Chapter 5 - The Hub

"Hey Meg."
"Hey."

Ianto hugged her, being careful of the flowers she was holding. He took the flowers off her so she had a free hand.

"I was worried you… what happened?" Megan figured the rip in her brother's jacket.

"It's ok, just a scratch. There were more weevils than we thought."

He held the gate of the cemetery open for her before taking her hand and walking up the path.

Although Jack couldn't hear what was said he could make an educated guess he watched them disappear from view before slumping in his chair to wait but he was interrupted by his phone ringing.

"Harkness."

"Jack its Tosh."

"Everything alright?" he asked sitting up.

"Yes I was just looking a little deeper into Megan Tabyrn."

Jack was going to tell her not to bother when he thought better of it and decided to listen. "Go on Tosh."

"Well like I said her parents died in a car crash when she was 15 and she should have gone into care but Ianto made himself her legal guardian, she lived with him until she was 17 and she went to university. Jack as far as I can make out she hasn't been back to the UK for three years."

Jack was astonished; this answered so many questions, the enthusiastic reunion at the dock, why Ianto had been so protective of her and the reason why using the coffee machine was like second nature to her. Ianto was all she had and he had one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

They didn't stay long at the grave, Patrick had died an honourable soldier and the headstone recognised that. They put down a few of the flowers down and said a prayer, and then they turned to the stone next to it which read:

Here lies

Elizabeth Tabyrn

And

General Henry Tabyrn

Loved by Their Children and Each Other

May Their Souls Rest in Peace

They didn't stay very long, Ianto didn't want Megan to get too upset but he also didn't want her to feel like he didn't care.

Megan could feel the tears welling up in her eyes but didn't want Ianto to see her cry so she hung her head forward so her hair hid her face.

Ianto put his arm round her shoulders and kissed her temple he took the umbrella from her, and gently guided her away from the graves and back towards the churchyard entrance.

Jack looked out the SUV's window and saw the two figures emerging from the churchyard, Ianto's arm around Megan and her head on his shoulder. In that second Jack made a decision.

Jumping out the SUV Jack opened the back door and Megan slid in gratefully, wiping her eyes only once the door was shut. Ianto's usual mask had slipped and he looked sad and tired. And young.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes thank you sir." Ianto said before getting into the passenger seat next to Jack.

The journey back to the hub was quiet, all of them looking out of the windows until…

"Sir where are we going."

"Back to the hub." Said Jack like it was obvious.

Megan sat up straight and looked at Ianto; she looked like a deer caught in the head lights, Ianto looked confused "But sir what about Megan?"

"Well if she already knows about Torchwood, she might as well see everything."

"You mean I get to see the hub." Megan wiped the tears from her eyes "I… I can help."

"If you like. Yes we'd be happy for your help." He looked at Ianto and lowered his voice. "No threats." Ianto visibly relaxed and Megan was grinning like a Cheshire cat no sign of tears left.

They parked the car in the garage but Jack put his hand up to keep them in the SUV and made a phone call.

"Tosh its Jack."

"Is Ianto there?"

"Yeh look we're not far from the hub so can you get everyone in the boardroom please."

"Sure, look do you want me to keep looking into Megan Tabyrn."

"No don't worry about that."

"Ok see you soon."

"Yep."

Jack looked at the confused faces of Ianto and Megan and grinned. "We'll give them a couple of minutes to do that then we'll go in."

"You make it sound like a secret mission sir."

"We could make it like that if you'd like." Jack leered at him slightly. "I bet you'd look good in leather." Ianto rolled his eyes but couldn't stop his face going red. Megan looked between the two men and smiled to herself.

"Right that should be long enough. Come on."

Megan jumped out and was jumping with excitement, when Ianto got out the car she grabbed his hand and started to drag him. "Come on. Come on, come on, come on."

"Mini calm down. Megan you're going the wrong way."

She stopped and looked at him her head tilted to the side; Ianto guided her the right way.

It was very amusing for Jack to watch the easy banter between the two siblings. She could be just what Ianto needed to come out of his shell.

Before they came into the main hub Ianto put his hands over Megan's eyes. He walked her into the centre of the main hub before removing his hands.

Megan didn't know what she had been expecting, Ianto had told her stories and described what the hub looked like but nothing could do justice to what she saw. Next to her was the water tower and the water came crashing down, she closed her eyes for a second to listen to the thunder of the water, all around her she could see technology everywhere she looked, it littered the desks and the shirr size of the place, she couldn't believe that this was underneath Cardiff. A squawk from above her brought her attention to the flying Pteranodon. Megan laughed out loud at the sight of it, of course she had heard the story of how it had come to be at Torchwood but she had never really believed she'd see it. She turned in a full circle taking in everything. She was stunned, completely and utterly stunned.

"Its… its… it's… incredible… it's impossible… it's… hudolus."

