In Sickness and in Health (28/40)
Title: In Sickness and in Health
Author: welsh_scotsman
Beta: royalladyemma
Author’s note Once again, thanks to royalladyemma for continous hand holding. If you’re new, start at chapter one, they’re all hyperlinked
Summary: Ianto looks after everyone, but who looks after him?
Pairing: Janto
Spoilers: None
Warning: Occasional language, references to child abuse
Rating: 15
http://welsh-scotsman.livejournal.com/6120.html chapter one
“Mr Harkness, how do you know Mr Jones?” asked Mr Clark as he arranged his notes.
“He’s my employee,” said Jack, glancing over at Ianto who nodded slightly. So far so good.
“I see, and how long has he been in your employ?”
“About two and a half years,” said Jack as he allowed his gaze to wander over to Mr Strutt who was smirking.
Mr Cark nodded. “And why did you hire him?”
Somehow, saying how Ianto had all but stalked him seemed like a bad idea. “He...had the skills we needed.” A muttered ‘I bet he did’ came from the defence.
“Could you expand on that please?”
“He...he’d worked with a different branch of the company for two years previously so was well acquainted with how things were run so I knew I wouldn’t have had to train him as thoroughly as the others. He also had a level of determination and dedication that I had never come across before. He’s polite, efficient, and organised. He keeps cool under pressure and in our line of work, that’s a must,” said Jack, a hint of pride in his voice as he glanced up at Ianto who averted his gaze, unused to being so openly complimented.
Mr Clark nodded. “Thank you, Mr Harkness. Tell me, what does Mr Jones’ job description entail?” Owen could see Mr Strutt muttering several sordid suggestions and he knew Jack would see it too but thankfully, Jack refused to be baited. If he lost his temper, he would lose control and Ianto could not afford for him to do that. Instead Jack locked eyes with Mr Strutt and started to speak.
“His official title is General Support but since I’ve hired him, his duties have increased dramatically in accordance to the way in which he has developed personally. You see, when I first hired him, I knew he had all these personal qualities but academically, he...didn’t seem to have as much potential,” said Jack, trying to put it as nicely as possible.
However, I quickly learnt within the first few weeks that his grades didn’t reflect his intellect at all. Something must have happened,” he said, staring straight at Lloyd before continuing. “Now I know him better, he ensures the Archives and forms are up to date: making sure they have their correct reference number and are uploaded onto the Mainframe to ensure that everyone can access them in an emergency.
“He organises my personal schedule to make sure I’m not meeting the President of the USA and the Queen at the same time. You have no idea how often that used to happen before I hired him. He also meets with various senior figures if I am unable to or a problem has cropped up and they just need a quick answer to a question.
“He also ensures we have everything we need and orders anything we might need such as medical equipment or tech stuff. He ensures that the equipment we do have actually works and, because of our agreement with Cardiff City Council and because he speaks a variety of languages including Welsh, French, German and Japanese, he mans the Tourist Office for a set amount of hours a week.
“He also covers if anyone is ill or injured and can’t come in. If I’m honest, I think he does too much and works too long. I’ve told him to ease up a bit, but he won’t; he cares for us too much.” A hint of sadness and regret tinged Jack’s voice as he glanced over at Ianto who gave him a small smile.
“Okay, and tell me, Mr Harkness, how are his performance reviews?”
“Exemplary. Actually, all my staff have exemplary reviews. Is that possible? Anyway, I usually do it twice a year when I, or more likely, Ianto remembers I need to do it. Oh, that’s another thing; he has an eidetic memory which is fortunate as I don’t. Anyway, I fill out one and I can’t fault him; he must work twelve, fifteen hour days? Sometimes he can be in as early as six in the morning if we’re particularly busy that week. He’s usually the last to leave; clearing up after the others have gone and putting their reports in the correct places. He’s brilliant with dealing with people and gets on brilliantly with the rest of his colleagues.” Jack again looked across the room and caught Ianto’s eye, and he was pleased to see a light blush on Ianto’s cheeks. Ianto always blushed when someone, especially Jack, sang his praises.
“However, because he has to fill one out on himself as well, I often find that he’s rated himself and his abilities lower than they actually are which is a shame as he could be even better if he had a bit more confidence. Still, we can’t have everything.”
“Okay, and what’s his relationship like with his other colleagues?”
“He gets on really well with everyone. Well, you have to in this job as we’re such a small company. Any personal grudges would cause havoc. But then, Ianto doesn’t hold grudges anyway. He says he’s too lazy; I say he’s too forgiving. Anyway, like I said, he’s fine with everyone else. He goes down the pub with them quite a lot.
