Discovery: Chapter 38 - Habit

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Discovery: Chapter 38 - Habit
AUTHOR: Aviv_b
RATING: Chapter 38 - PG-13 for language and sexual references
CHARACTERS: Ianto, Owen, OCs - The Brigadier, Stephen, Bryan, Jonathan, Martha, Tom, Saundra
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 4740
SUMMARY: Ianto and Owen attend a New Year's party at The Brigadier's. Why is everyone so interested in Ianto? Who's the man with hazel eyes that Ianto is attracted to? And what mischief is Stephen up to now?

The story title is from the following quote: Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits. ~Author Unknown

The party at The Brigadier’s house was set for 8 PM. Ianto and Stephen had promised to come over early for a little family celebration beforehand. Ianto was surprised to see that Stephen was planning on wearing a pair of dress slacks and a sports jacket rather than a suit.

‘I brought a suit, am I going to be out of place?’

Stephen laughed, “No, I’m going to probably catch hell for being so casual, but really, I don’t own anything dressier than this. No one gets that dressed up anymore, unless you’re old like Father.”

When Ianto got dressed for the party, Stephen looked him over and remarked, “I correct what I said earlier. No one but old people and you get dressed up. I like the dark shirt though, makes a very different look from the standard white dress shirt. Can’t decide if you look more like an undertaker or a hit man.”

‘Hit man, spy, gigolo, take your pick.’

“That must have set you back a bit, unless you have some rich sugar daddy.” Ianto blushed. “Come on, who is he?”

Even though the Brigadier knew what was going on, Ianto didn’t want everyone in London to know. He sidestepped the question as best he could. ‘Oi, I’m not going to kiss and tell. Let’s just say that he is very handsome, very generous and I’m not complaining.’

“Ianto, you’re a kept man,” Stephen teased.

Ianto actually didn’t like the sound of that phrase at all and told Stephen about his new job. ‘I can support myself, thank you very much. But if someone wants to buy me a nice Christmas present, then why not.’ It did occur to Ianto that he probably shouldn’t allow UNIT to continue to pay for his flat. He’d have to mention that to The Brigadier when he had a moment.

When they arrived at The Brigadier’s home, Bryan was already there with a very attractive young lady. Bryan introduced Suzanne as his girlfriend which amused Ianto as he had never seen Bryan date the same woman for more than a few weeks.

‘Sorry about the phone,’ Ianto apologized to Suzanne, ‘but you are so beautiful that I’m speechless.’

“Don’t worry about it, Bryan explained about your…situation. The voice is actually very nice. I wonder if your own voice sounds as sexy.”

Bryan snorted. “He’s here five minutes and is already hitting on my girlfriend. Ianto you are unbelievable. I think it’s the suit. Is that new? I know it hasn’t escaped Suzanne’s attention that it’s leaving very little to the imagination.”

‘And that’s a bad thing?’

“I certainly don’t mind,” Suzanne replied smiling at Ianto.

A few minutes later, Owen arrived. Ianto introduced him to Bryan and Suzanne and excused himself to go get a drink. Ianto could hear Owen trying to charm Suzanne while querying Bryan about Stephen.

Just then, Saundra and Jonathan arrived along with another man that Ianto didn’t recognize. Ianto froze when he saw the man. He was older, medium height, with sandy brown hair and hazel eyes. Though he was wearing a nice suit, it was obvious that this man was very fit, almost a little too muscular to look good in a suit. Ianto felt himself drawn to the man. ‘Who is he? He’s not the best looking man I’ve ever seen but there’s something about him…’

‘Well hello gorgeous,’ Ianto heard someone say, but there was no one speaking to him. The man smiled at Ianto and nodded. Ianto was a little freaked; the compliment was so clear in his mind he still was a bit confused. ‘Fuck, he’s pushing his thoughts right at me.’ The man began to walk over toward Ianto. Ianto took a nervous step backwards.

‘Sorry.’ “Sorry,” the man said out loud. “I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m Aaron. Father told me you had some empathic ability but I really didn’t think you would pick up on my thoughts so easily. I’m a little embarrassed; not that I didn’t mean what I said, I just don’t usually say that first thing off to someone I don’t know.” Aaron blushed.

