Fic: Time Out in Washington 12/18 [X-Files/Torchwood/The State Within/Dr Who]

[fides.livejournal.com]

Title: Time Out in Washington (12/18)
Author: fides
Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Mulder/Krycek (mostly UST), Mark/Nicholas discussed but whether there is any truth behind the suggestion is open to the reader's interpretation
Fandom: X-Files/Torchwood/Dr Who/The State Within
Rating: NC-17 overall (most parts PG/PG-13, only one part is NC-17 and that part can be skipped with minimum confusion if you want to read the plot but are put off by the idea of graphic sex)
Warnings: Spoilers for The State Within. Some violence and fantasy sexual violence
Disclaimer: None of the recognisable characters are mine, Santa has been really falling down on his job recently, but belong to their respective right holders
Sequal to 1. Plus Ça Change, 2. Hobson's Choice
Prequel to Interlunation
Previous Parts: Part 1 - Prologue -:- Part 2 - Sir Mark -:- Part 3 - Jack -:- Part 4 - Azzam -:- Part 5 - Mulder -:- Part 6 - Skinner -:- Part 7 - Scully -:- Part 8 - George -:- Part 9 - Alex and Fox -:- Part 10 - Doctor -:- Part 11 - William


Summary: Finding out Jack's secret in the worst possible way (Hobson's Choice), Alex takes a break from Torchwood Three while he comes to terms with events and his anger towards Jack. To give him the time he needs, Jack arranges a secondment for Alex at the British Embassy in Washington working with the secret service to counter threats to the Ambassador's family. But with Mulder around things don't go to plan and Alex discovers that aliens aren't that easy to leave behind.

Notes: I know that the timelines don't quite fit so I decided to fudge things a little because it was too tempting to compare Torchwood and the Consortium. This story is set concurrent with the early part of X-Files season 6, during the second half of Torchwood season 1, during the time of the 12th Doctor (Doctor Who) and about a year after the events in The State Within. In depth (or indeed any) knowledge of the included fandoms isn't required so please don't let them put you off. Thanks to moth2fic for the beta. Any and all remaining mistakes are own.





Ianto flicked the mobile shut with one hand and looked down at Jack who was laid out beneath him. His free hand rested over Jack's mouth, index finger raised in a way that was half 'shh' and half 'wait', the soft breath caressing his palm. Jack's army bed was not the most conducive place for sexual activity, especially for anything strenuous, which was possibly why they rarely used it. However, it served well enough on those occasions when what they wanted was long and slow. It was also very easy to clip handcuffs around each of the legs, although in Ianto's opinion that was about the only thing it had going for it which was why Jack was underneath.

"Alex?" Jack asked when Ianto moved his fingers from over Jack's lips.

"Yes. He needs some information on Thosove technology."

"At least he's talking to me again."

Ianto smiled down at him. No one he knew managed to stay mad at Jack for long, with the possible exception of Yvonne Hartman and no one had been entirely sure she was totally human even before what had happened, happened.

"You're going to call the others straight back in?" Jack asked, wiggling enticingly as far as he was able which, thanks to the restraints, wasn't very far.

Ianto shifted deliberately, making Jack moan. "Luckily I can multi-task."

"You," Jack told him appreciatively, "are an evil, evil man."

"Shhh, or I'll be forced to get the gag. And I don't feel," Ianto raised himself up a little way before sinking back down along the length of Jack's cock, "like getting up quite yet."

Jack stifled a groan as Ianto flipped the phone open again.

Twenty minutes later and immaculately dressed, Ianto was preparing refreshments when the door to the hub rolled open to admit the first of the returning team. From the bright chatter it was clear that Gwen and Tosh had beaten Owen back. Ianto smiled - Jack owed him a fiver.

Owen arrived five generous minutes after that, with a disgruntled expression and two bags of take-away. Jack shot Ianto an 'I'm on to you' look which he ignored with equanimity, contenting himself with gathering up the required plates and cutlery. Jack would make him pay later, but that was part of the fun after all.

