Ptorchwood Ptales & Ptimely Pthoughts

Discovery: Chapter 39 - Intrusion
AUTHOR: Aviv_b
RATING:  Chapter 39 - PG for language and sexual references
CHARACTERS: Ianto, OCs - Aaron, UNIT PR staff
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 1970
SUMMARY: Ianto gets a little training in handling the press from the UNIT PR staff and says his final good-byes to his friends in London.

 

The story title is from the following quote: The things most people want to know about are usually none of their business. George Bernard Shaw.

Ianto felt much better after his nap. Dinner was surprisingly enjoyable. David and Mica peppered Ianto with questions about his secret agent activities.

“Do you get to carry a gun?” David asked, “cause that would be so cool.”

Ianto explained that he did more mundane jobs like classifying and filing data and reports.  Seeing David’s disappointment he added, ‘but sometimes I get to work with the secret agents. I could tell you about them, but then I’d have to kill you.’

David smirked, “Yeah, right, like you could kill someone.” Ianto shrugged.

“Oi, I’m gonna kill someone if they don’t start showing some manners,” Johnny warned David.

Mica wanted to know if he got to drive a fast car. ‘I don’t have any car right now. In fact, we borrowed Gwen’s car to see if I can drive with stick shift. We’re going to try that out tomorrow morning ’

Johnny queried, “Why wouldn’t you be able to drive?”

Ianto explained about the diminished strength and dexterity in his right hand and how he had trouble with some tasks like buttoning small buttons and twisting off the tops of jars. Rhiannon was terribly distressed by this news.

‘It’s really not that bad. My new dress shirts have French cuffs; it’s actually easier for me to use cufflinks than to try to work with those tiny buttons they put on shirt cuffs. Shoot, I don’t think I have any cufflinks…I’ll have to borrow some from Stephen or Bryan. Besides I’m glad I have these problems to worry about, I almost didn’t you know.’   It only took a moment for Rhiannon and Johnny to understand what Ianto was referring to.

“Well, I’m glad you have both your hands,” Mica piped up. Owen was shocked that Mica understood what Ianto had very obliquely mentioned. He looked at Johnny, then Rhiannon and then Ianto for an explanation.

Rhiannon sighed. “Yeah, she’s just like Ianto in physical appearance as well as that uncanny ability to know what you’re thinking.”

Dinner continued uneventfully and they began to talk about New Years. “Ianto and I have been invited to a very posh party at Brigadier Hamilton’s for New Years. That’s why we had to get him a new suit. He has a couple of nice ones already, but they don’t fit at all. Hopefully, once he puts on some weight we can get them altered to fit properly.”

Owen realized that they didn’t have a clue who The Brigadier was. “The Brigadier, he’s the one who has been overseeing care for the survivors. Ianto had his own UNIT medic in London and has been staying with one of the Brigadiers son’s now that he isn’t in in-patient rehab anymore. Yeah, he’s been kind of like a father to Ianto these last six months.”

‘And Owen has been like a mother to me, he scolds me worse than you do,’ he said to Mum.

Johnny translated, listened to Mum’s reply and then translated again for Owen. “She says she likes you even better; she could tell you were talking good care of her boy.”

Owen smiled at Mum and nodded.

Soon dinner was over, and with some fussing and cajoling with Mica and a few threats from Johnny to David, the kids got ready for bed. The adults still sat at the table drinking coffee.

Johnny looked at Ianto. “Now that the kids have gone to bed, can I ask you something? I’ve really never understood what an Information Architect does. Surely you’re doing more than just filing stuff?”

‘It’s hard to explain. The most important part of the job is trying to see connections between seemingly random events or pieces of information. And then coding or describing the information in a format where it can be easily retrieved or matched against new data. Kind of like having pieces to a puzzle, and figuring out how they go together when your not sure what the finished product looks like.’

“That’s why you’ve got all these government people checking on activities of suspected terrorists including their phone calls and Internet access, travel plans and the like,” Johnny concluded.

‘That’s exactly right, because if they intercept several strange communications about crazy glue, then maybe that’s code for a bomb or something.’

“Or maybe you just have a few head cases who love to talk about crazy glue,” Owen added. Everyone smiled.

Rhiannon wanted to ask something, but was afraid that Ianto would be upset. Ianto looked at her and asked her what she was afraid to ask.

“Oi, see what I mean, just like Mica.” She turned to Owen, “he’d do that as a kid, ya know, it was kind of creepy.”

“Ianto, do they have any idea who was behind the attack at Canary Wharf? Is anyone going to be held responsible?”

Ianto took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Honestly, someone knows something, but whatever it is they don’t want the public to know. And I have signed numerous secrecy and nondisclosure agreements that are still in force so I don’t think I should be saying anything that I think. I’m sorry, I really am, but I think its best we don’t talk about it.’

Rhiannon and Johnny had been patiently translating all of the conversation for Mum, and she began to speak angrily in Welsh. When she finished, Johnny explained, “She’s convinced it was the IRA. Says they’ve never really wanted peace and now they’re still bombing but are too cowardly to admit it. And the British government doesn’t want to jeopardize the so-called peace treaty, so they won’t admit that they know who it is. Well, that would explain, perhaps, her dislike for your lady friend in London.” Ianto nodded.

Johnny continued, “Personally, a lot of my mates think its aliens. Yeah, little green men or something. They say that they’ve been responsible for all the strange goings-on in London every Christmas. Good thing you’re here then. What do think, Ianto?”

Ianto shot Owen a quick glance that Johnny did not miss. He sighed, ‘Do you really think it’s true? Little green men from Mars coming here in their spacecrafts for what? What would London or Cardiff have for that matter that they would want? Trust me, if there are aliens, they’d be landing in Washington or Delhi or Beijing, somewhere where there might be some power or wealth that they wanted.’

Johnny shrugged; he had no idea what to think.

They talked on for hours catching up on the last five years; about Mum’s condition, Johnny’s jobs, David and Mica’s school, old friends and neighbors as well as changes to Cardiff. Ianto was surprised at how many of his old classmates were married with children or married and now divorced.

‘Oi, I can’t believe Michael has two kids with his first wife and one with a second wife. Why he’s not much older than me, 25 or 26, right?’

“Yeah,” Rhiannon sighed, “not much to do around here but get married and have babies. Which is why I’m really glad you left and got an education. I’m not glad that you didn’t keep contact with us, but really happy you’re back. Ianto, do you think this is a permanent move back to Cardiff or what?”

Ianto thought it best to be honest. ‘I don’t know Rhi, I really don’t. I’ve got work for now with Three but I don’t know if its something that will last long term or if there’s anything else I could do for them. Captain Jack would probably keep me on the payroll indefinitely if I know him, but I don’t want to be a charity case. Seriously, if I don’t stay on at Torchwood Three, I’m probably looking at moving back to London or some other major city at some point, but I promise if that were to happen, I won’t be the missing in action again.’

“And just remember, the train between Cardiff and London takes less than three hours, so we’ll hold you to that promise,” added Owen.

“Its probably none of my business, but are you going to get any settlement from the whole Canary Wharf business?” Johnny inquired.

Ianto hadn’t heard anything about settlements and looked at Owen puzzled. “Sorry Ianto, I totally forgot about the settlements. There have been settlements made with the families of all the victims in the last six months. That’s public knowledge. There’s a meeting in London sometime in January with the UNIT Canary Wharf Task Force including The Brigadier, Captain Jack, Archie from Torchwood Two as well as representatives of the Queen’s Treasury and Parliament to discuss settlements for the survivors. There are only a handful of you, so I think they are going to look at each survivor individually. 

