Separation Anxiety: The Continuing Adventures of Club Wales

by pocky_slash

Summary:

In which Jack is out of town, Andy has a case for Torchwood, Rhys makes pack lunches, and Gwen and Ianto put their detective skills to work.

Notes:

Huge thanks to suchthefangirl, neurotictealeaf, and dremiel for pre-reading and audiencing various sections. There are not enough words in the English language to thank solsticezero for her beta reading, cheerleading, enthusiasm, and pep talks.

Art by Darthneko ( LJ | e-mail | comment ) and sarah_jones ( LJ | e-mail | comment )

Thursday

"We need that up here now, Ianto!"

Ianto winced, Gwen's shriek reverberating through the bluetooth and directly into his ear. He didn't even pause as he pawed through the archive drawer pulled open in front of him, shoving through report after report, all scrawled in Jack's messy handwriting, swearing under his breath the whole time.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Ianto shouted back to Gwen. He knew, logically, there was no reason to shout, that Gwen had her bluetooth in as well, that she would hear him just fine if he spoke calmly and quietly. The urgency was getting to him, however, the adrenaline rushing through his veins. "I swear if we survive this I'm going to shoot him and shoot him and shoot him until it fucking takes!" Jack and his fucking disregard for the archives, Jack and his fucking lackadaisical approach to keeping track of his reports, Jack and his fucking UNIT summit, Jack and his fucking not picking up his phone, Jack and his fucking abandoning the two of them to this. He was reaching the end of the drawer now, reading the title of each report frantically. If it wasn't in the drawer, they had no hope of finding the artifact in time, no hope of saving the city, no hope of getting out aliv--

"Found it!" he cried in relief. He hurriedly flipped it open and scanned down to--yes. "Secure archive room B, drawer 440!"

He was already running down the hall as he said it.

"Hurry up!" Gwen's voice blasted into his ear again. "We're down to twelve minutes and we still don't know how to use the bloody thing! If we destroy the city, Jack is going to murder us!"

"Worse yet," Ianto replied, panting, spinning around and into the doorway of secure archive room B, jamming his swipe card into the lock as he went, "if we destroy the city, he'll definitely say 'I told you so.'"

He spied drawer 440 and swiped his card through the lock before he even stopped running. Once he had the box in his hands, he was back out of the room and up the stairs, not even bothering to re-secure the door behind him.

"I've got it!" he shouted. "I'm coming back up!"

"Oh god, I hope this works!"

---

Three weeks and three days earlier, on a relatively mundane Monday morning, Ianto sent a surreptitious text message to Gwen at precisely 8:40. All it said was Today. Gwen looked at it, smiled to herself, and leaned across the breakfast table to kiss Rhys goodbye. As soon as she gathered her purse and closed the door to her flat behind her, she dialed Jack's mobile.

"Well if it isn't the charming Gwen Cooper-Williams," Jack crooned over the line.

"Good morning to you, too," Gwen said. "Listen, Rhys and I are having a bit of a plumbing emergency at the flat and I have to wait for the landlord to come up. I'll be about twenty minutes late."

"I'll expect you to stay an extra twenty minutes to make up for it," Jack said. He was aiming for stern and reprimanding, but neither of them could suppress a snort at idea that there would ever be a day when their job didn't keep them out at least twenty minutes past five, if not twenty minutes past eight or nine.

"Of course, of course," she said. "I'll see you in a bit, then."

"See you then."

Gwen ended the call and then sent a quick text to Ianto. On my way. See you in ten. She slid her mobile into her pocket, slipped out of her building, and took the back way towards the Hub, walking briskly down the more residential streets with spotty CCTV. By the time she got to the little cafe that Ianto favored, he was already inside, fidgeting with a takeaway cup of coffee.

"Morning, love," she said, dropping into the seat across from him. He slid a coffee across the table to her and she pried the lid off to inhale the steam.

"Morning," he said. He looked tense, though he had relaxed somewhat since Gwen took her seat.

"So, why the sudden rush?" she asked.

