Out of Place Chapter 10

[galadriel1010]

John Hart groaned and rolled over away from the insistent shaking, “Go ‘way. Jack?”

A distinctly Welsh chuckle told him that this wasn’t the case and he poked his head out in embarrassment, less comfortable around his ex-lover’s new partner, not for that reason though. Ianto had a habit of laughing at him. The young man put a coffee down on the desk and slipped back out to the door as smoothly as ever, “Jasmine’s doing a briefing, she needs you there.”

“Thanks Yan, tell my girlfriend she’s a bitch.”

“Tell her yourself.” Ianto shot back, disappearing with a chuckle as John buried his head under the pillow.

As soon as the Welshman had gone, John swung himself out of bed and hurried to dress reasonably neatly. The coffee helped to wake him and he was following the sounds of chatter and laughter to the dining room in under five minutes. “Hey guys, how’s it going?”

“Study.” Jack didn’t bother with a greeting other than his stunning smile, the one that still made his knees go weak, and he hurried out of the room with a wave to the others, heading down the corridor to the room at the back of the house

“Hey baby.” He tugged on her ponytail to tip her head back and kiss her softly, then threw himself into a vacant chair and grabbed the bacon and egg sandwich off the side, “Why are we in here and them in there?”

“Because…” She swallowed down a mouthful of her own sandwich and opened up the connection to the interactive screen in the dining room, “Because there isn’t room for all of us in here, and the dining room doesn’t have all the tech we need. So two of us working in here, the rest of them in there.”

“OK, what do you need me to do then?” He buried the annoyance at the idea of working yet again, Jazz hadn’t been officially off duty since he got here and he hadn’t seen her for weeks before that. But they were here to do a job.

“First things first, I want to run the photo Ianto got of the other guy, more reliable than running names. If you can do that for me, I’ll see if we can dredge anything more up on these guns or on the guys we found. You know, stuff we can’t get at the lab.” She passed him the photo and turned to the camera, “Watch and learn Captain, watch and learn. Even Ianto can’t do the magic I can with a computer keyboard.”

“Take that back young lady.” The Welshman growled with a grin, “I’m better than you any day.”

“Hah!” Her fingers blurred across the keyboard and school records layered up with bank details, photos, a Facebook and MySpace account, favourited videos on YouTube; and next to them a different life entirely, one where the school records cut off sooner, more convictions, no Facebook account. “Admit it, I’m good.”

“Yes indeed, you are good. Face and name match up, fancy working some more of your magic?” John grinned across at her, “You guys getting this in there?”

“Yep.” On another screen they could see the video from the dining room where Jack was studying the feed closely, “Jazz, focus on the one who was being dumped for a moment.”

She spread the feeds out, “What have you spotted Jack?”

“Moved from Wales.” He pointed out, “Specifically Cardiff.”

Ianto stood up and looked closer at the picture, “I recognise him from somewhere. Where did he go to school?”

There was silence for a moment as she flicked through the school records, then Jazz sighed, “Two years above you, and we flagged him up with the Weevil fight club thing in Cardiff.”

“So that’s the link between the two, maybe it’s not as random as we thought.” Jack groaned and scrubbed his hands across his face, “So what do you want to do about it Jay?”

“Someone needs to talk to his girlfriend, see what she knows, and tell her that she’s in danger. Someone also needs to speak to the witness, and we need someone to go and see if there is a fight club, or if someone just thinks they’re useful around the place. John, can you do that?”

“Sure thing, you want me to go now and catch up with me? You need some sleep honey.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and reached for his gun but she stopped him

“No, I want to be on the other end of the comms when you’re out there. You’ve got a few hours before you go to get ready.” She looked up at the screen, “Once it goes to field, Jack, you’re in charge. You’ve more experience in that department.” She yawned, “Anyone got any questions?”

When everyone answered in the negative she stood up and drained her mug, “OK, John I want you to talk to Jack and prepare yourself thoroughly. And yes, I know exactly what your mind did with that sentence. Wake me up when you’re ready to go, but give me at least three hours. See you in the morning guys.”

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Jasmine buried her head in the pillows and groaned as the bed sank behind her, “Whut? John.”

He chuckled as he slipped into bed and pulled her so that she was lying on top of him with her head tucked under his chin. His arms wrapped around her tightly and he felt his heart swell when she nuzzled into him happily, “Now you’re allowed to sleep.”

“Now you can watch me?” She grumbled against his chest

“Yeah, of course.” He pressed a kiss into her hair and sighed, “So why did you really want me to wait until you wake up?”

“John, let me sleep.”

“Now till I get an answer. Why do you want to watch me, don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not that.” She sighed and her breath ghosted warm across his chest

“Then what?”

“I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I knew you were out there and I was in here.” Her voice was quiet, barely there at all, but he heard every word, “And, quite honestly, I need you here to be able to sleep properly full stop.” She fell silent for a moment and he let her think, “I’ve always slept better with someone there.”

“Someone to protect you?”

She was clinging to him now, more asleep than awake, and nodded slowly, “Some people wouldn’t believe it.”

John stroked her hair and squeezed her gently with his other arm, “They don’t know you. You look after everyone else, you and Jack both, and now you both have someone who’ll do the same in return. Just don’t ask me to make the coffee.”

She fell asleep still smiling, and still holding on to him tightly.