COE Day 3
They were all tired and getting a little snippy at each other.
"Rhys, just drive!" growled Gwen demandingly.
"But I don't know where I'm going!" It wasn't like Rhys to whine, but that's exactly what it sounded like.
"Love, you wouldn't know anyway, because we're in London."
"But I just want to know-,"
Having heard about all the bitching he could take for now, Ianto jumped in before Rhys managed to plunge the car over a bridge somewhere.
"We're heading for a warehouse. Turn right here and follow the road to the end, then take a left."
It had taken some restraint on Ianto's part when he'd seen Jack not to kiss his husband first, before smacking him in the face for the stunt he'd pulled in the Hub. Once he'd formulated the thought he knew he was being unreasonable. If Jack hadn't done what he had, then Jack would be mourning a dead husband, not snuggling into the back seat with him. Once everyone had gotten into their stolen vehicle, Jack safely ensconced in the back, Rhys and Ianto had search for anything Jack could wear. They searched both their stolen car and the fork lift with no luck, then Rhys remembered he and Gwen had brought a small overnight bag. Rhys lugged his bag out of the back seat, pulling out a pair of old, but serviceable jogging bottoms and a t-shirt that were both a little big for Jack, but they were decent enough to stop Gwen gawking at Jack's crown jewels while Rhys drove, also distracted with his wife's intent focus. With Jack safely covered up, Ianto had pointed Rhys to drive in the general direction of London.
The drive was long and tedious given the late hour and London's propensity for traffic. Ianto directed them to some distant industrial estate skirting some important tourist landmark. A derelict area where a single warehouse stood singled out from the rest of the estate. Most of the surrounding buildings shared a car park, or a row of fencing, but this one isolated with an ominous presence. Ianto had directed them here, because he hadn't known what else to do. They were on the run from the government…their own government, and with more and more CCTV cameras being fixed to properties to ensure tight security, it would make their disappearance quite difficult. Ianto had known about this building for a while before Owen & Jack and Cardiff. As Rhys pulled the car up to the front of the warehouse, Ianto had looked at Jack to see if there was any recognition, surprised to find very little.
Hefting a crowbar out of the boot, Ianto approached the overly tall, rusted sliding doors like an old friend. This wasn't the first time he'd been here. Levering the steel bar into a heavy duty padlock was difficult, but soon it yielded, allowing Ianto to push open the doors. Leading the way into the empty space he had revealed; a really large, wet concrete and corrugated metal place, he raised his arms.
"This is us. This is Torchwood. This is home," Ianto declared.
Jack had never seen Ianto look quite so proud of anything before, though it was difficult to think of any facial expression except complete fear just before he'd been blown apart. Jack glanced at Gwen and Rhys and they gingerly walking through the open doors. She looked thoroughly unimpressed, whether due to lack of sleep, hunger or an actual feeling of being unimpressed. Rhys seemed unfazed by their current surroundings.
"It'll make a good base. Well done Ianto," Jack said, heading Gwen off at the pass before she could say something scathing. Jack sent Gwen a look and she pulled Rhys away so they could be alone.
"Why here?" Jack asked inquisitively, as he approached Ianto.
"Why not?" Ianto commented, "It's not as if there are any other places we could have gone, and I knew this place would be empty."
"Saving it in case of emergency?"
"If I'd have thought that far ahead, we'd actually have supplies instead of trackie bottoms, a shoddy third hand vehicle that's seen more than its fair share of miles, and a damp, rotting building."
"It's better than nothing! And I do love your resourcefulness."
"Well I do know an awful lot of useful information."
"Indeed you do," Jack slid his bare arms around Ianto's neck, "did I actually tell you how grateful I am you came to rescue me?"
"Not in as many words, no."
"Aren't we past the point of verbal conversations? Because there are times when I know you're reading my mind."
"Definitely not telepathic, Sir."
"Okay then," said Jack dropping a kiss on the tip of Ianto's nose, "thank you," his eyebrows, "for saving," his cheeks, "my life," before finally reaching Ianto's lips.
This time no one interrupted them, neither of them pulled back embarrassed at being caught in any position, compromising or not, as they took their time exploring the little they could without undressing. Every movement was leisurely and unhurried, each touch kept about the waist. Loving, tentative and reassuring.
