DON'T LOOK NOW: PART 4
Owen reluctantly led Ianto down to the cells. He was not at all convinced by Ianto's assurances that he himself had insisted on confinement until they were certain he was safe to have him around. He left Ianto with quilt and pillows and watched through the security glass as the young man settled himself down on the bench and went to sleep. Owen had strapped a bio monitor to Ianto's wrist and checking that his PDA was picking up the readings he made his way up to the Hub. Jack and Jason were in Jack's office and Gwen and Tosh were waiting in the board room. Owen decided to join the girls.
Jack poured two glasses of whiskey and palmed a Retcon solution into one of the glasses, he handed that one to Jason and gestured for him to take a seat. Jason complied and sat there studying his glass before looking across at Jack.
"This is drugged isn't it?"
Jack nodded. "I've made the arrangements for you to have an equivalent post at UNIT HQ. I appreciate that I am in the wrong here, but I will not tolerate anyone making life difficult for Ianto and I know that you will, even though he has done nothing to you, quite the reverse, he's tried to protect your position here from me."
"And if I refuse to drink it?"
"There's no refusal Jason one way or another...that's simply the easy less stressful way." Jack's tone was measured. "Whichever way we do this, you'll be in London tomorrow afternoon."
"Bastard! You really are a piece of work! You have no right to play with my life like that."
"And you had no right to direct you're bitterness toward Ianto. I will do whatever it takes to protect him, starting with you."
Jason slugged the contents of the glass in one gulp. "One day Jack, something from your sick past is going to wreak all kinds of havoc on you and the only one who won't be damaged by any of it is you. You disgust me, which is a shame because you really are very hot. You'll be alone in the end. Ianto won't last long...he'll either die or start to get old and then you'll just abandon him like you do everyone else....Fuck you...fuck you."
The glass slipped from his loose hand and Jason's chin dropped to his chest.
Once satisfied that he was properly unconscious Jack left him in the office and joined the rest of the team in the board room.
Tosh was glaring at Jack the moment he entered.
"Why is Ianto in the cells?"
Jack glanced to Owen who offered an unhappy look. "I haven't told them anything Jack."
Jack sat down and sucked in a calming breath. "Right. Gwen did you find any surveillance devices in your flat?"
"Not a thing, it's clean."
"Good. Tosh what were you able to pull off the images?"
Tosh sighed. "I expect an answer to my question Jack." She responded rather defiantly.
"I will explain everything in time, please Tosh, your findings." He said gently but firmly.
"Ok. All the photos were taken on the same batch of Polaroid film. The film itself is about 10 years old as it's no longer commercially available, but I couldn't track it to its source. The pictures were all taken around Cardiff, but there's nothing on them that enables me to identify the photographer. Places we are all familiar with, but nothing to indicate the date any of these pictures were taken. At a guess all of them over the last couple of weeks though. The only absolute I have is the jacket I am wearing. I haven't worn it for 11 days because it was ripped and Ianto has it at home to mend for me when his hands are a bit better."
"Thank you Tosh."
"Owen, how's Ianto doing?"
Owen felt distinctly uncomfortable. "Everything Jack?"
Jack nodded. "Ianto's fine with it, really. He wants everyone in the loop."
"Ok, I ran every single diagnostic test known to man and beast. Two things became evident; the first is that Ianto's parentage is in question. There are distinctly alien strands in his DNA. He's..."
Gwen and Tosh looked at him aghast. "What?"
"Like I said. His mother, definitely human...his father...well I am still going through our archive database to find a genetic match. He's still Ianto, he's still the same person we all know and some of us love, but..well with a bit of a twist. Really physically the differences between us and him are miniscule, barely noticeable. He's in good physical health and showing no signs of going psycho on us."
"Wait a minute; is he like Beth...a sleeper agent?"
Jack and Owen shook their heads.
"That was my first thought...No definitely not. He has a traceable NHS health care record, had a normal birth in a hospital, and has GP and Torchwood medical files. It's all Kosher. I sincerely believe Ianto had no idea...Trust me he was pretty upset when I told him."
Tosh and Gwen were at a loss for words and Tosh looked at Jack.
"Is he ok?"
"Not really. It's a lot for him to process...but why ever he is the way he is...It had to be deliberately done so that he would blend in with the human population without detection."
"How did Torchwood London not know?" Tosh demanded. "He would've been given a thorough medical when he joined."
Owen shrugged. "Who is to say that they didn't? You know what Yvonne Hartman's lot were like...If it's alien it's ours...Either way someone wanted to keep track of him because the second thing I found was a tracking device embedded in his skull, and it's been there since his childhood."
"Are you suggesting that Torchwood did this?" Gwen asked.
Jack looked to Owen in surprise.
"There is a possibility. He was recruited by T1 straight out of university; the guy has a degree in English what use is that to a bunch of dodgy alien catchers?" Owen explained, as if that answered everything.
"Is there any way to confirm that?"
"I can take a look through all the surviving T1 records, but it'll take time." Tosh replied.
"Ok. We'll call it a night. Owen, can you make sure Gwen and Tosh get home safely? Then I'll need you back here. Just so that you all know. Jason will be transferring to UNIT so he won't be here after today."
No one questioned it. They all knew why.
Everyone dispersed from the room and Jack turned to Owen. "I'll be with Ianto come and find me when you get back."
Owen nodded.
Jack was more than a little surprised to find Ianto curled up in a duvet on the concrete bench, his head resting on pillows that normally were reserved for naps on the sofa upstairs. He smiled to himself as he opened the door and sealed it closed behind him. Very gently he manoeuvred Ianto's head on to his lap and ran his fingers through his hair. The movement elicited a brief tensioning in the young man's body and a mumbled sentence in Welsh, but he didn't wake, for which Jack was silently grateful. Jack rested his head against the brickwork and closed his eyes, tomorrow was not going to be a good day.