"He rearranged my cups," Ianto muttered darkly. "Again. Why always the bloody cups? He shouldn't be mucking about in my kitchen cabinets, period, but it's always the cups!"

Gwen reached across the table and patted his hand in sympathy, doing her best to bite back the grin that was threatening to escape. From the glare he shot her, she knew she wasn't doing an entirely adequate job.

"It's not just that," he insisted. "We can't keep going on like this. It's going to get dangerous. We already aren't acting nearly as effectively as we could be because of his bloody need to keep us in his sight."

Gwen bit her lip and sighed, squeezing Ianto's hand in hers. He was raising good points; the two of them had more than one whispered conversation about this while Jack's back was turned. But she understood where Jack was coming from, too. The past few months, the endless weeks since Tosh and Owen's deaths, had been hard on all of them. Gwen understood Jack's clinginess because she felt it too, this bone deep need to be close to Jack and Ianto, to keep them in her sight so that she didn't lose them as well.

There was a line, however. There was a point when it became too much, and she knew that Jack had crossed it. At first, it was comforting. They didn't split up in the field, worked together in the main part of the Hub, and ate lunch together in the board room. Jack and Ianto came over for dinner more than once, and frequently the three of them and Rhys would meet after hours at a pub. She knew that Jack went home with Ianto nearly every night, and though he'd never ask for it and never admit it, she knew that, more than anything, was a comfort to Ianto.

It had been several weeks now, though, and Ianto was right in saying that Jack's inability to leave them on their own was starting to hamper their work on cases. At least she could escape it by going home to Rhys; Ianto was around Jack nearly twenty-four hours a day, now, and Ianto was a man who needed his privacy to keep from, well, shredding his coffee cup into little pieces, like he was doing right then.

"You're right," Gwen said. "We need to do something. Do you have a plan?"

Ianto seemed relieved and quickly abandoned his shredded coffee cup to pull a folded sheet of paper out of his inside jacket pocket. He smoothed it out on the table top.

"What's this, then?" Gwen asked, even as she leaned over to inspect it. 30th Annual Inter-Agency Information Summit was written across the top, with the UNIT logo right beneath it. The rest of it was a rather standard looking conference registration form.

"They have it every year," Ianto said. "It's mostly a dog and pony show for the various heads of state connected to UNIT--there are informational panels and lectures and UNIT goes over their achievements for the year. Back when Torchwood One was the base of operations for Torchwood, Yvonne always made a big show of it. Since Jack's taken over, he rarely puts in an appearance. He sent me, last time."

Gwen raised her eyebrows.

"He said they just wanted a warm body to show that Torchwood was cooperating." He paused and then looked away, adding, "And that it helped that I was pretty."

Gwen snorted. "I'd imagine," she said. "Anyway, how are you going to convince him to go?"

"I... may have already submitted his registration," Ianto admitted. "And called Martha and told her he was going. And booked his room."

"Busy this morning, then," Gwen said, hiding her smile behind her coffee cup.

"Yes, well," he said. "Are you in?"

"Of course," she said. "Go on back to the Hub. I'll meet you there. We'll break it to him together."

Ianto gave her a grateful smile and got to his feet, heading back to work. Gwen waited five minutes, snuck out the side door, and then followed.

When she arrived at the Hub, it was easy to spot Ianto and Jack sitting in the conference room. Jack was shoving a pastry in his mouth while also gesturing in the midst of a story. Ianto looked as though he was two seconds away from shredding his fresh takeaway cup. Gwen rolled her eyes and jogged up the stairs.

"Good morning, boys," she said cheerfully, sitting next to Ianto. Jack tried to flash her his usual toothy grin, ignoring the fact that his mouth was full of chocolate pastry. It was not an attractive sight.

"Must you?" Ianto asked. Gwen could feel the tension radiating off of him. Jack rolled his eyes, then made a show of swallowing.

"Good morning, Gwen," he said, folding his hands on the table top and shooting Ianto a look, which Ianto chose to ignore.

"Have we been rowing again?" she asked them.

