Title: The Albedo of Snow
Author: Euphrosyne
Pairing: Janto
Rating: PG (yes, I said PG) mention of Janto and some kissing
Disclaimer: TW ain’t mine and never will be except inside my own fevered brain. Would that it were, we’d have 52 episodes a year!
This story is another example of me working without a net (beta).
All comments are welcome.
This little park is there, I just cannot find out if it has a name. I spent lots of time there in August when I was in Cardiff, just gawking at the tourist office entrance and into the Plass.The alarms blared as the cog door rolled open. Ianto Jones stepped through still brushing snow from his hair and began to unwrap the scarf from his neck. He removed his coat and shook it, then draped it and the wool scarf over his arm as he headed for the coffee machine. He flicked on lights in the central hub and kitchen area then draped his coat and scarf over one of the hooks that hung near the sofa.
Jack had been working at his desk when he heard the alarm and swiveled in his chair as he checked his watch. At this time there could only be one person…Ianto. He spied the tall form headed for the coffee machine and smiled to himself, then checked his watch again. There would be coffee soon, what a relief; he’d been drinking tea all night. After drinking Ianto’s coffee, nothing could compare, so if Ianto was not available to make it, he’d suffer with tea to avoid drinking the substandard stuff. He drained the last dregs of tea from his cup and returned it to the front of his desk as he worked.
Just as predicted, 10 minutes from the time Ianto Jones entered the hub, he walked into Jack’s office carrying a mug of coffee.
“Good morning, sir!”
“Good morning Ianto…ahh! My hero! You know I dream about your coffee?”
“Thank you, that would mean more if you actually slept, but I do appreciate the sentiment.”
“Okay… I look forward to your coffee because it signals the end of the night and your return.”
“Now talk like that will earn you a second cup.”
“I’m hoping so… I find tea very depressing. Any chance of a scone?”
“No, the scones are all gone. If you’d like when the shops in the Quay open I’ll go to Starbuck’s and get one for you.”
“Why isn’t Starbuck’s open now? It’s 6:30.” Jack stared down at his watch in puzzlement.
“Jack, with all the snow we’ll be lucky if they’re open for lunch.”
“Snow? What snow? It doesn’t snow in Cardiff.”
“Well it does today, Jack… a lot in fact.”
Jack’s mug stopped on the way to his mouth and returned to the desk, coffee untouched.
“How much?”
“How much what? Snow?”
“Yeah, how much snow is out there…how much is expected?”
“Well, as always, the meteorologists were completely surprised by the event, again… evidently it’s a freak storm of some kind. They have no idea, apparently…right now… I’d say there’s about 8 inches at least.”
“I’m asking about the snow, Ianto.”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “Outside, Jack…eight inches of snow.”“Oh, I thought you were bragging…” Jack smiled “…tell me more.”
“About the snow?” Ianto looked puzzled
“Of course about the snow.”
“Jack, you have a hub full of state of the art video and audio equipment, did it never occur to you that you could turn on the TV or radio?”
“No, why would I … I have you.”
Ianto rolled his eyes again and started to head back into the hub. Jack stood and picked up his mug before following him. Ianto sat down at his station and brought up the CCTV camera from the Raold Dahl Plas on one screen and the local news channel on another.
Jack watched the footage of a few hearty souls trudging through the shin high snow accumulated on the Plas as he listened to one of the ever excuse-filled meteorologists on why they had missed yet another accurate weather event prediction.
Ianto was puzzled. It was just snow. Sure it was unusual in Cardiff but this wasn’t the south of France or Florida, this was Wales and the weather was stubbornly unpredictable. True this much snow was unusual but not unheard of. He watched Jack’s eyes widen as he stared at the CCTV screen and then suddenly focus on the TV news screen as the presenter started to go to remote reporters out and about in Wales. Jack didn’t move or shift but Ianto’s nose could tell something was going on as the pheromones started rolling off the man in waves with his excitement.
“Jack?”
Jack turned on his heel and headed back towards his office as Ianto watched. Five minutes later he came back through wearing his coat and something Ianto had never seen before… gloves. Jack had actually fastened the coat and was closing the belt in the front as he passed Ianto sitting at his station.
“Jack? Where are you going?”
“I’ll be back in a while.” He opened the cog door and headed down the corridors to the elevator that lead to the hidden door in the tourist office.