A while later they pulled back from each other, pleased to have renewed their connection to each other. Ianto was the most pleased as he'd used their 'time out' to reassure himself Jack had no lasting damage from the explosion he'd suffered through. Jack had let Ianto carry on, knowing exactly what his husband's ulterior motive was.
"You're welcome."
As if on cue, Gwen and Rhys appeared making a racket to let them know they were there.
"We found some old sofas, they're a little old, but serviceable enough. Thought we could bring them into the main part of the building. Use it as our main area. Could you give me a hand? Gwen can't lift heavy objects at the minute," stated Rhys, almost babbling. Gwen threw the happy couple a threatening look that had both men avoiding the pregnancy issue, and helping Rhys manhandle the furniture.
Everyone then separated to extend their search for more useful things. They managed a few tables, chairs and an empty metal barrel.
It took Rhys several tries to light the barrel, as a fire, to warm them. Unfortunately both Ianto and Jack had tried and failed to light the dam thing. In exasperation, both men had admitted defeat and thrown themselves onto the sofa.
"I can't believe Rhys managed something we couldn't," muttered Jack only loud enough for Ianto to hear from the other end of the sofa.
"Almost lost my eyebrows! Still, good for something see? Old boy scout."
"Only because he had a light. We were trying the old fashioned way! Rubbing sticks together," Jack whined quietly. Ianto shushed him as Gwen moved within hearing distance.
"I'm freezing," moaned Gwen warming her hands over the small fire.
"Is anyone going to see us in here? With all this fire and stuff?"
"Don't know if you caught how we're in the middle of nowhere Rhys? It was abandoned in the 90's. Used to be a Torchwood holding facility. Torchwood One."
"Rusting away for years?"
"So what do we do hmm? Just sit here?"
"Worse than that, do I have to stay in these clothes? No offense Rhys."
"No offense taken mate."
"I mean come on, tracksuit bottoms? Not a good look."
"Jack, they're arriving today. Tracksuits bottoms are the least of our worries. That alien voice thing said today, and we're stuck in the back end of beyond," said Gwen, a strong edge to her voice, the stress clearly getting to her a little.
Jack patted the seat between him and Ianto, urging Gwen to take a seat and relax a bit.
"Yeah, but we're together. The old team. We're down, but not out yeah? We've survived worse than this. Besides I don't know how much fighting you should do in your condition." The last bit slipped from Jack's mouth, but seemed an apt comeback after the clothing comment she'd made.
"What does that mean?" Rhys exploded, his statement more aimed at Gwen than Jack.
"Christ Jack," Gwen muttered sharply at the two men who insisted on acting more like children than adults. She knew she was going to catch hell for Jack's comment, but she couldn't avoid it now.
"He knows you're pregnant?"
"Actually we both do," insisted Ianto, not wanting to be left out of the fun.
"You told them before me didn't you?" Rhys threw at Gwen, offended but not really surprised.
"Rhys! They just happened to be there. It happened really, really fast."
"Last to know! Last to bloody know! Well thank you very much," Rhys finished as he stormed away from the group.
"Don't be stupid man! Don't be so-," suddenly she turned on the boys saying, "couldn't you just keep it shut?" before she followed her husband.
"Funny but uncalled for."
"It was an accident, but seemed appropriate for the snidey clothes comment and look she made earlier."
"You can be evil sometimes. Poor Rhys!"
"Not our fault. She should have told him earlier! Not left out parts of the tale he should have known."
"But still-"
"Don't you take her side!"
Ianto scooted over the cushion, into Gwen's recently vacated seat, to wrap his arm over Jack's chest and rest his head on it, placing his ear over his husband's heart. The constant rhythmic beat lulled Ianto into complete relaxation.
"All together, the old team! We never fell out when Tosh and Owen were here."
"That's because Owen would fall out with the rest of us to stop that from happening."
"Gwen's right you know. We should be finding a way to help ourselves help the children of the world. To stop whatever it is that's going to happen."
"Fine, I'll think about apologising."
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW TWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Eventually Ianto pulled himself away from Jack's warm appealing body so he could give his sister a call. He knew that he should be making any contact with her. Direct contact would be too risky, so he called up a mutual friend who lived across the road him his sister.