“He also has a great sense of humour. In fact, I think all the practical jokes that have been played on me over the years have been his doing.” Jack smiled fondly. “He and Tosh seem to have this thing about mocking me with technological stuff. Well, it’s either me, or they decide that they’re bored and move Owen’s stuff around,” said Jack as he glanced over at the jury who were smiling to themselves. “I gotta admit, it is funny to watch Owen blindly reaching out for something that’s no longer where it’s supposed to be. The look on his face! Priceless!” Jack laughed. Owen glared.
Tosh leaned across Ianto and squeezed Owen’s hand, whispering, ‘imagine how we’d treat you if we didn’t like you.”
Owen’s brain processed that information for a split second before realising it’s implications, and he pasted a fake smile on his face before muttering ‘ha, ha bloody fucking ha,’ under his breath.
“So a normal 25 year old to all intents and purposes. Tell me, did you hire Ianto because you were physically and/or emotionally attracted to him?”
Jack shook his head. “No. It’d be pointless if he looked great but couldn’t even spell ’alphabet’ let alone know it.”
Mr Clark nodded. “Thank you, Mr Harkness. Tell me, how long have you and Mr Jones been in an intimate relationship?”
Jack didn’t even hesitate. “One year last Friday.”
“Okay, that is scary,” muttered Owen, glancing over at Ianto who just shrugged.
“He remembers the important things,” he murmured, a small thrill pinging in his heart.
“Did you keep that relationship a secret from your co-workers?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Jack sighed. “Ianto and I agreed that what we did in our private lives was irrelevant to the workplace. Also, Ianto wanted to prove that he’d been hired on his own merit and not because he was in a relationship with the boss.”
"And you were happy with that?”
Jack shrugged. “I didn’t mind either way. We had nothing to hide but I understood that Ianto might be more wary than me. He’s a much more reserved and private person than I am so I understood his concern. Besides, I understood that it must be a bit strange for him and just wanted him to feel comfortable and happy with the relationship himself before we told anyone else.”
“But your colleagues are aware of it now?”
“Yes.”
“How did they become aware of your personal relationship?”
“I err...I was badly injured and in coma and, well, you know how it is; it’s stressful and scary and worrying and apparently it was obvious he was concerned according to Gwen. She and Ianto would keep vigil by my bed in case I woke up. Well, obviously, I did, me and Ianto kissed, the others walked in. As is Murphy’s Law,” smiled Jack, quite pleased with his bending of the truth.
“In your opinion, how do Ianto’s co-workers feel about him sleeping with the boss?”
“They couldn’t care less. They have their lives, we have ours. As long as it doesn’t interfere with work, who cares what the Boss and one of their colleagues does? Besides, if they had a problem, believe me, they would vocalise it loudly and clearly so people in Australia knew.”
“And Ianto doesn’t mind that they know?”
Jack shrugged. “Well he didn’t really get a say in the matter in the end, did he? But no, he’s fine with it. Once he realised that nothing would happen, that they didn’t treat him any differently, he was a lot more comfortable with the idea. We still keep it out of the workplace as there really is no room for it but yeah, he’s happy and the others are happy so I am happy as well.”
“Okay, and tell me, Mr Harkness, have you ever let your personal relationship interfere with or determine how you assign work duties?”
“No. Never. We’ve agreed to keep our home life and professional life very separate. We each have our own little niche and that’s how it should stay. For example, I wouldn’t ask Owen to do Ianto’s job and I wouldn’t ask Ianto to do Owen’s job. It just wouldn’t work, aside from neither of them having the particular skills for the other’s job, it could cause all sorts of problems.
“It’s the same thing with the ‘power status’ as you like to call it. I don’t bother that much with exerting my power over the others as in my mind, they’re all equal and I wouldn’t say any one of their jobs is more important than any of the others. I don’t give preferential treatment to anybody, regardless of their personal relationship with me. If I think they suit a particular job, I’ll let them do it, and if I don’t, I won’t. No exceptions,” said Jack firmly.
Owen couldn’t help glancing over at Lloyd who was whispering to his lawyer, no doubt, muttering various obscenities under his breath. It was pathetic really that he couldn’t even pretend to act contrite. Not that Owen would’ve believed him anyway but it might have convinced him in the smallest possible way that Lloyd was human, As it was, all he saw was a being that just happened to be of the same species as the rest of them. A Weevil had more humanity than Wayne Lloyd.
“Okay, and have you ever given Ianto any preferential treatment in anything job related?”
“No. Never. I treat him as I would Tosh, Owen or Gwen. He has the same official hours and he has the same rate of pay. In fact, I think I’m harder on him than on any of the others and for that, I’m sorry. It’s just that when you know Ianto as well as I do, you find out just how many hidden depths he, for whatever reason, has hidden over the years. If I let him go about his job thinking he wasn’t capable of any of the ‘complicated’ things the others did, then I would be failing him as his Boss, his friend and his lover.
