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silkendreammaid) wrote2010-12-19 11:36 am
Torchwood Canary
Working Title: The Torchwood Canary
Episode Title: Cardiff
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor ever will, Torchwood or the characters within.
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Language
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Notes: A series of interconnected episodes starting from Canary Wharf and leading into Season 1 and probably beyond
First Episode After The Battle
Second Episode starts here Cardiff -Part 1
This is the final part of the second episode ...
Cardiff – Part 3
Ianto rubbed at his left wrist. The restraining band was gone and he didn't like it. He kept circling his left wrist with his right hand. No band. No extra weight. Nothing. His arm felt wrong.
He had worn that band for two years. He'd been given no choice when it had been placed on his arm and for the first few days he had tugged and worried at the band. But then it had become part of him and he had long stopped thinking of it.
This morning when he had left the shower room he had found Toshiko standing there, waiting for him. She had been overly apologetic about not removing the band earlier and he had tried to brush her concern away but she had almost dragged him back to his room, sat him down and removed the band. The laser saw had cut through the metal easily and almost silently. Less than ten seconds and it had fallen from his arm. He had swallowed hard at the sudden and strangling sense of loss.
"That must feel better," she'd said with something in her voice and her face that he couldn't quite identify but sounded and looked close to relief. He had thought it strange that she had felt the relief that he hadn't but his immediate sense of loss had kept him from following it through.
"Yeah," he had replied giving her the lie when the truth would have had her asking questions he couldn't answer. She had taken the band with her and he had bitten his lip to stop himself from demanding it back.
Suzie had the band now. He could see her studying it at her desk and his hand tightened at his wrist. He hoped that whatever the Captain had done to deactivate it could not be reversed. Ianto didn't want it to ever be functional again but he knew Torchwood and anything alien was always going to be prodded and poked at. It appeared that Three was not so different to One in that respect.
He looked around him, seeking a distraction from his thoughts. He lifted himself carefully up from the chair he was straddling, hands tightening on the chair back as he straightened and his back and ribs protested. He swung his leg back and stood up letting go of the chair, letting his breath out slowly. His wings still hung low to the ground and he moved carefully.
"You okay, Ianto?" Toshiko asked in a soft voice and he smiled slightly at her.
"Yes, just needed to move," he replied with a nod.
"Owen rang earlier, said we could cut back on the sedatives you're taking," she told him and he nodded again. That sounded good. Apart from the couple of hours awake yesterday he'd done nothing but sleep and he didn't want to do that anymore. But until he healed there wasn't much else he could do. He was getting better, he could feel it. The cream that Toshiko had applied and the other pills he had taken were working and although he couldn't lift his wings yet, the fierce stabbing muscles cramps that held him immobile had eased considerably. The bone deep ache was still there and the bruises were still large colourful patterns circling his torso. And to his embarrassment he still needed help to put his shirt on.
He closed his eyes briefly. Two days ago London had burned and he was worried about being embarrassed? He shook his head. He was alive, he should be grateful for that instead except that London felt distant and fuzzy behind too much sleep and the bruising ache of his ribs.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" Toshiko's voice brought him back to the present and he smiled.
"That would be nice, thank you." He followed her to the small kitchenette area and looked at it curiously. A sink with cupboards above and below and a small bench it was tiled and tidy and compact. A teapot and a drip percolator stood near a small hotplate on the bench. He watched Toshiko open cupboards to retrieve the tea and two cups.
"Won't Suzie want a cup too?" he asked.
"No, she prefers coffee. Actually we all live on coffee," Toshiko said with a smile. "But I can't make coffee well so… I make tea instead." There was a resigned almost depreciating edge to her voice and Ianto frowned.
"It is harder to make good tea," he said. "I never could learn to do it right," he added lightly. He pointed to a towel covered appliance at the very end of the bench. "What's that?"
Toshiko shrugged. "A coffee machine."
Ianto blinked. "You have two coffee machines?" he asked as he looked back at the percolator.
Toshiko laughed. "No-one can use the big one. Its one of those old fashioned ones. The other one is easier for us." Ianto shook his head and moved across to lift the towel.
"Oh," he breathed out with a sound of gentle awe and Toshiko looked at him in surprise.
He didn't notice and she was rather bemused as he reached out and oh so very carefully ran his fingers over the tarnished steel and dusty pipes that made up the incomprehensible machine. He tapped at the gauge and bent over it peering behind it. She had never seen anyone so engrossed in something that wasn't of alien origin.
"What is it?"
"It's a Faema. An old, old coffee machine. One of the first lever types I think, probably made in the late 1940's or early 50's." Ianto's voice was hushed and his fingers continually wandered over levers and handles. "I'd have to look at the manufacturer's plate to get the model, but this, this is a classic machine."
"You know about coffee machines?" Toshiko asked curiously.
"A little bit." Ianto shrugged slightly and ignored the resultant pulling of his wings still engrossed in examining the coffee machine. "I used to work in a coffee shop when I first moved to London. The owner used to collect and restore them."
"So, you could use this one?" she asked.
"Probably. It needs a good cleaning first though," he smiled at the machine. He turned to look at her and now his smile was all for her. "And with good beans it'll make very good coffee."
Toshiko looked at the machine. For a machine that just made coffee she didn't understand why it had to look so complicated. It wasn't as big as the machines in the coffee shops by the Plass and their coffee was good enough. She shrugged and looked back at him.
"If you want to try then I don't see that anyone would stop you."
Ianto chewed at his bottom lip for a moment. "I… I don't have anything to do here, Toshiko. It would give me something to do while my ribs heal."
"Jack said you would be working in the Archives," Toshiko remarked as she turned her attention back to the tea.
