The Stirrings of Trouble [open torchwood]

[Jack Harkness]

At this early in the morning, the Hub was virtually silent. Jack had left Ianto in bed to sleep as much as he wanted to this morning (it was Jack's fault that they hadn't fallen asleep until about three in the morning). Well, Ianto hadn't fallen asleep until then -- Jack had laid in bed "pretending" to sleep. Ever since returning from the Master, Jack had slept even less than usual. However, taking a semi-permanent lover had meant more pretending to sleep so Ianto didn't feel uncomfortable.

However, by six, Jack couldn't stay in bed any longer. He rose, pulled on a pair of trousers and an undershirt and headed up to his office. He'd dress fully in a few hours when the others began to make their way into the Hub for the day. Now, though, was one of his favourite moments in the Hub: nearly quiet save for the gentle hum of the Rift manipulator. Jack pulled a few folders toward himself, going over the most recent of the files he'd been ignoring.

He hummed under his breath, a tuneless melody that occupied his mind as he worked through the mundane. Part of him wished he could enjoy a good cup of coffee while he worked, but he knew better than to go anywhere near the machine. He'd done that once before, and had earned the wrath of Ianto as a result and Jack had no intention to do that ever again. Jack shuddered just thinking of it. Oh the Welsh... he loved them, but when their temper got the better of them, they could be downright frightening.

In the back of the Hub, Jack could hear a computer begin to beep. Dismissing it as nothing more than a simple disruption, Jack continued his work until his own computer began to feature a popup.

Pushing the file to the side, Jack tapped the screen and pulled his keyboard toward him. A few clacks of the keys soon had him swearing. It seemed like the start of an attack. Not much info, but they were coming. Jack looked at his watch and grunted. Not quite seven in the morning. He looked back and forth between his watch and the monitor, mentally calculating how long it would take for this to be a major issue. By his calculations, they had a good five hours.

His team would be arriving at the Hub within the hour.

Paperwork now forgotten, Jack's fingers flew over the keys as he began to follow the disturbance. He wanted to know what it was they were facing before his team finally arrived -- right now, it was nothing more than a frequency and that all-too familiar feeling that the proverbial shite was about to hit the fan.

[Daniel O'Neill]

Daniel had been up since around four or so in the morning but even then, he only got an hour's worth of sleep. It wasn't that he didn't need sleep, he seemed to need very little of it. Since he could remember, he only slept a few hours here and there, never slept fully through the night. Daniel had stepped out of the shower and headed into the bedroom where he got dressed before heading off into the kitchen. The light from the fridge when he opened it was enough to light up the darkroom. His blue eyes looked down into it, trying to figure out if he wanted something for breakfast or not. Finding himself not all that hungry, he grabbed a one of the small bottles of orange juice and closed the door.

It wasn't even five in the morning yet and he was already thinking of heading into work. Many could say, he didn't have a life and they would be right. There was no friends, family or someone he was sleeping with. Daniel kept people at bay because he didn't know if there had been anyone around before he forgot his memories. As for friends, he couldn't seem to allow anyone close enough to him. Sure, he joked and got along with people well, it was just keeping in contact with them. Before Torchwood came along, his job as a medic was pretty hectic and he always seemed like he was on call. Nothing has changed much these days just the line of work. Though his old habits still carried on. Every morning, he would get up and head into the Hub early. He day into the med bay and check over everything and including his kit. He traded in his Helicopter for a bay and a being a part of something much bigger.

There had been no regrets in all off this, in fact he loved the job. Well minus having to carry a gun, the part he was still trying to get use to. He had put on his boots and grabbed his jacket before heading out to his car, a Dodge Charger. An older model that was in the process of being restored when he had the time to work on it. It wasn't that great looking at the moment but he knew with time, it would be. It wasn't a long drive down to the Millennium Center which was home to the place very little knew about. After making his way through the front door of the hub, he looked around slowly.

It was the same as everyday, it was early. He knew Jack was working somewhere most likely his office and Ianto still asleep because he couldn't smell the coffee. Wondering how Jack was getting along with out the paint thinner this morning. A breath was taken, wondering how today would go. As much as he enjoy those days when the world needed saving or a weevil needed to be rounded up, he was starting to enjoy the quite times when nothing happened. Daniel made his way down to the med bay and hung his jacket up on the wall before sitting down on the stairs. He had his medic bag with him. A simple black backpack in which he carried everything he could that he might need in case someone was hurt and needed to be treated before they could get back to the hub.