They were all seated and passing around the Chinese when the phone began to burp politely. Ianto looked at his watch; thirty two minutes - not bad. Reaching out with a chopstick Jack prodded the pick-up button and with a small burst of static the line connected.

"Alex - you're on speaker," Jack greeted. "What's the situation?"

Ianto tried to imagine Alex an ocean away and on his home turf. Not in his suit; there was a slight change in the way that Alex spoke when he was buttoned up in a suit and tie as if even his voice smartened up. It was the echo of other Alexes, other roles he had played, and now that his life no longer relied on his portrayal he could not quite stop playing.

"The short version: I intercepted some information suggesting that the Consortium were planning to expose Mulder and possibly others to an artefact, I believe alien in origin. Don't know what results they are expecting but it can't be good."

"And the long version?" Jack asked.

"Pretty much the same. That's all I have."

"Can we assume it is Thosove technology?"

There was a pause as Alex thought.

"The Oiliens or their subordinates are the only alien race I know of that the Consortium has had any dealing with. We're probably lucky that they haven't discovered e-bay. Initially we thought that the Grays were a separate species, but that's just the mature form, correct?"

Ianto saw Jack nod and, discreetly, kicked him under the table.

"Yes," Jack confirmed aloud, "so, working hypothesis, whatever the Consortium has, it can be traced back to them. Tosh, have you managed to find much information on the type of tech they brought with them?"

Tosh shook her head. "Not much. U.N.I.T hasn't managed to find anything else."

"U.N.I.T were playing nice?" Owen asked, surprised.

Tosh gave a pleased little smile. "It's all in how you ask," she told them, "and what."

"Don't let me catch you hacking into U.N.I.T's computers," Jack admonished although his grin rather gave the game away.

"You won't," Tosh assured him smugly.

Owen pulled a face. "So we have nothing?" he summed up.

"We have to have some idea," Gwen insisted. "We may not know what the ones here have, but they are in the files so do we have anything on their home world? Anything to give us a clue as to what they might have brought with them."

"They're rebels and exiles," Owen pointed out snidely. "They didn't have much chance to pack before they came."

They were all missing the obvious again. Ianto took a sip of coffee before clearing his throat softly.

"Could it be a part from one of the ships? They had to arrive in something, after all, and spaceships are definitely alien technology."

They stared at him as if he had grown an extra head, except for Jack who hid his smile behind his own mug.

"Alex," Jack asked, "could the Consortium have got one of the ships?"

"Not one they could make work, but they had, or have, at least one ship." Alex sounded thoughtful. "Have had one since Roswell."

Gwen looked worriedly around the room. "So are we talking weapon systems here?"

"Didn't see any obvious weapon ports." Alex's voice held a totally misleading lightness. It was the type of lightness that smiled as it pulled the trigger or joked about a terminal diagnosis. "But then oil doesn't have obvious anything."

"He's right." Tosh pulled up some schematics and they all stared at the screen as if they understood what the information displayed there meant.

The ship was nice enough if a bit boring. It seemed unfair to deride it as derivative when it was the model from which popular culture had drawn but Ianto couldn't help wishing for something a bit more unusual. When the TARDIS had arrived at Torchwood One they had had to put up a link to the live video feed after the weight of people forwarding pictures to each other nearly brought down the e-mail servers. He was finding it easier to think about his time at London, to remember the good times and not just the smoke and screams. Jack had given him that, even if anything else between them was just a distraction that they could both lose themselves in when their personal darknesses pressed too close.

"So what does it have," Jack mused. "Engines, navigation, life support, communication systems..."

Gwen looked confused. "If they don't have mouths until the mature stage, how do they communicate?"

"Maybe they believe children should be seen and not heard," Owen muttered.

"Telepathy mostly," Jack answered. "They do use hosts to talk sometimes but they have some complicated social rules about doing that. It's mostly either a sign of respect to show trust or perceived unworthiness to project into the other person's mental space or it's used to indicate contempt."

