Jack took a deep breath and let it out. He glanced down at his vortex manipulator and saw that it was still tripping the camera recordings. The program was rather simple, but it allowed him to drive without worrying about being tracked. The signal from his vortex manipulator was tied into the Torchwood mainframe, which was tracking him much like a sat-nav would. As he drove it located the cameras in line and set them to a record loop for the time it took him to pass. Once they were out of the city, he didn't have to worry about it. The program was designed to hide itself, and unless Toshiko knew where to look, she wouldn't find it. There was no reason for her to look, so he contented himself with the knowledge that she wouldn't catch onto his deception. He crossed his fingers on the steering wheel as he thought that, and hoped that everything went off as planned.
He didn't go too far outside the city, but ended up on a dirt road in the country. Ianto looked about as they drove, but there really wasn't much to see, as there were no streetlights. Jack was playing old fashioned big band music on the stereo system and Ianto felt his foot tapping along with it. It seemed to fit him, Ianto thought. Jack interested him. He didn't seem the type that needed to buy someone, so the fact that he was actively pursuing him was intriguing. He had been trying to puzzle it out for a while now, but hadn't come up with a reason why Jack was interested in him. While they talked about everything under the sun when they were together, they never talked about personal stuff that exposed themselves to one another. Ianto was fine with that as he didn't want to delve into his own past or explain it to someone else. But the more he got to know Jack, the more he wanted to know about him.
Jack had to pay close attention as the dirt road wasn't in the best of shape. He had been out to the country house earlier in the week and had readied it, wanting to set this up ahead of time, but needing to do it when the rest of his team wasn't paying attention. This was a bit of Torchwood property that didn't show up on the rolls of holdings. Mainly because it belonged to him personally and had been his for over a century. He had quietly bought the surrounding land over the years to give himself a place to escape to when he needed to.
"Wow, we are out in the hinterlands, aren't we?" Ianto commented and Jack chuckled as they bottomed out briefly. "So much for your car."
"It's a rental," Jack said with a grin as he pulled up to the cottage. He touched something on his vortex manipulator and a light came on. Ianto assumed it was just a proximity light sensing the movement of the car. At least they wouldn't have to stumble in the dark. He got out of the car and looked around. He knew he should be worried about being out in the country alone with Jack, but for some reason he wasn't. He watched as Jack pulled his duffel bag out of the back seat and led the way up the walk to the door. He turned to Ianto as he inserted his key in the lock. Ianto stood back and let him enter first. Once he had the lights on, he gestured for Ianto to come in.
"This is your place?" Ianto asked as he looked around. They were in a kitchen which looked like it had stepped out of a television show. The appliances were rather old fashioned and there was a small table that only two people could sit at. But it looked clean.
"Yeah, been in the family forever," Jack said as he dropped the bag down on a chair. He watched as Ianto moved about, poking around. It was never a place that his own Ianto had been to – they had never had the need to get away to a place like this before, so it was something new for him and not an echo of a past memory. Jack was happy about that, since sometimes he felt he was seeing ghosts of past experiences that were coloring what he was doing now. "Aren't you a bit worried about being out here alone with me?" He asked, curious.
Ianto looked up from where he had poked his head into the fridge. "Nope," he said as he closed the door. "If you wanted to off me in some kinky sex situation I don't think you'd come all the way out here to do it." Jack looked startled for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"It had never occurred to me," he said as he finally got control of his mirth. He wondered what went through the other man's head, but eventually came to the conclusion that with someone else it might have been a real possibility. "But thanks for the vote of confidence," he said with a grin as he leaned a hip against the doorway leading into the parlor.
"You're welcome," Ianto said. "Of course I don't have much in the way of spare clothing, so you'll have to live with me as I am." He stalked across the room to where Jack was standing. "So, do I get the rest of the tour?" Jack stood aside and stepped into the other room, leaning to his left to turn on a table lamp as he motioned for Ianto to continue his wanderings.
Ianto stepped into the room which had a decidedly male feeling to it. The furniture was dark and there were military photos on the walls. He gave it a cursory glance before noticing a hallway leading off the other side. "Nice," he commented.
Jack had been watching him, his arms crossed over his chest. "Thanks. Hungry? I have food here, so could make us something." Ianto shrugged. It seemed that whenever he was with Jack all the other man wanted to do at first was to feed him. His jeans were beginning to feel tight with all of the regular meals he was getting.
"I'm okay," he said. He turned away to hide a smile. He didn't think there would have ever been a time when he would have turned down a meal. Funny how that could change, he mused to himself. He turned back towards Jack and moved to where he was standing. "I'm hungry for something else," he said in a low voice as he leaned into Jack. He heard the other man's breath hitch in reaction.
"Oh?" Jack asked, trying to stay nonchalant but he wasn't having a lot of success with it. "What do you have in mind?" Ianto moved even closer and pressed him against the wall.
"Anything and everything," Ianto said as he rubbed himself up against Jack's body. Jack involuntarily closed his eyes and Ianto reveled at the power he seemed to have over the other man. He pulled back slightly and held out his hand. Jack pulled his wallet out and placed it in Ianto's hand. He could feel that there was more than enough weight for his usual fee, so he leaned in to give Jack a kiss before dropping it on the end table next to the sofa. By this point their interplay was obligatory, and once he had gotten it out of the way he wrapped himself around Jack, luxuriating in the feeling of Jack's hands combing through his hair and rubbing his skin as he pushed his hand up under Ianto's shirt. "So where do you want me?"
