Excerpt: They Come In Pairs

There was something about Ianto that sometimes made Gwen feel about thirteen years old - not in the giddy, giggly way that Jack could pull out of her, but the awkwardness that seemed to be a neverending torment of the teenage years. Even knowing he was hungover (and once she knew to look, she could see the drawn look of someone suffering a headache, though it did seem to be fading), she felt too casual in her mostly-practical clothing, a little bit inept every time he had to remind her of some protocol, and never entirely sure what to say to him. There often seemed to be too many touchy subjects for idle conversation, something that was not entirely restricted to Ianto, but which she felt more strongly with him.

Putting aside another page of notes that had turned out to be fruitless, she flicked her gaze up to glance at him across the conference room table. They had already gathered there to fill Tosh in and discuss the implications of their findings, and while Jack had been hardly reassuring when she'd remembered her own brush with retcon, she had at least had time to justify it to herself. It had only been one dose, after all. "So," she said, trying a smile on. "Is this the sort of thing you did in London?"

"Research and Development. Mostly collating findings and cross-referencing similarities between projects." He held up a photo, twisting it to see it from another angle before tossing it aside. "A lot of the staff didn't even know about aliens. No point if you just work in HR."

The idea of Torchwood, their Torchwood, with an HR department was sort of laughable. They hardly seemed capable of anything close to that much organisation - but they were also a team of five, not the eight hundred or so that she'd learned London was able to boast. She wasn't even sure what sort of work they'd do with eight hundred people, and if almost all of them were dead now, it was likely not many other people knew either. "Must have been quite a change, coming here."

A brief flicker of something crossed his face, and she wondered if this was another of those things she shouldn't talk about. But it had been a few months now, and surely it would do him some good to talk, if he wanted to. It wasn't as though they offered much opportunity for it. "It's certainly more relaxed," he replied after a moment, lips quirked into something of a teasing smile. "We had remarkably fewer prehistoric animals in London, too. Which is a point in..."

He trailed off, reaching for a photo that had just been partially uncovered, and Gwen left a finger holding her place as she gazed at him curiously. He didn't continue though, instead pushing his chair back suddenly and rising to walk out of the room, Gwen hastening to follow.

"Jack!"

Jack was leaning against Toshiko's desk, and he looked up at the sound of Ianto's voice. "Found something?"

"Our connection. Notice something familiar about this photo?" He moved down the stairs towards the main floor until he was low enough for Jack to reach up to take it. He only studied the picture for a moment before Gwen saw his eyes widen slightly and he whipped his head up to stare at Ianto.