Work Text:
Ianto Jones only met Eugene Jones a few times when he went out with the rest of the group on investigations and check-ups, so he wasn’t too broken up when a constable that was not one of his contacts called with the news that Eugene had been killed in a motorcar accident. In fact, Jack had him stay at the Hub to track the Rift. When they got back with the body, Ianto wondered why they were even doing this, but, he shrugged to himself, anything could have been the reason for Eugene’s death, so they had to investigate. But it was a bit of a surprise to have Eugene’s ghost trailing after Gwen when they came back though.
“Ianto,” called Jack. “Can you take Gwen and Owen out to Eugene’s home? We need to see if he was killed because of his collection.”
The Guardian looked up from the monitor that he was sharing with Tosh and waved his hand. “Be right there,” he called.
“So, how do we usually tell a family member that someone they love has been killed?” asked Gwen when they were in the car.
“We don’t,” said Owen shortly.
“Only on very rare occasions,” replied Ianto softly. “And it never gets easier.”
“Well, I had to do it when I was with the police,” said Gwen with a contemptuous look at them. “I find that the families were very grateful to have someone tell them about their loss.”
“And yet, you were disparaging the constables’ skills when we were investigating Suzie’s rash of murders through Max,” muttered Ianto as he drove through the streets. Next to him, Owen grimaced in agreement, but Gwen either didn’t hear him or ignored him. In the rearview mirror, Ianto could see the worshipful look on Eugene’s face. Ianto didn’t know what the new ghost was thinking, but he bet it was how wonderful the rookie was.
“So I will tell Eugene’s family of their loss; you can search his room for any clues,” she continued.
“Saves me from doing it,” Ianto said under his breath. At Owen’s glance he shook his head; this was one thing he didn’t want to have to explain to the imperious ex-constable right at the moment. In fact, he didn’t want to talk about the notifications he had to do while serving in His or Her Majesty’s government during times of war. It had been difficult to begin with and experience never made it easier for him. The few times he did notify a family of a loved one’s death due to Torchwood, he was met with disbelief and anger; usually at him for lying or the loved one for haring off with some little bit on the side and being a coward about it. No, Ianto was glad that Gwen decided that she could do this job; he didn’t want it.
When they arrived at Eugene Jones’ home, Gwen was the first out of the car and to the door. While Owen and Ianto assembled behind her, Gwen rang the bell and waited for Mrs. Jones to let them in. Ianto thought the bright, but sympathetic smile that Gwen gave her was all the telling Mrs. Jones really needed, but Gwen seemed to disagree. Ianto just shook his head and followed Owen up the stairs. It was easy to figure out which room was Eugene’s. He had left it open for anyone who wanted to look inside to see his collection of space, “alien”, and maths articles. Ianto had to admit that Eugene had the passion, but not the eye for alien memorabilia; which might not be a bad thing.
He absently noted that the ghost had followed them up the stairs after the first wail came from his mother and he was looking at them with an eager expectation of awe over his little collection. Ianto almost felt bad over the disappointment they were going to render over the things he thought were alien. The coins were impressive though and might fetch a few pounds, but they weren’t alien as the dealer had claimed they were. Eugene seemed to deflate with every comment he and Owen made about his collection, especially when they just started boxing up his collection and computer. Ianto thought it was sad, really, but he couldn’t say something to a being that really shouldn’t be here.
Ianto decided to leave quietly after Gwen came up from counseling Eugene’s family. She gave a courtesy look around while Owen searched his room for more equipment and Ianto broke down the computer. When Ianto was done, he picked up the heavier box and left for the car. Gwen didn’t bother with anything and Owen was left with the last of it. Eugene trailed behind them and tried to reassure his mother that they would find out what had happened to him, but Ianto privately doubted they would go so far. It looked more like a random accident than a real hit over his collection, but that missing piece that Gwen asked about did bother Ianto. What was it and where was it?
When they returned from the search at Eugene’s house, Tosh was delving deep into a project on her computer and Jack was busy yelling on the phone. Ianto rolled his eyes as he set the box he brought in from the SUV down next to Gwen’s desk. At her questioning look, he said, “You decided to talk to his family, so you might know a bit more of what is in here. Besides, I have other things that need to be done.” Ianto absently noted that Eugene was geeking out over the Hub and all the “cool” equipment that they had. Ianto just hoped that the ghost didn’t decide to follow him down to the archives. If Eugene did, then Ianto would have to explain just what should be going on. Quite frankly this was the first time he had heard of anything like this and he would have to let the rest of his family know about it when it was all said and done.
He was saved from having that questionable action happen by a phone call from the police over the Eugene Jones hit and run.
