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It was half seven when Ianto pulled into Torchwood’s carpark. He was still getting used to arriving after seven even though Jack had told him his official start time wasn’t until eight unless he was called. It was weird having proper hours again something he hadn’t had since London, and even then he’d ignored them in favor of early starts and late nights. Now he had to think of Tegan, which was also an odd concept for him to wrap his head around.
It had taken a tour of eleven different daycare facilities before finally settling on one. Jack had offered to pay for a private nanny but Ianto wanted her to have as much normal as possible. So instead, and much to everyone else’s amusement, he’d toured every daycare within thirty minutes of the bay before finally settling on one. Even Jack had teased when he’d run deep background checks on all the employees.
It was only the beginning of Tegan’s third week with the daycare. The first day had been a nightmare with lots of crying on Tegan’s part, Ianto absolutely did not tear up as she screamed when he walked away from her. They were getting into a routine now and she now walked into the building under her own steam. He felt immensely better knowing she was now at least tolerating going to the center. Of course it also made him feel better knowing they had CCTV in every room, not that he was supposed to have access but well… he was Torchwood.
Jack was already at the Hub, he’d actually slept there the night before, probably whining about the lack of coffee. They’d gone another two weeks of not spending a night apart after the trip to Germany but shortly after the hiring of their newest employee, and Tegan’s start at daycare, Jack had begun spending nights at the Hub. Ianto was trying very hard not to read into it because it wasn’t like Jack spent all his nights away, just most of them.
Ianto set about making the coffee and tidying up what appeared to be most of a doughnut left in crumbs on the counter. When the coffee had finished he place all the mugs on the tray and for the first time remembered to grab the sixth mug from the shelf.
Corporal Greer Morris had been with them just under a month now. Ianto had sat in on every interview with Jack and Corporal Morris (though he insisted he not be called that because he was three years separated from the British Army) had been Ianto’s immediate favorite. Greer was born and bred in Scotland though his accent was long since lost. He had served eight years in the British Army before leaving, he’d told them he had grown tired that life after the start of the Iraq war.
He’d first come under Torchwood, and UNITs, radar in 2006 when he’d been serving as a consultant for a weapons firm in London and had unknowingly integrated alien tech into terrestrial weaponry. He’d turned down Torchwood One and UNIT’s offers for employment in the past. After the formal interview had gone well and Ianto had left the office an informal interview of sorts, one involving whisky and war stories, had taken place with Jack. This had won the man over and he’d accepted the position.
Greer had spent most of his first weeks familiarizing himself with the Hub and their work. The rift had been mostly quiet, though Greer got an introduction to weevil hunting (the real kind). Ianto had spent a good deal of time introducing him to every weapon in Torchwood’s possession. His face lit up like a kid at Christmas when he’d been introduced the heavy weaponry room. After that he’d spent the better part of a week dragging Toshiko down with him to explain her modifications of the weapons. They seemed to bond over wires and technical talk.
Gwen liked him as well as she liked anyone, which was a fair amount. Jack of course had bonded with him during their whiskey interview. Only Owen was standoffish, constantly second guessing anything Greer said. Ianto assumed Owen felt threatened in some way about a new male encroaching on his territory and was lashing out as a result.
Ianto was just about to deliver Jack’s coffee to his office when the man popped out, wearing one of Ianto’s waist coats which had gone missing a few weeks ago. Upon seeing Ianto holding the tray he clapped his hands together in a sign of pleading. “Don’t supposed I could get that to go?”
“Of course,” Ianto said before turning and walking to the kitchen to dig out Jack’s travel mug.
Ianto was returning with the mug and caught the end of their latest call out. “The lorry is full of suspect meat that I’ve been trying to get my hands on for weeks.”
“Isn’t that the health department’s job?” Owen groused but quickly downed his own coffee.
Jack flashed Ianto a smile as he took the new mug. “I have a contact that tells me this is of interest to Torchwood.”
“Of course you do.” Owen again with an eye roll.
Ianto was helping Jack into his coat when he loudly announced. “Owen, Gwen and Greer you’re with me. Tosh and Ianto stay here and monitor us, start doing research on the lorry driver Leighton Reynolds.”
He winced away from Jack. “Right here, sir, no need to shout.”
“I thought you liked it when I shout,” Jack teased before bounding towards the cog door.
Ianto rolled his eyes this time as the rest of the team chased after Jack.