"What could we possibly have to fight about?" Jack asked. The smile was back. So was Ianto's eye roll.

"I'll get you your coffee," Ianto muttered, ignoring the fact that there was a takeaway cup with Gwen's name and a smiley face scrawled on the side in permanent marker. Gwen, wisely, did not point this out to him as he shoved himself back from the table and left the conference room at a pace that was so obviously evenly measured that it couldn't be anything other than a retreat.

Jack's eyes followed him.

"You need to tell me what I'm doing wrong," he said, not looking at Gwen. Gwen sighed. Men.

"He's suffocating," Gwen said. "There was loss and grief and all of this mess and you practically moved in. He likes it, I think, on the whole, but he's Ianto. There's a certain amount of silence and tidiness that he likes and... well...." She gestured towards the powdered sugar all over Jack's mouth and shirt and the table in front of him. Jack's eyes flicked to Gwen, then down to himself, and then back to Gwen. His mouth was a thin, slanted line.

"I'm not trying to take over his life," Jack said, and Gwen bit back a snort. Ianto worked at Torchwood all day and brought the leader of Torchwood into his bed at night. There wasn't much more Jack could do. "I didn't know he was unhappy. He doesn't say anything, he just... makes that face." Jack's attempt at an approximation of "that face" was rather far off the mark--too much pout, not enough eyebrow--but Gwen knew what face he meant all the same.

"He's not unhappy," Gwen assured him. "He's really not. He's just... well, it's rather a lot. For all of us. For both of us. He's--we're... chafing."

Jack frowned. "You're what?" he asked.

"Chafing," Gwen repeated. Quiet as a cat, Ianto had reappeared with a coffee tray. He frowned at Gwen.

"Who's chafing?" he asked.

"We are," Gwen said. Ianto's frown only deepened.

"We're doing this now?" he asked.

"Doing what?" Jack asked.

"Might as well do," Gwen said with a shrug.

"Get it over with, I suppose," Ianto said with a long suffering sigh. He put the tray down on the table and took his seat again.

Jack waved his hands at both of them.

"Hello," he said. "You might recall I'm actually the leader, here."

"We know," Gwen said, reaching across the table to pat his hand. "And we know it's hard. And that's why we need to talk to you."

"If this is about bringing new people in--"

"It's not," Ianto said. He paused, bit his lip. "Well, not yet. That's later."

"Ianto," Jack warned.

"It's about you, really," Gwen said, slipping in smoothly because she could get caught in another domestic. "It's just... we appreciate it. You being here for us."

"Watching out for us," Ianto said.

"Protecting us, even," Gwen added.

"Being close," Ianto said.

"We like it," Gwen said. "I mean, to a point. Dinner over at mine, drinks at the pub, calling to say good night... that's...."

"Nice," Ianto said. "It's--"

"Family," Gwen said.

Jack was staring at them as if they'd grown two heads.

"Did you rehearse this?" he asked.

They rolled their eyes in unison.

"It's too much," Ianto said. "It's getting dangerous. You need to know you can trust us."

"I do trust you!" Jack insisted, his defenses springing to life. Both palms were flat on the table and his eyes took on a wide, hunted look. "I trust you with--well, not my life, that's pointless, but with each other's lives."

"But you don't," Gwen said. "We go out in the field and you don't let us split up. If something happens, no matter how small, all three of us go together or you go alone. Ianto can't even stay in the archives for longer than a few minutes before you stop your paperwork and turn on the CCTV!"

Jack slowly crossed his arms across his chest and pinned them both with a look.

"What is this?" he asked, voice low and dangerous. "A mutiny?"

"Nothing like that," Ianto said. He pulled the flyer for the summit out of his pocket and unfolded it, smoothing it on the table. "You need to learn that we won't disappear if you close your eyes. You need to understand that this team can't function if we all can't function on our own."

"You need to take a vacation," Gwen said.

Jack gave them another glare, but he looked down at the paper when Ianto slid it across to him.

"The Inter-Agency Summit?" he asked, wrinkling his nose. "Don't I normally send you to that?"

