Late Night Loss Chapter 2

[galadriel1010]

He stepped off the train again and smiled wryly at the announcement which could have been exactly the same as the last time he was here for all he understood it. He swung his bag further up onto his shoulder, caught himself rolling his eyes patiently at a group of excited teenagers who jostled him, calling apologies over their shoulders as they hurried off, and came to the horrified realisation that he was getting old. He wasn’t twenty-five yet, there was no way he should be this old. Maybe some time with the irrepressible captain and his young concubine (presumably that Welsh girl they saw on the screen in the TARDIS) would bring him back to life. Or kill him; one or the other for sure.

Truth be told, he hadn’t expected the captain to discover his intrusion so soon, although he wasn’t sure why he’d thought that. He’d sort of hoped to make it to where the TARDIS had stood last time he’d been here; clichéd much? But he’d been found out whilst he was still on the train and so Captain Harkness was waiting for him outside the station.

One glance was enough to pick out the right vehicle. If you had a checklist for everything that summed up Captain Jack Harkness, the big black SUV covered pretty much every box: Bigger than necessary, definitely making a statement, and ever so slightly corny. Two men leant on the door watching him approach, one wearing a sharp suit and a welcoming if sceptical smile, whilst the other wore a long, dark, woollen coat and the brightest, happiest and friendliest smile he’d ever encountered.

The brash former time traveller pushed himself off the SUV with a laugh and his arms outstretched, “Mickey Mouse! Good to see ya again, told you you wouldn’t be able to resist it.”

“Yeah Captain Cheesecake, but rest assured it’s not you I can’t resist.” He returned the bear hug and then punched his shoulder lightly

“I’m wounded, deeply wounded; please promise me you’re not going to call me that forever, Jack will do.” He took the younger man’s bag and gestured to the suited man behind him, who approached with an extended hand. “This is Ianto Jones, my partner.”

“Nice to meet you Ianto.”

“And you, welcome back to Wales I understand.”

“Yeah, fun times. So where’s your totty Jack?” He grinned but was puzzled by the glance and smile that the two men shared

“Well Ianto’s my totty, Gwen is back at the Hub holding down the fort and she’s Rhys’s totty. You’ll have to find your own.” Jack grinned, the grin broadening at Mickey’s embarrassed look to Ianto, “When I said my partner, I didn’t just mean professionally.” He’d taken a step back to tangle his fingers with the young Welshman’s and, now he looked, he could see the matching bands on their ring fingers.

“Whoops, my bad. So I don’t have to worry about you flirting with me now?” He asked hopefully

Ianto’s expression said it all, as did Jack’s warm laugh, “What do you think?” the younger man muttered, opening the door for him with a half smile and an affectionate glare at his lover. Jack just chuckled and moved around the car to swing into the driver’s seat, whilst Mickey got into the back and Ianto into the front passenger seat.

Mickey looked around in astonishment and laughed, “My God, your backseat looks like the bedroom in my flat, back when I lived there.”

“Gets more action though.” Both of his companions rolled their eyes, especially his partner, “Admit it, it’s true.”

“Yeah, well it was after Rose left, she ruined me, and I was more interested in finding out what she and lover boy were up to. Had been up to, at some point in the past.”

“Time travel’s a bitch.” Jack sympathised and hurried to change the subject; he’d been very annoyed that Rose and the Doctor had taken so long to get their acts together, but then he’d never been in love with either of them, unlike the young man in the back seat, “But just wait until you see what we’ve got at the Hub in terms of tech. We have to have normal stuff in here, just in case…”

“We had it stolen once.” Ianto supplied, “But we don’t talk about it. Mainly because we nearly got eaten.”

“You nearly got eaten.” Jack squeezed his hand on the way to the gear lever, “Anyway, a lot of our tech back at the Hub is alien, some of it sentient. Case in point, the coffee machine. Don’t touch it, ever. It only likes Ianto, and we only like Ianto to touch it.” He smiled softly into the rear view mirror, catching both men in his glance, “His coffee is to die for. Or to kill for.”

“Try a left Jack.” Ianto muttered, leaning back against the headrest and closing his eyes. The captain swore softly and executed a sharp left, glaring at Ianto’s laughter at his own expense, “Oh leave me be Yan, I’ve only been living here for over a hundred years, am I supposed to know my way around already?”

Ianto didn’t respond immediately, well aware of the reason that Jack had forgotten the turning. A year ago he could have made this drive with his eyes closed, if it weren’t for the other vehicles on the road, but now… It was a miracle he’d remembered anything of his home or family after two thousand years. “So…” He turned to Mickey, “What brings you to Torchwood Mickey?”