"Hey, it's me. Could you give her the thumbs up?"
Quickly Ianto disconnected the call, so it couldn't be traced. The call gave him small piece of mind about his family.
"Are they ok?" Jack asked quietly from behind him, too aware of what Ianto had had to sacrifice to make sure his family were safe, and knew he was okay.
"I didn't dare speak to her directly in case they were listening. I left a message with a friend."
"As long as she knows."
"What about Alice?" Ianto asked, almost knowing the answer, but Jack could respond.
"I can't risk it. She'll know I'm ok."
"As long as you're sure," Jack just nodded.
"Right guys," Jack called out to the others, "let's take inventory of what we've got."
It appeared Gwen and Rhys had patched things up, and they were shooting each other sickly love looks, though neither Jack nor Ianto minded. Gathering around on of their tables they emptied all the pockets in their clothing. What they produced was pitifully little.
"So we've got guns, a pen knife, laptop now dead, credit cards which they can trace. Lemsip, stamps, a pair of contact lenses, and £15."
"We've still got some of the Torchwood software though. We've lost the hub, but the software still exists on the server. Trouble is we're going to need some equipment, not to mention electricity."
Since Tosh's death, Ianto had had to assume most of her duties, even though he knew very little about her genius projects and ideas.
"And how are we going to manage that hidden away like criminals?"
"Well that's it! Brilliant!" exclaimed Gwen loud enough to scare a pigeon that had settled on the corrugated rusting iron roof.
"What?" drawled Rhys, a confused expression marred his brow.
"Criminals, thieves, us. Well they're treating us like criminals, so let's be criminals. Listen I trained with the police. I know every trick in the book, I've seen a lot. Come on boys! Come and learn some tricks."
Excitedly Gwen rushed off with Rhys as she prepared to 'explain' criminals to them. The lecture was informative and laid out exactly what they needed to do in order to pull her idea off.
"I can't believe we're turning into common criminals," Ianto muttered as Gwen went through steps with Rhys to ensure he didn't get arrested.
"We've had everything taken from us, our home, our car and all our equipment. We have to start with the basics, but to do that we need equipment, and at least one vehicle so we can get around the city. With the government trying to kill us, it's not like we can buy an oyster card to travel around with, especially not with all surveillance around. This is our only option if we want to save the children, and the planet from whatever's going to happen tomorrow."
"I guess I'd rather risk arrest than death."
"That's the spirit. Now I'm gonna find us a sweet convertible. We may become common thieves but there's no need to have poor taste." Ianto would have shouted, better to have poor taste than be in prison, but he didn't think it would sway Jack.
Pretending to be waiters, they stole unsuspecting customers credit cards; created disturbances to distract attention as they lifted unwatched laptops and briefcase bags. Jack even drove off with his coveted convertible. Originally working in teams, they eventually separated so as not to get caught.
Everyone was back at base, except for Ianto, and Jack was getting a little concerned he'd been arrested! To try and take his mind off the matter, Jack set about hijacking electricity from the surrounding buildings.
The last finishing touches were in place as Jack touched one last button on one of their stolen laptops exclaiming, "Let there be light!" like some magician conjuring a rabbit out of a hat. The whole warehouse lit up, not far off looking like a Christmas tree.
"Oh yees! Britain's most wanted!" squealed Gwen.
"Hey, how about that?" asked Rhys as he showed off the sign he'd created by rubbing through the grime on the wall to read 'The Hub 2'.
"Guess that makes you an official member of the team!"
"You can stick it mate. Get on those computers and get me home." Rhys said, as he moved around Jack to stand by his wife.
"I see we've got a new car outside," called a familiar voice, punctuated with Welsh vowels, "Nice! Very smart."
"We're have you been? We thought you got arrested," the sentence came out with more bite than Jack intended, but he'd been worried, so he reasoned it was understandable. Ianto brushed off the comment.
"Just buying essentials. Technologies one thing, but let's not forget the creature comforts. Coffee, obviously. Got some doodah."
To which Gwen cried, "Thank God," Rhys just laughed at her.
Ianto continued, "but more importantly, didn't know your exact sizes but I reckon I've got a good eye," throwing a plastic bag each at Gwen and Rhys, who both loved what they found when they opened them.