‘I don’t want their blood money. It’s not going to change anything that happened there!’

Rhiannon and Johnny were surprised at the bitterness of Ianto’s statement. Owen wasn’t surprised at all. “Listen, Torchwood One truly screwed up on the whole situation. But all of the higher ups are gone. Dead, Ianto. There isn’t anyone to hold responsible. Yvonne Hartmann was one of the first killed and con…a, well killed. All her direct reports were also killed by the terrorists. But for the families that were left behind without a breadwinner or lost someone dear to them, the only thing they can do is to pay some type of restitution. “

Ianto shook his head with disgust. ‘Well, I’m not dead, so what do I need a settlement for?’

“So if you can’t find work, or at some point are too disabled to work you won’t have to go on the dole. Or maybe you’ll need some modifications to your car, or something else that costs more because of your disability, its only right that you have some money to cover those expenses. Listen, you can put it into a trust and never touch it if you don’t need it. Use some of it for David and Mica’s university expenses. Give it away to charity. Once its yours, you can do with it what you like. But seriously, mate; no one knows what the future holds. I’d tuck it away somewhere safe in case you need it when you are old and gray.”

“There’s wisdom in what Owen’s saying, Ianto,” Johnny told him with concern. “What if something comes up later from your injuries that you didn’t anticipate? At least the one thing you won’t have to worry about is money. I’m now going to be terribly rude and ask Owen what he thinks you’ll get.” Ianto rolled his eyes.

“Yes filthy lucre, I know. The settlements have been from around 1.2 million pounds to just over 3 million pounds. I think he’ll get around the average which was almost 2 million pounds.”

Ianto was shocked. ‘Two million pounds. I don’t know if that’s a ridiculously large or ridiculously small settlement for the loss of my voice and some use of my hand. But I can tell you, they could keep their money if I could have my voice back.’

“Ianto, I’m sorry, I know how you feel. But they can’t do that so what else can they do? And don’t you even think about refusing it. The Queen has made these settlements her personal responsibility and you would disgrace yourself, your family and Torchwood if you refused.”

‘Why would anyone care? I’m nobody.’

“Ianto, the press is developing a growing fascination with the survivors. Since you’ve been in a UNIT medical facility, and then secluded at Stephen’s, they haven’t been able to get to you. That’s one of the reasons The Brigadier and Captain Jack thought you’d be better off in Cardiff. Here you’re the hometown hero and the Cardiff press has a little more respect for privacy than the London press does. But don’t kid yourself, at some point someone’s going to start asking a lot of intrusive questions and we’re going to have to prepare you for that.”

“And you can bet that as we get closer to the one year anniversary of the attack, the requests for interviews and the like are going to intensify. Yeah, didn’t mean to spoil your Christmas, but you’ve been sheltered from the media circus up till now, but that’s going to change once you’re living independently. I know The Brigadier is going to spend some time with you and some UNIT public relations folks after New Years working with you on this.”

Ianto sighed. ‘Maybe Santa could bring me a Taser for Christmas. Sounds like I might need one to deal with the press.’

Mum said something which Johnny translated. “Mum says if they pick on her boy, they are going to have to deal with her, and they’ll be very sorry.” Ianto looked at his mother in her wheelchair and realized that her love for him was unwavering. Except for the mild scolding she’d given him earlier, she was totally supportive and protective of him. She didn’t even seem to care if he was dating a man! 

And Rhi and Johnny, they were acting the same way. They weren’t holding a grudge and they welcomed him home with open arms. He felt terribly guilty at how he had turned his back on them five years ago, feeling they weren’t good enough for him. And now here he was, damaged goods, and they did nothing but make him feel loved and accepted. He felt tears welling up in his eyes.

‘I have the best family anyone could ask for. Really. I don’t deserve it. I’ve been such a fool, I’m so sorry for the time we lost.’ He couldn’t help himself as tears began to run down his face.

Johnny and Rhiannon pulled Ianto up off his chair into an embrace.  “We love you Ianto, we’re your family," Johnny said quietly. “And what Rhi told you before, about wanting you to be happy, that’s true for me as well. Don’t you dare shut us out again. Cause like it or not, you’re stuck with us, mate.”

“And you, Owen, are stuck with us too,” Rhiannon said, turning to Owen and hugging him tight. “For better or worse, you’re family now; welcome to the Jones’.” 

Mum signaled that she wanted to hug Ianto and Owen as well so they both went over and hugged her together. She said something that had Ianto laughing. ‘She says it’s been many years since she’s had two handsome men hug her at the same time. And no, I’m not going to ask her when the last time was.’

It was getting on 11 PM and they began to clean the table and discuss plans for tomorrow. Rhiannon pointed out that Ianto and Owen weren’t going to want to come over early to see the kids open their presents. They both nodded in agreement. They decided to meet at Noon on Christmas day to share an early dinner. That way they could make an early evening of it in preparation for Ianto having to go back to London the next day.

As they drove back to Owen’s flat, Ianto and Owen reflected on how the day had progressed. “See, I told you your family was nice. You got yourself all worked up for nothing.”

‘Yeah, I’m a daft fool for not wanting to see them. I think this is probably the best Christmas I’ve ever had. I’m with my family, my big brother, I have a job, things are looking up.’

Owen snorted. “And since you won’t say it, I will. You’ve also got the hottest stud around wrapped around your little finger. Ianto you are going to be one busy boy when you get back here.”

‘You think?’

“I know.”

‘Who am I to argue with your brilliance?’

After driving back to the Hub, Rhys and Jack transferred Ianto’s presents into the SUV.  “Ianto, don’t let me forget to take these into Owen’ place so you can put them in the Honda tomorrow. “

Ianto hugged Gwen and Rhys goodbye since he wouldn’t be seeing them until he returned to Cardiff at the end of January.  “We’ll have to have a full Christmas family debriefing when you get back,” Gwen laughed.  “Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure we’ll be having the more insane stories.”

‘I hope you’re right, otherwise, I’m in big trouble.’

***

When Ianto and Jack got to Owen’s place, it was clear that Ianto was exhausted.  Jack helped him get into some sweat pants while he stripped down to his briefs.  Once in bed, Ianto was all for some snogging, but Jack could see how tired he was.  “Ianto, let’s just sleep, OK?” 

Ianto felt incredibly disappointed.   ‘What are you tired of me already?’

“You stop that right now.  Come here.”  Jack pulled Ianto against him and held him tight.  “Let’s just snuggle for a while.”  Ianto groaned and shut his eyes.  Jack stroked his hair and spoke softly to him about how much fun they were going to have when he came back to Cardiff.  Five minutes later, Ianto began to snore.  Jack chuckled to himself, ‘hey I like sex as much as anyone, but I generally like my partners to be awake for the experience.’

***

Owen arrived back at his flat around 8 AM.  As he walked by Ianto’s room he couldn’t help but look in.  Jack was spooned against Ianto’s back and both were sound asleep.  They looked so peaceful that Owen felt his heart ache a little.  He remembered how he and Katie used to sleep that way and how safe and grounded he always felt when he woke up holding her.  For the first time since her death he considered that maybe he ought to think about a real relationship with someone, not just meaningless shags with strangers night after night.  ‘What Ianto’s been through is as bad if not worse than my own loss.  If he can move on, I really should be able to as well.’

