LOVE
TWENTYTHREE
"Hello Ianto Jones, no relation to Harriet or Martha or Mickey! Hello Rhys Williams!"
The Doctor came barreling out of his TARDIS into the center of the Hub, his coat flapping madly around his legs.
"Hello Doctor," Ianto responded, "hello Ja…" He stopped in mid-sentence – in mid-word – as the expected second person to walk out through the open doors of the blue police box wasn't the person he'd been expecting. Ianto Jones was definitely not in the mood for surprises.
"John. The name is John. And hello, Ianto. Nice to see you again. How are you doing?" John smiled slyly, knowing full well that the young Welshman had once harbored hopes of being a companion to The Doctor and likely did not relish the sight of John Hart casually egressing the Time Lord's ship.
"John?" Ianto narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh! I'm being remiss!" The Doctor chimed. "John… please allow me introduce you to Rhys… Rhys Williams! Rhys, this is Captain John Hart a close friend and associate of Jack's." The Gallifreyan happily babbled away, totally ignoring Ianto's very unhappy – dare we say allergic? – reaction.
Rhys stepped forward and shook John's extended hand. He couldn't help but notice the worn leather strap around the man's right wrist. "I've heard a lot about you, Captain Hart, I'm Gwen's husband."
"Oh, you are? Well that's nice. Very nice indeed. Call me John, please! I'm glad to meet you!" the former Time Agent proclaimed, giving it his best smile.
"Yes it is – it's very nice to be Gwen's husband." Rhys glowered more than grinned.
There was an ominous silence while the four men sized each other up. To be sure there was more than one alpha male present in the room. Who would come out on top was anybody's guess.
Or was there really no contest?
"Doctor, where's Jack?" Ianto had recovered enough from the shock to be worried. And as it turned out, rightly so…
"Jack's gone missing," the Time Lord's countenance was suddenly somber. "Wil has ventured out to try to rescue – uh, I mean to find him and bring him home."
The young Welshman's face took on a rather unique shade of red, "But Doctor! Gray is on the loose! As you're obviously aware of since you've returned to Cardiff – you got the phone message from Martha, right?"
"What? Yes, of course! Yes, I received Martha's message, Ianto. And you're right; it's why we – both John and I – are here in Cardiff."
"B-But what if Gray has Jack, too? You mean to tell me you've sent Wil out alone to face that man? That insane monster? On her own?"
As Ianto's voice grew louder, The Doctor's grew softer – but its tone made it no less commanding. "Ianto, calm down please. If there's anything I'm certain of at this moment it's that Jack is not with Gray… Well, at least I think I'm certain." The Doctor glanced sidelong, briefly meeting John's gaze and the latter nodded almost imperceptibly; the Time Lord shot him a quick smile and continued. "Yes, quite certain! I can honestly tell you that Jack currently is in the middle of a whole different pile of trouble which has absolutely nothing to do with his brother…"
Ianto's red face started to go purple and John rolled his eyes before stepping into the fray, "Look Ianto, The Doctor and I came here as quickly as we could. Wil can take care of herself and she can take care of Jack, too. She's got Grasshopper with her and you know that ship is smarter and probably more dangerous than the four of us combined…"
"Smarter? Speak for yourself!" The Doctor whispered sotto voce. John ignored him and carried on.
"So let's give Wil the benefit of the doubt, shall we, and get on with the business at hand? Would one of you want to kindly tell The Doctor and me exactly what went on here?"
"My wife didn't come home last night!" Rhys blurted out a bit too loudly.
John couldn't help it – nastiness was too deeply engrained into his psyche, and the statement was just too damn funny. His grin was fiendish, "You called in The Doctor because you've been cuckolded?"
Rhys growled.
Thankfully, especially considering Rhys was armed with several extremely lethal weapons, Ianto Jones' better angels took over. "In this case a picture is worth a thousand words," he said calmly as he reached for a nearby remote; suddenly all the big flat screen monitors in the Hub's control center crackled and flashed to life. "This is what happened just before 11p.m. last night. Observe."