“Rose, the Doctor, this smarmy git.” He grinned, “Rose Tyler was my girlfriend, until she met the Doctor and went swanning off around the universe. Met him in Cardiff and seriously considered going with them, then my chance came again and I took it. We landed in a parallel universe and fought the cybermen, and I stayed behind to carry on the fight with their version of Torchwood, whilst Rose and the Doctor came back to this universe. We were reunited at the battle when the cybermen came over here and Rose and I were trapped back in that parallel universe. Now, Rose and I used to be good you know? But she wouldn’t even give it a try, one goal and that was to get back to the Doctor. So I helped her, what else could I do? We developed a bit of kit to jump between dimensions; after the hoo-ha with the Daleks she went back to the other universe with the second Doctor, you know about that yeah?”

“Yeah.” He’d been sucker-punched by the mention of the battle, Mickey had been there?

“Yeah, well she stayed there, and I couldn’t stay where she was and not have her, so I came here. Refused point blank to do Torchwood again, I’d had enough weird shit to last a lifetime, but you know, I just couldn’t do it. Needed more excitement in my life. Hell, I just needed to know what’s going on, and hacking’s good fun but way too much hassle when I could just go with Jack’s job offer.”

“So you still hacking a lot?” Jack asked with interest, now more certain of the route

“Yeah, I guess at least once a day. Helps to keep me on my toes. UNIT have been round twice but I just play the Doctor card. Your ex came round once, at least I assume she’s your ex?”

“Jasmine?”

“Yeah. Gorgeous bird.”

“Yeah, ex, going out with my ex. All great fun.”

“My sympathies. Unless they keep each other out of your hair. Anyway, yeah, she came round once and we descended into a gaming session, played Mario games for hours. Comes round quite regularly now, or did until I left London.”

“Won’t change mush, she’ll just come here instead. Does that a lot.” Ianto smiled, “Officially, she works in London. In reality… Isn’t she in Vegas at the moment?”

“Yeah, working with the crime lab.” Jack nodded as he pulled into their usual parking space. “Having a whale of a time apparently, trying to keep John out of the casinos.”

“Fabulous.” Ianto muttered

Jack took Mickey in by the ‘tourist entrance’ whilst Ianto went to make the coffee and warn Gwen. As the lift descended with its laughing cargos, the two employees were waiting at the bottom, one with coffee and one with an expression of bemused annoyance. Ianto passed coffees to the two men and picked his own up again, settling back onto the edge of the desk casually. Mickey wondered how he managed to look so good constantly, and exactly who had managed to turn him so that he noticed, and exactly what Jack would do if he tried anything.

He shook himself mentally and tipped a wink to the young woman standing beside Ianto. Jack had told him that she was a married former PC called Gwen, emphasis on the ‘married’. No fun at all. He offered her his mot winning smile and his hand, which she shook with a firm grip. “You must be Mickey Mouse, hacker extraordinaire.”

He glared balefully at Jack whilst swelling with pride, “My reputation precedes me. Am I stuck with that now?”

“It’s too long.” Ianto reassured him, “Although I can’t guarantee that you won’t be landed with Mouse.”

The glare turned fiercer when Jack laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, “I haven’t said I’ll take the job yet, remember that Captain Cheesecake.”

“Beefcake.” Jack objected good-naturedly. “Now come on, time for the tour, you two coming?” Gwen declined, but Ianto came with them to make sure they didn’t get lost.

Half an hour later found the three men in the firing range with an impressive array of weaponry laid out on the table. Mickey looked like a child in a toyshop with an unlimited budget.

“OK Mickey,” Jack grinned, “show us what you’ve got.”

The young man grinned and proceeded to work his way through all the weapons, showing a clear preference for the larger ones. He’d threatened to shoot Jack when he’d suggested that he was compensating for something; as a result he was now sitting on the table in a state of shock. “You’re actually serious? You’re like, immortal?”

“Yup.” He grinned, “Two thousand years old and looking good, don’t you think?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” He grumbled, missing the darkening of Jack’s eyes as he thought about those two thousand years, “You’re a bloody yo-yo mate!”

The immortal managed a laugh at that and smiled gratefully as his partner tangled their gingers together and squeezed gently, “I’ve been called that before.”

“Can I shoot you?” He asked, an evil glint in his eye

“No” Ianto replied sharply, pain evident in his eyes and the way he gripped Jack’s hand tighter

Mickey held up his hands, “Don’t worry mate, I’m not going to. I don’t think shooting the boss is the best way to go in any job.”

“You’re taking it then?” Jack asked, a grin lighting up the room as he wrapped his arm around Ianto’s waist

“Hell yeah.” He looked down at the gun next to him and then up at the two men, so relaxed in this mad atmosphere. Torchwood was the new chance he’d always wanted; that he’d thought the parallel universe would offer him, a chance with friends around him and a whole universe on his doorstep. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”

“It was a fairly safe bet.” Jack confirmed with a smile, “So if you’re staying, you want to meet the rest of the family?”

“Sounds good to me, boss.”