Note: I do not own Torchwood or their characters.
This is part two of chapter eight. This continues the introduction of my own Character Rosanne Jones. Contains references to Countryside and Greeks bearing gifts. Although I didn't directly quote Gwen I wrote a summary of her dialogue in that episode.
I like Rhys as well so I wanted to bring him in this chapter. The story is more AU now.
WARNING: May contain Sex and Strong Language.
Chapter Eight Part Two
Arriving to the house she saw why Jack said she could stay it was a large three story house. She could tell by the outside that the inside would be just as grand. There was a modest size garden in front of the house and she could tell that in the spring and summer months it would be beautiful and colourful. Ianto gathered her bags from the boot of the car and led her inside. She admired the house as Ianto showed her around. Although the decor was dated the furniture was antique. Jack certainly had good taste. Ianto showed her to a bedroom. He helped her empty her suitcases onto the bed so she could sort everything out. She pulled several small bags for the different suitcase and putting them under the bed. He didn't enquire what they were she obviously didn't want people seeing them.
"My room is the first one near the stairs Tosh's is the one in the middle and this will be yours. There are three other bedrooms opposite. The main room, my bedroom is only one with an en suite. There's three others bathrooms on this floor. One is in between yours and Tosh's rooms. The other two are between the three bedrooms opposite." He told her. "There isn't much on the third floor, Jack never showed me those so respect his privacy and don't go snooping around Okay." She nodded at him.
"Okay. Erm do you have any washing baskets. I didn't have time to wash my clothes the past week." Ianto left the room and came back with a five baskets. He helped her sort her clothes into the baskets based on what temperature they needed to be washed at before showing her the utility room downstairs. Leaving her to sort out three loads of washing he quickly called Tosh.
"Hello."
"Hey it's Ianto."
"Hey, what's up is something wrong with Rosanne?"
"No she's fine. I was wondering if I could lend her a pair of your pyjamas, she's currently sorting through all of clothes trying to get some washed for tomorrow. I don't think she had it on her mind the past week."
"Yeah of course, there should be a couple of sets in my room at yours."
"Alright thanks Tosh, I'll see you later."
"Bye Ianto." he hung up and went back to Rosanne who was putting a second load in the washing machine. He waited until she had filled all three washing machines before he led her upstairs. She left the rest of the washing in baskets downstairs.
"Tosh said you could use some of her pyjamas tonight. So I'll get them for you while you get sorted for your shower. What loads did you put in?" he left Rosanne waiting in the all while he gathered a set of Tosh's pyjamas from her set of drawers. Standing in the doorway he handed them over. He made sure there were loose and baggy so they wouldn't irritate her bruises.
"Jeans and trousers in one, underwear in the other and t-shirts shirts and pyjamas in the other. What about underwear?" Ianto chuckled before going into his room and coming back out with a pair of black boxers. She looked at him before he laughed again.
"Don't worry there brand new freshly washed yesterday with the rest of my new clothes. And since when are you fussy about wearing my underwear. Whenever you forgot to do your washing mine mysteriously went missing."
She took them and moved towards the bathroom next to Tosh's room. Normally she would laugh at the memories but right now all she wanted to do was have a shower have something to eat and sleep.
"Call me if you need me. I'm going to start on dinner I only have about a half and hour before everyone is round so I'm going to go to the chippy at the end of the road and get everyone's favourite. I'll be back soon."
"Okay." He left her moving around the bathroom getting her things organised so she could have a long hot shower. "Wait Ianto." she shouted she forgot her ribs were still badly bruised and even though Owen had gave her painkillers she hadn't taken any yet. He raced back into the bathroom worried that something had happened to her even though he was only half way down the stairs.
