Disclaimer: Whatever it is, I don't own it (Torchwood, Doctor Who, Whiskas, The Scream, etc.)
And here is the first epilogue!
May you enjoy your reading...
It wasn't until the end of summer that Jack began to sense that maybe what his best friend had told him right before his almost-wedding wasn't too far from becoming reality.
June and July had passed by him in a blur of excitement. It was almost as a continuous road trip and Jack, with his passionate and out-going personality, hadn't minded travelling from London to Cardiff and vice versa at all, especially since it was only a couple of hours by train and he got a chance to relax after (on Friday evenings) and before work (on really early Monday mornings, generally accompanied by a thermos-full of exquisite coffee). But once the warm weekends and clear Welsh sky had begun changing into the general moody weather that described England's cold seasons, the pilot couldn't help but find waking up in the comfortable bed above Ianto's tailor shop and leaving while it was still dark outside, more and more tedious.
"Stay safe, ok? I don't want to see you scattered all over London on the eight o'clock news, alright?" Ianto's sleepy smile made him melt one late August morning, while they were waiting for his train to depart.
As expected, there were very few people around at that ungodly hour, so Jack had already laid his claim on a row of seats inside his designated carriage, by throwing his "over weekend" bag in a corner, below a window, and was now standing in the doorway, gazing at his lover. Morning Ianto wasn't that different from midday Ianto, but little things, such as the slightly ruffled hair, still sleepy eyes and occasional yawn, made him absolutely adorable. It broke Jack's heart to leave every Monday, because he had to set the alarm that would obviously wake both of them up and Ianto, ever the gentleman, just had to get dressed as well and escort him down to the station. Then they would exchange a few hugs and kisses, Ianto would ask him not to do anything stupid, especially while flying, and Jack would do his best at managing to keep himself inside his carriage, while the train pulled away from the station and towards London.
"I will. I promise." he climbed back onto the platform and launched himself into the Welshman's already opened arms, once again dreading the fact that he had to leave for the next five days, which would feel like eternity, by Wednesday at most.
"Morning." A voice grumbled, forcing the two lovers apart and making them ogle at the new arrival.
"Owen?" Jack almost gasped.
"No, it's David Tennant in disguise." The medic grumbled and rolled his eyes.
"In that case, you're missing a Dalek or two." Ianto argued back, making the sleepy and obviously unimpressed doctor glare at him.
"Is your bag inside?" he turned towards the pilot, who just nodded. "Right. Till next time." He called over his shoulder and walked into the carriage.
"If he hurts Tosh, I'll sew his lips and fingers together… manually." Ianto let out a ferocious growl, now fully awake.
"He won't dare do that. He likes Tosh too much and he's too scared of you and your cat to blow this up. It might be his last chance at a normal life, so he won't let it slip through his fingers… although I still think she's too good for him." He nodded.
"Definitely." Ianto narrowed his eyes for a moment, then grimaced as a loud whistle filled the air. "This is it then. See you next week." He leaned towards Jack and gave him one last kiss, before breaking away and watching him return inside the carriage and sit in front of Owen, who was already indulging in a cup of warm coffee. As usual, Jack sat glued to the window until the train left the station and he could no longer see the young tailor sitting on the empty platform, in the windy Monday morning.
"They announced rain for next week." Owen spoke after a long moment of silence spent watching the dark English countryside fly past them.
"What are we going to do?"
"Well, I don't know about you, but when the time comes, I've still got my practice."
"That's it!"
The IDEA hit Jack on Tuesday morning, three minutes before his alarm clock was set to go off. He sat up straight in bed, then started frantically searching for his mobile, an activity which almost led to the complete devastation of his flat. Three minutes later, after finally discovering the blasted thing and shutting his alarm, he called Suzy, only to have the connection closed several times and find himself the target of a long string of unrepeatable swears once she actually answered. Nevertheless, Jack managed to succeed in his preliminary actions, having persuaded the curly-haired woman to bring out the information he needed in order to turn the IDEA into a full-fledged PLAN.
Luckily, the information he had requested found the way to his desk in two days. Unluckily, his programmed test flights kept him away from the office and, once he'd got around to them, he discovered that the PLAN would need a lot more time than one day of work (namely Friday). That weekend had been the first one to be spent in London in over three months… and the following had been the second, much to Ianto's dismay. Yet, despite bitching and moaning to Owen (who had gone to Cardiff on his own) about his busy days and lack of heavenly coffee, Jack found himself regretting nothing. Because once the IDEA became a PLAN, it could be presented as a PROPOSITION and voted as a DECISION.
So, on a very early Monday morning (the third one in a row spent in London), he slammed a thick folder in Gwen Cooper's desk with a triumphant grin and asked all of his colleagues to have a look.
