Ch 10: Flight

Jack wished he didn't have to be out here. Just a short while ago he'd been in a nice warm pub hitting on a newlywed couple. The husband had seemed very enthusiastic and the wife seemed the sort that liked to watch and Jack, well he was down for anything. But unfortunately, the rift waits for no man. So, when his wrist strap, a vortex manipulator, beeped to alert him to a rift fluctuation, he reluctantly left a fun night to search a maze of warehouses for hours. They had the equipment to find general locations, but nothing specific.

By the time Jack made it to the second to last row of buildings, he was exhausted. He had been at this for 2 hours and his ever-present RAF jacket wasn't even able to keep him warm. Driving down the alley, the hours on the back of his neck stood on end and he tensed. Headlights turned on right in front of him and he slammed on the breaks. As his eyes adjusted he could make out a man getting out of the car, but it wasn't clear who they were. The man came up and tapped on the window. When he rolled it down, low and behold, there was Jones Ianto Jones.

Being so tired, Jack didn't think too much about things and instead opened the door and got up in Ianto's face. "Now look here!" he asserted, "I don't know what you're doing here but get back in your car and leave."

The man in front of him wasn't fazed.

"So, you don't want help catching a pterodactyl, then?" the question, said in a s smooth welsh accent, caught Jack off guard.

"Really?" He couldn't help himself, his lips quirked into a smile. A dinosaur in Cardiff, that was a first. The oldest earth born creature jack had seen come through the rift was a mammoth, straight out of the ice age. It, like many creatures from around the universe, had died of shock shortly after appearing. It was amazing that this pre-historic being would still be alive. So, shoot him, he was curious. Curious enough to forget that the information had come from a suspicious source. "Where is it?"

Ianto smiled back and jerked his head towards where he had locked it in. "She's ready and waiting for you."

"She? How do you know?" Jack started walking toward the boot of the car, motioning for Ianto to follow.

"I know everything." Ianto said this in such a dead pan way that Jack almost believed him.

"Really?" Jack said sarcastically

"Oh yes." Ianto couldn't help but smirk.

They headed round to the back of the car and Jack opened up the boot. Throwing his jacket over the seat he pulled out a metal case and extracted a large needle and a syringe filled with a strong sedative. He began to screw the needle onto the cylindrical plunger.

Ianto adjusted his tie and look skeptically at the Captain. "Okay, that is the only special equipment you've got?"

"Ya, because I keep dinosaur nets in the back of the SUV." Jack shot back sarcastically.

"Well," Ianto could hardly contain his smirk, "Torchwood London would have."

Jack paused in his work before deciding to let the topic go and gave one last twist of the needle. He turned around and was off, running toward the warehouse. Not until he reached the locked door closest to them did he notice Ianto was still on his heals.

"Don't you have a kid to look after or something?" Jack didn't have anything against Ianto Jones specifically, but the Welshman had worked for London and Jack definitely had something against them. After all, it was their fault Rose was dead.

"He's asleep in the car. Safest place for him right now." Ianto may have sounded a bit defensive, but he came into a lot of conflict with other people about what kind of father he was. Everyone had an opinion and everyone needed to tell him about it.

Jack shoved a long pin into the lock and cockily said, "Automatic lockpick. Did London have that?"

"Yes." Of course they would, it was a standard part of any Torchwood kit. But the answer only served to irk Jack further.

Not looking back Jack shoved the door open and looked out into the large empty warehouse. A screech came from above and his eyes went straight to the flying creature coming straight at them. It wasn't as big as he had imagined. Then he realized it was getting larger; very quickly.

"Nope," Ianto said and pulled Jack back through the door, slamming it behind them.

"How did you find it?" Jack was curious of course, he had been searching for hours.

"Rift activity locator," explained Ianto.

"Torchwood London." As Jack said this something dawned on him that should have awhile ago. As evil as the group may have been, their protocols and information could be very useful. And who had all that information.

"See, quality kit." Ianto Jones did. Now it was up to Jack to figure out how reliable the man would be. And finding out that information could be lots of fun.

"Ay, that's quite excitable." Jack wasn't sure what he was referring to in the moment. The man or the monster. Or maybe the kit.

While Jack was thinking about all this, Ianto's mind was stuck in one place. The man panting next to him smelled absolutely amazing. It was like sex and desire and that feeling you get when you see a warm fire on cold day. "Must be your aftershave," he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Jack turned his head and gave Ianto a cheeky grin. "Never ware any."

"You smell like that naturally?"

"51st century pheromones," Jack turned back to looking at the sky, reminiscing about the old days out there in the stars, "you people have no idea."

This sent Ianto's mind reeling. There had been so many rumors about the Captain back in London and that one comment may have confirmed some of them. But he needed to focus. Jack was getting ready to back inside.

They burst back into the building and immediately the creature was swooping down on them. They split up; Jack going left, Ianto going right. Circle around as the bird like beast landed and turned to face them. It spread its wings and let out a warning cry. With it now between them and the door, they could no longer run.