"What's wrong sweetheart." She could hear the worry in his voice. She turned away not wanting to ask for more help. He got the message after a while and gently helped her take off her sweater and her bra. He tried his best not look at the bruises but he couldn't stop himself. His eyes travelled over her large breasts and focused on the large bruise along her lower ribcage and stomach. Regardless that she was half naked he pulled her towards him wrapping his arms around her. She held on for a few minutes before gently pushing him away. He took this as he cue to leave. He walked down the stairs this time just in case but when he reached the door he could hear the faint sound of the shower going so he set the alarm and locked the door after him. The alarm would only go off if sometime tried to enter the house instead of if someone entered or moved around the house.
By the time he returned she was in the kitchen laying the table. Her long hair was still wrapped a towel. He never had to ask her to help out she would do chores without complaint. He never questioned her either he knew she liked to feel as though she was pulling her weight. When she lived with him and two of his friend in London one day the house would be a mess the next day it would spotless.
"Here give me those it's near seven you go and get dry." Rosanne took the bags from his hands while Ianto ran upstairs jumping in the shower quickly washing and drying off before changing into some jeans and an Iron Maiden t-shirt.
Jack exited his office pulling on his coat. Tosh was setting up all the security protocols while Jack checked over the hub. Owen came up from the med bay report in hand; he handed them over for Jack's signature while he pulled on his coat and grabbed his wallet phone and keys. "You might as well get the clothes from your locker too; you'll probably end up staying over." Jack told him while signing the report and handing it back to Owen. Even though Ianto asked if they could spare two hours and return to the hub after dinner Jack knew from experience that they would most likely end up staying the night.
"Okay." Owen went to get his bag while Gwen looked puzzled.
"Whenever we have dinner at Ianto's sometimes we end up having a drink so instead of sending people home they stay over." he explained. "You might want to tell Rhys to pack an overnight bag." She nodded and pulled out her phone to place the call.
"I'll take Owen and Tosh in the SUV; you pick up Rhys and follow my car back to Ianto's." Owen came back up to the main hub carrying a small duffel bag.
"Right then the security protocols are all set, my PDA and your wrist strap should pick up any alerts." Tosh told him while she was getting her bag sorted.
"It looks like we're all ready to go then. Owen you and Tosh get in the car. I'll lock up here." they managed to fit in the elevator and all had to scan their ID cards. With all four of them it was annoying but they had the system installed for a reason and it was working.
Quickly locking the tourist office door Jack ran to the SUV trying not to get soaked by the rain in the process. Throwing himself into the front seat he looked in the mirror and saw Owen looking through the medical kit they kept in the SUV.
"What are you looking through that for?" He asked him turning the engine on waiting for them to buckle up. They were amazed he waited for them to make sure they were buckled in before he shot off.
"Just in case, you saw the cut on her face I want to make sure I have something just in case I needs to change the stitches."
"Ah okay. She was surprised I didn't read your report of her injuries. I told her I wouldn't break confidentiality. She isn't officially part of Torchwood I don't have to know anything medically about her unless I hire her." Jack told him while he followed Gwen's car back to hers. It wasn't far form the hub. His house was still closer and that's why he bought it.
"Yeah, I told her that because she knows about Torchwood and will most likely have access to the hub that she would have to have monthly physicals like the rest of us."
"That's a good idea actually."
"She could always help in the archives for a little while." Tosh suggested going through some data she had bought form the hub to work on. "Ianto said that she was good at archival work and we're on a deadline for the file transfer an since Ianto helps us in the field now as well looking after the hub maybe he could use the help. Not to mention giving her a job. She may not need the money since she's been travelling for months but a job might give her something to focus on so she can decide what to do next. And I bet that Ianto wants you to be her doctor anyway so she would have to have access to the hub."
"Why would Ianto want me to be her doctor if he doesn't want her to be part of Torchwood?" Owen asked.
"Because he wants someone he can trust looking after his best friend. Just like I would. You may be a sarcastic son of a bitch but you're a damn good doctor." Tosh told him ignoring his look of anger then pride.
"I'll ask her and Ianto if she wants to help. You would have to get her a key card." Jack told her. They were waiting for Gwen and Rhys so Jack could lead them to his/Ianto's house.