Ianto was really puzzled now; he brought up the additional CCTV cameras they had that focused on every area of the harbor area. He watched as Jack exited the tourist office and walked along the pier. Instead of walking into the Plas, however he continued along the pier and headed for the Old Norwegian Church and the park that bordered the harbor side that extended from that area. Ianto scrambled, desperate to understand what had motivated Jack’s unexpected fixation and departure. He grabbed his coat and scarf and swearing out loud about Jack bloody Harkness and his strangeness, took the tourist office exit himself then hurried along Jack’s route towards the Norwegian Church. Slipping and sliding occasionally as he hurried in the snow he caught sight of his captain leaning against one of the railings that prevented misguided or unwary people from slipping off the path and onto the rocks that bordered the harbor itself. The odd thing was that Jack was not facing in the usual direction for one leaning against that railing. Usually people leaned there to observe into the harbor and Jack was leaning with his back to the harbor at the small expanse of park between the harbor and the Ferris wheel just staring as the snow fell around him.
Ianto slowed content to just follow and see what happened, when Jack spoke.
“Took you long enough.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I said it took you long enough to get here.”
“Uh, I didn’t know I was supposed to be following you. I was trying to be…discreet.” Ianto said as he tried to slow his heartbeat and not look like he’d rushed to catch up.“You’ll need to work on that whole ‘discreet’ thing, Ianto.”
“I suppose.” Ianto moved up next to Jack and leaned against the railing looking off in the same direction as Jack, trying to figure out what he was staring at.
“Why are we here, Jack?”
“Well…you’re here because you were nosy and followed me…you’ve been hanging out with Gwen too much…”
“And why are YOU here, then?”
“It never snows in Cardiff, Ianto…well almost never. Did you know where I come from it doesn’t snow at all?”
“No, I didn’t.”“It got cold, it would rain, but it never got cold enough to snow. I never saw snow before until I came to Earth.”
Ianto turned his collar up and pulled his scarf tighter. “You LIKE snow?” he asked surprised.“I love it, don’t you?” Jack turned towards him grinning.
“Well, I never really thought about it much. I suppose I find it nice around Christmas, but otherwise it’s pretty messy.”
“Messy? You think it’s messy? I think it’s beautiful…listen to it, Ianto…do you hear it?”
“Hear what? There isn’t anything to hear, Jack.”
“Sure there is. Normally standing right here we’d be listening to the traffic echoing between the buildings and the sound of people…it’s silent.” Jack reached down and grabbed a handful, squeezing it in his palm until it formed a lump.
“I’ve never seen you wear gloves before, Jack.”
“Cause I never wear them… I save them for special occasions.” He picked up another lump in his other hand and squeezed, then stood staring at the two wads of snow in his hands.
“Special occasions…like today?” Ianto smiled now.
“Yep, exactly like today. Come on, Ianto…let’s walk up to the castle.”
“That’s a pretty far walk, Jack…neither of us are wearing the appropriate footwear for that kind of walk in this kind of weather. How about we walk up to the Plas and then to Mermaid Quay, we can stop in Starbuck’s and get some scones.”
Jack had been staring at the two lumps of snow in his outstretched hands. His head came up suddenly and he turned towards Ianto his eyes wide and bright as the flakes melted against his cheeks and on his nose.
“We can get hot chocolate.”
Ianto laughed “If you’d like, yes we can get hot chocolate.” He shook his head as he laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are. Everyday we deal with the fantastic and amazing, weevils, pterodactyls, time travel and you’re getting all worked up over some…weather. You have an odd sense of…special, Jack.”
Jack’s head tilted and he smiled. “I think you’re special.”
“See what I mean?” Ianto leaned back against the railing and folded his arms across his chest, slipping his ungloved hands under his arms for warmth.
Jack reached down and scooped up two more handfuls of snow, squeezing them into his palms with the lumps that were already there. He swept another single hand down into the white and lifted his hand as if to address them staring at the flakes in his palm as he spoke.
“Supposedly no two snowflakes are alike. Do you know how snow flakes form, Ianto?...”
Before Ianto could formulate any kind of answer, especially the one that stated exactly how much he really didn’t care, Jack continued.