Ianto found out that Owen was going to let Gwen do the autopsy on Eugene after he was done on the phone and he was not impressed. To the Guardian that action smacked of indolence even with the other having the excuse of other medical jobs to do. He had to be careful, though, when he came to report that the driver of the car that had killed Eugene had copped to the hit-and-run, since Eugene had fainted at the sight of Gwen holding the scalpel over his chest and was about to cut into him. At least the poor boy was saved from the scalpel and Gwen’s efforts of doing an autopsy, Ianto thought.
“Well, I guess that’s that then,” said Owen.
“What do you mean?” asked Gwen as she put the scalpel down.
“Cause of death is now known, so an autopsy isn’t needed. You get a free pass.” Owen took the scalpel from Gwen’s hand and put it away. He then covered Eugene’s body with a sheet before turning to go back to his paperwork.
“That’s it?” demanded Gwen. “We’re just going to let this go by? We aren’t going to find out why Eugene died?”
Owen looked over at Gwen. “Yeah, that’s it. We know who and what killed Eugene. Since it was just a hit-and-run, we don’t need find out what was after him or why.”
Ianto watched the exchange silently and wondered if Gwen was going to pursue this. The way that she was protesting the lack of an autopsy had Ianto silently watching her as she left the medical area for her desk. She rustled through the box, picked up a few things from the box, and pocketed something before seeing what Owen was really doing. It seemed that as soon as Owen was done with his paperwork, he was going to watch the movies that Eugene had borrowed from a video store.
Ianto had taken the tapes out so he could return them, but Gwen decided that she was going to do that instead. She swept out of the Hub and Eugene followed in her footsteps like an excited puppy. Ianto felt that this wasn’t going to go well, but the level of trouble was unknown. He decided to let the Captain know what his newest employee was doing.
Jack didn’t look up when Ianto knocked on his door and entered the room. He did glance up when Ianto quietly stood before Jack’s desk and waited for the leader to acknowledge his employee. “What can I do for you, Ianto?”
“Gwen seems to be fixated on what lead to the death of Eugene Jones,” Ianto replied.
“Is that going to be a problem?”
Ianto shrugged. “Probable not, but she is now espousing how great her career of police work is because we don’t seem to care about a lone boy who followed us around.”
Jack grimaced at his Guardian partner. “Have any suggestions on the matter?”
Ianto leaned his head back to stare up at the ceiling of Jack’s office. He heaved a sigh and looked back down after a few minutes. “Not really. She is an employee of Torchwood and you are the leader. If you feel that she would learn something from this, more power to her. If it’s just to get her out of our hair for a bit, then I would appreciate the vacation. Owen and Tosh might enjoy the relief from Gwen and her behavior too.”
Jack looked up with a quirk of the corner of his mouth that turned into a smile. “She’s been on her soapbox again?”
“Only when we went to talk to Mrs. Jones about Eugene,” Ianto said before muttering, “among others.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when she gets back,” Jack said. He went back to his paperwork, but threw out, “If you really want this paperwork done, I could use some more coffee.”
Ianto smiled in amusement as he was leaving. “Coming right up.”
When Gwen returned from her “errand”, Jack went down to talk with her. Ianto didn’t know what was said, but Gwen had the earnest look on her face like this was a life or death search that she was conducting. Jack must have given his permission because she flashed her grateful look at Jack as he turned to leave. Ianto wasn’t too concerned about it when he came up to pick up the work area before feeding the more permanent residents.
“Can you reserve a room for me at Swansea, Ianto? I might be staying the night.”
Ianto put down his bag before turning to Gwen. “No, you can do that yourself.”
“This is Torchwood business,” shot back Gwen. “You usually make arrangements for Jack and the others.”
“Only when it was legitimate business; you seem to think that investigating Eugene’s death is our job. I’m sorry that Eugene was killed in a hit-and-run accident, but if his mother wanted to know why he died, then she should hire a private detective.” Absently, Ianto noted that Eugene stood near Gwen, but was watching them verbally spar like it was a tennis match. It looked like he wanted to interject something, but Ianto figured that an earlier experience lead the dead young man to keep from speaking out during their disagreement.
“Well, I’m trying to bring humanity back into Torchwood by doing this,” protested Gwen. “You seem to forget that there are humans out there that we need to take care of.”
“And there are aliens who need to be protected from the human race’s idea of humanity. They also need to be protected from our fears. Eugene’s death is neither the result of an alien attack or because of an alien. If the object missing from his collection is alien, then it is just one part of the whole picture. It may have precipitated the death, but it didn’t cause it.”
Gwen arched an eyebrow and smirked at Ianto. “And how do you know?” she asked in a patronizing tone. “Are you an investigator?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “No, but I do look at the evidence.” He started to list the known facts of the case. “Eugene was killed by a driver who was drunk. I looked into the driver who had killed Eugene; he was very human and had a history of driving under the influence of alcohol. Eugene had something missing from his alien collection, but no one knows what it was or where it is now. Is it a puzzle? Yes. Is it something that has to do with us?” Ianto looked at Gwen. “Not in my opinion. If you wish to go haring off for an investigation like an inspector, then you can do it on your own pay packet. You don’t need to have Torchwood pay for what appears to be a civil matter.”
