PART FIVE
Jack wasn't quite sure how to break it to him. He looked at the flight details in his hand and decided maybe over dinner in that nice new French restaurant. He put the printouts on his desk and grabbed his great coat and smiling somewhat forcefully he faced his two team members realising somewhat belatedly that he'd have to tell Gwen now any way. He grimaced and looked from Ianto's expectant expression to Gwen's curious one.
Jack dove straight in. "We're gonna have to go to India." He announced. Ianto almost dropped his mug and Gwen did drop her jaw.
"India, what the hell's in India?"
Ianto looked thoroughly dispirited. "Those energy spikes and missing people?"
Jack nodded. "It's looking much more serious than we first thought and UNIT don't want to get involved, they were adamant it's a Torchwood problem."
"You still think it's related to the old offices out there?"
Gwen looked from one to the other. "Torchwood had offices in India?"
Ianto nodded. "Most of the commonwealth nations and old colony countries in the days of the British Empire had at least one operative. Torchwood India was closed down in the twenties. It was quite a large branch, I believe."
Jack smiled, Ianto was a veritable fountain of historical knowledge.
"Exactly. I was the one sent out to shut down the operation, so far as I recall everything was packed up and shipped home. I think most of the stuff got sent up to the old house in Scotland. Anyway, our flight to Bombay goes out from Heathrow at 6 in the morning. Gwen I suggest you go home and spend an evening with Rhys, because I will need you back here at the Hub at mid night."
Gwen grabbed her handbag. "I'm gone.... Rhys is going to lurve this!"
The two men watched her depart and Ianto sighed putting his mug down.
"I guess I better get the equipment ready then, who is flying us out there?"
"I got a private charter, first and foremost you and I are going out for dinner." Jack held out his hand and Ianto stared at it in disbelief. "I seem to remember promising you a date some months ago."
Ianto looked up into Jack's face with great hesitance. "Jack I.... are you sure? I mean shouldn't we be getting ready for the trip?"
Jack sagged with disappointment. "Right now, all I want to do is take you out, can I do that?"
Ianto took the proffered hand and squeezed his fingers. "That would be nice." He replied with a blush.
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The flight was rough and even Jack was feeling a bit queasy by the time they stepped off the plane. The whole mission was a bit of an emotional journey for Jack as he confronted the loss of yet another skeleton from his past. Ianto had been fascinated by the delve into the past juxtaposed against the modern world as it was. Ianto kept his counsel saving himself for a bit of shopping before they were due to fly home, realising that Jack would need some light relief from the encounter with the Duchess. Gwen complained about the heat but rather enjoyed the day spent around the markets looking at trinkets. Jack was taken aback by the half dozen bolts of fabric added to their gear for the trip back. On the plane Ianto was quiet, contenting himself with gripping the seat and a sick bag. Gwen dozed off, not even slightly put out by the bouncing aircraft and Jack sat with a comforting arm draped over Ianto's shoulder as the young man hurled up a weeks worth of curry and dahl.
When they got back to Cardiff Jack told Gwen to take a few days off. UNIT could deal with the Rift watch. He took Ianto home and put him to bed, wondering what on Earth Ianto was going to do with all that fabric. As he lay on his back in the darkness of Ianto's bedroom, he suddenly realised that there were no curtains over any of the windows. Jack was grinning when he drifted off to sleep.
He was rudely awakened by a blood curdling scream from the hallway a few hours later. He shot out of bed and grabbing his Webley he made it there in a couple of seconds. He skidded to a stop at the sight of Ianto's elderly neighbour standing in the hallway with a tin of cat food clutched in her hand and Ianto standing in the bathroom door way covering his modesty with a hastily grabbed towel. Mrs Willis screamed again the moment she saw Jack stark naked and wielding a gun.
"Mr Jones!"
"Jack!"
"What the hell?......."
Ianto wondered who precisely had yelled what and had completely forgotten that he'd asked his neighbour to feed Moses whilst he was away. Shit! Mrs Willis dropped the tin and fled slamming the front door to a close behind her. At that moment Moses strolled out of the kitchen, twitching his long whiskers he sauntered over to the abandoned tin of food and began to lap up the spillage from the carpet.
Ianto leant against the door jamb and slapped his forehead.
"Oh, God, she'll never feed Moses again. I'll never be able to look at her again."
Jack placed the gun on the little table next to the key bowl and phone.
"You had that shower yet?" He gestured to the towel clutched tightly in Ianto's hand.
Ianto shook his head.
"Come on then, may as well give her something else to gossip about." Jack wrenched the towel from Ianto's grasp and grabbed the younger man's arm, roughly pulling him close and then cupping his arse with both hands to hold him there against his chest. Ianto offered up a long suffering look.
"If you insist." There was a smile there as he draped his arms over Jack's shoulders. They kissed hungrily and Jack gently steered him up against the wall, moving his hands down to lean thighs and lifting Ianto up off the floor. Ianto wrapped his legs around Jack's waist, digging his heels into his back for better purchase, his hands carded through Jack's hair to firmly hold his head and not breaking the kiss for a moment. Breathing could wait. It was another one of those mornings where Ianto saw stars explode before breakfast. He forgot his own name as everything he was became Jack, every breath an utterance of his name and Jack gave everything of himself because this was the only way he knew how to.
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Gwen found the Hub empty when she arrived but there was a note in Ianto's neat script sitting on her desk.
'Checking out a UFO sighting.'
Gwen sat at her terminal and jammed her earpiece in and dialled Ianto's mobile.
"Hey there, what's occurring?"
Ianto's windswept voice came back to her. "It's raining, it's cold and it's muddy and the UFO was some one's idea of a really funny joke, only it's not funny. We'll be back with you in about an hour."
Gwen was smiling. "Alright love, I'll get the kettle on."
"Thanks Gwen."
She cut the call and fired up her computer just as Myfanwy swooped down with a squawk and settled on the gantry underneath Tosh's dragon painting. There was a lot of admin to catch up with and now that Ianto was out in the field, pretty much every day a lot of it had fallen to her. Not that Gwen minded; she knew that Jack was trying to protect her and it seemed that he and Ianto needed the time together anyway. Gwen had seen them work together like a piece of choreographed art in the way that they seemed to move and act as a compliment to one another, most often without needing to speak. It was clear to her that they were well and truly a couple, even if Jack was unlikely to ever admit to it and she couldn't begrudge them the time they spent together. She thought it would make it her feel left out, but it didn't. Rhys was her life now and he had shined during the crisis with Grey, supporting her and encouraging her, she realised that Jack did that for Ianto and on some weird level that she would never understand Ianto did it for both her and Jack. He was their anchor, Rhys had been right about that. Gwen smiled to herself and then glanced briefly at the photo of her lost team mates.
"Hey, there." She would never forget them and she realised for the first that Ianto had been through all that loss before, at Canary Wharf. It shocked her to the core that she hadn't considered that before, but Ianto was strong and like her he was trying to get on, trying to stop Jack from feeling guilty over the deaths of Owen and Tosh and trying to keep Torchwood on its feet while they were two people down. Gwen wondered if Ianto had broached the subject of recruitment with Jack. Ianto was sure to have done, she'd have to ask him later. It was all well and good being able to rely on UNIT for some back up but she, like Ianto and Jack had learnt not to totally trust them.
