m_findlow

Title: The one that got away
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 983 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, it levitated and got away. I so didn't see that coming " at fic_promptly
Summary: Looks can be deceiving

Owen grumbled as the muddy ground caught beneath his shoe, damp twigs and leaves sticking to the underside, making each step more treacherous than the last.

'Don't even say it,' Ianto cut him off before he had a chance to draw breath, wanting to hear none of Owen's protests about having to traipse though the mire.

'Why does Jack never have to go out on these hunts? Is it because you don't want him messing up that pretty little coat?'

'Jack does more than his share of messy, dirty, dusty and otherwise unpleasant retrievals,' Ianto replied. 'Believe me, I have the laundry bill to prove it. No, Jack wanted to be here and I put my foot down. If he doesn't take that call with the PM that he's been dodging for weeks, there's a good chance we could lose some of our funding.'

'I thought we were above all that?'

'We answer to the Crown, but the government still hold some of the purse strings. Not all, but enough to make things challenging.'

Owen huffed. 'Better than him than me, I suppose. I'd tell them to get knotted.'

Ianto smirked. 'So does Jack. That's half the problem.'

They continued trampling through the thick underbrush, knocking branches out of their path, and receiving a trickling of water on their heads as thanks for disturbing them.

'Shouldn't be too far now,' Ianto said, studying the readings on his PDA.

They eventually came up on a small clearing in the forest, at the centre of which was a small moss covered rock, about the size of a football. Owen stood there and looked around for signs of anything alien, or human, that could account for the signal they'd received.

'Just the rift dumping more garbage on us again,' Owen had moaned. Unable to spot anything obvious, he kicked the rock in frustration.

'Ow! That really hurt.'

'Well, maybe you shouldn't have kicked it,' Ianto replied.

'Well, wasn't like I was expecting it to be that hard.' He gave it another firm tap with his shoe. 'Solid as,' he said.

Ianto ran another scan of the area, having also been unable to spot anything. Then he looked down at the rock and lowered his PDA to get a closer scan.

'It's the rock,' he said.

'Come again?'

'The rock. That's what fell through the rift. It's soaked in residual radiation.'

'Great. An even bigger waste of time than usual. A rock in a forest. Let's just leave it here. Not as if anyone's going to miss it. Not exactly going to arm us against the future, is it?'

Ianto chewed his lip, scanning it again. 'It's still soaked in radiation. We should probably take it back, just in case.'

'Seriously? Who's going to bother? It looks right at home here.'

'Until something weird happens.'

Owen, poked at it for a movement. 'Yeah, alright,' he said, bending down to lift it up.

'Bloody hell! This thing weighs a ton!'

'Come on, muscles,' Ianto teased.

'I'm serious. You try it if you're so good. Let's find out if all that exercise with Jack pays off.'

Ianto rolled his eyes at Owen and proceeded to bend his knees, giving it a properly OH and S lift. Only it didn't budge.

'Flipping hell, it really is heavy.'

'Told you so.'

'Okay, you grab this side and I'll grab the other,' Ianto suggested, thinking how ridiculous it was that it would take both of them to lift a soccer ball sized rock. They put every last bit of effort into it, but they managed to only lift it an inch or two off the ground before dropping it back down, exhausted by the effort.

'That's no ordinary rock,' Ianto said.

'Must be some kind of super dense alien rock,' Owen agreed.

Ianto brushed his hands together. 'Okay, you stay here. There's an anti gravity clamp in the SUV. I'll go fetch it.'

'Hang on, why do I have to stay here?'

'You want to walk all the way back to the car and back again?'

'Yeah, see you in a bit,' Owen readily agreed, already waving him off.

The walk back to the car wasn't quiet as bad an Ianto expected. Not having a grumbling medic alongside him, cursing and grunting at every fallen branch and stone certainly helped. On a nicer day, it would have actually been quite pleasant. He reached the SUV and flipped open the boot, rifling through one of the equipment containers until he found the small, metal handle he was looking for, and began making his way back to where Owen was waiting for him. Halfway back he heard Owen chirp in his ear over his comms device.

'What is it?' Ianto asked.

'You know that anti gravity clamp?'

'Yeah,' he said, looking down at the object in his hand.

'Don't bother.'

Ianto frowned. 'Uh, why not? Have you suddenly developed super powers? No, never mind,' he said, 'I'm almost there now.'

When he arrived back in the clearing Owen was standing there just where he'd left him, but the rock was nowhere to be seen.

'Where is it?' he asked.

'See, that's the bit you won't believe.'

Ianto raised his eyebrows at Owen. 'I work for Torchwood. I'll believe just about anything. Try me.'

Owen grimaced, feeling ten kinds of stupid. 'Well, uh, it kind of levitated, and then got away.'

'Huh,' Ianto said. 'Didn't see that coming. So, where is it now?'

'No idea.'

'Right. So, what do we do now?'

'Go home?' Owen suggested.

Ianto looked around, then up at the sky, hoping to perhaps spy their mysterious flying rock, but all he could see was barren trees and grey skies. No sign of alien space rocks.

'This one's going to take a bit of explaining to Jack,' he said.

Owen clapped him on the shoulder, headed for the car. 'Lucky you're so convincing, then.'