Slight reference to Almost Perfect in this chapter. Thought it was needed to back up the way Ianto reacts to being in Gwen's body in this chapter.
Jack sighed as he finally managed to lift Gwen, who was now residing in Ianto's quite pleasant form, up onto the ragged sofa in the Hub. She was still not awake and this only worried the immortal further. He tried to detect whether she had sustained any head injuries when she had collapsed, but Jack Harkness was the first to admit that he was no doctor, so his search proved fruitless. Should he be moving Ianto's head? If he did have brain damage...Jack stopped himself; he had already done it. He had promised himself that he wouldn't get Gwen and Ianto mixed up during this weird change in his day, but he was failing already. Come the end of the day, he could see himself sending Ianto home with Rhys and groping Gwen by the coffee machine.
His thoughts were thankfully interrupted by Ianto, clip clopping away in Gwen's heels, as he made his way back from the medical bay with a damp cloth. 'Call me strange, but I don't fancy mopping my own brow,' he said as he passed the material over to Jack. His hand, well his hand for the time being, rubbed slightly across Jack's and he couldn't help but feel the usual tingle he felt creep down his spine he always felt when Jack touched him. Even in Gwen's body, his mind was still consumed by the thoughts of how Jack made him feel. Typical.
'Boy is she going to get a surprise when she wakes up.' Jack smothered her forehead with the cloth, hoping Gwen would open his lover's blue eyes soon and give some indication to her condition. He checked her breathing again, smiling slightly as everything seemed to be fine. 'If she wakes up,' the Captain said as he turned to look at Gw...Ianto. Damn, he nearly did it again. If he stared close enough, he could clearly see the young Welshman behind Gwen's hazel eyes. That spark of knowledge, that wisp of wit, that glint of the filthy mind he had long been happy to explore. It was all there and Jack couldn't be happier.
'Guess she's tired,' Ianto merely stated, looking very uncomfortable at staring at his own body sprawled rather clumsily on the sofa. Heaven knows what creases he would find in that suit when he got it back, along with his body. He observed Jack's quizzical look, so he decided to expand on his sentence. 'Well, my body has been working for over 24hours without sleep. Usually I wouldn't complain, but as it's been the same situation for quite a while, I think my body just needs to catch up on the sleep. And as I was asleep before this happened, I think whatever switched us just left my body be.'
'You know, even though you're in Gwen's body, you still sound the same.' Jack beamed his signature smile as Ianto tried to roll Gwen's eyes. He wasn't sure if he was successful; the laughter coming from Jack suggested that he had failed. The Captain returned his attention to the slumbering Gwen and wondered what to do next. He couldn't believe how calm Ianto was being. He was hoping that he was okay and not just suppressing everything like he always did. Jack couldn't help but worry about his partner; it was bad to suppress feelings in this place. They only had to look to Suzie's frozen corpse in storage to be reminded of that warning. He turned to face Ianto, but found that the young man had vanished. Standing to better his view, Jack scanned the Hub, finally setting his sights on the long black hair of his fellow colleague. He shook his head and made his way over to his friend.
Ianto was stood at the coffee machine, his smaller hands working aimlessly across the device as he brewed the beans and prepared the mugs. His only fluster came when he realised he was now too small to reach the double chocolate biscuits on the top shelf he had secreted away from Gwen. He only broke them out when he was having a really stressful day and he knew if he left them out, Gwen would get through the entire pack before he could even blink. Ianto gave a huff as he decided it was karma, not a futuristic alien device, which had swapped his body with Gwen.
'Coffee girl?' The sudden voice of Jack made Ianto jump slightly, allowing a few drops of milk to escape the container. He swore softly as he reached for a dishcloth. 'Nah, doesn't sound right. Coffee boy on the other hand...'
'You think Gwen will prefer her mug or shall I just put her coffee in mine. You know, for appearances.' Ianto couldn't look up at Jack, he could tell the immortal's eyes were searching him for some kind of reaction to his current state. He wasn't going to give in; he hadn't two weeks ago when he had been transformed into Christine Kielty, the poor woman who had stolen from the Perfection and paid with her life. Was it only two weeks ago that he was wearing heels and worrying what he was wearing? Now, two weeks later, he was back to wearing heels and worrying about what he was wearing. He was right, the Universe really did hate him.
'Ianto,' Jack started as he dared to nudge closer, noticing the tiniest glint of fear radiating from behind Gwen's eyes. 'I know this has got to be a really strange experience at this time. But we'll get through this and reverse it, I promise.'
'Nothing to worry about. Living as a woman; been there, done that.' Jack could easily pick up on the nervousness laced within Ianto's voice. The young man began to pour the hot liquid into the three mugs laid in front of him, stirring the concoctions almost viciously with a silver spoon. Jack rested his hand on Ianto's and drew it away from the drinks.
'Ianto, please tell me. You don't have to be the stern and unshakable figure of Torchwood. Technically, that should be me.' He smiled as his comment was rewarded by a small smile emitting from Ianto. Still clutching his hand, he moved closer to Ianto, trying to gain some eye contact with him. 'It's alright to be worried.'
'What if,' Ianto started, but bowed his head as if he was ashamed of the question he was about to ask. 'What if we can't fix it this time. The box seems to have shut down on power, we have no idea where it came from and the only person who might know is laying stone cold on our autopsy table.' He gave a sigh and finally met Jack's eyes with his own. 'I've only just got back to being me; remember that whole fiasco? I just don't think I can take anymore of the Universe throwing shit at us.'
'Well fix this,' Jack whispered as he drew closer to Ianto, unable to stop himself. His lips were now almost pressed to Ianto's . 'I promise.'
Ianto all but stumbled back as he realised what Jack was trying to do. 'Jack, this is wrong. This is not me.' Ianto was trying to convince himself as much as he was Jack, but the feel of his partner's hand on his hip was almost enough to blacken out his rational mind.
'I know it's you,' Jack whispered again as he moved closer. 'I can feel it's you.'
A loud, very unmanly scream, decided at that point to reverberate its way around the Hub, startling even Myfanwy who squawked loudly at the loud interruption to her morning nap. Jack and Ianto tore themselves away from each other at the sudden noise, Ianto silently glad for the intrusion, even if it was from his own vocal chords making a sickly attempt at a feminine scream.
'Well, shall we see if Gwen agrees with your comment?' And with that, Ianto Jones sprung from the Captain and headed towards the sofa as Gwen Cooper woke to realise she was not in the body she had started the day off with.
How will Gwen react? Can Jack keep his hands off Ianto whilst he's in Gwen's body? Will Ianto get used to drinking out of Gwen's strippy mug? Find out the answer to these and maybe some other questions in the next exciting chapter of 'Under. Your. Skin.' (Note to self, GhostlyBob, stop watching old sci-fi films with the booming voiceover which asks questions.)