He listened through the comms as they arrived on scene and started going over the lorry. Ianto sighed and considered how much the dry cleaning was going to cost when Jack announced the meat, whatever it was, stunk. He almost said something but decided against it, instead disappearing down towards the archive to see if they’d ever dealt with mysterious meat. There was a joke there somewhere and Ianto was sure Jack would uncover it.
Torchwood had in fact dealt with several cases of alien meat being passed off for human consumption in the past but it was hard to tell which, if any, of these cases had any relevance to their current one. By the time the team returned with their sample Ianto had pulled all of the files anyway. He and Tosh were going over them while Owen explained the meat was definitely not terrestrial. Between the history and the present Ianto was seriously considering looking into a vegetarian diet, Tegan wasn’t fond of most meats anyway.
Ianto listened quietly when Gwen, for maybe the fourth time since returned, had remarked about the fact that the haulage firm was where Rhys worked was involved. He knew it was odd for his friend to have her fiancé so closely tied to one of their cases but it wasn’t like they had dragged him in. Even if Rhys as a manager knew about the dodgy meat, which was unlikely because who told their boss they were doing illegal things, it wasn’t as if he knew it was alien. She protested when he suggested someone from the haulage company was in on it even though he hadn’t actually said Rhys knew.
Ianto immediately set to work tracking the lorry in question through the CCTV while Tosh questioned Rhys, both Jack and Gwen making pained face that he could see out of the corner of his eye. He cleared his throat and yelled out. “Got him,” if nothing else it at least broke the awkward tension.
“And there he is coming back forty minutes later.” Ianto continued as he played the return trip. “Let's say it takes twenty minutes to load. We are talking a ten mile radius.”
“Jack!” Owen yelled from the med lab.
“Oh thanks Ianto, not like you just did higher maths in your head,” Ianto mumbled as the others rushed towards Owen. Greer, who was trailing the others, chuckled at his last comment. Well at least someone appreciated his wit.
As he smiled over his shoulder at Greer he spied the CCTV in the tourist office, the pizza had arrived. At least most of them would thank him for his forethought in regard to their food. As he paid the girl he remembered he’d gotten Owen his favorite. Ianto briefly wondered if he shouldn’t call another order for Owen. He quickly decided against it, didn’t want to be seen doing anything particularly nice for the doctor.
Ianto ran a search for a warehouse that would fit their timeline while the others debated whether or not they were actually going to eat the pizza. Jack was the first one to brave it, picking off all trace of meat. He cleared off a second slice and handed it to Ianto as he returned to the group with his findings. Tosh politely refused and instead asked for another coffee. Greer followed Jack’s footsteps and flicked the meat off his slices, because of this Owen could not be out done and therefor started clearing his pizza.
“I have to slip home and check on Rhys first.” Gwen said seconds after her phone went off. Ianto cringed inwardly knowing this was going to be extremely awkward.
Jack, ever their tactful leader, only made it worse. “Good idea. Find out how much he knows.”
“That's not what I meant.” Gwen said as she turned on her heal and left.
Everyone stared uncomfortably between Jack and Gwen. Ianto turned with a sigh. Jack was great leader but he was shit at remembering how people in relationships acted. Ianto knew this first hand of course, then again he wasn’t actually sure if they were in a relationship at least whether or not it could even be remotely paralleled between what Gwen and Rhys had.
He didn’t get far when the sound of Jack’s boots reached his ears. Suddenly the napkin was tugged from his collar as Jack spun him around. “Was it really that bad?”
Ianto raised an eyebrow at Jack. “Jack, she’s spent over a year trying to protect Rhys from Torchwood and you sounded like you wanted her to interrogate him.
Jack at least had the audacity to look sheepish. “Alright when you put it that way, yeah, I guess it looks bad.”
Ianto nodded in agreement as he tossed his crust into the trash.
“So how’s miss Tegan Rose?” Jack had taken to calling her by her first and second name, as if her legal name wasn’t long enough.
Ianto shrugged. “She was fine this morning when I dropped her off, she’s been walking inside for me.”
“And of course you haven’t been spying through their CCTV,” Jack teased and stepped into Ianto’s space.
Ianto tried to look offended but his grin probably screamed guilty. “Only twice, she was fine both times so I left it alone.”
“Only twice?” Jack sounded shocked. “You’ve definitely improved from her first week where it was a background program on your computer.”
Ianto went to protest but of course Jack was right, he had obsessively watched Tegan her first week.
