Title: A Mile in Someone Else's Shoes
By: Mrs_Ianto_Jones
Pairing: gen
Rating: PG
Summary: Owen is 'punished' for calling Ianto teaboy one too many times.

***

6:15 am.

Ianto's car glided to halt in front of Owen's building. Two minutes later Owen emerged, looking rather like one of the corpses in the Torchwood morgue.
"Good morning, Doctor Harper." Said Ianto, as Owen climbed into the car. There was only the merest hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"I can't believe Jack is making me do this." Owen moaned. "You're not really offended when I call you tea-boy are you?"
"No." Conceded Ianto. "But, it annoys Jack. Cheer up, you've only got to do my job for one day."

6:30am.

"It's definitely way too early in the morning."
Owen was still moaning as they arrived at the hub. Unsurprisingly, there was no-one else around and there was no sign of Jack. He could be anywhere.
"Come on then, Owen. Let's feed Myfanwy."
Owen followed Ianto up the gantries to the pterodactyl nest. He'd never actually been up there before. In a small room adjacent to the nest, was a large freezer and a microwave. The freezer was packed with beef steaks. Ianto instructed Owen to take out five steaks and defrost them. He was then to coat them in the barbecue sauce substance used to make Myfanwy recognize her food. Once it was done, Owen cautiously approached the nest. The dinosaur came screeching towards him, obviously hungry. He threw the meat into the nest and stumbled backwards. Ianto tried, and failed, to keep the smirk from his face. Owen just glared at him.

6:50 am.

As they came down from the nest, they saw Jack descending on the invisible lift platform. He called a greeting to them and nodded at Ianto's offer of a coffee. Whilst Ianto prepared it, he got Owen to make theirs. Before taking the beverage to it's intended drinker, Ianto reached into the cupboard below the coffee maker and pulled out a tub of cinnamon. He carefully measured half a teaspoon and added it it to Jack's mug.
"Is that the secret ingredient he's always rhapsodising about?" Asked Owen, incredulously.
"Yes, except he doesn't know exactly what it is."

7:00 am.

For the next hour, Ianto guided Owen through the myriad of computer programs that were constantly running from Tosh's workstation. He explained abut the mole program Tosh had written.
"It sits in the systems of the military, emergency services, hospitals, newspapers and other relevant organizations. It also travels around all Wales based web sites. Whenever it comes across certain keywords or phrases it logs a report in our computer. Some words will trigger an alert.
"I wondered how you got all that stuff." Owen said, clearly impressed.
"You could have just asked."
They trawled through the received information for anything which might warrant further investigation. Reports were made and given to Jack to peruse. Owen found he was actually disappointed not to find anything overly exciting. There was just the usual Weevil and U.F.O. sightings.

8:00am

Tosh and Gwen arrived at the hub together, giggling at a shared joke. Owen hated it when they laughed secretly like that. It made him feel paranoid, today more so. He once again trailed after Ianto, to the coffee maker. Ianto allowed Owen the 'pleasure' of delivering the drinks.
"Morning Owen." Said Gwen, winking at Ianto. "How are you enjoying Ianto's day so far?"
"Come on Gwen." Came Jack's voice from his office. "Don't tease him... too much"

8:15 am.

"Are you going to be using you computer anytime soon, Sir?"
"Nope, it's all yours, Yan."
Ianto went into the office with his whinging shadow following him
"Are you ever going to stop calling him Sir?" Owen asked. "Especially given your... erm... relationship."
"Force of habit." Was the Welshman's simple reply. He got Owen to sit at the PC and log into Torchwood's eBay account.
"What's the username?"
"Captain_Charisma."
Owen snorted.
"You're fucking joking!"
"Afraid not. The password is nymphomaniac."
Owen shook his head and typed them in.
"It says we've won seven items, do we have a paypal account?"
"Yes. Our email address is capchar@yahoo.com. Same password as eBay."
Owen paid for the purchased items before the two of them spent over an hour searching for other items that could be of alien origin. They put bids in for five lots and upped the bids on three others.

