Partners in Time 1/8

[jooles34]

Title: Jay Hunter series. Episode one - Partners in Time chapter 1/8
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, Jay Hunter (OC)
Summary A woman appears from Jack's past, unsettling the whole team. What will this mean for Jack and Ianto? And how can she help Torchwood? A deadly threat also arrives in Cardiff. Have the team finally met the one thing Jack can't defeat?
Words: 2,111
Rating: 15 for most chapters. Some are 18 rated smut chappies, but will be marked.
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Torchwood, but I take full responsibility for the actions of Jay Hunter.
Spoilers: Not at this time.
AN: This was written and plotted a very long time ago, but not posted to LJ. This episode is set during S2 and the whole series continues after S2, but because a certain someone was pretty darn important to the plot, it continues after that ignoring CoE. Also, because of the time it was written, the Doctor referred to is Ten.
AN2: Thanks to kausingkayn for her constant cheerleading since this started a lifetime ago, tkfaf for her recent poking and emyrldlady for last minute ideas bouncing.
AN3: Also...if anyone is inspired enough by my OC and fancies making me some artwork to go with the series it would be amazing. The series focuses mainly on Jack/Ianto and Jay.

 

Ianto leaned on the counter of the tourist information office. There had been complaints recently about it never being open, so they were making a show of manning it for a few hours every day. Well, the plan had been “they” but, not exactly unexpectedly, it came down to Ianto. Everyday. He was currently flicking through a brochure for the Brecon Beacons for about the twentieth time. It had taken a while but he was now able to look at the pictures without seeing blood running down the hills. 

The tinny bell above the door rang as a woman walked in. As an automatic response instilled in him by Torchwood, Ianto sized her up. She was tall for a woman, about 5’8”, slim, but not slight. Instead her body looked firm, toned. She wore a long, dark red leather coat over tight black jeans, what looked like a dark red corset and nearly flat soled boots that came over her knees. Ianto couldn’t help but enjoy looking at the woman. His mental appreciation of her distracted him from noticing the way she was holding her open coat down at her sides as if she was hiding something. 

She walked to the desk and Ianto straightened up, smiling at her. For once he wasn’t going to mind actually giving some tourist information. The woman, who Ianto placed in her early thirties, smiled back at him. God, she had an amazing face. 

“Hi,” she said with an accent he couldn’t quite place. It was more English than Welsh, but then wasn’t quite English either. It was the accent of someone who had spent a lot of their life travelling. 

“I’m looking for someone, I hope you can help.” 

“I’m sorry madam,” Ianto said, genuinely sorry that this conversation would end so soon, “but we don’t have information on people, we’re tourist information. Maps, historic buildings and the such.” 

“Oh I know what you are,” the woman said still smiling. “I am looking for a man, about your height, dark brown hair. Impossibly, irritatingly handsome. Very cocky, probably in charge and undoubtedly shags anything that moves.” 

Ianto’s smile remained fixed, but changed perceptibly, no longer reaching his eyes. “I’m sorry madam, I don’t know anyone like that.” 

“Oh,” she said. She leaned one hip casually against the desk, stretching out her arm to make her coat sleeve ride up. “I should have mentioned. He’ll also have one of these.”

Ianto’s eyes widened as he saw the leather wrist strap the woman was wearing. It was just like Jack’s. And John’s. Oh god, he thought, not again.  He took a step back from the desk, touching his hand to his ear piece. 

“Jack. You need to come up here.” 

The woman studied the now visibly nervous man in front of her. The man who just a few moments ago had clearly been attracted to her. She leant forwards over the desk towards him, putting her face close to his. 

“You. Are. Delicious,” she said slowly, biting her lip. 

“Um, now, Jack please. I need you up here now.” Ianto was so uncomfortable that it didn’t even occur to him to reach for his gun. 

 

Jack grinned when Ianto spoke through his earpiece. He knew that Ianto got bored manning the tourist office so much and Jack loved it when he got a call to keep him company.  This wouldn’t be the first time that Jack had ended up under the small desk helping the time to pass. In fact Jack fondly recalled one day last week when an elderly couple had walked out in outrage when Ianto wouldn’t move out from behind the safety of the desk to get a bus timetable for them.  He had paid for that, but it had been worth it. 

