Chapter Text
Ianto was trying to figure out just when Gwen managed to take over being nominally in charge. May be it was when she started to make and take calls from the constables who were not Ianto’s contacts. Or when she started to make the phone calls to the government just before Ianto was supposed to. Marie was still giving Gwen trouble and looking at Ianto for directions whenever she helped with a case. Owen and Tosh started to do the same thing and that made Marie just laugh when they got home. When they were able to return to Ianto’s flat, that is. Gwen tried to make him do the menial work and claimed that he could do the field work alongside his other duties because he taught her while he was doing other things around Torchwood. Too bad no one else agreed with Gwen. Ianto still kept up contact with the constables at the stations, especially Kathy Swanson, which helped keep her from completely taking over.
A jolt from the vehicle Owen was driving brought him back to the present. Wool-gathering and contemplation of what to do with Gwen will have to wait. The fish-person driving a sports car recklessly and high on cocaine was the top priority at this time. And Gwen was proving that neither she nor Owen knew what they were doing trying to shoot a gun from a moving vehicle at another moving vehicle. Ianto looked over at Tosh and wished his sister was there; she could shoot any gun from a moving horse, so shooting from a car should be easier. In theory, that is.
The chase came to a conclusion in a residential area with a family being held hostage by the higher than a kite bipedal fish. Ianto had a good bead on the babbling fish, but it kept moving his(?) head back and forth behind the young girl’s head. Ianto could ignore the taunting; after all he was sniper during World War One and Two. It was the moving back and forth that kept him from shooting. Just as he finally could take the shot, another gun fired just as he did. The blowfish had two holes in his head as he fell backwards, letting go of the girl so she could run to her mother. Ianto turned to see their missing boss.
“Miss me, kids?”
“Not as much as you would like to think,” Ianto muttered. He was glad to see Captain Jack Harkness was back from his adventures with the Doctor and the Hellish year that never was. Too bad he also wanted to pound the idiot into the pavement for not coming back quicker, but then that may have been the fault of the idiot Time Lord and not Jack. Still, Ianto wanted to hit him for several reasons.
Gwen tried to look officious as she ordered everyone to do their jobs, but she was shot down by Owen telling her to help him get the fish-man into the SUV. “Think you can get the car back to the parking garage so our new mechanic can look it over before we turn it over to the Constables?” he asked looking at Ianto.
Ianto smiled. “I think so. I also think you just want to listen to her complain again about the poor make of the cars over here.”
“Of course; she’s entertaining to listen to. Even Tosh gets a kick out of some of her comments.” Owen snagged Gwen’s arm before she could breeze by. “You are helping me move that. Tosh can handle the Retcon.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “I thought that you were going to regulate who gives out the Retcon from now on.”
“I am,” said Owen. “Marie and I worked out a way to keep track of what we give out and compare it to our stores.” He leveled a look at Gwen, who ignored to look as she tried, again, to look officious for the traumatized family. “There is a way to take it out now that involves fingerprints and signing out the meds. Gwen is not in the system.”
Ianto watched Jack raise an eyebrow. “Why?
“Because she abused the Retcon and stole some to give to Rhys,” said Tosh as she moved by. “Grisha actually discovered that for us. Ianto and Owen were not amused and Gwen was written up. Again.”
“Who is Grisha? And who is our “new mechanic”?”
Ianto smiled grimly. “You’ll see. Grisha had to go back to California, but he thought that it would be a good idea to check on our sister after that hell that the damn Gallifreyans dropped on us.”
Jack looked a bit startled and looked like he wanted to ask about remembering the Hell that they went through. Ianto just looked at him with a small shake of his head before moving over to the body of the annoying sentient fish. He fished out a pair of gloves and started to search the pockets of the dead fish for the keys.
“I don’t think he grabbed the keys from the car,” Owen said.
“Just making sure,” said Ianto as he carefully took items from the pocket he was searching. “Hand me a bag please?”
Owen gave Gwen a dirty look as she ignored the clear bag next to her and stood there waiting for Owen to help her move the disgusting fish person to the body bag. Ianto just rolled his eyes at Owen over her attitude and dropped the (loosely called) stuff into the bag. “We’ll have to be careful when we take care of the body,” said Owen looking at the items before he started to move the lower part of the body to the black bag.
Ianto just nodded and left the house to check the sports car for the keys and to make sure he could drive it. Ianto said a quiet prayer of thanks that for the wild ride through Cardiff, the car didn’t look too worse for wear. His sister would be able to tell if there was any trouble that he wasn’t aware of. Speaking of his sister, Ianto pulled out his phone to give her a heads up that they were on their way back with a body and an extra.
“He finally came back.”
Ianto smiled at the statement. “You should have been a Fire Master with that foresight,” he teased.
His sister scoffed over the phone before saying, “Not on your life. I don’t want it. I was just listening to what was being whispered.”
“Keeping those little…”
“If you are talking about those little monsters calling themselves “fairies”, then, yes, I am terrorizing those little monsters on my off days. Now we just need to get you a hobby.”
“Insulting Jack and Gwen in Welsh isn’t a hobby?” Ianto asked innocently as he pulled away from the home.
“Not if one is ignoring you and the other doesn’t know what you are saying.”
“Which one is which?”
“It’s a tossup.” Ianto’s sister cleared her throat. “Now I’m assuming that everyone is on their way back with the car and the fool. I’ll have the bay ready for Owen.”
“Make sure there are some evidence bags for the constables. I checked a pocket and there was some stuff that they might be interested in.”
Ianto listened as his sister sighed over the phone. “I’ll make sure. See you when you get back.”
“Rydw i’n dy garu di.” (I love you [familial]) [AN: I hope.]
“Je t’aime, petit frère.” (I love you, little brother.)
Ianto hung up the phone and drove to the quay. He and his sister were still jumping at shadows and had to be talked down a couple of times. There was a psychologist that he spoke to, but Marie would only speak to him occasionally. He could see that she was waiting to return home to speak with someone she was comfortable with and at least she was willing to work with the doctor that he was seeing for the trouble of the recent past.
Ianto enjoyed the drive in the fancy car and was a bit disappointed to see the parking garage. He smiled wistfully as he parked the car near the spot they usually parked the SUV. A couple of minutes later the Torchwood SUV pulled into their usual spot and everyone piled out. Owen was complaining as usual about Jack’s driving and Gwen was pouting because she was relegated to the backseat while Owen gave Jack the run down from the front passenger seat. Ianto wondered how that happened since Gwen usually took that seat.
“Hey, Ianto, could you help me with the body?” Owen called. “Tosh is going to fix the cameras and Gwen is useless in moving the body.”
