buttononthetop | Fic: Vizzini's Rule (50/105)

Title: Vizzini's Rule, Chapter 50

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Owen uses some bad words

Spoilers: Season One thru Random Shoes (1x09) and Season Two for the episode Adrift (2x11)

Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to Russell T. Davies and the Mighty Beeb. Just goofin' around! And all ©’s to Joss Whedon for the ‘hero’ line and to The Killers for the song title.

Summary: In which Ianto says goodbye to Brendan and offers some comfort to Jack...

Notes: Here's the next chapter. We're almost done with Random Shoes and the whole sad Flat Holm line, almost! :) Hope you likes!

Previous Chapters

Vizzini's Rule: Chapter Fifty

When they arrived back at Torchwood, Jack headed for the Hub and Ianto to the garage. Ianto came in full of apologies for disappearing for the entire morning and found Brendan just finishing up with the SUV.

“Ianto, stop, it’s fine,” Brendan said with a little laugh. “I thought it must me some emergency, some case you can’t tell me about?”

Ianto swallowed uncomfortably. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“Nature of the job,” Brendan said with a shrug as he closed the bonnet. “No worries.”

“I guess it would help growing up in a houseful of UNIT.”

“Yeah, I learned ‘don’t ask questions’ before I learned to look both ways when crossing the street.”

Ianto smiled, leaning against a low shelf. “So you’ll be heading back then?” he asked.

Brendan brushed off his hands and nodded. “Yep, you’re all set for the next quarter, changed the oil and fixed the… but you don’t really care.”

“Not about the car, no. I mean, I’m glad it’s all good to go but I don’t care about the whys and wherefores. I just hope you know that I… that we appreciate it.”

“Aw,” Brendan scoffed, flushing, “UNIT says ‘go here’ and I go there. I don’t expect appreciation or anything like that.”

“Well, you’ve got it at Torchwood.”

“Thanks.”

A comfortable silence fell between them as Brendan packed up his kit. Ianto really wanted to say something to Brendan about the kiss, the second one in his bedroom, but knew that he wouldn’t mention it. If he felt differently about Jack, or if Jack ever left him or… anything were to happen, Ianto knew that part of him would long for Brendan, but for now it just wasn’t meant to be and the less said about it the better for both of them.

Brendan brought out an official-looking clipboard. “Well, sir, if you’ll just sign here?”

Chuckling, Ianto signed off on the form and took his copy for the files. He stuck out his hand and tried not to sigh when Brendan took it in his own warm grasp. “Thank you, Brendan. I hope we see you again.”

Brendan tightened his grip for a second and leaned close to Ianto. “Oh, you will.”

And with that, he picked up his kit and walked out of the garage without a backward glance. Ianto stared after him for a moment, his hand straying to his lips. He shook his head and walked slowly back to the Tourist Office. He spent a little while there, getting the UNIT paperwork filed and the quarterly SUV report completed. When he was sure Brendan was as neatly filed away in his mind, he headed downstairs to the Hub.

When he arrived, Tosh was working up by the coffee maker, trying to ignore the beeps, blips and explosions coming from Owen’s desk. He was playing a video game on his computer while talking to Jack.

“…know what to tell you. She said she was going for some lunch. This was after she yelled at me for watching a video that was in Eugene’s boxes. If you ask me – die, die, you bastard! Dammit!” Owen threw down the controller and spun his chair around to face Jack. “She’s getting dead weird about this case, not that it’s even really a case at all.”

“Well, she knew the kid better–”

“Bollocks,” Owen replied succinctly. “She didn’t know him or like him any better than the rest of us. She’s just got a bug up her arse about it, God knows why.”

“Did she take her phone?” Jack asked. “‘Cause she’s not answering.”

Owen raised both his hands in the air. “Not my day to watch her.” He spun back around and picked up the game controller, grumbling, “I’d like to take a three-hour lunch and turn off my phone once in a while too, but you don’t see me swanning off–”

“Goddammit Owen!” Jack snapped. “If you don’t have anything useful to do then get the hell out of here.”

Owen spun around once again. “Seriously?”

Ianto could hear Jack’s teeth grind together from across the room. “Just get out of my sight before I change my mind.”