"I know, but I'm not able to carry and lift things and that's what it sounds like I'd have to do if the Archives are as bad as Doctor Harper said."
Toshiko laughed gently. "It depends on how much exaggerating he was doing. They are rather a mess. We've never had time to really sort them out so things have kind of piled up. We're a small team," she looked at him and gave a small shrug, "and there's always something more important or more pressing that needs attention. Archiving and filing tends to get over-looked." Ianto blinked at her casual dismissal. There had been memos at least once a week on the maintaining and continual upgrading of the Archives in London and the two floors of sub-Archives had been only a small fraction of the complete collection in the Tower. He repressed a shudder and hoped that Doctor Harper had indeed exaggerated about the state of the archives.
"Perhaps later you could show me the Archives?" he asked.
"Of course." She smiled at him and handed him a cup of tea.
Dr Harper had not exaggerated about the archives. If anything, the Doctor had been completely honest Ianto thought as he stood in a doorway and stared at the boxes piled in front of him.
He couldn't see beyond the wall of boxes. There were no labels on the boxes and they looked to be crammed full of artefacts and files. It was as if they had just put items in or on the closest box and Ianto was struggling to hide his horror.
"Has anyone filed anything?" he asked losing the battle with his self-control.
"It doesn't seem necessary," Toshiko said. "All documents are saved to the database and I always write up a note for any artefacts I look at."
"Do the others do that?"
Toshiko shrugged. "I think so."
Ianto took a deep breath and let it out slowly, ignoring the protesting of his ribs. "I am really going to need to have that coffee machine working," he muttered as he looked in the closest boxes. "Where do I even start?"
"Is it really bad?" Toshiko asked him and Ianto's face was blank.
"Bad? No. It's worse. So much worse." He waved a hand at the piled up boxes, his head shaking in an unconscious denial of what was in front of him. He began thinking of what needed to be done. He was going to have to move the boxes to find the actual Archives and then he was hoping that the Archives were in some kind of reasonable order so he could sort all of these boxes and place them properly. The thought that he might have to overhaul the archives before he could empty these boxes made him shudder. He let his breath out.
First things first, he told himself. Get the coffee machine working. He wasn't going to face the archives without decent coffee in him.
It took Ianto all day before he was satisfied with the condition of the coffee machine. He dismantled it completely and cleaned each part carefully before reassembling it. His injuries meant he had to take frequent breaks. His back and ribs ached if he stood up for too long, they ached if he sat down for too long and they ached if he moved around too much but he refused to stop for more than thirty minutes at a time.
At the end of the day he smiled happily at the gleaming machine. His old boss would have been pleased and proud of the result. He brushed a soft cloth over the now highly reflective steel and chrome. Copper and silver shone and Ianto found it hard to stop touching it. It had been too long since he had felt such a sense of accomplishment over something.
"Wow. That's incredible," Toshiko remarked suddenly and he started to find her standing beside him staring at the machine. "It's hard to believe that's the same machine it was earlier. It's so shiny."
"She's a beauty," Ianto replied. There was a possessive edge to his voice that had Toshiko looking at him curiously. Ianto didn't notice. "If you could buy some beans for her, I'll make the coffee tomorrow. Good beans mind. I'll give you a list."
Toshiko nodded. "Good beans for good coffee?" It wasn't really a question although it sounded like one.
"Yes," Ianto nodded. "I'll write down a few different kinds. She'll make gorgeous coffee."
Toshiko studied him for a moment. "Why are you calling it 'she'?"
"She… it…" Ianto looked at Toshiko with a helpless expression on his face. "She just feels like a she to me."
Toshiko smiled at him. He looked rather cute and young in his lost confusion over something so minor that she patted his arm gently. "Give me the list. After all your talk, this coffee better be very good."
The next morning Tosh gave him the requested beans and fifteen minutes later the rich smell of coffee permeated the whole Hub. Tosh and Suzie exchanged appreciative glances and waited until Ianto appeared carefully carrying a tray with three cups on it.
"Where did you find that tray?" Tosh asked as she studied the cup he handed her.
"The small room where the napkins came from," he replied. "There's a set of espresso cups in there too that probably came with the machine. If no-one minds I could bring them down and clean them up for use."
"Go ahead," Suzie told him as she accepted her cup. "In fact use anything in there that you want. No-one's ever really bothered with that room. I don't think anyone even knows exactly what's in there, so no-one's going to object."
Tosh took a small sip of the rich dark coffee as she listened. It was better than good. It was ambrosial and Tosh was hard-pressed to completely express her delight with it. Even Suzie was vocal in her appreciation after her first taste and Ianto felt a lessening of a tension he hadn't been consciously aware of. He was fully aware that there was nowhere else he could go and every tiny bit of acceptance he could garner bolstered him against the insecurity that hid below his aching ribs and the loss of One that he refused to think about.
He watched them enthuse over his coffee and smiled into the fragrant steam of his own cup. He was feeling better today. He had managed to get his shirt on without help although Tosh had had to remove it again to apply the healing cream to his back. His skin was still deeply bruised and his ribs and muscles itched and ached, but he was moving easier, with steady deliberate movements compensating for the pain. His wings still brushed the floor but he had lifted them several times to gauge the progress of his healing. He knew he wouldn't feel completely healed until they were folded at his back in their rightful position.
A sudden and incessant beeping had Tosh and Suzie hastily putting their cups down and moving to one of the several screens at Tosh's desk.
"Weevil," Suzie said with a quick glance. She chewed at her bottom lip for a moment and then looked at Ianto. "We have to go and take care of this. Are you familiar with CCTV tracking?"
Ianto shook his head. "No."
