Chapter 6
"I'm sorry what?" Jack asked not sure he'd heard Ianto correctly
"Something is wrong with Tosh, she's distant and depressed, she's hardly doing any work and ... and I think she read my mind yesterday," Ianto admitted, somewhat uncomfortably.
The thought of someone in his mind was really disconcerting to him and the fact that he had not been strong enough to stop it, even with Dexter's teachings, bothered him even more.
"That's impossible Yan, Tosh isn't even slightly physic, let alone a telepath. I tested her when I first recruited her," Jack replied confused
"I know, I checked the results in her file after it happened┘ it took me a while to realise it and when I did I wasn't strong enough to stop it, but I felt someone reading my mind. Tosh was the only one in the room and when I asked her if she wanted coffee she reacted oddly to me," Ianto said not meeting Jack's eyes, keeping his gaze focused on the crowd milling around the Basin.
"Your strength in your mental abilities will increase with time and practice Yan, it's not something you can gain quickly, your mind has to adjust to its new abilities and you to controlling them. Dexter told me you were doing incredibly well as it was in the mental training, he gave me some exercises to help you with that we can work on if you'd like," Jack said picking up on Ianto's discomfort at his inability to stop what had happened.
"I'd appreciated that Sir, thankyou," Ianto nodded.
"As for Tosh, I'll speak to her when I get back. If alien interference or Technology is involved we're going to have to be careful in case it hurts Tosh." Jack sighed already running through various causes he'd come across before in his mind.
"I'll search the archives for any references that might help," Ianto said spotting a man walking towards them and nodded in his direction pointing him out to Jack
"Here comes Henderson, and he's got a folder tucked under his arm, surprise surprise," Jack muttered sarcastically,
"Inspector, what can I do for you on this bright and sunny day," Jack said standing forward and shaking hands with him.
"Captain Harkness... I thought this meeting was to be a private one, like always." He said eyeing Ianto warily to which Ianto gave him a friendly smile to ease his suspicion.
"Inspector Henderson, Meet Ianto Jones, I thought the two of you should meet. Ianto is pretty much my right hand man, if I'm ever unavailable, Ianto is who you would be dealing with," Jack explained with a large smile which widened a little further catching Ianto's well hidden startled look at Jack's introduction of him.
"I see, nice to meet you Mr Jones, though I don't believe I've seen you in the field before," Henderson said testing the waters with the unknown man,
"The pleasure's mine Sir, and no I tend to stay behind and run the base while the captain is out," Ianto replied easily and they could both see by the look in Henderson's eyes that he had passed some kind of a test.
"I see, well I have a few cases I thought might be in your neck of the woods. Most started out normal but have a few odd pieces to their puzzles," Henderson said gesturing for them all to take a seat on a nearby bench.
"Then by all means, inspector intrigue us," Jack grinned
After heading back to the Hub and declaring most of what Henderson had given them to be bogus or of no concern, there was only one case left that held any bearing to them... the one where Tosh saved and woman and her son from being murdered by her ex-husband.
"She's alone Sir," Ianto said from his position at the window of Jack's office, where he was once again watching Tosh,
"Alright, I'll go talk to her," Jack said getting up from his desk and heading out onto the landing.
Ianto watched as he made his way along the landing then down the spiral staircase.
He didn't realise just how focused he was on the older man until Jack spun around the door frame and started speaking to Tosh.
"So I just came from an interesting meeting..." Jack began
The words were crystal clear as if he'd be standing beside him.
He'd been so focused on Jack he'd had every sense locked on to him and enhancing as Jack got further away from him that his normal human senses could not cope.
Blushing brightly and thanking god that no one was around he quickly returned his senses to a more human level, straightening his suit he mad his way down towards the archives to do the research on telepathic abilities.
Ianto stepped out of the conference room with the information he'd collected from Tosh regarding Mary, the necklace and anything else that had happened over the past few days.
He watched as Tosh was confronted by both Owen and Gwen before she headed down to her desk to pack up for the day, eyes brimming with tears.
"You have to talk to her," He said walking into Jack's office and standing next to him at the window where Jack had also been watching Tosh.
"When you told me that you thought something was wrong with Tosh yesterday morning I didn't think I'd have to make it worse by executing her evil lover within 24 hours." Jack sighed, the events from a few hours earlier weighing heavily on his shoulders.
He would never let the rest of the team see him like this, but Ianto had earned this privilege, to see him completely honest with himself.
"Talk to her, if you let her go home mad at you she'll only let it fester and it will be worse when they all make it back to work at lunch time." Ianto urged,
"What time is it?" Jack asked walking towards his coat stand to grab his coat.
"The sun will be rising any minute now," Ianto said having a idea of what Jack was thinking.
"I'll take her up top then, we can talk as the sun rises, she'll like that," Jack said, putting on his 'Captain' mask and walking out the door to collect Tosh, leaving Ianto to type up his report and wait for Jack to return.
"Ianto are you ok?" Jack asked stepping up behind him and placing his hand on both of Ianto's shoulders as he typed up the report about Mary and the pendant,
"What?" he asked confused stopping what he was doing and swivelling his chair around, causing Jack to let go of his shoulders, shifting so he was leaning on the desk next to Ianto.
