![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbottoms) wrote2012-07-26 10:26 am
Born This Way - Chapter 11
Title: Born This Way 11
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, John, Gray, Owen, Toshiko/Tommy, Suzie, OCs
Rating: NC-17
Warnings/Contains: Supernatural themes, character death, drug references, dub-con.
Summary: Sequel to Choices - Ianto Jones was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately—thanks to Jack Harkness. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences and suddenly Ianto’s and Jack’s happily ever after may not be so happy.
11
*~*
For Heaven’s Sake
*~*
Jack
My face burns and my belly tingles when I think about yesterday. I walk past Ianto’s door, and it’s almost impossible to make myself keep going to Elle’s. But the truth is, if I stop at Ianto’s, I’ll never make it to Elle’s.
“Hey, Jack,” she says as she opens the door. She’s melting in her usual grey pullover and pants, beads of sweat across her upper lip and plastering her dark hair to her forehead.
“You ready to get that dresser?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Guess so.” She steps into the hall and locks up.
I throw a rueful glance at Ianto’s door on my way by.
A little later, Elle pulls her wagon into my driveway, past the house, to the detached garage out back. I jump out and walk past the van in the driveway, choking on the plume of dust wafting out the open garage door. I hold my breath and venture in. Dad’s in the back corner, sweeping it out.
“Hey, Dad,” I say to his back, pulling my T-shirt over my nose and mouth.
He props the broom in the corner and turns. “Jack. Come to give your old man a hand?” Sweat carves rivulets through the brown film on his face, and when he smiles, his teeth are shockingly white against the mud of his skin.
“Not really,” I say, and shrug. “You know that old dresser?”
He turns and looks in the corner, where the sheet-draped dresser is buried under a stack of junk.
“Gray’s old dresser? Yeah.”
“Can I give it to Elle?”
“Who?”
“Dad, this is Elle. She just moved into Ianto’s building.”
He turns to Elle with a smile as she steps from behind me. “Sure. If you have a need for it.” He holds out his hand.
I turn to Elle, who looks even more pale than usual. Her eyes widen for an instant, and she hesitates before taking his hand. “Hi.”
When their hands connect, Dad pauses mid-shake, then holds her hand for a second longer. “There’s something familiar about you. Is your family from around here?”
She shakes her head, looking suddenly sad.
“Oh. Where are you from?”
Elle can’t hold his gaze, and her eyes drop to her shuffling feet. “Lots of places. I move around a lot.”
Dad eyes her for a second longer. “I could swear we’ve met before. St. Catherine’s, maybe?”
She looks at me.
“The Catholic church,” I say, and she shakes her head again.
Dad rubs his forehead, grinding mud into his eyebrows and leaving a white smudge on the bridge of his nose. “Hmm…I’ll figure it out.” He smiles. “Well, I’ll help you two load up that dresser.”
When we get back, the dresser fitting snugly into the back of Elle’s wagon, I see Ianto’s
*~*
Gray
I watch them pull in, and fight to stay visible. When I walk up to Elle’s truck and lean in the passenger window, Jack’s eyes widen and his face bursts into a smile.
“Gray! Hi.”
“Hey, Jack. Is Ianto around?” I realise I sound like an idiot. Of course he doesn’t know if he’s here. He just showed up.
And I’m sure I look like an idiot too, because I can’t stop my eyes from flicking past Jack to Elle every few seconds.
Jack tries to keep a straight face, but he can’t hide the laughter in his voice. “Um…well…his car’s here, so, I guess.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Don’t be a dork. Think. “So…are you guys bringing this up?” I ask, waving my arm toward my old dresser in the bed of Elle’s truck.
“Yep. You feel like helping?” Jack says.
“Sure.”
Elle walks around and drops the tailgate. I hop in, surprised at how stiff I feel, like my whole body is seizing up —every muscle taut.
“So, I’m Gray,” I say, shooting a glare at Jack.
“Hi. Elle.”
She doesn’t look at me as she answers. “So, you’re a friend of Ianto’s?”
“Yep.” I untie the ropes from around the dresser and give it a shove toward the tailgate.
