SPLASH – Chapter Thirteen

Y'know, I have got to be one of the worst people at updating my stories.

I hope this makes up for such a long wait...

Oh, and I promised Shadu that I would give a mention of her wonderful fic, "Life of a Dead Man", which is absolutely fantastic, people – go read and review!

And, on the same note, Filmgrl13's fic, "Accent", is brilliant too, and she's been having a hard time off somebody who's been insulting her choice about accents... please go and back her up!

OK, now onto the story!

Disclaimer: Well... if I'm a good girl, can I have Torchwood for Christmas?

-BBC shakes head-

I'll take that as a "no". I don't own Torchwood.

Jack sucked up the last of his spaghetti and stared mournfully at his empty plate, looking up at the others, with puppy-dog blue eyes.

Ianto rolled his eyes.

Gwen sighed and removed Jack's plate from in front of him. "You can't still be hungry?" she asked, incredulous.

"That was only my thirds," he said. "Sailing is hungry work."

"D'you mind?" Owen asked in a strained voice.

Gwen's eyes widened in horror and her hand flew to her mouth. "Owen, I'm sorry! I didn't think."

"Evidently," Ianto murmured, too quiet for anyone to hear.

Owen ignored Gwen's apology and stood up stiffly. "I'm going to go for a walk. Come with me, Tosh?"

Toshiko blushed and nodded, setting down her knife and fork and pushing back her chair. "Of course."

Ianto, Gwen and Jack watched them go in silence.

It was only when the door had swung shut behind them did Gwen burst. "I'm so sorry! I didn't think – how could I forget something like that?"

Ianto kept his mouth firmly closed.

"Owen'll get over it, Gwen," Jack said. "Don't beat yourself up over it."

Gwen shook her head. "How can I make it up to him? What could I possibly buy him?"

Ianto felt that it was time to lighten the mood a little. The only problem was, he couldn't think of something funny to say, so he had to settle for sensible instead. "Maybe a DS game?" he suggested tentatively.

Gwen frowned.

"Sleep on it," Jack suggested. "It's not that big a deal, anyway."

Gwen's frown didn't get any less, but before she could say anything, her phone rang.

"It's Rhys," she explained quickly, before getting up and going to stand outside the door so she could take the call.

Ianto let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Phew."

"My thoughts exactly," Jack agreed. His hand snaked across the table to gently grasp Ianto's. "You OK?"

Ianto nodded. "Fine. Just a little tired."

He almost bit his tongue when he said that. What a stupid thing to say, he chided himself mentally.

Alarm flared in Jack's eyes and his grip on Ianto's hand tightened. "D'you want me to get Owen?"

"No – it's nothing," Ianto tried to calm him down. "I meant, it's tiring when Gwen gets..." he trailed off, not sure how to finish.

Jack nodded understandingly. "Right. OK, then."

Ianto looked down at the table and traced the whorls in the wood with his free hand. "You know the mission...?" he started.

"What about it?" Jack asked, confused.

"Well, I was thinking..."

"Thinking...?"

"Are you sure that that these aliens are hostile? They haven't exactly done anything."

"Yet." Jack's face was stony, his eyes cold. "I know this race."

Ianto frowned. "You do?"

Jack nodded. "I've encountered them before," he admitted. "A long time ago. I forget what they're called, but they're bad news. Really bad news."

He broke off, chewing on his lower lip in indecision. Ianto recognised that look; it was the one Jack used when he was trying to choose how much to reveal. He waited silently. Jack would tell him all he needed to know, in time.

"They don't go around killing people as such, but they prey on the sea-creatures of the planet. They end up starving the other predators. Because of that, those starving predators turn on humans."

"Ah."

Jack nodded. "Exactly. But, because they don't directly harm humans, we can't send them away."

"What happened last time?" Ianto asked, thinking hard. They might not be able to force them away, but maybe, if they could persuade them to go away...

Jack looked down. "It wasn't with Torchwood. It was when I was a Time Agent," he explained. He met Ianto's eyes. "There was nothing we could do."

"We'll fix it, this time," Ianto found himself promising, if only to ease the pain he saw in the captain's azure eyes.

Jack blinked sadly. "I'm not sure that there's much we can do."

Ianto felt his heart rip itself into little tiny pieces at the utter despair he heard in his lover's voice. Jack never gave up, ever!

"Don't say that!" he said fiercely in a low growl. "There's everything we can do!"

Jack looked at him dully. "Like what?"

"These aliens are intelligent, right? They could ring us – me – from the sea-bed! What's more, they spoke a language we understood. That's got to stand for something."

Jack was taken aback. "What are you suggesting?"

"If we can find their base, talk to them, maybe we can persuade them to go away – we don't have to force them!" Ianto explained excitedly, ignoring all the odd looks he was getting from other people sitting in the restaurant.

Understanding lit Jack's eyes, accompanied by a tinge of hope. "But what if they don't want to go? They didn't last time."

Ianto wasn't put out. "They said that they were sorry, didn't they? What if they aren't doing this by choice?"

"D'you think they might be stranded here?"

"Exactly! If we could help them get back home-"

"No." Jack was shaking his head. "How would we get them back home? There isn't a Rift here, remember?"

Ianto paused. He hadn't thought of that. "We'll think of something," he said finally. "We always do."

Hope that wasn't too doom-laden...

Reviews, as a matter of fact, do actually make me update faster. I haven't had that many reviews the last couple of chapters... well, that's my excuse, anyway! –cheeky grin-

Review, I'm begging you! (If I remember correctly, the bribe of a virtual cake was what worked before...)