A day of recovery and boat trips …
CHAPTER FIVE
Breakfast was noisy.
Jack sat with his injured leg and ankle resting on another chair. The joint had been left to its own devices to mend. Even after knowing Jack for so long and seeing him come back from the dead countless times, Ianto could not get used to just leaving injuries to heal themselves. He wanted to at least bind the ankle but Jack stopped him. Experience had taught him that doing nothing was best, although he did allow Ianto to pull off the sock and shoe. Ianto had to force himself not to look at the injury.
With Jack hors to combat, Ianto made breakfast even though he had won the race. He prepared bacon, egg, sausage and tomato with fried bread and lashings of toast and marmalade which they washed down with orange juice. Conversation was loud and heated though always good natured. Jack contested that he would have won the race if he hadn't fallen and Ianto protested that it didn't matter, he had won. Their differing styles – slow and steady versus fast and furious – were argued over next with neither conceding the other's point of view.
They were finishing their coffees, still happily arguing, when Ianto's mobile rang. He looked at the display, saw it was Toshiko and immediately his face took on a worried look. "Tosh?" he said into the mobile, glancing at Jack who had gone quiet.
"Hello. Wanted to thank you for the video of Jack. Is this a good time?"
"That's all? You're not wanting us to come back?" Ianto needed to hear it before he could believe. He put the phone on speaker so Jack could hear the answer.
"Everything's fine here, all quiet. We're managing very well," she assured him.
"Oh good." He sighed and smiled at Jack in relief. "Everything's fine this end, well, except Jack's managed to break his ankle."
"If he will fly kites at his age what does he expect?"
"He wasn't flying kites. He did this running on the beach. On sand, would you believe? And he only did it because he knew I would win." He stuck his tongue out at Jack.
"He would not!" protested Jack loudly. He gingerly put his leg down and tested the ankle. Some pain but it was almost mended.
Toshiko was laughing. "Do I want to know what you were doing?" she asked
"We had a race this morning and our fearless leader fell over." He was watching Jack who was now standing, holding onto the back of a chair, and taking a few tentative steps. "At this moment he's hobbling about like the old man he is."
"You sound like you're having fun."
"We are, it's been fantastic. Still don't know how you three planned all this." Jack was now at the door of the bedroom miming that he was going to take a shower.
"Joint effort. Gwen found and booked the place and Owen got your clothes and the food together. I set up the alert so we could get you down there. Worked like a dream." She sounded very pleased with herself.
"It was good of you all, thanks. Sure the Rift's been quiet?"
"It's been behaving beautifully. A couple of Weevil sightings and one stray dog that Owen insists is an alien," she laughed.
"Don't let him bring it into the Hub," warned Ianto.
"Too late. It's been here all night. Owen wanted it for company, you know how he hates being alone in here."
"Are you there too?" Ianto glanced at his watch thinking it was early but found it was already past nine o'clock.
"Uh huh. Came in half an hour ago. Owen's out getting breakfast."
"We've had ours." In the background, he heard the Hub door alarms go off. "Guess that's him now. I'll let you eat in peace."
"Yes, it's him …. and his dog. See you tomorrow. Bye."
"Bye." Ianto closed the mobile and put it on one side, relieved they were not needed to return to the city. He heard water running from the bathroom so knew Jack was managing despite his injury.
When he had put the breakfast things in the kitchen, leaving the actual washing up for Jack, Ianto walked into the bathroom where Jack was lazing in the bath. He had poured something smelly in the water; the floral fragrance was overpowering.
"Yuck, what the heck's that smell?" asked Ianto, leaning on the doorframe and watching Jack. He looked so relaxed it was hard to remember the exhausted man of just forty eight hours earlier.
"Not sure," admitted Jack, opening one eye to look at the younger man. "Found it in the cabinet. Think I may have put too much in."
"I know you did! Smells like a tart's boudoir in here." He moved to the window and opened it wider to let out both the steam and the smell. "How's the ankle?"