Under his arm, Ianto carried a large brown paper parcel.
"And for you sir. Army surplus special," Jack's facial expression was one of pure shock as he reached out for the package.
"Oh! You're kidding me. Thank you so much."
Jack looked almost in tears at the thoughtful gesture. He knew it would fit, as Ianto had been purchasing various clothing items for him for a while, and they always seemed to fit perfectly.
Jack, in a rush to rid himself of the unfashionable tracksuit bottoms, pecked Ianto on the cheek and ran to change. In record time Jack reappeared looking like his normal work self; just as sexy and doubly menacing. Ianto stood back and enjoyed the view.
"Well? I'm back!" All the team, Rhys included, gathered into a small, tight circle and hugged. The results of their work over the last few hours, ending with Jack in his rightful clothing, made everything worth the hassle and danger. Now they had to work on what was actually going on in the world.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
"And we're in!" Jack, Ianto and Gwen were separately huddled in front of a laptop, access and re-establishing connections and links with all their old software. Jack thanked God that Ianto had gotten to grips with all the software in the last year.
"Just like the old days."
"I've patched into new channels. See what's happening."
"Black no sugar yeah?" Rhys had been promoted to head of refreshments, ensuring the rest of the team drink enough fluids and ate at the right times.
"That's the one."
"No sign of anything. Empty skies."
"Right. Where do we start? What are we looking for?"
"Run a check on a Clement McDonald. See if there's any change, and those names Lois said."
"Capt Andrew Staines, Ellen Hunt and Michael Saunders mean anything to you Jack?" Ianto asked expectantly.
Jack's blank expression said it all really, but he still replied, "No, nothing."
"We need to get inside Whitehall. Have you got the I5 software Ianto?" Ianto could almost hear the cogs in Gwen's mind turning, creating a plan to get them inside the building that was currently trying to kill them all.
"Yeah it's still on the site. Why?"
"Download it onto the laptop would you? These contacts aren't just ordinary contact lenses. These are Torchwood contact lenses."
"But what do we use them for? Who's going to wear them?"
"Well there's only one person still talking to us."
Gwen swiftly disappeared, tracking down Lois Habbiba, trying to persuade her to be their Whitehall spy.
"Frobisher is the key to this," said Jack after looking a little more into the information they had about his assassination, "He's just a civil servant, but he's nothing. What makes him start ordering executions? Why would he want us dead?"
"Well you are a bit late handing in one of their reports. Would that be enough motive?" asked Ianto glibly. Jack just turned a hard stare in his direction. Ianto switched topics.
"What did it feel like? I mean, getting blown up."
"Wasn't the best of days," Jack tried valiantly keep his answer flippant, not really achieving it, though he refused to look Ianto in the eye.
"No, but did you feel it? Or did everything just go black?"
"I felt it."
"Shit."
"Yeah," Ianto walked over and hugged Jack, as was normal when he heard some distressing news about how painful Jack's deaths were. The hug didn't destroy the memories of the pain Jack had felt, but they went a long way to helping him get over it.
"Do you ever think that one day your luck will run out? That you won't come back?"
This was something that they had never spoken about before. For all the time they had spent travelling the world, looking after each other and coming to terms with Owen and Tosh's deaths, they had never discussed Jack's future with his immortality. Jack had known this day would come, but hadn't really wanted to face it. Being blown up so blatantly by forces that wanted him dead was bound to leave Ianto with questions.
"I'm a fixed point in time and space. At least that's what the Doctor says. I think that means its forever."
"So one day you'll see me die, of old age, and just keep going?" Although Ianto knew the answer to this, he still asked the question.
"Yeah."
"We'd better make the most of it then."
"Suppose," responded Jack suspiciously.
"What about now?" Ianto asked with a purely innocent expression, but a mischievous sparkle in his eye.
"Ianto, the world could be ending."
"The world's always ending. And I have missed that coat."
"Rhys? Do you wanna take the car and go to those shops, er, down by the Wharf? We need some discs for these things. Should take about 20 minutes."
"30 minutes," Ianto quickly jumped in.
"30!"
"I could, but the beans are almost done."
"The beans are almost done Ianto."