"It's easy enough to learn," Suzie told him as she tapped quickly at a keyboard. "You sit here and follow us through the CCTV network. We can talk through the com-link and all you need to do is tell us if the weevil moves. Simple."
Ianto nodded. "Okay." He moved closer and watched as she highlighted the weevil's current position on one screen and opened another to the network. Tosh appeared beside them with keys in one hand and an ear piece in the other.
"Here. Tap once to activate and two to close," she said as she handed it to him.
"Thank you," he said, twirling it between his fingers before placing it in his ear, prodding at it and manoeuvring it into a comfortable position. Suzie moved away from the screens and Ianto took her place.
"We keep in touch all the time," Suzie said. "If anything changes on the CCTV you must tell us straight-away. If we see something, we'll tell you. We don't want to lose track of the weevil and we certainly don't want the public getting involved either."
"Okay," Ianto nodded as he looked from her to the screens and back again.
"You'll be fine," Tosh said encouragingly. "We would have taught you how to do all this anyway. With Jack and Owen in London you're just having to learn a bit quicker, that's all."
Ianto watched them leave and settled himself on a tall stool. He watched the screens for a moment listening to them talk briefly before seeing what appeared to be a smaller version of the SUV that had brought him to Cardiff appear on one of the screens.
"Can you see us, Ianto?" Suzie's voice echoed in his ear and he nodded before realising that she couldn't see him. He tapped his earpiece.
"Yes, I see you," he said quickly.
"The system automatically tracks us so you'll be able to always see where we are. You need to keep checking the weevil though. There are always blind spots and you can move the cameras with mouse or keyboard controls to make sure you keep it in sight."
Ianto listened as Suzie gave him a rundown of the basic functions and he played with them when she had finished. It was strange to be on this side of the coms he thought. His previous team had had an operator with a soft Scottish accent who had almost whispered directions and information through their coms. Always calm, always cheerful the whole team had trusted that voice implicitly. Scotty had always known where they were, had always given them every bit of information he could and had never failed to laugh at the "beam us up Scotty' line that Mark had used every time. Ianto had never wondered how Scotty had done everything but now he could see it in action. It didn't take much more thought to realise that Scotty had been sending information supplied from the massive database One had housed. Ianto looked at the screens and knew that somewhere there were the menus and programs that would link to the database here. A database that was no doubt filled with information from Three's Archives and any shared information from One and Two. A database that was going to be under his control once he started on the archives.
Ianto let his breath out. He was never going to be part of a retrieval team again, but he could support one. And Torchwood Three only had four members. They obviously needed all the support they could get and he could provide that support. It would be something else he could do. Something a bit more necessary than making coffee. Something to justify being here. To being alive. Again.
"Has the weevil moved?" Tosh asked him and he blinked to re-focus on the screens.
"No, it's still there," he told her and settled more comfortably on the stool, staving off a sudden wave of guilt with a restless flutter of his wings.
He watched as they appeared near the weevil, not quite following the brief flurry of movement that ended with the weevil on the ground and the girls standing over it. Ianto blinked as he saw them open a bag and begin to dress the obviously unconscious creature.
"What are you doing?" he asked in disbelief.
"Putting a coverall on it," Suzie told him.
"But… but why?" Ianto asked again. It was an alien for God's sake. Torchwood had strict procedures and rules on how to deal with aliens in the field. Ianto had studied all the manuals. Dressing them had not been one of them.
"It hides the differences in their anatomy. People panic when they see something that is most definitely not human wandering around. At a distance no-one's going to know that he's not human."
"He? It's male?"
"Looks like one. Owen says that the males have a more pronounced spinal ridge. We'll tag it as male anyway."
"You tag them?" Ianto's hand went straight to his bare left wrist and he held it tight.
"Yes. We'll be able to find him if he leaves the sewers again."
"Catch and release?" Ianto felt dizzy as if his inner balanced had suddenly tilted.
"Yes," Tosh answered him. "We don't have the facilities to hold him and he hasn't done anything wrong so we'll return him to the sewer and the system will monitor him."
Ianto was silent as he tried to understand. Torchwood One would have restrained any alien and transported it back to the Tower immediately. It would have been taken straight to the cells and then to the labs. There would have been no consideration given to its clothes or lack of them. It didn't matter if the aliens were peaceful or vicious, they were all treated the same. Test first and apologise later if the alien was still alive. Ianto rubbed at his wrist. No wonder there had been such bad blood between Yvonne and the Captain. Their procedures couldn't have been more dissimilar if they'd tried.
Ianto watched as the weevil was manhandled to the closest sewer entrance and wondered how much different his own life would have been if he'd been in Cardiff when they'd found that splicer.
The rich scent of Ianto's coffee hit Suzie and Toshiko when they returned to the Hub.
"I could get used to this," Suzie said as she saw Ianto appear with his laden tray.
"I thought you'd need one." Ianto proffered the tray and the girls took their cups and walked to their desks.
"Always," Suzie nodded. "Call outs would be more bearable knowing we'd be coming back to this," she added with a friendly smile.
Ianto bowed his head slightly. "I'm sure I could manage that," he told her with an almost bland tone.
Tosh laughed. "You sound just like a butler."
Ianto blinked at her and his eyebrow rose. Suzie started chuckling as Tosh began giggling at his expression. Ianto sensed only good natured teasing on Tosh's part and he relaxed with a smile.
"I don't answer to Jeeves," Ianto told them in an excessively polite voice. It was a poor joke but it made them laugh and Ianto felt a small comfortable warmth appear in his chest.
Any warmth he felt towards his new teammates disappeared the next morning as he faced the boxes in the Archives. Even two cups of coffee couldn't overcome the trepidation he felt. It looked more of a mess than it had done yesterday which didn't seem possible. He rather hoped that it was all a bad dream but it wasn't and he sighed deeply. Getting another cup of coffee would be merely delaying the inevitable so he squared his shoulders and looked into the first box.