“I never push him to do anything I know he can’t do, I only ever push him to do things I know he can do if he applies himself. I know you might be thinking that it’s cruel and don’t get me wrong, I don’t have him slaving away over a mountain of reports ‘til two in the morning, but it’s a lovely feeling to witness the moment when he finds out he’s capable of doing something he’d previously thought himself incapable of,” said Jack as he looked directly at Ianto. He poured all the love and pride he felt for his young lover into that look, knowing that Ianto needed to see, to know, to believe how Jack felt, now more than at any other time.
Mr Clark nodded, more than satisfied with Jack’s answer. He could see the jury were impressed too so decided to move onto the more serious stuff. “So, has Mr Jones ever spoken to you of his childhood or his relationship with his father?”
“No. Never.”
“I see. But you have met his father; Mr Wayne Lloyd?”
“Yes. Twice.
Mr Clark nodded. “Could you tell the Court about your encounters with Mr Lloyd?”
Jack nodded, glancing quickly at Ianto who was tucked securely between Owen and Tosh before beginning.
“It was around the beginning of October last year. Ianto was ill and as all was quiet at work, I stayed home to look after him. Anyway, we were in the living room and the next thing we knew, Lloyd had staggered in, quite clearly drunk , shouting obscenities at Ianto who was understandably upset. He refused to leave despite both mine and Ianto’s repeated instructions so in the end, I was forced to remove him physically.” Jack was quite impressed with the amount of restraint he showed throughout his statement as not once had he expressed his true opinions of Lloyd. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t thinking them, but he had enough sense to know he had to get the jury on side and shouting insults would not help Ianto’s case.
"Okay. Tell me; did Mr Wayne Lloyd force his way into your and Mr Jones’ home?”
“No.”
“Then how did he get in?”
Jack sighed. “Apparently, he'd made a copy of the spare key Ianto had given to his older sister; Rhiannon in case of emergencies.”
Mr Clark nodded. “So at no point has Mr Jones voluntarily allowed Mr Lloyd into his home?”
“No.”
“Thank you, Mr Harkness. Going back to your first encounter with Mr Lloyd, what were your first impressions of his and Ianto’s relationship?”
Jack thought for several moments, trying to think of the best way to articulate everything that their relationship was and was not before settling on one word: “abusive“.
“Objection, Your Honour! Mr Harkness can not say that!” cried Mr Strutt.
Judge Adams kept his voice perfectly even. “Mr Strutt, Mr Clark merely asked Mr Harkness’ opinion on the matter. I’m sure Mr Harkness will expand, won’t you?”
Jack inclined his head respectfully. “Of course, Your Honour. As I was saying, I believed the relationship between Ianto and Lloyd to be abusive in nature. From the moment that man staggered uninvited into our living room, Ianto’s whole demeanour changed. You do not start to tremble if you have a loving relationship with your father; no matter how drunk they are,” stated Jack, looking directly at Lloyd who merely smirked in acknowledgement.
“So, what can you tell the court about your second meeting with Mr Lloyd?”
Jack grimaced. “It was in the outer office of our workplace. I got a call from Tosh -- Miss Sato - that there was a drunk man in the lobby making problems, demanding to see his son. I realised that it was in fact Lloyd, and immediately went out to see what could be done. When I arrived, I could see immediately that there had been some sort of scuffle -- our reception desk was overturned, papers and equipment on the floor. Tosh was visibly upset, and I sent her away for safety’s sake, to stay with Ianto.
“I, in turn, tried to get Lloyd to leave peacefully, but he took a swing at me, so I restrained him for a moment, he had a few insulting things to say about Ianto, we exchanged words, and he left. Until today, I haven’t seen him again.” Jack’s version of the story was brief and to the point.
“Your Honour, when Miss Sato comes to testify, we will introduce evidence to confirm Mr Harkness’ story about this encounter with Mr Lloyd.” The prosecutor addressed the judge. “I have no further questions for Mr Harkness at this time, but I do reserve the right to recall him at any time.”
“Thank you, Mr Clark. Mr Harkness, you will remain available to the court until you are dismissed. Mr Strutt, does the defence wish to cross-examine Mr Harkness?”
Defence lawyer Strutt stood up and made quite a show out of adjusting his tie, smoothing back his hair and shooting his cuffs before addressing the court. “Yes, Your Honour, we do.”
“Very well,” Judge Adams waved his hand in Mr Strutt’s direction. “Begin.”
http://welsh-scotsman.livejournal.com/21031.html#cutid1 chapter 29