“… Snow crystals form when supercooled cloud droplets freeze. Once a droplet has frozen, it grows by diffusion of water molecules in the air onto the ice crystal surface. Because the droplets are much more numerous than the ice crystals the crystals are able to grow to hundreds of micrometres in size at the expense of the water droplets. That’s called the Wegner-Bergeron-Findeison process. The depletion of water vapour in the cloud causes the droplets to evaporate, so the ice crystals effectively grow at the droplets' expense. The large crystals then fall through the atmosphere due to their weight, and collide and stick together in clusters. Those clusters are snowflakes. Exactly how they stick together is controversial; some of the theories include mechanical interlocking, sintering, electrostatic attraction and the existence of a 'sticky' liquid-like layer on the crystal surface itself. The ice itself is clear but the scattering of light by the crystal facets, hollows and imperfections mean that the crystals look white. A lot of people believe that no two snowflakes are alike. And it’s extremely unlikely for any two macroscopic objects in the universe to contain an identical molecular structure; of course there are no known scientific laws that prevent it. But it's likely that two snowflakes could be identical if their environments were similar enough, because they grew very near one another, or even simply by chance. Did you know that fresh snow has an albedo of 90%?”
“No, what’s an… albedo?”
“It’s the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun. Of course if a snow covered area warms and the snow melts, the albedo then decreases, more sunlight is absorbed, and the temperature tends to increase.”
Ianto was staggered by the shear volume of information Jack had amassed on such a trivial subject as snow. He watched as Jack continued to stare at the snow as it melted against his glove.
“What I DO know is that it’s cold and so am I.”
“Ianto, where’s your sense of adventure? Where’s your thirst for knowledge?”
“I left it in my parka with my mittens.”
Jack threw back his head and laughed. Ianto wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Jack quite so relaxed except maybe after sex.
Jack dropped the two lumps of snow and turned to face Ianto, then stepped in front of him and leaned in to kiss him. Ianto unfolded his arms and returning the kiss almost forgetting about how cold he felt. Jack pressed his body against Ianto’s trapping him against the railing and brought his arms around the younger man’s waist. Ianto brought up his hands and captured Jack’s face in them, returning the kiss.
Jack took that opportunity to carefully sweep his open hand along the railing and gathered the snow that had accumulated there. With a grin into Ianto’s kiss he deposited the handful of atmospherically-formed-probably-not-identical-ice crystals down the back of Ianto’s collar.
Ianto’s lips froze in their motion and a deep growl started in his chest.
He didn’t move his head or release his grasp of Jack’s face even when Jack pulled back slightly to see his response.
“I cannot believe you just did that, Jack.”
Jack took a step back and grinned.
“What are you going to do about it?” Jack raised an eyebrow and sported a lopsided grin, and then he brushed his palms together, releasing the ice crystals that remained.
“I could have sworn you said you’d been here since 1869, how is it that you act like a 4 year old?”
“Come and play, Ianto.”
“I haven’t even had coffee yet, Jack…nor am I wearing play appropriate clothing.”
Jack’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Play with me.”
Jack took another couple of steps back and stooped to scoop up two handsful of snow packing the lumps together in his gloves. Ianto stood against the rail and shook his head.
“Don’t you dare.”
“And if I do?”
“You’ll regret it, I’m warning you, Jack…you should remember who makes your coffee.”
“Is that a threat?”
Ianto was sure Jack was sporting what was called a ‘shit eating grin’.
“It’s a promise.”
In the blink of an eye, the snowball hit Ianto squarely in the middle of his chest. He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly from side to side and opened them only to be pelted by two more in quick succession.
“You’re pushing your luck… SIR!”
The near whisper was more pleading this time.
“Play with me, Ianto.”
Ianto rolled his eyes and was again immediately struck by another snowball.
“You have an unfair advantage, Jack…you have…”
Ianto trailed off as Jack pulled another pair of gloves from one pocket and held them up for Ianto to see.
“…you have another pair of gloves.”
“For you. Hopefully they’ll even fit.”
Ianto reached out and accepted the proffered gloves, as he slipped them onto his hands Jack was already making ammunition. The gloves were leather palms but lined with something soft and warm and Ianto’s fingers were immediately a lot less cold.
Jack looked up as he stockpiled ammo, taking great care to pack the snow precisely between his palms and rolling them until they were round. The perfect snowballs were stacked neatly in a pyramid shape.“These gloves are leather they’re going to be useless in a short time.”
“I think you’ll find that won’t be the case. They aren’t from around here, and they aren’t leather. They will repel moisture and your hands will stay warm and dry…warmer and dryer than the rest of you will.”
“You have a head start.” Ianto motioned to the pile of snowballs.
“These are for you. I’m going over there; it’s hardly a sport if it’s close range.”
