Fic: The Sea After a Storm (62/?)
Title: The Sea After a Storm, Chapter 62
Rating: R
Warnings: Nothing really, a few bad words
Spoilers: Season Two thru Adam (2x05)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to Catherine Tregenna for situations and dialogue borrowed from Adam. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which the team deal with the repercussions of "deleting" Adam…
Notes: Next chappie! I updated the master list for this fic and added the links to the next chapter on the old chapters as well. Hopefully that will make it easier to refresh if you're still reading! You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend
thraceadams for all the help and support and beta work; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Sixty-Two
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: The team woke up with no memory of the last two days…
When Ianto made it back upstairs, he could hear Owen hollering for him. He detoured from his intended path down to the vaults to check on Jack and headed for the medbay instead.
"I found Jack, he's fine," he said to Gwen with a comforting pat on her shoulder as he passed behind her.
"Oh, good." Gwen let out a sigh of relief.
Owen was popping in a contact lens as Ianto came down the stairs.
"You bellowed? What did - hey, what are you doing?" Ianto asked as Owen blinked hard a few times and then began tugging at Ianto's cuff.
"Blood sample," Owen muttered. "I've got Retcon in my system and I want to know if you do too."
"Get off." Ianto shoved Owen off of him and rolled up his own sleeve as Owen prepared the blood draw. "Did Tosh have any luck with the CCTV?"
Owen shook his head. He pulled a small vials-worth of blood from Ianto's arm and then slapped a cotton ball over the needle mark, already turning towards his equipment.
Ianto grimaced and wiped the tiny drop of blood from his arm. "What's the verdict?" he asked as he stepped over to stand beside Owen, rolling his sleeve back down and buttoning the cuff.
Owen rolled his chair back with a deep sigh. "Positive for Compound B67 as well as benzodiazepine and a little more Zolpidem tartrate than is usually associated with Retcon."
"And that all means…?"
"Someone slipped us a mickey and a dose of Retcon."
"Someone or… what exactly are you implying?" Ianto asked, frowning.
"Not implying, saying it straight out. Jack and I are the only people who could gage that combination safely and it sure as hell wasn't me."
Ianto raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, now, we don't actually know that, do we?"
"I - " Owen broke off with a surprised look. "No, I guess we don't. Any luck finding him?"
"He must've been dosed too - he was sleeping by an empty cell. The CCTV in the boardroom was set to the vaults." He shook his head when Owen started to look hopeful. "I checked, it was broadcasting only, not recording."
"Damn. Maybe he was really just sleeping and skipped the Retcon? Shit," he groaned. "Guess we'll just have to ask him when he gets his arse up here."
Ianto nodded absently. "Coffee?" he offered, his mind still racing through reasons Jack would've Retconned them, and possibly himself.
"God, yes," Owen replied gratefully.
They headed back up to the Hub, Ianto veering off to the kitchen area while Owen joined Tosh and Gwen at the workstations. He had just finished brewing a fresh pot when Jack wandered up from the vaults.
"Jack, how have we lost two days?" Gwen asked as soon as she caught sight of the Captain.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, sounding surprised.
Ianto brought a tray full of mugs over to the team, handing them out as he clarified the situation for Jack. "The last 48 hours. None of us can remember a thing."
"The system's blank," Tosh added. "The CCTV's been wiped. What's been going on? What've we been doing?"
Jack paused for a moment, visibly confused, and Ianto realised that there would be no answers, no explanation. Whatever reason they'd been Retconned was lost along with the missing days.
"I don't know," Jack admitted slowly.
"Great!" Owen complained. "That's two days of my life that I'll never get back."
Gwen just frowned and pulled out her mobile.
"Looks like Toshiko got herself a secret admirer though," Jack said, motioning to a large bouquet of flowers on her desk with his coffee mug.
Ianto gave half an ear to Jack and Owen teasing Tosh about her flowers as he headed back to Gwen's desk, more curious about her conversation. She had called Rhys and was asking him about the last few days.