He unzipped the first department on the bag and pulled out a stack of various sized gauzed pads. Counting them in his head before, moving on to make sure there was plenty of tape including the cloth tape that stuck to itself instead of skin which was handy at times. Then he started to count all those other things; gloves, wraps, saline bags, needles, drugs, emergency blankets, and so on. Making sure he had a enough on him to handle things. Once and a while, he got up and picked up something to replace anything he might have used. It was something he did ever morning before anything could come up at the hub. Force of old habit, early to work and checking things for the day.

[Jack Harkness]

[Am using Ianto in the post to at least move things along as, if we get a Ianto during the course of the mini-plot, the player isn't left out in the cold. ]

At some point in the morning, Ianto had brought a cup of coffee to Jack (as well as a stolen moment for a quick snog). Though Ianto seemed to know by the expression on Jack's face that he didn't want to be interrupted in his work. Instead of bothering Jack, Ianto had kept the coffee coming and had brought him research without Jack even asking. Jack smiled, for as much as he hadn't wanted to hire Ianto in the first place -- now he couldn't imagine the Hub without him.

"Anything else?" He asked, one hand on Jack's shoulder.

Jack shook his head. "Not yet. If the others aren't in in..." Jack glanced at his watch, "About a half hour, would you call in the cavalry?"

"Of course." Ianto trailed a hand along Jack's arm, leaning in for one last kiss. Jack obliged him and the teaboy left as quitely as he had come, letting Jack get back to work.

The energy pulse seemed familiar, but Jack couldn't quite put his finger on it. Bloody hell -- this was both a wonderful and a frustrating way to start the day. Jack picked up his coffee mug and, bracing a booted foot against the edge of his desk, watched as the computer programme worked its magic.

Downstairs in the main part of the Hub, Ianto had set to work brewing coffee for Daniel. A short while later it had appeared and, fixed the way he knew Daniel wanted his coffee, the suited man delivered the green cup.

"Coffee," he said, handing it over. "And I'd head up to see Jack. He's in his office. Looks like there's a storm brewing."

[Daniel O'Neill]

The kit was restocked and ready to go because with this job, danger was always lurking around the corner in one shape or form. Treating people was his comfort zone with this job, the whole shoot and guns were not. Even though in the past that he could not remember, he was a soldier who had done his fair share fo killing and various other activites that would have been found with soldiers who belong to third world countries and such. The man who was wiped from his mind and erased from all known files and documents was long gone. Sure there was some trace out of there of who he was and what he had done but it was tucked away to be forgot about.

As for Daniel remember or becoming anything else than what he was now, it was doubtful. The medic who cared and did whatever it took to save a life would always be there unless someone changed that. He stood up and walked through the med bay, his hand coming to rest on the steel table that was in the room. He stood there thinking about the first person they had on this table. They had been attacked by a Zurken who had come through the rift. He done what he could do one scene while the rest of the gang took care of the alien. It wasn't enough and when they brought the man back, he was flat linning and it was a battle to try and bring him back. When Daniel though he had, the effort was not enough and the battle was lost. He remember slamming his hand into the table. It had been the first person Daniel had lost in a long while. The posion worked far to fast through the man's body and claimed him.

Look up above from the med bay, he wondered if Aaron and Gwen where around here yet. He figured by now Ianto was up and taking care of Jack's coffee addiction. A deep breath was taken as he moved to sit back down on the stairs. Daniel knew that he had no paper work to take care of seeing how he had stayed late and finished it. He had got use to usually be the first one here besides Jack and Ianto. He was sitting there thinking about things, trying to see what else he could remember before Ianto's voice broke his train of thoughts.

It wasn't all that often he drank coffee but he knew better than to turn down Ianto's. It was too good for that. Daniel stood up and offered the man a smile before taking the cup. "Thank you." He took a sip from the cup as he listened to the other man speak about needing to be in Jack's office and about a storm coming. "Okay, thank you again and I'll be up to see him in a moment." Daniel tried hard to be polite and respect everyone. At times it slipped and he withdrew back into the quite man he could be. His eyes looked around again before he moved up to Jack's office. He had sat the coffee down at work station his way through, he walked into the boss' office. His eyes glancing around for a moment. "Heard something about a storm coming."

Even though he had been here for a few weeks, he was still a little nervous around Jack and most of the others. It took him time to get adjust to everything but he always did his job well. He could still recall that night when he first ran into Jack and how he saved Ianto's life that night. When he first seen Jack, the Greatcoat drew his attention but it was the handsome man wearing the coat that held his attention and the reason why he took this job. But that would be nothing he would ever share with anyone.