Ianto’s voice came through his earpiece again. The man was desperate for him. Jack quickened his pace.  He left the lift and jogged down the corridor towards the door that led to the little tourist office. He flung open the door with a crash.

“Tell me where you want me Ian…” He stopped short, words failing him for once.

“It’s been a long time,” the woman said. She nodded towards the door behind Jack. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

Jack was still uncharacteristically quiet.

“Or would you rather we caught up here? It is nice and public after all. That’s how you like it.” The woman remained calm, unruffled. She was completely in control and this unsettled Ianto even more. He had never seen Jack taken aback like this.

“Sir?”

“Don’t worry Beautiful. He’s just a little surprised to see me. He’ll be fine in a minute.” The woman wore a rather smug smile.

“I’m fine now,” Jack retorted. He squared his shoulders and put on a lopsided smile, acting every bit the old, cocky, in-charge Jack. “Ianto close the shop. We have a house guest.” His voice was just a little too loud.

Jack and the woman stood watching each other, sizing each other up without exchanging word while Ianto locked the front door of the tourist office. Still without taking his eyes off the strange woman Jack instructed Ianto, “You walk ahead, we’ll follow.”

Ianto walked down the corridor to the lift, Jack indicated for the woman to follow him. Jack went last, never taking his eyes of her. For her part the woman walked confidently, a mysterious smile still on her face.

“Stand to the side, Ianto,” Jack ordered as they got to the lift. Ianto obeyed, knowing this was not the time to question Jack’s actions. The woman looked at both of them and stepped into the lift. Jack stood next to her and Ianto stood in front of them.

Ianto pressed the button to lower them to the main Hub. He felt heat on the back of his neck suddenly. The woman’s breath was soft just behind his ear. “I meant it Beautiful. You really are delicious.”

“Oi!” said Jack sharply.

“Calm down,” she said, “I’m just paying a pretty man a compliment.” The woman smiled even more now. Jack had just confirmed what she had guessed about his relationship with the boy.

Ianto for his part remained silent, his body reacting to the woman’s close presence in a way he hadn’t expected.

Tosh was the only one that turned when the cog wheel door opened. She took one look at Ianto’s face and knew something was wrong.

“Guys,” she said softly, but in that tone she had that made both Gwen and Owen pay attention. They turned around as a woman walked through the door followed by Jack. Gwen studied the serious expression on Jack’s face, trying to interpret it, but Owen was the first to notice the leather cuff woman’s wrist.

“Look out!” he shouted, drawing his gun on her. Like the well oiled team they were, Gwen and Tosh’s guns also appeared in their hands as soon as Owen called out. The woman was covered from all angles.

“Wait!” Jack cried as Ianto flattened himself against the wall. “It’s okay! Lower your guns.”

Owen gave him a sideways look. Looking at the wrist strap he said, “I’m not happy.”

“You never are. Now, all of you, lower your guns. It’s really okay.”

“Nice place you have here,” the woman said, as if the guns had never been there. “You had anyone else from the Time Agency visit?”

Jack fixed her with a steady gaze which somehow the woman seemed to immediately understand as she inhaled sharply, her face turning serious. “Ah. Well that explains the welcoming committee. I remember when he…”

“We moved on,” Jack said interrupting.

Owen, still unsure, had left his normal area and now stood near Tosh. They exchanged a look at Jack’s defensiveness. Gwen had moved closer too so she was now standing next to Ianto. She spoke quietly to him.

“He knows her?”

“Seems too.”

“Has she hit him yet?”

“No,” he whispered back. “Ten minutes and still not hit him.”

“That’s a first for someone from Jack’s past.”

The two allowed themselves to share a small smile.

“So. Who are you now?” the woman asked Jack.

“Jack Harkness. Captain Jack Harkness.”

“So I see. Professor Jay Hunter.” she said bowing her head slightly.

“You went academic?”

Jay shrugged. “I got tired of all the killing.”

Now that she was no longer holding her coat half shut, the guns that Jay had against each hip, and the sheathed knife that was strapped to her right thigh, were in plain sight.  The Torchwood team all eyed them suspiciously in view of her statement.

