Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or Doctor Who. Did you really think I did?
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"Hello." The Doctor smiled, leaning forward slightly, "I'm the Doctor."
John looked at Jack, eyebrows raised. "What did you do to get him? Still, never thought you were the type to find old stars like him kinky."
Captain Jack almost growled at him. "We didn't-"
"Nothing to be ashamed of, I'm sure. Who's Eyecandy over there? Apart from gorgeous that is. Listen, if you're done with him – or maybe when you're playing with the Doctor, not all that fussed – can I have him? I'd love to take him for a spin."
Jack blinked. This time, he did growl. "He's not a car."
"Really?" John smirked, "Shame. I was so looking forward to a ride, too. Introduce me."
Ianto felt himself blushing. Jack on the other hand, was berating himself for walking into that one so blindly and sincerely hoping that John wouldn't see what Ianto meant to him. He wasn't sure he could deal with a jealous John as well as whatever con he was trying to pull them through.
Jack's voice took on an air of professionalism. "He's Ianto. Ianto Jones. Ianto, Doctor, this is-"
"Captain John Hart. And the pleasure's all mine." John smirked again.
Jack watched him wearily and had to physically refrain from rolling his eyes. It was obvious that some things never really changed. Could John really be any more of an insufferable flirt? Did he have to exhale innuendo wherever he went? A moment later, the irony of it all hit him. He bit back a smile, and then noticed Ianto watching him curiously.
"We go back." Jack said, by way of explanation. Ianto wasn't listening. A moment ago, he had seen a ghost of irritation and amusement flitter across Jack's face. Ianto was inherently curious. He wanted to know what his Captain had been thinking about!
"Excuse me. We more than 'go back'. We were partners."
That caught Ianto's attention. "In what way?" he asked cautiously.
John was smirking again. Was that jealousy he saw in those eyes?
"In every way." He intoned wickedly, drawing out the syllables. "Stuck in a bloody two-week time loop for five years. Only two people around were him, and me. Pheromones flying everywhere. Got a little rough. Still, not complaining. He was good. But I bet you already know that, right Eyecandy?"
Ianto flushed again. His mouth had dried up and didn't seem to be communicating effectively with his brain. An ex? Jack had run out on him and the Doctor for an ex? And one he hadn't seen for years – centuries? - at that. Maybe they shouldn't have gone after him after all. They were probably interrupting a reunion. A date.
"Time loop you say? Brilliant! I love time loops! Everything goes all timey-wimey. Still, they say it's not really all that good for your health. I had a friend once. Time-looping gave her indigestion, apparently. Never really found out if she was telling the truth or just covering for eating something I'd told her not to touch. What caused it, do you think? The time loop, not the indigestion I mean. You obviously got out of it, but what would you say were the defining-"
At a look from Jack and Ianto combined that told him no, it really wasn't the right time for this, the Doctor stopped, putting his (verbal) train of thought on hold. "Ah…sorry." A mixed look of concentration and delight appeared on his face, as if he had just remembered a wonderfully complex and fulfilling puzzle that he'd saved for later. Jack wouldn't have been all that surprised if he had. Ianto felt much the same, but noticed the Doctor's alertness hadn't even dropped a notch. It was as if he could focus on two completely different things at once and give each his full and undivided attention. Which was absurd, just thinking about it. Ianto wondered for a moment if, along with the two hearts he knew the Timelord had, there were two brains to go with it. He shook the idea off as absurd imagination and returned to the situation at hand in time to hear Jack ask:
"Why are you here? What do you want?"
John sighed. "It's always business with you, isn't it? Don't I get a hello? How are you? How's the Time Agency?"
"Time Agency? What's that?" Ianto frowned.
John looked at Ianto as he processed the question. A wicked grin spread on his face. Quite the Cheshire Cat, Ianto thought briefly. He then wondered why his brain had developed a tendency to skip down tangents in the past ten minutes.
"You mean he hasn't told you about the Time Agency? His past? I wonder why..."
Ianto didn't like the sound of John's voice. Well, more precisely, the hint that John knew something about Jack that Ianto didn't. Jack was allowed his secrets, Ianto respected that. But he couldn't help feeling slightly undermined by John knowing something he didn't. Even if Jack wasn't Ianto's anymore. Even if Jack didn't want him, Ianto loved the man, needed him in a way that he'd never contemplated before. And he would do anything for Jack's sake. Anything.
"Do you know what that is then?" John gestured to Jack's wrist.
'Vortex manipulator." Why did Ianto feel like a defeated schoolchild answering a far too obvious question? His arm dropped to his side, gun pointed to the floor. Something made him look at John's wrist. "You've got one too. Is it the same as Jack's?"
"It's a little smaller." Jack quipped.
"But lasts much longer."
Jack smirked.
"Get two Time Agents in the same room together and it's always about the size of the wrist-strap." He pressed a few buttons, projecting a hologram of a roughly cylindrical object into the space before them.
"I'm working with this woman. Beautiful. Clever, sexy, yada yada yada. And we both get shot. And as she's dying, she begs me. She tells me of these radiation cluster bombs she's being working on."
Was Ianto beginning to feel compassion for the man? And why couldn't he get Lisa out of his mind? He wasn't even aware his mouth had dropped open slightly, or the way his eyes had somehow softened. Oblivious to Ianto's reaction, Jack was watching John warily - as if checking for signs the man was lying. Or perhaps, since lying was really second nature to a con-man, checking for signs that John Hart was telling the truth. He hadn't even taken his eyes away from the man to look at the hologram. The Doctor meanwhile, had pulled out his 'brainy specs' and was peering at the hologram with unveiled interest.
"Three canisters, contents beyond toxic, lost in a Rift Storm. Ended up here. That's the downside of your city being built on a rift in space and time. Now, left to their own devices, the radiation will break down the canisters and then infect your people. And planet. They need to be neutralised."
Jack's face now bore a look of intense disbelief. "Huh. What do you get out of this?"
John shrugged, looking up from the floor. "A dying woman's last wish? Last act of love for a lover?"
Something didn't sit right about that story. It was not in John's personality. It didn't suit him at all! But then…it had been awhile. And there was a possibility John had changed for the better. There was a chance he wasn't the same violent, self-centred greedy bastard Jack had known back in the day. He should at least be given a chance to redeem himself, to earn Jack's trust again. Or at least, that was the side of the argument Jack's brain had taken. Deep down, he needed John to have changed, needed it to prove that you could fight and win against the 'dark side'. But who was he proving it to?
Jack nodded for him to continue, eyebrows raised. He would just have to trust John - for now - and hope he didn't get anyone killed who couldn't come back. Not that he felt like dying either.
"Only problem is, I don't know where they are. Hoping…local knowledge might help?"
"We can run a city wide scan for radiation surges and cross-reference that with the rift activity during that time span." Ianto offered.
John eyed Ianto up and down. "Wow. Gorgeous and smart. You're looking better all the time, Eyecandy."
Jack walked up to John, not stopping until there were bare inches between their faces.
"We do this, you get out of here, right away."
"Does this mean I don't get to see your house?" John asked, leaning in closer just as Jack moved away.
"Ianto, call the team. I want to find those radiation cluster bombs quickly."
Ianto holstered his gun and pulled out his mobile, reasoning (correctly) that none of the team would be at work and on comms yet. He hadn't even dialled a number when:
"Just one problem Jack," The Doctor straightened up, snapping his glasses off his face and almost twirling them with a finger. "They're not radiation cluster bombs."