The Watch 5/?
Title: The Watch V
Characters: Jack/Ianto, The Doctor (10), Owen, Gwen, Tosh…
Rating: PG
Warning: Slight Gwen-bashing?; unintentional!
Summary: Hiding can sometimes be tricky; especially when you do not know what you are hiding from or what you may lose when it is revealed.
Chapter Five
They all gathered around like children at a camp fire waiting for a story of explosions, exotic places no human mind could dream up and adventures of the most ridiculous and perilous kind. Even Ianto came closer, just as eager as the rest of them to hear the Doctor’s thrilling tale of how they ended up back in little old 21st Century Cardiff, although unlike the others Ianto hid his interest far better.
“So,” the Doctor began, wildly gesturing with his hands in a way that is a familiar to Ianto as the sound of his mother’s voice or the beating of his own heart. “We were just about to leave the Mysterious and Exotic Market of Fellapitorius Zune after saving the entire Forty-Second Century Human race from extinction - you really wouldn’t believe how often the human race need saving! - and I turned to Jack and… and I asked him where does he want to go? Anywhere in the universe I offer him; anywhere and any-when and any… anyway he says to me; take me home Doctor. I was a bit worried that he meant Boeshane… that would be a bit tricky… but no; he said Cardiff 2008! He said; get me home to my team, Doctor. Isn’t that sweet?” The Doctor asked, grinning from ear to ear.
Gwen looked slightly pacified, and Toshiko looked relieved (probably that there wasn’t some imminent threat they would have to deal with). Owen was acting very macho but underneath he was probably fairly touched. And Ianto… Ianto just looked unimpressed.
“Anyway… I came along for the ride and thought I’d pop in and meet the people who have domesticated Captain Jack Harkness!” The Doctor said, and Jack laughed. The team clearly didn’t see the humour in that comment but they hadn’t seen Jack before he met up with the Doctor; he had been the furthest thing from domesticated you could get. Filled with an angry youthful energy and desperate to run away from the knowledge that it was his fault Grey was gone he had joined the Time Agency - it had gone down hill from there.
“I was expecting something a bit more aliens-and-end-of-the-world rather than tea and biscuits.” Owen admitted and Tosh nodded her head. Gwen let out a chuckle and Ianto stepped back, his ‘professional’ mask slipping back into place.
“Right, well, then. Back to work. The Rift doesn’t stop just because Jack Harkness decides to come home.” Ianto said coldly as he disappeared off to the Archives, feeling low. So, Jack had finally decided to grace them with his presence… it didn’t change that he had left in the first place. Or who with.
“Ianto-” Jack called after the unhappy man, but when he went to go after him a hand in the middle of his chest prevented him from doing so.
“Don’t - I’ll go,” Said the Doctor.
Jack looked irritated and confused at this but he consented; not because he thought it would be better for Ianto necessarily but because he knew that there was no place in the Hub - excepting Jack’s old personal chambers - that wasn’t covered by CCTV. As soon as the Doctor had disappeared following the Welshman into Torchwood Three’s archives, Jack raced up to his office and switched on the CCTV feed blocking it from being either recorded or viewed on any other monitor. He had a feeling that whatever was about to happen Ianto wouldn’t want it publicised. In fact Jack was pretty sure he wouldn’t want Jack to know about it; but curiosity, pique, and concern were all motivating factors in Jack’s invasion of his young lover’s privacy.
He sat back, yelling “haven’t you all got things to do” at his staff with a grin and a laugh that let them know he was just teasing. Then he settled in for the show.
(Downstairs in Archives)
“Danny?” The Doctor called as he crept down the dark corridor finally coming across a room which looked like it may be Archives. Inside the well lit room was rows and rows of labelled cabinets, old boxes were stacked in the corner and a desk was placed in the middle. Ianto Jones was sat at that desk, a file in front of him clearly labelled ‘The Doctor; Torchwood Three File’.
Ianto’s back had been facing the doorway but he span around when he heard his name… no not his, the child’s name, called out. “My name is Ianto!” Ianto told the Doctor, no emotion in his voice but his blue eyes blazed with repressed fury and hurt. So much hurt… his father had left him , Jack had left him, Lisa had left him (not that it had been her fault or that the Doctor knew about it) but the pain was still there. Scratch the surface of Ianto Jones and he would bleed pain.
“Yes I suppose it is. But it’s not the name I gave you.” The Doctor said, watching as Ianto tensed further.
“You didn’t give me any name! You took the man who was my father and my mother’s husband away from us and continued on your travels. I bet you never even thought about the heart broken wife or the abandoned child you left behind, did you Doctor? No, it was all about the next companion, the next adventure.” Ianto’s voice was laced with venom.
“That’s one way of looking at it,” The Doctor said carefully. “Another is that the man who fathered you is in here somewhere with me. I couldn’t be a husband and be human anymore; but I am still Simon. I am still your father.” He said.
Ianto shook his head. “You are just an echo.”
Jack stared at the screen in consternation, finally giving up on reading the body language of the two people he was supposed to know best of all and went down to see Tosh, Owen, and Gwen who had congregated by the sofa. “Which one of you removed sound from the CCTV?” He asked.
“Oh!” Tosh said. “I did - by accident I was running a programme and… well, it’s completely reversible. Just find the settings and press a few keys and you can still get the sound for anything you’ve recorded.” She smiled.
Shit. Jack thought. Now how was he supposed to find out the big secret?
TBC - please leave a comment! Thanks for reading.