Ianto smiled a bit. Aaron’s was not quite the confident seducer when it came to talking to someone. Ianto smirked, ‘so you wait how long normally before you come on to someone? Five minutes?’

Aaron was so nervous that when he tried to explain that he never would never say anything that direct to someone, he ended up tripping over his words and repeating him self several times. “No, no, I wouldn’t normally be that forward, not that your not worth being forward for…I mean, I didn’t think you’d hear me, so I just let what I thought out there, not to frighten you, but maybe to see if you’d hear…or not.’ Aaron’s voice trailed off with embarrassment.

Ianto thought he was adorable. ‘Really its OK, I’m actually a bit flattered.’

“Oh, that’s good then?’ Aaron answered, still unsure of how big an error he had committed.

‘Yes it is. I think you could use a drink. I need to go over and say hello to Saundra and Jonathan; why don’t you get something for yourself and rejoin us?’

Ianto was still chuckling to himself as he walked across the room. “I see you’ve met
Aaron,” Jonathan said laughing, “and it looked like you had him pretty well hypnotized there. Must be the suit. I know you’re not that interesting!”

Ianto shook Jonathan’s hand and kissed Saundra on the cheek. ‘Yeah, that’s me, Ianto Jones, secret agent and stud muffin.’

Jonathan snorted, “Using your right hand now, that’s great! And you look really good. You clean up nicely, the suit’s very attractive and I’d be…well attracted if…I swung that way…but I don’t. I mean I’m not. Not that there’s anything wrong with it…or not.”

Aaron walked up just as Saundra and Ianto started laughing. “Hey Aaron, he just did it to me! Ianto had me so flustered that I could hardly get a proper sentence formed. I think his suit has hypnotic powers.”

‘OK jigs up. Yes I’m a Time Lord; now where did I put my big blue box?’ Aaron almost spit out his drink. ‘Aaron, I’m kidding, you do know that,’ Ianto asked.

“I swear for a minute, I wasn’t sure. I thought I was in for it, some kind of divine retribution for flirting with a Time Lord.”

The Brigadier asked for everyone’s attention. “Before the other guests arrive I wanted to say how nice it is to have the family all together. It’s been a number of years since all three of my sons were here for New Years. I’d like to propose a toast.

The Brigadier’s toast turned out to be a rather long review of everything that had happened that year with his family as well as his being at Canary Wharf and meeting Ianto and Owen. “Before I forget, I have a little something for Owen and Ianto from UNIT. Come over here you two.”

The Brigadier told everyone about Owen climbing into the rubble when they thought they were going to lose Ianto, as well as how he wouldn’t come out even on threat of UNIT imprisonment. “UNIT unfortunately does not have a medal for ‘most insubordinate git.’ It does however have another one that I think will do quite nicely. By order of the Senior Executive Staff of UNIT, I hereby award you the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal.” The Brigadier pinned the medal to Owen’s suit pocket.

Owen was a bit embarrassed and didn’t know quite what to say. But everyone was calling for remarks so he thought he’d best get on with it. “Well, this is quite a surprise. I’m very honored to accept this award. I must tell you that I haven’t, even for a moment regretted what I did that day. OK, there was the day Ianto managed to total my car without even driving it, but other than that I don’t regret it. Seriously, being Ianto’s doctor for the last six months has been a real growth experience for the both of us. I think I’ve learned as much from Ianto about real courage as I could from any member of the armed forces. Thank you again for the recognition.”

Ianto had blushed a bit at Owen’s remarks. The Brigadier laughed to himself, ‘you’re going to be a lot more embarrassed in a few moments.’ Clearing his throat, The Brigadier remarked, “And what can I say about Ianto? He really has become part of the lives of so many of us here. He’s become like a son to me, and I assure you that he makes me just as crazy as my own three. He’s battled so hard to regain his health and independence that I’m in awe of him. Owen’s right; Ianto has showed as much if not more bravery than anything I’ve seen on the field in the British Army and now UNIT.” Ianto was getting redder by the moment.