9:30 am

Ianto unlocked the door of the Tourist Information Centre, explaining to Owen that they had to open up every so often to keep up the illusion. For the first time ever, Owen had a good look at he display of leaflets and flyers.
"These are all bang up to date." He said, reading through one listing the upcoming events at the Millennium Staduim.
"Of course. We only get one or two people in, but the information they are looking for still needs to be accurate."
"How long are we open for and what do we do while waiting for these two tourists?"
"We're open for three hours." Replied Ianto as he disappeared through the beaded curtain into his office. He came back with an armful of files.
"In the meantime, we transfer this lot to disk."
For Owen, the ensuing three hours were tedium personified. They did indeed get the two tourists Ianto had promised.

***

12:30pm

"Okay, time for lunch. You go and find out what everyone wants while I tidy up here."
Owen was glad to get away from Ianto, and his job, for a while. Although he was unlikely to admit it to everyone, he had to concede that Ianto did do more than he thought. Down in the hub, there was very little going on. Jack was in his office doing who knew what while Torchwood's female members were gossiping on the sofa.
"What do you want for lunch?" He asked, somewhat belligerently.
"I'll have a ham and cheese panini and an apple." Tosh told him.
"Ooh, I'll have the same." Requested Gwen. "And a latte."
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Lunch?"
Jack glanced around the hub.
"I'm getting the feeling that Ianto is beginning to take advantage."
Owen scowled.
"Do you want lunch or not?"
Jack asked for a tuna and onion sandwich and a banana.
"Good source of potassium, bananas." He murmured as he wandered away.
Owen stamped off to buy lunch.

Only, as it turned out, they weren't buying it. They were making it. Owen, who thought he knew the hub pretty well, didn't even know the kitchen they were in, existed. Between them, they put lunch together for the five of them, them joined Jack, Gwen and Tosh in the boardroom.

13:20pm

After lunch, Ianto cleared up then got stuck into some rewiring on the emergency staircase. Owen was relegated to watching and handing over tools. Amongst other things, Ianto was a fully qualified electrician.

14:30pm

Owen and Ianto were once again using Jack's computer when an alien signal alert popped up on the screen.
"Where is it?"
"Atlantic Wharf." Ianto Replied. "At the Holiday Inn."
"That's practically on top of us."
Ianto picked up the phone to call Jack.
"Are you anywhere near the bay, Sir?" He asked.
"No, we're heading for Newport."
Ianto told Jack about the alien signal. The captain instructed them to check it out themselves.

14:45pm

Owen and Ianto traced the signal to room 312. Ianto knocked politely on the door, which was opened quickly by a fairly ordinary looking man.
"Yes?"
Ianto flashed one of the many I.D. cards that he carried. This one announced him as a hotel inspector. The guest, who introduced himself as Roger James, allowed Ianto and Owen into the room. Whilst Owen kept Mr. James distracted, Ianto covertly scanned the room. The source of the signal was soon located inside Mr. James' suitcase. Ianto carefully extracted the object and secreted it in his jacket.
"I'm thirsty." He suddenly announced. "Do you mind?"
Ianto went straight into the bathroom without waiting for a response. He filled two glasses with water then added Retcon to one of them.
"You'll join me won't you Mr. James?"
The other man accepted the water, more out of confusion than anything else, and drained the glass.
"Don't worry Mr. James, you'll soon forget we were here."

On the short journey back to the hub, Owen asked if Ianto often did stuff like that.
"All the time." Ianto replied. "You're usually too involved with your own thing to notice."

15:20pm

Back at the hub, Ianto led Owen down to the archives. The medic had been down there before was still amazed at it's size.
"The Torchwood Institute has been in existence for well over a century." Ianto told him. "It's accrued quite a lot of clutter along the way."
"How do you know where it all is, or even what it is?"
"I don't yet. I've only managed to classify and catalogue about sixty percent of it."
He held up the object they'd retrieved earlier. It looked like a gun, but Ianto had learned not to jump to conclusions.
"I'll put this in an explosive proof locker until I have time to get back to it."

