wanda1969

Title: "Come Fly With Me"
Rating: Adult concepts- but not explicit this chapter.

Spoilers/Disclaimers : Torchwood, belongs to the BBC and RTD, I’m just borrowing the characters.

Summary: Torchwood characters in a story set in the glamorous world of international travel!

A/N: A short chapter! And this is dedicated to zazajb, http://zazajb.livejournal.com/37889.html , who’s written another lovely fluffy springtime story and dedicated it to me! Thank you! And thanks to everyone else who’s reading. PS I know nothing about road signs in Newport.

Chapter list: http://wanda1969.dreamwidth.org/1863.html

Chapter 25

***

Ianto and Jack hurriedly left their hotel room, the younger man anxiously checking his watch. Somewhere between breakfast in bed, verifying the precise dimensions of the king sized bed and testing out the large roll top bath (again), Friday morning had somehow turned into Friday afternoon, and the two men were now rushing towards their hire car considerably later than intended. The plan was for Jack to drop off Ianto to spend the afternoon at his Mam’s in Newport, while Jack took in the town’s sights even though Ianto had assured him that his home town wasn’t known for its tourism. Ianto had told his Mam that he was meeting up with friends in the evening; he’d needed an explanation for not staying in the family home, and he hadn’t wanted to put Jack through what he was sure would be an awkward meeting without first warning his mother. If everything went well- he’d even settle for grudging acceptance- he hoped that she’d want to meet Jack the next day.

***

Ianto sat on his Mam’s sofa, nursing a can of Brain’s. In need of Dutch courage, he’d used the excuse that the sun was well over the yard arm and it was his day off, and asked for a beer. They quickly caught up on the latest news, and he was now contemplating how to bring up the subject of Jack. A break in the conversation finally put a stop to his procrastination.

“Mam, I need to speak to you.”

“Yes, Ianto?” She said, concern visible in her face.

He decided to take the bull by the horns. “I’ve been seeing someone…”

She smiled. “And about time, too! It’s been too long since Lisa… So, when do I get to meet her? She must be good for you- you’re looking happier…”

“I… well, that’s just it, Mam. He’s a man- I’m seeing a man…” He paused as he saw her look baffled, before confusion gave way to dawning realization. “He’s called Jack…”

She was silent for a moment. “You’re gay?”

“No- no. I’ve never… been out with a guy before…”

“And Lisa- did she know…?”

“God, no. I’ve only just realised myself...”

“But this… this Jack- it’s serious?”

Ianto sighed. Being asked whether he was ‘serious’ about Jack seemed to be turning into a regular occurrence, as did being asked if Lisa knew anything about his new found preferences. “Yeah. It is.”

“Oh… Do you love him?”

He thought about his answer for a moment. “Yes- I do.”

“How about him? Does he love you?”

“I think so. He says he does, and I don’t have a reason to doubt him…”

She let out a deep breath and then gave a tender smile. “Well I suppose that’s all that matters. So… when do I get to meet him, then?”

“Mam?” He questioned, before he grasped that she really did want to meet the other man. “You could meet him tomorrow… he’s down here with me…”

“And you didn’t bring him?”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly sure how you’d take all this…”

“Oh, Ianto. If you’re happy, I am… I suppose that’s why you said you couldn’t stay over?”

He nodded.

“What’s he like, then? Where did you meet him?”

“He’s… nice. Dark hair, blue eyes, fun to be with… We met at work- he’s the pilot…”

“The pilot?”

“Oh, God! That’s just what Rhi said.”

“Rhiannon knows?”

“Yeah… it wasn’t on purpose. It was at Johnny’s barbeque- she overheard me on the ‘phone. It’s not that I was going to tell her before you… It just sort of happened. I asked her to keep it to herself; I wanted to tell you in person… She met him yesterday when we arrived.”

“That doesn’t matter,” she said gently and got up from her armchair. “I’m just glad you’ve told me now, love.”

She took the few steps across the lounge and sat down on the sofa next to him. She reached out and rested her hand on his shoulder, giving a squeeze. “Hey, this can’t have been easy for you- but you told me anyway.”

He just gave her a weak smile.

“I’m guessing this is why you asked for a beer, too?”

Ianto snorted out a laugh. “Yeah.”

“Want to go and get another one, and then tell me all about him? And you get me a glass of that white wine out of the ‘fridge while you’re about it.”

The next two hours were spent telling his mother how he’d met Jack, how they’d become friends and how (leaving out some of the more salacious details), in the end, he had realised that they were attracted to each other.

