Title: Red Beret
By: GallifreyanWolf
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: AO
Warning: WiP
Author's Notes: This idea has been kicking bout my head since end of JE so decided to jut give it a go, hope it is ok. Was working with idea that Jack had aske Mickey to join the crew, although he is rarely mentioned here. Ths has not been BETA'd so any mistake are mine.
Summary: It was a brilliant plan, even if Jack did say so himself. He watched on the CCTV as Ianto found the package he had left a few minutes earlier, his hasty retreat after he had read the note he had left for him. As he turned off the monitors, Jack smiled. This was going to be a fun night.

***

It had been a few months now since that day. When the stars had gone out, and those things, those Daleks, had come and tried to take over. After all that had happened, he still dreaded to speak their name too loudly. But Jack was never one to dwell on such things, or tried not to. All the people lost, all the suffering: it was hard to not look back on what was lost. With all the sadness of that time, it was little wonder for Jack to be surprised when Gwen walked into his office that morning with a parcel that reminded him of some of the happier moments. He took the package from her and noticed that it was from U.N.I.T. Why they would be sending him a package puzzled him. The two organizations rarely contacted each other unless it was of the utmost importance.

'So what's all this, then?' Gwen asked as Jack took the package from her. 'Special delivery, from U.N.I.T. Someone's very important, then,' she mocked. She watched as Jack smiled slowly, his eyes skimming over the note in his hand. 'So, come on then, what's it all about? Some alien tech they need help with?'

'Oh, far from it, honey,' replied Jack, his eyes dancing. He slipped the note into his pocket and placed the parcel into his safe.

She watched as he got up and headed for the door, smile firmly in place. 'Jack, what is...'

'Sorry, can't right now, gotta go find out if Mickey found out anything on that modulator we found the other night.'

'Jack,' she called after him, to his amusement.

He turned to see her looking at him with that humoured confusion he loved. 'What? It's nothing serious, Gwen, just a present from an old friend, that's all.'

With that, he left her standing there feeling like she was definitely missing something, and she was determined to find out.
.........................

When he was sure that Gwen hadn't followed him, Jack slipped back into his office and pulled the parcel out of the safe. He sat down and took the note out of his pocket. As he read, he couldn't help the laugh that came out of him-

To Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood Three Cardiff.

I enclose with this note an item of top priority. I presume that you will treat it with the highest regard.

Yours

Dr Martha Jones

U.N.I.T.

As he finished, Jack pulled from the box a new red beret.

***

Ianto had just come back from depositing another Weevil into the cells, a last minute call so he had offered to do it to let the others get home a bit early. He had just made himself a coffee and was about to tidy round a bit when he noticed something that wasn't there when he had left. A package was sitting where he usually kept his papers from the day's work. It was a medium sized box, nothing remarkable about it at all, really. As he opened it, he found a note pinned to the top, and inside were a red beret and his stop watch. Ah, so that's where it had gone, he had been searching for it all day. Much to Gwen's annoyance. He smiled, picking up the watch and noticing it was already set, two minutes already gone by. He picked up the note to read the solitary word written.

Hide.

------------------------------------------

It was a brilliant plan, even if Jack did say so himself. He watched on the CCTV as Ianto found the package he had left a few minutes earlier, his hasty retreat after he had read the note he had left for him. As he turned off the monitors, Jack smiled. This was going to be a fun night. With Ianto running round trying to find a place to hide, Jack slowly stripped down to his boxers, not wanting to give Ianto everything all at once, then went and looked out his office window. He smiled as he saw a pile of clothes lying at Ianto's desk; the watch and beret were gone.

'Ready or not, here I come'

---------------------------------------------------

As he stripped, Ianto hastily tried to think of a place to hide. The cells? No, he'd already done that a few weeks back, and it was usually the first place Jack looked. Besides, he didn't think it wise to be down there naked with a weevil about, not again anyway. He popped on the U.N.I.T. beret and grabbed his stopwatch from the desk. One minute left. He'd better hurry.

As he moved about the hub, Ianto racked his brain trying to come up with a suitable place to hide. Labs? Been done. The Conference room? Not enough to hide behind. Jack's office? No, he had learnt from experience that Jack's office was not the best of places when things got heated, you never knew what he kept on his desk, he still has the mark from the last time they ended up in there.

He dived behind the rift manipulator as he heard Jack bounding down the stairs. He was still wearing his boxers, the cheat! This called for drastic measures. He watched as Jack headed off to the cells, predictablly. Question was, where could he hide that would even fool Jack for longer than ten minutes? As he was thinking, his eyes settled upon the lift, and that was when an idea hit him. He didn't have to find somewhere to hide; he could hide in plain sight. Problem was, how was he going to get up there without Jack hearing? Only solution was to go outside. Technically, he would still be on Torchwood grounds so he wouldn't be breaking any rules, so to speak. Anyway, Jack was already running around in his underwear so a little bending of the rules could be allowed on his part.

Carefully, he crept up the stairs and slipped into Jack's office. He searched around until he found what he was looking for. Perfect, he thought.

As he walked out, he flicked on the monitors to see Jack was still down in the cells. That would at least buy him a few more minutes. Quickly, he switched them off again and headed towards the travel office entrance, making sure to keep quiet. With one last look to make sure Jack hadn't snuck up behind him, Ianto pulled on Jack's greatcoat and headed out into the night.

***