[Jack Harkness]

There was the scent of coffee wafting up from down below and Jack hoped like hell it meant there would be another cuppa in his hands in short order. But if Daniel got the first one, Jack supposed he could forgive his lover for the indiscretion this time. Because, of course, Jack wasn't really happy unless he had at least three cups of Ianto's strongest brew coursing through his veins.

Jack, if anything, was one hell of a creature of habit. He liked his coffee and he liked the man who brought it to him. What else did a man really need?

Jack soon became distracted by the numbers on his screen, his fingers flying over the keys as he began to run a few of the tests. He would be the first to admit he wasn't as strong as, say, Tosh when it came to running numbers on the Rift, but he was no slouch either. Jack worked as quickly as he could, having a feeling that time was of the essence right now. It was familiar, that much he knew, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from. He'd have to set Ianto on the task soon, cross-referencing some of the things in the Archives with the readings they were currently getting.

Daniel walked into the room and jack smiled a bit. Hopefully it meant that another cuppa was going to be brought soon. Jack had almost a one track mind when it came to certain things: coffee and Ianto.

"Sounds like it," Jack agreed. "There's readings coming through the Rift. I've seen it before but I'll be damned if I can remember where. Keeping with the whole storm metaphor, I'd say it's time to batten down the hatches. Ianto should be up soon and we can start trying to figure out what the hell is about to hit us." Jack sighed. "Shame. I forgot my umbrella today too."

[Daniel O'Neill]

Ianto's coffee was the only coffee he drank, the first time he tried the stuff was here at the hub. It wasn't something he felt right turning it down but he tried it anyways. Now he always asked for it with some cream and a tiny bit of sugar to make it a little sweet. It was something he could get along without, however grape juice wasn't. Daniel could go through three or four pint size bottles in a day. "Ianto said he was going to bring you up a cup soon." He told the other man when he noticed the eyes on his mug. By the look and mood that Jack seemed to have at the moment, he figured that he was still waiting for his second or third cup of the dark liquid.

Besides his grape juice habit, the only other one Daniel had was a early morning run which more often than not was a six mile run each day. No matter what the weather was, it was his work out and he didn't feel right when he had to skip it. After all he had to stay in shape, even more so now that the this job was more active than his old job. "time to break out the rain gear." He said, playing along to Jack's comment about how they needed to batten down the hatches. It didn't sound good and he wasn't sure what was going to happen or when thus he would end up being here at the hub until that trouble came calling.

Not that it mattered much to him, the hub had become like a second home to him lately. "So if you seen it before, than chances are at some point you are going to know the best way to deal with this? And that it is something that can be dealt with seeing how everything seems like in one piece still." Daniel really hoped those things were true as he took another sip from the mug. When it came to Jack, Daniel was still working on being relaxed around the other man and not being scared of him. There was something about Jack that kept him at easy and he had a feeling it was the power the other man held over him.

[Ianto Jones]

One white mug was soon steaming with coffee and Ianto was on his way to Jacks office with the mug grasped tightly within his hands. He was the master at making coffee and although he didn’t brag about inside he loved that he had some type of hold on the other members of the team using getting them to go things and threatening them with no coffee for a week if they didn’t perform them for the male. Ianto grinned as he remembered the various times that he had gotten Owen and Gwen to do things for him on the threat of coffee, Tosh had always helped anyway and Jack well he could tempt him with sex. The male was however still trying to work out what made Daniel tick since saving him all that time ago.

He knocked twice as he reached the office before stepping in side where he handed the cup over. “Sir” he told him with a small nod allowing his fingers to touch the others males longer than was needed. Although he wasnt sure if Daniel knew about their realtionship at that point in time he didnt care all Ianto knew was that he loved Jack dearly as did his bodd towards him eventhough he didnt say it often. The torchwood member then smirked as he sat down to join into the conversation before he heard Jacks comment about the umbrella and let out a soft chuckle where he pointed towards a hanger behind the captain where a large black umbrella sat still packaged. “I bought that in case it rained” he told his boss although he had known that it was going to rain yet didn’t want to gloat.

Ianto listened to the other two speak wondering what exactly was going on as he hadn’t been that active on field missions due to having to sort out the mass amount of work accounts that were left by Owen and by the pair getting killed by his lovers younger brother Grey who for the record Ianto didn’t like, at all. He waited for Daniel and Jack to speak so that he could be heard clearly and he didn’t have to wait long.