Ianto nodded his head and came over to help Owen move the body out of the boot and onto a stretcher that Tosh quietly brought over as Gwen swanned through the door after Jack. As the rest came in, Gwen started to give orders and Ianto had to bite his tongue to keep from cracking a joke about sushi as he was relegated to taking care of the body.
“And why isn’t Dr. Harper helping with the body, Ms. Cooper?” called a barely civil voice from the medical bay. “And you need to get off your dead butt and feed the residents downstairs. Now.”
Gwen looked like she was hit in the face as Ianto walked by with a small smirk on his face. “She is right Gwen. They do need to be fed and it is your turn.” A glance back at Jack found an arched eyebrow at the exchange before he really looked around the base.
“I like what you did with the place.”
That must have been the straw that broke the camel’s back as Gwen marched up to Jack and shoved him in the chest. “You left.”
“I found my Doctor.”
“Did he fix you?” asked Owen.
Ianto noticed a flash of sadness before it was hidden again. “What’s to fix? You don’t mess with this level of perfection.”
Ianto heard his sister snort and quietly mutter “Oh, please.” He was in agreement that sediment. Jack was trying to be the flirt he was before the whole damn year.
Then Jack looked Ianto up and down before he said, “I came back for you.” Then he ruined the good feeling that sentence gave Ianto by adding, “All of you.”
“Jackass,” growled Marie. She marched out of the bay right up to Jack and shoved Gwen aside.
“You have beings to feed,” she reminded Gwen. “And you are an idiot; almost on the level of that idiot Gallifreyan, the Doctor.”
“You were there,” Jack whispered. He glanced up at Ianto. “Both of you.”
“Yes, we were,” hissed Marie. “And we saw what happened. And we remember because the Universe remembers. There are some things that Masters of Time and Space just can’t fix.” She turned from Jack so fast he was whipped by her hair that was pulled back into a tail. “Owen, I’ll help move that body, but I want to double glove before we do anything.” As she passed Ianto, she took the bags from him to set with the body of the dead druggie fish-man.
That was that, thought Ianto. Jack has been reprimanded by his sister and then dismissed. Too bad Gwen wasn’t taking a hint.
It looked like she was going to say more, but the Ianto’s phone started to ring as the Rift alarm started to go off. Gwen rushed for the SUV, as Ianto reached for his personal phone. “Yes,” he said quietly.
“We have a body,” said Detective Swanson. “It could be a suicide, but there are things that are not adding up. We also have a witness say that a guy in an old English uniform threw the dead man off the building, gave him a message for Harkness, threatened him, and then left.”
Ianto watched as Jack rushed off after Gwen. “We’ll be right there,” Ianto told the Detective.
“How?” asked Owen. “I don’t have the keys.”
“I do,” said Tosh. “They were left in the SUV again.”
“And if Jack had them?” asked Owen.
“I would have carried you with me,” said Ianto as he held the door open for his two co-workers. He glanced up at his sister.
“I will stay here and get the man-fish ready for autopsy.” She looked seriously at the trio. “Be careful. Something bad has come and his empathic stench is starting to drift.”
Tosh looked at Ianto. He shook his head and said, “You and I are going home after this is all said and done. If you are picking up things like that and I’m not, then we both need some downtime.”
“Bring Tosh and Owen, they could use the stress relief, too,” said Marie as she smiled at Ianto. Ianto smiled back; it felt good that his sister remembered his co-workers and was willing to add them to the party. Too bad Gwen was not as open.
“Where are the keys?!”
Speak of the devil, thought Ianto.
“In Tosh’s hot little hand, dummkopf,” Marie yelled back. “And Owen will be the one driving this time, Jack. You are still recovering.” She looked at Ianto. “I think that you should tell Owen the address and hurry before one of the wizards of smart try to hotwire the fancy tin can.”
Ianto grinned at his sister’s statement while Owen snorted in laughter and Tosh twittered. Then they left their visitor to her self-appointed tasks and joined their impatient co-workers in the carport.
Ianto told Owen the address that they were to join the Constables of Cardiff at and settled next to Tosh in the backseat. He tried to give Tosh as much room as possible as Gwen tried to take her third of the seat from nearly the middle so she could tell Jack about how much she tried to lead Torchwood and how much the others were making it difficult. Ianto and Tosh side eyed each other as Ianto had to bite his tongue again to keep some of his comments to himself. He couldn’t help the eye rolls that did escape as he heard about how he authorized Marie to work for Torchwood without Gwen’s permission and how the dear lady was giving Gwen more trouble than the other three.
Ianto noticed that Jack was going to say something, but they arrived at the scene of the fall. Detective Swanson ignored the upstart ex-Constable and went right to Ianto with Tosh standing nearby and Owen going over to look at the body without touching it. Ianto absently noticed that Owen was speaking with the medical assistant about the body as he spoke to the Detective. Gwen tried to horn into the conversation and Jack listened at the fringes, but Detective Swanson spoke only to Ianto.
“We had to sedate the witness after his original statement, but he was adamant that this person came through “a hole in the air”.”
Jack had wandered near where the body was and was fooling around with his wrist band. Something must have triggered him because Ianto noticed that Jack got a bit grim in the presence of the Constables (which he hardly ever does, the flirt) and started to look around. He even went to the top of the building to get more readings from where the “hole in the air” appeared and came back to converse with the rest of the class.
Too bad his wrist strap decided to sound off.
“That is beeping,” Ianto said, startled. “It never beeps.” He glanced with Tosh and Owen. This might not be good.
Jack pressed a button and a recording started with a hologram. “I got the answering machine. I can’t believe I got the answering machine…” Ianto consciously tuned out the rest of the message as he studied Jack. The man was nervous, afraid, and a bit angry. It also didn’t help that he was trying to hide it from everyone and be the man he was before he left with the Doctor (may he get a swift kick in the…). Ahem. Focus, Ianto.
Ianto brought himself back in time to see Jack grab the keys to the SUV and leave.
“Wait where are you going?” Owen was kind of worried and more than a bit upset.
“Not even a day back and he runs off without us.” Gwen was disgusted, but then she was expecting Jack to treat her like she was in charge. Ianto wanted to laugh at that one.
Ianto just sighed, looked at Tosh, and went to wave down a Taxi. “Can you track him?” he asked quietly as one came to a stop.
“I don’t need to,” she said smugly. “I know where he’s going.”
“You are brilliant,” Ianto praised as he held the door for his co-workers and Gwen. Before he got in he waved to Detective Swanson. “Thank you for letting us know about the situation. I think it’s safe to take the body, but I don’t think you will want the perpetrator though.” He had to smile at the disgusted look on his friend’s face before turning his attention back to his companions.
“What would have happened if I couldn’t find him?” asked Tosh as Ianto settled in his seat.