It took him thirty minutes of pushing and pulling before he managed to clear a path between the boxes. He leant against a small tower of boxes and contemplated the gap as he tried to relax his aching back and ribs. He had caught his wings several times and had trodden on them once when trying to drag a box backwards. He had tried to be careful and not to overstrain himself, but most of the boxes were heavy and the girls were busy and he couldn't rely on their help all the time. And besides, the Archives were going to be his domain, it should be him who did the work.
Ianto smiled at himself. First the coffee machine and now the Archives. He was becoming rather possessive but he knew exactly why that was. When your life had been ripped apart, anything that gave you purpose was to be grabbed at and held onto. No matter how tenuous or unwise it might prove to be.
Ianto pushed himself upright and slipped between the boxes. Time to see just what he claiming.
Tosh picked up the phone on its third ring.
"Hello Jack."
"Hey Tosh. All going well there?"
"Yes, everything is under control."
"Good, that's what I like to hear."
"How are things there?"
"It's a disaster." Jack lost all of his cheerfulness. "UNIT and the JIC are squabbling over jurisdictional matters, Downing Street wants to appoint an oversight committee and the Palace has overridden all of them by appointing a representative who seems to be rather ineffective so far."
"What about you? Wouldn't you be the new Director now?"
"I don't want it and I've already told them so. Torchwood Two can have that title and all the dishonour it currently has."
Tosh blinked at the bitterness of his words and decided not to ask further. "How much longer will you be there?"
"Another week probably. It's too much of a mess here and I don't trust the bureaucrats from making it worse." Jack's voice conveyed his disgust and Tosh was glad she wasn't there.
"How's Owen?"
"He's fine. Bossing whoever he can and generally making himself the most detested person after me with all the other agencies."
"He's looking after the survivors isn't he?" Tosh asked. They all knew Owen and when it came to anyone he considered a patient he moved heaven and earth to help them. Obdurate and stubborn and so often right, all the hospitals in Cardiff had long given up trying to fight him and it sounded as if London was starting to learn that too. Tosh heard Jack's sigh.
"Yes. He's doing what he can for them and he won't leave them until he's satisfied they'll be cared for."
"How many, Jack?" Tosh asked gently.
"Thirty-nine are still alive but some of them won't last much longer." Jack's voice was heavy.
"And Ianto," Tosh said trying to combat the dejection she heard. "He survived."
"Yes, but officially he died two years ago, so it doesn't really count." There was a small pause before he continued in a gentler tone. "But thank you for trying, Tosh." His voice lifted again back into the cheerful Jack she knew so well. "And how is the gorgeous young Welshman today?"
Tosh giggled. "He's in the Archives at the moment."
"Not only gorgeous but incredibly brave if he's ventured there," Jack replied and Tosh laughed.
"He wasn't impressed when he saw it," Tosh said.
"Don't let him work too hard. Owen says he's still a few weeks away from complete healing."
"Suzie and I will keep an eye on him. We were thinking we'd start teaching him how to use the tracking programs."
"Sounds good, and get him set up in the system, he'll need the access for the archives." There was a noticeable pause before Jack spoke again. "In fact you can start teaching him all the programs you think he should know. Don't let him do too much, just ease him in to it."
"All the programs?"
"Yes," Jack's voice had a thoughtful edge to it. "He's lost everything and he's dead to everyone but us. We need to give him a reason to feel useful and needed."
Tosh nodded as she listened. She understood the needing to show the gratitude of surviving, of being rescued in serving, in being useful. It was a way to make amends, to prove that you weren't a bad person.
"I'll teach him," she said without hesitation.
"Thank you Tosh," Jack said softly with an audible smile. "And the first load of salvaged artefacts should be turning up on your doorstep in a few hours."
"What?" Tosh almost squeaked as her voice rose in shock. "A few hours? Jack, we need more warning than that," she scolded him. "How much is coming?"
"Just one truck for starters. There'll be more tomorrow but I wanted to get this first lot away from here as soon as I could while UNIT are still distracted."
"More tomorrow?" Tosh exclaimed. "Jack, where are we going to store it all?"
"Just find space wherever you can. Open up one of the lower levels we never use if you have to. And please make sure the driver and whoever he has with him forget exactly where all this stuff has gone."
"We'll offer them coffee before they leave."
"Good. Keep it as small a dose as you can. They'd get suspicious if they suddenly lose a whole day."
"I'll tell Suzie. She's much better at retconning than I am."
"Thank you, and don't let Ianto archive it and you and Suzie keep from poking through it as well. There's some nasty stuff in there that needs proper containing which I'll do when I get back."
Tosh frowned. "We can do that for you. Suzie and I know the containment procedures."
"No, Tosh. It's too dangerous. You're not familiar with the items. No arguments." Jack's voice was firm and strong.
"We'd be careful, Jack. Don't you trust us? If these items are as dangerous as you say shouldn't they be contained as soon as possible rather than wait for you to get here?"
"I do trust you Tosh, but I've seen these items before and they need specific handling that you haven't been trained for. I've packed them to ensure they're safe for the trip there and they'll stay safe so long as none of you touch them. So please, just unload the truck and leave them be."
"Alright Jack," Tosh replied, feeling both disappointed and curious. Jack obviously heard and understood her mixed feeling because he laughed.
"There's a small box with your name on it. Something I think you might enjoy playing with."
Tosh's disappointment vanished and she grinned excitedly. "I'll look forward to it. Do I get a hint as to what it is?" She paused. "You're bribing me aren't you?" she accused him lightly.