"Alright, whatever." Had been the general answer, which Jack already sort of expected, especially from this group of people, with little to no social or family life whatsoever.
"You're mad. And it's going to be so much fun watching Hartman obliterate you." Gwen had taken one look and smirked evilly. Apparently, the time she had recently spent in her hometown brought forth previously unknown traits: sadism and irritability. And it definitely had something to do with the DCI that kept calling her just to annoy her and hear her rabid screams into the phone. The ways of love were mysterious, alright.
Owen had, surprisingly enough, refrained from any verbal remark. Instead, he just threw his head back and started laughing.
Grabbing the folder and giving the medic a dirty glare, the American got out of the work area and walked towards the main offices, where he had already scheduled a meeting with their number one executioner: Yvonne Hartman, also known as Robocop, the Iron Maiden and several other rather suggestive names between her numerous employees.
During the next half hour, all sorts of noises came out of the She-Demon's office, some of which reminded the random by-passers of exploding nuclear bombs, gang fights, screeching cats and Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". But, in the end, good won against evil… and Cardiff's geographic position prevailed in the battle against London's. That day, the DECISION became reality.
"Cancel all your appointments for Saturday." Jack commanded into his mobile the moment he came out of the Office-from-Hell, still standing and not bleeding to death, despite all odds.
"Why?" Ianto's voice came back puzzled and annoyed. The pilot could almost see before his eyes the tailor's dark brows pulled together in an adorable frown.
"Also, don't wait for me at the station. I'll come straight home." Home… such a lovely word.
"Why?"
"Because you're a model citizen and I'm sure you don't want your customers to see you getting ravished by your over-achieving boyfriend, in the middle of the platform."
"Good point."
"Ianto?"
"Hm?"
"I think I'm in love with you." The confession was immediately followed by splutters and stammers. Eventually, the connection was closed and Jack was left hoping that he hadn't caused his younger lover a heart attack.
"You're an evil man, Harkness." Owen walked by him and tsked, also sending him a sly look that made the pilot want to swat his best friend over the head.
"So what have you been doing while I was preparing the almighty PLAN of conquering all of Cardiff and its surroundings in the name of Torchwood?" the question came as they were attempting to recover their breathing, that week's Saturday evening. True to his word, Jack had arrived the previous day and promptly pounced on Ianto in the doorway of his home, practically carrying him to his bedroom, where he proceeded with ravishing the younger man within an inch of both their lives, but only after evacuating Bluffy from the room.
"Sewing, making coffee… designing."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Took me by surprise, to be honest. I was waiting for a customer and just began doodling on my registry journal with a pencil. Later on, I got a cancellation and before I knew it, I had completed two full sketches. I couldn't believe my eyes when I was through." He glanced at Jack and blushed at the sight of his proud smile.
"Can I see them?"
"Sure." He shrugged. "But don't get your hopes up. I haven't drawn anything since I left London years ago, so they're not mind-blowing or anything. They're not even professional designs… just doodles."
"They're drawn by you." The pilot spoke as he began playing gently with the tailor's hands. "By these talented fingers. That's all that matters to me."
"Jack?"
"Hmm?"
"I think I'm in love with you too." Ianto announced, quickly extracted himself from his lover's grasp and disappeared from the room in a blur of naked skin and fluffy dressing gown. A moment later, he returned with a stack of papers and a seriously disgruntled tomcat that immediately jumped on the bed and nestled among the covers, as the two men settled side-by-side leaning back against the bedpost, talking about the past three weeks and shuffling through the first twenty designs Ianto had managed to complete, in record time, since settling back in Cardiff.
"You should really show these to someone." Jack spoke a while later. The tailor just laughed.
"These aren't high quality or competition material. Besides, when I left London, I cut my ties to everyone I knew in the fashion industry. I'm sure nobody even remembers me anymore."
"But…"
"And also, if anyone were to see and like these, they'd want me down there. My life is here. I have my family and friends here, I have the tailor shop… and now I have you too." He smiled. "Don't tell me that you'd want me to start commuting now that you've transferred your whole team here."
"Well, not really." He admitted.
"By the way… you never did tell me how much you had to flirt with your boss in order to get your little plan accepted."
"Flirt? With Hartman!" Jack started as if burned and sent his lover a half-outraged half-incredulous look. Even his hair seemed to have raised up, much like the way the black devil, currently dozing off over their feet, would turn every time something irritated him. Ianto started chuckling at the sight of Jack impersonating Edvard Munch's "The Scream". "With Lucifer's bride? Never!"
"Don't tell me there actually is a person on this Earth that remains immune to your charm." He was now laughing out loud.