This may have bothered Ianto but jack looked like he was having the time of his life. Big grin on his face, he approached the pterodactyl with one hand outstretched in a calming gesture.

"We're not going to harm you," Jack said "you can't stay here. Come with me. I've got somewhere nice and big where you can fly around." He continued to slowly move forward, hoping it wouldn't attack. Jack may survive but Ianto wouldn't.

"What is your plan exactly?" Ianto's urgent whispering conveyed his worry at the defenseless situation they were in.

"I'm going to be the decoy," he began to explain the plan, but before he could get any further Ianto interrupted.

"And it will rip you to shreds," Ianto guessed that was something Torchwood London and Cardiff had in common; recklessness and arrogance.

"Dinosaurs?" Jack couldn't help but laugh to himself. "Had them for breakfast. Had to. Only source of pre-killed food after the asteroid crashed." Ianto turned his head back to Jack and couldn't help but believe what the other man was saying. Jack sounded as if he was going to continue but after catching the look of astonishment on Ianto's face, he cut himself short. "Long story. Here you go," Jack handed the large hypodermic over to Ianto. "One injection to the central nervous cortex. I'll keep it occupied." He gave Ianto a gentle shove and quietly instructed him with a, "move."

But before he could take beat Ianto was shoving the hypo back into his hands. "No"

"What?" Jack's surprise was evident. He was a leader, used to people doing what he said. But Ianto was no push over.

"It knows me," Ianto explained, "I'll be a better decoy."

"Way to dangerous."

"No, I've got a secret weapon." With a sly smile, Ianto pulled the bar of chocolate out of his inside jacket pocket. "Chocolate. Preferably dark." Not waiting for a reply he walk off going to one side of the pterodactyl. In all honesty he had no idea of this was going to work, but he hoped the Captain would follow his lead anyway.

When Jack's shock, and brief moment of arousal, wore off he quickly circled to the other side of the room. He moved quietly, letting the leathery bird's focus stay completely on the Welshman.

Ianto whistled, feeling slightly foolish. "Your favorite, ya" he tried to sound enthusiastic, but for the life of him didn't know why. He took a few steps forward, holding the bar in front of him like a sigil to ward off evil, then gently tossed it as the pterodactyl clawed feet.

It showed some interest. Picking the bar up and shaking it slightly. "It's uh," Ianto was trying to think on his feet, "good for your serotonin levels." No, that was stupid. "If you've got serotonin levels."

In the next second, the creature lost interest in the chocolate and turned sharply around. Setting its sights on Jack.

Jack yelled as he was lifted into the air, holding on to the pterodactyl's leg with one hand. He pulled himself up as much as he could and jab the needle into the leg, pressing the plunger to administer the sedative.

"Ianto!" He yelled in warning and let go of the leg just in time to be caught in the strong arms of the Welshman. "Sorry," he said, laying on top of the other man with a mischievous grin. But the fun wasn't over yet. The pterodactyl let out a final cry before the sedative kicked in and it began plummeting toward the ground right at them. Without a second thought, Ianto rolled them both to the left, out of the way, and somehow ended up on top this time.

They both laughed, in joy and disbelief, and as Ianto turned his head downward to look at Jack, he found their faces to be only centimeters apart. His smile died and he became all too aware of the firm body under him and the astonishing smell that was surrounding him. They both breathed heavily and for one instance, Ianto thought about closing the gap between them. But then he remembered Lisa. Dead, dying, lying cold on the floor, trapped in a metal suit. It hadn't been that long ago and this felt like a betrayal towards her.

"I should go," he sounded serious, but he couldn't keep the hesitance out of his voice. Nevertheless, he pushed himself up and began walking to the door they came in through.

Surprise and disappointment flooded through Jack but he wouldn't let this opportunity get past him. "Wait up," he called and jogged slightly to close the distance between them. "That was good work back there. You have good instincts."

Ianto gave him a small smile, accepting the compliment. "I'm not usually one for field work."

"What did you do exactly? Your file said research but that could mean anything." They had reached the door by this point and opened it, stepping out into the clear night air.

"I guess I did start in research," Ianto explained, lifting his face to the sky and taking a deep breath. Rain might have been nice at this moment, an excuse to hurry along. "Yvonne had recruited me personally, don't ask me why, I never knew, but I guess she was invested then. I spent some time in archives and then in the secretarial pool, doing deployment and cover ups and the like. One day Yvonne calls me into her office and tells me I'm doing an excellent job and I'm being promoted. From that day on I was her personal assistant. People used to say that she was training me to take over for her. Not that I would have been very good at it. Not ruthless enough." Ianto didn't understand why he was telling Jack all this, it was bound to make the man think of him as the enemy. But if they were going to be seeing each other in the future, he didn't want to have anything hanging over his head. Well, not too many secrets to hang over his head, he amended as he caught sight of the car.

Jack's mind reeled as he listened. Here he thought he was dealing with some low-level pencil pusher, when in fact this man, this unassuming Welshman, might have been the next head of Torchwood One. His entire perception of the man shifted.

When Jack didn't say anything more, Ianto bid him a quiet good night, got in the car and drove home.