Ianto shrugged. “I would have had to track him the hard way.”
“What’s the hard way?” asked Owen, interested in the conversation.
Ianto thought about his answer. “My sister can track just about anything in a rural setting, but she has more trouble in urban. Several of my brothers have figured out a way to track someone in the city because they are usually in law enforcement. I would have borrowed on what they knew or asked Tosh to look into the CCTV for Cardiff. Worse comes to worse, I would carry you around with me until we found Jack.”
“What do you mean “carry us”?” Owen asked.
Ianto looked at the cab driver and shook his head. “I’ll tell you later,” he said. “It’s a bit private.” Gwen scoffed at that, but he ignored her in favor of their cab slowing down at the very empty nightclub Reunion. “I would have thought that they would be open about now,” he mused.
“Usually they are,” said Owen. “And this one in particular since it’s fairly new.”
The rest of Torchwood piled out of the taxi and Ianto paid the fare. “Okay, since I have the background, I will give the placement of everyone,” said Gwen. Ianto rolled his eyes and waited to hear what she had to say. “Owen and I will come in through the front. Tosh, you and Ianto will take the back. We’ll box this guy in.”
“If he doesn’t shoot us first,” muttered Owen as he joined the rookie.
“You do realize that if he runs, he’ll come right at us?” asked Tosh.
“Mmmhmm,” hummed Ianto. “And he will be in for a surprise.” Ianto smirked at Tosh and she grinned back. Gwen was not winning this round.
Ianto was extremely quiet as he slowly worked his way through the back of the night club. Tosh tried to be as quiet, but he had practice at stalking quietly. They were in place when the visitor in the Napoleonic era uniform called out for everyone to join them. He wasn’t impressed with how Jack introduced them either. It gave him a Very Bad Feeling.
“So if we help you, you leave. Correct?” asked Jack after the slime ball gave his “impassioned” speech of honoring a dying woman’s wish.
“Yes,” the smarmy creep grinned.
Marie was going to hate him on more than principle alone.
“So we’re taking him back with us?” asked Gwen.
“Yes,” said Jack with finality.
Owen muttered to Ianto and Tosh as they left the night club, “Why do I get the feeling that things are going to get real bad real quick?”
“Because you are a smart man who is finally listening to his gut instincts,” offered Ianto as they squeezed into the backseat.
“What he said,” said Tosh as she settled in the middle. There was a bit of satisfaction that Gwen looked a bit uncomfortable in the front seat squished against the passenger door. Ianto had to mentally shake his head and try to refocus on the situation again. Watching Gwen’s discomfort can wait and is not helping the situation at hand.
Ianto noticed that they stopped at the front of Millennium Center and that Jack motioned for the slimy git to get out of the car. Ianto hurriedly left his seat and took the driver’s seat to move the car. “I’ll meet you at the Tourist Entrance,” Jack told Ianto as he herded the bleach blond creep away. Ianto nodded his head and moved the car quickly. He had to warn his sister of the incoming stench source.
She was waiting for them at the garage entrance with an arched eyebrow and crossed arms. Ianto hurried to let her know what was going on as he went to get the special platter that would deactivate any specialized weapons placed on it. Too bad the only way they discovered that neat trick cost them a really nice blaster from the 38th century. Suzie was so disappointed. So was Jack.
“Do we know much about the “visitor”?” Marie asked as she followed Ianto.
Ianto shook his head. “Other than Jack used to work with him and they were very close for a while.”
Marie wrinkled her nose. “May be we should have the good Captain tested after we get rid of the smelly baggage.”
Ianto allowed a small smile to curl his lips. “That sounds like a plan to me. Hopefully he doesn’t end up on the slab again.”
“Your lips to God’s ears,” Marie said. “That man needs to center himself again after that hell. Jumping right into trouble like this is just going to make it harder.”
Ianto grunted as he went to the slowly lowering slab of concrete. Myfanwy was gliding around the ceiling to inspect the pair coming down and let a cry out before she took off for her nest. Ianto thought absently that she will need to be let out the next night to do some hunting and stretch her wings. He assumed a butler’s appearance at the foot of the alternative entrance and waited for Jack to issue his demand for the removal of all weapons.
Too bad the shyster tried to lie about what he had. Gwen, after taking the analyzer from Tosh, rattled off the rest of the inventory, which forced the “guest” to relieve himself of those as well. Ianto was sure that the man had a few other less mechanical trinkets on his person, but he wasn’t about to perform a strip search on the man. One, he didn’t know where the man had been and Ianto might catch something. Two, the perv might enjoy the experience.
“Alright, that is everything,” Captain John Hart said like he was doing them a favor.
“Alright,” said Gwen. “Let’s look into his story.”
Tosh was already at her computer trying to make a search equation to find three radiation spots that were different from the normal radiation that was in Cardiff. Then the click of a gun was heard in the silence. Ianto looked over at the source and saw that his sister was in full protective mode. There was a black powder pistol in her hand, a knife visible on her belt and a couple of bulges where at least one gun and a couple of knives were hiding.
“Please, give me a reason to shoot you so full of shot that you will rattle when you walk,” Marie growled.
“Um, what is this, Jack?” the blond captain asked as Gwen tried to cover her embarrassment by explaining to Jack the new comer’s reaction. Owen had the excited look of a fight about to break out and Tosh was ignoring the group in favor of communicating with Mainframe for information.
“He is safe,” Jack tried to say. “We disarmed him.”
Marie’s eyes didn’t leave the slim ball. “I’m sure that he has a few other things on him that aren’t detected by your fancy gizmos.” She smiled a grin full of teeth and little to do with being friendly. “The broke back snake probably has at least one blade on him and, if he is from your time, I wouldn’t doubt at least one type of poison.”
Jack tried to reassure the American visitor. “We’ll keep an eye on him. Promise.”
Marie looked over at Ianto. He nodded his head before she uncocked her gun. “Oh, there will be eyes on him; more than just yours or Gwen’s though.” The unfriendly grin came back. “And the promise still stands.”
The blonde moron smiled a smarmy smile and tried to coo at Ianto’s sister. “Ah, Love, there is plenty to go around.”
Owen looked a bit disgusted and Ianto wanted to dent the guy’s face with his fist. Marie’s answer brought a smile to both of them. “The question is what there is plenty of? I am not in the market for whatever venereal disease you are carrying at this moment. Or ever.”
It brought a smile to Ianto’s lips to see the startled look on both of the 51st century men’s faces. It would be one of those things that Ianto would be treasuring in the dark of the night when he was home at his flat and angry with the Captain for whatever reason of that time.
“Thank you,” Owen muttered to Marie with a smile. “You just made my day.”