Ianto stood with his hands in his pockets and the biggest grin Jack had ever seen, ever. Ianto walked over to her a put his hand on her shoulder she turned to look at him with such amazement in her eyes.

Tosh, Owen and Gwen sat in the boardroom, bored. They heard the doors opening signalling the arrival of Jack and Ianto, but when they didn't come up Gwen went to look out on of the large windows.

"Oh my god."

"What." Asked Tosh going to join her. "So that's what's taken them so long."

"Owen come and see."

"Why are we all watching Jack and Ianto what are they… hang on that's Ianto's girl, what the bloody hell is going on?"

"What's Jack thinking of bringing that girl in here?" said Gwen rather unkindly for Tosh's liking.

"He'll have his reasons." She said looking at the young girl looking round in amazement. She quite liked the look of this girl and Ianto seemed to care for her a lot.

Jack hated to brake the moment but he had to because looking up he could see the others peering through the glass and he could give a rough guess as to what they were saying.

"Right, well Ianto if you work your coffee magic I'll take Megan up to meet the rest of the gang."

As soon as he said this there was an instant change in the girl, her smile vanished and she moved so that she stood behind Ianto.

"Actually I'd rather help Ianto with the drinks, that way he'll be done quicker."

Jack was going to protest, he knew what the others thought she was so they had to be introduced but he saw a fear in her eyes that wasn't there before so instead he nodded his head and turned to walk to the boardroom. He had some explaining to do.

Megan sat on the counter next to the coffee machine, gently swinging her legs while Ianto made the coffees, each one different depending on the person they were for. Eventually Ianto looked at her.

"You don't have to be scared of them they're not like the people at London. We can trust them"

Her head shot up to look at him "Can we?" she scoffed disbelievingly.

"Yes." Ianto replied without hesitating. "Well at the least we can trust Captain Harkness." Megan opened her mouth to say something but Ianto interrupted her. "If Captain Harkness tells you to do something then you do it, understand, you give him the same respect you give me." She nodded. "Whoever else you choose to trust is your decision."

"What have you told them about me?"

"Enough, not everything but enough to keep their curiosity satisfied. For now."
"Are you going to tell them?"

"I don't know, maybe but not yet."

He finished loading the drinks onto a tray and picked it up. "Come on."

Megan jumped off the counter and followed Ianto up to the boardroom.

When Jack walked through the door he was met by two angry and one confused face.

Before he could even open his mouth Gwen attacked him.

"What the hell are you thinking bringing her here, she's a civilian, a child and… and she's Ianto's girlfriend she has no business to be here.

"Are you finished?" Jack asked the enraged Welsh woman. "I have my reasons for letting her down here, first of all she already knows about Torchwood so she isn't learning anything new, next she isn't going to be here all the time because she's still going to university." He looked around the room at them all before continuing. "I think she could be a real asset to the team, I mean she's clever, observant, we saw what she can do this morning didn't we Gwen, she knew exactly what we were doing without anyone telling her." Jack sat down in his chair gesturing for the others to do the same. "Oh and lastly she's not Ianto's girlfriend, is she Tosh?"

Suddenly everyone had turned to look at Tosh.

"Um… no Ianto's her guardian and has been since she was 15."

"Yes and as well as that she's his half-sister so Owen if I were you I wouldn't make any attempts to make a move on her."

Owen looked up and gave a small grin "Yeh well luckily you're not me."

Jack stood slightly to see out the window and saw Ianto and Megan coming out of the kitchen.

"End of discussion." He said but Gwen was not going to let this go, how dare he just let this girl walk in here.

"Jack you can't be serious, I mean sure she's Ianto's sister but how do we know we can really trust her?" she looked imploringly at Owen to help her.

"Coopers right Jack, after all how do we know she's not got bits of cybernetic tech on her like the other freak?"

Unluckily for Owen it was at that moment Ianto and Megan walked through the door. Ianto clamped up immediately but Megan looked calm, however Jack could see the angry fire in her eyes.

"Actually I wasn't even in the country when Canary Wharf happened, I was at uni. Also Lisa was not a freak, she was…"

"Enough Megan." Ianto Said as he walked round passing out the drinks. Megan stopped talking at once and stood waiting patiently for Ianto to sit down before sitting in the chair next to him.

"Right." Said Jack looking round the table. "Megan Tabyrn I'll introduce you." He pointed to Owen. "This is Owen Harper…"

"That's Dr Owen Harper."

"Our medic." Then he pointed to Tosh. "And this is Toshiko Sato our genius. Of course you already know Gwen our ex-police constable." They all looked at Megan and smiled a greeting.

"Getting back to the business at hand." Said Jack "The weevils…"

When the meeting had finished Megan stayed behind to help Ianto collect the cups, when he asked her "So what do you think of them so far?"

"Their ok I guess." She said loading cups onto the tray.

"Don't worry you'll get used to them."

