I send this a destroyed person as I have just seen day five. I don't know what to do now. I am lost. Someone help. Long Live TORCHWOOD.
Letting Their Hair Down.
Ianto and Phoenix arrive back at the restaurant just in time for the table to be cleared and the bill presented. The team smile at Ianto and Phoenix as they walk back in, hand in hand.
"I'll get the bill," Ianto tells them and he turns to Phoenix and smiles, praying that she wouldn't leave while he was doing it.
He let go of her hand took care of the bill as quickly as he could, almost leaving the Torchwood credit card behind but retrieving it when he was called back for it. He smiled when he saw Phoenix still stood there, the team around her but Jack away from them. Ianto went over to Jack and put his hand on his arm.
"What's wrong Jack?" Ianto asks him gently.
"Nothing's wrong Ianto, honestly," Jack tells him but they both knew he was lying.
Ianto went back over to Phoenix and took hold of her hand again, the team seeing it but he didn't care, he wasn't going to let her disappear until their night was over and it had only just begun. Ianto took them all out to the limo that was still parked outside and they all got in, Ianto making sure that he sat with Phoenix, still holding her hand. As he talked with Toshiko, Phoenix looked at Jack and he was looking right at her. She closes her eyes and gets into Jack's head.
"Don't Jack. I made the choice, I made your choice for you," she tells him so only he could hear.
"And it was the wrong choice Phoenix," he thinks and she hears it just as Jack wanted her to.
She opens her eyes and looks away from him. The rest of the journey was spent with everyone but Jack talking, even Phoenix got involved in some small talk but no long conversations, mostly with Ianto and Gwen though. They arrived and the limo stopped, everyone getting out. It was a huge pub, bigger than most pubs and the team all headed in with Ianto, Phoenix and Jack and the front and Gwen, Tosh and Owen bringing up the rear. There were already quite a few people in the pub but Ianto spotted a table and made a dive for it forgetting that he was still holding Phoenix's hand.
The team sat around the table except Ianto who asked everyone what they wanted to drink, Phoenix ordering an orange and Ianto got Jack to help him at the bar to bring the drinks back.
"Who's up for a game of pool but I must warn you, I am mean when I play?" Owen asks them and Toshiko agrees to play against him.
As Phoenix and Gwen talk at the table, Owen winds Tosh up as he was playing better than she was so when it's Owens turn next, as he hit's the ball, Phoenix motions with her finger and the ball travels in a completely different direction than were it was meant to go, hitting no balls so giving two shots to Tosh. Ianto and Jack come back to the table and Owen comes to get his pint as Tosh takes her two shots, Owen opting to drink instead of swear. As the game goes on, Jack now watching the game, Owen makes the mistake of bragging about a shot he was going to perform that was guaranteed to sink the ball and Phoenix couldn't help herself and once again, she sent the ball in a totally different direction.
"I saw that," Jack tells Phoenix and she smiles.
"He shouldn't brag so much then should he," Phoenix says and Jack smiles remembering what she was like.
"Same old tricks, different game, different time," Jack tells her and her smile fades.
Once Owen and Tosh finished their game, Toshiko winning, Gwen went and played against her and Owen went to play on the fruit machines. It was just Ianto, Jack and Phoenix. Ianto leans in and whispers something into Jack's ear but Phoenix didn't hear as she was focused on a group of men who were looking over them.
"Have you seen those two posh queers over there. The one who thinks he is an extra from an old war film and the other in that posh suit, thinking he is better than all of us, whispering queer stuff into the others ear. We should kick their arses and throw them out. What do you think lads?" the biggest of the men said to his friends and Phoenix had heard enough.
Phoenix closes her eyes for the briefest of seconds and with a flick of the finger, all the men's pints from the group are mysteriously knocked off of the bar, smashing all over the floor but not before soaking the men in lager. Phoenix opens her eyes to watch her work as the glasses drop and a smile creeps across her face at their reactions. Gwen runs over to Phoenix as Jack looks at her, knowing it was her.
"What happened?" Gwen asks as she looks over at the men who were now getting a roasting from the bar manager.
"Some guys hopefully learnt a lesson about queer bashing I think you call it. I'm just going to get a little fresh air," Phoenix tells them and she gets up and goes outside.
Phoenix goes and sits on the wall outside and takes in the fresh nights air. She looked up at the stars, stars she knew so well. She would only see them from Earth a few more times and never see them up close again but she had seen them from a million different angles, up close and from a far.
"Do you miss being out there?" comes a voice from behind her. "Do you?" Phoenix asks Jack as he comes up behind her.
"Sometimes. I don't miss all of it though. I miss the different species, the different races, the new worlds. I'm getting too old for all the rest," Jack tells her as he sits down.
"I know what you mean. We never knew from one mission to the next who or what we would be running into as Intel was usually wrong," Phoenix replies still looking to the stars.