“Jack, may I speak with you for a minute?” asked Gwen as Ianto watched Marie obviously settle where she had a good line of sight for the slimy time traveler.
Ianto was barely paying attention to the pair when Tosh let out a satisfied “Found them” . “I’ll go let Jack and Gwen know,” said Ianto as he left. He found them in the hall to the lower levels and Jack just found the ring on Gwen’s finger.
“What’s this?”
“That’s a ring; that is,” Gwen said, acting faux surprised. She had the damn thing on and flashing it around for at least a month. Ianto gritted his teeth and remembered that he was the one to stop his sister from force feeding Gwen that same ring several times. May be he should have let her once or twice.
“Rhys, I assume,” Jack said. Was that pain in his eyes? Oh, Ianto was going to go home and drink more than one bottle if that was and he was going to take more than one week off. He would encourage Tosh and Owen to do the same too. Gwen and Jack can handle themselves.
“Yes. No one else would have me.” Ianto rolled his eyes. The twit was “had” by several people. It was a wonder Rhys wasn’t sterile or had a VD. Ianto had Marie discreetly check the man several times; how Gwen managed to not catch something was amazing. Even Owen was careful and he had a couple of scares.
Time to walk in and ruin the little heart to heart. “We have the location of the radiation bombs, so if you are done making cow eyes at each other…” Ianto didn’t even look to see what they looked like. He knew that both were startled and that Gwen was angry at the interruption. Captain Harkness was a bit better at the shielding of his emotion, but he was slipping a bit. Too bad Ianto was not interested at this time and was a bit heartsore himself.
Marie joined him at the entrance of the meeting room. “He did it, didn’t he? He asked about the ring,” she said quietly. Ianto nodded. She quietly cursed and put her hand on his shoulder. “You do know that now he has to pay, right?” Ianto nodded again, this time with a smile. The family was getting involved.
Torchwood wasn’t going to be the same.
He would have to warn Tosh and Owen.
Ianto watched as Captain Harkness breezed in with Gwen just behind him. “Okay, Tosh, tell us what you’ve got.”
Tosh explained where each of the canisters were and how each could be tracked.
Gwen stepped forward. “Owen, you and Tosh go to the warehouses and look for that one. Jack, take Ianto and look for the one in the office building. I’ll take Vera and look in the shipping yard.” She gave Marie a nasty grin. Marie gave a bland look back as Gwen said, “You’ll have to stay here and make sure the guests are fed.”
Marie didn’t say a word, but Owen and Tosh stood up to stand with Ianto. “Actually, I think that you should stay here and let Marie go with the 51st century time slut,” said Ianto. “That way you can catch up with your job and your paperwork. After all, you have been complaining that you haven’t been home to see Rhys all week.”
“But that could be because you were out in a bar with various men and leaving with them before doing a walk of shame into Torchwood the next morning,” added Owen.
“And complaining about how you don’t get enough days off to rest and see your family,” added Tosh. “While the rest of us have to listen to you complain and hear how we don’t have a family to worry about.”
“Which is patently untrue,” finished Marie. “Since you wanted to start this in front of the 51st visitors, we will end it. So, yes, they now know what kind of woman you are while Jack is not here. Now, I will be staying here because I might just shoot either one of them and try to call it an accident or self-defense. I might get away with it on one of them, but Ianto won’t thank me if it was Jack and I don’t think I want to inflict anyone else with der slickmeister. You want him, you can have him. Then you can come back and clean the pens and feed the residents.”
“That will be acceptable to me,” said Ianto. “And for the record, I might have agreed with you as long as it wasn’t fatal with Jack.” Marie gave him a look and Ianto sighed and nodded. His sister was getting to the end of her rope and Jack was not helping by cozying up to Gwen. This Captain Hart was not helping at all. They needed to leave soon before the fragile ties keeping them from doing damage broke.
“As long as we don’t have to clean up after Saint Gwen, I don’t care and Marie needs downtime. She’s skating to her breaking point and Teaboy is not far behind.” Owen looked Jack in the eye. “You keep this professional and let’s get this done quickly. We need time off and Gwen needs a dose of reality where she isn’t the top dog. You’re back, so Ianto should have a bit more support in her training again or we have decided that she is going to be a sheep farmer in the most northern farm in the most northern mountain in Wales we can find.”
“And it will stick this time too,” said Tosh.
Ianto was warmed by the support of his friends. They helped a lot with his and Marie’s PTSD from that damn year and the fact that Marie hadn’t attacked either one of them when she first came was a blessing that Ianto is still grateful for. That Ianto hadn’t done something to his friends the first few weeks after the rewind of time is still a blessing in his mind to this day. The daily support that they give to both of them just makes Ianto even more grateful for both of them and the people at Flat Holm, who pointed him in the direction of the kind of help he and his sister needed.
“Are we done with the minor mutiny or can we make this even more interesting?” asked the 51st century grease ball.
“I’m almost ready for Marie to shoot the man,” said Owen.
“I agree,” said Tosh.
Ianto laughed as the four of them left the room. He heard Captain Harkness say, “Gwen, I need to speak to you for a moment” but brushed it off. Jack was on notice from his protective older sister; the rest of the family would know in 30 minutes. Jack’s life would be hell after that. He barely noticed the slime bucket loiter outside the door to the conference room.
Tosh glanced back. “Last minute instructions?”
Ianto nodded. “Probably telling her to be careful; you know how she listens.”
“Like she has another hole in her head,” muttered Marie.
Ianto and the others flattened to the sides of the hall as Jack stormed down the hall. “Ianto, with me.”
“Yes, sir, right away sir,” Ianto muttered, garnering a small laugh from the other three. Gwen and Captain Slimy oozed by dripping satisfaction for some reason. Ianto didn’t want to fathom the reason and he really didn’t want to go down any rabbit holes right now with the state of his mentality.
“Be careful, petit frère. I do not trust this man and I am afraid of what he has planned.”
“I will be careful. I will try to protect our friends as well.”
Ianto watched as Marie gave a sad smile. “That is all I can ask at this time.” She huffed and added, “This is too much like sending you off to war again. Do come back and try to not to get seriously hurt.”
Ianto twitched a smile. “I will try to not be like Harm in Vietnam.” He smiled a bit more as Marie growled.
“That would be appreciated.”
“Ianto!”
“The Master awaits,” Marie snorted. “We must not keep him waiting.”
Ianto rolled his eyes, but hurried to the impatient Captain Harkness. Marie was right in that the good Captain was anxious to go and he was not happy about the wait. He was also unsure about something else, but Ianto wasn’t getting a good read on that one, partly from Captain Harkness’ mental shields and Ianto’s exhaustion. After this was all done, Ianto was all for going on a quick trip to London and staying with another Captain for a bit. May be they could visit a magical cop while they were at it before Ianto came back to whatever fight he had to fight to get Gwen as a quarter of a decent field agent and actually get some respect from Captain Jack Harkness once again. It seemed like every time progress was made, something reversed it.