"Rhys, we'll keep an eye on the beans, don't worry about that. We really do need those discs, if you wouldn't mind."
Rhys sighed dramatically.
"How many do you want?" Ianto's eyes gleamed with excitement, glory and a hint of arousal at the success of his ploy.
Two minutes after Rhys walked out the door, stolen credit card in hand, Ianto pounced on Jack, who remained in his seat making sure that Rhys wasn't going to return. He made an oomph noise as Ianto landed in his lap. They moved a little too quickly for either of them to adequately catch their breath, but this wasn't something they were unused to. Tongues were a little wetter than usual, and everything was just a little too hard. Unfortunately for them, God or whoever controlled the fates seemed to be against them as a telephone rang. The echoing sound it made throughout the warehouse made Ianto want to throw the damn thing far away. They were busy, couldn't people just leave them alone for another 21 minutes and 15 seconds? Jack, more mindful of current events pulled away to pick up the ringing mobile, with an apologetic expression.
"Gwen what have you got for us?" He put the mobile on loud speaker, so they could both listen, while they replaced buttons into buttons holes and zippers moved up from their downward position.
Ianto was rock solid, extremely frustrated and angry at Gwen. He wanted nothing more than to shut off the phone call mid-flow as she ranted about the trials and tribulations of speaking to people. He booted up his computer and while she ranted he looked up Clement McDonald.
"Gwen?" Ianto interrupted, "We've got a new little mission for you. That Clem's turned up at Camden police station. He's been arrested for theft and minor affray. Can you get him out?"
She moaned and groaned at the request. Ianto countered with the one thing she was always going on about.
"Well you were a police woman. You should know someone with some pull. Jack thinks he could be connected to the children, so we need him."
"Anything else I can get you while I'm at it?" Gwen grumbled.
"A fillet steak would be nice," and with that Ianto cut her off, knowing that she would get out the old man, because her heart wouldn't let her do anything else.
Jack rolled his eyes, but understood why Ianto had taken such a hard tone towards his colleague and friend.
"We may as well work, now that we've been interrupted."
"Oh yes," Ianto hissed, "because works more important-sorry. We don't normally get disturbed anymore, and this is really uncomfortable."
"I wish I could help, but," Jack looked from Ianto's heavily erect crotch to his watch, "Rhys will be back any minute...," Jack was faced with silence, but he continued, "What's his story? Clement McDonald?"
"Really?" Ianto narrowed his eyes to a squint and pursed his lips.
"It'll take your mind off it."
"Fine! It was your classic alien abduction story. Back when he was a kid in 1965 he was living 10 miles outside Arbroath, Scotland, at Holy Tree Lodge. According to the files the kids were taken away in November 1965. The lodge was closing down and they were taken to a second care home called Harbour Heights in Plymouth. Except that's where the records stopped. There's no trace of him arriving. I mean it was the sixties. A lot of the paper works gone missing, but if what he's saying is true then he never got there."
If Ianto had been watching he would have seen Jack's face change. From thoughtful attentiveness to concentration, contemplating every word that came from Ianto's mouth, then guilt and worry. The summary of events Ianto was going through sounded a lot like something that he had done, with more than one child in the past, 50 years ago for some, longer for him. If this was what he thought it was Ianto would never forgive him. He had to make sure that he was thinking about the same situation.
"Show me the people."
"What people?"
"Andrew Staines, Ellen Hunt, Michael Saunders. The ones that were killed the same day as me."
"Why do you think there's a connection?" Ianto questioned, unsure why Jack was asking about them now, especially since he'd had no idea who they were an hour ago.
"Show me!" The more Jack thought about it, the more he believed his past was coming back to haunt him.
"Alright! No need to shout."
"Sorry...no, no, no. Not their history. Show me them 40 years ago!"
"What for Jack? I don't understand."
"The photos. Just do it!"
"What is it Jack? Do you know them?" Ianto asked as the pictures of forty year old faces streamed across the screen.
"I never knew their names," replied Jack, absently, devastation sweeping his mind. It was true. Those children...all those children...and now they were back for more. They'd come to claim more than the initial gift they'd been presented with. Jack had lived for so long that he had learned never to regret anything he did, but he now regretted this. This could be the one thing that could tear him from his husband. If they survived this, Jack promised to whoever was out there listening that he would reveal the most deep, dark secrets he kept hidden in his soul to Ianto.
