buttononthetop | Fic: Vizzini's Rule (65/105)

Title: Vizzini's Rule, Chapter 65

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Nope!

Spoilers: Season One thru Out of Time (1x10)

Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to Russell T. Davies and the Mighty Beeb. Just goofin' around! All ©’s to Catherine Tregenna for dialogue and situations borrowed from Out of Time.

Summary: In which Ianto and Jamie meet Gwen and Emma at the Tides bar in the St. David's Hotel...

Notes: Thanks for your patience (again). When last we left our intrepid heroes…er, make that ONE of our heroes and his friend, they were getting ready to go out to meet Gwen and Emma at a posh hotel bar. Thanks a million to everyone who’s said they love Jamie. Trust me, if I could clone him I’d send you each a copy as a thank you!! :D Enjoy!

Previous Chapters

Vizzini's Rule: Chapter Sixty-Five

Ianto’s prediction about Gwen’s lateness turned out to be one hundred percent correct. He and Jamie found standing room at a tall table in the crowded bar and were well past the halfway mark on their first round when Ianto felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and found Gwen and Emma – no, Deborah, he reminded himself – standing behind him.

“I almost didn’t recognize you without a tie, Ianto,” Gwen said. She seemed a little uncomfortable in the posh hotel bar, fiddling with the strap of her bag.

Ianto smiled. “That’s right, you’ve never really seen me in civvies other than The World’s Most Awful Camping Trip. Gwen, I’d like you to meet one of my oldest friends, Jamieson Smith.”

She reached across the table to Jamie who shook her hand, saying, “It’s Jamie, please. Dunno why he keeps introducing me like that.”

“Makes you sound important. I’m trying to maintain the illusion that you’re someone,” Ianto teased. “And Jamie, this is Deborah Morrison, the young lady I was telling you about.”

Emma reached across the table as Gwen had, but she brushed Jamie’s glass and knocked it over.

“Oh dear!” she wailed, snatching her hand back as the other three all reached forward to right the glass. “Oh, I am so, so sorry!”

“No worries, luv. I’m a pessimist at heart so that glass was half-empty.” Jamie’s eyes twinkled at Emma. “Gives me the perfect excuse to have you all to myself. Come on then, buy us a drink,” he said, steering her towards the bar.

“Ianto!” Gwen hissed in his ear after they’d walked away from the table. “I don’t think Emma has enough money in her bag for drinks in a place like this!”

“Relax, Gwen,” Ianto said patiently as he mopped up the spilled beer. “Jamie was kidding. See?” He pointed to the bar where they watched a pantomime of Emma offering to pay and Jamie refusing to let her. “He could see she was nervous and probably thought it would be easier for her to talk without an audience.”

“She is nervous,” Gwen said, leaning on the now-dry table. “She’s making me nervous.”

Ianto chuckled. “I think everyone, you, me, the rest of the team, we’re all in dire need of a holiday.”

“Good thing there’s one right around the corner,” Gwen said ruefully.

“Too true,” Ianto said taking a sip of his Guinness and then setting the glass down quickly, “I’m sorry Gwen, can I get you a drink?”

“Oh thanks, pet, but I’m fine. Driving and all.”

Ianto ground his teeth a bit at the nickname, but let it pass. “So, Emma was nervous, huh?” he said, trying to keep the conversation going.

“Oh good God, yes. She was dithering over her clothes all day, putting on dress after dress, until she finally worked herself into a bit of a fit. I mean, breathing in to a paper bag, head between your knees kind of fit. That’s the reason for the new name. She kept saying she couldn’t do it, who would hire Emma Louise Cowell from Bristol? So I pulled out the passport you’d made and said, ‘How about Deborah Morrison? There’s someone that belongs in fashion, don’t you think?’ and it helped.”

“Good thinking,” Ianto praised.

“Thanks. Don’t know why it would help, but it seemed to calm her down.”

“Because now she’s not just Emma, she’s playing a part. For those of us who aren’t completely confident with who we are, it can help to pretend to be someone else once in a while,” Ianto said dryly.

“Really?” Gwen said, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open, reminding Ianto of a guppy he had as a boy.

He nodded and took a long drink of his beer to avoid having to explain further. He was pleased to see Jamie and Emma heading back to the table. Ianto assumed from the huge smile stretched across Emma’s face that it had gone well.

