14
It was late at night, the world seemingly asleep. Jack however was wide awake, as he often is this time of night so he took a leisurely jog about the Domes in the hope of finding a quiet spot to meditate.
What he did not expect was to find Ianto already doing just that.
The Dome was the African one, no not really but that is what Jack called it in his head. The rainforest only covered the first third and once you got beyond all the trees and wildlife you came to a wonderful meadow of long grass.
Jack could imagine a pride of lions in it, or maybe some hyenas slinking along. He had checked to make sure none were on the manifest, don't worry. He watched from behind as Ianto held out his hands to brush over the heads of the long grass, reveling in the touch.
Jack could have stood there all night but something was amiss and he finally asked "Is that a breeze?"
Ianto turned slowly, showing that he knew Jack was there all along and so hadn't been startled. He answered "Yes. Actually, it is a fake breeze."
"How?"
"When the Dome was created, there were sensors placed in the framework. There are hundreds of small air jets around the inside of the framework so it can mimic that of the outside breeze. All slightly angled differently so the breeze feels more natural than a straight, one directional stream. On a nice day what you see in here, you see to there. If you get the angle right you can't even see the glass. Time it right and…"
"Infinity pool" Jack said softly with awe "what if the weather cuts up out there with a storm or something?"
"Oh, if it gets above a certain wind factor it will default to a nice day like this" Ianto reassured him. "I made sure of that."
"And the storm factor or whatever it is?" Jack asked as he stepped closer.
"Well, these are dammed strong strictures. I had them built one to scale, then we put it through its paces. One about the size of an igloo. It was fun, especially crashing the SUV into it. No, these are strong enough to withstand a damned tornado. Elephant rampage or T-Re attack!" Ianto said with pride.
"So how much longer will you be here?"
"We have another nine months I think, give or take a week."
Jack roared at the joke and then Ianto added with a grin "going to bed in about half an hour, once my cat is done playing over there."
"Cat… cat… what? You have a fucking… that's contraband." Jack spluttered.
"No, she was here before the Dome closed, if you read the paperwork it says none are to be introduced. She was already here. It's all in the details." Ianto laughed.
"The Devil… they say the Devil is in the Details ya know" Jack said, then laughed as he caught the joke.
This one was wily!
"Well then?" Ianto said softly as he started to walk away "Do you want to see the little niche cave behind these trees that's perfect for a cat nap or…. Something… or what?"
"Oh… definitely I want some of the what!" Jack said with delight as he caught the offer and raced after the man who stalked along with the sexy assurance of a predator.
Jack hoped he was on the menu.
Oh wow… it even had cushions in there and was water proof… hidden… not sound proof but maybe anyone hearing their cries might think it was a wild animal.
Heh heh.
Tiger attack.
Yeah!
.
.
"So, it's going to be the three month mark and we get to see our families" Andy was talking excitedly as Mickey sat with Martha listening to him with half an ear, still cleaning their camera gear.
"Will be weird though" Rhys cut in, joining them as he ignored Gwen over on the other side of the dining room. He seemed to prefer to sit with Andy a lot these days "separated by a wall of glass."
"Still, in space there would just be a video feed, delayed by several minutes or something. At least they are not going to be pedantic and make us do that with them, but we can talk to them." Martha agreed.
"Like a prison" Mickey muttered, lifting the lens he had been polishing to look through, seeing Ianto entering the circle and he followed with the lens in his fingers becoming a weird single binocular… a nocular?
Ianto was heading for Jack and Mickey watched the smile that Jack gave upon seeing Ianto approach, Ianto's returned one and he lowered the lens to watch in real space and time as Ianto leaned over to say something, Jack's head tipping in such a way… like they could almost kiss.
"Huh" he grunted, and then turned away as it was not his business who was shagging who, not when he had Martha next to him. Both of them getting a camera gig on the opening day had been a boon and they had talked about the after party and such, but now stuck in here… being a couple had advantages.
Donna sat heavily and chuffed "Morty Mongrel wants to do a piece on the fucking birdlife… can you believe it? Asked if one of you lot can shimmy up a tree and take shots of a next of fledglings or whatever. That's what he said. Fledglings. What the fuck are those? I thought they were ones about to fly away. Hatchings is the word he was looking for but the lazy prick uses the first one that comes to mind."
"Do you think those two are shagging?" Mickey asked, pointing in the direction of Ianto and Jack.
"Oh… yeah. Have been for weeks" she replied easily "Nice guy, Ianto. Funny."
"He's my cousin" Martha admitted "His Dad and mine are brothers. Why we are both Joneses. Go figure… right? The Jones family adopted a black kid and a white one? Grew up brothers… me and Ianto over there close cousins. Ya know, we never even noticed we were not the same colour until school when we were first introduced to racism."
"Bullshit. Really? Ah… so Lisa…"
"Yeah. I introduced them. I will never be able to apologize enough for that, still. This is a fitting punishment I reckon" Martha quipped and they laughed softly as Ianto rose to leave, Jack rising to follow like a puppy.
More than one set of eyes following their leaders out the door.
They followed both men now.