23.01.09
Ianto pushed his glasses back up his nose and scowled at the computer screen, as if that would make the technical details of the architect's proposals any more comprehensible without a degree. Eventually he gave up, and fired back a request for a conference call and a version of the proposals with just the information he needed. It looked good, but it was wrapped up in so much jargon he had no hope of even knowing where to start with it.
The office was eerily quiet without Ally around. She wasn't exactly loud, usually, but there was a constant undercurrent of noise, whether it was the printer churning out reports, the tap of her pen on the desk or Radio 2 coming from her discarded headphones. He kept reaching for files he hadn't yet collected from the printer, and looking over to ask questions of an empty desk. With a sigh, he got up to stretch his legs and make a fresh pot of coffee, and realised just how late it was. He'd got used to summer evenings and being able to see sunshine out of his office window until he left home, but the street lights now came on an hour before they left, and Ianto didn't see daylight except out of the window.
The team were working hard on their solo projects when he opened the door, and they looked up with smiles only briefly. Martin was off in California at a systems technology conference with Tosh at Liberty Towers, and his absence had the same dampening effect that Ally's did. His desk, for once, was tidy. Next to it, Jacqui was running a translation system and taking notes, Peter was across from her reading through a stack of reports, and Tiffany had the plans for the London defence system, last used on Christmas Day before the Battle of Canary Wharf and based on stolen alien technology, spread out across her desk.
They accepted their coffees with smiles, but got on with their work. Ianto slunk back to his office and stared at his magically refilling email inbox. No matter how much he did, people always managed to find more for him to do. At ten past five he gave up, shut his computer down, pulled his coat on and headed out into the cold, dark night.
London was never quiet, even at this time on a Friday evening in January. He buried his hands deep in his pockets against the chill and strolled up into town, away from the river and onto Regent Street. Some shops were shutting up, whilst others stayed brightly lit, with sale banners in the windows to tempt the shoppers in, and the restaurants were getting into full swing. In the centre the snow was gone, reduced to pathetic grey piles in shadowed corners that the limited hours of sunshine hadn't reached and where the constant flow of feet couldn't trample them down. Puddles hugged the edge of the curb, lying in wait for taxis and buses to soak their prospective passengers, who scurried along to dinner or show or just home to loved ones, pets and a night in front of the TV.
Ianto stopped into a take-away and came out with a box of chicken chow mein and a can of Coke, and found the corner of a flight of steps to sit on and watch the world go by. Shoppers ignored him, by and large, but it wasn't belong before two frighteningly young police officers had stopped next to him with looks of hostile curiosity.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to move on," the taller one said. Ianto couldn't make out his badge number or name in the poor light. "Only, you're sitting in front of a fire exit."
"It's okay. If there's a fire, I'll be the first one to safety." He glanced up and recognised the stubbornness, so he flashed his badge at them and put it away quickly, giving them a look that he hoped spoke volumes. "I'm just eating my dinner and watching the world go by."
The shorter nudged his partner's arm and nodded. "Any observations we should be aware of, sir?"
He shrugged. "All's quiet in the capital. London just gets on with it, like she always has. Give it another half hour and I'll declare that all's well and knock off."
They chuckled and one of them gave him a semi-sarcastic salute. "We'll leave you to your observations, then. Have a good night."
Ianto watched them go and found another piece of chicken in the bottom of his box, and only felt slightly guilty about the slight deception. He was observing, and if he had seen anything, he would have reported it. All there was, though, was weary shoppers heading home and the first of the night owls heading out. London moving on from the latest crisis, like she always did. Fire, plague, blitz, terrorists and aliens had failed to curb the city's expansion and success, so he wasn't sure why anyone bothered any more. He'd been in the city for enough of them.
It was getting colder as the night settled in, so he pulled himself to his feet and headed onwards. The city wrapped him up and anonymised him. To everyone who passed him, he was just another face in another crowd, a young man with a life they knew nothing of. No one saluted or stood when he walked past them, no one asked anything of him or wanted to tell him anything. It was disconcerting and comforting, and he knew, now, why he'd always found himself coming back to London, after everything. He took a deep breath that tasted of pollution and humanity, felt the thrum of a train deep under his feet and listened to the cacophany of traffic and music. It was just a maelstrom of sensation.
And in the middle of it all, his phone rang in his pocket. He fished it out, stared at the screen for a second, and tucked himself out of the flow of traffic to answer it. "Jack, hi."