Jack caught him by the hand. “So tonight I was thinking we could do eggplant parmesan, since I doubt we’ll be eating meat for a while. And then after Tegan Rose goes to bed I could take you to bed.” By the time Jack finished speaking his lips were only a few centimeters from Ianto’s.
Ianto gave in and closed the gap between their lips. Jack would see it as an agreement to his plan though in reality Ianto rarely could resist this proximity to the captain without wanting to kiss him.
Jack was the one to pull away. “I want you to take Greer and go poke around that warehouse.” He looked as if he was going to walk away but paused. “Stay outside, I’ll come with Gwen after she gets back and if anyone needs to go inside it’ll be us.”
Of course Greer and Ianto were able to circle the building twice by the time Jack announced they were almost there. There was nothing to see from the outside. It was a warehouse, a warehouse in Merthyr nonetheless, so it was a large metal building that stuck out like an eyesore. All the doors but the front entrance were locked. Greer had suggested they test out the lock pick on one of the rear doors, Ianto had refused reminding him they were only to be surveying the outside. This made Greer just the extra bit antsy.
Ianto sighed in relief, not having realized he was anxious in the first place. When he saw that Jack and Gwen had arrived. Jack had significantly reduced his field time, and even then he only sent him out when he was fairly certain it was safe, but it made him uneasy when he stopped to consider the what ifs.
“Alright then come on, lets go find them.” Ianto called over to Greer.
“Think they’ll be going in?” Greer asked as he ran to where Ianto was walking. Greer wasn’t as tall as Ianto, maybe 5 centimeters shorter, so he had to jog a little to keep up with his fast pace.
“If they do, I won’t be,” Ianto told him with shrug as he looked down at his mobile trying to determine exactly where Jack and Gwen were.
Greer looked confused for a moment. “Oh right, because you’ve got the babe.”
Ianto nodded, “I try and keep out of trouble now.”
Greer companionably bumped shoulders with him as they rounded a corner. “You’ll have to tell me how exactly you managed to survive Torchwood with a baby.”
Greer didn’t know much about Tegan. Knew she existed and that Ianto was her father, and wasn’t that a weird thing to say, but he and Jack had agreed to keep details to a minimum especially with their new hire. Greer didn’t even know that legally Jack was her father as well. Ianto was about to say something when Greer inhaled sharply next to him.
Looking up Ianto spied Jack and Gwen pressed up again the warehouse their faces as close as his and Jack’s had been earlier. There was a pang in his gut as he surveyed the scene. That, right there, was why he’d been careful to keep Greer out of the loop in consideration to his relationship with Jack.
“Well aren’t they cozy,” Greer whispered conspiratorially in Ianto’s ear.
Ianto glanced over at the other man who was watching the scene with great curiosity. “Clearly they’ve got it handled, come on back to the hub. It’s getting late.” He said and pointedly looked at his watch.
It was almost five and he’d need to pick up Tegan on the way in order to not be late, he didn’t want to get a reputation with the center. He contemplated leaving Greer with Jack and Gwen for all of three seconds before deciding it was best to let them have their moment, whatever that meant.
“So, are they shagging?” Greer asked as he once again chased after Ianto towards his car.
Ianto shrugged, “I dunno.” It was an honest answer because he honestly didn’t know if Jack and Gwen were seeing each other.
Greer looked at him surprised. “She’s got a fiancé though doesn’t she?” He asked as he climbed inside the car.
“Yeah but she was dating Rhys and fucking Owen less than a year ago so…” Ianto immediately felt guilty for telling Greer that. He didn’t hold Gwen and Owen’s tryst against them, it was lonely not having someone to share their world with.
Greer didn’t question their stop at Tegan’s daycare, he waited patiently in the car while Ianto ran in to get her. Ianto was originally planning on just dropping Greer off at the hub but his phone rang as they approached. It was Jack.
“Gwen told Rhys!” Jack sounded almost enraged.
Ianto sighed and flicked his eyes to the back seat and then across to Greer. “Yes, well he’s involved with this meat thing now.”
Jack made a sound of displeasure. “Where are you?”
Ianto glanced over at Greer again. “We’re about five minutes out I had to get Tegan, it’s getting late. I’m going to drop off Greer and-”
“No, I want us all in. She’s planning on bringing him here for introduction.” Jack sounded thoroughly disgusted at the idea.
Ianto sighed and then inhaled deeply trying to maintain his composure. Listening to Jack growl over Gwen was the last thing he needed today. “Sir, I have Tegan with me wouldn’t it be best if I-“
“No!” Jack interrupted sharply. “I mean, no. Bring her down too.”