"Almost right. It'll be fine by the time I get out of here." For proof, Jack waved the ankle in the air sloshing water dangerously.
"Careful!" Ianto removed his clothes, dropping them on the floor. "Room for a little one?" he asked, standing by the side of the bath.
"Oh you're not so little, especially from here." Jack said, leering at the young man appreciatively. He sat up and helped fit Ianto into the tub, wrapping his arms round the familiar body. "These are the kind of Sunday mornings I like," he murmured closing his eyes once more.
-ooOoo-
The washing up was done and Jack put the last clean plate into the cupboard with a feeling of satisfaction for a job well done.
He was more relaxed than he could remember being for months and determined to make time for another break like this. The Rift did have periods when it was less active and anyway his team could manage without him as they had proved. Ianto deserved time to chill out and enjoy the ordinary pleasures of life and Jack wanted to give them to him, no he wanted to share them with him. As he washed the dishes, Jack had gone over the practicalities and decided it would be possible for each of the team to have a long weekend off once every couple of months, a weekend that was booked in advance and which would not be cancelled unless in a dire emergency. He had already agreed to Gwen taking time off for her honeymoon later in the year, the others deserved a break too.
He was in a positive mood when he hung the tea towel over the rail and walked back into the living room. Ianto was still in the bedroom getting dressed. They were certainly making up for their week of abstinence. The night had been energetic and then there had been another session this morning after their shared bath. Maybe that was enough for now, he thought, Ianto did have rather a lot of bruises. It was such a pity he didn't heal as quickly as Jack.
Without thinking about it, Jack found himself on the deck, looking down at the beach; he was drawn to water which he thought was a result of being raised on Boeshane. The day was warming up nicely and people were already out enjoying the sunshine. Small children were playing a game with a ball, supervised by some enthusiastic mums and dads. Teenagers were horsing around at the edge of the water and a couple of optimistic would-be surfers in wetsuits and with boards were posing and looking faintly ridiculous. Some older couples were settling down for the day, staking out their piece of beach with chairs and windbreaks. A typical scene probably being repeated on many other British beaches.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Ianto coming up behind him. He stood and surveyed the scene. It looked very familiar and reminded him of those happy days when he and his family had come here in his youth. It could have been his mum and dad on the chairs below them.
"Don't know. What do you fancy?"
"There are some boat trips from the harbour. If we took an early afternoon one, we could stay in town and have a decent meal before the theatre tonight."
"I'd forgotten about that. Do we have to go?"
"Yes, I've got the tickets. Come on, Jack, you said you liked Oliver!"
"I do. Oh all right, we'll go. I know all the words," he said mischievously, "I can join in." He glanced at Ianto out of the corner of his eye.
"You will not. Don't embarrass me on our last night."
Jack turned and sat on the railing, looking at Ianto properly. The younger man was dressed in chinos and a shirt with a sweater flung round his shoulders. He looked like a model, everything hung from his body in perfect creases. "You look nice."
"So do you." Jack had on a pair of smart jeans with a trademark blue shirt. "Let's wander into town, look around again and check on the boats. I'll treat you to a ice-cream."
"Lead on, MacJones," said Jack jumping to his feet. It was twenty minutes before they left the bungalow when they had gathered together all they would need for a day out. Ianto checked his wallet three times to make sure he had the tickets and dithered over whether to take the sweater or a jacket.
Jack left him to it, picking up his own sweater and waiting patiently. He stood outside the front door in a small area sheltered from the sea breezes and turned his face up to the sun enjoying the warmth. When he opened his eyes and looked around him, he spotted the cat from the day before. It was sitting on the wall between the bungalow and the house next door sunning itself. Jack moved across and stroked it gently, wary of its claws. The cat purred contently and Jack continued to stroke it until he heard the front door close and Ianto's footsteps.
"Ready?" asked Ianto, standing a few paces away.
"Me!?" Jack gave the cat one final stroke. "I've been ready for ages." The two men walked off into the town squabbling. It was all in good fun, Ianto even let Jack hold his hand without protest.