"Yes and its working too, isn't it?"
"Yes," she replied with a mock scowl.
"That's my Tosh," Jack's voice smiled and Tosh smiled in response. There was no winning against Jack and she never pushed too hard. She trusted him too much to ever seriously question his decisions. "There's a box with Suzie's name on it as well. Wouldn't want to be accused of playing favourites now would I?"
Tosh laughed. "You never do that," she told him.
"I know, I spoil you both. Too much sometimes I think." Jack teased and Tosh shook her head.
"I think we spoil you just as much in return," she told him.
"It's no more than I deserve," Jack agreed in a solemn tone.
"You don't always deserve it," she retorted quickly and he laughed.
"But you love me anyway," he replied smugly.
"I'm reconsidering that," she said with a smirk and she could hear the unseen pout in the small noise that echoed in her ear. She laughed. "We'll call you after the truck's left."
"Thanks Tosh."
"It's been at least an hour," Tosh said cautiously as she and Suzie stared at the gap in the boxes that led into the Archives.
"I think it might be closer to two hours," Suzie replied thoughtfully.
"Do you think we should go and look for him?" Tosh asked.
"I suppose we should, but do we really want to?" Suzie responded. "I got lost last time I was in there and you barely escaped with your life when those boxes fell on you."
"That was Owen's fault for stacking them so unevenly." Tosh chewed at her bottom lip. "Do you think he's lost? He's an Archivist, wouldn't that mean he knows his way around?"
"Well, yes, but I doubt our little cavern of knowledge compares to London."
"It doesn't," Ianto's voice interjected with obvious disgust and they stared as he appeared. Dusty didn't begin to describe the state of him. Cobwebs and dust webs hung all over him. Dust smudged across his forehead and down one cheek. His hands looked dirty and his clothes were covered in dust streaks.
"Are… are you okay?" Tosh asked hesitantly, torn between laughing and commiserating at his dishevelled state and his disapproving manner. A quick look at Suzie confirmed that she was feeling equally torn.
"I think so." He nodded and coughed. "Fortunately I am not allergic to dust. I think yours is sentient."
Suzie blinked. "Sentient dust?"
Ianto nodded and more dust fell from him. "Yes. It was following me around after the spiders got bored."
"Spiders?" Tosh spluttered.
"Yes." He stared at her with a completely serious expression on his face. "There are rather a lot of them down there, and there are some that I don't believe originated on Earth."
"Alien spiders," Suzie stated in a flat voice and a disbelieving twist to her eyebrows.
"Yes. The fur and tail gives them away."
"Spiders with fur?" Tosh's eyes were wide.
"Yes," Ianto repeated.
"I don't believe you," Suzie stated. "If we had alien spiders running around we'd know about it."
"Then can you remove the figment of my imagination that's currently attached to my back," Ianto asked without any inflection in his voice. He turned around and both women gasped.
Somehow attached to his back, right between his dusty wings was a spider. A six inch spider with dark fur and a tail. Incongruous ears twitched above four pairs of dark eyes that gleamed as the spider turned full circle before seeming to stare at them. Blue iridescence suddenly flared as small fangs shifted and Tosh and Suzie both took a step back.
"I… ahh… it's… umm," Tosh tried to say something comprehensible as she stared.
"Yes, it is," Ianto replied. "But do you think you could get it off me. I can't reach it and I don't want it taking up residence in my wings."
"Have you tried shaking it off?" Suzie asked as her shock began to fade.
"Yes, that got rid of the other one, but this one's more persistent."
"How many are there?" Tosh asked her voice rising.
"I don't know. I saw about six of them, but there could easily be more."
"Isn't it heavy? What if it's poisonous?"
"It's not that heavy and I'm not going to let it bite me to find out. I just want it off," Ianto said forcefully. "Please," he added politely.
"We could poke at it," Suzie suggested as she looked into the boxes near her and pulled out a four foot rod of what appeared to crimson coloured wood.
"I really don't think that that's good idea," Ianto said as he looked over his shoulder at her.
"There's not many other choices," Suzie replied logically.
"I know," Ianto sighed. "Don't mind me, just a bit concerned as to how it will react…" he didn't finish his sentence, instead he shuddered. His wings fluttered and dust clouded around him. Ianto sneezed and the small creature sneezed as well. Suzie and Tosh blinked as the spider-like creature suddenly chittered at them and then jumped from Ianto's back to the nearest box. Another sneeze and it scuttled over the boxes and back into the archives, leaving them all staring after it.
"Well…" Suzie started. "I wonder how long they've been in there."
Ianto shook himself again and more dust fell around him. "I'm more worried about how many of them there are and how easy they'll be to catch," he said.
"You could keep them as pets," Tosh suggested and Suzie and Ianto stared at her. "It looked kinda mouse-like with those ears," she added.
"I doubt it eats cheese. It probably tolerates the spiders and eats everything else. Which would explain why there are no other bugs or things down there," he said as he looked at his filthy clothes. "I'm going to clean up."
"Okay," Suzie nodded. "Good idea. There's a truck with stuff from London due in about half an hour. You'll have to stay out of the way – you can't be seen, but can you have coffee ready for when they're done?"
Ianto nodded. "What about what they're bringing?"
"We'll help them unload it. There are several empty rooms we can store it all in."
"The Archives aren't in any state to receive them anyway," Ianto noted.
"Jack said we weren't to touch any of it once it was stored," Tosh added.
"Really?" Ianto frowned.
"Yes, he said there's some very dangerous items in there and only he knows the proper containment for them."
"Anything identified as dangerous would already be in its own containment box," he mused. "It's standard procedure."
