Chapter 7
When Tosh returned to her living room she found her coffee table had been moved and in its place in front of the fire place Ianto sat cross legged.
The only light in the room was coming from the fire and various candles Ianto had lit around the room, her heavy curtains drawn blocking out most of the mornings light.
"Ianto?" Tosh asked confused
"Come sit opposite me Tosh. I want to show you something," Ianto said patting the rug in front of him.
"What?" Tosh asked taking a seat opposite him mirroring his cross legged position.
Ianto smiled gently and shuffled closer until their knees were touching.
"Take my hands," Ianto said holding his out, in his right hand sat a smooth shimmering red stone
Tosh looked warily at the stone in his hand having never seen it before and after her recent experiences with unknown technology, well she wasn't to keen on touching things she didn't understand.
"Trust me," Ianto said knowing that stone in his hand was nothing more than an alien version of a hot water bottle, a simmer Jack had called it.
Tosh placed her hands in his covering the stone.
"Close your eyes," Ianto instructed and she did.
Ianto closed his as well knowing they would gain a silver edge once he got started and it was safer to keep them closed just incase Tosh peeked
He gently squeezed her hand over the stone, so the combined pressure would activate it.
The stone began to warm in their hands, not hot enough to bother them just pleasantly warm which was how Jack had set it for him before he'd left the hub.
"I want to show you Tosh, it's not all bad" Ianto whispered opening his mind and reaching out to hers.
She started to pull back but Ianto held her hands stopping her from going.
"Shh relax," he said and began to pull forward happy memories from his past and push them towards Tosh so she could watch them play out with him.
A young Ianto running around the park his mother chasing him until she scooped him up to tickle him, causing him to squeal in happiness.
Teenage Ianto with two boys who looked enough like him that Tosh realised they must be his brothers. The older looking one had the rugby ball and was running across the field. Ianto and the younger one exchanged smirks before taring after the other and team tackling him to the ground while a girl around Ianto's age laughed at them on the sidelines.
Ianto sitting on the bed watching the young girl, his twin sister tosh realised, pop in and out of the bathroom wearing different clothes for him to give an opinion on. Then her walking outside with her date towards his car, looking up and waving goodbye to Ianto who was watching from his bedroom window.
His first date with a girl from school, taking her to the movies and holding her hand every time she got scared in the spooky bits of the movie.
First kiss with Lisa, in a store room at Torchwood London, they been walking past talking when Lisa suddenly pulled him inside and kissed him.
His oldest brother's wedding, standing there with his other two brothers as groomsmen, his twin sister on his arm as one of the bridesmaids.
Walking into a hospital room to see his brother perched on the side of his wife's bed looking at the bundle in her arms. Him congratulating her with a kiss on the cheek before his brother sat him down and place not one but two bundle in his arms. A secret they'd been keeping from the rest of the family, she'd had twins a boy and a girl Ianto saw as he looked down in his arms at his first niece and nephew.
His sister's engagement party dancing with her and telling her he was happy for her, her asking if he'd met anyone since Lisa died, Ianto shaking his head no though there was an obvious blush across his cheeks that he sister began to tease him about.
"Ianto," Tosh gasped, tears welling in her eyes as not only did she see Ianto's memories she received whispers of his feeling in those moments.
Ianto smiled changing gears pulling forward Torchwood memories.
The team out at the pub having a rare night out, Gwen looking shocked as Owen and Jack told some outlandish story about one of the past alien encounters, Tosh trying not to laugh and Ianto merely rolling his eye while he sipped his beer.
Fooling around at the hub playing basketball Tosh and Jack verses Gwen and Owen with Ianto keeping score and counting with some amusement how many things he'd have to repair or clean after the game, including the backside of his pants where there was now a dusty mud like print in the exact shape of Jack's hand.
Shifting tack again moving on to things involving Tosh that he'd either been a part of or seen;
Tosh and Owen joking as they tried worked out some alien tech, coming up with all sorts of ridiculous theories, until Jack walked in and told them that their Brainiac ideas were wrong and it was nothing more than an alien toaster, which sent them into fits of laughter.
Gwen and Tosh heads together at Tosh's desk gossiping about something and pretending to be all innocent by talking about work every time one of the guys walked past, before returning to their gossip the minute they were gone.
Jack walking in to where they were having a coffee break Glen Miller drifting out of his office as he pulled Tosh to her feet and into his arms, dancing her around the coffee table to the cheers and laughter of the others.
He and Tosh sitting together in the conference room as they worked on a massive crossword puzzle together over lunch.
Ianto had meant to end it there, but one more managed to slip through his grasp before be broke the connection.
