Just Imagine...

The Best of Both Worlds

Sam had always felt she had two wonderful careers. Her first was a normal, every day occupation as a grade nine english and art teacher at Gros Islet Secondary School, like her mother had been.
Her second job, however, was different. Her second job was at Torchwood, studying the intricacies of alien anatomy and biology, caring for alien flora and fauna, keeping the peace between Earth and other planets by studying alien cultures, and occasionally drawing sketches of what came through the Saint Lucia Rift to be filed away in the archives.
Sam's school desk had a picture of her family on it, her desk at Torchwood had a picture of the team on it. At school she had a white orchid, at Torchwood she had a purple one. There was a big Saint Lucia flag behind her desk at the secondary school, but at the hub there were a few drawings she had selected as her favourites tacked up on the wall. When she was teaching, Sam wore glasses and sandals. When she was at Torchwood, she wore suspenders, and occasionally a floral tie.
Sam usually taught her class two days a week when she could. And that brought up questions among her students. Questions she couldn't always answer truthfully.
"Okay class," Sam murmured, wrapping up last period on a Friday afternoon, "bell's gonna go in a few minutes, so you can all pack up." She sat down at her desk as her students started putting their things away, chatting excitedly about their weekend plans. Sam smiled. She loved her little class.
The bell rang momentarily and most of the kids left, saying cheerful goodbyes. Sam returned them, waving and smiling from her desk like she usually did. There were three girls left in the opposite corner of the room, named Paisley, Maya, and Nadia.
Sam was straightening up her desk when she heard Paisley gasp and whisper "oh my God!"
Sam looked up to see a young man in a sharp suit walking in the doorway. She grinned.
"Hi Ianto!" She exclaimed.
"Hi Sam," Ianto said, a little awkwardly, "just dropping in to see how you're doing."
"I couldn't be better. How's everything at home?" Sam winked after she said it, knowing Ianto would mean that by "home" she really meant the hub.
"Well, one of the dogs got out today," Ianto sighed, sitting on one of the desks, "we had to go and track her down. It was Barbara, and she almost took a chunk out of Jack's arm."
Sam winced - Barbara was one of the Weevils at the hub, she took it that Ianto meant she'd escaped somehow.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help." Sam murmured.
"Quite alright," Ianto murmured, smiling, "we handled it." Sam nodded, though she still felt a little guilty. She always did.
Nadia let out a little giggle at that moment and Sam noticed the three girls were staring at Ianto in fascination.
"Uh, Yan, don't look now, but you've got some admirers." She murmured, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Ianto glanced over his shoulder, frowning, and the three girls quickly turned away shyly.
Ianto looked back at Sam and she winked teasingly, causing Ianto to roll his eyes in annoyance.
"You girls get going," Sam said, still grinning, "your parents are probably waiting for you."
"O-okay," Maya said as she and her friends made their way out, keeping to the wall as if they were afraid to get too close to Ianto, "bye, Mx Ryder! See you on Monday!" The three girls hurried out of the classroom, giggling loudly as they ran down the hallway.
"You use that voice on Jack and Owen, too." Ianto commented.
"What voice?" Sam demanded.
"Your teacher voice," Ianto replied, a sly smile tugging the corner of his mouth, "Mx Ryder." Sam pulled her glasses down the bridge of her nose and fixed him with a mock-displeased stare over the tops of the lenses.
"Mr Jones, that is quite enough from you, young man," she mock-scolded, waggling her finger at him, "do I have to give you a detention or will you behave?" Ianto laughed sweetly and Sam grinned again, standing up from her desk. "Seriously, I really am sorry I wasn't there to help today."
"Sam, you don't have to apologize every time you're not at the hub," Ianto sighed, "this is your job too, and you're good at it."
"Thank you." Sam murmured shyly. Ianto smiled kindly and nodded.
"You coming back to the hub?" He asked.
"I can," Sam replied, linking arms with him and swinging her bag over her opposite shoulder as they left the classroom, "what's going on there now?"
"Jack says those Water Dragon eggs are due to hatch today."
"Great! I hope we get there in time, c'mon, let's run!"
The two of them sprinted down the hallway, and this time Sam opted to go slow so she wouldn't leave Ianto behind. She had a brief flash of running down this very hallway as a teenager with a few of her friends, right before the principal stepped out of the office at the end of the hall and shouted at them to slow down. However, this time Sam and Ianto ran right past that door without being stopped, down the stairs, and out into the parking lot, laughing the whole way.

The next day Ianto was at the coffee machine when he noticed something different about it. He leaned in closer to discover a pink sticker with the words "NICE WORK!" printed on it in bold, sparkly yellow letters. Normally Ianto's instinct would've been to try and peel it off but something told him he didn't really want to do that. He glanced across the hub to Sam's desk where she was working on a few sketches of the Water Dragon hatchlings from yesterday. She looked up at him for a second and smirked, winking, before going back to her work. Ianto smiled to himself, feeling his cheeks growing warm, and poured himself another cup of coffee. He had a feeling there would be a lot more stickers appearing around the hub soon.