AN: You guys should love and worship me forever. A new chapter this soon? And this long? Worship! Also, I'm sorry if any of the team come off weird, tell me if they feel wrong to you, and why, and I'll try fixing it next time. Adios!
Jack crooked one arm out in invitation, and beckoned to Ianto. "What's the matter? Don't trust me?"
"Not even a little bit." Ianto looked at the cobble stones with distaste. "You're saying that this is the only way into the Hub?"
"Well… not the only way." Jack admitted. "But definitely the most fun."
"And we can't just go in a back door? Or a service elevator? It all seems rather showy." Ianto commented, staring up at the huge water tower dominating the landscape.
"Look, just get on the damn lift, will you?"
"Fine." Ianto conceded, stepping up next to Jack. "But for the record, I think that this is an overly extravagant waste of technology. Doesn't rain get in and ruin things?"
"No, rain does not get in. And, to pre-emptively answer your next question, no, people don't fall down it either. Beautiful accents, beautiful population, but sometimes, I really hate the Welsh." Jack, who was definitely pouting, tapped his wrist strap and the stones descended, carrying them both down into the Hub.
A world of new and unique technology lay before them, the only resemblance to the planet above was that the water tower still drew the eye. Casting his eye over the room, Ianto noticed several things that stood out. A sub-etheric resonator for one thing, that he'd only ever seen pictures of, stood beside a bench on which several artefacts were in the process of being examined, some he recognised, some he didn't. A giant animal flew past, cawing loudly, and Ianto frowned. "Was that a pteronadon?"
"Yes. Just caught her a few weeks ago actually, she'd been living in a Cardiff warehouse for quite some time."
They landed lightly at the bottom and stepped off, Jack either brushing some dust from their passage off Ianto in a gentlemanly fashion, or shamelessly taking the opportunity to grope his new employee. Probably both, mused Ianto.
"Gang! Huddle time!" Jack shouted, voice reaching every corner of the Hub and garnering three immediate responses. A head popped up from under a console of computers, safety goggles removed as she went, to reveal a pretty Asian woman. Two more ascended from a room marked 'Cold Storage', mussed clothes and flushed cheeks pointing toward something other than work being done. As they came closer, Ianto noticed a sparkling engagement ring on the gap-toothed woman's hand, and none on the man's. Interesting.
"Jack, who's this?" It was the engaged one speaking, but all three looked curious.
Jack clapped a hand on Ianto's shoulder, tacitly supporting him. "This is Ianto Jones, newest team member. Ianto, this is Tosh, Gwen, and Owen, my technology, police, and medical people."
"Hold on," Gwen put in, frowning, "I have to chase you down, fight the retcon, and find this place to get hired, and he just waltzes in? What's he even going to do around here?"
"Well," drawled Ianto, "I could start by cleaning up." He cast a doubtful eye over the teetering piles of paper work, propped up with half-full coffee mugs and pizza boxes which littered every flat surface. "And it's been said that I make a mean cup of coffee."
"I'm sold." Owen smirked, and leant forward. "I take mine black, three sugars. Ta."
"Owen!" hissed Tosh, "That's so rude!"
"What? He offered." Owen defended himself.
"Ianto's going to be our archivist, as well as an extra hand for field work. And by the way Owen, he's technically senior to you when it comes to working with Torchwood." Leaving behind the spluttering Owen, Jack extended his arm to encompass the Hub, and grinned his patented movie star grin at Ianto. "Come on, let me give you the grand tour."
"You know, I already know where everything is. Torchwood One had blueprints of this place." Ianto whispered, leaning in close to Jack.
"I know. They just need some time to gossip about you." Jack replied, steering Ianto up a curving metal flight of stairs and along a walkway. Down the other end, Ianto could see an exotic greenhouse, which he was itching to have a look at, but they were headed in the opposite direction, toward an ordinary looking office.
"Where are we going then?"
"My office. I figured you would appreciate my desk - solid oak, very sturdy." Jack winked, making the word 'sturdy' seem lewder than Ianto had ever thought possible. "And here we are."
Jack pushed open the door, beaming proudly at Ianto. "What do you think?"
"I think…" Ianto started, looking around the office, "that all I want to do right now…"
He paused, and Jack moved closer, resting a hand on Ianto's hip. "Yes?" He breathed into Ianto's ear, almost enticing enough to change the Welshman's plans.
"Is organise this place." Ianto finished.
Jack drew back like his fingertips were on fire. "It is?"
"Yes." Ianto headed purposely for the highest stack of paper in the room.
"There's nothing else you'd rather do?"
"Not that I can think of." He bent over, standing up with an armload of what were either important UNIT documents or receipts from a Cardiff drainage company, and noted Jack staring at his arse with some satisfaction. "Was there something else you wanted to do?"
"I had some thoughts."
Ianto ran his eyes up and down the Captain, barely hiding his mischievous grin. "Oh, yes? What was something more pressing I start with?"
Jack stepped closer again, until their hips were almost touching. "I think you can guess."
"I don't know." Ianto screwed up his face in mock thought. "These seem fairly urgent."
"They're drainage receipts from a year ago. They can wait." Jack growled, and pressed his lips to Ianto's, almost devouring the younger man.
A sudden blare of sirens shocked them apart, Ianto still looking far too impeccable for Jack's liking.
"Of all the bloody times…" Jack muttered, straightening his coat. "Three long sirens means…"
"Weevils. Will I be joining you, sir?"
"Oh God… You cannot do that to me." Jack stalked out.
"Do what, sir?" Ianto looked far too innocent, knowing exactly what calling him 'sir' did.
"Do you have weapons?"
"Yes. Sheathed with a chameleon circuit, I wear them all the time." Jack nodded, and they took the stairs down two at a time, meeting Owen at the bottom.
"Tosh and Gwen are getting geared up, I'll go bring the SUV around. Is Teaboy coming?" Ianto noted that, for all Owen's careless words, his hands were steady as he loaded his gun and looked to Jack for an answer.
"Yeah, he might as well. Get him a can of spray."
Owen tossed a sloppy salute in their direction and headed off toward the garage.
"So, Ianto Jones. You ready for a weevil hunt?"
Ianto shot Jack an impatient look. "I've been free-lancing for three years. This is hardly my first hunt."
"But I bet this is the best company you've ever had on a hunt."
"Usually it's just me and the alien, so…" Ianto shrugged. "Not the worst, anyway. But some of them have been surprisingly friendly other than the whole 'trying to kill me' thing."
"I can be friendlier." Jack promised as they got into a far less obtrusive lift than they had entered by. Ianto made a mental note to stick to this one whenever possible.
"I'll bet." he answered, giving Jack a sidelong look. "I'll bet."