Doomsday: Post Apocalypse

a Torchwood story

by RoadrunnerGER

Dislaimer: Oh, really! They're the BBC's.

Summary: Ianto comes to Cardiff for a week to help with the archives, but is it as simple as that? Jack/OC, Jack?Ianto

Suspense/hurt/comfort – T – Ianto Jones & Jack Harkness

A/N: Thank you for your nice comments. I'm happy that you're intrigued about Ydris and the role he might be playing. I hope to be able to surprise you. :D Very special thanks once more to my beta reader mandassina. Without her the story wouldn't be what it is now. Merry Christmas, everyone! And in case that I can't manage to update again in December… Happy New Year! Enjoy!

Chapter 3 – Great Western

"You should've seen it!" Owen laughed. "It's one of those old sofas with pink roses. It's lovely!"

"I bet it actually is lovely," Toshiko scolded. "If not Ianto's style."

"Oh?" Suzie cut in. "You're familiar with the Welshman's style?"

"I'm not, but I can tell for sure that pink roses aren't necessarily masculine."

Ianto grinned at the teasing. It was nice to have someone to banter with even though it could not quench his grief.

I don't think it has really hit home yet, Ianto thought. I was so busy right after Jack freed me and now here in Cardiff. I'm grateful for the chance to participate but it doesn't leave much room for grieving.

First his thoughts drifted to Lisa. Right now her death felt surreal. After shedding the first bitter tears back at their flat it was almost as if he was past all stages of grieving. His logical mind told him that could not be. Still it did not hurt when he thought of Lisa now. There was just a nagging worry that she might not be treated well by UNIT. The same applied to Virginia and everyone else who worked for Torchwood One.

I wonder when it all will catch up on me. I shouldn't sit here with the others having beer and still feel perfectly right.

"Hey, Welsh Man," Suzie cut into his musings. "Are you still with us?"

All of a sudden Ianto's insides constricted painfully and his throat corded up.

"Please, don't call me that," he hoarsely said.

Suzie appeared to be surprised and about to object, but Toshiko sensed that something really bothered him.

"May I ask why?" she queried.

"My fiancé called me that," Ianto admitted. "She… made it sound like the name of a super hero."

"Sorry," Suzie mumbled.

Owen patted his shoulder. "Shall I get another round?" the medic asked.

"Yeah, one more will be fine," Toshiko agreed and Suzie wordlessly shoved her empty glass to Owen.

"Ianto?"

"Okay," he nodded. "A final one."

While Owen went to get the beverages an awkward silence fell between them. Ianto's gaze was drawn to the monitor where the BBC news channel was running. There were no reports about Canary Wharf, though. Ianto did not know when he had last been at the Great Western pub. That must have been when he still was in school and Cardiff was the big city. Once he was finished with school he got as far away from Newport as he could which happened to be London. He always wanted to work in a skyscraper and at times he could feel at Canary Wharf like he was in New York City. No comparison at all to Cardiff and yet the Torchwood branch there seemed far more exotic and exciting. Working with the Rift was totally different to how One was organized after all.

"Tosh, what happened at the market hall?" Ianto asked.

Caught by surprise Toshiko had to ask, "What about it?"

"We were there earlier today and saw the bullet holes," Ianto explained. "In the newspaper they said that a flock of lizards attacked a vendor. Now, what did really happen?"

This time Toshiko smirked. Conspiratorially she leaned forward and murmured, "Jack and the constables chased down a pack of dinosaurs there."

"Dinosaurs?" Suzie gasped. This was news to her as well.

"Yeah. Procompsognathus triassicus if I identified them correctly."

"They're about chicken sized carnivores, right?" Ianto said.

"Ah, another one who watched Jurassic Park," Owen cheered as he returned with the drinks. Imitating the actress he breathed, "Can we chance to move him?" With a thump he put the glasses down to imitate the stomp of the T-Rex before he huffed anxiously, "Yes, please chance it."

"Can't you be serious for once?" Ianto hissed. "Sit down and keep your mouth shut."

"Hey, mate! Just a bit of fun," Owen complained but dropped in his chair.

"Yeah, but it failed to be funny." Ianto sipped at his beer.

"You were right, though, Ianto," Toshiko said. "The creatures had already killed a man when Jack arrived at the market hall. With the help of the constables he evacuated and closed the market in order to round the dinosaurs up and eliminate them."

"They're all dead?" Suzie asked.

"Yes," Toshiko nodded. "There was no time to catch them. One alert followed another. The Rift really kept us busy."

"What else did you encounter?" Ianto queried.

"Loads of things." Toshiko drank a bit and searched the right tempo for what she had to tell. "A giant mantis for example. It came through near the stadium. There were blowfishes and the little dinos… and weevils of course."

"Of course," Suzie huffed, grimacing at the thought of the humanoid creatures.

"I collected a couple of spider bots at Rookwood Hospital while Jack was still busy with the dinos, and when we were on our way back a giant octopus fell through the Rift."