“Jack, it’s not a ‘sport’ at all. And even if it was you’d still find a way to cheat, I’m sure.”
“Okay it’s not technically a sport, but it should be.” Jack moved off a distance and bent to the snow to start another stockpile of snowballs. Ianto watched as Jack’s coat edges accumulated a mass of the white stuff every time he stooped to scoop more snow. He was drawn from his reverie by a snowball striking him in the chest again.
Shaking his head, he picked up two of the supply of snowballs Jack had left him and threw one in Jack’s direction, then stared at the other. The man was not from this century or this planet and had never seen snow before coming here and yet, somehow he had managed to create the perfect snowball.
“These are beautiful, Jack.”
“It took a lot of research and a lot of practice. I’m glad to see I’m not too rusty at making them.”
“Research? You researched snowball making?”
“I research a lot of things, Ianto. It isn’t all just about aliens and pterodactyls and time travel.”
Ianto pursed his lips. Only Jack Harkness would research snowball making.
The battle began in earnest, Jack threw himself into the fracas and his enthusiasm quickly overwhelmed Ianto. They dodged and ducked, as the snowballs flew between them and the snowflakes continued to fall heavily around and on them.
Ianto gave as good as he got although admittedly his own snowballs were no where near as good as the ones Jack was lobbing at him, sometimes his dissolved mid air until only a pittance of the snow actually struck its target.
More people were out now as the white sky brightened and the people who were walking nearby eyed the two men suspiciously and then moved warily past them. Fortunately their focus was on each other and the two man battle and they showed no desire to draw in any passers by. Ianto was covered in snow; frozen and wet everywhere, everywhere except his hands. He could feel the wet seeping through his winter coat, jacket and vest and right through to his skin. He couldn’t feel his toes and his trousers below his coat were sopping now. The snow clung to them in lumps as he dodged and ran in an effort to avoid more of Jack’s perfect ice orbs. Jack’s hair was plastered to his head and his grey coat was wet with snow and clumps of ice. When he paused Ianto could see his face was red with exertion and the steam rising off of his head and shoulders. He had to be at least as cold and wet as Ianto was.
“I’m cold, Jack.” Ianto could not suppress a shiver as he spoke.
“Are you surrendering?” Jack laughed.
“Well since I didn’t want to fight to start with I have no problem surrendering… I bow to your superior skill, Captain.” Ianto made a mock bow from the waist and then moved towards Jack’s position near a tree that was now dotted with splotches of snow. He stepped into his personal space and leaned forward as he spoke.
“My ass is so cold, I think my dick has frozen and dropped off somewhere in the snow, I hope you’re happy now?”
Jack laughed and kissed him on the nose.
“I don’t see it anywhere…” Jack made a show of glancing around at their battlefield.
“You keep this up and you won’t.” Ianto said with a sly smile.
“I’ll be happy to warm it up for you.”
“As long as the rest of me is included and it isn’t done right here, I might agree to that as a prime conditions of my surrender.”
“Nope…gotta be unconditional or it’s to the death.”
“If by that you mean FREEZING to death then the end is at hand anyway…please? I need coffee and warmth, more warmth than coffee. I can’t feel my toes, Jack. I’m serious.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped as he relented to Ianto’s plea.
“Okay, Ianto…back to the hub, a hot shower and I’ll go to Starbucks for the scones.”
“I don’t have any dry clothes at the hub except for sweats.”
“That’s okay, I’m the boss I say it’s a casual dress day.”
Jack looked down and started to brush the lumps of ice from his coat. Ianto took the opportunity to reach down to an area of undisturbed snow and took a handful. As Jack straightened, Ianto drew him in for a kiss and shoved a handful of snow down the collar of Jack’s coat.
“Payback’s a bitch.” He said with a smirk as he started off back towards the tourist office entrance. Jack followed on his heels, grinning like a madman before tackling Ianto to the ground and rolling them over and over in the snow until they were both covered head to toe.
“Yes…it is!” Jack scrambled to his feet then pulled Ianto up and they walked side by side back toward Mermaid Quay.
Jack kissed Ianto briefly as he entered the tourist office then headed up the gangway towards the shopping area and Starbucks. By the time Jack returned with scones and four extra-hot, hot chocolates with double espresso shots Ianto had showered and dressed in dry sweat pants and sweatshirt with a hoodie on top of those.
