Late Night Loss Chapter 27

[galadriel1010]

Jack looked up and his smile lit up his face when he saw who it was in the doorway, “Hey Yan, Jazz finally let you go?”

His young lover returned his smile as he settled into his chair at the other desk in the office, “Finally, confirmation that’s it’s not just my coffee you smile at. Yeah, she’ll be after you in a minute; I caught sight of her expressions as she got her first look at your report.”

Jack pretended to quake in his boots, then grinned like a child at Christmas, “What did she look like?”

“Well…” He looked back up from the report on his desk which had been the focus of his attention for all of three seconds and looked up at the ceiling, a grin dancing across his face as he refused pointedly to look at Jack, “It started out interested, then slightly confused, then amused, then back to formal, then she got more and more annoyed.” Now he looked at Jack, in whose eyes mischief danced, “What did you put in that report?”

”Chapters.” A file dropped over Jack’s head onto the desk and Ianto chuckled at the surprised look on his lover’s face, “He wrote the damned thing in chapters.”

“How much trouble am I in?” He still didn’t look at her, and she still tried to hide her grin

“She reached for the pencil of Dooooom.” Ianto deadpanned. Said pencil was flicked at him across the room and bounced off the window, “Not as much trouble as me I think.”

“That’s a relief.” He laughed and reached behind him to tickle Jazz. She dodged his hand and slipped up behind him, resting her arms on his shoulders and watching Ianto over the top of his head, “Did you miss us?”

She hummed and smiled, “Course I did, we all did. Did you miss us? And before you lie, remember that I’ve read your report.”

“We did miss you!” He turned around and rested his hands on her waist, looking up at her for a change, “Just not Torchwood, not really. We enjoyed the chance to get away and arse around, just enjoy each other.”

“I know.” She bent and kissed his forehead, “But I’m here to talk shop. You’ve been gone a month, we’ve got a lot to catch up on really. Most important really is the thing that got us into the mess in the first place.” She backed away to lean on the desk and Ianto came around to lean next to where Jack was sitting, arms folded, “Have you any recommendations?”

Jack shook his head, “It’s like the rift: We can see when someone’s been taken, but can’t prevent it. All we can do is monitor for similar readings and get them back if it happens again. Ianto and I are going to train as Jurisfiction agents so we can do that.”

“OK.” She nodded and stood up, “I’m going to do a full debrief and rebrief, is that the word? Anyway, one of those in about an hour.” The girl hesitated a moment in the door and her eyes scanned the desk, “Who’s not drinking coffee?”

“Me.” Jack explained, “It’s a sort of… Detox, taking a couple of months to get rid of several hundred years worth of chemicals.”

She eyed him sceptically, “That’s bollocks.” When he only shrugged she rolled her eyes and vanished.

The two men’s eyes met and they smiled shyly at each other, “Do you want to tell them before or after the fact?”

“I think we should know the fact first. Find out if… If you can drink coffee again, shower.” Ianto smiled softly and laced their fingers together, “We could…”

Jack smiled, “I stole a pregnancy test from Martha’s drawer earlier. We’ve got an hour, it only takes three minutes.”

Commander Jasmine Donovan, Head of Torchwood and CSI level 2, banged her hand on the table and swore, “How the hell do I do that every time?” She rubbed her hand, “Anyway, anyone listening to me?”

“No darlin’.” Her boyfriend chuckled and threw a peanut at her, “Why would we listen to you?”

“Erm… Because I’m your boss?” She glared at him and rolled her eyes

“And what will you do, fire me? I don’t work for you, you know.” John rested his feet on the table and looked up as Jack and Ianto entered, sharing a secret glance before they sat down in their traditional seats, side by side at the head of the table. He declined to even consider what was going through their minds and being shared in that glance, “And now the lovebirds have joined us, maybe we can start.”

Jazz cuffed him playfully, “Grow up you. Now, where were we? OK, first things first, John and I return to Vegas in three hours. I’ve been called back to deal with a case, and John’s coming with me. We’re going to have a shotgun wedding in Vegas whilst we’re over there. That’s more our style, as you know, but we will be having a party to celebrate when we get back.”

There were congratulations and hugs from all round the table and she grinned, “I know I’m not the only one who never thought we’d see the day, but there we go. Next up is the Fforde affair, you’ve all seen Jack and Ianto’s preliminary reports on that, their completed report is, I hope, going to be edited slightly and filed tonight?” They nodded, “Good, which, I believe wraps the matter up completely. We’ve got Ianto back; thanks, of course, to Jack’s blind idiocy, sorry bravery. And your recommendations on the case?”