"Who were they? Jack tell me! Did you know them? Jack?" And with that Jack ran away.
Before he could incriminate himself, or Ianto could force a confession out of him, Jack left Ianto sitting there, confused, a little annoyed and frustrated, but for a whole different reason. Before they had married, Jack had done the running away thing with reasonable frequency, especially if it was something painful he didn't want to talk about. Ianto had thought they were past it, but evidently not.
In the distance Ianto could hear a car, presumably Rhys', pulling up, as he turned to see the pan on the stove smouldering. Shit! They had forgotten to turn the damn thing off. Ianto sighed loudly, knowing he would get earache for this latest screw up.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
"Rhys! How many times do I have to say how sorry I am? It wasn't like it was intentional. Jack and I got slightly distracted with...work and it slipped our notice. We have more beans-"
"But those took ages. I used spices and all sorts to make them special."
"I'm sure whatever you come up with will be good, but we don't need special beans. Ordinary beans will be fine. I'm sure Gwen will love them no matter what's in them."
"Have you heard from her?"
"Yeah, she's gone to a police station in Camden to pick up the man we've been looking for."
"Oh. Will she be okay?"
"She should be. She'll be back as soon as she gets Clem released."
Computers buzzed all around them. Ianto swivelled in his chair to face his computer. Startled by the sudden elevation in noise, Rhys hurried over too.
"It's them. It's all of them, the kids," said Ianto as a new bulletin flashed onto his monitor.
"What are they saying?"
"I don't know, just pointing."
Just when it seemed the day could get any worse, it did a 180 switch and became weird.
"The news is saying all the children in America are pointing east, and all the children in Europe are pointing west."
Rhys thought for a minute, to work out the significance of what this latest development could mean. Ianto had found that Rhys had a knack for seeing what the rest of them failed to. Suddenly it all made sense as Rhys' face bloomed into comprehension.
"It's us! They're pointing at us."
"What's so special about us? Unless it has something to do with Whitehall? There are reports that the children around the country are pointing to London. Let me work something out."
The warehouse was quiet for a moment as Ianto did some extrapolating, using a map of the UK and arrows that showed where are the whole of the UK's child population were pointing to.
"They're pointing at Thames House! Come on Rhys, we've got to go see."
Ianto raced off up the rickety stairs of the warehouse, heading towards the highest vantage point – the roof, followed not so swiftly by Rhys. Rhys wasn't as young as he used to be, or as fit as he probably should be. It was difficult sometimes, being the manager of a haulage company, to be able to fit in time to get to a gym to work on his fitness, but in the past it had never been an issue. His levels of fitness had only come to light since being on the run with Gwen. Clearly this was something he would need to think about changing when they got out of this and returned to normal, especially if he was going to be a dad.
Upon reaching their destination, both men stared out over the London landscape in front of them. As if conjured by magic, a column of fire descended from the cloud covered sky, punching a piercing blue hole through the clouds. From what they could see of pedestrians in the distance, it appeared that not one person was able to look away from the sight.
"Looks like it's all kicking off," muttered Ianto, unable to tear his eyes from such a spectacular and imposing sight. As quickly as the fire column arrived, it disappeared with no sign of any after effects.
"We could really use Jack about now huh?" asked Rhys concerned and a little scared that his wife could be somewhere near that place in the distance.
"I'll try ringing him again, but if he doesn't answer, we'll just have to sit tight and wait for him to come back. He has a lot of secrets, but that light show wasn't one of them. I'm sure of it."
"Let's head back down then. I'll get some more beans and coffee on the go. Maybe even something a little more sustaining."
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW TWTW
As they returned to the lower levels of their warehouse, slowly than they had gone up, they found Gwen had returned with Clem McDonald in tow. Gwen went through introductions, and both men were welcoming and pleasant to their new comrade.
"There you go," she said as she passed Clem another mug of hot milky coffee.
"Save some for the rest of us, mate!" Rhys exclaimed making a flippant comment about food, as Clem quickly scrambled for as much food as he could get his hands on. The food in the cells at the police station was okay, but very rarely hot.
"He's your husband?"
