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: Why's there always so little time in January? Finally I managed to polish this. Thanks everyone for your continued support! :-* Enjoy!
Chapter 19 – The escapee
When Ianto finally arrived at his bedsit it was after midnight already. As soon as he stepped through the door, he could hear the scurrying. He switched on the light and went straight to the cage of the spidermice. They were sitting right behind the tightly locked door, pawing with their forelegs, and looking up at him expectantly.
"Sorry, kids," Ianto chirped. They had eaten all the fruits and the salad he had left for them and the water bottle that was strapped to the bars was almost empty as well. "Wow, do you have an appetite."
Knowing that the little creatures would be hard to catch if he dared to remove the padlock, he refrained from opening the cage. Instead he chopped a cucumber as well as an apple. When he peeled an orange, too, he was reminded of his latest adventure with the team of Torchwood Three. During the mission he did not even waste a thought about the danger but now the idea sent a chill down his spine. Back then, following and supporting the others felt so natural, though, that he forgot about being just an archivist.
Figuring out how to stop the fire devils was a challenge, but why the bloody hell did I leave the car? Jack even told me to stay. And yet I rushed as quickly to Jack and Owen's aid as Toshiko.
With a sigh, he picked up the food and sat on the floor beside the cage.
"Here, kids," he murmured as he pushed a piece of cucumber between the bars. The spidermice rushed to pull it fully in and started to gnaw on it. "Easy! Not so hasty. Don't gorge."
A loving smile played around his lips as he watched them eat the cucumber.
"I really need to find a better home for you. I wish I could keep you, kids, but this cage isn't big enough for you. You need space to climb and weave your webs."
He ate a part of the apple himself before he gave the rest to the mice.
Even though he had Chinese dinner, he felt hungry again. Working for so long certainly burnt a lot of calories.
I shouldn't have more to eat. Still I could do with a full meal now. I wish I had a real kitchen.
Ignoring the nagging feeling in his stomach, Ianto set his alarm clock and went to bed. Sleep, though, did not come, his mind being torn from the night's events to his ordeal at One and to memories of his lost love. Tossing and turning, he tried to find the sleep that kept eluding him for several hours more.
xXx
Stepping through the cog door, Jack let his gaze roam around the Hub, which appeared deserted. After cleaning up at the docks, the others went home directly while Jack took care of the body. Now he returned to an empty base that made him feel lonesome rather than offering comfort.
There had been times when he had loathed the Hub, cursing Torchwood's existence. For decades it had been a cause of nightmares for him, but it also was a source of friendship and hope. Over the years it became home. A rather distorted and warped home, but a home nevertheless.
"Yvonne?" he called out for his cat. "Yvonne, are you here?"
The cat was nowhere to be seen.
Sighing with disappointment, Jack went up to the gantry and to his office. For a moment he contemplated calling Ydris.
No fair. It's in the middle of the night.
He sank into his executive chair and stared at the paperwork that piled on his desk.
Very encouraging.
The sight of the little coral lured a smile out of him.
I wish your big sister would find her way back here soon. Why doesn't the Doctor come? Doesn't he need to refuel? I thought he said he came here for fuelling the TARDIS.
Another sigh escaped him.
Those were happy times. They just passed too quickly.
Sitting up straighter, he eyed the forms in front of him.
I should write a short report about tonight's mission. Could very well be that Ianto's going to ask about it.
A smirk cracked his features at that idea.
Oh, he's so good at what he does. And he's doing so much for us already. Only two days have passed since he started temping, and already I can't imagine the team without him.
Leaning back again, he let his hand run across the wool of his greatcoat.
Ianto worked miracles with my coat. I can't even be mad at him anymore for taking it without asking. It was such a considerate thing of him to go and wash and mend it. I don't think that he can imagine exactly how important it is for me, but he still knew that I treasure it and chose that gesture to pay me back for my help in London.
Repeatedly he brushed his hand along the folds of his coat.
Ianto has worked on it. His hands touched it everywhere. They mended the tears and washed out the stains. His fingers ran along the seams and over the fabric to see if he did not miss a spot.
A dreamy smile played around his lips.
I wish he would caress me like that. His fingertips running along my sides and circling my pecs. Those long and elegant hands would feel wonderful threading in my hair. They would sear my skin as they caressed my cheek.