The office building the radiation bomb was supposed to be located was still open, much to Ianto’s surprise. He would have thought that it would have been locked with security patrolling the building and the night cleaning staff turning off the lights as they finish up. Instead the whole building was lit up and the door was unlocked. Ianto was going to say something to Captain Harkness until he saw the smug look on Captain Harkness’ face.
“You did something to the building, didn’t you?”
“I thought it would help,” Captain Harkness shrugged.
Ianto narrowed his eyes. “The coordinates Tosh gave us says that the bomb 55 to 58 meters high. So it would be on the 18th or 19th storey.” He led the broadly grinning man through the front doors and to the lifts. He didn’t trust the man at this moment and for some reason his emotional shields were heaving all over the place. He would almost say that the Captain was trying to affect something, but if he did, then the rest of his family would come down on the man and the Captain would wish that he had stayed with the roaming Doctor.
The 18th floor was office space and Ianto was in silent despair. It would take forever to look through it all and the Captain was feeling a bit frisky with his comment about office romances and photocopying butts. “Why are we helping him?” Ianto asked just to get the air cleared a little.
“He’s a reminder of my past and I want him gone.”
Ianto was surprised. That was the first truly honest thing Captain Jack Harkness has said since he returned.
“Listen, Ianto. I was wondering if later you and I could go out for dinner… May see a show?”
Ianto raised an eyebrow as he shuffled through some papers in a desk drawer. “You mean go on a date?” Captain Jack Harkness was a bit nervous. Good to know.
“Uh, yeah, a date, just you and me.”
Ianto was going to regret this. He said quietly and absently, “Sure.”
“Was that a yes?” Captain Jack Harkness sounded hopeful. Ianto wondered why.
Ianto looked up from what he was looking at. “Yes, that was a yes. Why don’t you go to the roof? You’re good on roofs.” Captain Jack Harkness gave Ianto a jaunty salute before leaving for the lift. Ianto slumped when he was gone. “Why did I say I would go on a date with him?” he asked the empty room. “Oh, that’s right, the good captain is my Partner, who probably has as much PTSD as I do.”
The ding from the lift made Ianto raise his head from the file cabinet he was searching, thinking it was Jack with either good news or bad. When Captain Jack didn’t reappear, Ianto slowly approached the doors with his gun in the ready position. Too bad he didn’t get the make of the creepy perv who got the drop on him from behind.
“Hello, Eye Candy,” he purred. “Your little friends are in a bit of trouble and need your help.” Ianto tried to call them on the comms, but the muckraker smiled at him as he forced him into the lift. “You didn’t really think that I wouldn’t disable the communications while I was in your little hideout, did you? Right now, dear Owen has a gunshot wound and is bleeding out and dear little Gwen is dying by inches from a paralytic poison. You have less than an hour to save them Eye Candy, so RUN! RUN!”
As the lift carried Ianto down, he took out his other phone and made a call to his sister. “Oui?”
“He double crossed us.”
“I knew it.”
“He may need something from the Archives, so make sure you’re armed to the teeth and stay in stealth mode. Track where he goes and what he takes.”
“On it. What of the others?”
“Owen was shot. I don’t know where, but Tosh has a good head on her shoulders. I will call her next and get to them first. Gwen has a paralytic that will kill her within an hour.”
“So by triage standards, she is in the lesser danger until Owen can be assessed. Find out what you can and call me if you need help.”
Ianto sagged in relief. He looked over his shoulder as he exited the building. Captain Jack was on the roof being held at gunpoint by the slimy double crosser and there was nothing he could do at the moment. Captain Jack could take care of himself at this time, but Ianto would have to come back, if he was able, to see if there was anything that he would have to do to help with situation.
Ianto dialed Owen’s phone and then Tosh’s as he drove to the warehouse that they had been assigned to investigate for the “bomb”. When Tosh finally answered, Ianto almost went limp with relief, but had to keep driving in order to get to them with supplies Owen might need.
“Tosh, Hart said that Owen was shot,” Ianto started.
“He was shot in the leg. I have a tourniquet on, but Owen is going to need a bit more help than what we have right now.”
“I’m coming right now. He pretty much forced me from the building and is holding Jack at gunpoint at the moment. Gwen is at the shipping yards with a paralytic slowly killing her.”
“How do you know?” asked Owen.
“He told me,” said Ianto as he turned into the warehouse district. “I’m not sure why.”
“Bragging?” offered Tosh. “May be he was trying to make you choose between the person who Jack supposedly loves and the friend who you respect. How many would go for the respect of the boss and how many would try for the morals of saving the friend?”
“And how many would try for both?” Owen said quietly.
“Despair and grief from both deaths and blame from the boss who may not like the choice made,” said Ianto.
“What would you have done?” asked Owen.
“Called Rescue and/or my sister and played the idiot hero,” said Ianto.
“Who probably would have gotten shot,” said Tosh with a watery laugh. Ianto parked the car outside the warehouse they were in. He grabbed the med kit from the seat next to him and rushed through the open door.
“Then I hope that at least my friends would have given me a nice funeral,” he said as he hurried through the accumulated bits and bobs to the pair. He shined his lamp on Owen and then to the hole in his leg. “How bad is it?”
Owen used the extra light to study the wound. “It didn’t hit any major arteries and it’s not a through and through. We’ll have to wrap the wound and take care of it at the Hub after we get the Captain and the Saint.”
Ianto glanced over at Owen after looking at Tosh to make sure she was alright. “Are you sure you want my sister taking care of you?” he asked. “I distinctly remember you saying you would rather go to the A&D than to trust an American with your health.”
“Yeah, well, she proved she knows what she’s doing,” Owen grumbled. “I’ll take my chances.”
Ianto nodded his head. “I thank you for the high praise of my sister,” he said.
Owen couldn’t say much at that moment since Tosh and Ianto were in the middle of wrapping his very painful wound, but he did make his feelings on the matter known by the filthy look he gave Ianto in the shadows of the dim light. Ianto didn’t see the face, but he expected that he would not have given the look the proper due it deserved so it was best to keep his head down and hurry along so they could get to the shipping yards. Ianto had to guess that Gwen had may be 20 minutes left since the double crossing grease ball first dosed her.
Ianto started to get agitated over the numbers as the started to estimate the time from when he first met with the 51st time traveler until now. “Owen, how long from the time Hart first got to you to the time he left?”
“Two minutes, why?”
“I’m trying to figure out how long Gwen has been down. I may not like her, but I’m not going to passively kill her either.”
