BTBD Challenge 95 - Pay your way

[m_findlow]

Title: Pay your way
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,391 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 95 - Pay at beattheblackdog
Summary: Jack's learning more and more about the world around him.

Jack pulled into the long curving driveway that snaked around the frontage of the hotel. He grinned inwardly, knowing he was making one hell of an impression.

As much as he loved the SUV, for once he didn't mind having loaned it out to his lover to take himself off to London to attend what Jack described as a mindlessly boring waste of time. Instead, he satisfied himself by pulling out his other car. It almost never saw the light of day, which was a shame, since Ianto had gone to so much trouble to buy it for him, secreting it all the way home and into their garage where it lay in wait as a birthday surprise. Ianto was usually the frugal one in their relationship, but there was nothing at all frugal about a convertible sports car. It was very Jack, sleek and low, and a shade of blue that was almost black, with supple leather in a shade that made Jack think of vanilla ice-cream. It was also polished to a high sheen, his lover having given it regular attention despite its irregular use.

Today though she was being put through her paces, as Jack received an alert of a disturbance at one of Cardiff's finer hotels. The hotel itself was no stranger to the bizarre and alien. It seemed that if you had to drop through a rift in time and space the least you could do was put yourself up somewhere nice. Funny how he'd never actually stayed here himself, a fact that he decided he'd have to rectify once Ianto returned from his UNIT conference. They were owed a weekend away somewhere nice, and since their weekends away were often interrupted, it helped to be close by.

He slid the car right into the front spot, where several hotel staff had the opportunity to admire his wheels, and the man who stepped out of the car, long grey coat floating about him in just the right way. They wouldn't be forgetting him any time soon.

'Good afternoon, sir,' the strapping young man greeted him. In his neatly pressed shirt and luscious red wine vest, he could have doubled for Ianto in a previous life. 'Will you be requiring our valet service?'

'Got it in one,' Jack said, smiling and making a note of the name on the unobtrusive gold lapel tag that said Dean.

'Very good, sir. That will be fifty pounds. You can settle the payment with our concierge desk on your departure.'

Jack nearly choked on the words. Fifty pounds to park his car? Since when? He must have been here a dozen times and never had to pay a cent. He always just rolled up, handed over the keys, and left without a thought. This must be a new development; a way to fleece people of their hard earned.

He was about to let the young man know his feelings on the matter. He didn't care how cute Dean was in those finely cut pants and polished black shoes. Fifty quid was daylight robbery. Instead his vortex manipulator beeped insistently at him and he knew that he had to get going. If it was what he thought it was, he had about ten minutes to get in there before it transformed and started working its way through the all you can eat buffet of hotel guests. Sedating it would stop it from its transmutation until Jack could get it back to the hub and locked away somewhere safe. Vexed by the proposition, he handed the keys over.

'Anyone dings that baby and there'll be hell to pay,' he warned the valet before he slipped through the revolving door entrance.

It didn't take him long to locate the entity and to sedate it, before leaving it slumped behind a pillar in the underground carpark for him to come back and collect. He felt sorry for it in a lot of ways. It wasn't really its fault that it could transmute into a creature with far more basic instincts which included a taste for flesh. It was the exposure to nitrogen in the air, as fundamental a thing as was possible on Earth, but almost completely foreign on its own home world, and problematic to its physiology. Though Jack sometimes found being human a bit boring, it was still a lot more reassuring to know you weren't about to unwillingly transmute into something else just on account of the air.

He leant against the concierge desk, begrudgingly signing the credit card slip that would allow him to regain his car keys, still feeling miffed. This was usually Ianto's job, but never once had he recalled Ianto paying for the pleasure. Usually their encounter was brief, the registration and model noted and the keys duly remitted.

'We can bring the car out front for you, sir,' the concierge said.

'That's okay. I've got a friend waiting down in the car park,' he replied, grabbing the keys before some overly helpful person insisted on collecting both the car and his alien compatriot. He didn't think his fifty quid covered the transport of illegal aliens. That would probably cost extra.

At least it wasn't some slime creature, or something covered in blood, he thought, finding his car and loading his charge into the passenger seat. From a distance, they just looked like they'd fallen asleep. The last thing he wanted was some alien mucking up his nice clean car. Plus Ianto wouldn't thank him for the clean up job when he got back. The SUV was one thing  - part and parcel of the job in keeping it clean - but Jack's own personal car was another matter completely. He'd be cursed from here to the Irish Sea for using it to apprehend filthy aliens.

With the alien safely tucked away in a cell, specially ventilated to strip out the nitrogen in the air until they could find a way to transport it home, Jack returned to his office to tie off some loose ends before calling it a day.

When his phone rang, he couldn't help but smile. Just hearing that voice on the other end of the line would be the perfect way to top off his day. Missing the coffee was a downside, but it was the man himself that Jack missed most.

'Hey gorgeous,' he greeted. 'Having fun in London?'

'Oh, loads. I've no doubt you're enjoying having weaseled your way out of this?'

'With the only exception being that I have to live with you being so far away,' Jack replied.

'I'm sure you'll manage. It's only another three days. How was your day?'  

Jack enjoyed regaling him in every last minute detail, unimportant as they were, just as an excuse to have Ianto on the line as long as possible, before allowing him to finally head to bed. Listening to political and military rhetoric all day long would be exhausting, and a lack of decent coffee wouldn't be helping matters.

'Hey, did you know they started charging for valet parking?' Jack said, pulling his feet up onto the desk. 'I got slammed fifty quid today. It's outrageous what people think they can get away with these days.'

Ianto leaned back on the bed in his hotel room. 'They've always charged for valet parking. You didn't think it was free, did you? I knew there was something I forgot to do before I left.'

'What's that?'

'To add your vehicle registration to our standing account. I knew you couldn't resist taking out the convertible as soon as my back was turned. I hope you didn't leave a mess.'

Jack ignored the minor chastisement and the inference that he always made a mess. 'We have an account?'

'Of course we do. I've got better things to do than spend my whole day at concierge desks and pay stations, paying for parking. The SUV is registered with practically every hotel and parking company in the city.'

'You mean we get charged to park everywhere?'

'Mostly. Although council parking is free after six pm on weekdays, and nine pm on  weekends.'

'But that must be costing us a fortune!'

Ianto laughed. Jack was so oblivious sometimes. He probably thought they still had penny postage as well. 'It's the price you pay for saving the world.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

I love the idea that Ianto has fixed things so that as long as they don't park somewhere illegal they won't get ticketed because they just get billed. Trust Ianto to see to everything!

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

After spending his first three months at Torchwood clearing the backlog of unpaid fines and payment demand letters, he knew he had to do something about it!