A/N: So there are two apologies to make this evening then folks... 1) I am sorry that this is a relatively short chapter by my recent standards, and 2) I am sorry that I haven't written anything in a good few days! I've been so busy with revision and battling my writer's block that I haven't had the opportunity until now! What with my approaching exams (which are the big final A2 exams which basically determine my places at uni for next year) and everything at the minute, I have decided to set a writing schedule so that I can try and fit everything in like I did with my January exmas. I'll be posting on IJD every Sunday and on TNK every monday (though perhaps not tomorrow - it might be tuesday!) and ACAAG whenever I can inbetween (I haven't given up on that one, I just see it as my least favourite and least popular fic) rather than posting very frequently some weeks and rarely in others. I'm hoping it'll be good practice for gettin me settled into my revision schedule... So yeah, this will go on until the 22nd June which is my last ever exam, after which I shall be free as a bird to write whenever! Hope you like this one... it's a bit sickly sweet! :L Hannah xxx
After mine and Jack's little nostalgic escapade yesterday afternoon, we hauled our new addition into the SUV and drove back to the hub (which was now empty as Gwen had gone home before we arrived back) to set the now awakening creature free to fly up in our high ceilings and introduce himself to Myfanwy. We were calling him 'it' for quite a while as we couldn't get close enough again to him, he obviously felt betrayed and tricked by our sneaky sedative administration, in order to perform an examination to check for any injuries or diseases that the creature might have incurred through travelling through the rift, let alone what gender the dinosaur was. In the end Jack and I managed to coax Myfanwy down with some Lindt 90% cocoa dark chocolate and Trefor – as he has now been christened – followed swiftly. Once we had him down Jack gave him the once over; I'm not entirely certain of how he went about it, and knowing Jack quite frankly I'm not sure if I want to know, but he managed to determine his sex and confirm that he had no underlying health issues while he went about it. I think Martha might have been able to talk to him on webcam about some basic medical practise (she can't get the time away from UNIT at the moment to come here and help in person) which I guess is how he checked to make sure that he was ok… the rest… well, we all know what he's like.
Once we had made sure little Trefor had been settled in to his new and foreign environment, which though may not be better than his home planet or time period is at least a fair sight better than a warehouse, we headed back to our (I still love saying that!) apartment at the just barely reasonable hour of eight thirty. Since Tosh and Owen… since our numbers were lowered, we haven't actually stayed past six ish on many occasions, and certainly haven't pulled any all, or almost all, nighters whilst out catering to the rift and so coming home at such an hour felt rather odd. Never the less we still had a highly enjoyable evening, pandering to Jack's fantasy of 'what would have happened on the day we captured Myfanwy if Ianto hadn't had a Cyberwoman for a girlfriend and was a feeling a bit bi-curious that day'… I have to admit it was a rather fun extension of Jack's earlier roleplaying game.
The next morning, Gwen was rather surprised when she arrived at the hub to greet the site of Jack and me feeding not one but two Pterodactyls. In fact she was so surprised that at first she did a complete double take, pausing, taking a step backwards and rubbing her eyes before asking:
"There are definitely two of them now isn't there? I'm not imagining it?"
Jack and I both laughed in sync. "No you're not, definitely two. For once the Police were right about what they'd found. You weren't just some big escaped bird were you Trefor?" Jack directed his question towards the newest creature in babyish tones.
"Hey I used to work for them you know!" Gwen chided but chuckled lightly at Jack's suddenly ridiculous voice.
"I know, they've improved a little since you left" He replied winking at me.
"…probably because Andy can actually concentrate on his work now…" I added, winking back at Jack.
"You know what Ianto, you're getting to be as bad as him" Gwen mocked moaned as she wandered over to her desk to deposit her bag and coat while Jack and I just grinned at each other.