“Monitor for activity, then retrieve if anything happens. We have alerted the book world to the possibility and they know what to do to return them. If retrieval from inside the books is required then we can go in.” Jack explained, one hand behind his head as he leaned back and one hidden beneath the table.

“Good.” Jazz flashed him a smile and turned to Mickey, “How’s the rift looking Mickey?”

“Stable for the last week, apart from the storms and three isolated spikes we attended there were a further four spikes which didn’t require our attention, no unusual spikes or activity.”

“Very good. Sightings this week Martha, anything still to be dealt with?”

“Nothing outstanding, internet scan this morning came up clear.” The medic sighed in relief and looked across at Ianto, “I’ll be glad to hand that job back to you Yan.”

“Back to normal life: aliens and general weirdness.” The young man chuckled

Jasmine ticked things off on her fingers, her lips moving silently as she went through a mental list, then dropped her hands to the table again, “I think that’s everything covered, anyone else got any news?”

Jack took Ianto’s hand on the table and smiled at him, eyes radiant with love, “We have an announcement to make, actually.”

Everyone looked at them expectantly, “You’re getting married?” The Doctor asked with a teasing grin

“Done that one.” Ianto pointed out, squeezing Jack’s hand and asking silently for permission, “We’re actually moving on to the next stage, we’re starting a family.”

“I’m pregnant.” Jack finished for him, not looking anywhere but his partner’s eyes, which were locked with his own.

Stunned silence greeted the announcement for a moment before Gwen leaned over to hug him with a squeal and the other team members and family followed, “Oh my God, congratulations!”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking Captain, but how the f**k are you pregnant?” Mickey asked in confusion, “I mean, you’re a bloke. Definitely a bloke.” Everyone at Torchwood knew that, some mornings there was no escaping the fact

“Fifty-first century male.” Jack pointed out, “Our biology is, shall we say different? Physically I’m male, when it comes to reproducing, I guess I’m Mum. But until now, I’ve been kept infertile by the Oestragen in the rain.”

“So a month in the book world, where there are no chemicals like that in the rain…” The Doctor realised

“Hence no coffee.” Jazz realised, glancing at the mug in front of him, “Until now.”

“It has no impact once I’m pregnant, it would just impact my ability to get pregnant. And with no obstacles…” His face lit up and he shrugged, “We’re going to be dads.”

He looked at Ianto again and they grinned at each other, their happiness clear to see, “Go on!” John half teased, “Kiss for the camera.” They didn’t bother to ask ‘what camera’, they just did it.

“So, do you know how far along?” Jazz asked with a broad smile, now settled in John’s lap after a round of congratulatory hugs for the fathers to be.

“Nope, just that it’s positive.” Jack looked down at the table, focussing on his hands entwined with Ianto’s, “We… We already know, really, who we’re getting, don’t we?”

“You know,” Gwen commented, sucking her teaspoon clean as she paused, “I always thought I’d be the first off on maternity leave.”

“So did I.” Jack laughed, “And believe it or not, Torchwood does have a maternity plan.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, we’ve had several generations of the same family working here, it was quite a family thing at one point. Looks like being so again.” A shadow crossed over his face as he thought of babies he’d seen born, watched grow, fought their recruitment and then buried. So many, too many. And the baby inside him, just a collection of cells at the moment, but already a person he knew, someone else he’d bury; hopefully after he buried his partner, he’d hate for Ianto to feel that pain. “But Torchwood’s always been a family. We look after our own.”

“Certainly do. I guess this means that I need to get someone trained up to go to Vegas for me, we need an immortal on the rift, and whilst you’re up the duff, you can’t die.”

Jack saluted her, “I had no intentions of dying.”

“You never do.”

“True, but less intention even than normal. I’m going to pull out from fieldwork completely in three months, stay in the hub for four months after that, then stay at home and play Mum.” He grinned, “I have a really bad nesting habit when I’m pregnant.”

“OK.” She laughed, “Well as long as you’ve got that sorted, just give me a yell when you want me. Doc, can you see to John’s Vortex Manipulator, I’m not using it again until it stops time shifting all over the place. Honestly, I sent him for a bar of chocolate last week, he bought it three years ago.”

The Timelord looked at her sceptically over his glasses, “I’d rather disable it completely.”

“I need it for the commute, it’s either that or I borrow the TARDIS for a year or two.”

He held out his hand for the wrist strap, “And, if you want, I’ll give you a lift back to Vegas, save you the flight?”

“You’re a life saver, mean we can stay long enough to deal with that rift flare.” Jazz groaned as everyone moved into action, letting Jack slot back into the centre of the action, with Ianto right beside him, right where they belonged.