czarina_kitty | Balance of Power

Title: Balance of Power
Characters: Gwen, Ianto
Rating/Warnings: Adult—spanking
Spoilers: End of Days
Summary: see Notes
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor make any money from the use of, these characters.
Notes: This was originally written for the touchyerwood kink meme, for the prompt: Ianto/Gwen, Spanking (bonus points if Ianto is the one being spanked)

With Jack gone there was a brief vacuum of power before Gwen stepped forward to lead the team. She knew that none of the others had it in them to actually lead overall, although any one of them could step forward should their expertise be needed.

Convincing Tosh to accept Gwen’s lead was a non-issue. Even though Tosh had been with Torchwood 3 longer than any of the others, she had no ambition to lead. She was happy with her computers and her assigned role.

Owen was, likewise, not much of a challenge. He groused and complained, but Gwen knew that he did not have any problem with taking orders from a woman. He did not, in point of fact, have any problem taking orders from Gwen, but his male ego demanded that he at least pretend that he did.

Which just left Ianto.

Outwardly, Ianto gave every appearance of accepting Gwen’s leadership. He spoke to her in the same deferential tone he had always used with Jack. He anticipated everyone’s needs and worked hard to keep the organization running as efficiently as possible. But the little things were staring to slip: a dropped magazine as he took practice on the firing range, a moment’s pause before he responded to a question, files just slightly out of place, and a slight bitterness to the coffee that had not been there before. He continued to do his job almost perfectly. And it was that almost that worried Gwen.

It was likely that no one else would notice that anything was wrong, but Gwen had seen this before. Immediately after Lisa.

Somehow, by the time Ianto had returned from his suspension, he and Jack had resolved their issues and Ianto had once again become the perfect employee. But, before Jack had figured out what to do, when Ianto was still in the hub waiting to find out just what his punishment would be, Ianto had been off his game, making small, seemingly trivial mistakes. Just like he was doing now. No one other that Jack and Ianto knew what had transpired between the two and, not for the first time, Gwen wished she had pushed for an explanation.

They had all seen the kiss, the publicly claiming gesture that Jack made when he revived. But, they had also seen Ianto’s hesitation about approaching Jack and it was that hesitation that Gwen wondered about now. What had Ianto been expecting?

Taking advantage of a lull in rift activity, Gwen went to Jack’s office and pulled Ianto’s employment file from a desk drawer hoping to find something that would tell her how to help Ianto. The file, as it turned out, was useless. As was Jack’s journal, which she discovered in another drawer, along with several items she was sure didn’t belong in a desk drawer. A quick scan of CCTV footage saved to Jack’s computer, however, told her exactly what she needed to know and exactly why said items were in Jack’s desk in the first place.

Now she just had to wait for the right moment.

The wait was not long. Within the hour Ianto placed a coffee mug on her desk, slopping some over the edge.

“Ianto,” she said quiet enough that only he could hear her, “you’re getting careless. Stay back after the others leave tonight. I think you and I need to get you sorted.”

Gwen knew she is on the right track when she heard his breathing hitch before he responded, “Yes, ma’am.”

As the others left Gwen went back to Jack’s office and sat behind his desk. A few moments later Ianto knocked softly at the door.

“Come in and take a seat,” she said, hoping that she came across as stern, not nervous.

Ianto entered the office and sat across the desk from her. “Ma’am,” he nodded curtly, “I’d like to apologize for my behavior. I’ll do my best to be more careful in the future.”

“I’m afraid that’s not good enough, Ianto. We both know that these little slips are intentional. I’m going to hazard a guess here that you’re feeling guilty about something, maybe something to do with Jack leaving? And that you are looking for someone to help you with that, to punish you. Only you don’t know how to ask, so you make mistakes hoping to get caught. And you’re afraid of being in serious trouble, so you make small mistakes. Am I right?” Ianto opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. Instead, he lowered his head submissively and nodded.

“And I suppose that just telling you that you are not responsible for Jack’s leaving us is not enough?” Ianto simply shook his head, blushing furiously.

“Right,” said Gwen getting to her feet. “This cannot continue. I cannot have you out there making mistakes, that’s how people get hurt. I need you to stand up, remove all of your clothing below the waist, and bend over the desk.”

Ianto sat for a moment, digesting Gwen’s words, before rushing to comply with the instructions. Gwen watched him impassively, noting the complete lack of embarrassment on Ianto’s part. Quickly, he was bending over the desk, grasping the far edge, feet apart and on his toes. Gwen watched him seem to relax into the desk, letting it support his weight.

“I’d guess this isn’t the first time you’ve been over this particular desk,” Gwen said, fully aware that it was not, but not wanting to let on exactly how she knew.

“No, ma’am,” Ianto responded quietly as Gwen walked over to stand next to him. She felt him stiffen slightly and then relax as she placed a hand on the small of his back. She raised her hand and brought it down across his left cheek, with all the force she could manage and was rewarded with a flinch and a small gasp. Without pausing she began spanking him quickly and as hard as she was able. She knew that she could not possibly spank Ianto as hard as Jack would and she did not want to use, or even admit to knowing about the small collection of implements in Jack’s desk drawer, but she suspected that would not matter this time around.

Gwen did not pause and did not let up, but kept a steady stream of blows falling even as Ianto began to cry out and struggle to stay in position. She did not stop as Ianto’s skin turned pink and warm, then red and hot under her hand. She did not cease until she felt his body go limp and heard Ianto sob. Only then did she still her hand and walk back to the other side of the desk. Using the fingers of one hand she gently raised Ianto’s chin so that he looked her in the eye and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. “All over now, love, you can get up. You took that very well and I’m proud of you.”

Ianto turned his head into her touch and kissed the palm of her hand before taking a moment to compose himself. He avoided eye contact as he dressed, but Gwen noticed that he was hard. That was, however, something that he would need to deal with on his own. She could fill Jack’s shoes in many regards, but not that way. Ianto moved to leave the office before stopping and turning back to Gwen, “Thank-you. I don’t know how you knew, but thank you.”

“My pleasure. You always take care of us, sometimes you need someone to take care of you.”

Ianto nodded again and left the office.

It was a month later when he brought Gwen the wrong file. On purpose.