THE BREXIT CONUMDRUM
It didn't make any difference to Ianto, he really didn't care because he was too tired to even consider eating, let alone actually deciding on what to eat. He tossed the takeaway menues to Gwen and went and slouched on the sofa. He leant his head back against the victorian tiles and his eyes slid shut. The darkness a welcome relief to his dry eyes.
Gwen just gaped at her younger colleague as he slumped down and fell asleep. It was rare to see Ianto so unguarded, let alone so obviously exhausted. Footsteps behind her drew her attention as Jack came over from his office with a large fluffy blanket. She watched as he stepped past her and carefully arranged Ianto into a horizontal position. A cushion was tucked under his head and shoes were removed. Finally the blanket was carefully draped over his still sleeping form. Jack stood back and was looking down with worry creasing his brow.
Gwen dumped the paper in her hands onto the nearest desk and then stood beside Jack.
"I had no idea he was so tired." She said quietly. "Why didn't he say anything?"
'Because he was following my orders and getting a job done that only he could do within a certain time frame. This BREXIT idiocy is causing all kinds of problems. We will probably loose our funding and UNIT have already packed up and left the country. Ianto has been looking into all of our assets and working out just exactly how much money the institute has. Once he has had some rest there will be a team meeting." He glanced at his watch. "Go home Gwen. Tosh and I have tonights duty bag and Owen is on call if we need him."
"Bloody politicians."
Jack sighed at her response. "I gotta admit this was the last thing I was expecting."
Gwen folded her arms. Shouldn't Ianto be in his bed, rather than squashed up on the sofa?"
Jack looked down at her with widened eyes. "I sure as hell am not going to wake him, he'd kill me, twice over."
"I see your point. I shall bring in breakfast then. You have a good night Jack."
"You too. Cuddle Rhys for me."
"I will."
Jack watched as Gwen gathered up her bag and waved a cheery farewell to Tosh. He sighed again and this time settled himself carefully on the sofa. He nestled Ianto's head in his lap and rearranged the blanket a little to keep him warm. Jack gently ran his fingers through Ianto's untidy hair, slightly sticky with styling gel. He too leaned back and closed his eyes, trying not to think about tomorrow as he followed Ianto into sleep.
Toshiko wandered over from her place at her terminal when no one answered her call. Her eyes went like saucers on seeing her boss and colleague snoring on the couch. Well Jack was snoring, he head tipped back a bit awkwardly as he slept. She hadn't the heart to disturb them. Jack, she knew was incredibly worried about the future of their organization and Ianto had spent the last 30+ hours trying to work out how to save it. She quietly made her way to the kitchenette and made herself some tea and sandwiches. She took her supper to the boardroom.
Thankfully the night had been quiet and both Owen and Gwen arrived at 7:30am sharp. Gwen was carrying a large cardboard tray from their favourite pastry shop. Both she and Owen found the rest of the team drinking coffee in the boardroom.
"I have breakfast." Gwen announced with forced cheer, but was happier when her friends all smiled and thanked her. Ianto handed her a mug of special brew and then passed one to Owen. They all sat, talked, laughed as they shared their breakfast together. Eventually the jollity quietend down and the team focused their attention on Jack, giving him the sign to start the meeting. It was obvious to them all he was dreading it. And Ianto gently reached to his side and briefly squeezed Jacks hand in encouragement. Jack smiled at him for the gesture and then stood up and began pacing.
"So I guess you all know why we are here."
There were nods all round.
"As you're aware I had Ianto spend the last couple of days looking into our finances and rescuing as many of our assets as he could before Boris Johnson's lot could get their hands on anything. I got Archie to do the same up in Glasgow. Thankfully Torchwood has been around long enough to have built up quite the cash stock pile. Those finances are now under Ianto's direct control. We've had to do some imaginative accounting to keep the Inland Revenue at bay, so as far as we can tell the money is safe. I wont go into the boring details, but needless to say this resource is not a bottomless pit. We are on our own from now on. No more funding from outside of the institute itself. I will be hiring an accountant very soon to take on the task of supporting Ianto in managing it all." Jack grabbed his mug from the table and waved it at Ianto and the younger man pointed at the pot behind Jack on the drinks table. Jack refilled his mug and drank down the whole lot. He filled it again and faced his team.