“Here you are your reward for surrender.” Jack hung his coat still covered in ice pellets on the coat rack in the corner of his office. His wet, dark blue pants clung to his legs from the thigh down and his shirts stuck to him.
“You should get out of those wet things…” Ianto took a sip from his hot chocolate and bit into a cinnamon scone motioning towards Jack with the scone.
“…This is good, the espresso helps.”
Jack sat down in his chair behind the desk and picked up his own scone taking a bite before sipping his hot chocolate.
They each finished one hot chocolate and had started on their seconds when Jack spied Ianto’s scarf draped over one of the hangers on the coat rack.
“I like that scarf…mind if I borrow it?”
“Jack it’s wool and soaking wet, you really don’t want to borrow it.”
Jack got up and headed for the hole in the floor that served as his bedchamber. Ianto assumed he was going down there to get some clothes and change at least if not get things to shower. He came up about two minutes later with a small flat box.
“I got this for you.” He handed the box over to Ianto with a slight smile. “I hope you like it.”
Ianto looked at the box quizzically then back up to Jack’s face.
“What is it?”
“Open it and see…it’s not much but I thought of you…thought you’d like it.”Ianto untied the simple green ribbon that held the box closed and lifted the lid. He unfolded the white tissue paper and looked down on a bright green plaid.
“Feel it.”
Ianto lifted the material from the box and ran it through his fingers. The wool was probably the softest he’d ever felt and he lifted it to his face to feel it against his skin.
“It’s the Jones tartan…I thought you should have it. I’d love to see you in a Jones tartan kilt but figured I might have a fight on my hands before you’d agree to it. So this was the next best thing.”
Ianto draped the scarf around his neck and brushed one end across his face again.
“This is lovely Jack, thank you. I’ve never felt wool so soft before.”
“It’s a special kind of lamb’s wool… I forget the rest of the history of it. There’s a booklet in the box that tells about it. I was going to give it to you for Christmas but since your scarf is a loss.”“Jack, it’s only wet…it will dry.” Ianto stood and kissed Jack before sitting back down to read the providence on the scarf.
Jack watched him for a moment and then moved towards the coat rack.
“I’ve forgotten something… I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Jack picked his coat off the rack and left the office. Ianto was still reading the little booklet that had been in the box and nodded acknowledgement but didn’t look up.
When he heard the alarm blaring as the cog door opened he did look up to see Jack, in his wet coat exiting, with Ianto’s wet scarf in his hand. Ianto got up and moved back into the hub the new scarf still draped around his neck. He again brought up the CCTV cameras in the Plas and tracked him.
A few minutes later Gwen entered the hub.
“I saw Jack outside he said he had something to do and would be back. What’s going on, where’s he headed? He looked like he was all wet.”
“Was he wearing gloves?”
“Yeah as a matter of fact he was. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jack wear gloves.”
“He saves them for special occasions.”
“Wow… Did you come in to work dressed like that?”
“No, I got wet and had to change.”
Gwen was making herself a cup of tea as she spoke. “Are scarves in with sweats and hoodies these days? It’s pretty.”
Ianto stared at the CCTV footage as Jack returned to the grassy area near the Norwegian Church.
“I said are scarves with hoodies the in thing?”
“Sorry?”
“The scarf Ianto?”“Oh it was a gift.”
“Oh, very nice…” she stroked her hand across as she spoke “…very soft. What are you watching?”
“Jack.”
“Oh? Oi! What’s he doing? He’s daft to be out in that weather.” Gwen moved around to look at the screen.
They silently watched together for about 15 minutes.
“What IS he doing?” Gwen shook her head.
The Torchwood captain was rolling a snowball… a big snowball and he had Ianto’s old scarf draped around his neck.
“I believe he’s making a snowman.”
“You’re not serious?”
“Well he IS wearing his gloves so it must be a special occasion.”
“What special occasion…it’s just snow.”
“Gwen, did you know that fresh snow has an albedo of 90%?”
“A what? Ianto what are you talking about? What’s an albedo?”“You should ask Jack when he gets back. He’d love to tell you.”
Gwen just shook her head and they both watched their commander putting the finishing touch on the very small snowman that he had completed by draping Ianto’s old scarf around its neck.“He’s gone off the deep end…I think he’s died one too many times.” Gwen shook her head and wandered towards her own station as Jack trotted back up towards the gangway that led to the tourist office.
“I think the TRUE albedo of snow is the amount of childlike behavior it brings out in Jack.” Ianto mumbled.
fin
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