"That woman is immune to life, not just my charm!" Jack replied loudly. "Puppy eyes, Whiskas commercials, shoujo mangas, London under two metres of snow! You name something cute, fluffy or heart-warming, and she'll be immune to it!" By now Jack was almost standing on the mattress, while Ianto was wiping tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes. "Why do you think I'm so desperate every weekend to leave that city as fast as possible and get here?" he mimicked a sniffle.
"My divine coffee?" the younger man raised a teasing eyebrow and watched Jack start moving about the bed again. The American searched through the covers for a moment and fished out the almighty tomcat, holding him tightly over his chest.
"Bluffy." He deadpanned.
"You've got to be kidding." Ianto started laughing again.
"Mrreow!" the devil in question complained loudly, trying to free himself.
"Because he's cute, fluffy and heart-warming."
"What the hell are they doing down there?" Owen asked as he came out of Tosh's kitchen, holding two mugs of hot chocolate, since both of them were terrible at making a drinkable cup of the addictive beverage and generally only required it in the mornings, when either Ianto or Rhiannon would be up and about. In the flat's silence, he picked up faint noises that sounded a lot like the tailor's laughter.
"Obviously not what you've been thinking." Tosh smirked from her desk, eyes never leaving the screen of her computer.
"Surprising, considering Jack's stamina." The medic commented and walked up to her, carefully setting the two mugs on each side of the keyboard. "Scoot over." He instructed and she did, giving him the space he needed in order to settle next to her in the big comfortable armchair, that, despite its ragged appearance to the point of decomposition, could very well hold both of their thin figures: slender in her case, scrawny in his.
"Don't you ever get bored watching me work? After all, it's not like you understand programme codes." She asked quietly, hands playing over the keypads at an incredible speed, making more and more lines appear on the large screen in front of them. Owen just sat back and placed an arm over the back of the armchair.
"Not really." He shrugged and let his head fall back too, relaxing completely.
"Liar." She gently accused, selecting a line with the mouse and editing it.
"Am I a bother?" his head moved towards her quite uncomfortably.
"Not really." She shrugged as well.
"Then leave me be." He concluded and dropped his head back again, this time in a position from which he could watch her fingers at work.
"Let me guess, you have a hand fetish." Several long minutes passed before Tosh opened her mouth again. She sounded amused.
"Nope."
"Than why are you staring at my hands?" she inquired innocently, half of mind still focused on the dancing codes in front of her eyes.
"Because they're beautiful. You see, it would be a hand fetish if I got off at the sight of a certain type of hands… or just any type at all. But I don't… even though I've watched my fair share of hands performing surgery during Medical School."
"So… it's just my hands then." The fingers paused in their activity and she turned her head, gazing at him over her shoulder.
"It would seem so." Owen opened his eyes and returned her curious and surprised look. However, before he could do more than just stare at the lovely Japanese woman, a knock on the front door disturbed the silence around them. "It's open." He called out, glancing towards the hall, just as Tosh returned to her work. A moment later, a black furry thing crept inside the flat, followed by his much more noticeable companions: Jack and Ianto. "Oh, you still live then."
"Likewise." The pilot replied with a naughty grin, while the tailor turned red. Padding quietly towards the large armchair, Bluffy executed a perfect leap, landing right onto the medic's legs, before laying claim on Tosh's lap. "And what are you doing then?" the American continued with a leer as he took in the scene before him.
"Nestling."
"Ah, preparing for the long winter and all that." Not minding the two men, the computer genius sent her best friend an exasperated look over the top of her screen, shaking her head lightly. "You're not going to start laying eggs, are you? Because in that case, Owen, I'm afraid that you'll have to play mother hen and keep them warm until they're ready to hatch." The medic just glared at his once-upon-a-time best man.
"Don't worry. Even if we do lay eggs, we won't be the firsts to bring forth heirs. I do believe that honour belongs to that devil over there." He grumbled and pointed at the feline now draped all over Tosh, enjoying a full scale petting session, as the keyboard had been forgotten in favour of black fur. Three pairs of eyes followed his gaze and descended upon the happy cat.
"What are you talking about? Bluff if a tomcat." Ianto was the first to voice his confused thoughts.
"Some vet you would be." Owen snorted.
"Well, he did get awfully fat lately." Tosh acknowledge and lifted the feline in the air, trying to see something, anything past its black fluff.
"She." The medic rephrased.
"Are you sure? Maybe he just got fat from Jack's extra feeding."
"Ianto. I may not be a gynaecologist… but I'm pretty sure I can tell one gender from the other, even when it comes to felines. Congratulations, you are the owner of a very spoiled, very large pregnant cat."
The second one will be a bit longer than this one, I think... and it's still not 100% ready *cries* But I think I'll be able to post it on schedule.
I believe you know b now what the link below does *wink wink nudge nudge*