“So I can see.” Owen’s sarcastic tones voiced all their thoughts.

 “It wore off.” Jay shrugged again.

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “You kept the Battalion letters though?”

“So did you. And you hate the Agency.” Jay challenged.

“Old habits die hard,” said Jack, his defensive tone obvious, arms folded across his chest. “So, what do you want?”

Jay regarded him quietly for a moment. “I’m not after anything. Just passing by and thought I’d visit.”

Jack scoffed at her. “You? Not after something?”

Jay sighed. “Must we always be this suspicious of each other?” Jack’s look was all the answer she needed. “Fine, alright. I was in the System and I thought I’d stop by and see you. Put some demons to rest. It seemed about time. I never stopped thinking about you.”

An edge of vulnerability had crept into her voice, her earlier confident front slipping. Jack studied her for a moment. “Maybe we should talk in my office.”

“Hmm,” Jay grinned, seeming to recover herself again.  “An office of your own? You always did like offices. Let’s go…catch up. There?” she asked, pointing.

Something unspoken passed between them and Jack gave one of his infamous 100-watt smiles, his body language changing. “Come with me.” He led the way and their boots clinked against the metal grilling in unison as they broke into a run towards the office.

The door to his office closed and almost immediately a large crash could be heard from behind it. The four team members all immediately reached for their guns again and started towards the door.

As they moved Jack was thrown against the door of his office. The Torchwood team stopped in their tracks. From each of their vantage points they could see that Jack, although pinned against the door, was clearly enjoying the attack he was under.

The pair moved away from the door again with a sudden movement. The windows smoked white, they way they could at the touch of a button, and another crash was heard from further inside the office.

Owen was next to Ianto and laid a hand on the younger man’s shoulder in a rare show of sensitivity.

The office door suddenly flew open and Jack leaned out. His braces hung lose around his waist, his shirt was un-tucked and unbuttoned, and his hair mussed up.

“Um. We have some things to catch up with. We’ll be fine on our own, you can all head home.”

Owen squeezed Ianto’s shoulder before he, Gwen and Tosh started to head towards the cog wheel door. Jack closed the door, disappearing behind it again. There was a beat and the door flew open once more. “Ah, Ianto? Could you come and give us a hand for a minute please?”

Gwen, Owen and Tosh didn’t know where to look as they made an even quicker beeline for the exit. Ianto seemed the think that the floor was the best place to look and he kept his head down as he hurried to Jack’s office.

Opening the door he saw Jay perched on the edge of Jack’s desk. All the things that had been on Jack’s desk were now on the floor. And Jay was no longer wearing her leather coat. Ianto could now properly see the way the corset hugged her figure, accentuating the curve of her waist and supporting her wonderful cleavage. She had some sort of black top on under the corset, but only the sheer, tightly fitted full length sleeves were visible. It was an intoxicating image.

Jay had a predatory look on her face. It was similar to one that Jack wore sometimes, the one that frightened and excited him at the same time.

Turning round again he saw that it was the same expression that Jack wore now as he leaned heavily against the door, preventing Ianto’s escape.

Ianto looked quickly between them. Things were about to turn very bad for Ianto Jones.

Carefully keeping the nervous expression on his face Ianto grinned to himself. Oh goodie, he thought.

Comments

[emyrldlady.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I want to be Jack, Jay or Ianto in that scenario (probably Ianto)

Great start!!

[evalentine99.livejournal.com]

Wonderful start.

[enchantingskies.livejournal.com]

Wow what a start! Can't wait to read more.

[jedi-harkness.livejournal.com]

I always meant to read this in ff.net. You've got me hooked!

[aoifes_isle]

Nom!

[angelkitty101.livejournal.com]

Loving the comments about Jay not having hit him yet! Love Jay. Love the fact that Ianto is 'giving them a hand'

Ianto is like Time Agent catnip isn't he?

[chamilet]

Ooooo, I'm in!

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Uh Oh!

[lone-star-woman.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying it so far. Looking forward to more.

[jacksgirleen.livejournal.com]

Oh loving it! Ianto sandwich...

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

exciting start, looking forward to mroe