I’m afraid we don’t have any medals for you today, but we have an official UNIT beret for you. Seems someone was very keen on you having one.” The Brigadier placed the cap on Ianto’s head, adjusting it to just the right angle.

Ianto turned almost as red as the beret. ‘I’m overwhelmed. UNIT has done everything for me. I’ve had the best medical care, a place to live and a new start on life because of UNIT. And The Brigadier has been like a father to me. Including the scolding when I don’t listen to him. His son’s have really been real friends and I hope we’ll remain so even after I leave London in a few weeks. As for cap’, Ianto said smiling, ‘I’m sure it will be put to good use as soon as I return to Cardiff.’ Only Owen and The Brigadier laughed. Everyone else just shrugged at his last remark.

“And I’d just like to mention,” The Brigadier added, “that if either of you every get tired of working for Torchwood, you’d be most welcome to come and work for UNIT.”

The Brigadier was prevented from making additional remarks as more people were gathering in the entryway to the room and beginning to get a bit noisy.

Ianto went to take off his beret. “Oh no you don’t,” said Martha as she and Tom came in, “I went through a lot of trouble to get that cap for you at Jack’s request, so you’d better wear it for a while yet.” Ianto rolled his eyes. ‘No one else is in uniform Martha, I feel silly!’

She pouted but said she understood. Martha introduced Ianto to her fiancé Tom who was also a doctor. The shook hands. “This is probably highly inappropriate, but as a surgeon, would you mind if I took a look at your hand?” Ianto shrugged and held out his right hand. Tom studied it closely, turning it over and examining the scaring across the surface. He had Ianto flex his fingers and nodded his positive assessment.

“Dr. Mason did a remarkable job. Except for the scaring, you’d hardly know that there ever was any damage. Martha, you were right about getting him; he really is the best. Are you having any difficulty using it?”

Ianto explained that he could do most things with the hand except write legibly and button very small buttons like on shirt cuffs. Martha asked how he managed with the dress shirt. Ianto smiled and pulled up his jacket sleeve and showed Martha the cufflinks. “Ianto those are gorgeous, but why do they have SJ on them?” Martha was pleased to hear about how well Christmas had gone with his sister and family and was very touched about the cufflinks. Ianto did not mention anything about Christmas at Gwen’s. He also mentioned that using a stick shift was a bit of a challenge.

“That reminds me, what was this about you totaling Owen’s car?”

Ianto muted the sound on his Blackberry and typed ‘Weevils, ask Owen, he’ll probably send you the tape.’ Martha raised an eyebrow. ‘Yeah, it’s coming out on DVD next month – Ianto versus The Weevil. I think it will be a smashing success.’
He quickly erased the sentences.

As the evening went on, Ianto found that lots of guests that he didn’t know seemed to be seeking him out. Many were UNIT personnel who had been involved in the rescue and recovery operations from Canary Wharf. Ianto was puzzled why they were so interested in him until one woman remarked, “That had to be one of worst weeks of my life. So much horror, such a tragedy; seeing you doing so well makes me feel like at least something good was salvaged from the ruins.”

Other guests were mostly curious, asking about his work, if his hand worked well, how he was getting along. Ianto answered the questions patiently, realizing that they were rubber-necking a bit, but really didn’t mean to offend.

A few guests were downright obnoxious, asking him personal questions about whether he could have a normal sex life (‘it’s my hand that got crushed, not my dick, you git,’ he thought), the size of the monetary settlement he thought he’d receive, and on two occasions offering what he thought of as ‘pity sex.’

Finally, he just needed to get a little breathing space. There was a large terrace off the dining room, and though it was fairly chilly out, Ianto slipped outside. He was surprised to see that someone else was out there as well. He was even more surprised to see it was Aaron. ‘OK, I’m tired of answering everyone’s way too personal questions about my injuries, what’s your excuse?’