"Once hardly qualifies as 'normally,'" Ianto said. "This year, you're going yourself. Your room's already been booked. You're across the hall from Martha, and I took the liberty of informing her that you'll be there."

Jack looked back up at them, his face a mix of outrage and petulance.

"You have no authority to--"

"It was in a stack of paperwork that you shoved at me and told me to 'do something with,'" Ianto snapped. "I did something." Ianto looked like he wanted to put his hands on his hips, but for the chair arms making it impossible.

"This is a gift," Gwen said quickly, before the flash of anger simmering between the two of them could escalate. "We've checked the rift predictors and it looks like that will be a quiet week. With two of us here, we should be able to handle anything that the rift tries to throw at us. We can get caught up on the admin things that need to be done and you can go make nice and scout out new talent and learn that we're all grown up and can be left on our own."

Jack's outrage had faded into misery.

"But--"

"It has to be done, Jack," Ianto said. His voice was more gentle than Gwen had heard it all morning. "It's not safe, now. It can't be, with you like this. Just one week--less than that, five days."

Jack's shoulders slumped.

"Attacked from all sides," he muttered, but he picked up the flyer and looked at it more closely. "It's going to be boring. Lots of UNIT big wigs looking good for the cameras, not a lot of substance."

"You and Martha will have plenty of time to gossip, then," Gwen said.

Jack sighed.

Gwen and Ianto shared a small smile.

"It's for the best," Ianto insisted, but Jack looked truly wretched when he nodded in agreement.

---

The following three weeks went by much more quickly than Ianto would have imagined. Jack whined and complained and came up with approximately three excuses per day, but even that became routine by the end of the first week, and soon enough, the Sunday morning of Jack's departure rolled around.

A little too soon, perhaps.

It was still dark when Ianto opened his eyes and squinted at the clock. Far too early for him to be up for work, and while the empty bed next to him wasn't exactly uncommon, it did give him a good idea of the source of the grunts and muttering he could hear from the bathroom.

"You'd better not be rearranging my linen closet," he called out, his voice breaking slightly, drowsy and deep.

"I can't find my razor," Jack called back, voice tense. Ianto debated sitting up versus rolling over and going back to sleep, leaving Jack to his sulk. He settled for propping himself up on one elbow, staying wrapped in the duvet.

"You packed it last night," Ianto reminded him. "You packed everything last night." He glanced at the foot of the bed, where Jack's things had been neatly packed into one of Ianto's suitcases. The suitcase was missing. Typical.

"I wanted to make sure I had everything," Jack said.

Ianto closed his eyes tightly and rubbed at them with his fist.

"You did," Ianto said. "You were ready to go. If you've lost something now--"

"Wait, I found it, never mind," Jack said.

Ianto started to count. He would get out of bed and talk to Jack as soon as he hit ten. Really.

Maybe fifteen.

Or twenty.

Or--

The bathroom door opened. Ianto squinted against the sudden light, which was quickly extinguished when Jack hit the switch and then sat on the bottom of the bed, on top of Ianto's feet.

"I don't want to go," he said, not looking at Ianto.

"I know," Ianto said gently, "but you have to."

"I can fix this on my own," Jack insisted, but the fervor of the last three weeks was gone. He sounded almost morose. "I can do it right here without leaving the two of you."

"But you can't," Ianto said. "Three weeks and it hasn't gotten any better, Jack. We don't want you to leave. We're not trying to drive you away. But it's the only solution we can come up with, and you haven't come up with anything better."

Jack grumbled under his breath, but shifted his weight off of Ianto's feet and crawled up to the top of the bed.

"It's only five days," Ianto said. "Less than a week and you'll be home. You'll get to see Martha and flirt with all of those UNIT officers. Waste money on Torchwood's dime. Brag about our accomplishments to everyone. You'll love it."

"I won't," Jack said. He lay back down and pulled the duvet away from Ianto so he could drape it over himself as well. He rolled onto his side and stared at Ianto with startling honesty. "I really won't."

