Fffc May Special Daily Challenge (May 12th) - Hand delivered

[m_findlow]

Title: Hand delivered
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Owen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,559 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for fffc May Special Daily Challenge - May 12th - Monster hospital (Metric)
Summary: Owen is getting a special delivery from Cardiff.

'Alright, yeah, back it up,' Owen called out to the reversing truck, using hand signals to direct it into the narrow garage space. He was growing impatient with the slowness and the care it was being moved at. Who was this idiot behind the wheel? 'Yeah, come on, we haven't got all day!'

The truck finally came to a halt and Owen marched up to the cab, intending on giving the driver a mouthful.

'Hello,' Ianto said, smiling through the window.

'Oh, it's you,' Owen said, is vitriolic comments dying on the tip of his tongue. 'Didn't see that coming.'

Ianto hopped out of the cab and stood in front of him. 'Yeah. This one's a little on the delicate side. Thought I'd like to handle it personally.'

'No Jack?'

He shrugged. 'Couldn't leave Cardiff completely unsupervised.'

'God help them, then,' Owen  muttered, shaking his hand. 'Good to see you.'

'Likewise,' Ianto replied. 'I don't get down to London nearly as often as I'd like. I miss you guys.'

'Don't sugar-coat it on my behalf,' Owen smirked. 'You only miss Tosh.'

'It's true,' Ianto joked. 'The less I see of you, the better.'

'Ain't that the truth?' Owen replied. 'One thing I don't miss is patching you up on a regular basis.'

Ianto grinned. 'No, I do all of that myself these days.'

Owen sighed and rolled his eyes again. 'Immortal and invincible are not the same thing.

Everyone here in London would feel a lot better if their boss didn't get beat up, blown up and torn up doing his job.'

Ianto nudged him as they walked to the back of the van. 'Didn't know you cared.'

Owen shoved him back. 'I don't. But Tosh would kill me if I didn't pass on the sentiment.'

Ianto deftly unbolted the latch on the back of the van and heaved open the door. 'It's okay,' he cooed at the creature in the back. 'Uncle Owen here is going to make you feel better.'

'God, you have lost it,' Owen muttered. 'Marriage and a promotion have made you go soft in the head.'

'The marriage more than the promotion, I hope,' he replied. He reached in a grabbed a thick leash, carefully tugging on it to coax the creature off its bed of blankets. It was a dumpy looking thing with six squat little legs, big doe eyes and a nose and tail that looked so similar it was hard to tell which was the front end and which was the rear.

'What happened to it?'

'We don't know. But it's clearly distressed and in some pain. It seemed fine when we first found it, but it's since gone off its food and started making all kinds of awful noises. I'm concerned it make have been injured when it came through the rift but that it's only just started to present symptoms in the last twenty four hours. We did what we can but we're not experts.' He gave what Owen assumed was its nose a gentle pat, and it made the most mournful sound despite the tenderness of the touch.

'Alright,' Owen said, 'let's get it inside so I can have the team take a look.'

Unlike Owen, who was usually completely disorganised, his small team of medical experts were there ready and waiting to receive their latest patient. There was a trolley and blankets, and lots of equipment for monitoring all kinds of things. Reluctant as he was to leave the poor thing, Ianto knew it would be in good hands, watching as they rolled it down the hall and away into an examination room. 'So, do I get through fifty pence tour while I'm here?' Ianto asked, looking around.

Owen rolled his eyes, sighing. 'What the director wants, the director gets, I suppose.'

Ianto grinned. 'You know, I'm never going to get tired of hearing you say that.'

'Yeah, don't get used to it. You being in charge is even more horrifying than Jack.'

'Thanks for the vote of confidence. I've been doing this for a while now and I haven't destroyed the planet yet.'

'Keep it that way, if you can. I'm more worried about us all being drowned in paperwork.'

'I'll do my best. So, this is your new facility?'

'Yep, welcome to Torchwood's monster hospital.'