Which shade of blue will his eyes take on in the twilight downstairs? I know that it's presumptuous to even think about it, but I want to see those sparkles of real emotion in his eyes. I want him to want to touch me, to want to kiss me. To caress me. To tease me. To take me to the edge and let me hang there until he finally takes me over it.
Languorous shudders coursed through his body at his sensuous fantasy.
Of course he could have taken his daydream a lot further, but something held him back. He could not tell what it was and guessed that it had something to do with how they had first met. Being trapped in the conversion unit, Ianto had been utterly helpless. That, combined with his youth and his incredibly good looks, triggered Jack's protectiveness.
That must be the reason why I don't strive to conquer him quickly and get him laid, Jack realized. Besides, I'm enjoying our games way too much to rush it.
Somehow it felt like Ianto was a prize he could win if he was good enough to earn it. He did not know yet what he had to do or achieve to receive that reward, but he knew that he would go to quite some length to get it.
Realizing that he would not get anything done, the captain retired to his room beneath his office where he lay restless until more fantasies allowed him to drift to sleep.
xXx
Waking horribly early after a restless night, Ianto got up and took a hot shower. It eased his aching muscles but did nothing to make him more alert. He got dressed and after a look at his tiny kitchen corner, he decided to go downstairs and get some pastries. Of course Mrs. Dillard tried to engage him in a conversation, but at the early hour he was not in the mood to chat with her. So he excused himself and returned to his room.
"Good morning, kids," he murmured when he saw that at least a few of the spidermice were active, too. "Do you promise to be nice and get back in before I have to leave?" he asked as he bent down and opened the padlock. "There you go. One moment, I'll make you breakfast."
As expected, the spidermice swarmed out of their cage.
Ianto was cutting some vegetables for his pets when one of them startled him, appearing right in front of his face, dangling from a thread of almost invisible silk.
"Whoa!" he called out. "Do you have to give me such a scare?"
As it still hung there, upside down, clinging to the thread and its long nose twitching, Ianto tried to take it away, but the silk would not give way.
"That's quite some stuff that you're spinning there," he snorted with wry amusement. "Maybe Tosh and Owen should examine it further. Who knows, we might find use for it."
He put the bowl with vegetables down on the floor and sat down with his pastries, watching how the spidermice gathered around their food and ate. They really were adorable. By the time he had finished his breakfast, the bowl was empty and Ianto cut up a banana that he put into the cage.
As expected, the spidermice could not withstand the treat and readily climbed into the cage again.
"Hope that was enough to stretch your legs, kids," Ianto said and refilled the water bottle. "I'll be back for lunch, all right?"
Of course they did not answer, but he was pretty certain that they would be happy to see him, even if it just was because he brought them food. Those little critters were really hearty eaters.
And they produce a lot of silk. Could be that they produce more of it when they're well fed. Any way, they would veil the whole interior if I let them out unobserved.
When he entered the Hub, he was the very first to arrive. Well, except for Jack who sat at his desk already, trying to work on some reports.
"Good morning, Ianto," the captain smiled tiredly when he noticed the young Welshman.
"Good morning, sir." Taking in Jack's appearance, Ianto asked, "Rough night?"
"Short night," Jack shrugged.
"Would a cup of coffee help?"
"Definitely!" the captain beamed at Ianto.
Smirking, Ianto turned around and went up to the kitchenette to start up the coffee machine. While he worked, he thought about how he could probably convince Jack to allow him to use one of the unused storage rooms for the spidermice. It was not perfect, far from it, but it would at least offer them more space. Then he could still search for a place where they could enjoy the sun and fresh air as well.
All right, industrial strength for Jack. He looks like he needs it. Some carbohydrates could help his mood as well.
Once more Mrs. Dillard had forced a lot more pastries on Ianto than he could eat on his own. Wisely, he had picked quite different ones, trying to guess what his teammates liked. Now he was grateful for the stuffed bag his landlady had given him.
Choosing a lemon curd Welshcake and a pastry filled with apple and cinnamon, Ianto placed them on a plate for Jack, filled a huge mug with coffee, and took both downstairs. He had just left the staircase, when a terrified scream made his blood run cold.
Starting for the office, he only paused for a second to put the dishes onto the chest. When he darted into Jack's sanctum, he was confronted with a peculiar sight.
Jack squatted in his chair, almost causing it to topple over with his attempts to retreat further. His eyes were wide as saucers and directed at something under his desk. He looked utterly horrified and whimpered with fear.