"Already ordered it earlier." He turned to look at her and Owen looked up from the medical kit he was sorting. "Was going to suggest later anyway figured she would need a card sooner or later." She shrugged going back to the paperwork she was analysing.
"Ah Toshiko what would we do without you." Jack asked dramatically placing his hand over his heart.
"Not get anything done considering nearly the entire hub runs off my computers." She smiled cheekily at him. Laughing he pressed a kiss to her cheek.
"Tosh" Owen sounded hesitant both Tosh and Jack turned around to look at him they rarely heard him sound like that.
"Yes Owen." She was confused but waited for him to say what he wanted to say.
"You know all of the tech you've enhanced in the medical bay."
"Yeah..."
"Have you ever thought of letting the enhancements be available to the general public? I mean some of the stuff you have managed to upgrade for me would help in hospitals."
"I haven't really. I guess it never crossed my mind. How would I go about doing It." she asked. If she could help more people then she would do it.
"To be honest I don't know but I could always look into it."
"Alright well if you find out how then we will see what we can do. How's that?" she asked him.
"That's good. Finally!" Owen exclaimed Jack turned around to see Rhys locking their front door before taking the keys off Gwen and getting in the drivers seat of the car. Jack pulled away from the curb and navigated the roads until he pulled into the driveway. Ianto had left the driveway clear for the SUV whereas Rhys parked their car behind Ianto's.
Making a run for the house to avoid getting soaked by the downpour everyone piled into the lobby. Jack laughed as they looked around momentarily forgetting how wet they were.
Ianto greeted them handing out towels and taking their coats so he could hang them out to dry.
"Just leave your bags here dinners going to get cold if we leave it any longer." He told them leading them to the dining table which was set for all of them. Rosanne had set everything on plates so that everyone could take what they wanted. Even though Ianto had gotten everybody's favourites like he said eh would she didn't know whose was whose so she just pated it up in the middle of the table so the could pick and choose.
They had all just sat down when someone mobile phone started ringing and Glenn Miller drifted through the room. Everyone looked at Jack because it was the kind of the music they would expect from him. When he shook his head Rosanne laughed.
"Excuse me. I texted a friend after I got out of the shower to say I was home." She walked over the kitchen counter and picked up her phone.
"Hey Andy." Ianto saw her smile at talking to her old friend again. He had heard of him but never had the fortune to meet him. He knew they had lived next to each other when they were kids but went to different schools.
"I'm okay. Well apart from someone trying to mug me. But I am okay. Got checked out by a doctor when I got back. I'm staying with a friend at the moment but I can ask if you can pop over before your shift." She listened for a minute. "Yeah I'll ask." She turned to face Ianto and Jack.
"My friend Andy wants to come and make sure I'm okay. I've known him longer than I've known you Ianto."
"It's fine by me." Ianto told her and Jack nodded in agreement.
She gave him the address before hanging up and returning to the table. "He said he was going to drop by before going to work." She started helping herself to the food that was left.
"So where did your travels take you." Rhys asked her. She looked at him puzzled. "Sorry Gwen told me you went travelling. Always wanted to myself but could never afford it. Still hoping I can travel some day. I have already started saving for it. Well if putting spare change in a jar saving."
"Well I went to America first visited Washington Vegas New York Arizona LA. They went to Mexico. Canada. Australia. New Zealand. China. Japan. Spain. France and lastly Italy when all of this happened" she pointed to her face. "I spent about a week and a half in each place visiting museums art galleries historic sites and so on. And saving small change for years paid for my first flight. So it works but it depends what change you save I guess."
"Sounds like you had a good time until Italy." He commented.
"Yeah I did but I did miss my home land." She her welsh accent was starting to re surface after talking to Ianto and Rhys. In London it faded a little and while she was travelling it had almost gone but now she was home she hoped it would come back.
"I hear you're welsh accent now. Well it's a little faded but I bet it will come back to you the longer you spend in Cardiff."