As soon as the silence started he opened his mouth to speak. “What do we know?” he asked with a slight frown towards the two males. Ianto leaned back gently in the chair that he had sitting on before turning to Daniel who he gave a pleasant smile too. The male then looked around the office noticing how dirty it was making him produce plans of coming back later to clean the office. If there was one thing that Ianto hated more than people getting killed or viscous aliens then it was anything that contained dirt or as dirty.

[Jack Harkness]

Jack nodded at Daniel's question. "That's the whole of it," he replied. "Live as long as I have and you get to see the same things over and over again." With his new team, Jack wasn't as secretive about the whole immortality business. Besides, it was easier to just tell and get that out of the way so it didn't come as too much of a shock later on. Jack didn't want his team to be surprised when he sat up after being shot in the head again.

Didn't mean that he still wasn't secritive about most of his life of course, but this -- Jack could tell his team.

In all honesty, Jack wasn't sure why Daniel always seemed like a skittish puppy around him. They got on well and Jack had never treated him poorly either. Of course, Jack had flirted with him, but the fact that Jack flirted with another man was like saying he took a deep breath of oxygen or he drank Ianto's coffee like it was going out of style. It was just... one of those things that happened.

Ah, coffee at last. Jack smiled at the lingering touch as Ianto handed over his second mug and he quickly took a sip. The expression on his face was both a mixture of gratitude and affection. Though Jack was a bit unconventional in many ways, it was clear Jack held a deep affection for Ianto. He was loathe to call it 'love', even if he knew that was exactly what it was.

"In other words, you left it there over night, didn't you?" Jack asked pointedly, smirking. He rolled his eyes, settled back in his chair and took another sip from his mug. "As of yet, not much. Daniel, I'll have you look through the most recent readings and see if there's a pattern." Jack glanced at Ianto. "Oi. Don't even say a word about my office. I see that look in your eye. Second of all... I know I've seen this before. I just don't remember when is all."

[Daniel O'Neill]

Living as long as Jack wasn't something he was sure he wanted to do or not. He wasn't quite sure how his body would hold up over the years. If there was some point where the wounds would stop healing or he would just start to break down. Without running test on himself, he wasn't even sure what was really going on. If he had just been affect by something or if he was non human. There were lots of questions he had but would remain unanswered until he felt safe enough to look into them. "Must make easy getting prepared for things like this when you know what is coming and how to deal with it. Anything left out there that surprises you still?" Daniel asked, wondering if there was a way to surprise the Captain or not. It wasn't like he was going to try it or anything. Being the new guy, Daniel was still trying to prove that he could belong here and that he was able to handle whatever the job had to toss at him.

With the condtion he had, he wasn't sure how to come out about it and if it was even wise to. Daniel might have to face the facts one day when he would get injuried with someone around and deal with it then. Either way, he wasn't sure what was the easiest but then if he did get injuried around the team, he could play dumb and not know what was going on. There wasn't much in his life to be private about, he couldn't really remember what had happend in his life, let alone the kind of man he truly was. All he was working with was about two years of life, the first year was mostly spent relearning how to do things. Luckily he could retain and gather information rather well and fast. Quick study, he had been told a couple of times.

The skittishness was a built in reflex to being around others and those in command. It was something from a past he could not remember. From when he was just a kid and having those in command run test on him or just to beat him in order to see if the drugs they had tested on him were working. Being abused for almost twenty years left many scars under the surface and often left him unable to explain why he acted the way he did around people or why he got rather nervous around a large group. It wasn't anything Jack did and as for the flirtting, he rather liked it. Many times, he had flirted back with Jack and played along even though he was still skittish at times.

When the coffee was handed over after Ianto had come in, he could see Jack's manner change from the expression on his face and in his eyes. Daniel took the last sip of his coffee watching Jack and Ianto for a moment before looking a the computer, studying what was on the screen. Only looking back when Jack spoke again. "Easier to leave something nearby then having to hunt down later on when you really needed it." He gave a little grin, looking between the two men. The coffee mug was sat down on Jack's desk for the moment as he listened to what Jack wanted him to do. "Sounds like a plan. I'll just go head to pull those readings up and take a look at them." He wasn't sure what there was to find but things like this usually had a pattern to them. His eyes glancing back at Ianto as Jack spoke about leaving his office alone and he couldn't help the faint chuckle and shake of his head before looking back at the Captain. "It will come back to you, give it time."