Torchwood-fest - Secret getaway

[m_findlow]

Title: Secret getaway
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,351 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Prompt - Snowed in at torchwood_fest. Sequel to my fic "Snowed in"
Summary: Ianto is stunned by Jack's secret surprise holiday for him.

Ianto still couldn't quite believe the cheek of his team. They'd all conspired to help Jack drive him out here to the middle of nowhere with the express purpose of knowing he and Jack would get snowed in and have to spend the next few days holed up until the snowstorms relented.

He supposed at least they were holed up somewhere nice. The more he wandered around the country house the more he felt immediately at home. Hotels were nice for their fancy decor and pristine white bathrooms, their bedsheets pressed to perfection and their five hundred television channels, but there was something so cosy about an old house in the middle of rural Wales as far from everyone and everything as was possible. The snow just made it even more isolated and inviting. It was then kind of place that, had they not already been booked in to stay, they might have pulled over and knocked on the door, asking if it would be okay for them to come in to shelter from the worst of the inclement weather. He could only imagine how unpleasant it would have been if they'd been stuck in the SUV, unable to drive through the roads with their twelve inches of snow. Their heater would last only so long as their fuel did, and the last thing they'd want would be to be stuck in no man's land with no fuel, even if it meant putting up with the cold inside the car. Emergency blankets and huddling together would only conserve so much warmth, and that was to say nothing about what they'd have to eat or drink.

This must have taken Jack ages to plan, Ianto decided, finding the right place, and getting the weather forecast just right to ensure they'd be stuck here and wouldn't be able to rush back to the city when Ianto got an attack of the guilty conscience. Bloody Jack. And bloody hell, but his whole team had been in on the secret, right down to their young archivist, who to the best of his knowledge, couldn't have lied to save herself. He was going to have stern words for his team when he got back about keeping secrets from their boss, even if their intentions were totally honorable.

Ianto stepped into the bedroom to check it out. He'd already been through the kitchen and bathroom, finding both fully stocked with everything they could possibly need. This was a bed and breakfast with the works. The probably could have lived here for weeks without needing to ever drive miles to the nearest local shops for extra provisions. The bed was king size and covered in thick quilted blankets that looked very warm and snug. He expected they'd spend quite a bit of time there over the next few days if Jack had anything to say about it. When he turned to stare out the large bay windows, he could see the snow already beginning to fall into heavy drifts, blanketing the entire hillside in white for as far as the eye could see. The showy outlines of the tall trees that surrounded the property were quickly disappearing into the thick whiteness of everything else.

Ianto hated being out in the snow, constantly worried about the way it would make his shoes and socks end up soaked and freezing, or the nasty black ice that would sit invisibly on the ground unnoticed until right before it decided to get underfoot and land him on his bottom, breaking an ankle in the process. Rain was much better than snow, even if as a Welshman he was entitled to complain about the rain as much as he liked. Tucked up inside were it was nice and warm with no need to go outside, he could appreciate the snow for being beautiful rather than a nuisance and a hazard.

'What am I going to do with you, Jack?' he muttered to himself. He would have protested at taking a few days holiday when they had so much to do before Christmas, but he knew Jack would have eventually worn him down despite his arguments to the contrary. He wouldn't have minded knowing in advance, however, and having a few days of his own to plan and make sure they had everything, and that everything back at the hub was in order, and that his people knew what to do in their absence. He could only hope Jack had packed them whatever they needed. A few warm clothes, a razor and a toothbrush was probably as far as Jack went. Even clothes was a stretch. Jack no doubt expected they wouldn't need much of those either. As for then team back in Cardiff, well, he'd just have to hope they'd listened well and taken on board everything he and Jack had ever taught them. And Gwen would be there to keep an eyes on things, so what was the worst that could happen?

He unzipped the bag to find out for himself what had been packed and began hanging things up in the wardrobe and tucked into the drawers so that they wouldn't be too crumpled. By the time he was done, he felt more at home, having things in their right place. He hated living out of a suitcase.

Where was Jack? he wondered. By now he should have been nagging Ianto to stop fussing and get it to bed with him. Instead it was all spookily quiet.

He padded back out of the room, down the hallway and into the living room. There, curled up on the sofa asleep in front of the crackling fireplace was Jack. Lazy git, Ianto thought. Whose holiday is this, anyway? He couldn't be mad at Jack though. The drive here had been long and horrendous in the conditions, taking all of their concentration just to keep an eye on the road that was disappearing into the fog and the snow. He'd been worried that despite the amount of care they were taking, that they might skid off the road and end up rolled in a ditch full of snow. No one would find them for days, especially if the car became buried in the heavy snowfall. Had he known that they weren't off on some trip to investigate weird alien signals, he might have asked Jack to slow down a tad more. The only urgency they had was beating the snowstorm to their destination, and they'd barely just managed it as the snow started to fall heavily as they jogged from the car to the house.

'You're impossible, Jack,' he muttered, still not quite believing the amount of planning and sheer cunning that had gone into this. It definitely deserved a reward of some kind - Ianto had just assumed he might be expected to hold up his end of the bargain a lot sooner.

Instead Ianto continued to check out the facilities, finding a large blanket box behind the sofa stacked full of cosy looking fur throws. He pulled one out and gently laid it over Jack who was now snoring softly over the crackling of the fire. He pulled out a second knitted one for himself and went over to the shelves on the opposite wall. They were chock full of books of all kinds and it took him good fifteen minutes of scanning all the spines to decide on just one. They'd only be here a few days, maybe a week. It wasn't like he was going to get through too many books during their stay, so he reasoned that he was allowed to be fussy.

Settling on his book of choice, he snuggled up on the sofa in the narrow space left next to Jack and curled his legs under him before pulled the blanket over his lap. It was toasty with the fire going, and the snow and gales outside - and his responsibilities as Torchwood's director and leader - were quickly becoming a distant memory as he opened up to page one, melting away like the winter snows on a spring day.