Someone to Watch Over Me Chapter 2b

[madbottoms]

...continued...

 

Stay here? Hadn’t they settled this last night? No way, no how was he staying here. In fact, he should have been gone already. If Ianto wasn’t such a sucker for coffee—not to mention pancakes for breakfast—he’d have seen Jack’s arse out the door an hour ago. In any case, there were so many things wrong with his suggestion of staying here, he couldn’t begin to count them.

 

‘You can’t stay here,’ Ianto added a finality to his tone.

 

‘Can’t?’

 

‘It’s not necessary,’ he added repressively. ‘I thought we’d settled that last night.”

 

Jack glanced around in disgust. ‘Wake up, Ianto. You don’t even have an alarm system around here.’

 

‘I’ll have one put in.”

 

Jack said dryly, ‘That’s exactly why I was hired.’ Then added, ‘But putting in a security system takes time. Even a company like Harkness Security needs a few days to do a job like this.’

 

Ianto should have seen this coming the minute he got downstairs seeing the other man at his stove. The sneak. ‘So, I’ll stay with…’ Who? He searched his brain in a hurry. His parents? One of his siblings? The options weren’t enticing. ‘My parents.’

 

‘Your parents live out of town. That’s going to be quite a commute.’ Jack folded his arms over his chest and sat back. ‘And, let’s see…’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Oh yeah, if I were a criminal trying to kidnap you, I’d absolutely love the chance to follow your car home from the office on a deserted road at one o’clock in the morning.’

 

‘One of my brothers or sister then. Owen, Rhiannon and Geffin all keep apartments in London.’

 

‘They’re often not even in London. Ever since he got married, Owen has settled into domestic bliss in their little country manor with your friend Toshiko and the baby. And Rhi and Gef are often travelling around for Jones Enterprises. If you disappeared from one of their apartments, no one would discover it for hours, even a day or two.’

 

Ianto knew he was right, but he rebelled at the thought. No one, least of all his family, seemed to understand that a bodyguard would raise eyebrows at the Prosecutor’s Office. He’d worked too hard at his career to have his credibility undermined by the poor-little rich kid stigma that had followed him everywhere.

 

Jack unfolded his arms. ‘What you need is a bodyguard,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘But I understand why it may be a problem for someone in your position.’

 

‘Thanks,’ Ianto said wryly, Jack’s perceptiveness once again taking him by surprise. ‘At least you’re more reasonable than my family.’

 

‘So,’ Jack went on, ‘that’s why I’m suggesting another option. Namely, me. All anybody needs to know is that I’m a friend of the family who’s moved in with you for a while, maybe until renovations on my own place are finished.’

 

The man had a stubborn streak in him a mile wide. Even if he did manage to keep a lower profile than a typical bodyguard, his offer was unwise. Very unwise if last night’s kiss was anything to go by. ‘I thought we’d been over this. No.’

 

“I’ll drive you to work and bring you home every day,’ he continued unperturbed, ‘and, as an added bonus...’ he gestured around them, ‘I’ll be here as well.’

 

‘How noble of you,’ Ianto said dryly.

 

He gave Ianto a humourless smile. ‘Don’t worry. I’m house-trained and basically pick up after myself.’

 

Ianto rolled his eyes.

 

Jack leaned in then, suddenly serious, his eyes holding Ianto’s. ‘This isn’t a game, Button. Someone has already vandalised your car and sent you death threats. You don’t know what he’ll do next.’

 

‘I know.” Ianto tried not to focus on the danger, instead, on finding the perpetrator, He refused to live his life in fear—although, truth be told, hadn’t that been part of his motivation to last night for being at the window, peering down into the street? 

 

Jack continued, ‘Your family said the police are involved, but you and I know those resources only go so far.’

 

Ianto had always known Jack Harkness was a man who didn’t take no for an answer. He was, after all, the guy who’d climbed out of a rough neighbourhood and, by the age of thirty-seven, had built a multi-million dollar enterprise offering security systems and personal protection to big companies as well as the rich and famous.

 

But, he reminded himself, Jack was also the guy who’d dragged his teenaged arse out of a dark pub over ten years ago. The guy who still acted at times as if Ianto were a pesky teenage kid, regardless of last night’s inexplicable kiss.

 

Fortified by the thought, Ianto tried again for a polite brush-off. ‘Look, Jack, I appreciate the offer, but, as you just said, the police are on it. The Prosecutor’s Office also has people on it.’

 

Jack’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what if I say you really don’t have a choice in the matter?’

 

Ianto scoffed, then stopped abruptly as Jack reached into the pockets of his jeans and pulled out a set of keys. Alarm bells went off in his head. ‘Where did you get those?’

 

‘When I’m hired for a job, I usually get access to the premises,’ Jack replied coolly.

 

Ianto huffed. He knew exactly which Jones to thank for that. When he was through with Owen, his ears would be ringing for days. In the meantime, he had one cagey security expert to deal with.

 

Quite clearly, he wasn’t simply going to be able to evict Jack as he’d like. Experience had taught him, that it was better to graciously call a temporary truce rather than admit defeat. He needed time to work out how to get him out of his house. For now, he’d play along with Jack’s game.

 

‘I see,’ Ianto said, keeping his voice a few degrees cooler than Jack’s. ‘Well, if you are going to be my temporary roommate, then we should set some house rules.’

 

‘Such as?’ Jack’s tone was suspicious.

 

‘Last night was a mistake that will not happen again, got it? Unfortunately, you caught me at a weak moment, when my defenses were down.’

 

‘That’s the idea.’

 

‘As I said, it will not happen again.’

 

‘Are we, by any chance, talking about the kiss we shared, Button?’ Again with the nickname. Jack only used it because he knew it rankled Ianto.

 

“Of course I’m talking about the kiss, you fool.’ Somewhere in the last few hours, the kiss—really two kisses that had seemed to flow almost seamlessly together—had assumed a singular identity all its own, so that he now referred to it mentally as ‘The Kiss’.

 

‘Just checking,’ Jack said smugly, which set Ianto on edge even more.

 

‘And let me correct you, it’s not ‘the kiss shared.’ It’s the kiss you planted on me when I was distracted.’

 

Jack’s smirked. ‘Funny, you seemed to have enjoyed it.’

 

‘No kissing. That’s part of the ground rules, Harkness.’

 

Jack had the temerity to look openly amused. ‘I’ll agree to not kiss you. Whether you kiss me, however, is another matter.’

 

Ianto gave him a frosty stare. ‘I’ll do my best to resist.’

 

‘So, are we shacking up together?’ Jack asked.

 

‘With an offer like that, how can I refuse,’ Ianto said straight-faced.

 

Jack broke into a grin. ‘Modesty prevents me from saying more.’

 

‘I’ve always said it’s your strong suit.’

 

‘Is that sarcasm I detect?’

 

‘That, and good manners prevent me from saying what else.’

 

Jack laughed outright then, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Ianto’s stomach somersaulted and he resisted the sudden urge to shut him up with a hard kiss to his laughing mouth.

 

Oh boy, he was in trouble. Until last night, he’d have said that the only way he’d have thought to silence Jack was with a swift kick in the balls.

 

At least until he could figure out how to get rid him, Jack was going to be his bodyguard from an unknown threat, but who was going to protect him from the very real threat Jack represented.

 

Comments

[madbottoms]

Thanks. I have posted up to part 4 so far on LJ. Hope you continue to enjoy.