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: Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long wait. Real life's not been kind… Anyway, I'm so thrilled to see old aquaintances as well as new faces! Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it so much. Dear guest, I'm glad to hear that you like Ianto's spidermice. I really like to think of them as cute, even though trying to create a picture ended up in some weird results. LOL Trust Ianto to find a way to keep his spidermice. He's brilliant after all. And... does anyone trust Suzie but Jack? LOL Special thanks to my beta reader mandassina. Enjoy!
Chapter 16 - Incorrigible
When Ianto arrived at work the next morning, Toshiko was already at her workstation, checking if she could find any trace of the whirlwinds. They shared a knowing smile before he went up to the kitchenette.
They had woken up in the wee small hours and Toshiko had decided to go home to catch a few more hours of sleep in her own bed. So Ianto had gotten to stretch his limbs as well.
If we had slept through on the sofa, we'd be horribly sore now, Ianto thought as he climbed the stairs. That would be rather counterproductive.
As the coffee machine began to gurgle, the proximity alert drew Ianto's attention to the cog door rolling open. Suzie breezed into the central Hub. In the same clothes as the day before as Ianto noticed. Even from a distance one look at Toshiko was enough to tell him that she recognized it as well: that she was right about Owen shagging the technician. With a small sigh, Ianto turned to the counter to gather the dishes for the morning meeting on a tray. He was sad for Toshiko, knowing that she had more than just a little crush on the coarse medic.
As soon as Ianto spotted Jack emerging from his office, he filled four mugs, put them on the prepared tray, and took everything to the board room. Entering from the other side, Jack beamed at Ianto appreciatively and the Welshman thought he was delighted to get some coffee until Jack said, "Love that suit."
"Careful, sir," Ianto told him as he placed the mug in front of him on the tabletop. "You're working on getting decaf for the rest of the day."
"I can't believe someone as lovely as you could be so cruel," Jack pouted.
"Believe it, sir."
Ianto distributed the other mugs and sat down with his own.
"All right," Jack said. "Tosh, any sign of the whirlwinds?"
"Sorry, Jack. No trace of them yet. I'm about to set up a program that collects data from weather stations. It should be able to alert us if they appear again."
"Okay. Suzie, I'd like you to give me a detailed report about the glove before I'll agree to further experiments."
"Consider it done," she confirmed with enthusiasm.
"All right… Ianto, I've talked with Ydris and he agreed to go to Tasmania with our tigers. Can you wrap up the preparations with him?"
"Sure."
"Great," Jack grinned. "Well, I'd like you to have an earpiece so we can contact you here when we're in the field. Could you do some computer research if necessary?"
"Yeah, I think so," Ianto agreed.
"Good. Tosh, set it up for him when you've got your program running, okay?"
"Yes, Jack," she confirmed.
"Now where's Owen?"
At that all the others could do was share questioning glances and shrug. Toshiko glowered at Suzie, wondering if she knew more.
"Maybe he overslept," the technician suggested.
"Well, that's it for now," Jack decided to finish the meeting. "You know what to do and I'll call Owen."
They all filed out of the boardroom and Jack returned to his office where he grabbed the phone, dialling Owen's number as he sat down. The medic answered after the eighth ring, his voice heavy with sleep.
"What are you doing at home?" Jack asked. "There's an autopsy waiting for you."
"You sacked me, remember?" Owen grunted.
Not sleepy, Jack decided. He's hung over.
"Well, you should have known I didn't mean it."
"How? I relieve you of your duty, were your words," Owen snarled. "You didn't contradict me when I asked if you fired me either."
"I expect you at work in half an hour."
"Bugger off."
Jack had a feeling as if Owen was about to hang up on him, which only served to fuel his annoyance. Right now he had no time for the stubborn medic. "You don't want me to come over to get you."
"Will I get to examine you if I come back?" Owen challenged.
"Of course not," Jack stated flatly.
This time the young doctor grumbled something unintelligible.
"Owen, how long have you been working for Torchwood? You've never insisted on routine medical examinations. Why start now? It will only make more work for you."
"You died, yesterday, Jack," Owen reminded him.
Suppressing a shudder, Jack replied, "And you saved me. I'm fine now, doctor. Consider it a job well done and get back here and get to work."
"Slave driver!"
Before Jack could think of a come back, Owen had hung up.
Wow, he'll be hard to bear today, Jack thought. Leaning back in his chair, he wondered if he forgot something. Some coffee would have helped him think, but by now his mug was empty already. I should ask Ianto for more.
Watching the young Welshman talk with Toshiko made him think of something he should do in the very near future. He was looking forward to it, but first he had to deal with Owen.
xXx
As soon as Owen entered the Hub, Ianto sensed the tension rise. As he did not want to appear overly curious, he excused himself to the archives and greeted the medic on his way to the tunnel. Still he could not help but furtively watch how Jack, adorned with his coat, stormed out of his office to meet Owen at the entrance to the med bay.