"Maybe these are items that haven't been identified yet. Jack knows more than anyone else about alien tech," Tosh said. "It's really amazing how much he knows."
"He knows nothing about archiving," Ianto remarked and Tosh gave a small gurgle of laughter. Ianto frowned at her and shook his head. "No, if he knows so much about the tech and artefacts and their containment then he should have some understanding of filing them away properly, but… but those archives don't seem to have been touched since the turn of the century. That's over six years ago. Hasn't anyone done any archiving at all?"
"No," Suzie shook her head. "I've been here the longest, apart from Jack and I've never done anything in there."
"I've been here two years now and I've never known anyone to do any serious archiving," Tosh added and Ianto sighed before straightening his shoulders.
"Well, I'm going to need to set up a few things before I can get really started and it's going to take a while but I will get them organised properly," he said determinedly.
"Go and clean up and when the truck's gone, we'll sit down and help you get started," Suzie replied.
"Thank you," he smiled.
"Just don't ask me to look after your pets," she added with a grin and Ianto sighed.
"They're not pets and they're not mine," he said as he turned to leave the room. They watched him go with dust misting around him with each step and webs waving like thin streamers from his wings.
"What's that character in Charlie Brown who looked like a walking dirt pile?" Suzie queried in a distracted manner.
Tosh frowned. "I don't know. I don't think I've ever read Charlie Brown."
Suzie shrugged. "It's in one of those tabloids that Owen says he never reads. Ianto just reminded me of him. He looks like a walking dust cloud."
Tosh giggled. "We'd probably not say anything to him though."
"Or to Owen," Suzie added with a grin.
"I wonder what would happen if Owen saw one of those spidery things," Tosh remarked thoughtfully.
"Probably nothing," Suzie replied. "But Jack does have that hatred of spiders, remember."
"Oh, yes," Tosh almost purred and their eyes met.
"Let's make sure Ianto doesn't get rid of them before Jack returns," Suzie said.
Ianto was much cleaner when Suzie watched him make the coffee for the men from London. Toshiko was overseeing the last boxes to be unloaded. Ianto placed two cups on a tray and looked startled when Suzie dropped a small tablet into each cup.
"Retcon," she told him as she stirred the coffees to dissolve the tablets.
"Why? Aren't they from Torchwood?"
"Nope, from UNIT and Jack doesn't want them remembering what the inside of the hub looks like."
"They didn't really see anything," Ianto remarked.
"I know, we made sure of that. This is a very mild dose and they'll remember that they delivered to us, they just won't remember where we are."
Ianto didn't quite shrug. His back and ribs were aching a bit too much not helped by his brief exploration of the archives, but it sounded as if the Captain was as paranoid as Yvonne Hartman had been. There had often been small squabbles over retrievals with UNIT teams and memos had appeared with depressing regularity warning of talking to or even seeing anyone from UNIT. Ianto was fully prepared to be as paranoid as everyone else but for more selfish reasons. He had no wish to become a test subject again.
"Do you retcon everyone who comes here?"
"No, but then we rarely get visitors here. Jack only attends meetings that are held at other bases."
Ianto nodded. He'd never heard of anyone from One ever visiting Three. "He visited One sometimes. The gossip lasted for months afterwards," Ianto said with a small smile that disappeared as he realised that there was no One anymore.
Suzie gathered up the coffee. She and Tosh had been deliberately avoiding bringing up the Tower in conversation. It was clear that Ianto was also avoiding mentioning it as well and they didn't blame him. So she nudged him gently with an elbow in a sign of sympathy and gave him a gentle smile before walking away.
Ianto absently wiped the coffee machine. He was grateful Suzie hadn't said anything but he wondered if that was the wisest course. It was easy to not think about London while his back and ribs ached, while he was far away and to all intents trapped under Cardiff. It was easy when no-one spoke of it and he didn't ask. He knew Toshiko had spoken to the Captain. Owen had called as well. Ianto knew there was information to be had, news that would be bad or worse because he knew there would be no good news. He wouldn't have to ask the women, he could probably access it online. But he didn't want to know. Not yet. Not until his wings no longer dragged on the ground, not until he could breathe deeply without his ribs protesting and not until he knew he would be able to listen and not break down.
"You're looking tired, Ianto" Toshiko said two days later as they sat around the old couch eating lunch.
"I'm feeling much better," he protested.
"That's not what she said," Suzie pointed out. "And she's right. You've been working too hard."
"I'm not working too hard. I'm taking care of myself. I sort out files and papers. I don't move boxes or anything too heavy. The Archives is a real mess, I have to start on it," Ianto replied defensively.
"We know that, Ianto, but you're in there all day. We only see you for coffee and meals." Suzie studied him for a moment. "Starting now, you can't do any more in the archives today." Ianto opened his mouth to protest and Suzie lifted her hand to stop him. "This afternoon you can work with Tosh and start learning how our systems and programs work. We've been lucky and the weevils and the Rift have been quiet, but with just us here we need to be prepared in case something happens. It'll be another week before Jack and Owen are back so we need you to be able to help us. We need you on the team."
"Toshiko showed me the system the other day," he said. "And I used the tracking program when you went after that weevil."
"That was just the Archive area, Ianto, and the tracking program is just the start of it," Tosh told him. "There are a lot more you'll need to know."
Ianto chewed at his bottom lip for a moment before nodding. "Alright."
"Good," Suzie said with a nod to Tosh before they both smiled happily at him.
Ianto got the impression that he had just been set up but they seemed genuinely concerned for him so he said nothing. He wasn't used to having people care about his well-being unless they were about to start a new round of tests and he was startled to realise that they were considering him as part of their team. He hadn't thought that he'd ever be part of a team again. They didn't see him as the support he had been thinking he could be, but as a team member and Ianto felt obscurely guilty. Had Scotty ever wanted to be considered as part of the team? There had been a clear demarcation line between teams and support at One but there had been so many of them. It was obviously different here in Cardiff with so few people and Ianto couldn't help but wonder.