"Yes. Yes, my beloved." As Rhys passed Gwen, they shared a kiss. Gwen had made the coffee, so that she had something to do.
"Nice house, isn't it?" While Rhys kept Clem amused, Ianto tapped away on the controls of the computer keyboard, keeping his distance from Clem. He didn't have anything personally against the man, and was civil enough, but Clem had a tendency to look at him funny, and Ianto had sensed that Clem wasn't really interested in being any where him either.
"Well, we do our best! It's got shower facilities. Just stand under the skylight," both Clem and Rhys laughed.
"I've stayed in worse."
"And who's the queer again?"
"Oi!" Ianto glared in Clem's direction. His outburst causing everyone in the room to stare at him and pause in awkward silence, "It's not 1965 anymore."
"He's queer. I can smell it." This time Ianto just ignored him. He wondered what Clem would say when he 'smelt' Jack. This made Ianto smile to himself. If he was having a hard time with one 'queer', then what would he be like with his immortal, omnisexual husband. Ianto spent many minutes thinking up different scenarios that put Clem in some awful situations, but they kept him amused.
Conversation was sparse as Ianto refused to be drawn into altering his focus from work, instead of watching Clem lurk around. Gwen was getting a little jittery, waiting to see if their spy was going to help them see what was going on inside the Thames House building on the North bank of the river. Turned out that Lois was going to help them, heavens knew why.
"Took me a while to get used to those things."
"What? You've used the lenses?" asked Ianto, a little surprised that she would willingly take highly unique and classified tech out of the Hub.
"Yeah. That's why Gwen had them. "
"I just took them home for a bit of fun," she blushed a bit at the confession while Rhys grinned at her.
"Fun? "
"Yeah."
"Y'know. Fun."
"Yeah, well been there, done that. It is fun."
"Yeah." And because it was too embarrassing to be talking about it in front of Clem and her husband, neither Ianto nor Gwen made another comment.
The remaining Torchwood team learned a lot in the next hour. It seemed Gwen had managed to convince Lois to wear the lenses to give them a view of the inside of Thames House. Most of what they saw shocked even their hardy imaginations. A large glass tank had been built for whatever kind of alien this thing was, and thanks to Clem's knowledge they knew that this alien had visited their planet, specifically England, before. What shocked them was that a government employee, not even a member of the military was holding a peace talk of sorts with the alien. It seemed that he was trying to find out what the alien was doing here, and also trying to bargain against using the children for any kind of plot.
Ianto had a tough job translating Lois' short hand note taking, and keeping an ear out for the translator software voicing John Frobisher's prepared speech to the alien, but managed it.
Things started to turn ominous when Ianto read a shorthand sentence the alien had said,
"We have a request...We want a gift...We want...your children. We will take your children."
"What does that mean? What the hell for?" asked Rhys angrily.
Rhys' mood, and the words spoken by the 456 caused Clem to pace behind the others, getting more upset and agitated with each passing minute.
"They want to take them, like they did before. Like the man did," Clem sniffs, "He's coming back. He's coming back!"
"Not now Clem, just wait," said Gwen, her patience running a little thin with the old man.
"He's coming, he's coming. He's coming. He's coming," Clem kept repeating over and over again. Any attempt to quiet him down was futile, as he seemed to be locked in a memory.
Ianto had continued to ignore Clem, focusing on deciphering Lois' code.
"10%...We want 10%...We want 10% of the children of this world," Ianto recited.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW TWTW
Unbeknownst to Ianto, Jack had finished whatever it was he had run off to do, and had walked out of the shadows in front of the rest of the team. Clem froze to the spot, shocked by Jack's presence. Gwen struggled to calm him down, not knowing what had caused this change in mood again. Jack remained in place, standing straight and impassive.
"He hasn't changed. He's the same. He's the same. He's the same. All those years...How can he be the same?" Clem yammered.
"What's he talking about, Jack?"
"Clement MacDonald. Just another name. It was easier, if you didn't know the names."
"You were there? In 1965."
"He was the man!"
"No, no, this is what he does, you see, he fights them. He fights aliens, isn't that right, Jack?"
"No."
"Then what were you doing there?"
"I gave them the kids. 1965, I gave them 12 children."
"What for?"
"As a gift."