"Born and bred. I moved to London while I finished my I.T degree thought I would go back to school and get my masters maybe a PHD."
"I don't know what I would do at university. I'm not the academic type." Rhys told her while the others looked on. They seemed to be bouncing between topics.
"Well I think you would do well in either languages or maybe more manual work. You seem to the type who prefers to do the work than watching from the sidelines having to do all the paperwork."
"Well I prefer to feel like I've earned my wage but I don't mind doing paperwork. Most people look at me and hear how I speak and automatically think I dropped out of secondary school or something. When I passed with good grades and went to college. I just never really decided on what I wanted to do." He said. He found her conversation refreshing. It wasn't just I can't tell you what I did at work today but I demand your attention or just the same conversation with his friend at the pub. They were actually talking.
"I think you're the type that doesn't find it until it lands right in front of you." she said. She liked Rhys she didn't like Gwen but she had never like people who had everything and still wanted more who went out of their way to get regardless of the consequences.
"Rosanne." Tosh said quietly and hesitantly." Rosanne turned to look at her. "Sorry for interrupting Rhys but I have a comment about your studies."
"No go ahead I'm going to finish eating anyway."Rhys smiled at her before going back to his dinner. He was happy he was getting to know the people that Gwen worked with he knew if he felt he could trust that Gwen would be in safe hands.
"Well I was wondering if you had considered doing an at home course instead of going back to university."
"Can't say that I have, I haven't really given it much thought to be honest with you. Why?"
"Well I mentioned to Jack earlier that since you were going to work for the base before the London office shut down that you have the necessary clearance to work for us here." she was elaborating to stop Rhys asking questions about who they worked for. It was Ianto she was worried about he didn't look to happy. She faltered until Jack picked up were she left off.
"What Tosh is trying to say Rosanne is that since Ianto was promoted the work in our filing department has been less than usual, And Ianto has been spending most of his free time uploading them onto our server. When he recommended you he said that you worked well in the archives. We have an information exchange in three weeks and so far we don't nearly enough information sorted as we would like. Tosh suggested that we could hire you to help pick up the slack." Jack told her while Tosh was looking down at her plate worried that Ianto would be angry at her. But she was surprised when Rosanne put her hand gently on hers which was resting on the table.
"Don't worry about Ianto; he's not angry at you for suggesting it." Ianto's head snapped up when he heard Rosanne say that. "He didn't want me to apply at the company to begin with; he's just looking out for me and would do the same for you." Tosh sent a small smile her way before going back to her food.
"So what I would just work in the archives." She asked to clarify.
"Yeah" Tosh answered for him. "Trust me even when we all help when we can and Ianto working through the night when we are on the night shift. There are still nearly two large storage rooms full of reports to get through. I was also thinking about the fact that it would give you a job to fall back on while you thought about what you wanted to do. At least you would know that you have money."
"Hmm. That's not a bad idea really. This would have come up eventually I'm grateful that you've bought it up." Rosanne felt the towel being pulled off her head; she looked up to see Ianto with a brush in his hand and hair bands around his wrist. Focusing her attention back onto Tosh she let Ianto brush her hair and put it in two French plaits. She knew that Ianto didn't want the life he had for her he wanted her to be safer than he was but he knew that he couldn't stop her.
"My old professor relocated to Cardiff University a while back I can call and ask if there's a way that you can enrol in January if your grades are high enough on your BA(hons) he could assign you the first terms work to catch up on."
"Is that possible? I thought I would have to rush an application."
"I will call him in the morning and see what he says." Tosh promised.
"Thanks. If that's possible I can still help out in the archives for a couple of hours a day." Rosanne looked at Ianto who didn't like the idea of her working for Torchwood.
"I approve of that idea better than you coming to work with us full time." he said before beginning to clear up the table. Rhys stood and helped and together they managed to get the washing and drying up done while Jack took the rest of them in the living room to chat.
"Where did you learn to plait hair Ianto not many men know how to do that." Gwen asked him when he came into the living room with Rhys.