Owen didn’t want to disturb them, so he closed their door and went to read the morning paper.  About an hour later he heard Jack speaking to Ianto and wanted to make sure they knew he was home.  He went into the kitchen and rattled around some drawers and started to make some coffee. 

Jack came out wearing Ianto’s robe and sat down at Owen’s kitchen table.  He yawned loudly. “I actually slept for a few hours last night.  I don’t do that too often.  And Ianto was asleep five minutes after we went to bed.”  Owen raised his eyebrows. “Hey, I’m not a total git.  He’s exhausted, and for the record I can actually restrain myself on occasion.”

Owen handed Jack a mug of coffee. Jack took a sip. “Owen, also for the record, you make terrible coffee.  I wonder if Ianto can make a decent cup…between yours and Gwen’s coffee, I’m keeping the Starbucks near the Hub in business.”  Owen smiled.

“Is Ianto awake, yet?” 

“He’s sort of in and out; I thought I’d get showered first and then get him up.”

“It’s just going to be the three of us for breakfast, Tosh was pretty tired herself and decided she didn’t want to have to go out until tomorrow.  So we really can just go whenever he’s up and ready.”

Jack went and took his shower and by the time he finished, Ianto was awake. Ianto joined them in the kitchen and they shared a cup of coffee. 

‘Did you make this coffee, Owen?’  Owen nodded.  ‘It sucks, and not in a good way.   I’m going to have to give you some lessons on making coffee when I’m back in January.’

Owen felt a little put out; his coffee wasn’t that bad, was it?  “Oi, I almost forgot a package came for you yesterday from London.”

Ianto was puzzled; he wasn’t expecting any deliveries.  He opened the box and found a large Christmas tin.  He opened it up and saw there were brownies inside.  Still confused, he read the card that came with the tin:

Happy Christmas Ianto!

These brownies are for adults only!  Hope you and your pals at Torchwood enjoy them.

 See you soon, Stephen.

‘Bet they’ve got rum in them, that would be sooo Stephen. Good thing he told me, cause Mica and David would certainly want some. Jack, why don’t you take them to Gwen’s…she’s not having any children over, is she?’

Jack replied that as far as he knew it was just five adults.

‘Well make sure you tell her because I don’t want her serving them later and having a kid get sick because of me.’

“Hopefully, if he used enough rum, that will be obvious to her.”

‘Yeah, true.  Got to tell you, I never knew Stephen could cook.  The most I ever saw him do was open a beer and put some crisps in a bowl. A man of hidden talents, he is.’ 

Jack took the tin and they drove in the SUV to the local waffle house where they had an uneventful breakfast.  Uneventful except for Jack’s atrocious eating habits.  Ianto wasn’t sure if it was an American thing or a Harkness thing, but what was with him trying to eat donuts in two bites.  At one point, Jack started laughing with his mouth full of donut, spewing powdered sugar out over the table.

‘Can’t dress him up and take him anywhere, can you?’ snarked Ianto. 

Owen smiled.  “Oh this is nothing. You should see him with popcorn.  More of it ends up on the floor than actually in his mouth.  Must be because he insists on throwing it in the air to catch with his mouth and misses 90% of the time.”

All too soon breakfast was over and Jack had to get back to keep an eye on the Hub.  When he stopped to drop Owen and Ianto back at the flat, Owen excused himself so that Jack and Ianto could have a private goodbye.

Ianto was surprised that he felt so emotional about leaving Jack.  He willed himself not to cry, but Jack could see how upset he was.  It touched Jack deeply that Ianto was going to miss him after so short a time together.  “Don’t be sad Ianto; think about all the fun we’re going to have once you come back.  Yeah, maybe you could even be thinking specifically about some fun things you’d like to do when you get back.” 

‘I have something for you.’  Ianto smiled shyly as he handed Jack a small rectangular box he had in his coat pocket. ‘Don’t you open that before Christmas morning, OK?’

Jack nodded. “Funny thing, I have something for you as well.”  Jack reached into the pocket of his coat and handed Ianto a heavy small square box.  “And you have to promise not to open it until you get back to London.”

Jack gave Ianto a rather chaste final kiss as he got out of the car.  “Be good Ianto.  Have fun at your New Year’s party, just not too much fun, OK?” 

Just before Ianto went into the lobby of Owen’s building he turned to look at Jack for a final time.  Jack smiled and blew him a kiss.

***

They arrived at Rhiannon’s house shortly before 2 PM.  Ianto took a deep breath.

“Are you nervous?”

‘No, not at all unless walking into a weevil’s den would make you nervous.’

“Hey your sister and brother-in-law are nice people.  Can’t say about the kids; they were running out the door, the little hellions, as I was coming in.”

‘If that’s supposed to reassure me, it’s not working.  I hope they aren’t put off by the voice software.  Guess, we’ll find out,’ Ianto said a little hesitantly.

They went up to the door carrying all the presents.  Before they could knock, the door was opened by a little girl.  “Mummy, Uncle Ianto’s here, Uncle Ianto’s here!” she yelled excitedly.  As they stepped inside, Ianto wondered if Mica knew which one of them was Uncle Ianto.  They put the presents down to greet everyone.

Rhiannon ran to the door and pulled Ianto into a hug. “Oh, its been way too long Ianto; its so good to have you home.”  Ianto kissed her on the cheek and held her tight. 

“Mica, this is your Uncle Ianto.”  Mica reached up for a hug.

“And this is his friend Dr. Harper.”

“Call me Owen, please.”

Mica looked up at Owen with big blue eyes.  Her resemblance to Ianto was striking.  She had the same grey-blue eyes, pouty mouth, and dark wavy hair with very fair skin. “Can we call you Uncle Owen?”   

Surprisingly, Owen wasn’t put off by the little girl.  “Why of course you can.  I’d be honored.”  What he wasn’t expecting was the next question.  “Are you Uncle Ianto’s boyfriend?”  Owen looked a little puzzled as he wasn’t quite sure that Mica understood the implications of that word.  When he didn’t answer she looked at him coyly and asked, “You know, are you married?”

Owen burst out laughing.  Ianto smiled.  “No, no, I’m his doctor and his good friend, kind of like a big brother.  You’ve got a big brother, don’t you?”

“Yeah, and I hope you’re nicer to him than David is to me!”

“Hey, I heard that,” an older, somewhat stocky boy shouted as he came into the room.  He came up behind Mica and pushed her.  Mica started to cry. Owen scowled.  Instinctively, Ianto reached down and picked Mica up in his arms trying to soothe her. 

“David, if you don’t stop that, Santa’s not going to bring you any presents,” Rhiannon scolded.

David rolled his eyes, and smirked, “Santa, yeah, like I’m really worried about Santa.”

Johnny came up behind him and slapped his head lightly.  “Oi, big guy, do not be disrespecting Santa in this house.  Go have a sit in the kitchen if you’re going to be a brat.”  David sulked and left the room.

“Remind you of anyone else at around the age of ten?” Rhiannon asked.  “He’s exactly like you, the little know it all.”

Ianto thought, ‘well here goes.’ He began to type on his cell while Rhiannon and Johnny watched him.  He hit the send key. ‘No way was I that bratty, no way.’

“Oh, Ianto, that sounds just like you!  Where did you get that from?”

‘Owen’s co-worker Tosh found it for me.  It’s not bad, is it?’