"Nice of you to drop in," Jack announced loud enough for Toshiko and Suzie to hear. "You're only about an hour late."
"First you sacked me, then you called to tell me I had half an hour… and now you're surprised I'm late?"
"As a matter of fact, I am," Jack growled, getting into Owen's face. He still could smell the alcohol on the medic's breath.
"Well, I'm surprised that you are," Owen huffed and pushed past the captain to get down the stairs. "You still want that autopsy?"
"Yes," Jack declared, standing at the banister atop the med bay, feet apart and hands on the rail. "You better get started."
Smirking devilishly, Owen turned around and leaned against the autopsy table, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well, and I still want your exam."
"You can be the one cleaning the cells for the next week," Jack suggested.
"You want an efficient doctor, right?" Owen challenged and saw Jack nod. "What kind of a doctor would I be if I would let it slide and say 'okay, Jack, have it your way and skip the exam'?"
"One who respects the wishes of his patients."
"An irresponsible one who's putting his patient's health at risk," Owen shot back. "And what kind of an example are you giving us as our leader?"
That hit close to home.
Jack could feel the gazes boring into his back and knew that there was no way to back out of this challenge. For a moment he wished for an alert to interrupt and get him out of this mess, but it did not come.
Coat swinging, he bounced down the stairs and towered in front of Owen.
"Just check if my respiratory system has suffered," he declared. "Don't waste our time on anything else. I'm fine and all you're gonna do is confirm that."
"Fine," Owen retorted and grabbed a sphygmomanometer. "Blood pressure, too," he declared. "Roll up your sleeve and hop on the table."
Cursing in a foreign language, Jack did as he was told and allowed Owen to take his vitals. Then the medic examined him with the Bekaran scanner. The whole matter did not waste more than three minutes.
"Now, was that so horrible?" Owen snarled when he stood in front of Jack, once more his arms crossed over his chest. "Go back to harassing the archivist and let me perform the autopsy."
Fleetingly, Jack imagined what might happen if he suffered a death that he needed longer to come back from and Owen started to do an autopsy on him. The idea was so unsettling that he hopped off the exam table and virtually fled the med bay.
Only for a second, he contemplated to breeze down to the archives and talk with Ianto, but his pride stopped him. Thankfully he saw Yvonne stroll into his office, so he retreated there and smashed the door shut.
xXx
Taking a break with Yvonne, petting his calico cat and playing with her, relaxed Jack enough to return to work. He filled out a report about last night's mission and answered a call from UNIT. It was early afternoon when Owen knocked on his door and handed in one of the shortest autopsy reports Jack had ever seen, confirming that the woman had died of asphyxiation.
Another hour passed uneventfully, so Jack was delighted when Ianto entered his office, carrying a mug of coffee. He thanked him but Owen's words still ringing fresh in his ears he refrained from teasing the Welshman. It was a minute or two after Ianto had left the office again when Jack realized how stupid he was to let himself be curbed by the medic's tactless comment.
Shooting up from his seat, Jack sprinted to the door and called out, "Ianto!" Seeing that the young man was on the phone, he waited until he had finished his call before he commanded, "Come with me to the shooting range."
"Why?" the young man replied, slightly confused. "I don't do field work."
"But you still need to be able to defend yourself," Jack shrugged. "You had regular shooting practice at One, right?"
"Yeah," Ianto growled, putting his own mug down.
"Well, I didn't see you shoot yet. I just want to assess your proficiency."
Reluctantly Ianto started toward Jack who was on his way into the tunnel. He could have pointed out that he had shot the predator down in One's Secure Archives, but he was not sure how much Jack really had noticed after the creature's attack. How long did it take him to revive? Even though the scene had felt like forever, everything happened so quickly and Ianto did not pay attention to the captain as he was confronted with the predator.
"Chin up, Ianto!" Owen shouted from where he reclined on the sofa. "You'll do all right! Just make sure Jack keeps his weapon holstered!"
That was not really what Ianto was worried about while he followed Jack deeper into the bowels of the Hub. Guns just were not his thing, so he disliked weapons training.
"C'mere," Jack encouraged when they entered the shooting range, gesturing Ianto to step up beside him at the shelves where an assortment of handguns was stored. "Pick one."
Ianto scowled. He was familiar with most of them and finally chose the one he knew best, a .357 calibre SIG Sauer P229. Jack handed him a clip with ammunition and he loaded the gun.
"Which target?"
"What about that weevil?" Jack nodded toward the cardboard alien that was about thirty yards away and put on ear protectors.
Taking a deep breath, Ianto nodded and put the weapon down to follow Jack's example. Then he took the gun and made two steps aside. Breathing consciously, he raised the weapon to aim and released two single shots. While one grazed the target's contours the other went right past it.
