Torchwood: Fanfic: Reel work

[m_findlow]

Title: Reel work
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 2,093 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, fishing out on the lake" at fic_promptly
Summary: The team weren't expecting to land a catch quite this big.

'You know,' Ianto began, 'I never really did understand people's obsession with fishing.' He switched the fishing rod from one hand to the other and transferred his free had into his coat pocket. If he'd known it was going be this cold by the water's edge, he'd have brought his gloves as well.

'Rhys always used to say that he and the boys would go on a fishing weekend but it never happened,' Gwen replied, stretching out her stiffening muscles as she stood just off to his right, her own fishing rod in hand. 'I think once they realised that they didn't have any of the equipment and would have to be organised enough to make sure they got everything they needed, it was just easier to go to the pub instead. All they really wanted was a place to go get pissed away from their girlfriends and wives.' She paused and tilted her head to one side in deep thought. 'Actually, maybe they managed to go camping once but I think even that became too much hard work. They all came back with man flu which just proves alcohol isn't as warming as you're lead to believe.'

'Camping!' Jack cried out, beaming a smile out over the lake as he cast his line into the water once more. 'We should go camping some time. Just us and the great outdoors for some team bonding. No aliens. No rift.'

'And a bunch of bloodthirsty cannibals,' Ianto muttered. 'Camping has really lost its appeal after that experience. And quite frankly, don't we spend enough time together as it is?'

'Oh, come on,' Jack moaned. 'We never even got to the camping part. How can that count?'

Ianto frowned at his lover. 'We pitched tents and made a fire. That's camping.'

'But we didn't get to snuggle in sleeping bags or toast marshmallows or tell ghost stories...'

'I'm quite happy snuggling under my duvet at home,' he replied. 'I've done camping. Trust me, snuggling in the freezing cold is not as romantic as it sounds. I like my creature comforts. Fluffy duvets, hot running water, coffee...'

'I'm with Ianto,' Gwen agreed.

'Spoilsports,' Jack grumbled. 'Anyway, was that a thinly veiled complaint about fishing I heard earlier?'

Ianto held back a smirk. 'It might have been. Standing out here for hours hoping to catch something and then letting it go. Why waste all those hours trying to catch something if you're just going to let it go again? No to mention the trauma for the poor fish.'

'I heard that the fish don't mind it so much, being caught,' Gwen said.

'Would you if you were plucked out, thinking you were minding you own business?' Ianto argued. 'Who asked the fish whether it was happy about that?'

'Ianto, I had no idea you were such an animal activist,' Jack teased.

'I'm not. I'm just saying. Visit the aquarium if you want to get up close and personal with a fish. I prefer mine battered with chips and vinegar.'

'Well, today I'm less worried about what trauma we might cause the local fish than I am what this thing might do if we don't catch it,' Jack replied, scanning the water for any sign of movement. 'I'll bet the fish aren't too happy about their latest visitor either.'

'Assuming it's even in here,' Gwen snapped, as an icy cold wind tore right through her jacket, sending shivers down her spine.

Jack gave her a withering look. 'You saw the bite marks on that villager's arms. Unless Welsh lakes are harboring piranhas, then something alien has dropped in here and he was unlucky enough to catch it before it defended itself and made its escape back into the water.'

'An appealing prospect for whichever of us manages to land it,' Ianto replied. 'Perhaps we should have packed the chain mail shirts to protect ourselves.'

'We'll be fine,' Jack assured the pair of them. 'We know what we're dealing with. Sort of.'

Gwen smirked at Jack's last comment. 'What, now you're telling us you're not some expert big game fisher?'

'If it's not young and attractive, it's doubtful Jack could catch it,' Ianto replied.

'So, take it as a compliment that I caught you,' Jack retorted, unable to resist Ianto's banter.

'Stuffed and mounted,' Ianto added. 'Regularly.'

'It could be any one of dozens of alien water creatures,' Jack said, ignoring the double entendre Ianto dangled so temptingly in front of him. 'Just because this planet lacks sharp toothed flesh-eating fish doesn't mean that the rest of the universe is the same.'

Gwen sighed. 'You always make the universe sound like a dream holiday destination. Think I'll stick to road trips and Barry Island theme parks. At least then we're only dealing with the local aliens. What are we supposed to do with it when we catch it?'

'Set up a really big aquarium,' Ianto suggested. 'We could charge admission.'

Gwen's rod suddenly gave a sharp tug and it propelled her forward unexpectedly.

'Oh! Looks like Gwen's got something!' Jack hooted with delight. 'Don't let go!'

'Easier said than done,' she replied, gripping the rod hard and digging her heels into the soft mud at the edge of the lake. 'A little help?'

Ianto dropped his own rod and came over to add his own grip to the quivering handle. The rod was curved so tightly from the battle going on between fisher and fish it looked like it was about to snap at any moment.

Jack's rod suddenly went taught as well. 'I've got one too! he declared.

Ianto squeezed Gwen tighter. 'Don't tell me there's more than one of them.'

Jack began the slow process of reeling it in. The end of the line whipped out of the water and on the other end was something clearly alien. Jack frowned seeing the small ten inch fish creature dangling from the hook, trying to snap its jaws at him.