And I can’t think of anything else to say.
Jack pulls the top half of the dresser out and I hop down and get the other end.
“I’m not totally lame,” Elle says, venturing a small smile. “You’re giving it to me free. At least let me help carry the damn thing.”
Jack slides over. “Take the other corner.”
We make our way up the walk and through the door, Jack and Elle shuffling up the walk backward, and work our way slowly up the stairs. But Jack trips stepping up onto the landing at the top of the stairs and drops his side of the dresser. Elle tries to compensate, but it’s too late. The dresser shifts, pushing me, and I fly backward down the flight of stairs. I feel the back of my head crack sharply on the corner of a stair on the way down, and my arm winds up twisted underneath me where I land at the bottom.
Elle drags the dresser onto the landing. “Unholy Hell!” Jack shoots a glance at Elle, then picks herself up and runs down the stairs. “Gray, are you okay?”
I lie here at the bottom of the stairs, not sure how to play this. I should be hurt, but, of course, I’m not. “Um…yeah, I think so.” Maybe something small. A sprained elbow? A bump on the head? I sit up and wince, still not sure what should hurt.
Elle comes down the stairs. “You hit your head really hard. You should lie still.”
My head, then. I groan a little for effect and rub the back of my head, pretending to flinch. “No. I think it’s okay.”
“You’re sure? What about your neck?” I smile up at her.
“Neck’s fine.”
“Can you get up?” Jack says, holding his hand out to me.
“Yeah.” I reach for his hand and use it to pull myself up.
“Thanks.”
Elle puts her hand on my back to help me up. At her touch, an electric shock blasts through me, making me groan. With their help, I push slowly to my feet.
“No problem,” Jack says, releasing my hand.
Elle turns and heads back up the stairs, and Jack gives me the eye. I shrug at him.
“We’ll get this,” Elle says to me when we reach the top of the stairs. I move gingerly down the hall, rubbing the back of my head as they carry the dresser to Elle’s apartment.
*~*
Ianto
Jack, Elle, and Gray burst through my door, Jack holding his key up for me to see. “Do you have any ice?”
“Yeah. What’s up?” He’s fighting the amused smile that pulls at his lips.
“Gray hit his head.”
Gray shrugs and cracks a dubious smile when I turn to look at him. I roll my eyes. This kid is just a tragic comedy of errors.
I head to the kitchen and crack an ice tray into a plastic bag, then hand it to Gray, who slides into my kitchen chair and can’t rip his eyes away from Elle long enough to thank me.
“You’re welcome,” I mutter.
He reaches around and presses the bag to the back of his head. “Oh, yeah. Thanks.”
Elle walks up behind him. “I’ll hold that for you.”
A distinctly dopey expression crosses Gray’s face as he hands her the bag.
“So, what happened?” I scrutinise Gray.
He grins, trying to roll his eyes to the back of his head to see Elle. “Jack tried to kill me. Death by dresser.”
“Sorry,” Jack says, settling into the other chair. I look back at Gray. Something is definitely off. “But you’re okay?”
“Yeah, just a bump on the head.”
Elle’s free hand drops to Gray’s shoulder and rubs. “It’s gonna be sore. If your vision gets blurry or you feel dizzy, you need to go to the hospital.”
Gray keeps grinning this big, stupid grin and looks a little spacey. Maybe he really does have a concussion.
“Nope, don’t need a doctor.” He reaches up and lays his hand on top of Elle’s on his shoulder. “What you’re doing is working.”
It hits me like a lightning bolt. Unholy Hell. Gray’s lusting on Elle. Why didn’t John believe me when I told him this was a bad idea?
Elle blushes and backs away from Gray. “Are we still going shopping?” she asks Jack.
“Absolutely!” Jack says.
Elle moves toward the door. “I’ll go get my money and stuff. Give me, like, fifteen minutes?”
“No problem. Take your time,” Jack says as Elle slips through the door.
When she’s gone, I yank Gray out of the chair by the front of his shirt. “What the Hell are you doing?”
Jack jumps out of his chair so fast, it flips over backward. “Ianto—”
“You need to cut the crap and focus,” I say, my face an inch from Gray’s.