At the harbour, they found the times of the boat trips and decided on the ninety minute cruise at two thirty. Ianto bought the tickets and then he and Jack wandered around looking at the various boats moored to the wall and bobbing around on the water. A lot of other people were doing the same thing and it got crowded after a while. Jack led the way to the ice cream shop they had found the day before and they settled down at the same table by the window. Jack had a banana split and Ianto a large bowl with four flavours of ice cream and a dollop of strawberry sauce. They ate these, enjoying every mouthful, watching the people walking aimlessly up and down the small streets. With time to kill before the cruise, the two men joined the crowds and strolled around the shops, stopping here and there to look at items that caught their attention. They got so involved in their window shopping that they had to rush to get to the harbour for the cruise.
They ran up and joined the small group of people already boarding the boat, which was of middling size with bench seats. Among the people who had just got off the boat at the end of an earlier cruise was the woman they had met on the beach that morning, the dog walker, and she looked at Jack in shock. How had the man's broken ankle mended in just hours? Jack spotted her and grinned.
"He's a great doctor," he said airily, pushing Ianto onto the boat and following quickly. Jack glanced behind them and saw the woman staring after him and shaking her head. She was still there when the two men had sat down and the crew were casting off.
"What was that about?" asked Ianto.
"The woman from this morning saw me running to get the boat. Told her what a great doctor you are." Jack was grinning, looking forward to his trip. The boat was only three quarters full and they had been able to get one of the smaller seats to themselves. He snaked an arm along the back of the seat, resting a hand lightly on Ianto's shoulder.
"Oh no," said Ianto, twisting round to look at the receding harbour. He spotted the woman walking away. "What if she says something?"
"Who to? And what does it matter? Come on, Ianto, enjoy yourself."
The boat was chugging out of the harbour into the wide sea beyond and Ianto finally relaxed. There was nothing he could do about her now anyway. The boat headed along the coast and they saw their bungalow and the rest of the houses strung out along the beach. The sands were full of holiday makers as day trippers had joined the locals to swell the numbers. After a while, the boat turned and put on speed, heading out to sea a way before turning to run parallel with the coast, past the harbour entrance and on towards the golf course. The sea was calm and the sun warm although both men were glad they had pulled on thick sweaters to counter the sea breeze. Beyond the golf course, the boat turned again and drew nearer the coast and ran back towards the harbour. It slowed down to avoid the people braving the cold water in various forms of water sports including paragliding and water skiing. Jack was full of admiration for their skill and would have like to have a go but there was no time, they were leaving the following morning. With a final loop out to sea, the boat entered the harbour and the cruise was over.
Ianto was wary climbing up the gangplank, looking around for the woman or anyone else who may want to know why someone with a badly broken ankle was running around mere hours later. He was relieved when he saw no one and they were able to leave the harbour unmolested.
"What did you think was going to happen?" demanded Jack. "Think she was going to get the police to arrest me or something?"
"No, but well …" Ianto couldn't put his fears into words. He supposed he just didn't like standing out from the crowd and drawing attention to himself. Both of which Jack managed to do with monotonous regularity.
"You worry too much. How about a coffee?"
"Yeah, I could do with a drink."
They walked to a café in the main street, settling on cappuccinos which they took to the upstairs seating area and drank while looking at the complimentary newspapers. Reading about bombings in Iraq and knifings in Manchester brought home to Ianto how much they had escaped from the real world in just two and a bit days. It would be hard to return to the reality of Cardiff and Torchwood. He looked across at Jack.
"Jack, can we do this again? Not straight away but sometime."
"I was thinking just the same thing this morning. I reckon we should be able to arrange something, a rota I suppose, that allows us all a regular break." He smiled, "I'll get Gwen on it, she likes rotas."
"Remember the one she wanted for driving the SUV?" laughed Ianto.
"She was so green back then. As if that was ever going to happen!"
With their coffees drunk, the two men strolled down the street to the restaurant they had picked out earlier for their evening meal.
Next time, a good meal and a trip to the theatre has the boys singing …