"Hey. You're not home yet."
"No, I'm not… why, where are you?" He looked around suspiciously, wondering if Jack was stalking him on CCTV again.
"I'm at home. Feet up, laptop out, Skype logged in. When will you be home?"
He shrugged and leaned against the wall. "I don't know. I'm in town. Having an evening out."
"Are you okay?"
"Fine, just a bit philosophical. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." He smiled. "And I'm not."
"Good. Shall I wait up?"
"I should be home in a couple of hours. I'm not dressed for a night out, but I might walk it." He looked up at the sky, which was clear, although no stars were visible above the city lights. "It's cold, but it's dry. Best weather for walking."
Jack chuckled. "I'll do my dinner and warm the cat up, then. See you soon."
He hung up and stared at his phone, then headed on through the capital towards home.
# # #
He folowed Regent Street north, past the BBC, onwards until he hit Regents Park, then up along the edge of the park until he could strike North East towards Camden and, beyond it, his apartment in Kentish Town. On such a bitterly cold, dark night it seemed impossible that he'd spent so many summer evenings walking this route, and eating take away in the park in short sleeves at nine. The year had sped away faster than he could handle, and the next year didn't look likely to go any slower. He scuffed his feet through a rare pile of snow on the street corner, crossed the street by Camden Town station, and was into the trendier part of town. Up market restaurants and luxury apartments sat across the street from grotty take-aways and bedsits, with no logic to it.
It was at that point, less than fifteen minutes from home, that his commute turned back into work, of course.
There was a commotion inside one of the restaurants. It was spacious, laid out mostly for large groups, and so it was easy for him to make out what was going on. Three women, who looked to be together, were on the ground in obvious pain and distress, whilst staff and patrons clustered around him. They soon observed his view, so he pushed his way through and crouched down on the ground next to one of them. Before he could say anything, though, a small, grey creature, with large eyes, smooth skin and a single tooth, pushed its way out from under her top. He stared at it, and it stared back, and then the damn thing waved and bounced off her towards him, whilst she cried out again.
He grabbed it, and its flesh just squelched under his fingers. It tried to bite him, but the sensation was just warm and damp. "What the..."
His phone rang and he swore, but kept hold of the struggling thing. There were more of them now, and the others were wandering past him out of the door, so he followed, and soon lost his grip on the one in his hands. It bounced and tottered off after the others, so he fished his phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Jones."
"Ianto, there's a situation in central London. Are you at home?" Kate Stewart asked without preamble.
"No, I'm not far from it... and heading that way." He looked up for a road sign. "Why?"
"There are aliens..."
"I know, I've got... a lot, in sight. Possibly over one hundred. They're moving fast."
"We believe they are related to a company called Adipose Industries. It's based not far from your apartment."
He scowled. "How do you know that? Don't answer that one. Alright, what's the address, or shall I just follow them? They don't seem to be dangerous. I got bitten by one, and it was just gummy."
"Don't take any unnecessary risks, but if you can observe and report, and hopefully the situation will stay non-confrontational." She cursed. "I'm on my way too, but traffic will be gridlocked."
"I'll do what I can."
The strange little creatures were having a lot more fun than he was. They didn't seem to be bothered by the cold or the stares of the crowd, and unless UNIT had locked down the mobile phone networks there was going to be no keeping a lid on this one. The street was lined with gawkers with camera phones in their hands, and Ianto was not reponsible for the clean up. They moved fast, despite stopping to play in puddles and on cars, and soon reached their destination, a tall office block on the edge of the residential area, with a large sign that advertised Adipose Ltd.
More were arriving all the time, and he estimated that there must be thousands of them. They played happily together, and looked up at the sky. Sure enough, the roar of an engine soon became audible, and a vast ship uncloaked and swept down into the night sky. Ianto bolted for the building, and found that the fire exit around the back was broken and ajar. The stairs were not far down a corridor, and he took them two at a time, heading for the roof.
The streets were lit in the silver-blue of a tractor beam when he reached the roof, and it was filled with thousands of the small aliens, rising up to the ship above. Two figures stood at the edge of the roof, waving, so he paused to get his breath back before he approached. "I should have known I'd find you here, Doctor."
He span on the spot and opened his mouth for a second, then ran a hand through his hair and looked sheepish. "Ah, well," he bgan. "We were just leaving, actually."