Johnny had forgotten about Ianto not being able to speak.  He looked Ianto over closely and saw how thin he was and how tired he looked.  He could also see that Ianto was happy but nervous to be home. ‘Want to make sure he knows he’s welcome here.’ 

“Ianto, the voice is fantastic!  Its not at all was I was expecting.  And you look good, a little tired maybe, but good.” He gave Ianto a big bear hug.

Rhiannon interrupted, “Oi, what am I thinking, you haven’t seen Mum yet.”  She grabbed Ianto by the hand and took him into the lounge area.  When she saw him come in, Ianto and Rhiannon’s mother looked up from her newspaper and smiled.

Ianto quickly toggled over to the Welsh software and went over and hugged and kissed his mother.  She patted the chair next to her and Ianto sat down.  She spoke to him rapidly in Welsh, eliciting a few smiled from everyone and a snort at one point from Ianto.

Owen whispered to Johnny, “what’s she saying, I don’t know enough Welsh to follow the conversation.”

Johnny whispered back, “She’s scolding him for not calling or visiting more often and telling him he looks too thin, and that his hair is too long.  Let me see if I can’t interrupt and introduce you.” 

Johnny spoke to Mum and explained who Owen was and that he didn’t speak Welsh.  Rhiannon told Owen what Johnny had said.  Mum motioned Owen over and pulled him into a hug and kissed him as well.  “She wants you to know how grateful she is for taking care of Ianto….” and then Johnny and Rhiannon and Ianto burst out laughing.  Johnny spoke to her again, and shook his head at her reply.

“Well, seems like Mica and Mum like to watch the same soap opera.  That explains her question.  She wants to know if you’re going to have a commitment ceremony anytime soon.  Everyone was laughing.  “Apparently we missed the big wedding between Gareth and Lolo on Pobol y Cwm.”

Ianto replied, ‘He’s not my boyfriend, he’s my doctor and my best friend.’

Mum replied that he could do worse than a doctor.  When this was translated, Owen laughed so hard that he thought he’d piss himself.  He and Ianto made eye contact and they knew they were both thinking, ‘well that could make things a whole lot easier down the road.’

“Do you have a girlfriend at least, or is that too old fashioned to even consider,” Johnny snarked.

‘Well, I was seeing someone in London for a bit, but that wasn’t a long-term thing.’

Owen jumped in, “Gorgeous Irish red-head, name of Kelly.”

Johnny asked Mum how she would feel if Ianto married an Irish lady.  She replied that she’d rather see Ianto with a Welsh man than an Irish woman.  Owen thought, ‘there’s really no accounting for prejudice is there?’  Out loud he asked, “how about an American man?”  Ianto shot him a glance thinking ‘I’m going to kill you.’

She said she’d still prefer a nice Welsh boy, but she’d rather he was with an American man than an Irish woman. Rhiannon asked, “Is there some reason you were asking that Owen?”

“No, no, just wanted to see if it was the Irish part specifically your mum was objecting to or the non-Welsh part.”

David came back into the lounge and sat down next to Ianto. “So what did you get me?”  Rhiannon looked mortified.

Ianto kept a perfectly straight face and typed. ‘I got you the best gift ever!  Pajamas with bunnies on them. And matching bunny slippers. They are so cute; I can’t wait to see you in them!’ 

David looked at Ianto horrified. Then he realized that Ianto was having one over on him.  He punched Ianto lightly on the arm. “Gor, I thought you were serious for a moment.”

David was quite taken with Ianto’s ‘talking phone.’  “Hey can you show me how that software works, it sounds pretty good.  I thought it was going to be like a robot voice.”  David got up and began to walk like a robot with his arms held stiffly by his sides.  “Kill…the…humans…kill the… humans.”  Everyone laughed, everyone that is except Ianto.

Ianto almost jumped out of his skin.  David looked like a Cyberman but sounded exactly like a Dalek.  Owen noticed the change in Ianto’s demeanor.  ‘Hey Ianto, you didn’t take your afternoon pill yet did you? Step into the kitchen with me for a moment…”

Ianto quickly got up and followed Ianto into the kitchen.  Rhiannon and Johnny had noticed the change in Ianto as well, but the kids and Mum were oblivious.  Rhiannon got up, “let me go help them find a glass for water.”

When she stepped into the kitchen she saw that Ianto was leaning against a counter shaking.  Owen was speaking quietly to Ianto, his face drawn into a worried frown.

“What the matter,” she whispered. 

Ianto didn’t know what to say.  Fortunately, Owen had some practice covering up Torchwood activities, so he was pretty good at constructing stories off the cuff.  ‘Always best to stick as close to the truth as you can.’

“Ianto’s having a little bit of a flashback to the terrorist attack.  Not sure why, but sometimes a sound or a smell can cause it.  Especially if he’s tired. Doesn’t even have to seem to be related, just an involuntary response.”

Rhiannon nodded.  “Ianto, you do look a little tired.  Do you want to have a lie down for a bit, we won’t be having dinner for nearly another hour?”  Ianto nodded.  “Oh, and here’s a glass of water for you.”

Owen got a bottle out of his pocket and handed Ianto a small round pill.  Ianto shrugged and took the medication.  As Rhiannon turned to put the glass into the sink, Owen mouthed “Echinacea.”  Ianto smiled and nodded.

She took Ianto up to David’s room.  Ianto shuddered when he saw how David’s clothes were thrown everywhere, his toys and games were covering every available surface and the bed linens looked like they had been through a tornado. “Oi, you may be Mr. Neat now, but I can remember when your room looked worse.  And don’t go denying it, or I’ll start telling Owen embarrassing stories from when we were kids.” 

Ianto grinned at her.  ‘And speaking of embarrassing stories, maybe I should tell Owen about the time I caught you and Tommy McFarlane behind the school…’

Rhiannon smacked Ianto on his arse. “Don’t you dare…don’t you even...”

‘You know, I wonder if Johnny’s ever heard that story?’

She went to hit him again and Ianto grabbed her and held her close. ‘Guw, I’ve missed you Rhiannon…I forgot how much fun we used to have.’

“Oh yeah, loads of fun,” she laughed, “you always spying on me and my boyfriends, me always tormenting you…”  Her face softened, “yeah I’ve missed you too.  Seriously, Ianto, how are you feeling?”

Ianto sat down on the bed.  Rhiannon sat down next to him.  ‘Ok, really.  I still get tired pretty easily and I’ve been a lot doing more the last few days than I’m used to. We drove back Thursday evening and Friday I got to meet all of Owen’s co-workers and see my new flat, and then went to dinner with everyone. It was a late night.

Yesterday morning Owen’s boss, Captain Harkness took me buy some new suits, I’ve lost so much weight nothing fits and then we went and visited and had dinner with Tosh who was... a little under the weather.  A big day for me usually consists of getting up, having breakfast, taking a short walk, having a nap, watching TV, dinner, maybe some more TV and then bed.’

“Ianto, are you in any pain?  You look like your back hurts.”

‘Yeah, I fell yesterday.  You’ve noticed that I startle pretty easily.  Well, I heard this loud siren yesterday, and I turned around so quick that I lost my balance. I also managed to knock Captain Harkness off his feet. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I’m going to be doing some work for Torchwood Three.’

Rhiannon was not happy to hear this at all. “Ianto, you almost got killed working for them in London, why would you even think of working for them again?”