Tosh did some figuring on her palm top computer and said, “If he took her car, then she’s been down for at least 42 minutes. The time to get to the yards will be four minutes and to find where she is could be up to 10.”
“Making it almost past the time limit,” Owen breathed. He looked at Ianto. “Can you carry me?”
Ianto looked him up and down. “Yes, but not you, Tosh, and the equipment we would need to help Gwen. And we would need to come back here for the car.”
“I can drive the car and home in on your signals,” said Tosh. “Ianto, you said you could track Jack back when this all began. Take Owen and track Gwen. Get her stable and wait for me. Then we can get Jack and go back to the Hub to track the 51st century sleaze bag.”
Ianto nodded and looked to Owen. He offered his hand and said, “Hold on tight. This will not be comfortable and it will hurt. Do not let go until I say.”
Owen nodded his head and held the medical equipment tight to him and he grasped Ianto’s wrist tightly. Ianto, in return, held onto Owen’s wrist with his left hand and combed the wind with his fingers on his right hand. The right breeze came his way and he hooked his fingers in to let it drag him and Owen along. He had to change direction twice before landing in the shipping yards. This was where it got a bit trickier. He let go of Owen’s wrist, but motioned for him to follow as he prowled down the roads between the many rows of shipping containers. He listened with the wind and he looked for a Soul, but most of the time it was just animals making their homes in between the more permanent areas and nothing was showing. Then he caught the sound of strained breathing. And a Soul grew brighter to his sight.
“I think I found her,” Ianto said quietly.
Owen nodded and followed the other man as he silently moved through the rows to the one container that Gwen was in. Owen painfully rushed into the container as soon as Ianto opened the first door and started his own triage. “Start analyzing this,” he ordered as he tried to make sure that Gwen still was able to breathe.
Ianto was familiar with the hand held computer, but he wasn’t Tosh. He took a deep breath and tried to make sure to do it right the first time. It beeped at the right times and gave a reading. “Owen, I think it’s finished.” He showed the result to Owen.
The doctor started to fish around in his bag for an agent that would at least slow the poison down enough for Tosh to arrive with the rest of their emergency medical equipment. Then maybe they could give the antidote to the twit and go get Captain Jack. Ianto started to breathe a bit easier when Gwen started to blink and wasn’t wheezing when she breathed. He went out to wait by the entrance of the container for Tosh while Owen monitored his patient.
He didn’t have long to wait.
“Did you find her in time?” asked Tosh as she ran up with the rest of the bag.
Ianto nodded his head. “I wasn’t as fast as you with the analyzer, but I did get it to work correctly. Owen will need the rest of what you have in your hand for Gwen.”
Tosh nodded and started into the container. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Ianto, have your plans changed for when this is all over?”
Ianto sighed. “Yes. Earlier, Marie and I had planned on going to my flat to unwind. We were even going to ask you and Owen to come with us. Now? I’m going to yell at Jack. It might even be in English, I’m not sure yet. Collect Marie, you, and Owen, take a road trip to London to visit our oldest and youngest brothers, sleep for 24 hours, maybe get blind stinking drunk the next day, call my therapist the day after that after I start dealing with my hangover, and then introduce you and Owen to the London that I remember and tell you about the London from before. I plan on making it last for a couple of weeks.”
Tosh smiled at Ianto. “Thank you.”
Ianto smiled back. “You’re welcome.”
Through the marvels of modern medicine, Gwen made a nice recovery while Ianto drove the group back to the office building to pick up Captain Jack. He was waiting at the front of the building near the benches, but he gave them wide berth as he strode up to the SUV. Ianto just gave up his spot in the driver’s seat to the man and sat in the back with Owen and Tosh so Captain Jack could drive back to the HUB and look all heroic like he needed to be at the moment.
Then Ianto’s phone rang.
“Helo?”
“Jack’s friend is in the HUB. He’s searching the pockets of the dead fish man, but I don’t think he’s finding what he’s looking for.”
Ianto went cold. “Jack. Hart is in the HUB. He’s looking for something in the Blowfish’s pockets. We found some kind of pyramid when we were taking care of the body. Marie put it in the bin to take to the Archives later.”
Ianto was looked at through the rear view mirror by the Captain. “Have her leave it some place conspicuous and keep out of sight. We’ll capture John when we get there.”
“Did you hear that?”
“Yeah, I’m the damsel in distress again. I still have that pistol loaded.”
“Then if you need to, make him rattle,” Ianto said with a grim smile. He hung up the phone and stared into Captain Jack’s eyes through the mirror. “I will not have my sister sit and wait for us when she can defend herself a lot better than we could.”
Captain Jack didn’t seem to agree, but then he didn’t know Ianto’s sister very well. She was a survivor. She survived a lot of things and she will keep on surviving until the day she is put into the ground. Ianto only hopes that he is long dead and gone when that happens because he doesn’t want to take her heavy burden. No one in their right mind wants it.
“So, after this, we’re going on a road trip?” asked Owen.
Ianto glanced over at the pair of doctors. Tosh gave him a sheepish look. “I told him what you told me while we waited for Gwen to start breathing better on her own.”
Ianto looked over at Owen with a shrug. “If you want to,” he said. “I just figured that you would appreciate getting some downtime away from this and unwinding. Marie and I are on hair triggers and you and Tosh look like you both are stretched thin.” Ianto glanced up to the pair in the front. Gwen was simpering for Captain Jack and Jack was practically flourishing under the attention of the rookie. “We can let the pair of love birds handle things for a bit. If they screw up, then they can clean up the mess while we get our heads on straight.”
Tosh also glanced at the cooing pair. “Aren’t you worried about UNIT trying to take over?”
Owen snorted. “I’ve heard a conversation between Ianto and UNIT once. He was cordial to the one officer who was actually competent, but when the other idiots tried to throw their weight around, Ianto blocked them beautifully. Then he gave his regards to the Brig and hung up.”
Ianto wanted to smile, but the SUV stopped and they had to get out quietly. Ianto sent a questing pulse of empathy to his sister and an answering pulse of exasperation and annoyance came back. She was safe for now and the blond bimbo (as opposed to the brunette one next to the Captain) was still living.
Ianto shrugged. “Sure. I had thought that you would like to meet more of my family and find out just how lucky you are to have me and not some of my other relatives. This way Jack can re-acclimate to being back in Cardiff and Torchwood and Gwen can get used to being the rookie again.”
“What about Myfanwy?” Tosh asked.
“I thought that she would like to go visit a friend for a bit while we are gone. That way she won’t starve and Jack won’t have to worry about feeding her while we’re gone. He will just have to worry about Janet and the others being fed.”