"I'll introduce you to Mainframe," Tosh said and Ianto looked confused.
"Mainframe? Who is that?" He thought he'd met all the members of Three.
"Mainframe is our computer. All our systems and programs, everything is linked through her. In many ways she is the Hub. She ensures everything works as it should and she's intuitive. She'll be second-guessing any changes you want to put into the Archival system. She's usually a step ahead of the rest of us."
"The computer is alive?" Ianto asked slowly.
"Yes, kind of. The records say she's been here as long as Torchwood has. A piece of organic tech that probably fell through the rift and was able to survive here. She has an artificial intelligence but it's so advanced that she seems very much alive. Being organic she grows and spreads and learns and develops much as any other living thing."
Ianto blinked. "I look forward to meeting her," was all he could think of to say. But after spending two days sorting out files amidst alien spiders and sentient dust he didn't think he'd have too many problems. And it was yet another reminder that Torchwood Three was nothing like One.
The need to feel something familiar led to Ianto appearing in the Hub wearing a three piece suit that completely stunned Toshiko and Suzie. In the seven days since he'd arrived in Cardiff he'd worn casual clothing and they were accustomed to seeing him in jeans. They hadn't realised that he even owned a suit.
"Where did you get that from, Ianto?" Suzie asked as she watched him cross the floor. The tailored suit gave him a sudden elegance and made him look older than he was. The black of his suit brought out the darker browns of his wings. He moved smoothly with a sure confidence to the coffee machine with the merest whisper of fine material and feathers.
"The suit?" Ianto asked as he started the machine. "It's mine. It's what I… I wore in London. We all did."
"You don't have to wear it here," Suzie told him cautiously.
"I know." He studied the coffee machine for a moment before he met her eyes. "But I want to. I work here now and this is what I'm used to wearing when I'm working." He had wanted the comfort of normal clothes now that he was feeling more normal and almost pain-free. His wings no longer dragged on the ground although they still sat lower than normal. His bruises had faded into the green and yellows of age and no longer hurt when he poked them. His muscles didn't spasm and while he still moved slower than he wanted to, he could move easily if he was careful. His ribs were still healing but the bone deep aching was muted, like background noise that only became loud when you concentrated on it. Putting his suit back on helped him feel more secure in his place here.
Suzie didn't think Ianto was being completely honest with her but she didn't ask further. Whatever his deeper reasons were, they were his and she had to be honest with herself and admit that she liked the look of this suited, more confident Ianto Jones.
"I like it," Toshiko spoke up, her eyes still scanning the slender Welshman. "It looks so smart." Suzie snorted lightly with good humour.
"Oh yes, it certainly suits you," she said with just enough emphasis that had Tosh giggling and Ianto flushing.
"You look so efficient," Tosh added and Ianto's blush deepened. He hadn't thought wearing his suit would have invited such comments. Suzie and Toshiko were always neatly dressed. Nothing frilly or overly casual. Unobtrusively elegant and deceptively simple, they exuded a business-like competence. He tried to recall what the Captain and the doctor had been wearing and found that he only had vague recollections of the doctor's stained white coat and the Captain's greatcoat. But he didn't think either had been clothed so inappropriately that his suit would seem so remarkable.
"But it's going to get so dirty in the Archives," Tosh remarked.
"It's washable," Ianto said dryly, well-used to having to care for his suits. The alterations to accommodate his wings meant Ianto had been doing his own washing and any mending required. It wasn't possible to send them out for dry-cleaning. "But I do need to find an iron."
"We'll get one," Tosh replied. "And maybe some more clothes as well," she added hesitantly. "I mean, all you have barely filled a box. You should have more than that."
Ianto shook his head. "No, it's okay. I have enough."
"How many shirts do you have?" Suzie demanded.
"Three, but that's all I …" Ianto began.
"Buy another three tomorrow, Tosh," Suzie ordered. "What's your size, Ianto?"
"I don't need…" Ianto tried again.
"Of course you do, Ianto. Three shirts aren't enough at all," Suzie told him in no uncertain terms.
"But they'll need altering and …"
"I can help with that," Toshiko spoke quietly. "I can sew."
"So can I," Suzie said. "Who did your original alterations, Ianto?"
"There was a tailor. He was a … retired agent. He got called in to organise clothes for anyone that needed specialised clothing," Ianto said haltingly. Toshiko and Suzie stared at him and he felt obliged to continue. "There wasn't just me, there were other aliens that sometimes needed clothing." He didn't add that they'd never needed it for too long. Aliens had very short life spans at One.
"I wonder if we could approach this tailor," Toshiko said thoughtfully.
"I… He worked out of the Tower. He would … he would have been there …last Sunday," Ianto said as calmly as he could.
"I'm sorry," Tosh said immediately with a rueful grimace.
Ianto shook his head. "It's ok." He pulled at his jacket sleeve, tugging it down over his left wrist. "I can do the alterations as well. Used to have a tailor in the family," he added with a hard edge that had the women exchanging glances.
"You'll need a wardrobe," Suzie said abruptly before an uncomfortable silence could appear.
"And a proper bed," Tosh added hurriedly. "Jack said we could get one for you."
"There's that old Ikea catalogue near the couch. You can leaf through that and see what you'd like," Suzie told him and he blinked.
"You have an Ikea catalogue? Ikea is in Cardiff?" Ianto was startled.