‘Well there aren’t a lot of jobs for people with my skills in Cardiff.  I don’t think this is a permanent position, but their archives, you wouldn’t believe what a mess they are in.  And they have boxes and boxes of stuff that were salvaged from London and nobody’s even looked at what’s in them!  So at least I can be of some help.  And they’ve done an awful lot for me.’

Rhiannon snorted.  “Yeah, like helping you to lose your speech and some use of your hand and almost your life.”

‘Rhiannon, you can’t blame Cardiff for London’s mistakes.  They are two totally different operations.’

“So did Owen get you the job?”

‘No, Jack…Captain Harkness offered me the position.’

“I see.  You  know I think I recall having seen him around town once or twice.  American isn’t he?”  Rhiannon smiled wickedly at Ianto.  Ianto blushed.  Rhiannon hugged her brother tightly.

“Whatever you do and whoever you are with, Johnny and me will be behind you.  We just want you to be happy, Ianto, really.  And if this Jack here or Kelly in London will make you happy, then that’s fine by us.  Now lay down and get some rest.”  

Ianto looked at the bed.  He didn’t want to be rude, but he really, really, didn’t want to nap on those sheets.

“Oi, give me a minute, I’ll get some clean sheets.  You look like you’re about to run screaming from the room.”  Rhiannon retrieved some clean linens from another room and she and Ianto changed the bed.  “I’ll wake you in about an hour, OK?  Ianto nodded.  “Sweet dreams, Ianto.  Welcome home.”

Chapter 33 is here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/11645.html

A little before 5 PM Jack went down from the conference room to check on Ianto. He was sleeping so soundly that Jack hated to disturb him. But they were leaving for Tosh’s in a few minutes and he wanted Ianto to at least have time to wake up a bit. 

“Come on, wake up, Tosh is waiting for us. You want to be fully aware when she trounces you at chess.”

Ianto sighed and opened his eyes. “Sorry Ianto, I didn’t realize how easily you tired.”

Ianto grinned mischievously. ‘Well, I think I’ve had more physical activity in the last twenty-four hours than I’ve had in the prior six months.’

Jack chuckled, “Between fending off weevils and Captain Jack, it’s been very tiring, hasn’t it?” Ianto nodded. “Poor baby. I’ll have to make that up to you.”

‘It’s your ‘making-up’ that’s exhausting me,’ Ianto retorted, not looking upset at all.

“Oi, you guys almost ready?” Rhys shouted down from the upper level of the Hub. 

“Yeah just give Ianto a minute to powder his nose.”

Ianto rolled his eyes as he headed off to the shower change area. 

A few minutes later they piled into the SUV and headed off to dinner with Tosh.

* *

Both Tosh and Owen looked relieved when they all arrived at her flat. “He’s making me crazy,” she whispered to her guests.

“I heard that, and for the record I’m just being a good medic, that’s all.”

“Well, I didn’t mind you asking me to count backwards from one hundred by subtracting sevens, but I draw the line at the pat my head, rub my tummy, and hop on one foot at the same time request.”

“Hey, it’s good for checking out coordination of different parts of the brain.”

“Owen do you have an orthopedist you’re trying to give some business to, because I couldn’t do that if I wasn’t concussed.  Not without breaking my hip or something.”

Tosh and Owen stopped bickering long enough to realize that the others were still standing in the doorway.

Gwen laughed, “The way you two go on, you sound like an old married couple. Maybe you should think about that.” Both Tosh and Owen turned bright red.

Ianto made eye contact with Owen and gave him a small smile as he raised one eyebrow. Owen winked back.

“Where are my manners,” Tosh mused. “Come in everyone.”

Jack gave Tosh a hug. She was wearing a pair of track pants and a sweatshirt and had pinned her hair up away from her face. “For a woman with scrambled brains, you look gorgeous to me.”

Tosh rolled her eyes. She hugged Rhys and Gwen and then turned to Ianto.

“Come here, my brave hero.” Ianto walked over and put his arms around her. “I hear you saved my life…so I promise not to beat you at chess in less than ten moves.” Tosh giggled as she slipped out of Ianto’s grip. “Seriously, Ianto, how are you feeling?”

Ianto smiled. “OK” he signaled with his fingers. He took out his phone and mimed that they should get their phones out as well. They quickly set up an IM session.

Ianto: I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that if Tosh is up to it, I’ll have her download the voice software after dinner. 

“Which one did you decide on,” she asked. For reasons he couldn’t even explain, Ianto felt shy about telling everyone. “Oh come on Ianto, I can’t download it if I don’t know which one you want.” Ianto held up three fingers.

“Number Three.*  Oi, I knew it,” Owen laughed. “He picked the posh almost British one.”

“I’m not surprised he picked that one,” Gwen quipped. “It’s got some very sexy undertones to it.”

Tosh shrugged, “Ok, I admit, I liked the first one best. Nice and soft, with a little lilt. I know it’s a more Northern accent, but it sounded dreamy to me.”

Rhys didn’t want to be left out. “Personally, I was hoping for Splott! Thought it would be hilarious.” 

Everyone looked at Jack. “As you recall, I was making an appointment for Ianto’s suits while the software testing was going on.  All I can say is that it’s going to be a little strange hearing the voice when I already have my own imaginings of what Ianto sounds like.”

“Well, remember there isn’t any intonation to the software voice, so when he keys in “Oh, Jack, oh Jack, YES! It’s going to sound a lot less interesting.” Owen almost couldn’t believe he said that…almost.

Ianto blushed. He was getting a little sick of Owen’s constant teasing about him and Jack. Jack picked up on Ianto’s distress. “Owen, since I’m a little empathic myself Ianto can push his thoughts to me – and trust me, I hear every sigh and moan and cry he makes.”

“All right that’s enough,” Rhys interrupted, “the foods getting cold.”

“And the room’s getting a little too warm,” Gwen snarked.

Tosh had them sit down at her dining room table and she motioned to Ianto for his phone. “It takes a little while for the software to load, so let me get this started and it will be done by the time we finish eating.”

Ianto looked a little confused. Gwen quickly handed him her phone. “Here, Rhys and I can share and we don’t want you to get left out of the conversation.” He smiled at Gwen.

Ianto was surprised that he was hungrier than he thought. He had been concerned that Indian might be too spicy after having been sick the night before, but Gwen had ordered him a very mild curry, more sweet that hot. Tosh’s curry, on the other hand was nuclear. Owen tried a bit and almost choked. “Tosh, are ya trying to kill me; how can you eat that?”

Tosh shrugged. “I think it’s what you’re used to. My mom used lots of peppers and spices in her cooking when I was growing up, so this tastes normal to me.” 

Ianto: Are you going to get to see your Mom for Christmas?

Tosh dropped her fork. It suddenly got very quiet around the table. Ianto sensed that he had said something terribly wrong, but didn’t know what it was.

Tosh looked across the table at Ianto who could see tears in her eyes. “Ianto, I can’t see my mother for another two years.”

Ianto didn’t understand but kept quiet. “It’s OK, Ianto, you couldn’t know…part of the condition for my transfer from UNIT to Torchwood Three was that I couldn’t have contact with my family for five years.”

Ianto really didn’t understand what was going on. He was going to ask when he sensed Jack pushing out “Don’t.” He nodded subtly. 

Ianto: I’m sorry. Good thing then that you’ll be with Gwen and Rhys. 

Jack immediately jumped into the conversation. “I meant to ask you Tosh, do you want me to pick you up on the way to their house for Christmas dinner?”