"What's wrong?" Ianto demanded.
Jack, though, did not seem to hear him. All he did was quiver in his chair, twisting around in it as he followed the movements of whatever was scaring the crap out of him. Ianto still could not see the cause of the uproar so he asked again.
"Th-th-there!" Jack squeaked as he pointed in the same direction as he was staring at. "Argh!"
With a terrified shout, he tried to back off, but the chair was a small island, and when the source of his fright started to climb it, Jack jumped up, lost his balance, and fell backwards out of the chair.
Rushing forward, Ianto caught his fall and was almost thrown to the ground by the impact. Scrabbling backwards, Jack tried to escape, but Ianto wrapped his arms around him.
"What. Is. Wrong?" he queried insistently.
Shivering in his hold, still attempting to get away from the vicinity of his workplace, Jack gasped hoarsely, his voice almost cracking, "Spidery mouse thing!"
Oh, shit!
Realizing that one of his pets must have snuck into his bag or his coat, Ianto feverishly searched for the spidermouse. In his hold, Jack was still struggling, gasping for breath, almost hyperventilating.
"It's all right, Jack," Ianto tried to assure him. "It can't hurt you. I'll take it away. All right?"
"No!" the captain screamed, high pitched like a girl, making Ianto wonder how he could reach those high tones. "Kill it! KILL IT!"
"No, I won't," Ianto flatly told him. "Now pull yourself together!"
Spotting the creature of doom, Jack wriggled out of Ianto's arms and grabbed a book off a shelf to throw it at the scurrying beast. It impacted very close to the adorable animal which made Ianto furious.
"Kill it!" Jack screamed again, backing further off and jumping onto his sofa.
"The hell I will," Ianto huffed and squatted down in order to intercept the spidermouse. Carefully he coaxed it to climb onto his hand where it settled in his palm.
"Argh!" Jack squeaked. "Don't TOUCH it!"
"You know you're being silly, right?"
Jack just whimpered and tried to climb from the seat to the back of his sofa as Ianto straightened up and took a step closer to him.
"Jack!" Ianto said firmly. "Come down there before this gets really embarrassing."
In his distress, Jack did not even notice that Ianto called him by name.
"Please, just take it away," Jack whined.
"I will not," Ianto insisted. "Not until you come down off the sofa. If you make me ask you again, I will stay here until you pet it."
"NO!" Jack wailed like a frightened child. "J-just, give me a moment."
If it had been something even marginally dangerous, like a bee or a horsefly, something that could at least cause pain if not a real injury or an allergic reaction, Ianto might have been more sympathetic, but the spidermouse was harmless, and given the tensile strength of its silk, might even prove really useful. If they were to learn more about the creatures, they would have to be able to study them. For that to happen, Jack would at least have to tolerate having them in the Hub. Now seemed as good a time as any to start working on his phobia.
"D-don't let it get away from you," Jack whimpered as he put one foot on the floor. He was slowly climbing down from the far end of the sofa, as far from Ianto and the spidermouse as he could get.
"I won't," Ianto assured him in a soothing voice. "You're doing fine Jack."
Jack whimpered wordlessly and set his other foot on the floor, keeping himself practically plastered to the wall beside him.
"Excellent, I think your odds just went up to forty percent," Ianto smiled.
Jack gave him a terrified grin.
"Really?" he whined.
"Yeah, really," Ianto said. "If you can take just another step closer, they might go up a little more."
Jack gave another fretful whine, but after a moment, he shuffled his feet just a few inches further from the wall. It was not a real step, but it was a good effort. Knowing how hard it was to overcome a phobia, Ianto decided to grant Jack the promised raise on his odds.
"Well, I'm tempted to give you another five percent," he said.
Magically Jack's body swayed forward, coming level to his feet. His eyes shone with excitement.
"So I'm back to forty-five?" he asked for confirmation, his momentum carrying him another half step forward.
"Seeing how well you're doing that seems just fair," Ianto told him reassuringly. He could not help but be amazed by the fact that Jack exactly recalled his odds for dinner with him despite shaking with anxiety. "By the way, his name's Benny."
"It has a name?" Jack squeaked in a rather unmanly fashion.
"Yeah," Ianto shrugged. "Doesn't he look like a Benny to you?"
