Late Night Loss Chapter 16

[galadriel1010]

Jasmine set down a plate of warm tortillas and a bowl of chicken filling in the middle of the table in the boardroom and sank exhaustedly into John’s lap, letting him pull her against his chest and resting her head on his shoulder as she reached ineffectually for a plate. When he chuckled, sending a rumble across her back and chest, she growled and turned her face into his neck, “Piss off John, and next time you can cook.”

He just laughed more loudly and wrapped an arm tighter around her, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck, just below where it met her ear, and reaching with the other hand to grab one of the tortillas. There were five of them there; Jazz and John, Mickey, Atraxet and the Doctor, and tiredness was becoming evident in all of them, even in the immortal Jasmine and the Doctor.

After Jack had managed the jump, for a while at least, it had been as quiet and relaxed as it could be with two of their friends inside different books. As Ianto had, Jack had left behind his book, so they had been able to read as he vanished further into the book world.

Three hours after he jumped, however, all Hell broke loose. A group of adult blowfish, well known to Atraxet as a well organised and dangerous group of criminals he was currently investigating, had used the cover of a rift storm to execute a sting across the city. All hands, including Rhys and PC Andy, were needed on deck to clear up the detritus washed up during the rift storm, leaving them unable to even begin to deal with the Blowfish. They’d struck three banks and City Hall (the three there were in the vaults, having run straight into John and Mickey collecting a 31st century computer. In the other three locations, the three banks, six people had been killed and nearly two million pounds had been stolen; Martha had called UNIT in to contain the situation and their rumour mills had gone into action, producing cover stories involving masks to hide the identities of a criminal group and setting up a taskforce, with Atraxet’s help, to act out a counter-sting and catch the gang. Life at Torchwood, life in Cardiff in fact, was never simple or boring.

Jazz closed her eyes and groaned against her boyfriend’s neck, relaxing slightly as he rubbed gentle circles on her back. The final reports had been filed less than an hour ago and they could, at last, stop. She sat up slightly and let John feed her for a bit before settling back against his chest again. Atraxet and Mickey were smirking, whilst the Doctor just looked amused and slightly thoughtful. With a baleful glare she lifted herself up and settled into the seat next to John, crossing her arms on the desk and nesting her head in them, “Leave me alone, I haven’t slept in a fortnight.” John looked up suddenly, surprised and worried, as she didn’t even try to hide a yawn, “Just give me a coffee and I’ll be fine.”

“One problem,” Mickey pointed out, “No Ianto.”

“Ianto’s disappearance is indeed the root of all evils.” Atraxet agreed sadly, “So what’s the plan now?”

“Eat, home, bed.” Jazz yawned again, “Then, providing nothing comes up during the night…” She studied her watch and smiled slightly, “Meet at ours at ten, I’ll do breakfast. You coming back to ours Mickey?”

He nodded and smiled at them both, “If you’ll have me, I’m enjoying the company. Even if you are a bit mad.”

“Always.”

It was nearly another hour before Mickey, Jazz and John could leave. Jazz had brightened up considerably, mainly due to the fact that she had crashed out on the sofa for half an hour whilst the others tidied up, but John was still in a better condition to drive. He cast a worried glance at her from the driving seat, “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

She opened her eyes and turned her face towards him from where her head leant against the window, “Do what?”

“Keep going until you crash, I know that you’ve got a lot of plates spinning, but you don’t have to keep them all going alone. And I know you could sleep more than you do.”

She was silent for a moment, holding his concerned gaze with an unreadable one of her own. Finally she smiled slightly, “Sorry.” Mickey knew that there was a whole load of subtext below that one word, but he wouldn’t pry. John knew that tomorrow, at least, he wouldn’t wake alone.

Jazz unlocked the door and let them in, leading the way as she toed off her shoes and padded through to the kitchen. Mickey took the opportunity to look around properly, taking in the strangely homely kookiness of the house.

Once upon a time, this house had been the home of Torchwood agents Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd. When Alice died, following close behind Emily as in everything, the house became the property of Torchwood. All through the twentieth century, Captain Jack Harkness used it, often secretly and against orders, to house refugees, victims and occasionally himself, and had redecorated it in keeping with the times.

Today it was the Cardiff home of the head of Torchwood (and had been ever since Jazz had complained about the noise that Jack and Ianto made at night) and so it was decorated in a physical version of her unique outlook on life. Creamy off-white walls were enlivened with bright wainscoting and curtains or even gaudier stencilling.

Lurid beanbags and throws were scattered around the living room among a white three-seater sofa and two matching armchairs, whilst the cutlery, plates and mug in the kitchen come dining room were all decorated with rainbows, spots and stripes.

He smiled as he looked around and flexed his shoulders, grimacing as they clicked painfully. Jazz startled him with a hand on his shoulder and gestured towards the stairs, “Come on, let’s get you settled in, you can actually have a bed tonight, rather than the sofa.”

“Bliss.” He smiled at her and nodded to John, “See you in the morning?”

“I expect so.” His smirk was positively evil, “Don’t let us keep you up.”