“That’d be great Jack.”

Rhys slapped his head. “Don’t let me forget, we’ve got the presents for Ianto’s family in the boot of my car. Let’s make sure that Ianto gets them tonight so he has them for Christmas Eve.

They sat around the table and chatted a while until Jack stood up. “Well, if everyone’s finished, I’d like to let you know that I have a wonderful video for everyone to see. Just in time for Christmas its ‘Ianto versus the Weevil.’ Yes a heartwarming story of a boy, his friend Tosh and their pet Weevil. 

Owen snorted. “I understand there’s a car wreck scene in it as well.”

“Oh yeah, Owen, I have a friend who owes me a favor. He’ll be coming by the Hub tomorrow morning to get your car. If everything goes well, you’ll have it back on Wednesday.”

“Thanks Jack, though I think Ianto ought to pay for the damage.”

Ianto frowned, mostly in play, but he did feel just a tiny bit put out.

Tosh slapped Owen playfully. “Don’t you say anything mean about my knight in shining armor. If it weren’t for Ianto, I might not be here. Let’s go watch the video.”

Tosh had an impressive home theater system; like most people with a technology background she always had to have the latest gadget, be that a TV, stereo, iphone, whatever. She downloaded the video file onto her computer and then streamed the image to a large flat screen that hung on the wall. They sat down on soft white leather sofas placed for optimal viewing.

“Jack you can still use the computer controls if you want to zoom in on anything.”

Jack started playing the CCTV feed. It was a little grainy and wasn’t directly focused on the area where the Tosh, Ianto and the weevils had been. Jack zoomed in on the right hand section, and the images enlarged and then came into focus. The angle was still from the side, but they could clearly see the park and the street nearby.

The video started just before Ianto got out of the car. When Ianto got out to look in the boot, Owen interrupted. “I thought I told you NOT to get out of the car Ianto, what the hell were you thinking?” Jack paused the image.

Ianto looked abashed. He held up Gwen’s phone and looked at Tosh.

“Right,” she said, “Ianto’s phone should be ready, so as long as we’ve paused the download, give us a few minutes to see if the voice software is working.”

She finished configuring the software on the phone and handed it to Ianto. “I’m not sure if you’ll want to type a whole sentence or thought before you play it or if you want to have to translate word by word. Guess that would depend on how fast and accurately you can type. Yeah, just hit the key there and you’re ready to go.”

Ianto looked at everyone and smiled. He typed something and hit the key. “Name’s  Bond, Ianto Bond” his phone announced.” 

Gwen squeaked. “Oh my goodness Ianto, that sounds a little like Roger Moore!” Your niece and nephew are going to go crazy!”

Ianto tried the word by word translation. “Good thing… that..James..Bond has…such a dead…pan…voice.”  Ianto shook his head in annoyance and typed some more. “I think its got to be sentence by sentence at the least, otherwise it sounds very…stra..nge.“

Everyone agreed that it sounded much better when it translated full sentences at a time.

“Ok, Ianto, now do you want to explain why you were out of the car,” Owen asked again.

“Well, I didn’t know if a weevil could get into the car and I didn’t have anything to protect myself with.”

Owen sighed and shook his head.

“Actually,” Jack interjected while giving Owen a little bit of a sharp look, “he’s got a point. Those creatures are strong enough to break a window and pull a person right out of a car. Let’s get back to the tape shall we?”

They watched as Jack zoomed in on Tosh as she came on screen and stunned the first weevil. Jack switched the view over to Ianto and saw him smash the side mirror. Owen winced. Jack stopped the feed. “I’m going to back this up and zoom in on Tosh so you can see why Ianto did that.”

He backed up the download and refocused on Tosh. Everyone could see the second weevil coming up behind her, could hear Ianto smashing the mirror and see how it had distracted the weevil.  “Ianto, that was so brave,” Gwen gushed. 

The feed continued with the weevil looking between Tosh and Ianto and Ianto then smashing out the passenger window. Owen groaned as he watched that scene. They continued to watch as the weevil approached Ianto, the wheel brace hitting the weevil and Ianto being thrown against the car. They could see Ianto sitting on the ground and then leaning over…Jack stopped the download. “I think we can skip that part,” Jack snarked.

Owen was in awe. “Did you actually snarl at that weevil, Ianto?” Ianto nodded ‘yes.’

“That’s incredible. Also incredibly stupid, but incredible nonetheless.”

Tosh came over to Ianto sat down next to him and put her arms around him.   “Oh my god Ianto, I would be dead if it weren’t for you.” Tosh began to cry. Ianto put his arms around Tosh and held her tightly. Owen felt a little miffed. Shouldn’t he be the one comforting Tosh, after all he was her…uh good friend.

Eventually, Tosh stopped crying and Ianto loosened his grip. She wiped her face and smiled a little sheepishly. “Sorry, not sure where that came from; I guess watching yourself almost become weevil chow is a little disconcerting.”

An awkward silence followed until Rhys chimed in with “Oi, we didn’t tell you about Ianto and Myfanwy did we? You should have seen it, it was brilliant. He was communicating with her. She came right up to him and was grooming him.”

Owen laughed, “Let’s see he almost gets to be weevil lunch, gets to flirt with a pterodactyl, could it get any better - hey, did you meet Janet?”

Ianto stared at Owen. “Sorry, sorry, didn’t think.”

“I feel so much better,” Gwen snorted, “I asked him the same thing.”

‘And I’ll give him the same answer…meeting her boyfriend in the park last night was enough weevil interaction for me!’  As he pressed the send key, Ianto couldn’t stifle a yawn.

Owen knew that Ianto was probably exhausted from everything that had happened in the last two days. And he still had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to get through with his family. “You know, I hate to be breaking up the party, but I think someone needs to get some sleep. If you think you are tired now, wait till those two kids get done playing with Uncle Ianto.”

Ianto nodded. Owen had a point. He realized that he had been having such a nice time that he really hadn’t had the opportunity to get himself all worked up about seeing his family.  ‘Still got half of tomorrow for that.’

Everyone started to get up to leave. “Listen, I need to stay over to keep an eye on Tosh. So Jack can you drop Ianto back at my place?” He saw that Ianto was doing his best to hide his disappointment.

“Oi, who am I kidding. Jack, you go stay with Ianto at my place, but seriously, let him get a little sleep, will ya. Why don’t we meet for brunch around 10? I know you aren’t doing anything tomorrow, but we’ve got to be at his sister’s by 2 PM.”

“Were going to have to skip brunch, we have to get our place cleaned up before Mother arrives tomorrow night.”

“Yes, what Rhys means is that I have to get the place cleaned up. We decided to swap chores this year. I’m cleaning the house and Rhys is cooking the roast beef. We’ll see what his mother makes of that one.”

Rhys looked at Tosh and Jack. “We’ll see you at our house at two in the afternoon on Christmas Day, OK? And don’t forget when we get back to the Hub, we need to transfer the presents from our boot to the SUV.” 

Everyone said their goodbyes and Jack, Gwen, Rhys and Ianto drove back to the Hub.

Tosh looked at Owen. “That was really nice of you, letting Jack stay over with Ianto.”

Owen laughed. “Oh, I’m pretty sure that he would have stayed over whether I said it was OK or not. So why be a scrooge about it?”

Tosh bit her lip. “Owen, if I tell you something about Ianto will you promise just to listen and think about what I have to say?”