“Alright, we’ll be there in a minute,” With that Ianto rang off with Jack and smiled warily at Greer. “Appears we’re all being summoned by the Captain.”
Greer half bolted from the car as soon as Ianto put it into park. Tegan was excited when she realized where they were going as Ianto pulled her from her car seat. Ianto was glad at least one of them was happy with this turn of events. Walking into the hub Ianto was immediately greeted by Tosh who snatched Tegan from him.
“He’s in an awful mood,” Tosh said as she leaned towards him adjusting Tegan onto her hip.
Ianto couldn’t help the eye roll. He immediately walked to the kitchen and pulled out a beer for himself. He decided it would look bad and grabbed two more for Owen and Greer before pouring Tosh a glass of wine. Once upon a time he would have questioned the judgement of keeping alcohol readily available in an alien crime fighting organization now he only wondered why it wasn’t anything harder. Juggling the drinks he walked back to the sofa and distributed them among the others.
Tosh was on the couch talking sweetly to Tegan who was smiling broadly, Greer was leaning against one of the metal posts holding up the hub, and Owen actually appeared to be doing work at his desk. Ianto threw himself on the couch next to Tosh and immediately uncapped his beer. Jack was lurking about in the hot house, obviously brooding over Gwen’s decision.
“Well, this is unprecedented,” Ianto said, once again the task of breaking the tension was left to him. “The fiancé finding out.” He clarified when everyone looked at him.
Tosh nodded before turning Tegan in her lap, sliding the wine glass further onto the table. “Mainly because we're all sad and single.”
Ianto wanted to disagree but once again he wasn’t sure that she wasn’t correct.
“Speak for yourself. I am better off without all that kind of hassle,” Owen grumbled from his desk.
Greer nodded and took a swig of his beer. “Single but certainly not sad.”
Tosh glanced between the two men. “Maybe the answer is to go out with someone who knows what you do.”
Ianto was aware of Jack lurking on the catwalks out of the corner of his eye.
“Look around you, Tosh. Only we know what we do.” Owen said. Ianto looked at his bottle and seriously considered chucking it at the back of the doctor’s head.
Greer smiled brightly. “Well Miss Sato I’d certianly take you up on that offer.”
Tosh immediately blushed and half tossed Tegan at Ianto as she groped for her wine glass on the table. Ianto finally glanced up at Jack, who was still prowling around above them. He drained the rest of his beer and turned his attention to Tegan. “Are you getting hungry?” He asked her and then added in a lower voice, “once this charade is over with we’ll go home and I’ll get you something good.”
Tosh chuckled at him as she drank.
“Hungry!” Tegan agreed though she seemed more interested in trying to get Ianto’s empty beer bottle from him. He stood, lifting her with, and crossed the room to the trash.
Just as he was throwing it away the lift activated and Ianto sighed. “Here we go,” he grumbled into Tegan’s ear as Jack came pounding down the stairs.
As Gwen and Rhys descended Ianto couldn’t help notice Myfanwy on the loose. He knew Jack had to have opened her eerie for effect. He leaned against the wall, Tegan on his hip and decided to watch how this disaster played out.
“In your timeline, yes. Captain Jack Harkness. Thanks for dropping in, Rhys.” Jack said with forced cheer answering some comment Rhys has made about Myfanwy.
Gwen was smiling so brightly Ianto almost felt bad for her with how this was going to turn out. “This is the rest of the team. Owen and Toshiko. Ianto and Tegan. Oh and of course that’s Greer.” They all nodded to Rhys as she introduced them.
“Pleased to meet you,” Rhys said pleasantly before he did a double take on Ianto and Tegan. “Why is there a child here?” He turned to Gwen, “is she an alien?”
Ianto rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall slightly but it was Jack who answer. “Nope that one is one hundred percent human. Welcome to our headquarters.”
“It’s a bit bigger than mine,” Rhys quipped as he looked around uncomfortably. Ianto barely managed his eyeroll.
Tegan was quiet and she rested her head on Ianto’s shoulder as they watched the others fill Rhys in on what exactly Torchwood did.
“It was like this huge, shapeless beast, filling the space. Like a mound of flesh.” Rhys said trying to explain what he saw in the warehouse.
This caught Ianto’s attention. How would something that filled the warehouse fit through the doors, even the lorry doors weren’t big enough. “But how did they get it there? That warehouse must be fifty metres long.”
