Christmas With Torchwood 1.1

Hell Freezes Over

AKA: Christmas with Torchwood. All Ianto wanted was to have just one evening with his family. This was what he never saw coming, or rather – he never expected to happen. Janto fluff!

Muahahahahaha… this is what happens when my foolish parents give me a two-disk set of The Eagles' greatest hits for Christmas!

Xmas~~

Part I: The Flame rises when I have loved you Wild

Ianto flew around his small apartment, checking that everything was perfect. He had used almost all of his blackmail, debts, AND erm… other stuff – alright, he threatened to become celibate for a week – to get Jack to agree to let him have this night off. He had finally resorted to threatening Jack's caffeine levels before the immortal had agreed.

After having worked that hard to get this evening, he wasn't about to let anything short of the apocalypse ruin it. Except maybe his father. Ianto shuddered at the thought.

Ianto's father had always been rough, especially when drunk. That was one of the reasons that Ianto had picked a small, secluded café for dinner tonight. The chances of his father A) getting his hands on alcohol or B) disturbing someone else's evening enough to warrant calling the police, was minimal. Ianto prayed that his mother and Rhiannon had been able to keep him out of the booze long enough to be coherent, and decent enough to be seen in public.

That was another reason that Ianto wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for tonight. He hadn't seen his family since Lisa's fake funeral, and this would be his first holiday dinner with them in over five years.

Provided, it wasn't exactly a Christmas dinner, but Ianto hadn't wanted his family to come to his small flat, only to start questioning the sparse decorations. He really didn't feel like telling them that he spent more time at work, with his boss, who he was sleeping with – his very MALE boss – than he did at his own flat. Ianto also didn't want to go back to his childhood home. He shivered, even though the thermostat was reading 76 degrees. There were too many negative memories around that place for it to ever be 'home' again.

He also wasn't about to tempt fate by planning anything for Christmas. What, with the way the rift had behaved when Gwen had tried to take off for Halloween last year… He shuddered at the memory. Ianto did not want karma to get involved and dump the plastic Santa's on them again. Those things were creepy enough in London; he did not need them running around his home city.

Ianto sighed, brushing his fingers roughly through his hair once again. He gave himself one last look over in the mirror hung on the back of his bedroom door. He felt exposed without his typical suit on, but he didn't want his family to think that he was better than them, or make them feel awkward by being overdressed. After all, he had told them that it was a casual restaurant. So he had ignored his own apprehension, and had pulled a pair of jeans and denim jacket out of his closet.

Ianto narrowed his eyes, finally remembering where he had last worn these particular jeans. He had been trying to convince Jack to hire him. He had been so desperate to get into torchwood three that he had flat-out resorted to using Harkness' legendary libido to work his way in.

However, they were his only set of street clothes that hadn't been torn, stained, bloodied or had similar negative memories attached to them. So it was these jeans, or he had to go out and buy another pair. Which – Ianto glanced at the clock on the wall next to him – he didn't have time for.

Reluctantly, Ianto let his gaze move over the rest of his outfit. He had picked a dark red t-shirt, tucking it into his pants while trying to slip on his shoes. It had taken about ten minutes of hopping before he sat down on the edge of his bed and laced his shoes normally. Ianto looked down at his converse scrupulously. They were purple and red checked… with black laces. He didn't remember what had possessed him to buy the shoes in the first place, but he was glad now that he had. His only other pair of sneakers had been disposed of after the incident with the cannibals.

Ianto shuddered, grabbing his jacket – again, the same dark blue denim one that he met Jack in – before stepping out the door.

UBER AWESOME LINE BREAK

Jack sighed, leaning back in his desk chair. Just a few minutes after Ianto had left, he suggested that the rest of the team took the evening off as well. He had actually been ready to let Ianto go early anyway, but he hadn't been given the chance to tell him to scram before Ianto started babbling out reasons.

'Seriously?' he paused in thought, dubious. Ianto had felt the need to babble to get him to agree to give him the night off? 'Where did I go wrong with him?' Jack wondered. 'John never felt the need to babble. Unless it was five in the morning. Or we were…' Jack changed the topic on himself.

Ianto had, at least, assured Jack that his family didn't know about their relationship. Jack wasn't sure how he felt about that. Of course, he was happy that he wouldn't be meeting the folks anytime in the for-seeable future. However, part of him was hurt by how Ianto had said it.

'They have no idea about us Jack. And I intend to keep it that way, if that's alright'.

Well, what could Jack say but yes? He was aware of Ianto's background, and that – his thoughts were interrupted by his cell phone ringing. His personal cell phone. Curious, he answered.

"Y'ello?" he answered, praying that it wasn't Ianto about to yell at him. Fortunately, the voice on the other end wasn't his archivist/lover/friend.

"Jack, hey." Jack let out a sigh of relief.

"Hi ya' Alfie." He grinned. "What, do you miss me already?"

Alfie scoffed over the phone line. "Aye, I do every night lad. Every time you're here, half the lassies in town show up."

Jack chuckled. "And a bunch of the lads" Jack added, both ends of the connection breaking into laughter before settling down. "So I'll assume you weren't just craving a little American time, are ya'?"

"Unfortunately, no." Alfie sighed. "I know that you were just here on Wednesday, and you aren't supposed to be in again until Sunday" Jack groaned, forcing himself to sit with all four chair legs on the floor.

"Alfie, please tell me you're not gonna'…"

"Well, the band scheduled for tonight had to drop out – the lead singer and the bass player both had exams that they couldn't shake off, and I swear I wouldn't have called if it wasn't for…" Alfie trailed off. Jack sighed.

"Alf, what do you want me to do?"

"I was hopin' that you would, well if you don't mind filling in tonight."

"Why me?" he asked, already knowing half the answer.

"No one else would answer lad. And I wouldn't be'a asking if it weren't for some poor laddie who kept calling me about the band tonight. He's apparently got his family coming into town and wants to make sure everything goes right. So…"

Jack bit his lip, indecisive for a moment. Then, his conscience won over his concerns about laryngitis. Captain Jack Harkness was never one to ruin someone's evening, especially if their family was involved.

"Alright Alfie. But don't promise anything special. I'll call the guys, see if they feel like changing our venue for the night."

He could hear Alfie's relieved sigh over the phone line.

"I hardly need to say it, but sometimes I love you lad."

Jack chuckled. "Careful Alfie, your wife might get jealous."

There was a brief pause as Alfie could be heard laughing on the other end, before he finally responded. "Aye lad, I'll be looking for that. See you around six tonight then?"

Jack smirked. "Sure. See ya' in an hour Alf."

"Later Jack."

Jack hung up rubbing his face. He groaned quietly, before grabbing his phone and heading downstairs to change. He was just glad that he hadn't ruined his jeans on Wednesday. He needed to start changing if he was going to be on time.