Ianto turned from the fuming woman to return to his next appointed job. It seemed that she had a defender in Eugene, as the young man followed Ianto down to the cells, complaining about how callous he was being to Gwen. Ianto was getting fed up with the protestations of how great Gwen was to do this and he was getting concerned for the Weevils in their care. Janet was the only one who came forward to take her meal; the other two Weevil guests and the Hoix stayed huddled back in the cells until Ianto passed. Those actions alone made the Welsh Guardian believe that they could also see the rambling ghost.
“You are just seeing one part of the woman, Eugene. You haven’t seen all of what we do and you are making assumptions about me in particular,” Ianto finally answered. He turned to look at the ghost in the hallway outside of the cells. “I would appreciate it if you would gather more information before assigning blame.”
Eugene was startled from his rant when he had been addressed directly by the Guardian. “You can see me?” he asked.
“Very well, thank you,” said Ianto smartly. He turned from the young man to return to the main floor to start the feeding of Myfanwy. “I can see a lot of things that others can’t.”
“But why are you not supporting Gwen in her search for answers?”
Ianto started to pull the meat from the special icebox in the pantry that he kept Myfanwy’s meal in. “Because she’s doing it for selfish reasons.” Ianto glanced over at Eugene. “She is doing it over guilt or to catch Jack’s eye again. She screwed up two weeks ago with an item that was forbidden from being used again by someone higher than even Jack and she pushed to use it. It almost cost Gwen her life and the safety of this planet. The being that was almost let loose would have been able to start out small and silent and by the time that anyone realized it was loose, that being would have been in a good position to take over the country and put up a very deadly fight.”
Eugene looked distressed. “I’m sure that she’s sorry. I don’t think that she knew the consequences of her actions.”
Ianto shook his head. “No she didn’t and that is the problem. She also didn’t listen to those with more experience over the matter and pushed for her way. She would have been the second death related to that thing and I haven’t seen any remorse over pushing to use it.” He looked over at the ghost. “I do hope that the reason for your death is discovered, but if she takes longer than Jack’s deadline, she may lose her job.”
“Why? Gwen’s just trying to help.”
Ianto gestured with his free right hand. “We are small. I would have to call in support to give us a hand if she stayed out searching any longer. The predictor says we are in for a nice weekend- “Ianto was careful not to say “quiet” in case he jinxed the coming timeframe- “but the next week will be busy. We can’t operate shorthanded because she has decided not to grace us with her presence.”
“But you would be shorthanded if you fired her,” said Eugene with triumph.
“No,” disagreed Ianto, “if she was fired, I would call in my family, who would have the excuse of family emergency to come to our aid; Gwen not coming in to work is just disobedience on her part in a childish act of self-grandeur. Of course, doing that can also lead to unemployment like any other job,” Ianto ended with a shrug. He didn’t think that he would be able to convince the young man that Gwen wasn’t a saint and just climbed the ladder to see Myfanwy. “I would hurry if I were you; Gwen might be on the outskirts of town by now. I would expect that you would want to see how her investigation goes.”
To Ianto it was pure heaven to not have to listen to Gwen spouting off on how rotten a group of humans they were for two whole days. He wanted to curse when Saint Gwen the Crusader for the Low and Needy called to smugly tell them that a Drogon Sixth Eye was in Eugene’s stomach because he swallowed it.
“She’s going to lord this over us for a long time,” Ianto muttered as he prepped the SUV. Next to him, Owen huffed out an agreement as he stowed his medical kit in case he would have to go in to retrieve the Eye. Jack strode through the door with Tosh on his heels to get his wayward member as Ianto and Owen settled into the back of the car.
“Anyone know where we’re going?” he asked as he put the vehicle into motion.
“It’ a small chapel northwest of the city,” said Tosh. “I’m putting the address into the navigation.”
“Great!” Jack took off a bit more rapidly than the local constables would have liked, but Ianto figured that it was slower than if there had been a real emergency. “So, what do you all think of Gwen’s investigation?”
“Well…” Tosh started.
“A great bloody waste of time,” announced Owen. “Even the Tea-boy agrees that there were other things that she could have concentrated on instead of seeing why a kid was run over by a drunk.”
Jack arched an eyebrow in the rear view mirror. “Ianto?”
Ianto looked out his window for a moment. Gathering his thoughts, he met Jack’s eyes in the mirror as he asked, “Was the Sixth Eye dangerous?”