"I meant what I said in the limo, about you making the wrong choice," Jack tells her as he touches her hand.
"I made the right decision Jack. Right for Earth, right for Ianto and right for Torchwood," she tells him as she gets up and walks past him to the stairs.
"Noticed that you didn't say the right choice for either you or me," Jack tells her but she doesn't reply because she knew he was right.
The night goes on with many more games of pool, Phoenix not playing any as she reminded them that she could make the balls go anywhere she wanted and plenty of drinks, Owen and Gwen drinking the most and Phoenix drinking nothing. Soon it was pub shutting time and Owen and Gwen were more than ready for home. With help of all the others, Gwen and Owen were wrestled into the limo and everyone else jumped in after them. Owen and Tosh were taken home first and Ianto helped Tosh get Owen up the stairs as Phoenix props Gwen up. She was next to be taken back and Phoenix insist that she would take her up as her things were still in Gwen's flat.
Thank god Rhys wasn't home as Phoenix dumped Gwen into bed, taking her coat and boots off but leaving everything else where is was. Phoenix found all her things and grabbed a bag and slung them in and then left the flat securing it for Gwen. She made her way back to the limo knowing that now she was totally alone with both Ianto and Jack and she wasn't looking forward to it at all. Trapped with the man she loved and his lover. She got into the limo and it took off.
"Where are we going now as I can go from anywhere. I just need somewhere no-one will see me," Phoenix tells them both and Jack looks at Ianto.
"You can tell her," Jack tells him passing the buck to Ianto.
"Your not going back to that planet Phoenix, not tonight. Your coming back to my flat and you are going to have a good nights sleep and then breakfast in the morning. Jack and I will watch over you tonight while you sleep so you don't have nightmares," Ianto tells her and she closes her eyes for a second.
"You know it isn't going to work don't you Ianto?" she asks him opening her eyes again.
"I'm not trying to change your mind. I knew that it is set but we still need to get you strong again and you need to eat and sleep for that," he tells her and she laughs to herself.
"You do whatever you think you need to do Ianto Jones," she tells him and then laughs to herself again.
As they made their way to Ianto's flat which didn't take long, Jack kept trying to talk to Phoenix but she kept pushing him out of her head. Phoenix regretted teaching him how to do it but it was convenient on mission, instructing each other and people not hearing them. They soon arrived at Ianto's flat and as he paid the driver a tip, Jack and Phoenix got out of the limo.
"This wasn't my idea Phoenix," Jack tells her but she doesn't answer him.
She looks up at the flat, picking Ianto's out straight away, she knew which one is was, she had been there before but not yet. Ianto finally joined them and walk them up to the flat, Phoenix making sure that she made it look like she didn't know where everything was. They walked into the flat and it was identical to when she had been there and a smile creeps over her face.
"I will take the first shift and Jack will take the second," Ianto tells her as he shows her to the bedroom.
Ianto gets her some PJ pants and a t-shirt to change into and while she got changed, he prepared the sofa for John. Ianto kissed Jack goodnight as Jack gets on the sofa and Ianto goes back into the bedroom where he finds Phoenix in bed and he pulls up a chair, sits next to the bed and watches over her as she sleeps.
Phoenix awakes a few hours later and turns to see Ianto still sat on the chair but fast asleep. She slowly and quietly knelt up in the bed and gently put her hands on the side of Ianto's face and head, careful not to wake him. Phoenix closed her eyes and then went into Ianto's head and found what she was looking for. It was easier when they were asleep, no barriers.
"Sleep now Ianto Jones and thank you," she tells him kissing him on the cheek.
She takes her hands off of him and she gets out of bed, getting dressed into her own things leaving both the things that Gwen had bought her and the things that Ianto had given her in neat piles, she knew Ianto hated mess. Phoenix opened the bedroom door and crept out, closing the door behind her and she crept through the lounge.
"Where do you think your going?" came Jack's voice from the sofa and a light suddenly came on.
"I'm leaving Jack. Ianto is asleep and will be until 7, I've made sure of that. He needs the rest, I don't," Phoenix tells him as she heads to the door of the flat but just as she reaches the door, Jack grabs her, turns her around and pushes her against the wall next to the door and kisses her but then she pushes him away.
"What are you doing Jack?" she asks him.
"You want me and I want you. You made the wrong choice Phoenix and deep in your heart you know it," he tells her kissing her again.
This time it takes a little while for her to push him away because she wanted this, she wanted Jack but then she realises that she had made the choice to protect Ianto and Jack.
"Stop Jack please. I love you but this hurts," Phoenix tells him and pushes him away far enough to get out of the door.
She moves as fast as she can, heading down the stairs and out of the main door of the flats and down into an alleyway behind the flats. She opens a Vortex as fast as she can and disappears into it. She reaches the other side and falls to her knees, tears streaming down her face, her heart broken. The night had started off shaky but had gotten better, pranks and all and then ended in disaster. She wanted him more than ever.