Reflexively Jack leaned slightly forward in response to the question, which brought him another half step closer. When Ianto held up his hand just a little higher so the captain could see the creature better, Jack flinched back, sucking in a sharp breath. Still it was not enough to make him step back which Ianto noted with satisfaction.
As he watched Jack who still stared with widened eyes and flaring nostrils, Ianto went on, "You're doing well, Jack." Ianto had to hide his amusement when he saw Jack quirk an eyebrow at noticing being called by name this time. "Before you know it you're going to feed them fruits and veggies. They're mostly vegetarian, you know…"
"F-f-feed them?" Jack cut in nervously. "And what do you mean with mostly vegetarian?"
"Well, they would never attack you, Jack," Ianto chuckled. "But they do eat insects like mealworms."
"Ewwww!" Jack wrinkled his nose and almost forgot about his fear.
Ianto laughed softly. "Well, you don't have to eat them."
Recalling situations where his only choice had been to overcome his disgust or starve to death Jack said, "I would if I had to."
At that Ianto could not suppress his amusement anymore and laughed out loud.
"I'm sorry," he gasped between laughter, "but… you'd eat mealworms but you can't even stand the sight of a cute little spidermouse?"
"Right," Jack huffed, taking a step back and crossing his arms over his chest. "And they're not cute."
"Oh, yes, they are," Ianto insisted, smirking broadly.
"No!"
"Yes."
In order to emphasize his words Ianto held his pet just slightly higher. With widening eyes Jack leaned away from it. Taking pity on his boss, Ianto let his hand sink again.
"By the way, they produce a very strong silk," he told Jack. "It might have some practical applications. Might be worth further studies."
"Probably," Jack agreed absently, staring at the loathed creature. He had to admit that his heart did not beat that wildly anymore. By now he could almost tolerate the spidermouse's sight, if only from a distance.
"In order to study them we should be able to keep them here at the Hub," Ianto casually mentioned, furtively watching Jack's reaction that reverted instantly back to anxious.
"I-I'll think about it," Jack croaked.
It was more than Ianto expected with the captain staring wide-eyed and trembling at the mere sight of the tiny creatures. He decided that the small concession was worth another raise of odds.
"Now that earns you another two percent, Jack," he told him which won him a tentative smile.
The alarm of the cog door alerted them to the arrival of another team member. They needed to wrap this up.
"Thank you, sir."
"That's not a yes," Jack rushed to say, fighting for his composure. He did not want anyone else to see how scared he was of the tiny being, knowing deep inside of him how ridiculous it was. Still he could not help himself.
Ianto shrugged. Not because he did not care but in order to assure Jack. With a curt nod he turned to leave the office, carefully sliding his hand with the spidermouse into his suit pocket.
"Um, Ianto?" Jack called out. "Can we… keep that incident just between us?"
Looking back over his shoulder, Ianto asked blandly, "What incident, sir?"
Their gazes met and Jack tried to judge Ianto's intentions. As he could not see any mischief and a small smile grazing the Welshman's lips, he returned the tentative smile and nodded.
Nodding in return, Ianto finally left and went to retrieve the mug to replace the now cold coffee. On his way up he greeted Toshiko. He filled a cup for her as well, adding a pastry.
"You've got to stay right here, Benny," he told the spidermouse as he carefully took it out of his pocket and sat it down on the kitchen counter. Frantically he searched for a way to keep it there. Thinking quickly, he came up with only one solution.
Once he solved that problem, he delivered the treats to his colleague first before he returned to the captain's office. At the sight of coffee and pastries Jack's face lit up brightly.
"Mmmmm, you're spoiling me," he smirked. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ianto returned the smile. "My landlady's showering me with pastries."
"She can keep doing that," Jack snickered.
"It would be only fair to pay for them," Ianto complained, "but she doesn't let me. I'm asking for two scones and she gives me two whole bags with mixed pastries, but is taking only the money for the scones."
Jack chuckled at the young man's misery.
"Well, thank her from me anyway," he suggested and took a big bite of the pastry. Chewing happily he mumbled, "It's delicious."
"Will do, sir," Ianto replied, rolling his eyes.
Hearing the others arrive, Jack said, "I want to finish these reports before the morning meeting. See you then… with fresh coffee?"
"Of course, sir," Ianto agreed.
As Jack watched the Welshman leave, one of his eyebrows went up with curiosity, wondering why one of his laces was missing.
tbc…