well you've sure as hell been behaving like a child today, baiting Gwen into arguments and being a right arse to Toshiko." He pointed out, his voice hard, god Owen was taxing sometimes… If only the man was a little easier to read…
Owen turned to look out of the window, "What you going to do about it?" He asked defiantly.
Jack gave a small sigh, "Well it was tempting to leave you to Tosh but I figured it'd probably be best if our only Medic didn't have a broken nose… So, going to tell me why you're being a prat or do I have to go all angry boss on you?" Owen ignored him, instead choosing to rest his feet up on the dashboard, Jack scowled and leant across to shove them off before smacking Owen's leg, hard, "Behave like a bloody adult." He growled before quickly putting his hand back on the steering wheel and spinning around the roundabout into the hospital car park. Owen gaped at him, "You hit me!" He said, his eyes wide, Jack simply pulled up and stopped the engine, turning to look at Owen, "Kinky fucker." Owen gave a half grin which faded as Jack continued to scowl. "We should go check on those patients." Owen muttered finally.
"This conversation isn't over." Jack said as he got out of the car.
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Jack ran his hand through Owen's hair as the man slept, it turned out that it had been a mixture of hangover, remaining anger over the events of the day before and also the fact that it was his father's birthday that had caused Owen to be even more of an arse than usual. Not that he had surrendered this information easily, It had taken a small amount of alcohol and copious threats of being fired, although how Owen believed that Jack would fire him over some irritating behaviour, Jack didn't know. "Stupid boy." Jack whispered, pressing a soft kiss to Owen's lips before standing up and heading up to his office, moving out into the Hub where Ianto was sat on the sofa typing away on a laptop, "President wants you to call him at eleven our time." The man said without looking up.
"Oh yey." Jack sighed, "Want a cup of tea?" He offered.
"No. Coffee, I'll make it." Ianto said, putting his laptop down and standing up, moving into the kitchen. Jack sat down on the sofa, glancing at the open laptop which showed an email conversation, unable to resist, Jack began to read.
Ianto, Thank you for meeting with me for lunch, it was so amazing to see you. I truly am sorry for what happened, and I love you, so much. You know that. I understand that you're upset and want to take things slowly for a while but at least let me treat you to dinner tomorrow? Or are you working? If so then any other night this week is fine, my boss owes me time off. Love always, Scott. xxx
Jack frowned, wondering what the hell this man had done to Ianto that had pushed them apart so much. He quickly glanced up at Ianto who was still making coffee, then back down at the screen.
Scott, dinner would be nice, I doubt I'm free tomorrow but I should be able to make Friday night, would that be okay? I know you're sorry and I forgive you, doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt though. You said it wouldn't happen again. How do I know I can trust you? Ianto. X
Jack frowned even more, looking away from the laptop quickly when Ianto came back over with two mugs of coffee, the man wasn't stupid though, looking between the laptop and Jack, "You read it didn't you?" He asked, his jaw dropping in horror, "What the fuck gave you that right?" He hissed angrily, slamming his laptop shut and putting it back in its case.
"Ianto I…"
"I should have known better than to leave it open with you, you just can't help yourself can you Jack?"
"I'm sorry." Jack sighed, wondering how the hell he could explain his way out of this one, "I was worried about you." He tried and breathed a sigh of relief as Ianto stopped pacing and stared at him, "You've been so distant and what you said when drunk…"
Ianto scowled, "That didn't give you the right to read my emails."
"I know, I'm sorry. It's just with what happened with Owen before I left and before that when Suzie acting secretive and with…" He trailed off but the name Lisa hung there silently. "I need to know you're all okay, and you don't supply information easily." He nodded towards the laptop case, "It seems pretty serious Ianto."
"It's fine, really. We've had some issues, we're working through them. If anything serious happens in my life I'll be sure to let you know, before you go and find out for yourself." Ianto added darkly.
"I'm sorry." Jack said, reaching over and grabbing Ianto's arm to pull him over onto the sofa, deciding a change of subject was in order, "So what does the President want?"
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Thank you so much to everyone who has been reviewing and putting this on alert/favourite lists.
Let me know what you think.
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