John stripped off quickly and dumped his clothes in the laundry basket as he waited for Jazz, who was still getting Mickey settled in the spare room. He hummed quietly to himself as he fell into the bed and pulled the covers over his head, growling when he heard her laugh in the doorway. Before very long a weight settled on the other side of the bed and he felt it crawl up to him. He rolled over as the covers were tugged down and found himself the focus of an intense gaze. As he shuffled up to lean against the headboard, Jazz followed him and straddled his hips, bringing her hands up to cradle his face and press her lips gently against his. When her hand slid from his cheek to his neck, then down to rest flat against his chest, one finger lazily teasing a nipple, he gasped and crushed her against him, one hand tracing up and down from her shoulders to her waist and back up again whilst the other tangled in her hair. Jazz felt a tongue brush across her lips and granted entry, flicking her own against it briefly before invading John’s mouth fully, trailing across his teeth and the roof of his mouth before returning to his tongue again.

The nipple beneath her fingers was a small, hard nub; when she pinched it John’s hand, which had trailed a fiery trail down to her bum, gripped so tightly that she knew there would be a mark there in the morning. His nails grazed their way up her back, digging in harder then stroking gently. Once he’d reached the shoulder again he traced back down, slipping his hand over her hip and down between her legs. She was already warm and wet as he traced one finger between the lips, teasing against her opening and flicking on to stroke against her clit. When she moaned his name incoherently against his cheek he gave in and slid one finger in as far as it would go. Jazz growled and bucked her hips, lowering her head to suck and bite at his neck until he slid a second finger in and scissored his fingers. A third finger and she lost all control, gripping tightly to his shoulders and throwing her head back.

John chuckled breathlessly and withdrew his fingers, earning him a disapproving mewl, then lifted her hips to remove the quilt from between them. Their eyes met again briefly before she dropped her head to kiss all over his face and wound her fingers into his hair, “John… please, need you…” He complied willingly, kissing her once more before lifting her slightly more and pulling her down on him. She gasped and her eyes darkened and opened wide. After giving his lover a moment to get used to it, John pulled her up against him more and rolled them so that she was on top. He moved in and out of her slowly and gently, building to a powerful, all consuming climax.

He gasped against her skin and rolled them again so that she lay sprawled across his chest. When she pressed a soft, breathless kiss to one of the marks she’d made earlier he wrapped his arms around her tightly and sighed, “Fuck Zee, what brought that on?”

She smiled and nuzzled against his chest, blinking tiredly, “I love you, do I need anything more?”

He smiled, blissfully happy, pressed a kiss into her hair and smiled, “I love you too Princess.”

“I know you do.”

They gathered again, the whole family, in their living room, the girls laughing at the boys as they constructed ever more elaborate full English butties. Mickey, Atraxet and Martha lounged in beanbags; Gwen, Rhys and Tom took the sofa, the Doctor took one armchair and John and Jasmine snuggled in the other armchair. Martha and Mickey were teasing them relentlessly and being ignored. Tom took pity on them with a smile, “Have you set a date yet?”

John squeezed his fiancé and grinned, “Registry office do in January, we’re finalising the details at the moment. It’s just gonna be a low key do.”

“Boring!” Martha tossed her hair over her shoulder, “You want a big one like Jack and Ianto’s.”

Mickey looked up in interest, “You know, I really can’t believe that Jack’s been domesticated.” Everyone snorted with laughed and he looked up in confusion, “What did I say?”

Gwen reached across and patted his arm, “It’s not so much that jack’s been domesticated…”

“More like Ianto’s been undomesticated.” Rhys finished for her with a smile

“Is he OCD? Ianto I mean.” Mickey asked

Gwen shook her head vehemently, “No way, he’s just organised… And very efficient. He does his job extremely well, and that involves having everything tidy at work. At home it’s another matter.”

“He’s always very smart.”

“Always, he takes great pride in his appearance. His father was a tailor.” Jazz looked thoughtful

Mickey frowned, “How did they happen? Cos, you know, I would never have pegged cheesecake as the sort who, you know…”

“You mean your Gaydar’s broken?”

“Yeah, neither of them’s very… gay.” He was blushing fiercely by now

Jay just shrugged, “Stereotyping was never prepared for Jack Harkness. And they’re not exactly gay, just open minded I suppose. Jack’s so open minded that stuff falls out. Ianto’s… less open minded, but fell for Jack.”

“And Jack fell for him, just like that?” Mickey asked

Gwen twined her fingers with Rhys’s and leaned against him comfortably, “Jack tried really hard to get through to Ianto after… After Lisa. Jack went to stay with him whilst he was suspended and recovering, helped him through it and never left. I think… we didn’t know it was serious until…” She coloured, “Well, we didn’t know for certain that there was anything between them other than that they were living together until I sort of walked in on them… In the hot house… Enjoying…”

“Each other?” Jazz laughed, “Oh I remember that, Jack was mortified. Ianto just laughed.”

The Doctor looked up in surprise and amusement, “Are you sure you’ve got that the right way around?”

“Yeah, Ianto’s a dark horse.”

“They’ve got the ‘ah’ factor, haven’t they?” Martha smiled dreamily, “I remember asking Ianto what Jack’s ‘dabbling’ was like, he looked so starry-eyed.”

“Dabbling?”

“His words, not mine.”

Jazz looked surprised, “They never really dabbled, or at least not as far as I could tell. They were always fairly serious, Jack was head over heels from before the start really.”

“How do you know so much?” Atraxet demanded of her

“Ianto tells me everything.” She explained with a sad smile, “I’m expecting a blow by blow account of his adventures when Jack gets him back.”

“What’ll happen if he doesn’t?” Tom asked quietly, “How will Jack take it?”

“It’ll kill him. When Ianto dies, Jack will die with him.” She sighed, “He’ll just have to go on living.”