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: In which Gwen tries process the latest Torchwood news. Also, thank you so much to everyone who’s still reading and reviewing. I’ve been very lax about responding to comments due to work being so busy- so I’m catching up!

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

Chapter 34

***

After his and Jack’s impromptu confession (although Ianto knew that it had been coming for a long time) Ianto had had the rather paranoid feeling that conversations became that little bit more quiet, or that all eyes were on him, whenever he walked into a room or joined a conversation. After the first morning when what seemed like the entire crew ceased talking as he entered the dining room for breakfast five minutes after Jack, causing him to blush furiously, he’d become accustomed to the now usual reaction of a brief silence, quickly followed by supposedly subtle queries.

Jack had been right, however; wherever the two men had spent the night, it was clear the rest of them assumed that it was likely that the two men had not so secretly spent that previous night together anyway. Which they had. If the rest of the team thought that they’d spent the night in the throes of passion, though, they couldn’t be further from the truth- the two hours after leaving the bar had been spent just talking, Ianto being torn between relief that he’d finally divulged the secret of their relationship, and on the other hand being full of trepidation for what the next few days and weeks would bring in terms of further reactions from their colleagues.

Although they hadn’t purposely avoided their teammates, they spent their remaining days on Grand Terre as they usually did on stopovers wherever they were: visiting local sites of interest and searching out out-of-the-way restaurants.

***

After a simple dinner, the night before their departure was spent in the hotel bar, the pair being conscious that their teammates might think they were avoiding them for some reason: embarrassment, sheer avoidance- or perhaps they just took it for granted that the men were holed up in one of their rooms.

Ianto braced himself as he and Jack entered the bar. To be fair, their colleagues feigned an air of disinterest in their arrival, and with the odd exception they pointedly carried on with their conversation and the pair walked across the room. There was a spare seat next to Suzie who shifted to allow for another chair for the younger man which Jack fetched from a nearby empty table. It was a nice gesture, but Ianto felt slightly irritated by it, the action making him feel as if the team thought that he couldn’t have a night out without being in close proximity to the man they now knew was his partner. He banished the thoughts from his mind and started to talk to the chief flight attendant, and Jack caught up with Owen on the other side of him. A beer or two later, Owen suggested a game of pool- it appeared that there were few places in the world without a snooker or pool table tucked away in the corner of the bar. The co-pilot shouted to Tosh across the bar table, and Jack unsurprisingly enlisted Ianto as his partner for the challenge.

***

“I bet Owen and Tosh knew all along,” Martha mused as she watched their four colleagues across the room.

“Maybe… although, in hindsight, it all seems pretty evident that they were seeing each other,” Amy said in her Scottish brogue, eyes joining Martha as she looked at the game of pool being played in the corner of the bar. “I mean, they can hardly take their eyes off each other and just look at them… ”

“Mmm… they do look good together,” she agreed.

“Look good together?” she said, her eyes widening in disbelief. “They look a lot more than good together- those two are hot…”

Martha continued looking over at the pool table, and watched Ianto leaning over the table to take a shot. Jack was none too surreptitiously taking the opportunity to admire his admittedly well rounded and firm arse. She wondered how she’d ever missed the fact that the steward was actually damned good looking, with a body which was more than acceptable. He had always been in the shadow of Harkness’ easy-on-the-eye good looks, and Owen’s bloke-ish confidence. Perhaps it took a newcomer like Amy to see past all of that, and appreciate that Ianto was a lot more attractive than she’d ever bothered to give him credit for. “You’re right there, Amy,” she responded and looked back at the Scotswoman as Ianto potted the ball and then stood upright. Jack had what could only be described as a proud and besotted smile on his face. “Not often you see such a good looking couple…”

Gwen listened to the two women next to her. “You don’t think this is actually serious, do you?”

Amy looked at her in surprise. “Serious? They’re buying a house together. And have you seen the way they look at each other, Gwen? I’d say that all seems pretty serious.”

Gwen didn’t appear convinced. “I don’t know… It’s just that Ianto doesn’t seem to be Jack’s type…”

“But what is Jack’s type? I’ve worked on his crew for a while now, and I don’t remember knowing about him ever going out with anyone from the airline, whatever the rumours were,” Martha supplied.

“Rumours?”

“Well, at one point he was linked to one of the air stewardesses on the Australian flights, Francesca Eddington. She left to do some acting and modelling a few years back, but I never really saw any evidence they were anything other than friends, and Jack would always just wink and say ‘don’t believe everything you hear’ if he was asked about her.”

“I suppose he would say that if he was gay…”

“I’m not sure he is gay. He once told me he used to be married.”

