Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Owen, Suzie, Ianto

Author: m_findlow

Rating: M

Length: 2,026 words

Content notes: none

Author notes: Written for Challenge 233 - Wave

Summary: Owen and Ianto go above and beyond the call of duty.


'How is it that you can turn even something as nice as a trip to the beach into hard work?' Owen complained, wrestling with the steering wheel as he took the bend in the road a little too fast.

'Hey, don't blame me,' Suzie said, 'blame Jack. He's the master slave driver around here.'

'I bloody hate the outdoors,' he grumbled.

'You hate the indoors as well so what difference does that make?' she said, consulting her PDA. 'Turn here,' she instructed.

'There's no road to turn here, Suze.'

'Well, turn anyway. What's the point of having an off-road vehicle if it can't go off road?'

'Suit yourself,' Owen replied, taking another sharp turn, gravel skidding beneath the tyres as he skipped over it, mounting the tall grasses and knobbly sand dunes.

'How's everything back there?' Suzie asked, checking on their silent companion.

'Fine,' Ianto replied, teeth jarring together with every bump and piece of bracken Owen drove over. If he ruined the paintwork on the SUV, he was going to be on decaf for a month. And it was coming out of his paycheck. He still couldn't figure out how he'd been roped into coming with these two on a rift alert in the first place. He almost never left the hub, unless of course it was to fetch groceries or dry cleaning.

'Keep going, Owen,' Suzie said, not even looking up.

'If I go any further, we'll be in the bloody ocean,' he said, pulling up on the sandy expanse.

'Yeah, alright. No need to get your knickers in a twist,' she replied. 'Come on.'

They got out of the car, looking out at the pristine beach with not a soul in sight. This is how beaches should be, Suzie thought. It was the beach goers that always ruined it for her - the screaming kids, the people that let their dogs roam around, the ones that walked past you as you were sunbathing, dripping seawater on you. A pity Welsh beaches weren't warm enough for sunbathing, otherwise she'd mark this one on her map.

She took off down the beach, Owen following in her wake. Ianto stood there, feeling his shoes already filling with sand just from standing in one spot. Great. He bent over and began carefully rolling up his trousers and removing his shoes, tapping out the sand with the heel of his palm, watching as half the Sahara emptied from them. The socks went the same way before being rolled up and tucked inside the shoes. It wasn't all of it, not by half. As he set the shoes on the hood of the SUV, he swore to uncover whoever had sent him out here.

'Hurry up, Ianto!' Owen called back, sounding annoyed. 'We haven't got all sodding day!'

He sighed, trudging down the beach, toes sinking in the sand, before catching up to them.

'It's on the move,' Suzie said, examining the signature again.

'Thought you said it was inanimate?' Owen asked.

'That's what Jack told me.' She looked up, watching the waves come crashing ashore. 'He said, it's alien, so we have to fetch it.'

'Tide's coming in,' Ianto said. 'Might've been washed out to sea.'

'I'd say that's a fair bet,' Suzie replied. 'You'll have to go out there and get it,' she said, looking at Owen.

'What's wrong with him?' Owen said, throwing his thumb back at Ianto.

'Him has a name, you know.'

'Ianto isn't a field agent,' Suzie said. 'You are.'

Owen set his hands on his hips. 'What does that make you, then?'

'In charge.'

'Fuck off, you are not,' Owen replied.

'Oh, really?' she said, lifting her mobile to her ear and dialing. 'Jack? Yes, we're here, only Owen's not all that keen on getting his toes wet.' She passed the phone across.

"Owen, just get the damn thing and stop messing about," came the order before the phone hung up in his ear.

'That was low,' Owen said, shoving her phone back towards her.

Suzie just shrugged. 'That's the way the cookie crumbles. Now go on, before it's all the way out to sea.'

He looked at both of them with a murderous expression. 'You'll pay for this, Costello. You too, Teaboy.' He angrily grabbed his sneaker and tugging it off, followed by the other, before trudging toward the waves lapping the shore.

'Wait,' Ianto called out.

Owen huffed. 'What now?'

'You can't go out there like that. It's dangerous to go swimming in your clothes.'

Owen stared at him. 'You're fucking kidding me, right?'

Suzie grinned, folding her arms. 'Looks like you're getting your kit off Owen. Go on. Chop chop.'

He glared at both of them again, slowly and unhappily pulling off his leather jacket.

'Pants too,' Suzie said, grinning.

Owen rolled his eyes, easing his belt loose before dropping his jeans, stepping out of them.

'Woohoo, nice jocks,' Suzie teased, eyeing off the tight grey cotton pants with their little short legs, showing off that skinny arse.

'Just be grateful they're clean.' She'd seen them often enough every time they'd gone out drinking and then ended up back at her place. At least Ianto had the decency to look away awkwardly. 'I'm not taking the t-shirt off,' he said. 'It's bloody cold enough as is.'

'Alright then little Mr Precious,' Suzie said, conceding defeat on a full strip tease. 'Get out there and I'll direct you.'

Owen stomped into the rising ride. He wouldn't dare give them the satisfaction of knowing how cold it was as he forced his way past the breakers, trying not to stand on any rocks. It wasn't exactly Venice Beach with its fine white sand and perfect blue waters. It was rocky and covered in shale like every other British beach he'd ever visited.