Ianto was quietly impressed. Some of the old Torchwood facilities had been given a new lease of life thanks to a really big cheque. There was no longer a shiny building in the middle of Canary Wharf showing itself off, but they now had two new research facilities in the heart of London. From the outside they looked plain and unobtrusive, but the inside was something else altogether.

One was solely for the purposes of technological research and development, and the other an advanced medical treatment centre. Had it not been for the miraculous return of the two friends he thought he'd lost years ago, he never would have contemplated letting Torchwood activities go unsupervised so far from Cardiff, but with Tosh and Owen heading up each facility respectively, he had every confidence that they'd start making some good progress. There was more than enough to keep them busy in Cardiff without time dedicated to more detailed projects. It was just starting to go the way he'd always dreamed it would, Torchwood expanding and having a purpose beyond just keeping an eye on the rift.

The sparkling new facilities were quite something, as Owen showed him around the various laboratories and medical suites. He even spotted a few aliens that had come through the rift in Cardiff, since transported to London for treatment and care, much like the one he'd delivered this morning.

'What proportion of them are being transferred to Cwm Noddfa?' he asked, curious to know. The large swathe of Welsh valleys land had become a refuge for aliens that couldn't be returned home, making it a sanctuary.

'Thought you'd be across that,' Owen replied. 'Down there every other weekend aren't you?'

'I wish,' Ianto replied. The small homestead that accompanied the property had become something of a refuge itself, but one reserved for him and Jack. Its isolation, even from the rest of the sanctuary made it the perfect place to escape to when they needed a few days to rest and recharge. Checking on things while they were there was just a good excuse for having to go out there.

'We've probably got about sixty percent being transferred to Cwm Noddfa once they're well enough. Twenty percent go for resettlement in the cities, and the majority balance are taken by monthly transport.'

'How's that working out?' Jack had been the one to negotiate a regular transport ship to stop by Earth to pick up some of their visitors and taken them either back home or to a point where they could find their own way home.

'Timing is a little off. If they could give us two days notice, we'd be better prepared. Sometimes we only get an hour or two warning.'

'I'll mention it to Jack when I get home.' He watched on as they passed a room where two staff were making accommodations more comfortable for a family of Gashkans, which had taken a rather fortuitous crash landing not far from the facility itself. Ianto had been reading through the report only a few days earlier. Had they been a bit further afoot, the medical team might not have reached them in time. It wasn't the sort of thing you could take them to A and E for, especially having to explain why they looked nothing like humans. The assistance they'd received was first class and life saving.

'As for the rest, do you guys have everything you need?'

'I can always do with a pay rise,' Owen said. 'Tosh too, while you're at it.'

He rolled his eyes. 'You get paid plenty, Owen.'

He shrugged. 'Doesn't hurt to ask.'

'Well, looks like you've got things well in  hand here,' he said. He was glad he'd taken the trip, despite the circumstances and the hellish peak hour traffic.

'Such a tone of surprise,' Owen quipped. 'One of these days you're going to realise that I know what I'm doing.'

'One day,' Ianto teased. 'Well, I suppose I should be heading back. Let me know when Tessie is feeling better? I think I'd like to take her down to Cwm Noddfa myself. I've got just the spot she might like.'

'Tessie?'

'Your newest guest.'

'Still naming things, I see,' Owen said.

'Someone has to. I figure if I'm the boss no one can argue with me.' He smiled. 'It's really good to see you,' he said shaking Owen's hand again.

'We're not a million miles away, you know. Tosh would love you to come round for dinner.'

'I know. I'll make sure to bring Jack next time.'

'I didn't say anything about wanting him round for dinner.'

Ianto laughed. 'He has a fragile ego, so we probably can't avoid bringing him over.'

'Yeah, alright, but only because it's you asking. Anything else?'

'Just one thing. Don't call it the monster hospital.'

'Alien rehabilitation centre is too much if a mouthful. Besides, that's what Jack calls it. Might've been him who came up with the name in the first place.'

He sighed. 'Of course it was.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Lovely, it's good to see Ianto getting out of Cardiff occasionally to visit his friends, although I bet Tosh will be sorry she didn't get to see him.

I hope Tessie will be okay.