AdventChallenge Bingo - Under the tree (Prompt 8 - Christmas Tree)

[m_findlow]

Title: Under the tree
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack, Ianto
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Prompt 8 - Christmas Tree at adventchallenge

At first, Jack though someone had turned out the lights, then he felt the huge bristly creature tugging at his coat as he stood there trapped.

'Ianto! I'm being attacked,' he said into his comms.

'Wait, what?' Ianto cried, nearly steering himself off the road at the sudden news.

Jack backed up against the mirrored panels of the water tower. 'It's big and green and bushy, and it's everywhere!'

'Okay, Jack. Just slow down and tell me everything. What happened?'

'I was coming up on the invisible lift, about to go and check out a rift alert, and as soon as I got to the top, I was surrounded.'

'And you think it's some kind of alien?'

'Yes!'

'You idiot.'

'What? You mean you know what this thing is?'

Ianto sighed. 'If by big, green bushy thing, you mean the giant Christmas tree that the council erected, the yes.'

'Christmas tree?'

'Yes, Jack. They turned the water tower into a Christmas tree.'

'When did they do that?'

'Jack, it's been there nearly a week. How have you not noticed a forty foot Christmas tree standing out in the middle of the Plass?'

'I've been busy!'

He heard Ianto groan on the other end of the line, and mutter the words "give me strength".

'So, what do I do now?'

'I'm not sure I understand the question.'

'How do I get out?'

'Ah, one would think you just go back down the invisible lift, and go out one of the other exits. There are sixteen of them to choose from.'

'But I'm in a hurry!'

'Of course you are.'

'Can I just crawl through the tree?'

Ianto gripped the steering wheel hard, letting out a long breath. What he wouldn't give to be parked out the front right now to watch Jack ungracefully forcing his way out from under a Christmas tree. 'You can try,' he said.

Jack began pushing his way through the dense bristles, feeling better now that he knew they wouldn't eat him alive. It was a lot trickier than he anticipated, finding a path through.

'You know, Ianto, they should really send us a memo about this stuff.'

'I'll write to them in the new year and ask that we be kept apprised of anything that might impede our invisible, nobody knows about it, secret entrance to our "outside the government beyond the police" lair.'

'If I didn't know better, I'd say you were mocking me,' Jack said, finally spilling out through the other side and coming face to face with the decorative green monolith.

'Who me?' Ianto said.

As Christmas trees went, it was pretty impressive. For someone who loved Christmas as much as he did, that was saying something.

'You wanna come and see this, Ianto,' he said, admiring the beach ball sized baubles.

'I have seen it Jack. As has half of Cardiff. Only you seem to be living under a rock.'

'Living under a Christmas tree, thank you very much!' he retorted.