"Perhaps."

They walked back to the little kitchenette and as Ianto washed the cups, Megan once again sat on the counter talking to him.

Jack waved Tosh into his office and gestured her to sit down. "So what can I do for you Tosh?"

"Why are you really letting Megan come here?"

"I meant what I said, I think she would be a good asset for the team while she's here and we can trust her to keep the secret if she's known about it all this time."

"Yes but we don't know how much involvement she had with Torchwood One, she might have known about it and that's it."
"No, she knew about weevils, we introduced ourselves and she knew who we were."

They sat in silence for a few minutes; Jack looking at his computer screen, Tosh studied him before asking.

"Why else is she here?"

Jack looked at her and smiled Tosh knew him so well, it was impossible to keep anything from her. "After everything that's happened it might be good for Ianto. Hell it might be good for all of us to have her here, brake the ice a little." Tosh nodded her head, what Jack said made sense Megan seemed nice and Ianto appeared different around her, slightly more relaxed.

"No other reason?"

"No. Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well…" Tosh looked at her hands nervously. "It's just… well… she is very pretty and we all know how you like to do firearms training."

"I'm not sure I like what you're implying."

"No, no, no I'm not implying anything I just mean that she's Ianto's sister and if she tells him… well… he's already punched you once."

"Is that what you all think of me? That I'd do something inappropriate?"

"Jack we've all seen Gwen's training session, including Ianto and remember you trained him to fire so he knows what you're like."

"Then what are you worried about."

"She doesn't know what you're like Jack."

Jack looked at her there was some truth in what she was saying. As usual. "Don't worry Tosh I'll behave. I promise." The thing that Tosh didn't know was that Ianto hadn't needed much training because he had already been a good shot. But he had the feeling that wouldn't help his case.

Tosh smiled and left feeling very happy with herself. Jack went back to watching the CCTV in the kitchenette where Ianto and Megan were still talking, mainly just banter but he thought he might learn something if he was patient. Ianto Jones was still very much a mystery to Jack but maybe now he would let his guard down, just a bit.

Down in the small kitchenette Gwen and Owen had come to grill some information out of Megan, but trying to do it casually.

"So how long how you two known each other?" Gwen asked leaning on the counter trying to look casual.

"We grew up together." Ianto answered for her while he made another batch of coffee.

"How do you know about Torchwood?" Owen couldn't stop the question from slipping out but he was still angry with Ianto about the cyberbitch that almost deleted them all so he was naturally suspicious of everyone else connected to both Ianto and Torchwood.

"Aliens have been coming to this planet for hundreds of years, we see them all the time and don't even realise it, some people are just more observant than others." Megan answered casually, shrugging her shoulders.

"What so are you saying that people who don't notice aliens are stupid?" Gwen asked her voice rising.

"No not at all I'm just saying that to believe some of the cover stories you must be really despite to ignore the truth." Shot back Megan folding her arms across her chest.

While all this was being said Ianto finished making the coffee, he handed one to Gwen and Owen then gave two to Megan.

"Go give that to Tosh before you start an argument." He said looking at the angry look on Gwen's face. The young girl nodded her head and went over to Tosh. Ianto put his two coffees onto a tray and headed up to Jacks office.

Owen looked after the young girl thoughtfully, she hadn't answered the question, and she'd just given them a load of waffle and got Gwen angry so the conversation had moved on. With Ianto's help the whole thing had been pulled off very skilfully. He was regrettably quite impressed.

Ianto knocked on the door to Jacks office and waited for Jack to wave him in.

"Ianto you are my saviour. I don't know how we'd get through the day without your coffee."

"No need to worry sir, I'm not going anywhere."

"Good, look I'm sorry about what happened in the conference room, Owen was out of order. He shouldn't have said that."

Ianto forced a smile at him and leant against the desk, "don't worry about it, I know what Owens like and Mini's ok now too. She needs to learn to control her anger better."

"Look something been bothering me."

"What just one."

Jack nodded his head but there were still things he was curious about. "Tosh looked into her and said that she hasn't been in the UK for three years, in fact since she left for university. Why is that, and why has she come back now?"

Ianto looked into his cup trying to think of a good answer for Jack that sounded realistic. "She has been very busy what with studying and learning the language. She was worried that coming home would break her concentration and she wouldn't be able to get back into that frame of mind, so we both thought it would be easier and more logical if she were to stay over there. We would still talk to each other on the phone and email and everything so it's not as if we've been completely disconnected.

"Why is she back now?"

"Three years is a long time for anyone sir and… I missed her. She had some time off for reading and since Lisa um the… cyberwoman is gone we thought it was a good time for her to come back for a bit."

Jack nodded his head, it seemed a bit odd and he still got the feeling Ianto was holding out on him but it was enough to go on for now.

"Ok, there's just one more thing I'd like to know."

Hudolus - Magical

Chwaer fach - Little sister