Jack looked at the oncoming traffic as he pondered the question. He figured that Ianto already knew the answer to that question, but Jack wanted to see where Ianto was going with his question. “Not really.”
“Then I ask if it was a priority case,” continued Ianto. “If we had an event this weekend that required all of us to respond and Gwen was off saving humanity from the cold hearted Torchwood, then we could have lost people, property, or the whole Earth. Granted I would have called my family in to help, but it is the principle of the idea. We knew that the weekend was not going to be too troubling, but what if something unexpected happened? Gwen’s quest to show how compassionate she is could have cost us family.” Ianto stopped and drew a deep breath. “And to look at this from a more mundane perspective, what would a regular police investigator have done? I know that my brothers on the force over in the States have cases like this that they go back to when there isn’t anything pressing. Yes, evidence is lost and memories change, but sometimes something comes up that wasn’t known before. This could have been Gwen’s Torchwood style cold case. Instead, she claims we have no heart and demands that we solve this great mystery now.” Ianto narrowed his eyes. “She is just fortunate that the Weevils and Murphy’s Law didn’t decide to come out to play while she was gone. Had that have happened, then I would have demanded disciplinary sanctions against her.”
Tosh turned in her seat and looked at her friend. “You’re sounding a bit UNIT to me,” she said quietly.
Next to Ianto Owen snickered while Jack had a questionable smirk on his face. Ianto was startled for a moment and pulled a disgusted face. With a pained look in his eyes, Ianto looked at his friend. “Please, don’t compare a loyal serviceman to the British Crown to a bunch of jumped up bully boys who will over-throw a democratic government to set up a dictatorship. It is just too insulting to every serviceman in any branch of Her Majesty’s military.” Owen gave up snickering for full blown laughter and even Jack had a huge grin on his face. “Besides, you are also insulting the rest of my family,” added Ianto. “They have served loyally to their government as well since Harm and our sister started spying on the British soldiers for then-General Washington.”
Tosh and Owen looked impressed, while Jack gave a whistle. “Well, they look good for their age,” he commented.
Ianto sniffed. “We should,” he said. “They trained me after the first conflict between the Colonies and Great Britain. We just had to do it in Canada.”
“And the second conflict?” asked Owen with a shark’s smile.
“I am a proud Welshman, Owen. I let the English deal with their own problems that they had created,” Ianto responded with a lofty tone.
Jack parked the car as he said, “Okay, okay, put your national loyalty away until it’s needed again, Ianto. I think that we get the picture.” He looked at the chapel. “I wonder where our wandering associate is.”
“I would say that she is coming out of the back entrance where the deliveries are brought,” said Ianto. “It would keep her request for Eugene’s stomach contents away from the mourners and distressing them.” Ianto opened his door and cocked his head. “It might be a bit since they are in the middle of the service.”
Jack opened his door and stepped out of the SUV. Owen and Tosh followed him; Owen said, “I won’t ask how you knew that.”
Ianto just smiled enigmatically at the Medical Officer as he joined them on the street side of the vehicle to wait. He could hear the nice things people were saying about Eugene as they shared what they knew of him, and then the reverend spoke the benediction. “They should be trickling out soon. That means that Gwen should be able to get the Eye.”
It was twenty more minutes before Gwen came around the corner of the chapel with a brown bag in her hand. She was looking in their direction, but Ianto could see she had her eyes on Jack. He was just thankful that he couldn’t hear what Gwen was thinking when she started toward them, but it was quite obvious that she wasn’t paying attention to her environment. Ianto saw the oncoming car before the others and was pushing himself off the side of the SUV when Gwen was pushed out of the street by the young man that had been following her around like a puppy. It was the gasps from the other guests that told Ianto that Eugene Jones was now visible to everyone. He smiled beatifically at Gwen and faded away with thanks. Next to Ianto, the rest of the team breathed a sigh of relief that their co-worker was still alive. Ianto was also glad, but he was also mentally starting plans on how to train Gwen to be more observant to her surroundings; he had to protect his Torchwood family from foolish actions after all.
When Gwen reached her coworkers, she held up the brown bag in her hand triumphantly. “He had swallowed it,” she stated.
“And a good thing too,” said Owen. “He saved you from joining him.”
Jack looked at his newest employee. “I think that we need to work on your environmental perception."
Gwen looked at her boss. “What do you mean?”
“He means that you should have seen that car coming and waited for it to pass,” said Owen. He made a disgusted face when Gwen’s face became hopeful at the idea of Jack teaching her more. It turned to glee when Jack said, “Ianto, you said you were in the military, right? Can you teach Gwen to be more aware of her surroundings?”
Ianto smiled grimly at his new pupil. “I’ve already started to make plans.” Gwen was nervous at Ianto’s tone. Owen and Tosh glanced at each other and wondered what was in store for the ex-constable. “We start after Christmas.”