15:50pm

"So, what now?" Queried Owen, as they left the archives.
"One of my least favourite parts of this job."
Owen was puzzled by Ianto's gradual change in demeanor as they headed to their next task. He became increasingly fretful the closer they got to their destination. Owen soon found out why when they arrived at one of the morgues. Ianto pulled out a drawer containing the body of a nineteen year old man who'd had the misfortune to get in the way of a Weevil.

Ianto explained to Owen how he was going to damage the body further in order to destroy the wounds.
"Then what?"
"I leave the body where I won't be seen but it will be found."
"Won't it be better to do that at night."
"It's actually less suspicious in the daytime."
They worked in silence together, using acid to dissolve the damaged part of the young man's body. It was then loaded into Ianto's car and taken to wasteland which wasn't overlooked by security cameras or houses.

17:45pm

Owen was searching for Ianto. They'd gotten back to the hub twenty minutes earlier and Ianto had promptly disappeared. He was finally located in the locker room which was adjacent to the gym. Ianto's back was to the door but Owen could tell he was crying by the way his shoulders were shaking. Owen had no idea how to deal with the situation. He wasn't particularly close to the Welshman at the best of times.
"Are you okay mate?"
Ianto leapt up startled. He was clearly embarrassed at having been caught in a less than impeccable state.
"Sorry Yan, I'll leave you alone."
"It's okay, I'm fine."
Owen couldn't believe the speed at which Ianto recovered himself. The two men stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.
"Wanna talk about it?" Asked Owen tentatively. He didn't particularly want to, but the whole point of the day was to learn more about Ianto. The other man shrugged slightly.
"Everytime I dump or dispose of a body, I find out who they are. I checked out Mr. Stephens yesterday. He'd been married for seven months, had a seventeen month old daughter and his wife is expecting their second child."
"Does it always affect you like this?"
Ianto nodded sadly.
"I guess I'm just soft like that."

Owen sat down on the locker room bench.
"I can understand it." He confessed. "When I started my medical training, it was months before I learned not to get emotionally involved with every patient. Whenever I lost one I always took it personally. Once they were dead though, they were out of my hands. I don't think I could keep doing what you have to do."
Ianto was genuinely shocked at Owen's empathy, and more than a little uncomfortable with it. Without warning, Owen stood up and pulled Ianto into a hug. It was a quick, manly hug involving several slaps on the back. Ianto didn't respond to it but Owen didn't seem to notice.

18:00pm

They arrived back at the hub in time to say goodnight to Tosh and Gwen. Jack leaned against the door frame of his office with his arms folded. He glanced quizzically Ianto and Owen. It was obvious something had gone on between the two men, Ianto's red eyes were testament to it.
"Is everything okay?" He asked warily.
"Fine."
It was said in unison.
"Do you want a coffee, Sir?" Ianto offered.
"Erm... sure."
It was obvious to Jack that he wasn't going to find out what went on, so he gave up and went back to his office.

18:30pm

After delivering Jack's coffee, it was time to tidy up the hub. Owen was not impressed when when Ianto told him there wasn't as much as usual because the medic hadn't been around to cause any.

19:00pm

Ianto guided Owen through the setting up of the overnight monitors. As soon as it was done, he called through to Jack.
"We're off, Jack."
"How was it all, Owen?" Jack asked, coming out of his office.
"Informative."
"You've only seen half of what I do so far." Ianto told him.
"You know, there's something else that Owen does around here."
Owen glowered at Jack, then at Ianto when he heard him snigger behind him.
"If you think I'm doing that, I'm resigning here and now."
Jack laughed.
"Goodnight. See you both tomorrow."

19:20pm

Ianto pulled up outside Owen's building. Just before he got out, the medic turned to the other man.
"Thanks Ianto. I've learned a lot today and I apologise for all the tea-boy jibes."
"I really don't mind Owen. See you in the morning."
"Goodnight."

Finis

***

e = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});