'Go left,' Suzie yelled out over the crashing waves. 'More left,' she said, watching Owen's position in relation to the alien signal. 'Ten more yards back and you should be on top of it.'

Owen felt the sand underneath him drop away as he stepped backwards, further out as per his instructions. He was lucky he didn't go under completely with the sudden drop. Stupid sandbar, he thought. Couldn't have been on top of that, could it? Sighing, he realised there was nothing for it but to stick his head under the water to try and find the damn thing. Harkness was going to owe him big time for this.

Suzie and Ianto watched as Owen took a deep breath and bobbed down underneath the waves. He went up and down a few times without success. Suzie used hand signals to indicate when he was drifting too far one way or the other in his search.

He ducked down again, kicking to reach the bottom, his foot brushing something small and metallic. He came up for air once more, before dipping down one last time, finally reaching the seabed and wrapping his hand around the flask-shaped item. As he came up, he held it up in the air, indicating he'd found it.

'About time,' Suzie muttered, wind whipping her hair in her face as she tugged it back for the hundredth time.

They stood there watching and waiting for Owen to swim back to shore, but the longer they watched, the less it looked like he was moving at all.

'What's he doing out there?' Suzie said, growing annoyed.

'It is just me or is he getting further away?' Ianto asked.

Suzie consulted her PDA. Sure enough, the signal from the alien device seemed to be drifting further and further out. He must have gotten caught in a strong current. She sighed loudly. 'You're going to have to go out there and get him,' she said.

'Me?' Ianto said. Suzie just raised her eyebrows at him in askance, as if the very suggestion she go out there was complete madness. So much for him not being classed as a full field agent. 'Go get the rope from the SUV,' he said, already being to undress, resigned to the fact that there was no point arguing.

'Why?'

'Because I'm not a strong swimmer, and if he's caught in a current, we'll both get swept out.'

By the time he was standing there in naught but his underpants, wishing he'd worn a t-shirt under his dress shirt the way Jack did, Suzie had returned with the coil of rope. He tied one end around his waist, fastening it tight.

'Bring the SUV down to the berm and tie the other end to the front. Don't drive into the wet sand or you'll bog the car.' He didn't know how high the tide would go, but they couldn't afford to have the SUV dragged out into the ocean. Jack would kill the lot of them if that happened.

Whilst Suzie was jogging back up the beach to bring the car closer, Ianto headed into the water, making sure he didn't take all the rope with him.

'Fuck!' he cried as the first wave hit him, ice cold. Just keep going, he told himself, forcing himself to ignore the temperature, keeping an eye on Owen as much as he could.

He felt the sand go out from underneath him, in the same way as Owen had, and knew he'd have to swim the rest of the way. He cast a look back to the shore, Suzie giving him the thumbs up, rope secured to the car. At least they'll be able to drag your body back, if nothing else, he thought, though it wasn't a cheery prospect.

Choppy waves dumped over his head as he tried to reach Owen, still drifting further away. God, I hope we've got enough rope.

'Owen!' he yelled out, disoriented by the water that washed over him.

'Over 'ere!' Owen waved an arm as Ianto flapped toward him, finally gripping a cold, slimy hand. 'Good one,' Owen said, spitting out a mouthful of water. 'Now, how do we get back?'

They both began waving at Suzie, trying to grab her attention. She jumped back into the driver's seat and slowly backed the SUV up the beach, careful not to go too fast. She knew well as Ianto that if she skidded the wheels too quick, she'd only send it deeper into the sand.

Slowly but surely, she pulled them back, ten yards, then twenty. A few more and they seemed to be able to break free of the rip, paddling back until their feet found sand again, stumbling the rest of the way in before collapsing on the beach in a shivering heap.

'Thanks,' Owen said, between chattering teeth.

'Anytime,' Ianto replied, equally frozen.

'Where's the device?' Suzie asked.

'Oh, yeah, don't worry about us, Suze. It's all about the fucking device.' Owen rolled onto his stomach pushing up with his elbows so he wasn't face first into the sand, slipping it out of the back of his underwear.

'That was the best place you could put it?' she asked, taking it between two fingers and holding it at arm's length.

'Well, it wasn't holding anything else,' he replied. It was so bloody cold everything important had done a disappearing act on him.

'There's t-t-t-towels, in the c-c-car,' Ianto chattered, struggling to move his semi-numb limbs enough to stand up.

'I'll get them,' Suzie said, hurrying back to fetch them, handing them gratefully out.

They were still cold by the time they'd arrived back at the hub, even with the heater on, trying to dry off as best they could.

'What happened to you two?' Jack asked as they hobbled out of the car, practically naked. 'Did I miss all the good stuff again?' Anything that resulted in his team naked was definitely worth knowing more about.

'Go f-f-f-fuck yourself,' Owen shivered, padding past him and straight for the longest, hottest shower he'd ever had.

Jack raised a questioning eyebrow at Ianto, who was wearing even less than Owen. 'It's not even naked Tuesday.'

'What Owen said,' Ianto replied, stalking past. He was never leaving the hub ever again.

Jack looked at Suzie, confused. 'What did I say?'