Four

Ianto groaned as a plate with a shaped pancake, strawberries and cream delicately laid out was placed before him.

'From the gentlemen over there,' the young student told him then pointed towards another table. Looking across the room Ianto saw John Hart who stood and threw him an air kiss.

Owen whistled in appreciation of the simple meal before Ianto. 'You know I think John's tapped into some creative element none us knew he had. Just look the shape of that pancake.' Owen traced the long shape and rounded end of the pancake.

'And the strawberries are expertly placed,' Tosh said trying to keep a straight face.

'And the cream…' Owen said.

Ianto looked up to see John standing before him.

'Ianto please let me be your cream jug.' John picked up one of the strawberries, dipped it into the cream then offered it to Ianto, who refused. Undaunted John slowly placed it into his mouth then licked it clean, complete with moans of ecstasy.

Having finished the strawberry John licked his lips and opened his arms. 'All of this can be all of yours, just say the word.'

Ianto watched the display, trying to form words. After twenty-six days he was running out of ways to say no. The man's pursuit of him was relentless. In John's language 'no' meant 'maybe' and 'maybe' meant 'yes'. And Owen's words were proving to be prophetic. Ianto's persistent refusal seemed to have ignited John into overdrive. As all first level suggestions and innuendo had failed he was seeing what tempted Ianto's appetite. Every meal he presented Ianto with an ever unfolding list of dishes that had either romantic, erotic or aphrodisiac properties.

'Not a pancakes and strawberry man? Or maybe you are not sweet and sticky person.' John went down on one knee and placed his hand on his heart. 'I solemnly swear that if we get sticky I will lick you clean.'

'I'm not sure how many more ways I can keep saying no,' Ianto muttered as an aside, shaking his head.

John stood upright his eyes wide with delight. ''You know I was about to give up hope. So how many times will you say no before you say yes?'

'That came out wrong,' Ianto said, horrified John had heard him. 'Try one million times infinity.'

John narrowed his eyes. 'You do know that time and numbers have a way of bending back on themselves. And you bending over, Ianto. Only you can complete me.'

Owen and Tosh watched, amused. This little scene or one very like it had played out somewhere on board every day for nearly four weeks. John was unstoppable. Owen's words were proving prophetic the more Ianto said no, John's desire for him hitched a notch. Tosh had to admit John was getting very creative even she wasn't sure how he had managed to fashion a pancake into such a shape, let alone the fresh ripe strawberries. Ianto had sworn there was not enough liquor in the known universe but John was the perfect example of the unmovable object.

'John,' Ianto started to say and John went down on one knee again.

'Yes greatest desire of my lust?' John took a finger full of cream and licked it off, looking at Ianto.

'I'm flattered.'

'So it is flattery you want?'

'No.' Ianto growled, cursing the man's way of twisting everything he said. 'Please just leave me alone.'

Johns face dropped. 'If I leave you alone you will be the cause of my failing to complete my lifelong dream.' He placed his hands on his heart and began to speak wistfully. 'I have a dream to go, to do, to have, to provide, to cherish, and enjoy the cornucopia of all and you sir are the rarest of all prizes and will be my pièce de résistance.'

John caught a groan as Ianto's face disappeared behind both his hands.

'Don't groan alone Ianto.' John stood, took the second strawberry, and dipped it into the cream at the long end of the pancake. Several seconds passed as he ate it with single-minded enthusiasm. Licking his fingers one by one he looked down to see Ianto still hiding behind his hands.

'I see the declaration of my desire has left you speechless. We will continue this later.' With a flick of his head he headed for the door, stopping threw back an exaggerated air kiss. As the drama ended the room fell into a hubbub of conversation.

'Has he gone?' Ianto asked a few minutes later.

'Yes it's safe to come out,' Tosh told him.

'You are not weakening are you?' Owen sounded worried.

Ianto looked shocked. 'Not if I had an ocean of beer and the entire outpourings of every Whiskey distillery within the home systems would I be tempted.'

He watched as Owen and Tosh exchanged a look and became suspicious. 'Why?'

'Nothing,' Owen said a little too quickly.

'Nothing that looks and sounds like something.' Ianto lent back and crossed his arms.