“Pretty much the same thing.” Ianto looked puzzled. “I lost my partner of almost fifteen years this summer. Everyone’s trying to be so nice and concerned and ends up saying all the wrong things. The best so far is some old bag who told me, ‘you’re still nice looking, I’m sure you’ll find someone new any day now.’ He was my lover, not my pet goldfish. You just don’t go out and get a new one to keep in your flat.’

‘I’m so sorry. It must be hard to be here without him.’

Aaron smiled sadly. “See you get it. This is the first social event I’ve been to since his death and all I can think of is how Geoffrey would have reacted to everything. He always seemed so cultured and sophisticated on the surface, but inside was an extremely snarky and irreverent man. By now he would have critiqued all the bad clothing choices and obnoxious people. He would have loved your suit. Probably would have teased me about whether we should both hit on you. I never felt nervous being at one of these parties when I was with him. Now, I don’t know what to say to people. Mostly, I just want them to stop feeling sorry for me, and leave me alone.”

Ianto nodded. ‘Yeah, if one more person asks me if I’m able to shag, no I’m NOT kidding,’ Ianto said as Aaron shook his head in disbelief, ‘I may have to ask them to come into another room with me for a demonstration.’

Aaron snorted. “Ianto, I’ve been meaning to ask you, are you able to shag?” Ianto gave Aaron a shocked look; a few second later he got the joke. ‘Oi, the bereaved should not be making sex jokes, especially with the vocally challenged.’

“So if I was interested, are you available? How’s that for subtle?”

Ianto felt a little sad having to tell Aaron, ‘I’ve just started seeing someone, so I’m not really available.’

Aaron sighed. “I sort of thought that was the case. You have that ‘happily shagged look’ about you.”

It was Ianto’s turn to snort. ‘And what does that look like, pray tell?’

“Well you’re wearing a suit that costs more than a thousand US dollars and I’m guessing that your job probably didn’t pay quite enough to allow for that.”

‘Details, details. Can I ask why you would be quoting the price in dollars?’

“Didn’t Father tell you that after he and my Mom divorced that we moved from the UK?”

‘Well he did say that you moved away with your mum, but I just assumed that he meant away from London, not that you moved to the US.’

“We did move far away, but not to the US. My mom’s from Israel, she was one of the first Israeli’s to join UNIT. Turned out she was a little too outspoken for the political nature of the organization, not to mention my father. Israeli women have always had a very strong presence in their military; forty some years ago, most other governments as well as UNIT didn’t really let women rise through the military ranks except perhaps nursing or other auxiliary functions. Poor Father, he really didn’t have a clue what he was in for when he married my Mom.”

‘Can I ask; how old were you when they divorced?’

“Around six, but believe me the fireworks started long before then. Even at that age, I knew they’d be better off divorced.”

‘I want to ask you something, but I don’t know how to ask without seeming very rude or offensive.’

“Let me guess. You want to know if I’m Jewish, because I don’t ‘look Jewish,’ Aaron laughed as he made air quotes. “Or, if you’re being really rude, you want to know if I’m circumcised.” It was Ianto’s turn to almost spit out his drink.

‘Honestly, it was the first question. I don’t know If I’ve ever met anyone who is Jewish before. I mean I must have, but how would I know? I mean you don’t look any different, and it’s not like I’ve seen you naked…’ Ianto couldn’t believe he said that. ‘Duw, I sound like an idiot.’

“Well just consider it payback for earlier this evening when you had me tongue-tied. Simple answers. Yes, I’m technically Jewish, but I’m not observant. Like a Christian who doesn’t go to church but maybe has a Christmas Tree. Second, yes, and third, no you can’t see it.”

Ianto laughed. After a couple of drinks Aaron was much more relaxed and very funny. They moved back inside as it was too cold to stand outside for long.

They chatted some more and discovered that they both had an interest in threat assessment software applications. Aaron had been tinkering with a way to link written and oral communications through screening for key word or phrase identification while Ianto was working on expanding Torchwood’s software applications to handle human as well as alien threats. Ianto wanted to diagram some of cross-referencing ideas he had and they wandered off to find some paper.