The group quieted down as they entered the HUB proper. Ianto looked for his sister and found her in a high place watching the time traveling idiot try to get the pieces to work. Ianto took a far side close to where his sister was hiding as the rest of the team surrounded the bleach blonde moron and got his attention.
“Shouldn’t you be gathering the body of your captain?” he asked.
“Why?” Captain Jack asked as he made his entrance. Ianto wanted to roll his eyes, but now was not the time. “I’m right here.”
It was gratifying to Ianto to see the look of absolute shock on the foreign agent’s face as the Captain appeared. Too bad he tried to ruin it with offers of going to the Vegas system to market on the trait. Even Spencer would wrinkle his nose at the idea of going to that place. Nevada was bad enough in his opinion, but some of the things that came out of the Vegas system was embarrassing to the more honest inhabitants who had to live with the tourists and “workers”. The greed that was pouring off the… Well, Ianto was feeling a bit sick just from the ideas and the level of greed oozing for the slimball.
“So are you going to show us what your new toy, that you were so willing to kill us for, does?” asked Owen.
“Yes,” Ianto said. “We are all quite curious. And my sister has an itchy trigger finger and a loaded pistol full of shot.”
Ianto was gratified by the nervous look that was glanced about while the slime ball constructed the pieces of the gadget they had collected for him. The flat pieces seemed to fuse together and the triangular piece from the blowfish’s pocket glowed before opening up. A tiny blue holographic woman flickered to life with a greeting for the slimy faux English git. “Hello, Lover.”
“Hello to you too,” he purred.
“You found the pieces, now you will want your prize,” she continued. “Only there isn’t a diamond.”
Ianto was morbidly gratified to see the smile melt from his face. The consternation floating in the environment from the man was almost enough to make Ianto giddy with delight from the idea that the smarmy perv didn’t get want he wanted after all. The flash of satisfaction from Marie was enough to tell Ianto that they really needed to get out for a while and refocus.
“No, no, no,” he yelled. “You said there was a diamond! Where’s the diamond?!”
“Instead of a diamond, I made a bomb that will attach to the genetic match of my killer. Good bye lover.”
The pyramid opened further to let a circle out that attached to the panicking blond moron. Ianto was all for letting the bomb take care of the futuristic problem, but if Tosh was right then it could take out the city of Cardiff and Ianto was a bit attached to the city for that to happen. Then Gwen had to go and get shackled to the blond bimbo.
“Gwen!”
“Killing him won’t stop it, will it?” asked Marie calmly.
“No,” said Tosh as she studied the bomb attached to the panicking slime ball. Ianto glance at the brunette bimbo and noticed that she was looking at Captain Jack like she was expecting him to break out in protestations over her hostage situation. Jack was too busy paying attention to Tosh at the moment.
“Hey, ‘Legs?” called Owen.
“What, Grouch?” Marie called back, absently.
“That car still in the garage?”
“The sports car? Yeah. What of it?”
“I have an idea. Ianto get Captain Perv to that Rift hole that Tosh figured he came through. Jack you and Frenchie come with me,” Owen ordered.
Gwen opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish as Ianto and Tosh hustled the pair to the Torchwood SUV. “Wait,” she yelled. “What are we going to do if Owen’s plan doesn’t work?”
“Hope it does,” muttered Ianto. “For Rhys’ sake.”
Gwen looked grim at that little reminder and took the wheel of the SUV. Ianto and Tosh were once again relegated to the back of the SUV and watched as Gwen brazenly drove through the dark streets of Cardiff to the parking garage that started this whole night. Ianto could hear the sports car coming up from the rear. As they passed them, Ianto could see his sister calmly shifting the gears to take the turn into the parking garage and Owen ignoring what she was doing so he could concentrate on what he was doing in the front seat. Captain Jack was looking a bit white, but Ianto wasn’t sure if it was the driving or if it was what Owen was doing. He would have to ask when they finally stop.
Gwen barely stopped when she and the blond bimbo were dragged out of the SUV by his fed up sister. “What took you so long,” she growled. “I took off later than you did and got here sooner.”
“Well, if someone didn’t cut us off at the turn…” Gwen started.
“Bullsh-“
“Marie,” Ianto said as he came over to help restrain the idiot time traveling captain. “Owen, I hope you have a solution.”
“Yeah,” he said absently. “Hold him still for a minute.” He came over to the struggling blonde with a very large syringe. “This should get the bomb off him.”
“What’s that?” demanded the panicking Hart. Ianto had a hard time holding the idiot and Marie came over, roughly shoved Gwen to a more comfortable position for Marie to hold the panicking “man”, and grounded him a bit more firmly for Owen to inject his concoction into the struggling man-child under the bomb. “What was that?” the blond sleaze demanded again.
“That was the blood of all the Torchwood agents,” said Owen. “It should confuse the device attached to your bomb-“
The bomb fell off of Hart’s chest before Owen finished his sentence. Captain Jack grabbed it and threw it into the flaring Rift hole before it blew. The predawn that was lighting up the east horizon was gone and it was full on dark once again. Ianto groaned as he registered the faint feeling of himself and his sister in a different part of the city.
“Oh, great,” the faux English captain groaned. “I can feel the goodness flowing through my veins.”
“Don’t worry,” muttered Marie. “It’ll clear out soon enough. I, on the other hand, want a very hot shower to clean off the fact I had to hold your panicking self.”
“And I’m sure you enjoyed every minute of it,” the slimy b- Ianto was impressed at how far the slime ball flew after his sister slugged him in the jaw. Gwen went stumbling with him.
“Was that really necessary?” asked Captain Jack.
Ianto and Marie looked at the other captain. “Yes!” they said in unison. Tosh and Owen looked a bit pleased. Gwen was a bit more put out.
“Did you have to shove me like that?” she demanded with a scowl as she picked herself up from the ground.
Marie looked the woman up and down. “You were the one who was stupid enough to be near enough to the moron to be caught. He was able to use you as a bargaining chip, so any bruises on your part are your own fault.” She looked at the blonde pain in the ass. “You deserve more than what you got. Now unlock the cuffs.”
The smarmy faux English officer gagged up the key to the handcuffs and released Gwen with a lascivious grin. She flounced away with a huff before Captain Jack grabbed his once partner by the lapels of his coat and snarl in his face. “I want you gone. Get out of my city.”
The blonde slime ball gave a smarmy grin. “Whatever you say.” He activated his wrist strap and opened a hole in the time stream. As he left, he said, “By the way, I found Grey.” Then he was gone.
Marie and Ianto looked at each other. They could feel the hope and guilt flooding from the Torchwood captain, but they didn’t ask what it was about. They knew it was personal history for the man and they respected the history that no one wanted to talk about. They had their own stories they didn’t want to ever talk about too.
