Torchwood: Fanfic: An act of patience

[m_findlow]

Title: An act of patience
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 679 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "Torchwood, Ianto, Ianto Jones, patience of a saint" at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto should be at the end of his tether, but still he gets on with things.

Not again, Ianto thinks as he approaches the scene, slowing down as the bright flashing lights of the SUV come into view. This always happens when he brings the van.

He doesn't mind being left behind at the hub. Sometimes a rift alert just doesn't need five people in attendance, and though the SUV is roomy, even three of them in the back can get quite cosy, and a little bit awkward if you happen to be pressed up against Owen. He usually is, since the last spot in the car is the one in the middle of the backseat. Sometimes it's a blessing not to have to go out with them. The way Jack drives, he'd likely to end up thrown right through the front window from his rather unprotected spot in the back seat.

He'd just sat down with a fresh cup of coffee when the call came through from Jack. 'Ianto, were gonna need the van.'

Right. He grabs the keys and sets off.

Unlike the SUV, there's nothing special about the Torchwood van. Perhaps that's a good thing. He's always been a bit disconcerted over the fact that a so-called secret organisation had their name emblazoned all over the roof of their vehicle. Between that, the blue flashing lights, and the way Jack drives, it's drawing a lot more attention than it rightly should. The van however is about as inconspicuous as you can get. Just one of those plain white sideloading vans - a dime a dozen in a city the size of Cardiff. Every tradesman and courier has one, so no one thinks to look twice at one where it suddenly turns up to collect something that no one should see.

It's all kitted out on the inside as well, though by kitted up, Ianto simply means that he has tarpaulin down to save on cleaning, and that the doors have double locks on them in case whatever it is he's come to collect decides it doesn't want to play nice. Mostly though it's just used for picking up larger items and the occasional dead alien that's too big for the SUV's boot. That's the reason for tonight's call out.

The problem he always seems to has though is parking. For some reason there's never a clear place to park the van. Sometimes it's on account of the location, and sometimes it's because the place is already swarming with police cars and SOCO vans, all vying for a space close to the scene. He doesn't understand why they feel the need to be that close. They've got legs, don't they? And it's not as if they're the ones who are going to have to lug whatever it is three blocks away to a minivan. He should be getting priority parking.

Tonight however, it's not the overzealous police out in force, nor a crowded street which has the best curry house in Cardiff on its corner. No, tonight it's all Jack's fault. The only reason there's no bloody parking is because the stupid pillock has parked diagonally across three spaces, dumping the SUV in his haste to get to the scene. Ianto sighs. As if he needs his job to be any harder, forced to park half a block away and around a corner in the first available space. By the time he walks back to the scene the rest of them are already packed up and milling about, as Jack watches him approach.

'What took you so long?' he asks, making Ianto want to smack him around the back of the head.

'Some idiot took up all the available parking.'

Jack looked annoyed by the news. They had a job to do and it didn't need to be any harder than it already was. 'Did you call to have them towed?'

'I considered it,' Ianto replied, 'but I wasn't sure if there'd be room enough in the van for the dead alien plus all four of you.' He secretly hoped there was. Perhaps then they'd think twice about how they parked the SUV in future.