"Funny. You can tell me what the hell just happened first." Ianto sighed. "Donna, nice to meet you."
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" she demanded. "How do you know who I am?"
"This is Ianto. He knows who everyone is, and he probably has your wedding photos. He's... you know, I should really... go... Ianto," he whined. "Why do you do this?"
"Because someone has to." He turned and headed for the door. "Well, are you going to tell me what's going on?"
The Doctor followed him, and hurried to catch up. "The Adipose lost their breeding planet, I don't know how, and so they decided to use Earth. This diet pill they were selling, it converted human fat into Adipose young. And if it all went wrong, it could convert whole people."
"There was this woman, Stacey," Donna told him. "That happened to her. She was just... gone."
They got into the main office and Ianto nodded. "I'll need her address. I'll see her family are looked after."
Donna smiled gratefully, and he realised that she was really new and didn't know what that meant. "I don't know who else is taking it, but they said they had a million customers in London. They hadn't gone outside London, though."
"Good. Londoners are getting used to weird." He let himself into the manager's office and found Penny Carter, tied to a chair. "Miss Carter, we meet again."
"What the Hell is going on here, Jones?"
He untied her first, and let her massage feeling back into her arms whilst he went through the drawers and pulled out a mostly-empty notebook and a very nice fountain pen, and sat down at the desk. "What do you think, Penny? What is going on here?"
"Is it aliens again? For god's sake, it's always aliens. Every time I think I've got a scoop, there's one of your lot." She glared at him. "And who are these idiots?"
"Excuse me, but which of us got caught?" Donna asked. "Twice, if I might add."
"And which of us got caught playing charades through the window? You two just bulldozed my investigation."
"And nearly got a lot of people killed," Ianto pointed out. "Or are we trying to ignore that bit?" He sighed and put his glasses on. "I was going home. UNIT will be taking control here as soon as they can get through the traffic. Penny, I'd like you to stay and give us whatever you can. The usual, we'll give you the scoop. Doctor, is there anything we need to do to make the planet safe?"
"This entire building is a teleport."
"Good. I want one installed in my living room so I don't have to take the Tube. And now, if you don't mind, you can leave it to the professionals."
The Doctor glared at him. "Ianto..."
"Doctor, it's been a long day. Swan off, like you always do, and we will clean up after you, like we always do."
He left, Donna trailing along behind him, and Ianto rubbed at his temples. "Penny, you are going to regret asking. I already regret you asking."
# # #
It was late when he got home, and he ached with tiredness. His phone battery was long since dead, so there were a lot of missed calls on his landline. He groaned and grabbed it out of its cradle, taking it through to the bedroom and loosening his tie on the way, falling onto the bed. He was toeing his shoes off as he dialed, and Jack picked up instantly.
"Ianto, where the hell have you been?"
He grunted. "Work, as always. Have you seen the reports from London?"
"No one knows what's going on there. It's near you, isn't it? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just... frustrated. I was nearly home and got called out." He yawned hugely and lay back down. "The Doctor was there."
"Oh? Did he sort it?"
He snorted. "No, he screwed it all up. Fixed it in the end, but you know what he's like. Blow it out of control so he can fix it all. He's fine, though. Donna was there. I thnk it was her first time, too."
Jack sighed. "I don't care. I was worried about you."
"I know, and I'm sorry. I was just... caught up. Nothing dangerous, I promise." He smiled. "I handed UNIT a mountain of paperwork, though."
"You could have called."
"I was busy with work, like you usually are." He regretted the words as soon as he'd said them. "I'm sorry. I'm exhausted, actually. I was ready to collapse before everything kicked off."
"Okay." Jack fell silent and Ianto stared at the ceiling, unable to find the words to fill it. "You're okay, though?" he asked at last.
Ianto nodded and yawned again. "Yeah, just asleep."
"I'll call you tomorrow, then. Work first, then in the evening." He paused. "I love you."
"Mmm, love you too," he murmured. "Talk to you tomorrow."
He hung up, and the conversation hung over him as he dragged himself into the bathroom and back out, leaving clothes in piles behind him. The bed was cold and empty, but he fell into its welcoming embrace and shivered at the touch of cotton, well aware that the heating had come on and gone off again hours ago, and the apartment was like an ice box. His phone was, somewhere, still not charged or on charge, but he was too tired to do anything about it and fell asleep within minutes.