Anythingdrabble Challenge 151 - Out of the ordinary

[m_findlow]

Title: Out of the ordinary
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack, Ianto
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG.
Notes: Written for Challenge 151 - Thunder at anythingdrabble
Summary: Taking it for granted that things are normal is dangerous when you work for Torchwood.

The sound of rumbling woke Jack from where he'd been happily slumbering. The boom rolled over their rooftop, makings its declaration loud and clear. About forty seconds after the first one that woke him, a second thunderous rumbling swept through.

Jack gave his lover a gentle nudge and Ianto squirmed reluctantly awake. 'What?' he mumbled into the duvet.

'There's rumbling outside.'

Ianto gave him a sleepy sigh. 'So? It's a thunderstorm. Big deal.' He didn't let Jack argue the point further. Instead he rolled over and wrapped the duvet tightly around him, signaling he had every intention of going straight back to sleep.

Jack felt put out by the action. His husband was attuned to wake at the tiniest little sound, which often included Jack's concerted attempts to sneak into bed after a late shift at the hub. He'd have thought that after all these years Ianto could sleep through absolutely anything, but he was still as alert to danger as ever. The only thing he seemed to sleep through was the weather. It could rumble and pelt down with the worst rain in a decade and Ianto would sleep through the entire thing. "How did there come to be three inches of water in our basement?" he'd asked one morning after it had bucketed rain all night long. "Didn't you hear it?" Jack replied. "Hear what?" Their offspring seemed to have inherited their father's ability to discount natural phenomenon. Even Buddy no longer whined and insisted on forcing his way under their duvet to huddle between them.

Tonight was proving to be more of the same as the thunder outside continued to rumble loudly at intervals. By his slow breathing, Jack could tell Ianto was already asleep again. He moved closer to spoon Ianto's body, wrapping an arm around him and tucking his head close against the edge of Ianto's pillow, trying to follow his lead.

Sleep evaded Jack as he listened and counted off the intervals between rumblings, expecting their room to become momentarily illuminated by the lightning flashes in between, forcing their way around the edges of the drawn curtains. There was no sound of rain either, and the absence of both gnawed at him.

He disentangled himself from Ianto and got up, padding to the window and pulling back the curtain. In the sky he spotted the problem. A huge circular spacecraft hovered just above their neighbourhood, dull green lights circling around its outer edges in a chasing sequence. The rumbling wasn't thunder, it was their engines disturbing the very air as it hovered, seemingly searching for an appropriate spot to land itself.

'Ianto!' Jack called out.

Ianto rolled over and groaned before seeing what Jack did through their bedroom window. 'Oh. Not a thunderstorm, then.'

Jack could have laughed at the nonchalant response were it not for the seriousness of the situation.

'Recognise it?'

'Nope.'

Ianto was up in an instant. 'Okay, I'll get the kids, you get the dog.'

'Meet you at the SUV.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Family field trip in the middle of the night? Are they going to guide the nice aliens to a suitable landing place?