“So what happened with the Rift hole and the bomb?” asked Tosh.
“We went back in time,” said Captain Jack.
“You mean we are reliving the whole night again?” asked Gwen.
“Yes,” the captain said with a disgusted tone. “I hate time loops.”
“May be you could go see the ever patient Rhys,” said Marie. “You did brush him off a few too many times the last few days so you could visit the pubs and see the regulars for-” She looked at Owen. “What do you call it? A little ‘slap and tickle’?”
Owen snorted with laughter and Tosh hid a smile behind a hand. Ianto just grinned out in the open while he watched Gwen fume. “Yeah, that’s one name for it,” said Owen.
Ianto sighed and looked at his sister as he pulled out his phone. “I better make a phone call to Detective Swanson. It is what started this whole thing.” He grimaced as he listened to the rings and the perfunctory greeting. “Yes, I would like to report a murder at the Greyfriars parking garage. (AN: I looked for the parking garage they used for the episode, but I don’t think I got the one they used for it.) The perpetrator is wearing a Napoleonic captain’s uniform. He threw off another man from the top of the garage. There is another witness, but I don’t know if he will say anything. I think the guy came through a hole in the air. And Detective Swanson, after tomorrow night Captain Harkness and Agent Cooper will be the only two on duty for a while. The rest of us will be on mandatory health leave.” He smiled at something she said. “A time loop happened. Have a better shift Detective.” Ianto smirked as he hung up the phone. “That will get us here.”
“So does that mean that once the scavenger hunt starts we can let Myfanwy out for a while?” asked Tosh.
“Yes,” said Ianto with a sigh. He glanced over at his tired sister. “And then we leave for a while.”
“What’s this?” asked Captain Jack as he started to gather everyone together.
“I will be going with my sister to London for a bit to see more of our family for a bit. Tosh and Owen are also invited to come with us to unwind and they seem to wish to come along. Gwen has been complaining that she hasn’t been able to see Rhys, but then she has also been going to the bars lately and trying to take over Torchwood. You may want to watch out for that.”
Owen climbed into the front of the Torchwood SUV with the keys and Tosh to the passenger seat next to him. Marie held the keys to the sports car and looked at Ianto. “Shall we be leaving?” she asked as she moved to the car.
Ianto looked at his boss and followed his sister to the car. “I’ll meet you at the HUB in a couple of hours,” he told Owen and Tosh. “Be sure to pack for a few weeks.” He slid into the seat next to his sister and enjoyed the ride to his flat. “So, we leave the car and then what?” asked Ianto as he looked up at his building with a sigh.
“We use your car and trade who drives until we get to London,” Marie said tiredly as she rested her head back on the head rest. “Then Harm and Harry protects us while we let go.”
Ianto hummed. “That sounds good; letting go,” he sighed. “We haven’t been able to do that in so long.”
“The world has gotten too small for us to be able to do it in,” his sister agreed. “I’m almost wondering if we shouldn’t borrow that stupid ring at Cheyanne Mountain and find someplace that will allow us to open wide without consequences.”
Ianto shushed his tired sister. “Shhhhh. Remember, that place is supposed to be a secret.” They both gave an abbreviated laugh. “Just like the Warehouse and Torchwood and a few other secrets that are not supposed to be known, but we watch.”
“Mmmm. Much to their annoyance,” agreed Marie. She opened her closed eyes and turned her head to Ianto. “We need to move. Packing will not get done by itself.”
“No packing fairies?”
“After the ones who hang around here? I don’t think I trust any to touch anything of mine. They might make shreds and rags of it.”
Ianto grunted and maneuvered himself out of the car. It was time to pack so he could get out of the area for a bit. It hurt to leave, but he had to find someplace that would let him decompress without affecting the extra energy waving overhead like a demented Northern Light array. What had been a small hole had been torn wide open by a well-meaning woman with a gift, a well-meaning Gallifreyan (at that time and reincarnation), and a bunch of opportunistic and lying aliens. For once the blond twit was in the right that the dead bodies should have been left alone instead of recycled for the Gelf. If only she had more common sense later in her travels with the idiot, like when they were with Queen Victoria or at Canary Warf. Or when they had deposed Prime Minister Harriet Jones.
“Remind me to look up ex Minister Jones, would you?” Ianto asked.
“Sure; any reason why?”
“She was good; she should be remembered for her hard work. Not the rumor that the damn Doctor started.”
Marie growled. “True. The idiot.”
They moved slowly through Ianto’s flat looking for what they might need and want for an honest vacation, not a working one. Marie raised an eyebrow when Ianto was going to bring more than one suit, so Ianto put the other two back. She did shove three James Bond books at him and said that she will find a bookstore if he finished them. Ianto grinned and said “Challenged accepted.”
They put their bags in the back of the Ianto’s car and drove both cars to the quay. Another phone call was made to the constables about the stolen sports car and the keys left under the driver’s seat. The tank was at half, but Marie wasn’t going to fill it up when the owner was fortunate that she was the one to fix the leak in a pump. Owen and Tosh came out from the entrance to the HUB with their luggage and were escorted to Ianto’s car.
“Will we all fit?” Tosh asked.
Ianto smiled. “We’ll fit. Marie packed under worse conditions.”
“Better believe it,” Marie muttered as she maneuvered bags around to fit the extra luggage. It was tight, but everything was in and the boot lid closed. Ianto took the wheel while Marie sat in the back with Tosh and rested. She opened an eye and smiled. “Sorry. More wore out than I thought.”
Tosh smiled. “Holding on by strings?”
“More than you can know,” Ianto said as he drove through the late Cardiff traffic. “Rest; you need it as much as we do and we know where we are going.” He looked at Owen. “Thank you for letting Myfanwy out.”
“She didn’t understand, but she did understand something about you leaving for a while and going to her other home.”
“She’ll come back when she’s ready,” Ianto said.
“Where is her other home?” asked Tosh.
Ianto looked at Tosh in the rearview mirror. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me.” He glanced at Owen. “Either of you.”
“Try them,” Marie muttered as she shifted to get more comfortable in the seat.
Ianto snorted as his two friends looked back at him. “Avalon.” Owen and Tosh opened their mouths to ask questions but Ianto stopped them. “Ask when we are all rested. This is not something that I want to discuss on the road.”
“True that,” Marie muttered again before slipping off into a light sleep. She muttered something, but only Ianto understood it since it was in her other childhood language.
Harm and Harry would have to protect more than just two tired siblings, Ianto thought. They would have to protect two tired Torchwood agents. Tosh and Owen were just as strung out as he and Marie were and they didn’t have the uncomfortable memories of what UNIT was calling the Year That Never Was.