He was immediately sickened when Rhys revealed that the beast was still alive. Definitely going vegetarian again, the last time he’d done that was after their misadventure into the countryside. Maybe it was best to make it a permanent dietary change.
“So not only is it replenishing its own flesh but it's increasing it, giving them a brand new meat supply.” Owen sounded just as disturbed as Ianto felt.
Tosh always the optimistic one chimed in. “It could last them for years, then. If we understood how it worked, we could feed the world.”
“With alien meat?” Greer asked skeptically.
At the same time Ianto quipped, “we could release a single.”
Then everything went to shit. Jack and Rhys got into the row Ianto had sense coming from the moment the platform had descended. The shouting caused Tegan to whimper and burrow into his shoulder further, Tosh glanced over at him sympathetically. He had to admit he was rather impressed by his fellow Welshman when he got into Jack’s face in defense of his actions. Perhaps there was a great deal more to Rhys than any of them had counted on.
When Jack demanded a team meeting Ianto had no choice but to drag Tegan with him. He gave it only a few more minutes before she began crying. On the way to the conference room Ianto grabbed a packet of crisps figuring she’d last longer if she ate. He sat next to Tosh as Rhys showed them the blue prints.
Everything devolved into a shouting match again and it was only through the power of letting Tegan half dump the bag of crisps on the table that she didn’t get upset by it. Gwen’s final outburst did cause her to jump, as well as the rest of them, but Ianto calmed her by rubbing her back.
“So, after we've stun-gunned the workers, we put the creature out of its misery.” Tosh planned trying to be the voice of reason through the chaos.
“No. We're gonna save it. Stabilise it, wait for the Rift to open and send it back.” Jack disagreed.
“Guess who'll have to look after it in the meantime.” Ianto sighed and took a drag from his coffee wishing he’d made it Irish.
As much as Ianto agreed with the others about the plan to save the space whale he knew it was dead end with Jack. He was more than happy to have a reason to leave the conference room and he trailed after Tosh and Owen. Greer was on his heels. “Wow talk about awkward.”
“I’d rather not,” Ianto said curtly before gathering up his things. He wasn’t planning on waiting around to see the rest of the fireworks, even if he was interested in Torchwood’s drama Tegan was certainly not going to last that long.
Once at home he fed her a bowl of buttered pasta, it was something he was guaranteed didn’t have suspect meat attached to it. They shared half a cartoon of blueberries before she began falling asleep at the table.
He was livid with Jack as he wiped her down at the table. Jack could blow through and demand they change their schedule to suite is grand performance for Gwen’s fiancé, never mind the child who’s entire routine was thrown off for it. They skipped bath night and Ianto only got halfway through Tegan’s book before she was asleep in his arms.
Laying her in the cot Ianto realized he needed to find a more permanent bed for her. Tegan didn’t protest the travel cot but Ianto couldn’t imagine it was all that comfortable. He wanted to get her a proper bed but there was no room in his flat. Between the bed and the slow growth of Tegan’s items Ianto was beginning to realize they had out grown his flat. He needed to make the time to look for a new flat before much longer.
He was browsing online listings in the bedroom, Tegan may have been tired but he wasn’t, when he heard the front door open. Of course Jack would come over tonight, hours after his tawdry little mess with Gwen and Rhys. Ianto schooled his features into boredom as he scrolled through the listings when Jack crept into the room.
“I guess we’ll have to have eggplant some other night,” Jack whispered as he shut the door.
Ianto didn’t bother answering just continued to scroll around on his computer. Jack either didn’t notice or didn’t care, it could honestly go either way. He instead set to work stripping out of his clothes. Ianto only sighed when his shirt completely missed the hamper and landed on the floor. This caught Jack’s attention.
“You that tired?” Jack teased as he removed the rest of his clothes and climbed into the bed.
Ianto resisted the urge to slide further away from Jack. “Nope, just busy.”
“Oh with what?” Jack asked as he leaned over Ianto’s lap looking at the screen.
“Flat hunting.” Ianto answered simply.
Jack pulled back a little surprised, “you’re moving?”
Ianto finally looked up from his computer. “Tegan should have a proper room, with a bed and her own wardrobe.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jack agreed before laying back. “I’m not heartless am I?”
Ianto rolled his eyes and snapped the computer shut. “You’re trying to save a space whale and you let me keep a toddler sent through the rift.”
“Those are good things, yes?” Jack asked reaching for his hand.
“Yes those are good things. A heartless person would have shipped Tegan off to the authorities once they found out she wasn’t alien. A heartless person would plan to experiment on the whale.” Ianto agreed realizing that he truly hoped Jack’s plan worked, even if it meant him cleaning after a whale for some time.