One of him and Jack, laughing and flirting slightly at the door to the tourist office, just before he'd left to come here, when Jack had practically walked him out of the hub to see him off.
Tosh gasped in surprise eyes flying open to stare at Ianto.
Ianto pulled has hands back keeping his eyes closed as they quickly returned back to normal
"Sorry that one slipped through. I just wanted to show you it could be nice too. And that even if what you picked up was bad things, which I suspect the necklace was programmed to do, you have friends in us Tosh and we do care about you." Ianto said finally looking up and meeting her eyes.
"Thankyou so much," Tosh said tears in her eyes as she leant forward to hug him
"You're very welcome. I should go, we've got to get some sleep before we go back in this afternoon," Ianto said climbing to her feet and pocketing the stone.
Ianto bent to give her a kiss on the cheek before he headed for the door.
His hand was on the door knob before Tosh spoke again.
"Ianto? You and Jack?" She asked walking over to join him at the door.
"There's nothing going on Tosh," Ianto said not quite meeting her eyes
"Do you want there to be?" Tosh pushed resting her hand on his arm gently
"I don't know, I really don't know Tosh," Ianto sighed and it was the truth, he wasn't sure how he felt about Jack yet. He knew he felt something, he just wasn't sure if he was ready to admit it to himself yet let alone Jack or anyone else.
"I...I've never seen him like that with anyone else. And I've know him the longest out of all of us you know," Tosh said realising at least what part of Ianto worries must be.
"You'll be the first I tell if anything happens," Ianto promised her before heading off home to sleep and think.
Tosh was the first into work that afternoon which was odd as she'd even beaten Ianto which had to be a first.
Jack smiled gently to her from his office but didn't come over from the paperwork he was busy working on.
Ianto arrived fifteen minutes later surprise briefly flickering through his eyes seeing she'd beaten him in.
He made them all a coffee and brought Tosh's over, placing it by her hand on her desk, his other hand squeezing her shoulder briefly as she smiled up at him.
He went back to the kitchen to fetch two more mugs, his and Jack's, before taking them in to Jack's office and shutting the door.
Tosh glanced towards the offices only to realise the blinds were half pulled and she couldn't see in.
Curiosity getting the better of her she quickly pulled up the CCTV of Jack's office.
Jack didn't look up as he heard someone enter his office, though the closing of the door was unusual, he really wasn't in the mood to talk. After what happened with Mary he'd taken over doing the report for UNIT himself not having the heart to demand it from Tosh.
Smelling the fresh coffee before it was placed on his desk Jack looked up and grinned at the sight of Ianto before him, in a fresh suit and looking at least slightly rested, though not as much as he probably needed.
"How'd it go this morning?" Jack asked picking up the coffee and inhaling the rich scent as he settled back into his chair.
"Really good," Ianto said digging into his pocket and handing Jack the Simmer Stone "Thankyou for that,"
"No Problem, just don't go telling the others about my stash. Gwen would want to find someway to help people with them, Owen would want to use them for himself and Tosh would try to pull them apart. No I'm quiet happy keeping things to myself." Jack said holding the simmer up to his lamp watching the way the light dances across it.
"And me Sir?" Ianto asked taking the seat opposite him and relaxing into it with his own mug of coffee.
"You, I am planning on showing just what some of these things can be used for," Jack leered
"I'm sure you are sir," Ianto replied back easily hiding his smirk behind his coffee mug.
Maybe there was something to him and Jack after all. Once you got past the flirting that he did with everyone, there was a sense of actual longing and intent behind his words that just wasn't there with other people and that thought intrigued Ianto more than he expected.
Tosh watched the CCTV of the office, hope dawning.
Jack's office was one of the few places where there was no sound, due to the fact that he took many confidential calls in there that weren't to be overheard, so she couldn't actually hear anything they were saying.
But really she didn't need to.
It was easy to see how relaxed and comfortable they were around each other.
Talking easily to each other and from Jack's leer and Ianto smirk probably flirting as well.
She was happy for them, they both needed someone and she'd never seen either of them as open as they are now with each other.
Tosh heard the Cog door roll open as the other two came in.
She quickly switched off the monitor and got to work on the list for UNIT Jack had been asking for, for the last few days.
"Tosh is Jack in I need to ask him something?" Gwen asked putting her jacket over the back of her chair.
"Yeah, he's here but he's in the middle of a conference call or something and doesn't want to be disturbed for a while," Tosh lied smoothly
"Where's Tea-boy hiding?" Owen asked eyeing Tosh's fresh cup of coffee,
"He's taking the minutes for the call, so you'll have to wait Owen," Tosh replied not looking up from her typing to try to hide her smile.
That should buy them a little more private time together.
TBC