"I know, but, sweetheart…" She rubbed her forehead. "I… okay… I'll be home soon, yeah? Love you, too."
"He have any answers?" Ianto asked, sipping his coffee.
"No," Gwen said. "I was clever about it, just sort of asked him how his day was, but he knew right away that something had happened." She turned her big eyes up to him, confusion fighting with hurt in their expression. "He told me that Jack had spoken to him and not to worry about anything, not to even think about the last few days, just to come home as soon as I could get away."
Ianto's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Jack spoke to him?"
"I know! It doesn't make any sense."
"What doesn't make sense?" Jack asked, waving goodbye to Owen as the cog door rolled back to let him exit.
Gwen crossed her arms and looked up at Jack. "Why would you talk to Rhys about Torchwood business behind my back?"
Jack looked surprised again. "I have no idea."
"You don't remember talking to him?" Gwen asked suspiciously.
"How could I remember talking to him if we wiped our memories?"
"Uh... Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'," Jack said. He took a drink from his blue striped mug and patted Gwen on the shoulder. "Look, whatever happened we should let it go. If we felt strongly enough about whatever it was that I was convinced Retcon was the only answer, then…well, let's just say we're probably better off not knowing."
"But why would you talk to Rhys about it and not me?" Gwen sounded a little pouty which Ianto took as his cue to gather up the empty mugs and head for the sink.
The hot water muffled the sound of Gwen's complaining nicely. When he finished washing up the mugs and cleaning the coffee maker, Gwen had gone home, leaving only Jack and Tosh in the Hub with him. Ianto settled at his workstation with a fresh cup of coffee, pulling up his email, curious if there were any clues to what had happened over the past two days in his correspondence. He reached for his journal as his inbox updated to see if he'd written anything down, but didn't find it in its usual place. Frowning, he moved some papers and looked around his workstation more carefully, but he still couldn't find the small, leather-bound book. Shrugging it off, he checked his email. He took a quick second to delete all the junk (including six ranting messages from Archie Farquharson up at Torchwood Two in Glasgow) which left two emails from Jamie, and one each from his sister, Jamie's boyfriend Mark, and Brendan - all still unread. Ianto ignored them for a moment, clicking on his sent items instead.
"Nothing," he muttered. He was disappointed but not surprised. He leant back in his chair and sipped his coffee while he went through the emails from his friends. His sister just had chatty news about her family, nothing pressing. Mark's email was a blast to his whole inbox thanking everyone for their thoughts and prayers for his mum and sharing the news she was doing better. Ianto fired off a quick reply, making sure Mark knew that he could call on Ianto at any time if he needed anything. Jamie's first email was more of the same, but the second was yet another plea for Ianto to come for a visit. Ianto grinned and shot Jamie a response agreeing to come stay for a few days if he could promise he and Mark were past the gooey honeymoon stage of moving in together. He chuckled, imagining Jamie's horror at being called gooey as he clicked on Brendan's email.
To Mr. Jones, Torchwood:
Dear Sir, ;)
That time again. Will the SUV be free on Thursday next? If that's good for you, I'll be in town for the usual maintenance drill. And hopefully lunch? Fair warning, I'm going to try again to talk you into being my plus one at Britt's wedding - not a date or anything, just as friends. So... work on your excuses now!
See you soon, I hope!
:) Cpl Brendan Spenser, UNIT
Ianto smiled as he typed a quick note to Brendan, confirming the day and lunch while studiously ignoring the plus one comment, and then emailed the rest of the team that the SUV would be out of commission on Thursday. He poured himself another cup of coffee and offered one to Tosh, who shook her head, already gathering up her jacket and bouquet of flowers.
"Off then?" he asked, sipping his coffee.
"Yeah," Tosh answered with a shrug. "I know Owen sent these, I don't care what he says," she added, frowning.
"But that's good, right?"
She shrugged again. "I guess I'll never get a chance to find out."