Jack almost groaned at the question. This man had an ability like no other to turn him on with just a glance and a well placed smile. He hooked his fingers into Ianto's belt loops and pulled him tight against his hips. "Anywhere and everywhere," he murmured against the other man's lips. He let Ianto take control, opening his mouth to the other man in a wet and sloppy kiss. He would sell his soul for this man.
Jack moaned. All thoughts of Torchwood, his team and even the world outside the room narrowed down to what was going on with the man in front of him in this small room.
Ianto enjoyed being with Jack. The man made his blood boil like none other. And he was really enjoying their sparring when they were together. Even beyond the sex, this man intrigued him. He knew he was in dangerous territory, but at this point he found he didn't care. So he started to move against Jack, using what little leverage he could to entice the man further.
As they began to make love, Ianto shut down all the things he thought about when he wasn't with Jack. The time wasn't for thinking, but for doing….
Several hours later at the Hub a computer chimed. There was no one to hear it, but that didn't matter. Toshiko Sato didn't need to be sat at her computer to access it. She was at her kitchen counter putting together a snack before sitting down to watch a movie when her PDA vibrated. Putting down the knife she was using, she picked it up. Typing in the access code, she looked at the message that was displayed there. She frowned thoughtfully. One of her many small spider programs had sent back a message. She sat back on the stood by the counter and considered the information. Tapping her fingernail against the counter, she turned towards her kitchen table. Her laptop was set up on it, but she had promised herself she was leaving it off tonight and was just going to enjoy a quiet non-work related night at home. She glanced back down at the blinking message on the PDA. No, she couldn't just leave it. She never could. That was her problem.
Sighing, she headed over to her computer to boot it up and to look further into what her program had found for her….
Andy sat at a bar in the other end of town wondering just what it was he was doing. He was feeling at loose ends so had decided to go to one of his old haunts from when he was a PC. He met up with some of his former mates, but it was obvious that his experiences with Torchwood had separated him from them in more ways than just the obvious ones. His old partner Gwen was partying at a pool table with some of her workmates and they were making right prats out of themselves. They were acting pretty juvenile and he wondered if he was ever like that when he was a PC. He sipped his drink and brooded. Torchwood had changed him. Jack had changed him. He sighed. Jack. At times he felt things were better than ever and others he felt like he really didn't know the other man at all. He wished he had gone to London with Jack despite what his boss had said. He thought about just heading out and surprising Jack. He should be able to find out where Jack was staying. Maybe they could stay in London later and have a little fun. He stared at himself in the mirror. Jack. The man was trying to protect him, and he didn't know why. Didn't Jack trust him? Didn't he know he was a fully fledged member of the team now? Didn't he want him along?
Staring at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar, he came to a decision. He dumped some money on the top of the bar and stood up. Without a glance back at his former team mates who he had been as close to as siblings one upon a time, he walked out of the pub and didn't look back.
"Come on, Suzie," Owen said as he wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders and hugged her. "Let's go to bed." Suzie was staring intently at her computer display. She had been going through all of the in house and external CCTV footage, tracing Jack's whereabouts. "This is getting you nowhere."
"There's something not right here," she muttered. "I can feel it." Once again, she brought up the scan for the first day that Jack came back and played it. The cameras had caught him materializing on the Plass in a burst of white light. Jack had stumbled a few steps before regaining his balance. He looked around like he was trying to identify where he was, and she had zoomed in the footage to examine his expression. It had seemed like he was surprised to be in Cardiff. Surprised to be where he was. And it made her wonder where he had been and where exactly he thought he had been going. She frowned in concentration as she peered closer at the screen.
Owen stared over her shoulder for a long moment. It was like she was possessed, trying to find something wrong. Owen had just accepted that Jack was back and that things were as normal as they were ever going to get at Torchwood. He adored Suzie, but sometimes she was a bit of a fanatic. He decided to try and distract her by leaning down and trailing kisses along her shoulder and neck and up to her ear. He could tell she was responding because her nipples hardened under his hands where he was caressing her breasts. Suzie was fantastic in bed; he had never had anyone like her before. When he had fallen for her it had been hook, line and sinker. He had never looked any other woman since.
"Come to bed. Whatever it is will still be there for you to find, if it exists. Please, baby," he pleaded. She leaned back with a sigh and he took that as a response, letting his hand move down and slide under her shirt. "I need you."
Suzie closed her eyes and leaned back, enjoying Owen's hands on her. He had one hell of an imagination and he was quite inventive in the bedroom. And he was usually able to bring her back from the brink of madness when she got too close to the edge. She sighed as he touched her, his lips creating a fiery trail over her skin. Her breathing quickened in response to what he was doing.
"Yeah, let's go to bed," she said with a nod. Owen urged her up, slowly undressing her as he led the way to their bedroom. They left everything as it was, Owen not wanting to stop them from getting into bed as soon as possible. Soon the room was empty, the lights left on and a frozen image of Jack Harkness on the computer screen that Suzie had been scanning only moments before…