"Tosh told me what she heard, from you all┘ she said you were still in pain, pain she suspected was to do with loosing Lisa." Jack said watching Ianto closely for any sort of a reaction; the expected flinch was there but nothing else.
"While Lisa still hurts that wasn't what I was thinking about when I think Tosh read my mind," Ianto admitted.
"Then what was it?" Jack asked,
"The blood hunger... I... I haven't quite got my feeding sorted out yet, I feed before I come to the hub and when I get home, but some days last longer and the days when I'm more active or use my abilities I seem to need it earlier and I have to hold out with the hunger pains until I get home." Ianto explained, embarrassed and not able to meet Jack's eyes.
"Why don't you have blood here, I know why you need it and we can keep it from the others," Jack asked confused
"I don't want the others to know and how are we going to explain me having a stash of blood in the kitchen or the tourist office. Owen is the biggest snoop I know, Gwen is over curious and Tosh is always looking for pieces of tech she can use for one thing or the other. I can't think of anywhere in the hub where I could hide it and they won't go." Ianto explained still not quite meeting Jack's eyes, while he was now completely comfortable with who he had become a month ago, he still wasn't entirely comfortable talking about his new need to drink blood with others.
"Archive?" Jack suggested
"There's nothing to store it in, it'll go bad and a fridge down there will attract to much attention, beside anywhere in the lower levels is a bad idea because of the weevils and other visitor we have, they would smell it and it might attract any stragglers." Ianto sighed showing he'd already thought all of this through.
"Have you had enough today?" Jack asked concerned
"Yes, I drank as soon as I got home tonight, I'd just finished when you called us back in to sort out Mary." Ianto replied
"Good, come with me," Jack said heading to the corner of his office and pulling open his manhole,
"Sir?" Ianto squeaked, eyes wide. No one ever went near the man hole; it was Jack's private domain and an unspoken rule amongst the team that no one ever went down there.
"Did you just squeak?" Jack asked highly amused,
"No," Ianto replied stubbornly
"Well, come on then," Jack smirked climbing down the ladder.
Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves Ianto made his way towards and down the manhole into the room below.
It was larger than he imagined it.
A double bed forced between the ladder and the wall at the base of the manhole, desk in one corner, a bookcase full of obviously well loved and used books stood against another wall and a comfortable looking armchair and lamp in front of it.
On one side of the bookcase sat two doors, one leading to a walk in robe and the other leading to a private bathroom.
Tucked in the last corner where Jack was standing was a liquor cabinet and bar fridge.
"You can store it in here Yan, no one ever comes down here except me and if you make sure no one see you coming in and out, then they won't question it." Jack explain hand on top of the small fridge,
Ianto stared at jack completely unsure how to respond.
It was incredibly thoughtful and meant Jack was putting a lot of trust in him, that he wasn't sure he completely deserved.
"Thank you," Ianto said finally and Jack broke into a huge grin realising he'd done something right.
"Oooh you'll never guess what else Tosh heard," Jack said making sure to relieve any uncomfortableness he could see Ianto was going through fro being in his room.
"What's that Sir?" Ianto asked, amused at Jack's almost child like glee at having a secret to tell.
"Owen and Gwen are shagging," Jack beamed
"Oh... I already knew that sir," Ianto smirked watching Jack's jaw drop in disbelief
"Wha... How?" Jack stumbled
"I could smell it on them my first day back," Ianto explained smirk still firmly in place
"Wha... why didn't you tell me?" Jack practically pouted
"I assumed you knew sir," Ianto replied innocently, though he knew Jack didn't and he'd just being waiting for the right time to drop that bombshell... or to see how long it would take Jack to figure it out for himself.
"No," he sulked and Ianto couldn't help thinking that Jack looked kind of cute
"Can I ask a favour... another favour sir?" Ianto asked turning serious
"Of course what is it?" Jack replied instantly
"I want to do something to help Tosh, show her not everything about Telepathy is bad," Ianto explained, not sure how Jack was going to react
"Ianto it's your choice, but after what she's been through, finding out you've got telepathic abilities is probably not going to be a good thing," Jack sighed
"I know which is why I need your help," Ianto assured him
"What do yo mean?" Jack asked curiosity stirring
"I have an idea. I need something harmless that I can pretend is making the link instead of me,"
Jack thought about it for a moment before moving towards the desk in the corner.
Pulling out the large bottom draw which was supposed to be used as a filing cabinet, Ianto could see it was in fact full of objects.
He moved closer for a better look as Jack began to rummage through the draw full of what Ianto soon realised was Jack's own private stash of alien trinkets.
Tosh opened the door wrapped in a dressing gown, hair damp from the bath she'd been soaking in when she heard her doorbell ringing.
"Ianto?" Tosh asked confused and a little wary that Jack had sent him to retcon her or something
"Don't worry, I just came to see you, see how you are nothing more," Ianto said with a gentle smile seeing the worry in her eyes.
"But why? After what I did?" Tosh asked
"Because you're my friend and after... after Lisa you were the first one to forgive me." Ianto said and a slightly awkward silence followed as it always did when Lisa was mentioned.
"Can I come in? I want to show you something," Ianto asked
"Umm, sure Ianto," Tosh said opening the door and stepping out of the way to let Ianto in.
"I'll just get dressed," Tosh said ducking down the hall towards her bedroom.
Once she was gone Ianto quickly went to work.