"Blimey!" Owen said excitedly. "Wish I could've seen that."

"Chasing the octopus Jack picked up a stray, Ydris, but he was retconned along with the constables," Toshiko told them. Suddenly she chuckled and brought her hand up to keep herself from laughing out loud. "Well, and Constable Andy couldn't keep his hands to himself and put the Bracosian mask on."

"Oh!" Suzie smirked, her gaze drifting to the medic.

"Don't remind me," Owen snarled.

"Why? What's wrong with the mask?" Ianto took his cue.

"It's used for…" Toshiko paused with a laugh. Lowering her voice she then leaned closer to Ianto and whispered, "ritualistic depilation."

"Depilation?"

"Yeah," she chuckled. "All over."

Ianto's eyes grew wide as he looked to Owen and imagined him without any hair. As he was so skinny he would look like one of the Roswell greys - an unusually tall one - a comparison that made Ianto wonder if it really was a good idea to stick with Torchwood if he laughed about that ridiculous idea.

The medic glared at his colleagues.

"Very funny," he growled.

"I bet the constable was pretty shocked," Suzie said.

"Not as shocked as Owen," Toshiko giggled behind her hand. "Remember how quickly he vanished into his med bay?"

Suzie laughed as well. "Like it was yesterday."

"What about the creatures at Bute Park?" Owen demanded in order to change the subject.

"You mean the giant moth?" Toshiko said. "Jack was forced to kill it."

"No, I mean the others that were in the newspaper."

"Really?" Toshiko sighed. "It's near impossible to keep everything under wraps with people having iPhones."

"Actually," Ianto cut in, "the picture was too good to have been made with an iPhone. It's more likely that it was made with an SLR."

"Why, aren't you a clever Dick," Owen teased. "Now what happened to the unidentified flying animals?"

"Flown away," Toshiko shrugged and took another drink. "If they can survive here we might hear about a new species being discovered."

"Will you search for them?" Ianto asked. As he was not familiar with the way Torchwood Three worked he was curious to know what they planned to do about the escaped aliens.

"Well, we'll keep an eye on all news," Toshiko explained, "but we have neither the time nor the manpower to actively search for them."

Ianto nodded thoughtfully. He should have known that. With only the four of them they were busy enough with the everyday madness the Rift threw at them.

Suddenly Toshiko gasped into her beer.

"You know, I just remembered that we have guests in the vaults."

"Another weevil?" Owen sighed.

"No. The constables discovered a female Tasmanian tiger with her pups. I should check on them."

"Tosh, really?" Owen groaned. "Jack gave us the weekend off. Do you really want to go in anyway?"

"On second thought, maybe somebody should check on Jack as well," Ianto threw in. "I mean, we're leaving him alone with the cleanup, aren't we?"

"He gave us the weekend off, guys," Owen insisted.

"But Ianto is right," Toshiko relented. "Jack's alone with the mess that is the Hub. There was enough damage after the Cyberattack already, but that octopus topped it off."

"Was it directly in the Hub then?" Suzie asked.

"Yeah. It came up through the tidal basin."

"How did it get in at all?" Owen prodded. "Shouldn't the tunnels be protected?"

"Sure, but Jack wanted to trap the creature there. The plan worked all right… except for the octopus grabbing him and Ydris and pulling them into the bay. I locked the tunnel behind it as Jack had asked and thankfully it came up in the basin. Otherwise we would've lost both men." She trailed off, thoughtfully following the rim of her glass with the tip of her index finger.

"Then he couldn't have gotten me out," Ianto murmured tonelessly into the uncomfortable silence.

"Hey, don't go there," Owen admonished. "We would've found another way."

"Owen's right," Suzie assured him but did not sound convincing.

Another moment of silence followed that offered Ianto time to think. So much had happened today. He went out to get breakfast and got a room in addition. He was in town with Owen to buy a plaid for decoration. He enjoyed Welshcakes. He carried his stuff to the new room and unpacked what little he brought with him. He joined Owen and the girls from Torchwood Three having beer, enjoying the evening.

What's happening in London right now? Is UNIT taking proper care of the bodies? Is anyone taking care of the survivors? What's Jack doing? There's not just the mess to clean up but there might be an alert as well, and he's alone.

This did not feel right.

"You know," Toshiko said, "just because Jack told us he didn't want to see us before Monday again doesn't make it right. This was a huge crisis. He needs our help."

"Toshiko is right," Ianto agreed. "Either we should be at the Hub, or Jack should be here with us."

"He's not really into team activities like this," Owen shrugged.

"Owen, you're an insensitive git," Ianto snarled, kicking the medic's shin under the table before he got up. "Come on, move your scrawny arse."

Rolling his eyes at the girls' laughter Owen downed the rest of his beer. He had to hurry to catch up to his colleagues, but he had paid for this round and he was going to finish his drink.

tbc…