Ianto set his cup down and slipped his arm around Tosh's narrow shoulders, giving her a squeeze. "I have faith... even in Owen," he teased.
She gave him a weak smile, but it was a smile nonetheless so he counted it as a victory.
After Tosh left, Ianto took a quick spin through the Hub, ostensibly tiding up but also looking for his diary. He'd just about given up when he heard Jack yell his name.
He walked in to find Jack standing at his desk. "Did you call?"
Jack looked at him for a second and then held up a dark green leather notebook. "Found your diary."
Ianto practically lunged for the book, but then held himself back. He reached out a hand, saying as calmly as he could, "Yep, been looking for that." He gave Jack a searching look and then turned to leave as quickly as possible.
He'd almost made it to the door when Jack spoke again, stopping him in his tracks.
"And for the record…"
Ianto could hear the smile in Jack's words without turning around to look.
"…measuring tapes never lie," Jack finished, his voice practically caressing the words.
Fuck! Ianto thought. Figures he would flip to that one fucking page. He hurried out of the office only to turn around a second later when Jack yelled for him again. "Yep?" he asked, sticking his head through the door.
"Who's Adam?" Jack asked, holding up an evidence bag with 'Adam's property' written on it in marker.
"Don't know," Ianto said, popping back out of the office as quickly as he'd come in. He could feel the flush starting to rise up his neck and flood his cheeks as he remembered what he'd written in his diary about the night he and Jack had played with the measuring tape. What had started out as a silly game had turned into one of the most erotic nights of Ianto's life. He'd been fidgety when Jack had tried measuring him, due mostly to Jack's insistence on tickling him at every opportune moment, and then they'd had some disagreement about where to measure from for an accurate number. Jack had solved the entire issue by tying Ianto to the bed and gagging him with his own tie to keep him from arguing.
It had been an amazing night.
And Jack just read my recap of the whole thing including what I… oh God, I've got to get out of here. Ianto grabbed his coat and fled in sheer mortification.
TBC in Chapter Sixty-Three This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/106795.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Rating: R
Warnings: Nothing really, a few bad words
Spoilers: Season Two thru Adam (2x05)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to Catherine Tregenna for situations and dialogue borrowed from Adam. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which the team deal with the repercussions of "deleting" Adam…
Notes: Next chappie! I updated the master list for this fic and added the links to the next chapter on the old chapters as well. Hopefully that will make it easier to refresh if you're still reading! You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend
thraceadams for all the help and support and beta work; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Sixty-Two
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: The team woke up with no memory of the last two days…
When Ianto made it back upstairs, he could hear Owen hollering for him. He detoured from his intended path down to the vaults to check on Jack and headed for the medbay instead.
"I found Jack, he's fine," he said to Gwen with a comforting pat on her shoulder as he passed behind her.
"Oh, good." Gwen let out a sigh of relief.
Owen was popping in a contact lens as Ianto came down the stairs.
"You bellowed? What did - hey, what are you doing?" Ianto asked as Owen blinked hard a few times and then began tugging at Ianto's cuff.
"Blood sample," Owen muttered. "I've got Retcon in my system and I want to know if you do too."
"Get off." Ianto shoved Owen off of him and rolled up his own sleeve as Owen prepared the blood draw. "Did Tosh have any luck with the CCTV?"
Owen shook his head. He pulled a small vials-worth of blood from Ianto's arm and then slapped a cotton ball over the needle mark, already turning towards his equipment.
Ianto grimaced and wiped the tiny drop of blood from his arm. "What's the verdict?" he asked as he stepped over to stand beside Owen, rolling his sleeve back down and buttoning the cuff.
Owen rolled his chair back with a deep sigh. "Positive for Compound B67 as well as benzodiazepine and a little more Zolpidem tartrate than is usually associated with Retcon."
"And that all means…?"
"Someone slipped us a mickey and a dose of Retcon."
"Someone or… what exactly are you implying?" Ianto asked, frowning.