"Wait a moment," Jack commanded.
Ianto let his arms sink, pointing the gun at the floor. "Don't interrupt. I'm trying to get into the flow."
At that Jack chuckled. "Let me show you something."
"Oh?" Ianto scowled. Your own weapon, proving Owen right? I didn't think you'd be so artless. Especially not after our latest conversations.
He had reason to doubt, because by now Jack was so close beside him that Owen's earlier warning sure was warranted. A soft chuckle brought Ianto back to the present.
"You know, the tales about my exploits aren't necessarily exaggerated," Jack murmured with clear amusement, "but I think you know I wouldn't be so tactless as to simply unsheathe my sword, don't you?"
Biting back a smirk, Ianto had to agree, Yeah, you've got more class than that.
Putting his arm around Ianto's shoulders, Jack manoeuvred him around so he was facing the side, "Turn sideways to the target. Single handed."
Standing behind Ianto now, he guided his hand down the younger man's arm toward the gun. Simulating holding a gun, he slowly raised his hand from there, "Looking along your shoulder…" toward the target, "down your arm, a straight line to the sights."
Right, that's more like you. Subtle and dangerous… and what is that delicious smell?
Right at that moment, Ianto could not even follow Jack's demonstration. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath, inhaling more of Jack's pheromones that went straight to his head. Then he turned his head according to Jack's instruction and tried to concentrate.
"Okay," Jack murmured. "Bring up the gun."
Of course the captain had ulterior motives, but he knew when to reign himself in. In his mind set he could enjoy this game as long as he did not overdo it… and he did enjoy.
Being confronted with Jack's heated closeness, Ianto forgot everything he had learned in London and brought the gun up way too quickly. As a result Jack stopped him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
Taking Ianto's wrist, he put his gun arm back down and grabbed his shoulders toward him. His touch sent hot sparks through the Welshman's body.
"Too fast," Jack whispered close to his ear which made Ianto's skin tingle.
Is there really such a thing as 'too fast' where you're concerned? Ianto wondered.
All Ianto could do was to concentrate on his breathing as his throat threatened to close. He felt his lips tremble and Jack put his hand over Ianto's in order to bring up the gun toward the target.
"It's all in the breathing," Jack explained calmly, more calmly than he felt. "Hold it firmly… don't grip it."
Breathing. Yeah. Ianto still tried to concentrate solely on that which proved to become more and more difficult the more often Jack touched him. Turning his head, he returned his attention to the weevil shaped target.
Behind him, Jack took up his position again, this time using his left hand to hold Ianto's hips firmly against his own. The slight motion had a big impact on Ianto and it was all he could do not to accidentally release a shot.
"Breathe in," Jack commanded, breathing in with Ianto. "Focus."
That's what I'm trying to do! Jack held his hand steady at the target but it became increasingly difficult for Ianto to think about shooting practice. Unless you count that other way of release as shooting that you need to practice. He had to smirk at his thought and hoped that Jack did not catch it.
"Breathe out…" Jack murmured, obviously fully concentrated on the target down the range.
Listening to the captain's voice, deep and husky now and full of desire, Ianto had to draw a shaky breath first, before he could follow the instruction. Pulling himself together, Ianto hoped to blank out Jack's flirting long enough to be able to prove to him that he could handle the gun and concentrated on the shot he was about to deliver.
"Squeeze gently."
That was it.
Snorting a laugh, Ianto doubled over and lost his aim. Involuntarily his backside ground against Jack's groin which sent sparks of excitement through the Welshman. It could not do more to him, though, as, miraculously, the laughter made the tension that had built between the two men evaporate. Ianto just found this hilarious. Gasping for breath, Ianto choked down his laughter, straightened up again, and summed his sudden realization up with, "I see, you want to test my shooting skills while being distracted."
"Why?" Jack murmured innocently close to Ianto's ear, brushing his fingertips along the Welshman's left side and his breath tickling on his neck. "Are you distracted?"
Feeling the hand alight on his left hip, Ianto was more than a little distracted and returned to his reliable defence mechanism, "Actually, sir, this could be considered harassment."
"I thought you liked being harassed," Jack rasped seductively.
This time his charm failed to work. With fresh resolve Ianto tightened his hold on the gun and took a steadying breath. Fixating on the target, he carefully aimed, felt for the trigger point…
"Nope."
…and fired the rest of the magazine on the cardboard weevil.
Following the bullets with his gaze Jack saw them impact, five in the weevil's forehead, six in the bulls-eye on its chest. The holes were so close together that Jack did not think that Ianto had missed when he spotted the last point of entry between the weevil's legs
Ianto sure made his point, Jack thought, backing off.
"Wow," he gasped. "That weevil won't bite anyone anymore."
"Thank you, sir," Ianto said, removed the ammunition clip and held the gun out to Jack who took it reflexively. "Looks like I just needed the right motivation."