Owen felt a little dread. What now? Was something wrong with Ianto?

“I think you and Ianto have a sweet relationship, like brothers almost. But maybe you should lay off on the teasing him about Jack.” Owen looked puzzled.

“You’re probably a little uncomfortable about them being together. That’s certainly understandable. But I have a feeling that this is his first serious relationship with a man and he’s also a bit unsure about it as well. You wouldn’t notice, but he looks embarrassed and a little lost when you tease him. He wants to please you, and he wants to please Jack and he doesn’t know what to do.”

Owen sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m teasing him cause I don’t want to take the relationship seriously, but Ianto certainly does. And it’s easy to forget how young he is, and how much he’s been through. I’ll have to watch that. Hell, I’m an idiot.”

Tosh smiled and kissed Owen on the cheek. “No you’re not; you human. Just like everyone else.” She turned to start cleaning up, when it hit her.

“Shit! Shit, shit, shit!”

“What is it?”

“I never got to play my chess game with Ianto!”

“Hey, I’ll play you again, and if I can hold out for 15 moves you owe me dinner at that new posh steak house.”

“You’re on.”

 _______
* Voice # 3 was the winning entry and is, of course, Gareth David-Lloyd  (reading M. R. James' Tales of the Supernatural, Volume 2, A View from the Hill).  You are all too smart for me. 

The other voices are from the BBC,UK audio archives.

Chapter 32 is here:  http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/10970.html

 

They arrived back at the Hub to find Gwen almost hysterical. “Where have you all been? Where’s Tosh? When I saw Owen’s car, I was frantic. Is everyone OK? And Jack, a post-it note saying ‘Back at 10’ really wasn’t helpful.”

Jack explained about the weevil chase, Tosh’s injury and Ianto fighting off the weevil with a wheel brace. 

“Shit, excuse me a moment,” Owen grimaced, “I need to call the hospital and see what’s up with Tosh.”

“Jack, I was going to call Andy to look for all of you if you hadn’t shown up by now. As it is, I was so upset, I called Rhys. He’ll be here any moment.”

“Sorry, it was so crazy last night, I didn’t think about calling you and letting you know what was going on. At least you were safe with Rhys.”

Gwen snorted. “Safe, yeah. The big lug dropped the car keys and it took us almost an hour to find them.”

Owen came back into view. “Well, I just got off the phone with the hospital. They’ll be releasing Tosh later this morning. I’ll go over there now and see if she’s up to any company. Probably better to wait until I drive her home, but I’ll let you know. Uh, Jack, I’m going to need to borrow the SUV again.”

“Ok,” Jack said tossing him the keys, “but drive carefully. We don’t need a second vehicle out of service this week.” 

“Yeah, guess that means we won’t be letting Ianto near the SUV!”  Ianto frowned at that remark.

“Listen,” Gwen interrupted, "Rhys will be here in a few minutes with my old Honda, why don’t you take that to the hospital. That way if anything happens with the rift, we’ll have the SUV available. And we won’t need it this weekend so you can use it to take Ianto to his sister’s, OK? As long as Jack doesn’t mind Rhys coming into the Hub.”

Jack said it would be fine. After all, Rhys had helped them out a few times and had been in the Hub before. Owen said he’d go up to the tourist office and wait for him there. When Rhys arrived they decided that Jack should go with Owen to the hospital and Gwen and Rhys would stay at the Hub with Ianto. 

“And Gwen,” Jack admonished, “if anything comes through the rift, call us immediately. Don’t go pulling a Ianto on us. We’ll see you later.” Without thinking, Jack pulled Ianto into his arms and started to snog him. Rhys and Gwen were dumbstruck. 

Owen just shrugged. “Yeah, last night was even crazier than you can imagine. Hey you two, enough already!”

It suddenly dawned on Jack that everyone was watching him and Ianto. He broke off the kiss and started to joke about it. “Just a little friendly goodbye kiss…” 

“Oi, is that to go along with the friendly little blow jobs I saw earlier,” Owen snarked. Ianto turned away from everyone in embarrassment as Owen made a run for the cog door.

“You are so dead Owen!” Jack yelled after him. But instead of running after Owen he walked over to Ianto, put his arms around him and held him tight. “It’s OK,” he growled. “Captain Jack is going to make Owen walk the plank later.”

Jack saluted them and ran out after Owen.

***

When they arrived at the hospital they were relieved to find that Tosh was awake and feisty. “I can’t believe they haven’t released me yet; I feel fine!”

Jack went to see if he could find the attending physician while Owen reviewed her charts.

“What happened last night, Owen? The last thing I remember is stunning a weevil.” Tosh couldn’t believe that she had been attacked by the second weevil and that it was Ianto who had saved her life. “That’s incredible! He actually fought a weevil with a wheel brace?” Owen nodded.

“Yeah, but it’s a good thing that Jack is a great shot with that Webley of his, otherwise, I don’t think the results would have been so good for Ianto.”

“Is Ianto Ok?” 

“Got some bruising on his back, but Jack kissed it and made it all better. And by that, I don’t mean the bruise.”

Tosh was astonished. “You’re kidding me! I just knew there was something going on at dinner last night, but are you telling me…?” Owen just nodded. “Why is it that I always seem to miss the good stuff?”

“Don’t worry Tosh, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunities to see me snog Ianto senseless,” Jack said as he stood in the doorway. “Owen, are you planning on broadcasting my and Ianto’s personal life to everyone you meet?”

“Not everyone, just everyone I anticipate you shocking with your behavior with Ianto.”

“Well, that’s a relief, at least half of Cardiff won’t need to know,” Jack snarked. “The Attending will be along shortly and we’ll get you signed out. Take you home and get you settled.”

“I’m really OK to go back to the Hub, Jack,” Tosh insisted.

The attending medic did not agree. He wanted quiet and bed rest for Tosh for the following 24 hours. Tosh was very upset that she was going to miss the rest of Ianto’s visit. “I didn’t even get to play chess with him. I haven’t even thanked him for saving my life. This isn’t right!” 

They decided that they would drop Jack back at the Hub and Owen would go home with Tosh. Jack and the others would come to Tosh’s later with dinner. “And if you’re up to it, we can watch that new movie, Ianto versus the Weevil. Yep, it’s all captured in living black and white on CCTV.”

Owen smiled wickedly. Jack knew he was in for it. “Well as long as we don’t have to watch the Harkness/Jones wrestling match, I’ll be happy.” 

Jack smiled back. “Well, you wouldn’t need to; apparently you had a front row seat for the live performance.”

“Ok, enough, both of you.” Tosh had blushed a delightful shade of pink. “Really, I don’t need the details.” 

When Tosh saw Gwen’s Honda she asked what happened to Owen’s Miata.

Owen grimaced. “Don’t ask, it was a casualty of Ianto versus the Weevil.”

Jack made a mental note to make some calls when he got back to the Hub to see if he couldn’t get Owen’s car fixed.

***

Once Jack and Owen had left the Hub, Gwen and Rhys looked at each other awkwardly. Ianto was still turned away from them in embarrassment.

“Hey, have you met Myfanwy, yet?” Rhys asked. Ianto turned around. He was still a little red-faced but managed to shake his head ‘no.’ “Come with me, you’ve got to see this.”