"Not implying, saying it straight out. Jack and I are the only people who could gage that combination safely and it sure as hell wasn't me."
Ianto raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, now, we don't actually know that, do we?"
"I - " Owen broke off with a surprised look. "No, I guess we don't. Any luck finding him?"
"He must've been dosed too - he was sleeping by an empty cell. The CCTV in the boardroom was set to the vaults." He shook his head when Owen started to look hopeful. "I checked, it was broadcasting only, not recording."
"Damn. Maybe he was really just sleeping and skipped the Retcon? Shit," he groaned. "Guess we'll just have to ask him when he gets his arse up here."
Ianto nodded absently. "Coffee?" he offered, his mind still racing through reasons Jack would've Retconned them, and possibly himself.
"God, yes," Owen replied gratefully.
They headed back up to the Hub, Ianto veering off to the kitchen area while Owen joined Tosh and Gwen at the workstations. He had just finished brewing a fresh pot when Jack wandered up from the vaults.
"Jack, how have we lost two days?" Gwen asked as soon as she caught sight of the Captain.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, sounding surprised.
Ianto brought a tray full of mugs over to the team, handing them out as he clarified the situation for Jack. "The last 48 hours. None of us can remember a thing."
"The system's blank," Tosh added. "The CCTV's been wiped. What's been going on? What've we been doing?"
Jack paused for a moment, visibly confused, and Ianto realised that there would be no answers, no explanation. Whatever reason they'd been Retconned was lost along with the missing days.
"I don't know," Jack admitted slowly.
"Great!" Owen complained. "That's two days of my life that I'll never get back."
Gwen just frowned and pulled out her mobile.
"Looks like Toshiko got herself a secret admirer though," Jack said, motioning to a large bouquet of flowers on her desk with his coffee mug.
Ianto gave half an ear to Jack and Owen teasing Tosh about her flowers as he headed back to Gwen's desk, more curious about her conversation. She had called Rhys and was asking him about the last few days.
"I know, but, sweetheart…" She rubbed her forehead. "I… okay… I'll be home soon, yeah? Love you, too."
"He have any answers?" Ianto asked, sipping his coffee.
"No," Gwen said. "I was clever about it, just sort of asked him how his day was, but he knew right away that something had happened." She turned her big eyes up to him, confusion fighting with hurt in their expression. "He told me that Jack had spoken to him and not to worry about anything, not to even think about the last few days, just to come home as soon as I could get away."
Ianto's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Jack spoke to him?"
"I know! It doesn't make any sense."
"What doesn't make sense?" Jack asked, waving goodbye to Owen as the cog door rolled back to let him exit.
Gwen crossed her arms and looked up at Jack. "Why would you talk to Rhys about Torchwood business behind my back?"
Jack looked surprised again. "I have no idea."
"You don't remember talking to him?" Gwen asked suspiciously.
"How could I remember talking to him if we wiped our memories?"
"Uh... Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'," Jack said. He took a drink from his blue striped mug and patted Gwen on the shoulder. "Look, whatever happened we should let it go. If we felt strongly enough about whatever it was that I was convinced Retcon was the only answer, then…well, let's just say we're probably better off not knowing."
"But why would you talk to Rhys about it and not me?" Gwen sounded a little pouty which Ianto took as his cue to gather up the empty mugs and head for the sink.
The hot water muffled the sound of Gwen's complaining nicely. When he finished washing up the mugs and cleaning the coffee maker, Gwen had gone home, leaving only Jack and Tosh in the Hub with him. Ianto settled at his workstation with a fresh cup of coffee, pulling up his email, curious if there were any clues to what had happened over the past two days in his correspondence. He reached for his journal as his inbox updated to see if he'd written anything down, but didn't find it in its usual place. Frowning, he moved some papers and looked around his workstation more carefully, but he still couldn't find the small, leather-bound book. Shrugging it off, he checked his email. He took a quick second to delete all the junk (including six ranting messages from Archie Farquharson up at Torchwood Two in Glasgow) which left two emails from Jamie, and one each from his sister, Jamie's boyfriend Mark, and Brendan - all still unread. Ianto ignored them for a moment, clicking on his sent items instead.
