Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Jack, Ianto

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 1,895 words

Content notes: none

Author notes: Written for Challenge 304 - Travel

Summary: Ianto has big travel plans but sadly they aren't going to include Jack.


Jack pushed himself up on his elbow from where he'd been lying on the bed, watching his husband methodically packing clothes into a suitcase. There was no escaping the fact that Ianto was incapable of doing anything in less than alphabetical and chronological order. Or in this case, in the exact same order as he got dressed in the morning. The only thing that seemed to be upsetting Ianto's system was the fact that he was having to pack both work clothes and more casual, everyday clothes. He was accustomed to packing for conferences or holidays, but this mixed up series of travel plans was testing even his organisational skills.

As sad as it might be, Jack found himself endlessly fascinated just watching it all unfold. Only one thing still bothered him.

'It's not fair,' he said.

Ianto laid out a shirt and tie combination on the bed, before returning to the wardrobe to select a second tie from the rack, adding it to compare before deciding on the former. 'What's not fair?'

'How I never got to travel when I was in charge of Torchwood.'

'Never got to...' Ianto's voice trailed off. 'You were forever complaining about the back and forth trips to London, or visiting Archie up in Glasgow. And we did travel. We went to Japan, Switzerland, India, America...'

'That was when we were on a case,' Jack argued. 'I'm talking about what you're doing now. Jet setting all around here there and everywhere to hobnob with all these Torchwood folk.'

Ianto suppressed a smile at Jack's description of his current task and his apparent displeasure at being left behind. 'Yeah, but you didn't unlock the magic computer portal that revealed all these other Torchwood bases that thought Cardiff was defunct. '

Jack snorted and rolled over onto his stomach. 'I hardly think you can take credit for that. It opened itself.'

Nobody knew about that secret little account Alex had going. Not even Jack, because he'd never been given a proper handover for the job as Torchwood leader. He'd had no idea what kind of correspondence Alex was having with London or anywhere else. Jack had just carried on with his own Torchwood access, hacking into what he could and making up the rest as he went. Not even Tosh had managed to decrypt all of Torchwood One's files. As far as Jack was concerned they'd done just fine over the last decade, making do. If anyone had really wanted to get in touch all they had to do was knock on his door.

Ianto began the careful process of folding up his chosen shirts and setting each in a neat pile on one side of the suitcase's interior. 'And just think of all the administration you avoided for the last twelve years as a result. How you never noticed in all the years you've been here that there were things going on elsewhere...'

Jack scowled at the inference he'd had blinkers on, even though he knew Ianto didn't mean it in a harsh way. He most definitely wasn't going to admit that he was relieved it hadn't happened on his watch, and how much of a pain in the arse it would have been trying to keep tabs on that many locations. Administration was Ianto's bread and butter, which made the job just perfect for him. 'I shut down Torchwood India, remember? That was the only outpost I knew about. Nobody ever said anything about there being people stationed elsewhere in the Empire.'

Ianto began having some internal debate over fleece jackets. He pulled out two, fingering their relative thickness before abandoning both and selecting a third alternative. 'And look how well that worked out. Wasn't really shut down at all, was it?'

'Nellie did a very naughty thing keeping that time store,' Jack argued. 'She kicked me out of bed and out of her apartment, screaming that I shouldn't ever dare show my face again. I assumed it was because she was miffed I'd taken everything. Turns out it she was just miffed being lied to about it. Lucky she was always a terrible shot.'

'And very nearly sucked all of us back into 1924, or just as cannon fodder for her little machine. What is it with you and your history of psychopath lovers?'

Jack stole one of Ianto's ties from the case, unraveling it and draping it around his neck. 'Don't hold a grudge much, do you? And are you suggesting you're a psychopath?' he asked, pretending the tie was now a noose and lifting his head up in its grip, poking his tongue out for added effect.

Ianto gently stole it back, refolding it and putting it back. 'No, just the little bit or normal you have between them to break up the tedium.'

'Har har. It's not my fault I can't resist a bad boy, or girl.' He gave Ianto a naughty quirk of his eyebrows. Ianto simply rolled his eyes in return.

'We'll work on it,' Ianto promised him. 'Weaning you off them one tediously domestic day at a time.'

Jack's fingertip traced the pattern on the duvet. 'Still... I could come with you. Won't it get lonely traveling all by yourself?'

'It's not a holiday, Jack. It's work.'

'Yeah, but you and me. The old team...'

'Someone has to stay behind in Cardiff and keep an eye on things. I thought you'd be happy to have your old job back for a few weeks.'