Jack seemed content by Ianto’s answer as he pulled him to lay down. Once Ianto was settled and flicked off the light Jack rolled onto his side. “Are you okay?”
“Fine, why?” Ianto asked as he closed his eyes.
He felt Jack shrug. “You seemed off during the meeting.”
“That entire thing was a disaster.” Ianto said opening one eye to peek at Jack.
Jack nodded. “I know.” Ianto wondered if they thought it was a disaster for the same reason, probably not. “Do you think Greer is ready for tomorrow?”
Ianto laughed genuinely. “Jack, he was a soldier and they’re a bunch of untrained arseholes. Yes he’s ready.”
“I want you there,” Jack said quietly. “Just to stay back and make sure Rhys actually gets out of there after it’s loaded.”
“Why? He’s a grown up, he knows what he’s supposed to do.” Ianto asked genuinely curious.
Jack shrugged again. “Gwen will never forgive me if something happens to Rhys and I know you’ll keep him safe.”
It was as good a reason as any and that was how Ianto found himself climbing into the back of a lorry less than an hour after he dropped Tegan off at daycare. Greer was practically buzzing with excitement next to him as they worked to assemble their gear in the dark.
“You get off on this,” Ianto half whispered to Greer.
He could just barely make out Greer’s grin. “Hell yeah, didn’t serve 8 years just because I look good in uniform.”
Ianto sighed, “just as twisted as the rest of them.”
Then Jack spoke up barking their orders. Ianto almost choked on his tongue when Owen complimented Rhys, that never happened. Ianto followed the other’s out of the truck. They bolted towards the warehouse and he snuck around the other side trying to stay out of sight.
“Dale, we've got a problem. There are people in the building.” Ianto heard being called out and he cursed silently, wondering what was going on inside.
“Ianto, did Rhys get away?” Gwen asked anxiously over the comm system.
Rhys was pistol whipped before he could react. Glad he’d at least have the thinking to bring his own stun gun Ianto tried to creep after them knowing Gwen would now blame him if anything happened to Rhys. Ianto inwardly cursed Jack when one of the men rounded on him with a gun.
“Oi!” The guy yelled and trained his gun on him. Ianto focused on the man but out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Greer skirting around the edges. Of course now it was his fault if anything happened to Greer because he’d told Jack the man was more than prepared. Everything was always his fault anyway.
“Hey, hey, hey. You looking for someone? How many more of you?” The man called Dale asked from behind his gun
“Just us,” Ianto tried to reassure him as he raised his hands.
It didn’t work, of course it didn’t, because this was just going to get worse. He heard Owen whisper about their capture through the comm and briefly wondered where the doctor was as he was being tied, hands behind his back.
This wasn’t the first time he’d been captured. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what he was doing in the field it was just he seemed to always be left with the most visible tasks. There was a new feeling of fear as someone jammed a gun into his back to get him to move. If he got shot would Jack remember Tegan needed picked up by six? What would Jack do with Tegan? Legally he was as much her father as Ianto but would he raise her or ship her off?
The whale was larger than even Ianto had imagined. Immediately he realized there was absolutely no way to save this creature.
Ianto hadn’t been expecting Gwen to pop out, he wondered if Jack knew she was surrendering herself. Of course this didn’t win him any favors with the morons running the place. He began focusing on trying to escape from the ropes around his wrists. He’s about to stand next to Gwen when someone calls out they can see two more. Ianto realizes they’re still missing Owen and Greer as Jack and Tosh step out from their hiding space.
Just when Ianto couldn’t imagine things getting any worse, just as he’s got his hands free Dale goes and shoots at Gwen. Ianto isn’t paying attention, trying to wrestle the gun from Dale, it goes off several times and the whale screams louder. He’s trying to determine if the chamber is empty when a fist collides with his kidney. Then he’s on the floor wrestling with Dale, everything’s chaotic and he can’t hear over the screams of the beast. Just like that Dale has the gun and is standing. Ianto realizes everything he’s feared is about to come true.
There’s a hole through Dale’s forehead and his blood is on Ianto’s face. Looking up Ianto sees Greer standing on the catwalks, one foot on Greg, with a gun in hand. The animal is still thrashing and Ianto shoves the dead weight from his body and run off to find Owen.
In the end he’s right they can’t save the whale. Ianto sits next to Greer when they’re forced to ride back in the lorry. Owen and Gwen are on the floor trying to stop Rhys’ bleeding, Jack and Tosh are in the cab.