'A little on the small side,' he said disappointedly, as Gwen and Ianto continued to struggle. He cast his glance between his own catch and the tension on Gwen's line. Ianto now had his arms wrapped all the way around Gwen's body to prevent her from being dragged into the water. 'I think you've got momma over there,' Jack observed.

'You think?' Gwen cried, leaning back as hard as she could.

'She's probably not very happy about you having snagged her offspring either!' Ianto added, grunting with effort.

'Oh. Right,' Jack said, realisation dawning in him. 'Just hang on. I'll go fetch the nets from the SUV!'

'Don't you dare let go, Ianto!' Gwen yelled back at her teammate. Her boots were now lodged several inches in the muddy shore and getting deeper as she fought against the strain on the rod, all the while being tugged ever forward into the water.

Ianto lowered his centre of gravity, leaning back to try and act as a counterweight to momma fish. 'Can I suggest something?'

'Anything!'

'Let go.'

'What?'

'Well it's not going anywhere. It's in a lake. Better it than us.'

Oh, why hadn't she thought of that? She threw her arms wide so that they were well clear of the rod as it zipped quickly out into the water, saving her hands from being torn apart. The suddenly lack of resistance however had her pulled back flat on her back, with Ianto providing a cushion against her fall.

He groaned at her weight lying on top of him on the damp grassy shore. 'It was better in my head than in actual execution,' he said, though at least glad they weren't about to going straight into the drink with the full size version of the hungry snapping creature Jack had fished out. They'd very likely have become its next meal.

Jack was jogging back towards them with the nets when he pulled up, looking confused. 'Did the line break?'

'Something like that,' Ianto replied, Gwen helping him to his feet, not willing to admit they'd voluntarily let it get away.

'Well, that's a nuisance.'

Ianto picked up his fishing rod, which now looked a lot more flimsy than when Jack had suggested this would be the simplest way to deal with the locals little problem. 'Might it be time to suggest we need reinforcements?'

'What are you thinking?'

'Remember when we had to transport that harpie from the bay up to Norway?'

Jack groaned at the inference. 'Just so you know I had to do a lot of feet kissing to borrow UNIT's StarTrack chopper.'

Ianto grinned. 'I promise I'll buy you extra chapstick for the occasion.'

Three phone calls and a bunch of groveling later, Jack had secured use of the chopper and its crew, along with the reinforced steel cable nets that had last time plucked their bayside guest from the chilly Welsh waters and carried it all the way to its new home amongst the fiordlands.

As Jack was boxing up the smaller specimen he'd caught whisky they waited, it snapped angrily at him, trying desperately to at least take his finger for its troubles. 'I wonder if this guy is on his own? I haven't come across this particular species before. I don't know if they spawn multiple offspring or not.'

Ianto frowned at the toothy creature as it thrashed inside the small tank. Friendly it wasn't. 'Let's hope it's just the one. I don't want to find out how quickly they grow up to their full size. That fisherman was lucky it didn't eat him and his whole boat.'

Gwen beamed at Jack. 'As the StarTrack was coming in I asked them to do a thermal imaging scan of the lake, looking for any signs that matched the mother. They didn't find any.'

'And a good thing, too,' Ianto added, taking the tablet computer Gwen offered him and studying the scan results for himself. 'According to these scans, that thing we snagged is at least twenty feet long. We'd have been its lunch if we'd tried to reel it in. Assuming that was even possible.'

Jack threw his coat back on and clapped his hands together as the chopper descended into the valley, whipping up a breeze that tore at their hair and sent ripples across the lake's surface. 'Okay, so let's jump aboard and make like a penny arcade claw machine, snag that giant piranha and give it a one way trip back on the next shadow Proclamation transport ship.'

Despite Jack's rather trite throwaway line, capturing the creature was very much like trying to win a prize in an arcade machine, only made more difficult by the fact that their prize kept moving, determined to evade the steel net that was trying to scoop it up. Eventually however with a but of tricky maneuvering, Jack did manage to get his timing just right, dropping the net over the alien fish and snaring it in its grasp.

'What do we do with it now?' Ianto asked, having stayed safely on the ground with Gwen whilst Jack made friends with UNIT's elite chopper pilots, helping to capture the alien. 'I assume if it's out if the water it won't live very long. We can't just hail a Proclamation ship in the next hour.'

Jack's scratchy voice filtered over their comes units from his noisy spot in the back of the chopper. 'I was thinking about dumping it in the Pen y Coed public swimming pool. It's been closed for months following that hepatitis scare, remember?'

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'How could I forget? It must be the one time the mayor wanted to blame us and found out we actually had nothing to do with it.'

'Yup. Just plain old human poor maintenance,' Jack agreed. 'I figure this thing won't be quite so fussy, so long as it's wet. Think you can manage for that fellas?' Jack asked, giving the pilots one of his winning smiles. 'Drop me off here and we'll leave you to it.'

With a few coordinates set into their navigation systems, they were soon on their way back to Cardiff to drop off their cargo.

'Good work, team,' Jack said, beaming at his two slightly muddy compatriots. 'Let's go home. It'll be dark by the time we get back and I'm starving. Who's for fish and chips? My shout.'

The two of them cringed at the offer.

'If it's all the same to you, Ianto replied, 'I think I'd rather a curry. I've rather gone off fishing after today.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

At least they got the critter. Let's hope it survives its trip to the pool and that the Shadow Proclamation don't take too long to retrieve it!