The four men watched in silence as Gwen stood up from her desk, opened the secure storage locker's door and crouched down as if to inspect one of the compartments. When the video went dark John asked: "Hey, what happened?"
Ianto nodded, "Exactly! That's the sixty-four thousand dollar question. We don't know. But I have my suspicions." He turned to the Time Lord. "Did Jack happen to tell you what he did with this brother, Doctor?"
The Doctor plunged his hands deep into his coat pockets, "Erm… no. No he didn't. But then I never specifically asked."
John inhaled loudly through his nose and glared at the Time Lord critically, "You never specifically asked? Didn't you wonder?"
The Time Lord's eyes flashed, "Of course I wondered. But you know how Jack can be. He didn't want to talk about what he didn't want to talk about, and that included what he ended up doing with his brother. Nor did he want to talk about his feelings or his hopes or his fears for his brother. It's not that I didn't try! But that man is like a brick wall. I'm sorry but I don't know any more than the rest of you, which is that the Captain decided to spare Gray's life once again, despite getting plenty of advice to the contrary."
Thus having been put on the defensive and not liking it very much whatsoever, The Doctor took the offensive: "What makes you think, Ianto, that Gwen's actions and the loss of the video feed have something to do with Gray?"
Ianto pursed his lips and appeared to think for a short time. He shook his head slightly but then he looked unflinchingly at The Doctor and nodded, "I just know it."
The Doctor met the young Welshman's eyes for a long beat. "Good enough for me!" he finally pronounced. "Now here's the plan. If Gray escaped his confinement and has set a trap for Jack using Gwen, I believe I know where he is."
"Where are they? Where's he taken my wife?" Rhys asked darkly.
"They've gone to Boeshane, roughly a hundred years before it was settled by Jack's ancestors, give or take," The Doctor replied confidently as John nodded in agreement.
Rhys was already on the move toward the TARDIS, "Then Boeshane is where we go."
The Doctor neatly sidestepped and extended his arm, halting Rhys' single-minded trajectory. "No. Wait, Rhys. John and I will go to Boeshane. I want you and Ianto to stay here."
"NO!" both Welshmen barked simultaneously and with equal vigor.
"What's the problem? It's a good plan!" The Doctor contended.
"She's my bloody wife, isn't she?" Rhys spat.
"I'm not denying that, Rhys. But I don't think she's his endgame. She's not really what he wants. He wants Jack. Once we show up, I believe the odds are good he'll willingly send her back to Cardiff. That's why I want the two of you here. Or rather one of the two reasons why I want you here… And when Gwen is safely away from him, John and I will deal with Gray." The ever-optimistic Doctor paused, reconsidering what he just said and envisioning his glass half-full. "I mean we'll talk to him. Convincingly. We'll convincingly talk to him."
"But he wants Jack, not you, and certainly not him," Rhys glared at John.
"Yes, I know," The Doctor nodded. "And that's why if Plan A doesn't work, Plan B has me offering myself in a hostage swap. Either way, we'll get Gwen back here, I promise you, Rhys. I promise. You have my word. She is our first priority."
Ianto looked doubtful. "Right… hostage swap. A really good plan, Doctor," his voice was thick with sarcasm. "And the other reason you want us here?"
Now John took over. "We want you to be ready to deal with Gray, Ianto. To put him on ice or whatever you can do to secure him once we manage to get him back here, so that when Jack returns…"
The young Welshman nodded, "So that when Jack returns he can deal with his brother again?" Ianto met John's gaze and held it, and something silent – a kind of understanding, maybe even an agreement – passed between them. Neither Rhys nor The Doctor saw it or was aware of it, but there was now a plan within a plan. Or so it seemed.
"I don't like it," Rhys muttered.
"I know and I'm sorry," said The Doctor, not unkindly. "But when it comes right down to it, it's my plan. And my ship."
Rhys swore something under his breath. The others ignored him.
"And now it's time to leave," The Doctor announced. "When we come back, where do you want him, Ianto? Where do you want Gray?"
"Where else?" the Welshman answered as he looked directly at John Hart. "The morgue."
-00-
"Come, let us make love deathless."
Herbert Trench