'I think we had better fess up,' Tosh admitted

'A home cooked meal made from local ingredients,' Owen told him

'Or a romantic evening on the holo-suites, moon fishing,' Tosh added.

'Moon fishing?' Ianto questioned

'Very romantic. You see, fish on my world are called moon fish and have heart-shaped markings. If you can catch a pink one then it's so romantic. If not you get a great fresh fish supper on the beach,' Tosh enthused.

'What has this got to do with me?'

'Well, it's sort of a reward for which one of us wins. Owen had promised me a home cooked meal and I take him fishing depending of the outcome of….' she struggled to explain.

'You put a bet on me!'

'Not so much a bet as a wager,' Owen corrected him.

'And there's a difference?' Ianto burst out.

'Sort of…'

'I thought you were my friends?' Ianto interrupted.

'We are. So far I'm winning, and seeing John squirm and beg has been the most entertainment on board for years,' Owen told him.

'Tosh you bet that I would!'

'Sort of. John can be very persistent and he mostly wins. Secretly I'm gunning for you to keep saying no,' she added quickly.

'And how will you both know if we do or don't?'

'I think John's reaction of you saying yes would be heard far and wide,' Tosh pointed out.

'How do you know we haven't already and we're not just making it seem as if we haven't?' Ianto drained his coffee.

Tosh leaned forward, 'Ianto, there is so much frustration on his side the internal sensors would show the disturbance.'

Ianto looked confused. 'She means the ship would change course. If you were both earth side the planet would shift orbit. How blunt do you want this?' Owen asked him.

'And how come my virtue is considered so low all it's worth is a home cooked meal and fishing?'

'Are you saying Tosh and I are cheap?'

'You heard him. I am his pièce de résistance; I'm the rarest of prizes. I would have thought it was worth far more than Owen's cooking and a cold night waiting for a nibble at the end of a rod. At least make the prize worthy of the competition.'

'He is. He's calling us cheap,' Tosh said with mock indignation.

'Let's make this more interesting,' Ianto told them. 'I swear John Hart has as much chance of sleeping with me as Jack Harkness. That the penance for losing should be ritual humiliation and the winner chooses. Which will be me. I choose the penance be public and witnessed,' Ianto said.

'You're on!' Tosh accepted the challenge before Owen could respond.

A beep from Ianto and Tosh's wrists communicators caught their attention.

'We had better go' Ianto told her. 'I need to check a few details in engineering before I head to the cargo space.'

'Meet you in cargo bay seven. This is going to be interesting.' Tosh now stood.

'Not another go at the great experiment,' Owen double-checked.

'Today could be the start of a whole new era in transportation,' Ianto mocked.

'I won't hold my breath. So far exactly nothing has happened twelve times over,' Owen told them.

'Not true,' Tosh said. 'One time we actually saw a shimmer and another time we managed to transform a block of hydrogen condensate into fine particles that filled the cargo hold like fog.'

'And the last time we blew all the safeguards in engineering,' Ianto added.

'I've added more fail safes this time,' Tosh told him.

'I saw the requisition,' Ianto said.

'It is fascinating and I leant something very valuable after the last attempt,' Tosh pointed out.

Owen looked intrigued.

'Ianto and I both did.'

'Really.' Owen got the impression his leg was being pulled.

'I never realised that Earth basic and Aurelian shared so many expletives,' Tosh said recalling John Hart's explosive outburst as every overload alarm had gone off followed by the failure of every fail safe between engineering and the cargo bays.

'It was impressive,' Ianto picked up his own tray. 'Aurelian is such an expressive language.'

Owen drained his coffee. Ianto and Tosh headed towards the tray return and he went over the conversation about the bet. Sitting up straight he made a sudden realization and waggled his finger at Ianto. 'You devious bastard,' he called out.

Ianto came back over to the table. 'I was thinking pink tutu with matching tights.'

'Think again mate,' Owen snorted.

'Tosh would love that.' 'I was thinking you.' Ianto laughed, enjoying the look of shock of Owen's face. Tosh tapped her wrist to remind him of the time and he raced after her.

