16
"Are you sure you are up to this?" Tosh asked again, her concern evident as her hand touched his arm ever so gently.
"Yes Tosh" he smiled, "I already did the voiceover so it's just a matter of walking around morosely, not too hard with my head still banging."
"Well, I am glad you don't have too big a part for this one, I can't believe you did that for me" she smiled, leaning in to hug him gently, "My hero."
"Ah well, not the first time another actor forgot to pull their punch" Ianto smiled softly as he accepted the hug, "One time I was in a play where I got a slice, look here at the wee scar on my neck. A sword fight."
She giggled as he took a sword fighting stance, "I could have taken him too, but mine broke."
Tosh slapped at him as she giggled and Gwen laughed as well, starting a story about a show she was on where they accidentally sent one of the crew on fire. Jack nodded to Ianto to show his approval of the cover story and they began the day with his scene up first. Ianto was touched, knowing Jack had arranged it that way so he could rest for most of the day. So he thought.
"Busy?"
Ianto turned to look at Jack and he rose to follow him down to the lower level of the set, then to his surprise he saw a door that looked like a storage cupboard bit when opened allowed access to an elevator.
"Right, first I think the real Hub might be a good idea" Jack said punching numbers on a key pad as they descended god knows how deep into the earth, then Ianto looked out at what appeared to be a huge warehouse that ran for miles.
"Holy shit" he said softly and Jack laughed.
"Welcome to the Secure Archives" Jack said as he led Ianto to a workstation, "I've been trying to scan and electronically log things but gods it's hard bloody work. I need an Archivist."
"Well then. Just as well you know one then" Ianto snorted, looking around with a feeling of purpose.
"We can't have the others knowing about this so the old joke about you being in the archives can ring true. Like you said, a truth within a lie." Jack said as he watched Ianto reach out and screw his nose up.
"Right, cleaning supplies and a hazmat suit" Ianto muttered and Jack was about to reply when he realised Ianto was joking, his smile forming as he knelt and touched a small cloudy ball that lit up on contact, "I know these. Memory balls, lovely. Some of this tat is from T1. I actually have… oooooo ….. naughty I know but I actually have the secure codes for the files in cyberspace. The Cloud Files are still there, we could download them and make hard copes too from a secure server."
Jack rubbed his hands together excitedly, "Brilliant idea."
"Right, coms. Real coms so you call warn me to come up for a scene or a break from filming or they might wonder what I am doing" Ianto said with finality, "If we are going to do this, we might as well do it right."
"Can we have code names?" Jack asked cheekily, "I like to be called Sir Big Pants."
"Stop it!" Ianto growled, his smile betraying his amusement.
"Well, gotta go pretend to kill a…gods, I forgot the name we chose. Shit. Nice girl, you know she is real good" Jack said as he headed up, tuning at the door, "You need the key code."
"1313" Ianto said without looking up, "13 is your favourite number so you just doubled it."
"How do you….shit. You do notice things" Jack laughed happily, "OK, enjoy."
Ianto was soon immersed in cyberspace as the Mainframe also proved to be a real thing, enjoying the feeling of purpose. Gods, he had missed this and for the first time since the Tower fell he felt like he was getting somewhere.
"Ianto?"
Ianto swung to find Jack standing in the doorway of the elevator, "Lunch?"
"Ah, yes. Good." Ianto rose, a file in his hand and moved towards him, "Gonna read this while I eat, I remember these creatures and think we could work them into an episode."
"Cool" Jack grinned "I knew you would get it."
They went up and found chaos as an argument ensured, Gwen standing there demanding who thought it would be a good idea to make Tosh a lesbian.
"Actually she is Bi" Jack said, "I'm omni, I mean…tentacles are sooo exciting."
Everyone stopped talking and stared at him as Ianto blinked then said, "That's disgusting. I will never eat calamari again!"
The entire place erupted as Ianto blinked calmly, Jack brushing his hand against his butt as he slid past and Ianto found himself blushing again.
Jack raised his eyebrows and Ianto canted his head to show he was not insulted and the smile from Jack was genuine, warm and full of promise.
Ianto's cheeky wink before turning away stunning Jack more than Ianto thought it would.
Things were definitely looking up.
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13 is John's favourite number. When filming COE he asked his body bag be number 13 on the floor.