Fffc Bingo Card - Emergency cleaning

[m_findlow]

Title: Emergency cleaning 
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Gwen, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none 
Author notes: Written for Bingo Card Prompt 84 - Dirty at fffc
Summary: The hub is in disarray but only Gwen has seemed to notice. 

Gwen stared around the hub in a kind of muted horror. What had once appeared to be just the hub in its normal, every day state, had suddenly transformed into something else entirely. There were pizza boxes scattered all over the place, some still with slightly moulding slices of meat feast probably living in them. Desks were piled high with files that lay open and their pages strewn across every surface, intermingling to the point that she was no longer certain that bundling them up meant they were even going to end up back in the correct files. There were jackets and coats hanging over railings and across the back of the sofa, shoes caked in two inches of hardened mud from a rural trek some two weeks ago that had never made the journey back to their respective homes to be cleaned. The rift pool looked three shades murkier than she remembered and in one spot was actually bubbling up like there was something living in it. And the water tower itself was turning green from some kind of algae that started at the base of the pool and was working its way northward at what must have been several inches a day. Even the air smelled bad, like sweaty gym clothes mixed with rotting corpse. God, she prayed there were none of those hidden in the medical bay cabinets, though it would account for the smell. 

All in all the place was hideous and she couldn't understand how it had gotten that way. Ianto had been in Washington for two months, assisting Rex in setting up their flagship US base of operations and in that time, the rest of them had been slowly letting Torchwood Three fall into a ruiness mess. 

She shook her head as the true extent of the disaster unfolded before her eyes. There was no way all of this had happened simply due to Ianto's absence. There was no way that Ianto would have found the time to keep all of this clean. Not these days when he was frantically busy keeping a whole network of Torchwood outposts under control. Even when he'd been nothing more than their general support officer, a job like this would consume your life. She was pretty sure they hadn't ignored him so much that they hadn't even noticed. Perhaps he had alien fairies that he let out at night who empty the place so neat and tidy. 

'Why the long face, Gwen Cooper?' Jack said, entering the hub with a very tall and very contraband takeaway coffee cup, slupring at the narrow opening with a sound bordering on obscene. 

'Ianto's coming back tomorrow,' Gwen said. 

'I know. Isn't it great? I mean, the phone calls and the video chats are fine, but Gods I've missed him. I'm seriously thinking of taking a few days off just to stay in bed to catch up on all the time we've missed. The next time he says he wants to go and personally oversee the establishment of a new branch office I say we lock him up in one of the cells until he sees sense.'

Gwen rolled her eyes. Jack was so tough in so many situations but when it came to Ianto he was absolute putty in the man's hands. 'Aren't you worried?' 

Jack's eyebrows knitted together. 'Worried about what?' 

Gwen threw her hands around her. 'About this! Just look at the place, Jack. It's turned into an absolute bloody pig sty without us even noticing it. He's going to lose his mind when he walks in here.' 

Jack looked around and began to see what Gwen was now seeing. 'Oh.' He didn't say anything more but Gwen knew that more was going on in his head, like what kind of reception Ianto would give him at home for letting the hub become so overrun with mess and filth. She didn't have to guess to know it wouldn't be pleasant. Ianto was a calm head and a good leader, but he could demonstrate a temper that would rival even Jack's. 

'We'd better do something,' Jack finally said. 

'You gather the troops. I'll start making a plan.' 

And plan Gwen did, breaking them up into teams to tackle all the different parts of the hub. The first sweep was for general rubbish, the second for their desks and work areas, and then Gwen had them set to wash, scrub and sweep every last inch. 

'Where are the cleaning products?' she asked, kneeling at the cupboards under the kitchen sink, expecting bottles of detergents, sponges and bin bags. 'Don't tell me no one around here is checking on and restocking supplies.' What the hell went on in this place? These things were surely no longer in Ianto's remit. Someone must be responsible for them. 

Gwen snapped her fingers at Penny. 'You go stock up at Tesco on everything from the cleaning aisle, including a few new mops and scrubbing brushes. We'll make a start with what we have.' 

Jack plodded over, looking uncomfortable in the heavy rubber waders. 'How come I got stuck cleaning the rift pool and scrubbing the water tower?' 

Gwen gave him the eye. 'You have to ask? He left you in charge so you get the worst job for letting things get this bad.' 

Jack groaned and conceded the point, trudging off with his bucket and broom. They both knew what was at stake if they didn't. Ianto would be absolutely furious and they'd never hear the end of it. It was far better for them to clean it now than to wait for him to set them on a cleaning schedule. As punishment, he'd probably have them on their hands and knees doing it with toothbrushes, just to prolong the task and teach them a lesson. No one would be immune, not ever her and Jack, the two most senior people below Director. And maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't ever let things get this bad again.