They ended up in The Brigadier’s study and found some paper to draw on. Ianto began to chart out his ideas and Aaron joined in adding his thoughts on how the architecture of the system could be designed. After nearly an hour, Ianto was startled to realize that they hadn’t spoken or in Ianto’s case, used the voice synthesizer to communicate.

‘Whoa! Did we just spend the last hour listening to each others thoughts?’

“Yeah, I wondered when you’d notice. It’s so much easier than writing or speaking isn’t it?”

‘It is, but it’s almost a little creepy. Like when you startled me earlier this evening.’

“I think it’s OK, as long as you don’t take someone by surprise. And you can only have a two-way link if both parties are empathic.”

‘My sister reminded me at Christmas how I used to ask her, seemingly out of no where, something about what she was thinking. My niece, Mica has the same ability.’

“I used to do the same thing when I was a kid; my step-sisters teased me about being an alien. And of course, we both know there aren’t any aliens coming to earth,” Aaron said winking at Ianto.

Ianto snorted thinking, ‘for something’s that supposed to be a secret, it seems like half the world already knows we’re being visited by little green men.’

They agreed to talk some more about possibly working together on some software ideas once Ianto got settled back in Cardiff. They wandered back to the main group of guests just as the two minute countdown to midnight began. Ianto and Aaron looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Jonathon came over to join them. “Are we all going to kiss,” he asked.

‘I thought you didn’t swing that way. Heard you and Stephen had a big row about it.’

“Oi, is he still going on about that? Short version is Stephen tried to hit on me, and I wasn’t interested and told him so. But Stephen being Stephen was absolutely loaded and very persistent. I ended up saying some things to him that weren’t very nice, but that man doesn’t know when to stop.”

Ianto nodded. He knew all about Stephen not knowing when he was over the line. ‘He sent me hash brownies in the mail for Christmas. I gave them to some co-workers who got absolutely stoned. I can’t imagine what would have happened if my niece or nephew had gotten into them.’

“30 seconds,” someone yelled out.

“And just to prove I’m not some homophobic asshat…”

“10 Seconds.”

…“I’m snogging you both at midnight.”

“3, 2, 1…Happy New Year!”

Jonathon leaned over and gave Aaron a sloppy kiss. Ianto’s eyes widened. Before he knew it, Jonathan was snogging him and Aaron leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Ianto blushed furiously and put a hand across his face. Jonathan laughed, “see Aaron, I told you he’d be mortified if we did that to him.”

Aaron was shaking his head. “You’re an evil man Jonathan; it looks like it might take a week for Ianto to turn pale again.”

“Don’t you mean pasty,” Jonathan snarked. “Is it possible; I think Ianto just got redder.”

‘Oi, stop it, both of you. Otherwise, I’m going to go get Stephen to bother you.’

“Now there’s a threat worth avoiding.”

Funny thing, none of them had seen Stephen for some time. They discretely started looking around and asking people if they had seen him recently. They finally located him passed out in one of the bedrooms. He was very pale, and they couldn’t rouse him.

‘I’m getting Owen.’

“Please be discrete,” Aaron pleaded. “I’d rather Father didn’t know unless he has to.”

Ianto nodded and quickly found Owen who was chatting up a very attractive young woman. Ianto put on what he thought of as his ‘I don’t feel good’ look and interrupted their conversation. ‘Owen, I’m really sorry, but I have a little problem. Can I speak to you for a moment?’

Owen immediately switched his attention to Ianto and was concerned at how he looked. He excused himself from the conversation and pulled Ianto aside. “What’s wrong, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

‘I hope not, but something’s wrong with Stephen. Jonathan and Aaron are with him. We found him passed out and we can’t wake him up.’

As luck would have it, Martha noticed the two of them in concerned conversation.

She walked over to them. “What’s going on. I can tell, something’s wrong.” Owen quietly explained and they headed off to the bedroom.

When they got there, Aaron and Jonathan were trying to get a very woozy Stephen to sit up. Owen examined him and saw that his eyes were dilated. His heart beat was rapid and his hands and facial muscles seemed to be twitching randomly. Aaron went through Jonathan’s trouser pockets and pulled out several brightly colored pills. Martha knew what they were. “MDMA,” she stated, “you know Ecstasy.”