"Nothing," he muttered. He was disappointed but not surprised. He leant back in his chair and sipped his coffee while he went through the emails from his friends. His sister just had chatty news about her family, nothing pressing. Mark's email was a blast to his whole inbox thanking everyone for their thoughts and prayers for his mum and sharing the news she was doing better. Ianto fired off a quick reply, making sure Mark knew that he could call on Ianto at any time if he needed anything. Jamie's first email was more of the same, but the second was yet another plea for Ianto to come for a visit. Ianto grinned and shot Jamie a response agreeing to come stay for a few days if he could promise he and Mark were past the gooey honeymoon stage of moving in together. He chuckled, imagining Jamie's horror at being called gooey as he clicked on Brendan's email.
To Mr. Jones, Torchwood:
Dear Sir, ;)
That time again. Will the SUV be free on Thursday next? If that's good for you, I'll be in town for the usual maintenance drill. And hopefully lunch? Fair warning, I'm going to try again to talk you into being my plus one at Britt's wedding - not a date or anything, just as friends. So... work on your excuses now!
See you soon, I hope!
:) Cpl Brendan Spenser, UNIT
Ianto smiled as he typed a quick note to Brendan, confirming the day and lunch while studiously ignoring the plus one comment, and then emailed the rest of the team that the SUV would be out of commission on Thursday. He poured himself another cup of coffee and offered one to Tosh, who shook her head, already gathering up her jacket and bouquet of flowers.
"Off then?" he asked, sipping his coffee.
"Yeah," Tosh answered with a shrug. "I know Owen sent these, I don't care what he says," she added, frowning.
"But that's good, right?"
She shrugged again. "I guess I'll never get a chance to find out."
Ianto set his cup down and slipped his arm around Tosh's narrow shoulders, giving her a squeeze. "I have faith... even in Owen," he teased.
She gave him a weak smile, but it was a smile nonetheless so he counted it as a victory.
After Tosh left, Ianto took a quick spin through the Hub, ostensibly tiding up but also looking for his diary. He'd just about given up when he heard Jack yell his name.
He walked in to find Jack standing at his desk. "Did you call?"
Jack looked at him for a second and then held up a dark green leather notebook. "Found your diary."
Ianto practically lunged for the book, but then held himself back. He reached out a hand, saying as calmly as he could, "Yep, been looking for that." He gave Jack a searching look and then turned to leave as quickly as possible.
He'd almost made it to the door when Jack spoke again, stopping him in his tracks.
"And for the record…"
Ianto could hear the smile in Jack's words without turning around to look.
"…measuring tapes never lie," Jack finished, his voice practically caressing the words.
Fuck! Ianto thought. Figures he would flip to that one fucking page. He hurried out of the office only to turn around a second later when Jack yelled for him again. "Yep?" he asked, sticking his head through the door.
"Who's Adam?" Jack asked, holding up an evidence bag with 'Adam's property' written on it in marker.
"Don't know," Ianto said, popping back out of the office as quickly as he'd come in. He could feel the flush starting to rise up his neck and flood his cheeks as he remembered what he'd written in his diary about the night he and Jack had played with the measuring tape. What had started out as a silly game had turned into one of the most erotic nights of Ianto's life. He'd been fidgety when Jack had tried measuring him, due mostly to Jack's insistence on tickling him at every opportune moment, and then they'd had some disagreement about where to measure from for an accurate number. Jack had solved the entire issue by tying Ianto to the bed and gagging him with his own tie to keep him from arguing.
It had been an amazing night.
And Jack just read my recap of the whole thing including what I… oh God, I've got to get out of here. Ianto grabbed his coat and fled in sheer mortification.
TBC in Chapter Sixty-Three This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/106795.html. Please comment there using OpenID.