"Wait a minute," Owen objected. "How do you know if you are being respected or insulted?"

Jack grinned at him. "In your case just assume the latter, but Gwen might have something."

"The Consortium certainly had an interest in psychics," Alex agreed.

Jack nodded. "Not surprising," he pointed out logically, "if the 'allies' they are planning on double-crossing use telepathy to communicate."

"Obviously not mind-readers then," Owen quipped.

"Not until they get inside you," Alex's voice echoed blankly from the speaker.

Owen shuffled defensively but didn't respond.

"So we're talking about them waving alien radio equipment at people?" Gwen bulldozed the conversation along. "They want to see if anyone wants to phone home?"

"Could they want a better way to communicate?" Tosh suggested. "We've seen telepathic translation circuits before."

"Or the opposite," Jack said grimly. "A telepathic disruptor. We can't assume that any weapons are intended for primary use against humans. The Thosove communicate telepathically; some sort of jamming device would be logical part of any arsenal."

"But that means it shouldn't affect humans." Tosh frowned. "Maybe that's why they're testing it - could they have come up with a weapon that only affects the aliens?"

"Unless," Owen said thoughtfully, "there were a few genetic anomalies that made humans, or at least some humans, susceptible?"

They all looked at him.

"What sort of genetic anomalies?" Jack asked before Alex could say anything.

"Look," Owen held up his hands defensively, "this is just supposition, but there was something a bit funky in Mulder's samples."

"Funky a medical term now, is it?" Gwen teased. Owen ignored her.

"You took samples from Mulder?" Alex's voice was dark.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist just because you weren't the only one collecting DNA." Ianto had on many occasions noted that Owen appeared to believe that tact, along with other basic courtesies, was something to be honoured in the breach rather than the observation. Baiting Alex, even when he was an ocean away, was on a level of stupidity up there with getting, unarmed, in a cage with a pissed off Weevil. Which Owen had also done. Maybe Ianto needed to have a word with Jack about Owen's continued state of mind. Not that Jack's method of grief counselling would be appropriate in Owen's case.

Owen looked to Jack to back him up. "Standard procedure - you'll be glad to know he didn't have any unmentionable social diseases. Or even any of the pronounceable ones."

"Are you sure the anomalies weren't due to his having been exposed to an inert version of the Oil?" Alex didn't bother arguing further; he probably knew the protocols well enough, he just hadn't thought them through.

"You want to come back here and do this?" Owen asked rhetorically. "It wasn't due to the Thosove and it wasn't due to the vaccine either."

"But Mulder isn't psychic." Alex sounded slightly less sure than Ianto suspected he meant to; there was an almost pleading hint underneath his words. "So something like that shouldn't affect him."

Did Alex want to be assured that Mulder was or wasn't psychic? Was it the slight phobia he had about extra-terrestrial influence talking or the hope that this might be a way that he and Mulder could reconnect? Jack's eyes met his across the table for a moment and Ianto knew they were both wondering the same thing. Psychics, even potential ones, were a major headache, no pun intended, when it came to security.

"It isn't something we can scan for," Tosh's calm voice broke the moment and Ianto looked away, aware he was flushing slightly although he had no reason to be, "but, unless he is a very good actor, he didn't appear to be picking up anything when he was here. He was surprised by the Weevil, us... everything."

"Mulder can't act worth a damn," Alex told them fondly, "so it must be something else."

Was the disappointment in his words just the result of another line of inquiry being closed or something more? Alex wasn't easy to read at the best of times and on a phone was almost impossible unless he wanted you to know something.

"I'm not saying he is psychic," Owen objected as if he was talking to a particularly slow class of toddlers. "I'm saying that whatever caused the funky," he shot a look at Gwen, "test results might mean that Mulder, and anyone with similar anomalies, might react differently to everyone else."

"How differently?" Jack demanded.