"Yes," Suzie nodded as she went to the small table in front of the couch. She reached under it and quickly sorted through the old magazines beneath it. "Opened a few years back. Didn't you know?"
"No," Ianto said slowly with a small shrug. "Once I left Wales, I never came back here."
She waved a thick book at him. "This is a couple of years old, but it should give us a guide as to what you want."
"Isn't that Owen's?" Tosh asked as Suzie returned to the desks with the catalogue.
"Yes," Suzie said as she gave it to Ianto. "Owen brought it in one time when he was setting up his flat. It hasn't been used since."
"I remember that. It never got used at all," Tosh gave a giggle and Suzie snorted.
"Well it was his fault," Suzie said dismissively.
Ianto looked from one to the other and Tosh took pity on his confusion.
"Owen brought it in and asked Suzie which bed she'd prefer to be shagged on. Suzie took the book and threw it at him," Tosh told him with a small pink line across her cheeks. "Told him he had no class and that she wouldn't be shagging him anywhere near a flat pack bed. Jack didn't stop laughing for an hour and then he went and mailed the catalogue to Owen two days later." Tosh giggled.
Suzie laughed. "Owen was furious."
"And a week later there was that incursion of alien bed bugs," Tosh recalled happily.
"Alien bed bugs?" Ianto's eyebrow rose.
"Well, they weren't technically bed bugs, they were more a cross between a flea and a cockroach but they'd infested several rooms and the beds at the Sandringham Hotel. Jack made Owen collect every one of them. It took two days to get them all."
The two women laughed together and Ianto smiled. He liked this easy teasing. He couldn't imagine it ever happening in London. Not outside his team anyway. Obviously having a small team had brought the members of Cardiff a lot closer to each other. He wondered if they held secrets from each other or whether the need had long passed. His team had been open enough amongst themselves but being Torchwood there was always something held back. And Ianto wondered if their refusal or reluctance to approach him and ask about his past meant that either they were being considerate, or that they were merely biding their time until the Captain returned. Ianto was under no illusions that once the questions started, they wouldn't stop until they knew everything about him. He was too used to London to feel surprised or bitter at that thought.
"I'm more than happy to have a flat pack bed," he said lightly to distract himself from his thought as he flicked through the pages. "But I would like it bug free."
"The only bugs now are those spidery mice things of yours," Suzie remarked and Ianto sighed with a hidden smile. They hadn't stopped attributing ownership of the little creatures to him.
"They're not mine," he said in exaggerated long-suffering tones and they laughed at him. He smiled, almost ruefully and wondered if he'd spend the rest of his life denying ownership. Probably, he thought, and he didn't really mind. The little animals were quiet and he'd only caught a few glimpses of them since that first sighting. They seemed harmless enough though and he assumed they lived deeper in the archives where he hadn't ventured yet.
"I'm just thankful Ikea don't have a pet section," he muttered as they laughed again.
"There's a shipment from London due this afternoon and another two tomorrow. Jack says there maybe one more after that but he's not sure," Suzie announced at lunch on three days later.
"We've had six deliveries so far. We're going to have to open rooms on the next level down to store this new stuff," Toshiko remarked.
"We'll do that after lunch. Ianto, can you have the coffees ready again please?"
"Of course," Ianto nodded. He was used to the routine now and for the last two occasions Suzie had entrusted the retconning of the drinks to him. He felt rather useless when the deliveries arrived and he couldn't help with the unloading. He wished he could help but then they'd have to up the dose of the retcon and having to explain why two UNIT drivers had suddenly lost eight hours of their time would be more than awkward.
"We haven't used much while the guys have been gone, but if you could do a quick inventory, Tosh. Ianto can help you." Suzie looked at Ianto. "You need a break from the Archives. You've been overdoing it again. No arguments," she said before he could say anything.
Ianto gave a wry smile. Suzie was a good Second. She was always mindful of him and Tosh. She would have made a good team leader he thought.
"No arguments," he agreed before tugging at his left sleeve. "I will need some assistance shifting a couple of boxes in the Archives." He caught Suzie's stern look. "Tomorrow," he added placatingly.
Suzie nodded with a quick smile. "Tomorrow we'll both help." She was glad that he was still taking care with his injuries. To her eyes he appeared completely healed, but now he no longer needed their assistance to dress or to apply cream, they didn't know for sure. And those suits he now appeared in hid any lingering bruises. It had only been nearly two weeks since London and Owen had said it would take at least three weeks for Ianto to heal fully. The most obvious sign of Ianto's increasing good health had been the height of his wings. Both she and Tosh had noticed that they had gradually risen higher up his back and no longer hung so low. Today she could see the joints of his wings appearing over his shoulders. It was the highest they'd been so far.
She was rather pleased and impressed that he'd settled into the Hub so easily and she wondered if he felt as comfortable as he appeared. Suzie was well aware that having just herself and Tosh here had made it much easier for Ianto than having them all here. But there was no doubt in her mind that once Owen and especially Jack returned the young man was going to have his life turned around yet again. It was going to be very interesting indeed. Suzie smiled.
"Also, Jack said he and Owen will be back on Saturday."
...
…
To Torchwood Three - Part 1
Reference:
JIC (Joint IntelligenceCommittee) is the part of the British Cabinet Office responsible for directing the national intelligence organisations of the United Kingdom on behalf of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and providing advice to the Cabinet related to security, defence and foreign affairs. It oversees the setting of priorities for the three intelligence and security agencies (Secret Intelligence Service, Security Service, GCHQ), as well as Defence Intelligence, and establishes professional standards for intelligence analysis in government. (from Wikipedia)
And of course you all knew that it was Pigpen who Suzie is referring to... ~smiles~…
Ikea opened in Grangetown, Cardiff in November 2003.