Jack frowned a moment. 'That depends. Is Giles Stanley still running the Home Office?'

Ianto grinned at the question. 'Sadly yes.'

Jack groaned, burying his head. 'Then, no. You can keep you job rather than me having to deal with that officious little, smug, stuck up, whiney...'

'Yes, I get the picture,' Ianto said, silencing Jack's tirade. No one enjoyed dealing with Giles, especially since he was most definitely an officious little, smug, stuck up, whine, twat of a public servant. 'You'll be fine. Just like riding a bike.'

'Perhaps we can hope Giles rides one. Preferably right in front of a red double decker.'

Ianto leant over the bed and kissed his husband good humoredly. 'Just admit you miss being in charge. You might not want to give it back up when I get back.'

'If that's your way of asking for some naked wresting, we don't need a leadership challenge for that,' Jack teased. 'I'm ready whenever you are.'

'You can give me lots of naked anything you like when I get home.'

Ianto ran a hand over the top layer of clothing smoothing it down before zipping the case shut and pulling it off the bed.

'You're all done?'

'Just toiletries left,' he replied. 'I'll do them in the morning.' He crawled onto the bed, lying next to Jack and letting an arm snake around Jack's waist, keeping him close.

Just the thought of missing being snuggled up next to Ianto every night filled him with a kind of despair that almost made him want to insist he was coming with Ianto. He knew however that Ianto had responsibilities abroad, but he had them here at home as well. Jack needed to be in Cardiff in case the rift decided to be difficult. They'd both have to make the sacrifice. If they didn't move from their spot on the bed now until tomorrow morning, Jack wouldn't be upset.

Jack ran a hand up and down Ianto's arm, trying to ease some of the tension out of it. He knew Ianto was young, but he was ready for this, whether he believed it or not. It was a big step forward for Torchwood. Where before it had just been the half dozen of them, now it really was something much bigger. Jack had to admit he was curious about what there people all over the globe had been doing for the last decade. As soon as they'd uncovered the true extent of it all, Ianto had insisted on the lengthy and brutal travel schedule. There was no time to waste in getting to the bottom of it all, even if it meant weeks on the road, the rail, planes, ships - whatever it took to get to some of these incredibly remote outposts. It had been too much to hope for Torchwood Paris, Torchwood Tokyo or Torchwood Maldives. Ianto's itinerary was far less luxurious: Russia, Peru, Tanzania, New Guinea... It sounded like a backpacker's slum holiday.

But Jack also knew that emails and video meetings really weren't going to cut it. Ianto needed to see these people face to face, see their operations for himself first hand, assess what they were doing and whether it was both safe and in line with their remit. He took his job as the head of Torchwood very seriously. They'd given him the title Director of Global Operations, but it had never really meant global, until now. Moreover, he needed to meet each and every one of these people, determining for himself whether they were fit to continue working for Torchwood and whether they were amenable to taking their lead from someone several thousand miles away on a tiny island that they'd believed was dead and buried. In short, Jack told him that had to decide if they were Torchwood One people or Torchwood Three people.

Ianto reminded him that he himself had once been Torchwood One. That was different, Jack argued. He'd only been a lackey, not a decision maker. If they'd had more people like Ianto running London, maybe they wouldn't have met such a terrible end. Not like these folk. They were running their own versions of Torchwood all over the planet on God only knew what moral parameters and ethical standpoints. They needed to be brought back into the fold and Ianto was the perfect negotiator to ensure that happened.

Ianto leaned closer, letting the tip of his nose rub Jack's in some Welsh version of an eskimo kiss. Jack could tell there was still plenty on his mind. 'What if they're not, you know... suitable.' It wasn't quite the right word to describe what he meant, but he knew Jack understood him perfectly.

'Then you make the call to shut them down. I trust you. If you think it's a no go, I support you one hundred percent. One phone call and I can be there with a team to start pulling it all apart. This time I promise you I won't miss a single piece of alien tech.'

'Just one call?'

Jack laced his fingers with Ianto's. 'One call and I'm there, whatever the reason, even if all you want is someone to hold. Even if I have to hike all the way to Machu Picchu on foot.'

A little smile broke out on Ianto's face. 'You'd be very tired by the time you got there.'

Jack conceded the point. 'But on the flip side I'd be a few thousand miles from anywhere Giles Stanley could find me and make my life miserable. Maybe we could move there permanently. Their hub can't be any worse than ours, right?'

Ianto smiled and kissed him. 'The humidity would be a nightmare.'

Jack kissed him back. Whislt Ianto was working on international relations, Jack was going to start working on his plan for a base set in the Maldives.