Torchwood: Divergence
Book Three: Rheoleiddiad
Chapter 23
Back at the Hub, Ianto had insisted on making the call to UNIT, leaving Jack to contact PC Davidson and start things rolling for cleaning up at the café.
"UNIT's enroute, ETA twenty minutes," the young Welshman stated quietly, going up to pour coffee for his partner. "They have the containment boxes you requested. I'll formulate a cover story and get the body of the victim taken care of once Martha takes a look at her for a definitive cause of death."
"Turlough and I can do that," Harkness insisted, sitting the cup he was handed aside and making the younger man face him. "We're normally not face to face with the victims of Rift related incursions, and I honestly can't remember the last time a team member was holding them when they died. I can tell this is really bothering you, so we'll take care of it."
"It's part of my job, Jack," Ianto countered, though his eyes showed how hard doing it was going to be this time. "I'll get it sorted… and figure out something else for breakfast. Didn't quite get that far before things went wrong this morning. Sorry."
"No, you won't," the Captain stated firmly, putting a hand on either side of the Changeling's face and squarely meeting his miserable gaze. "As your boss, I'm ordering you to stand down. As your partner, I want you to get yourself some coffee and take a little time to settle from this. Couch, bedroom chair, doesn't matter. Let yourself calm down from what's happened, yeah? I'll take the van over to the café, we'll get UNIT and Andy started, then head back home. The others should be in by then, so there'll be plenty of help on the details. Relax… please."
The twenty-six-year-old nodded reluctantly, looked like he was about to cry but stubbornly refused to give in to the urge. His lover leaned forward to give him a comforting kiss, then pulled him close for a moment.
"I know it doesn't seem like it," Jack murmured. "But you did a really good job at the café. I doubt the girl who died stood a chance once she'd been injured by that thing, and there's no way you could've known it was there before that. You kept the rest of them safe, took care of the threat, made excellent use of Retcon to salvage the situation, and gave comfort to the one you couldn't save."
"I lied," Ianto protested shakily. "I lied to her about being an angel and taking her to Heaven. She went into the Dark believing a lie, Jack."
"It was the right thing to do," the older immortal reassured. "The truth just would've scared her more than she already was. Sometimes a little lie is the only kindness we can offer. You didn't do anything wrong."
Ianto nodded slowly, still upset over what had happened but knowing his Captain was right. Reluctantly, he ended their embrace, just as the cog-wheel door rotated open and Turlough came through with Lois.
"Get some coffee," Harkness urged, offering another small kiss. "I want you sitting and relaxing before I leave."
Then he turned to the newcomers and started their day with a bang.
"Turlough, grab a body bag, I'll meet you at the van," the American called. "Full details later. Right now, we have a Rift victim to collect and a cover story to create. Lois, the café is closed at the moment. I need you to go to the bakery for breakfast, something chocolate by preference. I'll give you the money back later. Oh, call Martha and tell her we need her here ASAP for a cause of death and alien autopsy."
Both team members scrambled to comply, their leader turning back to the young Welshman who now stood staring at his cup of plain black coffee.
"Come on," Jack prodded quietly, nudging the unsettled Guardian toward the stairs. "Couch or bedroom?"
"Firing range," his Archivist replied softly. "I… think I need to meditate for a while."
"Be careful," Harkness nodded. "Drink your coffee, and I'll come find you once we've got things under control on this one."
His lover murmured a word of acknowledgement, and headed for the less used upper access that led to the Vaults and other areas of the base. In the same moment, Turlough appeared with a body bag and several pairs of surgical gloves.
"UNIT's on the way for hazmat and Andy's covering the civilian angle," the Captain stated, starting for the door. "Gwen's on site to keep things locked down till we're done. Whatever came through the Rift was blocking comms, phones, wireless, the lot. But only at the café. Outside they work fine. Start thinking of a plausible excuse for an eighteen-year-old from Leeds to be dead after only two weeks in Cardiff. She was supposed to report for work at the café this morning by 5:00 am. We need to make her disappear before she arrived."
"On it," the redhead stated evenly as they climbed into the van. "I take it Ianto was there for the incursion. Explains why he looks like someone just ran over his puppy with a lorry. Bad way to start the day."
"Big time," Jack agreed, getting them underway. "Between last night and this, he hasn't gotten off to a very good start being back on duty. He did an outstanding job, but couldn't help the girl that died. I've been there more times than I want to count… went through it with him in London. It never gets any easier."
"I've faced that a couple of times myself back during the civil war my Uncle started on Trion," Turlough frowned. "And no, it doesn't. Think he'll be okay?"
"It'll haunt him for a while," Harkness nodded sadly. "I'd be more worried if it didn't. But he's tonnes tougher than I used to think, so I'm sure he'll come to terms with it and move on. It'll just take some time."
"I'll do the cover story and body disposal," the team's tech specialist offered. "He needs a little distance this round."
The Captain didn't comment, simply steered the van down the alleyway the row of shops backed into, and parked behind the Heddlu unit already there. Time to start cleaning up the Rift's latest mess.
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AN: Sorry for the late post… I have a lot going on right now.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM