The loading and unloading of the plants had gone well. Jack had insisted that only he and Miranda toss them into the incinerator just in case the fumes were dangerous. The two had been wearing respiration filters just in case. The only loose end was the two kids and they'd be found soon enough. Some of the equipment in the warehouse had been stolen from their university in North Wales. It had been reported to the police along with an anonymous tip about the two kids. Unusually, everything had gone well. They were now down at their usual pub to celebrate. The place was mostly deserted since it was the middle of the week.
"First round is on me," Ianto said as he got up and headed for the bar leaving Jack, Gwen, Rhys and Miranda sitting at the table.
There were only a bare handful of people aside from the Torchwood team. Miranda could see Kiernan over in a booth by himself.
"Excuse me you two, I see someone I know," she said, getting up. She stopped at the bar first for a pint and then went to join Kiernan. "Of all the ginjoints, in all the towns, in all the world…"
He looked up from his phone and said, "Mao-Lin, you're not supposed-"
"And you're not supposed to tell me when my enemies are in town either. Let's just call us even," she said sitting opposite the young man, sliding the frothy mug towards him.
He saw it for what it was, a peace offering. "I'm sorry, Mao-Lin. I shouldn't-"
She held up her hand to stop his apology. "No, you shouldn't've. Neither here nor there. You have something you want to tell me? You call me. If it's something I think I can or should hear, we meet… privately. If you tell me something about the movements of the others again, we really are done. I'll not have my honour sullied, Kiernan," she added, her voice deadly serious.
"Won't happen again," he said.
"And you will leave Ianto Jones alone. He isn't one of us yet," she added. She nodded towards the rest of the team. "You want to meet them?"
He shook his head. "Maybe another time."
She stood up and nodded, playfully ruffling his hair before walking back to the table with the rest of the team. She got back to the table and sat down between Jack and Gwen.
"Who was that then?" Gwen asked brightly. "He's not all that bad."
"My Welsh Stalker…" she replied with a small smile at Ianto who was pushing a mug of beer towards her.
"Good job today, everyone," Jack said raising his glass, cutting off Gwen's chance to ask for a better explanation.
Despite never drinking, Miranda lifted her glass with them and took a sip. She had never enjoyed it and preferred to stay sharp but the broad smiles on the faces of the rest of the team when she'd accepted the beer had destroyed her resolve. She savoured the yeasty taste.
The conversation flowed pleasantly from work to rugby to life. Gwen lamented about Rhys's snoring which Rhys vehemently denied. Ianto sympathised and then rolled his eyes as Jack insisted he didn't snore either. Miranda declared she was staying out of the argument when Ianto looked to her for help even though she knew that Jack did indeed snore loudly. There was talk of a movie night or maybe even a bowling night. The talk turned to stories of Rhys, Gwen and Ianto's vicarious and misspent youths… drunken parties and minor criminal offences.
"Well go on, you must have some funny story about some famous person," Gwen poked at her shoulder.
"Hey? Why aren't you asking him?" she said gesturing at Jack with her glass.
"You're older than I am," Jack said with a smile. "And more widely traveled."
"Says the man with the vortex manipulator," she scoffed. She dug back into her memory. "I was a housemaid to Mark Twain when he lived in California. He wasn't well known then, just a journalist. He liked his tea the way he liked his women… hot and sweet."
Gwen giggled. "Did you and he…? You know."
Miranda laughed at the idea. "Goddess below, no! He was a good man to work for. He did like to walk around his house starkers though."
The laughter at the table erupted on and off for the rest of the night. Miranda mostly sat back, watching the others, trying to etch the stories and the laughter in her memory, her glass half finished in front of her. She noticed Jack doing the same. It was a familiar place for the two immortals. Both of them found great joy when colleagues enjoyed each other as friends and both knew these were the moments they would treasure and miss the most in the endless days and nights ahead when their mortal friends were gone. But those days weren't now. And too happy and festive was the night for them all that Miranda, for once, managed to live in the now and not worry about the centuries ahead.