"It might trigger something," Owen admitted. "Look, there are lots of bits that make up what we are that we don't quite know why or how they work as they do. Especially on the molecular level. Some of it's doodles that evolution left on the drawing board, some of it's probably vitally important but we don't know what for yet. You get the occasional mutation; lots of the time that's bad, sometimes it's the species getting a kick start. Most of the time the body just ticks over nicely but when something disrupts it, then minor variations can have a major influence on exactly how a person's body responds."

"So when you say anyone with similar anomalies," Alex asked, "are we talking similar genetically, like his sister?"

"You think it might relate to what happened to her?" Owen shrugged "With the data we have there is no way, even for a genius like me, to tell if it's just your boyfriend being special or a shared family trait. I'd advise you not to try and have kids until we know more but that's about it."

"But you think the anomalies you detected are related to psychic ability?" Jack pressed.

"I didn't say that," Owen protested, "I said that Mulder had some anomalies in his results that were unusual and might mean he reacted to things differently than your average person. You guys are the ones talking about alien mind readers."

"Is there any way of confirming whether this is anything other than pure conjecture?" Jack looked each of them in turn.

"Maybe." Tosh stopped, as if she had only realised she had spoken aloud when she heard her own voice. "Owen, can you forward me Mulder's results?"

"I'll have to..." Owen pointed his thumb in the vague direction of the medical bay.

"Go," Jack ordered.

Owen went. Ianto didn't quite catch the specifics of Owen's grumbling as he headed out of the room. It was to the doctor's credit however that despite his complaints he didn't dawdle. Ianto did not think that was because his dinner was getting cold. Owen might be an arse but he earned the good coffee.

"Got it," Tosh confirmed. "Give me a minute..."

Jack leant back in his chair and, with the grin that made Ianto want to both kiss him and slap him, said, "So, Alex, been seeing a lot of Agent Mulder..?"

There was a long silence from the phone speaker.

"Looking for a bedtime story, Jack?" Alex purred at last.

"Just passing the time while the troops work."

"Didn't your parents tell you that some things were better done in private?"

Jack chuckled, a light flirtatious sound. "Sure, but they're so much more fun in company."

"I might have bumped into Mulder in a dark alley," Alex conceded. It sounded like he was smiling.

"Kinky," Jack said in the appreciative tone that he reserved for the details of his more improbable stories.

Owen slipped back into his seat and picked up the remains of his Chinese, pointedly ignoring the conversation that Jack was having.

"Oi, Ianto, how about a refill?"

Ianto inclined his head and got up to collect cups. Everyone except Tosh gave him the pleading expression that said 'if you are making coffee anyway...' with a rather pathetic disavowal of responsibility that made him want to say 'just ask!'. He was sure Tosh would have added her voice to the chorus as well if she hadn't been lost in her electronic world so he did it for her. She always got the special coffee.

If coffee was his way of contributing then at least he was doing something. He knew Torchwood, but this wasn't about Torchwood and there weren't even any artefacts in the archive that came close. He got a 'thanks' from Gwen and a little smile of gratitude from Jack, slipped in between the lines he was exchanging with Alex. He wondered if there was something wrong with him that the expression, a small subtle twitch that he liked to think was more real rather than the lecherous grin that Jack plastered on his face as a matter of course, meant more to him than the sincerely meant gratitude of Gwen's.

It gave him something to think about as the water heated and swirled through the machine. Creating coffee was a meditative exercise, the modern tea ceremony. The smell of the fresh brew wafted through the hub, an important aspect of the preparation; the first hint for everyone to savour, something to get the mouth watering and the body primed. Foreplay for the taste buds.

He made up each cup according to its owner's preferences, briefly reaching out to touch Alex's green and white stripy mug where it had been safely stored until his return. It was a silly ritual but he did it all the same. Carefully arranging everything on a tray, he made his way back.

"There's just something about interrogation rooms and handcuffs," Jack was saying as Ianto re-entered the conference room. "It's the whole power thing they have going on. There was this one time..."