Leaving the Hub they both headed towards the lift. Despite the many failures Ianto was excited. He hadn't told Tosh yet but Eugene had made an important realization that might now lead to a successful test run. His idea was a fantastic one and suggested that it was possible to create transfiguration, converting a solid object into energy, sending it to a new location and recreating it.

Previously attempts had failed when they tried to convert an object, in this case a block of matter-based hydrogen atoms the most abundant matter in the universe. The program used to break the matter down via a photonic wave was trying to note the placement of every particle. Considering this was times many billion the system became overloaded.

The sensor array was the only system on board capable of holding all the data due to the massive sensor net that covered the ship. Using the array as a buffer was a step in the right direction but the amount of information was astounding and kept getting over burdened.

What Eugene had done was to rewrite the program so when any object was first scanned it would map the subatomic particles only once before forwarding the information to the buffer. This reduced the amount of information and energy requirements.

Eugene has worked hard and had overcome all sorts of difficulties like 'The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle' by creating a compensator which told the matrix to basically ignore the issue. He had to admit the math was elegant and reminded him of Planck's constant E=hc/ Energy of a photon /speed of light/ wavelength of the photon. Which was the basics for the transfiguration of objects in one equation.

Once they had managed to transfer the matter to a pure photonic wave the particles would then become entangled and the block of matter should then literally dissipate to nothing. Then it was only a seemingly simple matter to reverse the system and get something to materialise or be recreated in another location. Entangled particle theory was well-established and had already overcome the issue of reconstructing entangled particles in a laboratory and highly controlled situations.

Now all they had to do was make it work. If it did it would mean site-to-site transportation would become a reality.

Ianto entered the cargo space to see Eugene Jones busying himself checking he had everything calibrated.

'Eugene, have you taken a break and had some breakfast?' Ianto asked as he saw the state of him.

'No,' he admitted. 'I was going over the basics in my head last night when I had an idea. I spent the greater part of yesterday and last night loading into the matrix entangled particle functional wave principals. That way the matrix doesn't have to keep re-creating it anew each time.'

'Like a template?'

'More like series of templates. I set up a protocol so that the system could detect and create its own template based on the heuristic harmonics,' Eugene told him.

Ianto looked up to see Tosh had joined them.

'All set to go?' she asked Eugene, who nodded and joined them by the instrument panel.

'Almost,' Eugene replied. 'I just need to make some final adjustments.'

Finally he walked across to a raised platform and placed a compressed block of hydrogen condensate on it. A second platform stood about a meter away. They didn't need it because the array could be calibrated to channel and reconstruct any object at any given location. However the raised platform had the psychological assurance of a large X painted on the ground.

'Ready?' Ianto asked Tosh. 'Yes, the main energy core is running at 110%,' she told him.

'When you are ready Mr. Jones,' Ianto called out and readied his own monitoring instrumentation.

Eugene began the first sequence allowing the system to build up energy. As it reached its maximum he triggered the second sequence.

Ianto nudged Eugene who had his eyes on the panel in front of him. Looking up the block was disappearing before their eyes.

Within a fraction the block began to flicker with light as if it was neither one thing nor another. This meant the sensor system was channeling the information into the buffer.

'Buffer holding,' Eugene called out. 'Moving to retrieve sequence.'

A computer warning began to intone, 'Power insufficient to hold photonic wave, powering down to protect array overload in five seconds. Enacting shutdown.' Ianto could swear behind the polite tone was a desperation that suggested a backwash was going to overwhelm not only the system here but the entire ship's electronic fail safe.

Ianto, Eugene and Tosh watched as the sensor array powered down in reverse order of the startup sequence.

'Where's the block?' Tosh asked, looking up and walking across to the first raised platform.

Eugene raced over to check. It was gone. Ianto smiled and slapped Eugene on the back. 'I think I had better leave now because you will see me doing an air punch and my, 'I can't believe you did it' dance.'

'Thank you sir,' he said then he went back to his instrument board, looking puzzled.

'Eugene, breakfast,' Ianto ordered. 'Then complete the download of the data and we will have a debrief in my office. Come to my office and we can go over the figures.' Tosh's wrist strapped beeped and she moved away to answer it.

