Jack Returns to the Hub

[capj_harkness]

Who: Jack and Ianto
When: Night, after Jack cleaned up the dead alien at the bar.
Where: The Hub
What: Jack returns to the Hub to talk to Ianto. He is both nervous and relieved.
Status: Complete

Comments

[tea_boy_x]

Cleaning. Yeah. It was distracting. And probably what he was gonna go back to now that Jack was back. Ianto still didn't know what to think about that. The rest seemed happy. Even Owen, though he'd been the most vocal about 'the bastard that ran out

[capj_harkness]

Jack's expression started to brighten hopefully for a moment when he saw Ianto, but that faded again at the aloofness in the younger man's tone.

"Oh," he said when Ianto spoke, remembering the mess that used to be his shirt and patting his chest absently. "I think it's just about dry." It was still pretty damp. He wouldn't say dripping, but he wasn't going to argue with Ianto over that. Not in that moment of all times.

He put his hands in his pockets, his coat still hanging over one arm. "And I have plenty more to say," he added a little awkwardly. "Just not... to everyone."

[tea_boy_x]

He didn't think it was possible, what with as pissed off as he was. But seeing that smile made his heart skip a beat. God, he was a fool. Ianto Jones was a fool who fell for the wrong people. Lisa, Jack..

"You think? But you're not sure," Ianto said, making sure the tone of his voice was neutral, emotionless, *professional*. And since he was the one who cleaned up after everyone's mess, including Jack again now, the dear captain better make damn sure there wasn't going to be a trail left.

Ianto sighed, turning around to continue his job... one which he had finished a while ago, to be honest. But for some reason he'd kept dwindling and now he found himself cleaning up things that really didn't need cleaning.

"If you say so, Sir," Ianto replied neutrally... possibly coolly as he turned his back on Jack.

[capj_harkness]

Jack put his coat down over the nearest chair and shrugged off the blue button-down shirt that was so badly soiled. The mess had soaked through to mar the white t-shirt underneath, but it wasn't saturated like the blue shirt.

He balled up the button-down shirt and stuffed it in the nearest workstation's rubbish bin.

"I..." He turned around and watched Ianto's back for a moment. "Are you okay?" finally asked.

[tea_boy_x]

The who? The what? The where?

It was like information overload. And while Ianto was usually very good with information overloads, this was... Either Jack had gone mad. Or Ianto himself had lost it somewhere. Or possibly both?

Ianto was superstitiously looking for any alien device that may have been left laying about to cause such a jumble of words. Because what Jack was telling him now made no sense. No. Sense.

Harold Saxon? They'd been sent to the Himalayas? He'd never been to the Himalayas! Why the hell would he want to go to the Himalayas? Or be sent there?

It confused him so much to the point that the rest of Jack's worse went lost in the jumble of the rest. All he could do was stare at Jack with an open mouth and wrestle out a squeaky "I...What?"

It was like reading a book, but starting in the middle and not finding anyone who'd be so kind to explain the plot to you.

[capj_harkness]

Jack looked at him with a slightly pained expression himself. "Don't make me repeat all that," he said. "It was really, really hard."

He thought it was the last part giving Ianto trouble but he didn't want to take it as a 'no'.

[tea_boy_x]

"You're gonna have to," Ianto said, feeling somewhat angry at Jack's short response for reasons he couldn't even name himself. "Cause that made no sense at all."

Seriously? Harold Saxon? Who the fuck was Harold Saxon? And those Himalayas? Yeah, Ianto was still not grasping that one. Though, Jack seemed to think he should and that what the captain had just said was perfectly normal.

"Pardon me for saying but... What the hell are you on about, Sir? I've never been to the Himalayas my entire life. And I have no idea who Harold Saxon is."

It was as if he and Jack were talking about a whole other time line, or something. Wait. Maybe he *should* look around for some left behind alien device. That sounded like the only plausible explanation.

[capj_harkness]

"Oh, that," Jack said, a little relieved on the one hand but a little disappointed that the more difficult and personal words had made little or no impact.

"It's... hard to explain. There was a... paradox-timeline... thing."

He paused.

"And I really don't think you need to call me 'sir' anymore. Do you?"

[tea_boy_x]

Yeah, Ianto thought, he was actually failing. Oh Jack was talking alright. But he wasn't *talking*. He wasn't explaining, just tossing out bits and pieces of something here and there, a glimpse of Hell and then expecting Ianto to fully understand.

Ianto was a lot of things, but he wasn't a mind-reader. Thank god for that, most of the time. But right now he wish he was. If only for a second, so he could read what was going on in Jack's mind. Safe the man from telling it because the captain obviously had great difficulty with it. Whatever 'it' was.

The Welshman waited patiently, as he has always waited patiently, just looking at his Captain with what he hoped was trust. Trust that was lost and needed to be rebuild, granted. From Jack's side. But he hoped there was still enough trust from Jack toward Ianto to keep the man talking. Or get, even.

"Alone, Sir?" he gently prompted when Jack, once again, fell silent for a long time.

[capj_harkness]

Jack looked up a little sadly. 'Sir' again, but he didn't mention it. Ianto was nothing if not deliberate. If he was still saying 'sir', it was because he wanted to or because he thought it was warranted.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. Alone. And those were the good days." He met Ianto's eyes for a moment. "And you know how much I love being alone." Which was not at all, a lot of the time.

And probably more of the time after the Valiant.

He knew he should let Ianto go and get some rest, but he just couldn't let him go. As much as Jack would love to sleep in his bed - or any actual bed, really - after a year chained, standing, in an engine room, the idea of crawling into his dark pit of a bedroom alone didn't appeal to him and considering how fragile relations with Ianto seemed to be at the moment, there was no way he could so much as contemplate asking him to stay, even in all innocence. Even just for the company.

So he kept trying to talk about things he wasn't sure he could talk about, much less should, just to keep the younger man from

[tea_boy_x]

Jack and alone were not words that went together well. And yet Ianto know that the man had been alone for years. Decades. A century. Sure, there had been people around and all. But Ianto could and wouldn't want to think about what it was like to have to watch people, friends, die over and over again. Ianto wasn't sure if he could let anyone get close if it were he

[capj_harkness]

Jack didn't lift his head, but he raised his eyes slowly up to Ianto's face.

"Let's just say that if I never see my insides again, I'll be a happy man," he replied. "And when you're going to live forever, 'never' really means something."