Jamie was talking as they reached the table. “…talk to Antony. I have your mobile, so I’ll just have him give you a ring. I know he’s desperate for someone who can start right away.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Smith.”

Ianto smiled into his beer as Jamie said, “Jamie, please. And you’re very welcome, Deborah. You’re a talented girl, be a shame to let it go to waste.”

Although it didn’t seem possible, Emma’s smile got even bigger.

There was a moment of silence and then Gwen jumped in. “Well, if that’s all settled, we should probably be going. Deb and I were out late last night, so… you ready?” she asked Emma brightly.

Looking very much as though she rather stay, Emma nodded obediently and wished everyone a good night. She thanked Jamie twice more as she left and gave Ianto a hug as she passed him. After they had gone, Jamie started to laugh.

“Deborah’s a peach. I think she’ll get along with Antony perfectly. He’s a little ‘not of this decade’ himself. Gwen though, how do you know her? Bit of a martinet.”

Ianto laughed. “Used to be a constable. She works at… the firm now.”

Jamie shuddered. “Copper, should have known. I can see why you’d wanna keep the fact that you’re shagging Jack a secret from her.”

“Especially since she fancies him herself,” Ianto mumbled.

“Oho! Zee plot… she does theecken,” Jamie said in a terrible French accent.

Ianto laughed and finished his beer. “Another?” he asked, nodding to Jamie’s half-empty glass.

“Sure. We should move to the bar anyway, more opportunities,” Jamie said as he picked up his glass to follow Ianto.

“Opportunities for what?” Ianto asked suspiciously.

“For people to flirt with you, of course. You’ve been getting checked out every time someone walks by our table but you looked too otherwise-engaged. Now that the girls are gone, we can really have some fun.”

Ianto shook his head. “A – anyone scoping out our table was looking at you and B – I don’t want to flirt with anyone.”

“Ianto, Ianto, trust me. They were lookin’ at you, son.” Jamie leaned back against the bar and regarded Ianto. “You really don’t believe me do you?”

Ianto shrugged and signaled the bartender.

“After all the years I’ve been telling you, hell, after you’ve got a man like Jack in your bed, for chrissakes, and you still don’t think you’re hot?”

Ianto shrugged again. “Like you said, opposites attract, right?”

“Hey!” Jamie said, turning to throw an arm around Ianto’s shoulders. “Would you agree that I have been a connoisseur of gorgeous men for quite some time?” Ianto nodded. “Would you agree that when I point out a guy in the street who makes me go guh that I am pointing to the most beautiful man in sight?” Ianto laughed and nodded again. “So will you please believe me when I say, for the hundred millionth time – You. Are. Gorgeous. Right, Sammy?” he said as the bartender approached.

The bartender, who’s name was apparently Sammy, gave Ianto a thorough going-over. He flushed as Sammy stared at him, making the bartender smile. “Oh, yeaaah. And he blushes. Love that.” Sammy leaned forward as he handed Ianto his beer, holding on to the glass as Ianto tried to take it. “Anytime you want me to make you blush, you just let me know.”

“Oh my God,” Ianto muttered as he managed to get his beer from Sammy. He turned his back to the bar and hissed at Jamie out of the side of his mouth, “You set that up!”

Jamie, who was laughing his arse off, managed to say, “No! No, I didn’t, I swear. Oh my God, the look on your face.”

Ianto huffed at him which made him laugh even harder. He had finally started to calm down when a girl in a very short skirt and a long, black velvet jacket came up to Ianto and asked if she could buy him a drink. Jamie swiveled around so his back was to them and leaned down onto the bar to hide his mirth as Ianto politely declined.

“Thanks, luv, but I’ve got one.”

“Well,” she said, twirling a strand of long dark hair around her finger. “If you change your mind, me and my friends are over there.”

Ianto glanced over and saw about eight girls gathered around a tiny table. They all waved at him. Feeling his cheeks redden again, Ianto waved back. They dissolved into giggles and the jacket-girl smiled. “And you can bring your friend, if you like,” she said and then sauntered back to the table.

Jamie glanced up at Ianto. “You can’t think I arranged that too.”

“Sod off,” Ianto said with a reluctant smile as he took a swig of his beer. “You’re a menace.”

Jamie just grinned.

TBC in Chapter Sixty-Six

Current Mood: chipper
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