“You need to get the Hell out of my face,” he spits back.
“What are you thinking? You can’t start a relationship with a mortal.”
He plants his hand in my chest and shoves. “I’m not starting a relationship with anyone. I was moving a dresser.”
“If you can’t stay focused on your job, we’re better off without you.”
“You really are as stupid as you look. If it’s between you and me, who do you really think will keep Jack safer?”
I step right back up into his face. “That should be a no-brainer, but with you distracted, I’m not so sure.”
“I’m not distracted.”
*~*
Gray
I can’t believe this guy. All his big grandstanding is just jealousy. With me visible, he’s got competition for Elle’s attention, and he doesn’t like it. What makes it worse is that Jack can’t see it for what it is. He thinks he’s being all noble—protecting him. All he’s protecting is his ego.
Jack looks between us, concern creasing his brow. “Ianto, I don’t think Gray would really try to start something with Elle.” His quizzical gaze lands on me and I look away.
“If he’s smart. But at the moment, I’d say his IQ is up for debate,” Ianto says.
Jack comes up beside me. “Be serious.”
“I’m perfectly serious, Jack. If he can’t stay focused, he’s useless to you.”
As I listen to them argue, I feel frustration and anger build inside me like an electrical storm. I’m at critical mass, about to explode.
I step up and shove him, daring him to strike back. “You’re such a hypocrite, not to mention a jerk.” I shove him harder and get what I want when he grabs the collar of my T-shirt and shoves me hard into the wall. I feel my power crackle to life, ready to blast him into oblivion, but Jack pulls Ianto off me, unfortunately, and stands between us.
“Cut the shit, you guys!”
I glare at Ianto over the top of Jack’s head. “I’m not starting anything with Elle, but if I was, what’s it to you? Why is an angel hooking up with a mortal so different from a demon hooking up with a mortal?”
He sweeps Jack aside like so much trash and leans into me, his nose nearly touching mine, his jaw clenched. “Because your purpose is to protect your brother, and you can’t do that without wings.”
But the smell of brimstone pulls me from my thoughts. I bound to my feet, still invisible.
“So, I’m waiting, cherub. Question is: What am I waiting for?” Suzie stands next to me, a scowl darkening her already dark face.
“I’m working on it,” I snap.
“We’re working on a timetable here. We don’t have the rest of the millennium.”
I lean back against the wall. “Things aren’t as simple as I’d hoped,” I say, thinking about what excuse I’d have to see Elle without Ianto around. None. “If you have a better idea, go for it.”
She glares at me, making it clear that she’s got nothing.
“How hard can this be? Just take him,” I say. Then I realise that’s it. I push to my feet and look at him. “You should just kidnap him.”
I picture Elle and me together, searching for Ianto, getting to know each other, bonding. I could comfort her…kiss her tears away.
“And then what?” Suzie’s voice pulls me from the fantasy.
I bang my head hard into the wall, then glare at her.
“You’re a demon. Don’t tell me you can’t think of some way to reverse his tag.”
She glares back and phases in a puff of sulphur just as Elle’s door opens and she steps out.
no subject
Loads of questions, and you will answer them all, won't you??!!!
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
And Gray, he's exasperating me! He's puting Jack in danger, he's not focus, and now, poor Ianto!
no subject
Gray's a git, and a dangerous one at that because he is losing focus and that may cause damage to both Jack and Ianto, and maybe himself too if he's not careful.
Cheers
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
But Ianto will try and protect him as best as possible.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
So angel's can't lie, or sin, huh? What exactly would you call becoming visible...against the rules... so you can pretend to be someone you're not...umm, I'd say that was lying...and then pretending you're hurt...another lie...so you can lust after a (possible) human...umm, yeah, that'd be a sin, would it not? I'd say this boy is looking at getting himself into some big time trouble, possibly with a demon? It's good that he materializes with pants, on 'cause that's where he really needs to put that ice.
no subject
Gray is a bit of an enigma and a bit of a rule breaker for sure. But he hasn't yet done anything that will bring wrath down on him yet. It is of course a fine line.
Cheers