Momentarily at a loss of words, Jack shook his head before he belatedly came back with, "I'm glad we found it."
"Is there anything else you want to teach me?"
"Well, some close combat would be advisable," Jack stated.
"I didn't need to learn that at One," Ianto deflected and could actually see how Jack's tension dissolved as well. What had been meant as banter had hit too close to home, so Ianto tried to save it, "Guess we'll have to start from scratch."
"Yeah, that might be better," Jack agreed. "We shouldn't start it today, though."
Ianto nodded. "Well, did I pass the shooting test?"
"Yes!" Jack assured him. "Brilliantly."
"All right, sir," Ianto said. "If that's all I'll return to my duties then."
"Sure, Ianto," Jack replied. "Go ahead."
Nodding curtly, Ianto put the ear protectors down as well and turned to leave, still making sure that Jack was able to catch a glimpse at the mischievous smirk that cracked his features.
Overwhelmed by sudden amusement, Jack called out, "Don't forget to make fresh coffee!"
Walking over to the shelves, he took off his own ear protectors and returned the gun to its stand. It was always interesting how new recruits reacted to his weapon training. Each of them, first Suzie, then Toshiko, and finally Owen, had to go through it. Of course it was meant to explore the candidate's shooting proficiency, but secretly it was also Jack's test to see if the agent was going to be able to deal with him. So far they all had excelled.
Taking down another gun, Jack returned to the shooting range where he put the poor cardboard weevil over the edge by removing its head with a few well-aimed shots. The other bullets impacted its chest or went right through the hole Ianto had produced. Satisfied, Jack returned the gun to its place and strode up to the main Hub. Toshiko and Owen were at their respective desks and Suzie just got started unpacking two bags of Chinese takeaway onto the chest-table. All three of them turned to him expectantly.
"Jack, c'mon!" Suzie shouted invitingly. "We've got enough!"
"Yeah, I can see that," Jack smirked but positioned himself between them with an impressive stance, his hands akimbo. Looking sternly from one to the other he asked, "Now… who warned Ianto about my weapons training?"
For a moment they managed to maintain their clueless expressions, but then Owen doubled over laughing, and since he had been sitting slouched in his computer chair with his feet up on the desk, he soon found himself on the floor. He did not care. He was still laughing.
Jack scowled. I should've known.
Giggling at Owen, Toshiko shook her head and replied, "It wasn't me."
"Ianto's clever, Jack," Suzie pointed out with a smirk. "I very much doubt that he would have needed any kind of a warning."
"I didn't," Ianto said briskly, magically appearing with a tray of fresh coffees. He served Suzie first, then Tosh, then bent to let Owen take his mug off the tray. The medic was still half-reclining on the floor chuckling and trying to catch his breath. "You may be secretive, sir, but there are times when you can't seem to help but telegraph your intentions. If anybody warned me, it was you."
Jack had the good grace to blush at first, but when he heard Suzie and Toshiko giggling at his expense, his scowl returned. Snatching his coffee off the tray he intended to storm out of the rec area in a huff, but as his movement was too brisk the dark brew spilled all over him.
"Serves you right," Owen snickered as he got up and recaptured his chair.
"Talking about serving… I don't think that he's earned dinner after his escapades," Suzie teased.
"Never underestimate the Welshmen," Toshiko joined in with obvious pride.
"Hey! Don't gang up on me!" Jack pouted, noting with astonishment and joy that his computer expert and the archivist were bonding. "No fair!"
"Groping me while I was concentrating on the shooting test wasn't fair either," Ianto stated matter of factly. "Considering your childish behaviour at the shooting range, your odds have dropped to thirty-five percent in favour. Sir."
Jack looked crestfallen.
It was all Owen could do, not to drop back out of his chair with laughter.
"Ignore them," Ianto suggested, letting one fingertip trail down Jack's chest. "If you give me your shirt I'll take it to dry cleaning for you."
At that Jack's eyebrow shot up and one of his trademark grins cracked his features. Without hesitation he shed his braces, removed his shirt, and held it out to the Welshman. All Ianto could do was roll his eyes.
Roaring with laughter Owen gasped, "You should've known!"
Toshiko just cast one look at Ianto and was certain that he had known well enough what his innocent challenge would provoke Jack to do.
"Sit down, sir," Ianto said, putting the shirt over the handrail. "You don't deserve it, but as you need your strength for work I ordered chicken on a stake for you."
"What the heck is that?"
"Chicken kung po with vegetables and peanuts, extra spicy."
"With chilli sauce?" Jack beamed.
"Yes, sir."
"My favourite!" the captain cheered. "Ianto, you're brilliant!"
"Will you ever sit down?" Suzie queried. "It's getting cold."
Being asked so nicely the two men joined their colleagues and a friendly banter continued over dinner.
tbc…