He finally looked at his watch. “I’d better get going; Jack’s picking me up in town.”

“You could ask him to pick you up here.”

“I know-but can we do this tomorrow? I wasn’t sure how welcome either of us would be after this afternoon so we booked a table for dinner. And I kind of got myself geared up for us coming over tomorrow if you were comfortable with everything- or spending tomorrow in Cardiff if you weren’t.”

She understood her son. He’d formulated a plan for the weekend and he wanted to stick to it. “Ianto- as if I’d ever want you to feel unwelcome. It’d have to be something a bit more significant than this to make me not want you to visit.”

***

It was Saturday afternoon the next day, and Jack was uncharacteristically nervous as he drove past the sign stating ‘Welcome to Newport- Croeso I Casnewydd’ for the second time in two days. Ianto looked over at him and recalled the way that the older man had spent considerably longer than usual choosing his outfit for the day. Rhiannon had called Ianto the day before, not long after he’d left to be picked up by Jack, it seemed that his mother had called her, eager for gossip on ‘this man’ that Ianto was seeing. Rhi had insisted that she had had nothing other than complimentary things to say about Jack, but that news had done little to calm Jack down as his meeting with Bethan Jones approached.

Far too soon for the pilot’s liking they were turning into the street where Ianto’s mother lived, and Ianto directed him to a parking space right outside her house.

“Jack- it’s OK. She’s looking forward to meeting you…”

“I know, I know.” He sighed and then grinned cheesily, as if he was in a TV ad. “You know what they say, though: you never get a second chance to make a first impression!”

“Like you could make a bad impression!” Ianto was surprised at his own confidence; it had always been Jack who’d been the confident one out of the two of them, the one who would reach out to take his hand in a restaurant, or who wanted to pull him in for a kiss as they walked along the street. But he’d felt successive weights lifted from his shoulders as he’d first told Rhiannon, and then his mother, about him. “And anyway I’ve done the groundwork, and so’s Rhi. All you have to do is turn up and look ever so vaguely respectable, and we’re sorted.”

“Vaguely respectable?” he replied as he turned off the car’s engine. “I can do that- especially if there’s some kind of reward…”

Ianto released his seatbelt and leaned over to kiss him. The kiss lasted for longer than he’d anticipated, neither of them noticing the slight movement in the net curtains at Bethan Jones’ front window.

“How about that… for now?” Ianto sat back into the passenger seat and reached for the car door with a smile.

“Oh yeah, that’ll do… for now.”

***

Some time later, they were sitting on the sofa in the small sitting room- the same sofa that Ianto had been sitting on twenty four hours earlier. They’d purposely sat as far apart as possible, neither of them wanting to draw that much attention to the realities of their relationship.

Jack had been put at ease by Mrs Jones, and she seemed to be equally at ease with him. Ianto looked on, amused, almost feeling like an observer as they chatted away. He was relieved that both of them were keeping any embarrassing or incriminating anecdotes about him to themselves- and that the family photo albums remained firmly on the bookshelf in the corner of the room.

***

As she rinsed the dinner plates and got them ready to soak in the sink, Beth Jones sneaked a glance at her son and Jack Harkness through the gap in the kitchen door. The pilot certainly was ‘bloody gorgeous’, as her daughter had put it yesterday when she’d called her. He was older, though, and a charmer, too. This might normally have led her to worry about Jack’s ‘intentions’, as if she were some kind of Victorian parent fretting about the virtue of her virginal daughter.

But as she saw Jack’s hand rise to rest on the nape of Ianto’s neck, she saw the look that passed between them. Barely noticeably, as Ianto turned his head aside, his thumb moved and rubbed against the short, dark hairs. She couldn’t hear the quiet words that Jack whispered, but as his fingers tipped the younger man’s chin upwards so that their eyes met again, she knew it was something soothing, something encouraging. So quick she almost missed it, he leant forward and brushed his lips in a light kiss against the tip of Ianto’s nose, and then, just as quickly, the two men had resumed their positions at different ends of the sofa, as if they were mates from The King’s Head down the road, getting ready to watch the Saturday match on the telly.

She quickly went back to her task, not wanting to be caught intruding on such a private moment. Ianto had brought girlfriends home before- Lisa included- but she tried to think whether she’d ever seen him involved in such a tender gesture. Jack Harkness seemed genuine in his feelings towards Ianto, and she hoped to God that he wouldn’t prove her wrong.

***

To be continued…