Ianto made a mental note as he distributed the drinks. He'd heard this story before so was able to settle down in his seat and enjoy the animation on Jack's face while the words washed over him.

"Got it!" Tosh interrupted.

"What've you got, Tosh?" All the playfulness was gone from Jack's voice in an instant.

"This isn't complete confirmation," Tosh warned. She had the determined and slightly distracted look that Ianto had come to recognise and fear. Time to order in extra coffee and schedule some Weevil hunts as he and Jack weren't likely to get the Hub to themselves for a while. "But from what I'm seeing here..." She paused for a moment, eyes flicking from one set of data to the next, "the anomalies in Agent Mulder's readings do have certain characteristics in common with the genetic pattern of the Thosove. Not the same but similar enough that it is possible that the telepathic interface matrix in the ship would try and initiate a connection and..."


"In English, Tosh," Owen broke in.

She thought about that for a moment. How to translate the high-powered languages of maths, metaphysics and alien circuits down to basic words, ill-equipped to handle the concepts. "It would be bad."

"How bad?" Alex asked immediately.

There was a slight pause as everyone in the room remembered that they were not talking about a hypothetical question. Tosh took a sip of her coffee and then blinked at it in surprise as she realised it existed at all. She gave Ianto a little nod of thanks and he smiled acknowledgment in return.

Gripping the mug in one hand, Tosh brought up a new display on the main screen. What looked to Ianto's medically untrained eye like a DNA helix rotated slowly in front of them.

"Some people, including your Agent Mulder, have a undeveloped predisposition, possibly artificially induced, towards a form of psychic ability," she said slowly. "Normally it has no effect on anything except maybe slightly lowering their chances of getting some cancers. However, it is similar enough to part of the Thosove nucleotide chains that exposure to parts of a Thosove ship might trigger that ability by trying to force a connection."

There was a certain amount of frustration leaking into Alex's growled, "Which means what?"

"Probably, telepathy and no way to turn it off." Tosh's voice held an edge of horror, enough, Ianto suspected, to make Alex back off a little.

As angry as he was, Ianto was of the belief that Alex had a bit of a soft spot for their technical genius. It probably had something to do with the reputation they were beginning to get in the pool rooms. Alex aside, the way Jack was focussing on Tosh suggested that the incident with Mary hadn't been forgotten by either of them. Ianto made a mental note to talk to Jack about introducing the basic psychic training that had been mandatory at Torchwood One; it wouldn't be much but it might soothe a few fears and offer some hope for future dealings.

"I'd classify that as bad," Jack agreed.

"I'll run some simulations," Tosh said quietly. "See if we can get a more exact model and some idea of how to counter it."

"Thank you." Ianto thought Alex sounded a little defeated which was unlike him.

Jack gave her a nod and she began making notes on her palmtop, withdrawing from the meeting almost as fully as if she had stood up and left. One day Ianto was sure she was going to try and spear food with her stylus or enter data with her chopstick.

"Is that enough to go on, Alex?" Jack asked.

Alex blew a deep breath down the phone. "More than we had before."

"We," Gwen mouthed silently.

Jack shook his head at her. Ianto knew he trusted Alex not to say anything unless it was necessary and to clean up after himself if security was compromised. Nicholas perhaps? He knew more than he was probably supposed to about Torchwood and Alex could easily have enlisted his help.

"Call if you need anything else," Jack instructed, "and be careful".

"Always," Alex agreed.

"Good luck." Jack signed off. "Torchwood Three out."

Ianto collected his mental notes together into a list. He would start acting on it as soon as the remains of dinner had been tidied away.



Next Part...

Comments

[lunamazes.livejournal.com]

you are fast. I just read chapter 11 this morning, and you updated again.
^_____________^

[fides.livejournal.com]

:-) Thank you but I think you just got lucky on the timing. I've been posting one part a day and that will continue until I run out of story.

I'm glad you are enjoying it :-)