Torchwood: Divergence
Book Two: Adferiad
Chapter 36
It was nearly noon Christmas Day, the Hub quiet with the lack of bodies working in it. Jack and Ianto were having coffee on the couch and opening their other small gifts they'd gotten for one another, rewarmed pasties left over from the night before serving as brunch. The two hadn't actually been up for long, having enjoyed a rare lie-in after an evening of dynamic "dabbling" and an energetic 5:00 am "good morning" shag. So, when they had risen to wash up, dress, and activate the Hub, they'd spent more than an hour going over the Rift logs. Both were glad yet somewhat disturbed that there were no surges registered since the one that had dropped K-9 through more than twenty-four hours ago.
Ianto speculated that the full blown Scieron portal he'd been sent back from death through may have caused a minor blockage, but it was hard to tell. All they could do was hope that normal activity resumed soon, so they wouldn't have two months of constant incursions to deal with again.
"Oh, man," Jack breathed as he opened his final gift from the younger man. "And I thought the authentic Webley gun cleaning kit and H. G. Wells book were good. Did you have Turlough take you back in Time for these things?"
"Nope," Ianto denied truthfully, still toying with the digital video picture frame he'd opened a moment before. "I just have connections with the Historical Society from when I worked the kiosk, and they lead me to the right dealers of legal and working antiquities. That is a 1945 Royal Air Force Officer's wrist watch, shows military as well as standard time and date, is shock and water proof, and still has the snap-down cover to protect the crystal. Swiss made, its gears will maintain perfect time when set, as long as you remember to wind it once a day. Which I can do every morning if you think you'll forget. The strap is full grain leather, it and the brass buckle recently replaced. Now you won't have to rely on your Time Agency tech just to tell the hour and get odd looks over all its fancy buttons."
"These must have cost you a full year of the back pay from after London," the Captain marvelled., carefully fastening the watch around his right wrist to test the size. "You really shouldn't have."
"I don't have a flat to maintain anymore," his partner pointed out evenly. "You won't let me pay for meals or clothing, and it doesn't take my whole cheque to keep this place supplied with good coffee and cream. If I can't spend it on you or the team once in a while, it'll just sit in the bank forever. Besides, I told you I have connections, and a little name-dropping can do wonders for an item's price."
"I'm still incredibly impressed with the gifts," Harkness insisted. "Makes me feel like a cheap skate."
"It's not about the money, Jack," the twenty-six-year-old beside him reassured, half-smiling as he got the picture frame running and discovered the naughty video clips his lover had already loaded into its memory. "It's about the thought you put into it, and what the gift means to the person it's given to. I have absolutely no complaints."
"Well, I do have another present of sorts for you," the American stated, then smirked. "Two actually, but one will have to wait till tonight when we're relaxing."
"I look forward to it, sir," Ianto smiled with an acknowledging nod, carefully placing his frame on the table and giving the older man is undivided attention.
"Okay, this comes in two parts," Jack explained, reaching over to pull the young Welshman's ever-present PDA and mobile phone from his jacket pocket and using his wrist strap to access them. "First, I'm downloading a special application to your hand-helds. It's attached to your security logons for the Torchwood system and only you can access it by using one of these or the touch screen computer in my office when I'm done. This programme mirrors the function in my VM that can be used to track me or anyone who shares my DNA through blood relation… which means just me now.
"But the point is, no matter what happens, you'll have a way to find me, no tracker or other tech on my person needed. If this PDA or your phone gets destroyed or needs to be replaced, you can reload the application from the Mainframe, and it will only ever work for you. The programme's saved under the file name Hide-and-Seek, and we're the only ones authorized to open it. Now… to make it so it recognises you for access, I'll need a couple drops of your blood. Once they hit the analyser pad on my wrist strap, your DNA will act as the password for the application. It will also code into the EFM… Energy Field Manipulator part of the device, so that I can always find you too."
"That's brilliant," Ianto breathed with a wide-eyed expression. "What do I need to do?"
"Come over here close," Harkness instructed, waiting for the Changeling to scoot across the cushions till their legs touched then handed him a little wrapped item from the medical bay. "Use this to prick your finger, then put at least two good drops of blood right here in the centre of this display."
The twenty-six-year-old unwrapped the sterile lancet, gritted his teeth and pushed the tiny blade into the end of his left index finger, deep enough to make him wince and gasp, but also to make sure the wound didn't just close up immediately. Then he quickly put the injured digit over the correct area of his companion's Time Agency wrist strap and let two large drops of blood fall to its surface, before sticking the sore finger into his mouth to staunch the flow. Jack did some rapid button pushing, all sorts of lights blinking across the whole piece of tech before a single bell-like tone sounded. He smiled, displaying the unit that now showed no trace of the vital fluid that had touched it. The press of a button brought up a GPS map that narrowed to show a single red dot pulsing quite near the water tower outside the Millennium Centre, then quickly scrolled the message "T3 Hub – x RM" beneath the image.
"That's you," Jack indicated. "Millennium Centre Water Tower, in the Torchwood Three Hub across from the Rift Manipulator. Go ahead and open the application on your PDA, it's the icon that looks like the vintage RAF badge I put on your lapel this morning. When it opens, just touch where it says 'username and password'."
Ianto did as he was told. And the programme flashed his name on the read out before opening to do the same GPS and message routine the older man's VM had. The pulsing blue dot registered right beside the red that still showed on Jack's proving it was tracking the Captain's DNA. Making a small excited sound in the back of his throat, he quickly tried it on his mobile as well with the same result.
"The light pulse synchs with the subject's heartbeat," the older immortal further explained. "So, if I'm excited or angry or hurt and my heart rate climbs, it'll blink faster to show that. A steady light means I'm currently dead, if it turns from a solid dot to a ring, it means my body's been destroyed. But you'll be able to find me regardless because even if the pieces are moved one or more rings will move with the bits of me, and it'll turn to a solid dot again once my body had regenerated at least 20%.
"Basically, the same if I'm looking for you. The difference, is that I'll have early warning if the Scieron need to open a full portal to send you back. Because your blood is always part of those singularities since the first time they sent you through, my Vortex Manipulator will alert me as soon as a Hell portal starts to form and show a little red swirl at the point of origin… so I can always be right there when you come back. I know that doesn't lessen the pain of losing one another or make the wait any more bearable. But at least we'll always know where the other is when it counts, yeah?"
Ianto nodded, not trusting his voice as he closed the application before pocketing both PDA and phone as his partner snapped the cover over his own device. Then he simply slipped his arms around the former Time Agent beside him and hid his face against the older man's neck. He felt Jack's arms go around him as well, one shifting up so the American could stroke his hair.
"Bad present?" Harkness asked uncertainly.
"Most perfect present I've ever gotten," Ianto reassured, his voice soft but passionate. "Thank you, Cariad."
The Captain smiled and tightened his embrace, easing them both back against the cushions. He knew he'd scored big time, by his lover's use of the Welsh term of endearment that had started slipping out recently. Merry Christmas, indeed.
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AN: The boys finally get their Christmas Day together… and they're really making it count. (Sorry for the late post… internet was down all day until about 7:15 pm my time… ugh…)
Single chapter today and Sunday for the New Year, then back to just Saturdays. Hope you've all had an enjoyable Holiday season.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM