LOVE
TWENTYFOUR
"Bastards!" Rhys Williams swore after the TARDIS disappeared.
Ianto Jones shook his head and smiled knowingly. "Not only do you have a way with words and a penchant for understatement, but you don't have a subtle bone in your body do you?"
Rhys scowled, "What do you mean?"
Ianto took a deep breath and then steepled his fingers against his lips. He looked down at the floor for several moments before meeting Rhys' eyes. "The Doctor may have a plan, but Captain John Hart does too – only it's a different plan. And it's likely that The Doctor doesn't know what John has in mind. Whatever is going on is illusory, to be sure, and I might have read the signals wrong, but I think John intends to destroy Gray, and I believe he may need or want our help to do it."
"What?"
"I don't want to betray any confidences here, but when Jack and I were together he talked a lot about John. Maybe talked too much about John. He loves him, Rhys. Perhaps more than anyone else in the universe." For a fleeting moment Ianto's voice took on a tone of awe. "They have something special, the two of them. Something almost mysterial. But at the same time Jack fears John, too. Imagine that! Jack Harkness fearing anyone – any thing! But it's true. John is one scary individual and according to Jack he can never, ever entirely be trusted. John is as loyal as the day is long and will defend you with his life, to be sure, but he'll also stab you in the back if it suits him. Or maybe even if it simply amuses him."
"This doesn't surprise me," Rhys countered with a glower. "And in fact I wouldn't be surprised to hear Jack Harkness described with those exact same words – if not the Jack we know in the here and now then the one back when he was a Time Agent or whatever the hell he was called. You know… what the both of them did before Torchwood. So what?"
"So – I saw it in his eyes. John intends to destroy Gray. And no wonder – Gray did terrible things to him. According to Jack, horrible, awful, abusive, and unnamable things. Things that John has neither forgiven nor forgotten. And maybe you're right about Jack: I wouldn't want either of them as an enemy; having them as friends and lovers is quite dangerous enough. But I'm pretty sure John doesn't want to wait for the Captain to get back. In fact he believes Jack has dropped the ball too many times in respect to his little brother. I think John is planning to use The Doctor to get to Gray and then kill him. Or more likely bring Gray back here and kill him. I saw John looking around. I'm sure you saw it too. The man can smell weapons a light year away and he knows we've armed ourselves to the teeth. He knows we're prepared to take down Gray if necessary. And just consider who he's traveling with – well, I expect at the moment John's weapons-based capabilities are highly limited. We both know The Doctor doesn't condone violence and doesn't have or allow offensive armaments on that ship of his. All he carries around is that bizarre old sonic screwdriver!"
"You're implying that The Doctor is naïve!"
"No… yes… maybe…" Ianto shook his head, "I just can't imagine Jack sitting up late at night telling the Time Lord bedtime stories about when he was with John at the Time Agency. Not like he did with me. Maybe I'm being naïve. Or egocentric. Or maybe I'm blind and just plain wrong, but I just don't see Jack waxing poetic about John. I suspect The Doctor, as self-absorbed as he is, may truly not know what he has in John Hart. Doesn't truly realize what lies beneath the cover of that particular book. How treacherous, dangerous and self-serving the man actually is. If John Hart is holding a grudge against Gray, and I have absolutely no doubt that he is, and wants to extract vengeance for the terrible wrongs done to him, then nothing in this universe is going to stand in the way between him and his agenda. Not even a Time Lord…"
"I just don't know how you know all this…" Rhys sighed.
"All I can say is that I saw something in John's eyes. Something I've seen before in Jack's eyes as well." Ianto repressed a shiver.
"Rhys – I've always known it: I'm way out of my league with Jack. The same goes for John. Both of them really are a whole lot more than what meets the eye. It's like staring into the abyss and crossing your fingers that whatever is down there isn't going to jump out and bite your head off. The abyss is alluring, addictive, exciting – it's erotic as hell – but it's terrifying, too."
"So The Doctor's playing with fire?"
"Now you've got it."
"But did you ever consider…?" Rhys' voice trailed off.
"Consider what?"
"That it might cut both ways?"
A brief look of confusion crossed the young Welshman's face, "You mean that John's…?"
"The guy's a bloody Time Lord, Ianto." Rhys looked around the room, taking it all in, "Jack left this place, left his team – he left you – for The Doctor. Might that give you reason enough to think there's something more than special there behind those big brown bedroom eyes, and suspect that maybe, just maybe, you're underestimating him? I mean think, man!"
Ianto Jones was quiet for the better part of a minute. "I don't know. Perhaps you're right. I guess all I do know is we'd best be ready for the unpredictable, and that when it comes right down to it, I'm kind of glad I'm not with them because I'd be willing to wager a week's salary things are going to get very, very complicated."
There was another long silence before Rhys broke it, "Ianto?"
"Yes?"
Gwen's husband smiled darkly, "Although you don't always act it or even look like it, I'd be willing to wager a week's salary that there's a whole lot more to you, too, than what meets the eye."
-00-
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
I Corinthians 13:4-8