"There will have to be some changes around here, that we need to discuss. The first of which, I am sorry to say will be a significant cut to all our wages. As it stands your pay is based on years of service to Torchwood. From now on everyone gets the same. All of us." Jack took another swig of coffee and waited for a protest. He was surprised none came.
"All contracts are going to be redrafted to reflect this." Ianto added. "Giving us all the opportunity to decide if we wish to continue with Torchwood. Its not just our wages, pensions will be cut, payouts for death or injury will be severely reduced. Your insurance coverage will remain the same and we have to add public liability insurance, now we are no longer protected by the crown."
Jack nodded a thank you. "We will be officially independent. With no UNIT, I have no idea what will take its place but I am pretty sure we can expect problems in the future from whatever organization it is takes their place."
Gwen tentatively raised her hand. "Will they try to shut us down?"
Jack could only shrug. "I honestly have no idea, no one from Whitehall, MI5 or MI6 or the MOD are answering our calls. They even declare us illegal. At this point your guess is as good as mine."
"I don't like the sound of this Jack. Those arseholes in Parliament don't have a fucking clue what they are doing, how do we know this BREXIT shit isn't some alien plot?" Owen demanded sinking back into his seat. "I mean for fucks sake, much as I moaned about UNIT at least we knew what we were dealing with."
"Agreed. Which leads me to add, that Martha Jones, Tom Milligan and Mickie Smith will be joining our ranks. Martha resigned from UNIT. The other two are known to me and Martha."
"Is this why we're taking a paycut?" Owen straightened up.
"I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of it. But with being on our own now, we will need strength in numbers and all three of them are highly qualified, both on paper and with experience."
"You make it sound like we're gonna be under siege Jack."
"Yes Owen I know." Jack turned away and wandered back to the coffee pot and Ianto took up where he left off.
"Two days ago I would be as incredulous as you are. But with in the MOD there have already been emails exchanged about the future of Torchwood and getting hold of our tech from our archive. I suspect our jobs are about to get a whole lot more dangerous, and not only for us, our families too. If they decide to get rid of us believe me when I say we will not be the only victims. There is a whole lot more at stake now we no longer have the official protection of the crown. I do know that Prince is fighting for control of Torchwood, he wants it to remain as is, but without any treasury funding. It may be we get lucky and he has the power and support to make that happen, but I am not holding my breath. Jack and I will be meeting with him on Friday to find out for sure. But we must be prepared to protect ourselves."
"Shit."
Jack resumed his seat beside Ianto. "So team. I need you all to think long and hard about what you want to do."
Tosh frowned. "I don't understand Jack, what do you mean?"
Jack sucked in a big breath and let it out slowly as the others fixed their gaze on him.
"We can choose to disband Torchwood. Let whoever takes over deal with it. Individually you can choose to leave if you feel its for the best, or we can all stay on and keep things running as best we can."
Ianto took Jack's hand and held it firmly. "I'm staying Jack. I won't leave unless you order me too with a well placed dose of Retcon. I wouldn't trust anyone but you to be in charge of guarding Cardiff, or the world for that matter. There is nothing else I want to do and from here I can protect my family, and …." He squeezed Jack's hand tighter still. "I won't betray you again."
Jack faced him and was humbled by the depth of love in Ianto's eyes.
"I know and thank you."
Ianto nodded.
"Well I aint going nowhere and I aint got no family to worry about. Anyway I'd die from coffee depravation after a week." Owen smiled. "Count me in."
"And me." Tosh beamed at Jack. "This is what we do, how could I leave?"
All eyes turned to Gwen. "I want to stay. But I have to talk to Rhys. We have Anwyn now, if anything happened to her because I stayed on, it would break Rhys and me too. Can you give me a couple of days?"
Jack smiled. "Of course Gwen. This is not a decision to be taken lightly. That goes for all of you."
Ianto rose from his place, releasing Jack's hand. "I think I better top up the coffee pot. Our new recruits will be here very shortly."…
AN: I haven't written for a long time, all errors are mine and I suppose its AU because no one is dead.