'Eugene,' she called out as she finished her conversation. 'That was Captain Boston asking for an update. He is very excited with our news. On that note I had better go. Well done Eugene; we will get this working it's just a matter of time.' She winked and left.

Ianto pressed the button on the lift deep in thought. In truth the transference of objects as pure matter had remained the realm of science fiction since the idea was first speculated. How many people had spent wasting their lives on this Holy Grail? Yet on paper according to Eugene's concept it was possible by using the sensor array as a buffer, being the only range of equipment able to hold the sheer volume of data. Yet even installing an extra bank of organic matrix computers and upgrading the array hadn't worked. Stepping into the open lift door he mentally went through the figures.

'Mr Jones, welcome to my inner sanctum,' Hart said as the lift doors closed.

'I'm heading back to meet Eugene so we can go over the figures from the array,' Ianto told him, pressing the button for the floor several times in an effort to hurry the lift's speed.

'You don't have to make an excuse to come and find me.' John moved across crowding Ianto and took a long deep sniff. 'It's been a long drought hasn't it Commander?' John said in a sultry voice.

Ianto hesitated to reply, not sure if he should deny, confirm, or just refuse to answer.

John came even closer, reaching Ianto's neck and took another deep breath and seemed to sample the air like a fine wine, closing his eyes in ecstasy. 'You have the heady aroma of long abstinence.'

Ianto pushed himself into the corner of the lift in an all too familiar fashion.

'Feel it,' John whispered.

'Feel what?' Ianto croaked and a smoky musky odour began to fill the small space.

'The inevitability of our union,' John said in a low voice.

'As interesting as your offer is…' Ianto stuttered, noting the pupils of John's eyes appeared to be whirling.

'Jones, no one has ever refused my advances for so long. It's making me hunger for you, building an ardour that is becoming unbearable.' He took another heady sniff around the curve of Ianto's neck. 'I just want you more and more…' John growled.

'Why don't you try Harkness?' Ianto pressed himself into the wall thinking he could enjoy seeing the man being pursued by this sexual maniac.

John pulled back for a moment. 'As interesting an idea as that is Jack is out of bounds. He's already bonded with someone, and broadcasting it loudly on all levels.'

'That horrible Costello woman,' Ianto pointed out.

John shook his head. 'No, the aroma between them was only ever on Jack's side and dissipated a long time ago. Currently he is emanating the fragrance of an unrequited, impossible love.'

'How…?'

'How do I know?' John answered Ianto's unformed question. 'The aroma emanating from the bonded is different.'

'Different. How?'

'It's like comparing the best champagne in the world to boxed wine.' John turned his full attention back to Ianto. 'It's been a long time, hasn't it Jones? I can promise you a storm of passion to end the drought.'

John Hart snatched Ianto's hand and pressed it up against his face, taking in the odour. Ianto snatched it back but not before John had taken a deep sniff. 'Self-ministration is not the answer,' John told him.

Ianto felt his face heat up. 'Listen I've tried to be polite but there is never going to be a you and me.'

'You don't think I've heard that before? Ianto Jones you would complete me, you would be the final crowning of my achievement. The rarest of creatures.'

'I'm flattered that you see me as some sort of conquest but I really need to get to my office,' Ianto said through his teeth and fought to see over John's shoulder to find out why the lift had not reached another floor.

'Let me fill your needs?' John said in a sultry voice.

'I can fulfil my o-o-wn needs,' Ianto stuttered, his voice rising in pitch.

'Ianto, let me be your hand.'

John kissed a finger and placed on Ianto's lips. 'You and I are inevitable.'

The lift jolted and the door opened.

'Everyone okay in here?' John and Ianto turned to see Jack.

John pulled himself away from Ianto and stood aside. Ianto, seeing his escape took off down the corridor.

Jack put his foot in the door to stop it closing. 'You should leave him alone,' Jack said sternly.

'Oh is this you staking your claim?'

'No,' Jack said, torn from arguing with John or following Ianto. He looked down the corridor at the man's fleeing back and made his choice.

The lift door closed and John took a sniff. Wetting his finger he waved it around in the air then licked it. 'Interesting, Jack. Very, very interesting.'