Owen grabbed his jacket and ran for the door. “See you, Ianto,” he said as he brushed past him on his way out.

Ianto caught Jack’s eye. He looked absolutely miserable. Ianto had seen Jack like this before, but now he realized that he knew the reason. He cleared his throat. “With both Gwen and Owen gone, sir, I don’t really see a reason for Tosh or me to hang about, do you?” he asked.

Jack stretched his mouth into a dreadful parody of a smile. “Probably want to get back to your little mechanic, right?” Before Ianto could explain what he meant, Jack was hollering up at Tosh. “Early night, Tosh. No reason you should be the only one working. Just lock up on your way out,” Jack instructed as he strode to his office. He banged the door closed behind him.

Tosh appeared at the railing and leaned over to talk to Ianto. “What’s with everyone today?”

Ianto shrugged. “Early pass, so who cares?”

She smiled down at him. “Good point.”

They chatted as Ianto tidied up and Tosh gathered her belongings. They had developed a habit of checking in with each other – just a quick five minute ‘how are you really, what are you up to’ conversation every few days. They both appreciated the others interest and concern. Ianto walked out with Tosh to her car and then “remembered” something back in the Hub.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Tosh. Have a good night.”

“You too, Ianto. Get home soon,” Tosh called as she got into her car with a wave.

Ianto waved back, a nagging feeling of guilt gnawing at him. He knew he should tell Tosh about Jack, or at least that he was seeing someone but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Of all the team, Tosh would A) understand and B) be happy for him, maybe even for both them, but still Ianto held back. He wondered if he was secretly waiting for Jack to leave him, to find someone else, someone hotter, more exciting. If no one knew about them, then it would make that terrible moment a lot easier to bear.

Shaking his head as if to clear it of those negative thoughts, Ianto returned to the Hub. He climbed down the ladder to Jack’s room to find his Captain stretched out on his bed, fully clothed with one arm thrown dramatically across his eyes.

“I thought you’d gone,” Jack said morosely without moving his arm.

“Oh please, you did not,” Ianto replied, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top few buttons on his shirt.

“What about Brendan?” Jack asked with a slight sneer in his voice.

“Gone. Back to UNIT. The SUV has a clean bill of health so, barring any accidents, we shouldn’t see him again until January.” Ianto pulled off his jacket and then sat on the edge of the bed.

“Unless I call UNIT and request a different mechanic,” Jack said.

Ianto tried to ignore the clenching in his stomach at Jack’s words and said mildly, “You’re the boss.”

Jack finally pulled his arm off his face. “You wouldn’t mind?”

“He was a vast improvement over Phil, but if you really want him back I’m sure you could convince UNIT to un-retire him.”

“Ha ha,” Jack said and mercifully dropped the subject. He reached up to pull Ianto into his arms and they both laid on the bed for several minutes, just holding one another.

“So, no one here but us?” Jack asked, breaking the long silence as he threaded his fingers through Ianto’s short hair.

“Nope,” Ianto replied, his hand straying to the buttons of Jack’s waistcoat.

“Had lunch?”

“Nope,” Ianto said again, unfastening the first button.

“Hungry?”

“Nope. You?”

Jack shook his head. “I can never eat after going out there.”

Ianto sighed. “I wish you’d told me about it all earlier, Jack. There’s no reason for you to bear it all alone.”

Jack tightened his arms. “You know why I did it,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re the big damn hero type,” Ianto teased.

Jack chuckled.

Ianto unfastened another button.

Jack looked down his chest. “Mr. Jones, are you undressing me?”

“Yep.”

“In the middle of the afternoon?”

“Yep.”

“And just what do you have planned?”

Ianto looked serious for a moment. “I’m yours,” he said in a low voice, “all day, all night, for as long as you need me.” Ianto reached up to smooth his finger across the lines on Jack’s forehead. “I want to make these go away. I want you to – and please excuse the decent into pop music – smile like you mean it.”

Jack chuckled again and pulled Ianto up for a long kiss. “Thank you,” he whispered.

TBC in Chapter Fifty-One, Part One

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Current Music: Some football game...I do not have the remote