Rhys went over to the small kitchen and pulled out a package from the refrigerator. He went over to the center of the Hub and whistled. Overhead the pterodactyl began to circle. Ianto stood watching entranced. Rhys opened the package and pulled out some raw chopped meat. He rolled it into a ball and tossed it into the air. Myfanwy swooped down, caught the meat in her beak and swallowed it in one bite. 

Gwen noticed that Ianto had closed his eyes, and had his head cocked. Myfanwy circled again, and Rhys threw another hamburger ball to her.

The third time around she swooped down and landed on a railing very close to Ianto. Gwen started to reach out to protect him, but Ianto held his hand up for her to stop. The pterodactyl was observing Ianto closely. Ianto slowly reached his hand out. Rhys winced; he knew that her beak could snap off a finger in an instant. Still, he figured it was best not to do anything that might startle the creature. In a flash, Ianto moved close to the railing where Myfanwy was standing and she began clicking her beak through his hair. Ianto smiled and scratched her under the chin. Gwen and Rhys stayed absolutely still while Ianto and Myfanwy continued to groom each other. Finally with a shake, Myfanwy jumped back  on the railing away from Ianto . Rhys took the opportunity to prepare the last hamburger ball. She squawked, flew off the railing and began to circle again. Rhys threw it to her. Once she swallowed it down, she circled higher and disappeared in the upper reaches of the Hub.

“She’s got a nest up there. And if you’re not careful,” Rhys quipped, “you just might find yourself living in it with her.”

Gwen was absolutely amazed. “Ianto, were you communicating with her?” 

Ianto pulled his phone out. Gwen and Rhys set theirs up to receive Ianto’s IM.

Ianto: Sort of, not really communicating, but I could sense her feelings. She’s lonely. She’s confused about where she is. Why there’s nothing familiar to her. But she likes when she gets fed.

Gwen smiled. Ianto was really an amazing young man. She could see why Owen was so fond of him…not to mention Jack. 

“Would you like to meet Janet, our resident weevil?” Ianto stared at her. “Sorry, guess you’d probably rather skip that this time around.”

Ianto nodded.  

Ianto: Yeah, I think I met her boyfriend last night. It didn’t end well…You know, I’m starving. I…uh...lost my dinner so to speak last night and I’ve only had coffee and a roll since.

Gwen immediately went into full fuss mode. She had Rhys take Ianto up to the conference room while she checked out the refrigerator. She found bread and enough luncheon meat for sandwiches. She made two normal sized sandwiches and one huge one that she put in front of Ianto. Ianto looked across the table at Rhys. Rhys didn’t have to be empathic to know that the Ianto was feeling a little queasy looking at the amount of food in front of him. He quickly exchanged his sandwich with Ianto’s. “Oi, I’ll take the bigger one,” he said as he quickly took a bite from it. Gwen huffed her displeasure. Ianto nodded his thanks to Rhys.

Jack arrived back as they were eating lunch. “Hey, didn’t you make anything for me?” Rhys smiled and handed him half of the huge sandwich. Jack looked a little startled by the size but shrugged and began to eat it.

“You know, I made that sandwich for Ianto and you two just have no manners at all.” As she turned to grab a napkin, the three men grinned at each other. They quickly stopped before Gwen turned back.

Jack let them know that Owen had taken Tosh home and if she felt up to it they would join her for dinner. Rhys couldn’t wait to tell Jack about Ianto and Myfanwy. Jack was astounded. “You know, Ianto, I was serious about getting you some training for your abilities. Would you mind if I spoke to The Brigadier about it?” 

Ianto: Honestly, I’m a little nervous about letting UNIT know. I don’t want to be asked or trained to do anything harmful with it. Like you said, it’s not right to look into other people’s minds without their consent. I’d like to learn how to block out other people’s thoughts. Particularly when I’m in a crowd, it can be overwhelming. But, I’ve been thinking that it could be used for interrogation or extracting information from other people’s minds against their will, and I don’t want to be involved with anything like that.

Jack had to admit that Ianto had a good point. “Ok, I won’t say anything to them. But when you come back to Cardiff let’s search the archives and see if we can find out anything about controlling empathic ability. I have a little skill in that area, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough to really help you. In the meantime, maybe you can find out whether Myfanwy likes beef or lamb better.” 

Rhys laughed. “I think she actually likes finger food the best, fortunately for Ianto, that doesn’t seem to include his fingers.”

After lunch, Ianto got the grand tour of the Hub. ‘This place is a friggin’ mess’ he thought, ‘doesn’t anyone pick up after themselves?’ He asked if they could get on an IM conference call so he could talk to everyone at once.

When they went down to the archives, Ianto got visibly upset.

Ianto: How can you possibly find anything down here?   Nothing is organized properly. You actually have every unidentified mechanical object filed under “A” for “Alien Technology? And what about everything you scavenged from Torchwood One? 

Jack motioned Ianto over to a door. It opened into a huge room stacked floor to ceiling with boxes. There must have been several hundred boxes all labeled Torchwood One.

Ianto: Do you have any idea what’s in these boxes? 

Jack and Gwen admitted that they had no idea what the boxes contained. They explained that they did the best they could with the resources they had.

Ianto: That’s just not acceptable. As of the end of January, you just hired yourself a Head Archivist. This will take months to sort through. Guess I don’t have to worry what to do to keep me busy once I move back here.

Jack was going to object, but realized that they really could use some help. With Torchwood One gone, there really wasn’t anyone else to keep track of anything that came through the rift. Ianto would have something to do that he excelled at, and as a bonus, he could see Ianto every day. 

Ianto: Oh and Jack, as Head Archivist, I will want a 10% increase over what I was making at Torchwood One.

Jack pretended to be shocked. “Ten percent! The cost of living is much lower in Cardiff than London. And UNIT is picking up the cost of your flat. Just how can you justify such a demand?”

Ianto: Let’s just call it combat pay, shall we?

***

Owen called in around 4 PM and said that Tosh was more than ready for some company. Jack put him on the speakerphone in the conference room.

“Oi, she’s making me crazy, she is. Convinces me to play chess, then beats me in ten moves. Then she wants to watch a video, but changes her mind a dozen times while the opening credits are running.”

“I only changed my mind twice Owen, stop exaggerating,” Tosh yelled so Jack could hear.

“And her ladyship would like Indian, or was it Chinese, no maybe it was Middle Eastern for dinner.”

“Indian, I want a curry,” Jack heard Tosh say. “And Jack, tell Ianto he’s about to get his butt kicked at chess.” Ianto raised his eyebrows at that remark.

“Well, from the look on Ianto’s face, he’s not quite convinced of your chess prowess. Guess we’ll have to see about that along with watching another movie I’m going to download to your computer.”

“What movie?” Owen asked. 

Jack smirked. “Let’s just say that it’s a remake of Godzilla versus Mothra. We’ll see you around 5:30 OK…with curry.”

Gwen ordered everyone’s favorite along with a curry for Ianto from the Indian takeaway Tosh favored. They’d pick it up on the way to Tosh’s.

Gwen noticed that Ianto had been very quiet since the tour. “Ianto, are you OK, love?”

Ianto: I’m really tired all of a sudden. Would you mind if I took a nap on the sofa?

No one did, so Ianto went down to the sofa and stretched out. Jack followed him down to dim the lights in the main area of the Hub.   “Hey, I’ll wake you up a little before we leave, OK?” Ianto nodded. Knowing that Gwen and Rhys were watching he gave Ianto a quick kiss on his forehead and walked back up to the conference room.

Chapter 31 here:  http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/10599.html