“I owe you about thirty beers,” Ianto says quietly as he watches Owen work.
Greer shakes his head. “Only about fifteen. I couldn’t take the guy down until after you broke free, good on you for that.”
He and Greer are the ones elected to drive back to the warehouse and set the fire. Greer looks less thrilled this time as he helps Ianto douse the place in gasoline. “Never would have worked.” Greer comments as they sit on his car and watch the warehouse catch fire.
“Jack tries so hard to save everyone and it bothers him when he can’t.” Ianto agrees staring at the flame a minute before standing.
Greer follows suite and gets behind the wheel. “Can’t say I saw him as the optimist. It’s good though, being able to hope for the best after everything he’s seen.”
Ianto can’t help but disagree. “No, not if it hurts him every time things go wrong.”
They get back to the hub and Ianto shows him where the showers are. By the time they’re presentable Rhys is waking up from his impromptu surgery.
Ianto slides off to his desk as everyone finally leaves the med bay. He pulls up the CCTV to Tegan’s room and immediately he sees her playing with some cars. His whole body is suddenly exhausted and all he wants to do is go pick her up early and lay on the couch while she plays around him. He turns off the screen and heads into Jack’s office.
He’s about to tell Jack he’s not going to go out in the field again unless the world is ending when Gwen makes her reappearance. He watches from behind Jack as she yells about how Rhys is braver than the rest of them. He tries not to take her words to heart because she’s lashing out as a reaction to all the stress, Ianto knows this, but she finds that spot in all of them and digs deep.
When Jack pretty much declares his love for Gwen in the center of the hub it feels like a fist to the gut. Ianto can’t make eye contact with anyone until after Jack has brushed by him and when he does Tosh looks at him with such sympathy he wants to throw the bottle back at Jack’s head. Instead he does exactly what he wanted to earlier, he grabs his coat and leaves.
It’s not even two when Ianto gets to Tegan’s daycare. He ends up waking her from nap but he doesn’t care because as soon as he has her in hand he can feel his blood pressure dropping.
They go to the market and Ianto finds himself adding anything Tegan shows interest in into the trolley. He does manage to buy food for tonight dinner, spinach quiche- a better source or iron than most meats. As he’s paying, and after Tegan’s managed to get herself a lolli, he ignores the ringing of his phone. At this point he doesn’t care if pisses Jack off.
He changes into denims and a tee as soon as they’re home because there is simply no way he’s going to step foot into work until tomorrow at exactly eight. He’s aware of his phone ringing at least twice more. He turns on music to drown it out. Rock because Jack’s not there to complain and he enjoys watching Tegan do the equivalent of toddler moshing to it, and even though it’s entire too early he begins to make dinner.
He needs something to do, anything. If he stops and realizes how close he came to dying and leaving Tegan alone he’ll have a nervous breakdown. If he stops and thinks about how Jack just openly declared his feelings for Gwen in front of the entire team just hours after her fiancé jumped in front of a bullet for her he won’t be able to stop himself from shooting Jack on principal alone. So he makes dinner and teaches Tegan how to head bang which is rather cathartic and reminds him of when he was a teenager.
After getting dinner prepped and in the over Ianto takes to lying on the floor between the kitchen and living room while Tegan crawls over him playing with cars. He can see the timer on the oven and his position is entertaining to Tegan and comfortable for himself. He shouldn’t be surprised when exactly at this moment his door crashes open with such force he wonders if Jack actually bothered unlocking it. Jack storms over to him, boots still on and probably tracking dirt all over the floor.
Jack looks irate Ianto notices when he peers up at him. “You left work in the middle of the day!” Jack accuses.
“Yep,” Ianto agrees bringing his hand up to rest on Tegan’s back.
“Then I find out you’ve taken Tegan Rose out of care early,” Jack growls and gestures to the toddler.
“Yep.”
“Then you don’t answer your phone.” Jack’s face is bright red and Ianto wonders how long until he yells.
Ianto stands and brushes what is probably imaginary dust from his pants. “Correct again.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Jack finally explodes.
Ianto picks up Tegan before she can begin to cry. “I’m making dinner and we’re listening to music. You’re yelling and she doesn’t like that so please leave if you can’t control yourself.”
“Control myself?” Jack bites out incredulously though he has lowered his voice again. “Control myself? What the hell does that mean?”
Ianto sighs and leans against the wall. “Why are you here, Jack?”