Jack found Ianto waiting for the lift at the far end of the corridor. His back was against the corridor walls as he fought to catch his breath.

'If you need help with John let me know,' Jack offered

'I see. So you don't think I can handle him myself?'' Ianto straightened and glared at Jack.

'That's not what I meant. John's pursuits can get a little intense; just say the word and I'll speak to Crew Reso…' Jack stopped at the look on Ianto's face.

'Fuck you,' Ianto spat out.

'When I opened the lift door you looked like you needed help.' Jack stopped.

Ianto looked at him as if he had gone mad then pushed his face into Jack's. Jack took a step backwards at the twisted hatred on Ianto's face and found himself backed against the wall.

'The only reason I haven't thrown you out the airlock is because I have focused on respecting your rank as first officer. You don't speak to me unless it's on a professional level and I will focus on not battering your face until it's beyond recognition. Do you understand?'

'Yes,' Jack found himself replying.

Ianto turned his back on him and went back towards the lift.

'What were you thinking?' Martha demanded as Jack explained what had happened.

Sinking down in the speaking chair in Martha's counselling space Jack started to explain. 'The lift door opened and John was all over him and I felt this instinct to...then when he ran down the corridor he was standing looking so lost like…'

'Like he needed rescuing?' Martha finished for him.

Jack groaned his assent into his hands.

'Ianto is not some damsel in distress.'

'I don't know what came over me,' Jack admitted.

Martha shook her head. 'He doesn't need rescuing. From what I've seen he can handle John. Putting aside all his eye rolling I think he's enjoying it.'

'John's treating him like he would anyone he's after only a bit stronger than normal. But so far his chase has been very grown up. John asks and Ianto knocks him down. Once Ianto stops acting like a gentlemen and knees John in the groin it will be over.' Martha recalled her own run-ins with John before she met Tom.

'I don't want him harassed; he's trying to recover…' Jack tried to explain.

'So you thought you would run after him and offer to help.'

'I just wanted to…'

Martha sat back and folded her arms. 'To be honest I can understand why he felt he had to escape and run away to space. Between you, his Dad, Captain Boston, and Owen all wringing your hands over his progress it must be suffocating. You all need to stop fussing over him. Trust me, Ianto is doing very well considering he's recovering from a major trauma. It doesn't take a genius to figure he will have up days and down. He's doing an excellent job with his students. Impressed us all with his patience and knowledge. Shown willing to join in the odd social event. He's making friends aside from Tosh and Owen. He now ranks 24th in the Squash competition. As for John Hart, Ianto is being too polite but as far as I can tell it's not as anywhere as serious as you are making out. I mean there's even a bet going on.'

Jack looked surprised.

'But John is not the problem.'

'There is so much I want to say,' Jack said honestly.

'Do you think you're alone Jack? There are whole departments within Space Command who want to make reparations, including Crew Resources. The head, Marcy Graham, was so appalled she had recommended Suzie Costello to become a ship's councillor she resigned the service. It will take Crew Resources the life time of its existing members before we feel some honour has been restored. '

Jack looked haunted. 'I've apologised to his family, his father, all my peers, everyone high and low within the service who was hurt by my actions. I don't expect my apology to be heard or accepted. I just want him to hear me say I'm sorry I ruined his life.'

'I hear you Jack. But deep down you want him to hear you because you need his forgiveness.' Martha watched as Jack sank into himself. 'Jack. What if there no way he will ever hear you?'

'There has to be. There has to be a way,' Jack replied looking like a small lost boy.

Looking though her inbox, Bonnie checked for the return of her most recent assignment. She braced herself. The task had been infantile, way beneath her level. It had even had a practical exercise which she already knew the answer for. Anyone could track an asteroid through a planetary system on the array. In disgust she had just thrown it back to be marked in half an hour of receiving it. It was just one more item of proof that Commander Jones was not fit to be an Associate Specialist.

It was back. Opening it she began to read down the comments. She was shocked. This was at least gross incompetency. She curled her lower lip as she turned the page to see the mark. For a moment she felt herself heat up and began to type, her fingers flying.