I was fairly certain that she had understood that we were merely joking, but what with their being just the three of us now we can't afford to have fall outs – however minor – and so I decided to make her a mocha with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles just the way she likes it by way of an apology. As I approached her desk she was smiling and when she saw the tray in my hands which held the mocha accompanied by a chocolate hob nob, her smile broke out into a full on grin, so I am glad to report back that there are no tensions within the Torchwood team.
Unfortunately, the fact that I had been making Gwen luxury apology hot drinks had not surpassed the attention of Captain Overly-Observant and all of a sudden I heard him complaining about being left out and demanding through the coms system that he would get a 'special drink' too. He can be such a child, but it's kind of cute. I'm not one hundred percent certain why he wanted one… he doesn't like hot chocolate all that much, and he usually detests milk in his coffee (and to be honest, usually unless it isn't industrial strength tar unfit for all other life forms he won't drink it). And so surprise, surprise after I had prepared him his very own 'special drink' and taken it up to his office he took one sip and shuddered with distaste. Ever the persistently bravado filled man that he is however turned to me with and with an ever so slightly forced smile announced that it was delicious, so I smiled back – biting my tongue to keep from laughing – and left his office to carry on with some paper work at my desk.
While I was writing up a report of yesterday's Pterodactyl capture, editing out the slightly stranger sounding and more personal elements of course, I took a glance up at him through the window of his office and saw, much to my amusement, that even out of my sight he was still attempting to drink the offending beverage. I smiled to myself; he can be such a sweet heart. It was this, seeing him up there attempting not to heave as he swallowed the liquid down, and glancing up to the two pterodactyls flying happily above our heads that made me realised – Jack is always the romantic. He's always the one pulling out the arduous gesture from his sleeve or surprising me with little acts of affection, and it was probably about time that I repaid him.
So, in order to restore some of the balance between us, I called up Amici's, the delightful little rustic Italian restaurant in which we had our first proper date, or at least our first proper dinner date, and booked a table for the two of us at eight o'clock, internally praying as I did so that the rift would behave that evening.
The lovely and ever so slightly nosey Miss Cooper however, put that worry straight out of my head as she called out across the hub after I had hung up the receiver.
"Oooh you two off on a hot date are we? Don't worry I can keep an eye on the rift while you're off gallivanting!"
"Cheers Gwen" I replied smiling, evidently the mocha had really sweetened he up.
"No problem, you two have covered it when I've wanted to send time with Rhys before – it's only fair! How come you're off out anyway, something special is it?" She asked intrigued.
I just shrugged, "Not especially, I'm fed up with him being the romantic one and have decided to take a stand" I winked.
"Ah fair enough, you two enjoy yourselves" She finished, settling back down into whatever work she had been ding previously.
"We will thank you. Oh and don't mention it to Jack will you?"
"I wouldn't dream of it" She winked.
I too settled back into writing up the report which got me thinking more and more about how very true that statement was that Jack was always the one performing the grand romantic gestures. It was he who took me to the park for that lovely picnic on the anniversary of Lisa's death, and he who looked after me (almost to the point of smother fuelled torture, but you could tell his heart was in it) so attentively when I was ill, and he who began the re-enactment of the first time that we met – well the first time that we met on good terms anyway. Yes, I had concluded, it definitely was my turn to give something back.
Things had been looking clear rift wise all morning, and we had been suffering very little trouble from sources elsewhere for the whole day, until it came to the mid-afternoon, by which point I still hadn't told Jack of my plans, when we suddenly had a minor panic. For whatever reason the entire network system in the hub, including all of the security protocols that we have implemented in place, crashed and went into total meltdown. We still aren't entirely sure now what happened, it's a times like this when Tosh's magnificent technological skills are sorely missed as well as her presence here, but luckily it didn't seem to have been due to any sort of malicious behaviour from an outside source, as we found nothing untoward within the hub afterwards, and none of our systems – once they were back online – had recorded a breech.