"I have an older sister and a niece. I learned when I was a teenager. My mother used to plait Rhiannon's hair for her but she had trouble with her nerves so a lot of the time she couldn't I asked her to teach me so I could do it instead. Its helps when I babysit Mica because I can put her up so it's out of the way. She likes to bake and paint so it doesn't get in her hair."
"Oh. Mum used to put my hair up like that but I never liked it." Gwen told him. "I always preferred it down."
"My mother always kept my hair long and down. I really didn't have a choice she always said it looked better. By the time I went of to university I got really bored with it and got it cut shorter. Every time I had a hair cut it got shorter and shorter until it reached the length I have now. I might grow it out a little more though." Tosh commented.
"My mother used to cut mine in short styles mainly bobs I hated it I wanted long hair I could plait and put into a bun and stuff like that but she always said that shorter hair suited me when it didn't. As soon as I hit 13 I started arguing with her saying I didn't want shorter hair and it took months for her to let me grow it out. In the end my dad just told her it's not important what length my hair was so why argue over it. When I dyed it red she just gave up fighting with me." Rosanne was smiling at the memory. "Its sounds weird but it was always those moments that we were closer than ever."
"Girls and their hair." Rhys moaned theatrically burying his face in his hands. These were the conversations he hated.
"Well we can't really complain. Jack take forever with his Owen is constantly checking his in the mirror and I like to make sure mine presentable." Ianto said to Rhys ignoring the objections made by the men in question.
They settled into general conversation avoiding the topic of work. They didn't want Rhys asking too many questions. When Ianto went to the kitchen to make drinks Rhys followed him.
"Ianto?"
"Yeah Rhys."
"I know you can't tell me where you work. And I know whatever you do tell me I can't repeat to anyone. I just wanted to thank you for letting me in just enough to know what's going on."
"Its alright Jack didn't like me for it but I told him that if I could give you just enough that you wouldn't worry so much then I would. He understand where we're coming from but he's had it drilled into his head about secrecy most of his working life."
"I can understand that. Listen I'm going to ask you a question and I want the truth from you." Ianto looked up at him and seeing the look on Rhys' face, it was a cross between anger and hurt he nodded.
"Alright what do you want to know?"
"Is Gwen sleeping with someone from work?" Ianto's mouth fell open in shock. "I take it from your expression she is. She thinks I don't know but see it. Its Owen isn't it?"
"Yeah, don't tell anyone I confirmed it though. If you know why don't you confront her about it?"
"Because I love her. It sounds silly but when you love someone you do anything to make them happy. I know for a fact it won't go on long. Owen doesn't seem the type to put up with it and when that time comes she'll be wracked with guilt. She'll confront me then. Like I said she doesn't think I'm smart enough to realise it."
"I think it started after a tough case. We were all injured in some form. I think it was because she couldn't go home to you to talk about it and wanted someone she could talk to. And it's not an excuse but there's nothing me Tosh and Jack can do about it. All Jack can do is ban it from the base he can't stop them outside of it. Tosh was already confronted by both of them and doesn't want another one, they think she won't do anything but that woman is the smartest and one of fiercest women I know. She found out and Owen had a go and Gwen told her she couldn't judge because her actions aren't honourable either." Rhys looked hurt but he knew it was happening but didn't stop Ianto. "And me I'm the one that has to go in between them all and I can't work if we're in a warzone. If you ever want to talk about it your welcome here; you have my number and if Gwen's there I'll make some excuse." Ianto told him.
"Thanks. I can see the way she looks at Jack but I can also see the way he looks at you. I don't think he'll be much of a problem." Ianto nodded to him before handing him three bowls of popcorn crisps and sweets. While he bought out everyone's drink.
They were startled a little while later to a loud knock on the door. Ianto got up to answer it. He was surprised to see the worried face of Police Constable Andy Davidson.
A?N: Next chapter will be up soon I hope this is okay.