Jack looks shocked at the lack of reaction, which is exactly why Ianto wasn’t giving him one. “You left work in the middle of the day!” Jack repeats.
“Yes, that’s a very correct observation. Would you like a cookie?” Ianto can’t help the sarcasm.
“Cookie?” Tegan is suddenly interested in their conversation.
“After dinner, cariad,” Ianto murmurs to her.
“I want an explanation as to why you left in the middle of the day and it better be a damn good one.” Jack demands.
“Well let’s see. I had a loaded weapon shoved in my face numerous times. My hands bound behind my back and the last time that happened someone planned to eat me so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. Some psychopath kicked my arse and oh yes did I mention the gun in my face?” Ianto lists off looking Jack dead in the eye. “All I wanted was to pick up Tegan and bring her home.”
Jack’s slips from anger to sadness, “I’m sorry it turned out the way it did. It wasn’t supposed to go that way.”
Ianto lets out a huff. “It never does Jack, which is exactly why I agreed to no field work unless it’s the end of the world. This was hardly the end of the world.”
“I’m sorry. Greer proved more than capable today, no more field work.” Jack says and takes a step towards him and makes a face when Ianto takes his own step backwards. “That’s not all though is it?”
Ianto sighs and wonders if he’s being cowardly by holding Tegan as a shield between them. “Greer thinks you and Gwen are shagging,” he admits.
Jack raises an eyebrow in question.
“At the warehouse yesterday you had her pinned to a wall and I believe his words were you two looked ‘cozy’” Ianto continues after realizing Jack doesn’t really understand what he’s getting at.
Jack shrugs and takes a step forward again and Ianto’s step back lands him against the wall. “She was going to run in after Rhys, I was trying to keep everyone safe. We didn’t have a plan or any idea what was in there.”
“And this afternoon in the hub?” Ianto pushes.
Jack looks surprised before a look of realization crosses his face. “Is that what this is about?” He reaches out and rests a hand on Ianto’s arm.
“Do you have any idea how that looked? Even Owen spared me the pity glance,” Ianto says after a moment.
“It’s not like that, Ianto, she just-“
It’s Ianto’s turn to cut Jack off. “She just tells her fiancé about us and you throw a fit and demand I make a command performance that completely screws up Tegan’s schedule? She calls you heartless and you crawl into my bed looking for reassurances? She refuses to retcon Rhys and despite the fact that it’s against every protocol you choose to beg her to stay?” He makes every statement a question even though it’s exactly what happened.
Jack looks shocked. “No, I… Ianto. Rhys knowing puts him in danger even when his day has nothing to do with us. I come to your bed looking for reassurances because right now you’re the only person I trust to tell me the truth. You’re right I need her to stay. Not because I’m in love with Gwen but because I love her she’s part of our family as much as Owen and Tosh, tell me you wouldn’t miss her if she took retcon and left?”
Ianto considers it for a moment and knows Jack is right on that. He would miss Gwen, immensely, if she were to leave. “I would.”
“Exactly. I don’t want her to leave and yeah if she thinks Rhys can handle it fine, I’ll give her that. I make allowances for all of you,” Jack glances pointedly at Tegan, “so I have to give her the same consideration. It’s nothing more than that, I thought you’d figured that out by now.”
“Jack one minute you’re adopting a child with me and the next you’re barely spending any time with us. You act jealous of Rhys and expect me to believe there’s nothing more than friends between you and Gwen. You’re not exactly easy to figure out.” Ianto says quietly because Jack has literally backed him into a corner. There is no way to get out of the conversation and for as much as he doesn’t want to have it, it’s one they need to have.
Jack chuckles softly and runs a hand over Tegan’s hair. “That’s because I don’t know what you want. In the past I’ve been kept as far away from my children as possible, and no I’m not stupid enough to assume you don’t know about them.”
Ianto is completely thrown off when Jack admits to having children, he hadn’t really expected that revelation to ever come out. “I do know about one but I don’t know what I want because I don’t know what you want.”
“If you want me around as her parent I will, as often as possible, but if you want me away from her I won’t blame you. It’s your call, that’s what I want.” Jack tells him and Ianto is surprised by the sincerity in his voice.
Ianto considers how to tell Jack what he wants, not something he’s really ever been good at, when the timer on the stove goes off. “Tegan go to daddy while I keep our dinner from burning,” Ianto says and holds Tegan out for Jack.
The smile on Jack’s face after he realizes what Ianto’s saying is blinding.