The crash however did cause some pretty major consequences for ourselves however, as, along with all of the security measures; the locks holding the cells shut went down. Eighty five Weevils, twenty seven Ood and two Sontarin were spontaneously released from within their previously tightly bolted prisons. The three of us were terrified to venture down there, as you can understand, dealing with one Weevil or two Weevils on their own is never a nice prospect, never mind such a vast quantity of them down there together all riled up – let alone the other creatures.
We loaded ourselves with all of the weaponry, the non-life threatening weaponry anyway, that we could find including gallons of anti-Weevil spray in cans, and decided it was best to just charge in there, full speed ahead, armed and ready. By the time we had got down there, it the cells had been converted into somewhat of a blood bath. The Weevils and Ood and the now only one remaining Sontarin had vented their anger at being locked up for such a long stretch of time out on one another to the extent of disastrous consequences. In the end there were just twenty seven Weevils, fifteen Ood and the one Sontarin left amongst all of the ravished bodies lying down there, and some of those who did survive were badly injured. None of them are the pleasantest, safest or nicest of creatures – but it's still horrible and so sad to think of all of those lives lost.
We saw to it that those who had been killed were quickly recorded and placed into the morgue, then looked over those that were injured before finally transporting all of the sedative induced aliens back to the now much emptier cells. It was an excruciatingly gruelling task, with the only silver lining being that it didn't take up more than two hours meaning that Jack and I were still on perfect track for our evening out.
At half past five, after we had finished the major clean-up operation of the cells and the autopsy bay which were both blood stained and battered, the Captain gave his orders and released us from work.
He turned to me in his now very blood soaked pale blue shirt and with a grin said:
"Right then, how about me and you go home and make the most of changing out of these ruined clothes – all evening." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Gwen coughed through a chuckle, announcing her presence still in the room, while I blushed.
"Actually… not that that doesn't sound… nice… I've made us a reservation for dinner at Amici's for eight o'clock" I smiled.
Jack's eyebrows rose and then settled back down in an instant to allow a large wide grin to spread out across his cheeks. "You kept that one quiet!"
"I wanted to surprise you"
"Well you have" He replied, leaning in for a chaste but loving kiss on the lips.
"I think that's my cue to leave" Gwen piped up smiling, "I hope you boys have a lovely evening – don't worry about the rift I've got you're backs" She winked. "Oh and you" She pointed to Jack, "Behave!" She finished before grabbing her jacket and leaving.
"When do I ever misbehave?" He turned to me to ask with a mock innocent look upon his face.
"Don't get me started!" I replied rolling my eyes and smiling.
Once we were home, I allowed Jack the brief opportunity to make use of 'the removal of our bloodied clothes' before we both suited up into our evening attire – which didn't actually consist of a suit in Jack's case. Not that I minded of course, it's a nice change when he does where one, but Amici's isn't really a very formal establishment and I do love him in those blue shirts and braces. For me of course, my evening outfit did indeed consist of a suit, I think there would have been outrage from Jack if it hadn't. I wore his second favourite fitted grey one (his favourite had been soiled in the clean-up operation a few hours previously) and a pale pink shirt, accompanied by a deep magenta tie striped with fine diagonal lines of white – one that he had given me a little while ago.
As Amici's isn't very far from our apartment and as it was a pleasant, dry, warm-ish evening we decided to walk to the restaurant, lacing hands as we did so, idly chit chatting and admiring the stars. When we arrived the owner must have recognised us as he greeted us whole heartedly, friendlily slapping both of us on the back and asking us how we had been keeping as he directed us towards our table. I'd forgotten how very family orientated, and welcoming the staff at Amici's were and it was a pleasant surprise to have been greeted in such a manner. Part of me always worries, however silly of me this may be, that when Jack and I venture out together as a couple (it's impossible for people not to notice that we are one as a certain someone never keeps his hands to himself!) that we'll be stared at or frowned upon by some of the less accepting members of society, but to tell the truth I've yet to have had a negative experience.
