The meeting at Downing Street with the Prime Minister had been nothing short of disastrous. The encounter with the two immortal men had left Miranda angry and flustered. The ease she'd displayed during the UNIT meetings had been all but absent at their meeting with the Prime Minister though Ianto suspected it had more to do with the PM's attitude than Miranda's. It was his first year in office and it seems no one had informed him about Torchwood's autonomy. Miranda and the Prime Minister had spent most of the meeting acting like stags butting antlers. And Ianto was certain had he gotten out the measuring tape, Miranda would have won. She'd spent most of the meeting educating the Prime Minister on Torchwood and the definition of "at Her Majesty's pleasure". The icy level tone she'd used had even sent shivers through Ianto and he had seen the Prime Minister swallow convulsively more than a few times.
After that disaster, Ianto had feared for their afternoon tea with the Queen. The purpose of that meeting was mostly to reassure Her Majesty that Torchwood was in capable hands. The Prime Minister had no authority over Torchwood but that was not true of Her Majesty. After freshening up at their hotel, the two had headed to Windsor Castle dressed in their best. Adding to Ianto's nerves, the Crown Prince had also attended, something neither Torchwood agent had been made aware of beforehand. Miranda had taken it all in stride. The Queen and the Prince had found Miranda's old fashioned formality charming and the immortal woman had amused the two Royals with tales of Tudor England. Both Ianto and Miranda had succeeded in bolstering their confidence in Jack Harkness as a leader and in Torchwood's smooth running and the two had left Windsor Castle in good spirits. Ianto was now easing his car onto the M4 heading back west towards Cardiff, simultaneously loosening his tie and the car swerved.
"Stop that, Ifan. You're going to crash us," Miranda said, leaning over from the passenger seat to unknot the tie herself. She slid the silk from around his neck and then draped it across the backseat before settling back into her own seat and pulling the pins from her hat.
Ianto chuckled a little. Miranda had dressed the perfect English lady. Her suit was lovely, a sleeveless dress under a long thigh length coat, but he had thought the hat was quite ridiculous from the moment he saw its wide brim.
"It's a great look on you, Mandy," he teased.
"It was tea with the Queen. And this is vintage Chanel, young man," she chided gently, tossing her hat into the backseat.
"Which I'm sure you bought when it first debuted," he teased.
Miranda playfully swatted at her friend's arm as she unbuttoned the suit jacket. She had indeed bought the cashmere Chanel suit in the sixties.
"Thank the Gods all that is done with," she said with a sigh. She rolled her shoulders and then settled further down into the seat, idly fiddling with the bronze at her throat. She was silent for so long Ianto thought she'd fallen asleep but when he looked over at her, she was just staring out of her window, taking in the scenery.
He took his eyes off the road momentarily to study her expression. It was an expression he was familiar with, he'd seen it on Jack more often than he cared to remember. Brooding over the past.
"You okay, Mandy?" he asked.
"I'm fine, Ifan," she said with a touch of snap. It was a subtle warning but he ignored it.
"Are you worried?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant about the question.
"About what?" she warned.
"You've known about Terfel for years," he said with a shrug. "You've never done anything about it."
"I only fight to defend myself, Ifan," she said. "He's no different than any other challenger I may face. There dozens of Adaf Terfels out there."
"Kiernan said you two have a history."
"If I were you, I'd not tread down that path," she said icily.
As the driver, he'd chosen the music when he'd gotten behind the wheel, and the metal tones of Blue Gillespie were echoing in the car. Miranda was not a fan of them but leaned over and turned up the volume nonetheless. It was a not so subtle warning. Ianto let the music play for a minute but then tapped the button on the steering wheel to turn the volume back down.
"Who were those two men?" Ianto asked.
"Goddess below, Ifan! I expect such prying claptrap from Gwen, but from you?" she said, her voice rising in anger.
"They're worried about you, Mandy. MacLeod said he was your friend. You said that Pierson bloke was your husband-"
"Do not speak to me of Duncan MacLeod or Adam fucking Pierson," she shouted over him.
Ianto knew that there were other immortals in the world. He'd seen the files Jack had written about Miranda and her kind. Miranda's entire life centered around the Game and her own survival within it. She'd told him when they'd first met that she had associations with others of her kind but Ianto had thought of them exactly as she'd termed them, associations. He had never thought another immortal would be anything more to Miranda than a mere acquaintance. The idea that she would form friendships or a marriage had shocked him. Ianto assumed that she would view every other immortal around her as a potential threat not to be trusted. And it surprised him even more that she was ignoring the warnings of people she trusted. It was not the first time Ianto had known someone to warn Miranda about Adaf Terfel. Kiernan Davies had cornered Ianto one day in an attempt to persuade him to speak to Miranda on his behalf about the threat.
Ianto had been on edge for months afterwards, thinking that this man would descend onto Miranda at any moment. But the months had turned into years and Ianto had relaxed. Kiernan had been warning Miranda of the other man's proximity not of an active pursuit. This second warning may be coming years after the initial one, but this one had teeth. The first time Kiernan had been telling Miranda about a threat she may wish to remove. These two men were telling her about a threat that was circling her and that was an entirely different matter, at least to him. If there was one thing Miranda was never cavalier about, it was her head.
It confused and upset him that she was ignoring them. Yes, what the two of them had done was wrong but if there was one thing Miranda excelled at, it was compartmentalising. Shutting them out of her life was one thing, and Ianto couldn't fault her there, but to dismiss their warnings because of their indiscretion? It made him angry with disbelief.
"They seem to care about you, Mandy! I care about you! This man has been after you for three years!"
"And against all odds, I am still alive," she said sarcastically.
Ianto tried to reign in his temper and said soothingly, "He could come after you at any moment."
"As could any one of the thousands of other immortals across the planet. That's the Game," she said hotly. "I have not survived for four thousand years by being a simpleton."
"I know you only fight to defend yourself but maybe you should listen to Adam and go after him," Ianto pleaded.
"Do not speak of things you don't understand, boy."
Ianto felt his own temper rise again at the insulting diminutive. He couldn't believe how selfish she was being. Last year, her and Jack had been shot by an alien weapon. Two days passed and Jack had revived only to find that Miranda had not. Ianto had had to watch what that had done to Jack. His lover had scarcely left her side. Miranda meant a lot to Jack. She was someone who wasn't as easily lost as the other people in his life. A hundred years from now, when everyone else in Jack's life would be dead, Miranda could be alive. Having someone who understood his immortality was something precious to Jack. He had known Miranda nearly a century. The idea of losing her had practically paralyzed him.
"Jack needs to know that-"
"Unless you want me to deliver your cock and balls to Jack alongside your squealing hide, you will not say a thing to him!" she roared. "I will not discuss Adaf Terfel. I will not discuss Duncan MacLeod nor will I discuss Adam fucking Pierson. So shut your gob, Ifan and drive the fucking car."