A week later almost skipping Bonnie made her way to her meeting with Commander Jones. It had seemed like an eternity had passed before she had received a reply to her complaint. The wait had been worth it because it was from none other than the head of the whole department. He advised he had spoken to Commander Zhang who in turn had spoken with Commander Jones. Bonnie felt vindicated. With any luck Jones would be leaving the ship when they hit Zatsaheur sector outpost and star junction in two days. 'Most likely already packed.' Bonnie promised herself she would 'try and not gloat.

Reaching his door she gave it a soft rap.

'Come in Bonnie,' Ianto said. Of all his students Bonnie had been the most challenging. For whatever reason she had taken his presence as some kind of insult and a deliberate attempt to hold her back. He and Sandra were in agreement. Bonnie had potential but needed to put more thought and effort into what she did.

'Thank you for coming,' Ianto said and he indicated the chair next to his desk.

'No problem,' she said almost too casually.

'I've received a communication from Sandra Zhang. She advises me you made a formal complaint that was handed to her to resolve.'

Bonnie tried to hide her smirk.

'Can I ask why you chose to speak to her and not come to me?' Ianto asked.

'It's just not working for me. We students deserve someone with in-depth knowledge and experience.'

'Is this about my comments from your most recent assignment?'

Faking a smile Bonnie nodded as if this was so obvious it didn't need stating.

'In light of your concerns I asked Commander Zhang to revaluate my marking, not just your work but across several other students.'

Bonnie tried to hide her growing smile. 'Maybe I should offer to carry his bags to the station,' she thought

Ianto held out a pad. 'And she asked me to give you this.'

Bonnie opened up the assignment and felt herself go red as she saw her mark reduced to zero.

'Apparently she thought I had been overly generous,' Ianto said after several moments of allowing Bonnie to come to terms with the re-marking of her work. 'After speaking with Commander Zhang and conferring with Crew Resources you have the following options. You can withdraw from this rotation as a fail. We are about to stop off at the Zatsaheur Junction. There you can board a vessel back to the Space Academy.'

Bonnie looked at him, her face a mixture of shock and outrage.

'Commander Zhang has offered to let you start this current semester again to see if you can try and raise your performance. If you do she will offer you another opportunity towards the end of your qualifications but only if you can raise yourself to a 90% pass.'

'I- I won't be offered a place on any ship without this rotation,' Bonnie said in a panic.

'I'm willing to give you a second chance. But that second chance is dependent on a change of attitude and a willingness on your part to put in some hard work. Starting with re-doing the task I set you. I would recommend this time you take the effort to read through the assignment and book some time in the sensor lab. I didn't ask for you to track a single asteroid within a planetary system.' Bonnie snapped her head up. 'It was to track every asteroid and predict their paths for the entire Achilles Asteroid field for three rotations using just the array. There was also a second and third section.'

Ianto saw that for the moment Bonnie was for once speechless so he continued.

'Sandra told me that part of the problem is that you feel strongly I had no real experience. That if I did I wouldn't be teaching due to the shortage of sensor specialists. So this can be addressed on a professional level I have made the theses I have completed available to you. One was completed at the Space Academy while I was in training, the other during my first posting. My service record is on file I would strongly suggest you look it up.'

'If you decide to take up my offer to continue as your supervisor there is one more thing we need to discuss. It's been brought to my attention some of the things you've said about me. I've approached Crew Resources and discussed the issue with them. They will be contacting you to discuss your behaviour. I warn you now if I hear one more disparaging remark about myself I will lodge in a formal complaint and ask you be removed from the ship.'

Bonnie squirmed and looked at her feet over crossed arms.

'If you think I'm being tough it's because lives will depend on your skills being up to standard. Right now you would be a liability to any crew on the basis of what you have shown me. However with hard work and some direction you could make an excellent officer. Is there anything you would like to say?' Ianto offered.

Shaking her head Bonnie fought to hold back the tears of rage and embarrassment she felt.

'My door is always open and I've informed Crew Resources to expect a call from you to set up an appointment sometime today. If you choose to stay I want that assignment reworked and back on my desk by the dead line,' Ianto said handing her assignment back.

Standing Bonnie stormed out of the office, slamming the door.

'Well that went well,' Ianto said letting out deep breath.