Jack, whilst we were choosing the wine, was up to his same old tricks again – teasingly running his shoe-less foot up the inside of my leg, reaching dangerous heights, and acting as though nothing was happening at all while I sat there squirming and trying to remain casual. Thankfully he ceased when a young waitress came over to take our drinks order, and managed to remain 'well behaved' even once she had been sent off with our order accompanied by a lingering blush brought about by Jack's flirting with her.
"So…" Jack began as the same young waitress brought our drinks over "Thank you darling" He quickly said to her, flashing her a wink, before returning to where he had started the conversation, "any particular reason for this sudden spontaneous outing – not that I'm complaining of course" He grinned at me.
"Well… not really…" I replied hesitantly, blushing a little, worried that perhaps he would deem my reasoning silly.
"Oh come on, I know that there's a reason – you're cheeks are giving it away!" He grinned wider.
"Well, I just – it's going to sound ridiculous – but you always seem to be doing lovely romantic things for me, and I thought it was time I did something nice back" I said nervously.
Jack laughed, "I'm romantic? Really? That's amusing" He laughed further.
My brow creased into a light frown, "Of course you are! You know, all the picnics and meals out and the other night catching Trefor… you're incredibly romantic."
"Nah, not really I only do things like that so I can get laid" He winked, "Seriously now though, it's not romantic – it's just giving you what you deserve" He smiled softly.
"My frown deepened, "How so?"
"Ianto Jones, you deserve more than I can give you - more than a life here at Torchwood can give you and so I do those things because in a small way it's me trying to give you some of the life you really deserve"
"Jack, I already have everything I could need or want, and far much more than I deserve" I smiled back, "and it really is your turn to have a few romantic gestures bestowed upon you" I chuckled lightly.
"Thank you" He mumbled, looking ever so slightly embarrassed if I'm not mistaken, "But you know you already do a hell of a lot of romantic things for me!"
"Really?"
"Of course! you always greet me with a cup of coffee in the morning, you not only put up with my outrageous behaviour, you find it amusing some of the time too, and you're always there for me when I need someone to talk to" He said, lacing his fingers in mine across the table as he did so.
"Oh… well… they don't count"
"Sure they do" He said, bringing my hand to meet his lips, "this date is just another perfect gesture in a long line of them"
I smiled back broadly, genuinely touched by his words, "And there's another on the horizon…"
"Oh?" He asked with intrigue.
"You know how you've been desperate to meet Rhiannon for months now…?"
"Yes?" He asked, excitement high in his voice.
"Well I've invited her round for lunch on Sunday – providing that the rift doesn't act up of course"
"Oh how exciting! I finally get to meet her and hear all the stories about you from when you were a kid and embarrass the hell out of you!" He grinned.
"Hmm… yes… if you could be on your best behaviour that would be marvellous. I have warned Rhiannon about you, but I'm not sure I did your characteristics justice, or that she would have believed me even if I had… probably would have accused me of exaggerating… but anyway, my point is, I love you but if there's any way that you could tone it down just a little then that would be great" I suggested, knowing the futility of my words.
"Ianto Jones I am making no promises" He grinned and winked at me.
"I thought you might say that" I replied, grimacing internally.
We spent the rest of our dinner date discussing the plans for Sunday and I can honestly say that I am beginning to feel a little sick to my stomach with nerves for how the whole affair will go down. I had previously told Rhi about Jack; about his ability and will to flirt with anyone and anything, about his constantly wandering hands, about his radiating charisma and about his occasional bouts of immaturity – and when I phoned her up to arrange her weekend visit I had warned her again, but she told me just to stop 'fussing'. I hope things will run smoothly, I really want the pair of them to like each other, but when Jack's involved the outcome of a situation is never quite what you expect… though ninety nine percent of the time things always work out pleasantly regardless of any blushing cheeks that may have been incurred along the way, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that Sunday lunch won't lie in the category of the unusual1 percent.