“Perhaps that’s why he got divorced? You know… she realised he was into men. Perhaps that’s why Ianto split with his girlfriend, too.” Gwen remembered her and Ianto’s first day when Suzie told her that the steward had switched routes following the break-up with Lisa, although she’d never had a conversation with the Welshman about his personal life. In truth, she’d never had a conversation of any great length with him at all.

Amy had been listening to the two women. “I know I haven’t been with the team that long, but I sort of got the idea that perhaps they’re both bisexual. The other night Jack said something about not doing labels, and Ianto’s not as confident about ‘coming out’ as he tries to appear. I reckon he’s never been out with a guy before- either that or he’s not really acknowledged it before.”

“I wondered that, too. Jack always said his wife couldn’t deal with all the time he spent away on the job. If it was anything else I think he would’ve said something about, y’know… ‘we grew apart’ or ‘we wanted different things out of the marriage’,” Martha agreed.

Surprisingly, Martha saw a thoughtful smile materialize on Gwen’s face.

“Well, I guess if Jack’s bisexual, you never know how long this’ll last. He might soon realise that it’s all a mistake if the right woman comes along…”

Amy laughed. “I’m not sure about that. They look like they’re well into each other. You have to admit they make one hell of a good looking couple… And I bet those two are amazing together,” she said turning her attention back to the game.

“Hell, yeah…” Martha said in agreement.

“Well, we will see, I suppose,” Gwen muttered. “But I still can’t see it working out. Ianto just seems a bit too quiet, not adventurous enough for Jack. Strikes me Ianto could just be a bit of casual playing around for him…”

Without taking her eyes off the pool players across the room and the way that the subjects of their discussions were interacting with easy smiles and movements, Martha just about stifled a small laugh and sighed tiredly. She really did like Gwen, particularly when it came to company on a shopping trip or a girly drink, but when the other woman got a bee in her bonnet, she had a tendency to go on and on, rarely knowing when to stop. “I have to say that Jack doesn’t look like a man suffering from a lack of adventurousness… And I’m not sure that Ianto does, either. And if that’s casual, I’m a Dutchman.”

“Well, whatever…” Gwen said, clearly not disagreeing with the other women’s judgement as she got up. “I’m just going to the loo.”

***

Jack had assured Ianto that the gossip and stares would die down soon enough, and the young man knew he was right, but he was also in no doubt that it would take a lot longer than Jack had anticipated. Granted their news had only been out in the open a couple of days, but to Ianto felt like it had been a lifetime. He pushed his trolley back towards the galley as the flight made its way over Indonesia, thinking of all the changes to his life in the past year. This latest development was just something else he’d have to get over if he was serious about where his and Jack’s relationship was going- and he was serious, possibly more serious than he’d ever been. Ianto stopped in his tracks and steadied the trolley so it would clatter less, as he heard voices behind the stiff curtain which separated the central kitchen from the main cabin.

“… but you’re always with Ianto. You must have known about him and Jack, if they’re as committed as they’re making out.”

He recognised the speaker from the familiar Welsh accent much like his own. It hadn’t escaped his notice that Gwen Cooper had been somewhat sparse with her congratulations for him and Jack.

“I had an inkling… and I kind of knew. But only just before everyone else…” Toshiko’s voice replied, evading Gwen’s attempts to pump her for information.

On the other side of the curtain, Ianto steeled himself, took a sharp intake of breath, and rattled his trolley, trying to announce his arrival; he had to take control of this situation, and, above all, rescue Tosh from Gwen’s interrogation. He quickly pulled the fabric to one side and pushed the trolley through.

“Tosh only just sussed it out before we went away, Gwen.” He knew it was stretching the truth a tad, but he had started to lose patience with Gwen’s attitude- especially when it came to Jack.

To her credit, Gwen coloured a little at being found talking about him and their Captain. “Oh…” she finally managed to say.

“I have to say, I was a bit surprised. I thought we’d been kinda obvious…” He put on his best, professional and confident smile.

Gwen recovered herself, grinning with doe eyes and tilting her head towards him. It all looked a little insincere, but the steward let that go. “You’ve got to admit it was a bit of a revelation for us all…”

“Well, perhaps we should have been a bit more up front, but it’s not really the kind of thing you shout about until you know it’s permanent,” he conceded. “But everything’s out in the open now.”

“I see what you mean…” Ianto expected Gwen to continue, to maybe ask him personal questions which he knew he wouldn’t be comfortable answering- but she reached out for the handle of her cart. “Anyway,” she said, changing the subject, “I’d best get this food out before it gets cold.” She made her exit, leaving Tosh silently mouthing a relieved ‘Thankyou’ at Ianto.

***

To be continued…