“How dangerous is that,” Aaron asked. Martha thought that Jonathan hadn’t technically overdosed; but that he had ingested far more than the normal amount and could possible go into seizure. “I don’t think it’s fatal in and of itself, but I’m concerned that if he seizes or has a heart arrhythmia he could be in big trouble.

No one wanted to tell The Brigadier. They knew he would be furious and send everyone home which would make Stephen’s drug problem common knowledge. And they didn’t want the Brigadier to be embarrassed. “He doesn’t have to worry about Father killing him, I’m going to do it myself,” Aaron fumed.

Martha spoke carefully. “Look, Aaron and I will drive him over to the Emergency Room. I think we can get him there without any danger. Once the party has ended, call my cell and I’ll talk to The Brigadier, explain what we know at that point. Obviously, if something happens, we’ll call you immediately, so Owen leave your phone on.”

They managed to get Stephen into the back seat of Aaron’s car. Martha climbed in the back with Stephen and they drove off to the hospital.

The party started breaking up not long after. It probably didn’t hurt that Jonathan, Ianto and Tom would walk up to people, talk for a bit and then yawn loudly. As the last guests were leaving, Owen rang up Martha. She had been able to get Stephen priority access (he certainly wasn’t the only over imbiber in the ER that night), and he was assessed as not being in immediate danger. He had an IV inserted to prevent dehydration and would be under observation as he came down from the drug. A psychiatric social worker was coming by in the morning and Aaron was hoping to get Stephen to agree to go into a drug and alcohol rehab program.

When Owen informed The Brigadier of the situation he shook his head and sighed. “I just can’t reckon what’s wrong with that boy. He’s almost thirty and he still acts like he’s in his teens. I live in dread of getting a phone call that he’s overdosed, or gotten into an accident or arrested for drug possession.

The Brigadier wanted to go over to the hospital, but Owen advised against it. “I think that Aaron will have a better chance of getting him to enroll in a rehab program. It sounds like some of his acting out is to piss you off, and he’s doing a great job isn’t he?” The Brigadier nodded in agreement. “I’m really sorry that your celebration ended this way. I think Ianto and I should go over to Stephen’s flat and search it for drugs. In case law enforcement gets involved, we don’t want him to face drug charges as well.”

Owen and The Brigadier shook hands and The Brigadier suddenly hugged Ianto tightly. “All you boys are such a lot of trouble; I’m getting too old for this.” He let Ianto out of his grip, and ruffled his hair. “Behave yourself; I can’t take any more surprises right now.”

Owen and Ianto went back to Stephen’s flat and did a full out search. They found a startling variety of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Ianto made it clear he wasn’t going to stay at Stephen’s flat with illegal drugs present. Owen sighed and phoned Martha who said she would arrange for appropriate disposal and that a UNIT team would be over within the hour.

“Well, it’s three in the morning, really no point in going to bed,” Owen snarked.

“Why don’t you go back to the hotel, there’s no point in both of us being up.”

Owen was insistent that he was staying until the UNIT team left. “I’m not leaving you here alone to deal with the UNIT thugs. Some of their covert people can be a little over the top and the last thing I want is to have to bail you out of trouble tomorrow.” Ianto shuddered at the thought.

“Why don’t you get out of your suit and into something comfortable? No point in you getting that messed up.” Ianto changed and brought out some clothes for Owen.

“Well, I’ll take the T-shirt, but the pants will never fit me. But at least I can get out of this damn noose,” Owen said loosening his tie.

By the time the UNIT team arrived Ianto was asleep on the sofa. Owen gave them several large black plastic trash bags which they took without question. One of the team looked at Ianto. “Is he alright?” Owen snorted, “The problem child is in the hospital; he’s just sleeping.”

After they left, Owen thought about driving back to his hotel room. Realizing he was too tired to drive safely, he went into Ianto’s room and got into bed. ‘The Brigadier’s not the only one who is getting too old for this,’ he thought as he fell asleep.

Chapter 39 is here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/14497.html