It took all of Ianto's concentration to keep from breaking Jack's gaze. They were rarely this blunt with each other. Ianto knew it was Jack following his lead; Ianto preferred his emotional confessions to be cushioned by sarcasm or metaphor or vague hand gestures. But Jack was upset and already lonely and he never asked for anything, so how could Ianto deny him this moment of transparency?

"I know," Ianto said, voice barely more than a whisper. "But you understand, don't you?"

Jack nodded slowly and raised his hand to cup Ianto's cheek. "Doesn't mean I have to like it," he said, and leaned in for a kiss.

Ianto allowed it, which was rather an understatement given the way his hand slid around to the back of Jack's neck and his fingers tangled in Jack's hair.

"I think," Jack murmured, pulling away just far enough to speak, "that you need to remind me of what will be waiting for me when I get back."

"Well," Ianto said, rolling so that his knees were straddling Jack's hips, "if you insist."

Because, really, it wasn't like he could give Jack this sort of goodbye at the Hub.

Sunday

Ianto had hoped their little heart to heart at three am would have made Jack's departure go a bit more smoothly.

It didn't, of course.

"And what about that weird noise Mainframe was making on Thursday?" Jack was in the middle of saying as Gwen tried to literally shoo Jack out of his office, waving her hands as if he was a stray dog digging around her garden. "We never figured out what that was. What if it's something critical?"

"Mainframe makes weird noises all the time, now," Gwen said, closing the door firmly behind her and continuing to shoo Jack down to the main Hub, where Ianto was waiting with Jack's coat and suitcase. "There are a million functions that Tosh set up that we haven't uncovered yet. I'm sure if it was something critical, we'd know by now."

Ianto was proud of the fact that Gwen didn't flinch when bringing Tosh up in conversation. He'd only just gotten over the habit himself.

"What about that rift spike on Friday night?" Jack asked. "We never found anything when we investigated. What if something is loose in Cardiff?"

"We investigated," Ianto reminded him, holding out the greatcoat. "It was nothing. We looked for an hour. If anything came through, it wasn't any bigger than my thumb and it wasn't alive."

"But still!" Jack said. He did, however, allow Ianto to help him put on his coat. "What about the dinging noise the SUV started making last night? What if it blows up and I'm not here to--"

"Singlehandedly shield us both from the explosion?" Gwen suggested with a wry smile.

"I could do something," Jack insisted.

"That noise means it's low on petrol," Ianto said. "Did you notice it stopped this morning after I had the tank filled?"

Jack looked at Ianto desperately. Ianto merely handed him his suitcase.

"You're going to be late," he said. "There's a cab waiting for you and you and Martha have dinner reservations."

Gwen hugged Jack and kissed his cheek. "Call us when you check in, yeah? And try not to sexually harass too many people."

"Or alienate us from any other agency," Ianto added. Jack's shoulders slumped.

"I'll call you when I check in," he said, pouting. Ianto rolled his eyes.

"We'll see you in a few days," Ianto said. Jack nodded, miserably, and sighed, trudging across the Hub and through the cog door.

As soon as the door rolled closed, Gwen's eyes were on Ianto, eyebrows raised skeptically. "No goodbye kiss?" she asked, turning to him and leaning against the nearest work station.

"We're at work," Ianto said with a shrug. "I said goodbye back at the flat."

"It's just the three of us," Gwen said. "Really, Ianto, I don't mind and I know for a fact that he doesn't mind."

"I mind," Ianto said. He could feel his ears heating up. At this point, he really couldn't claim his relationship with Jack was none of her business, but that didn't mean he was keen to discuss it. Not at the moment, at least. "Gwen, there are rules."

"You and your rules," Gwen huffed. She rolled her eyes. "Do you have rules for everything?"

Ianto shrugged. "I have rules for this," he said simply.

"So it's okay for you to kiss him when the three of us are at a pub with Rhys, but it's against the rules when we're at the Hub? That's ridiculous. Especially since I've certainly seen you kiss him here before. I've walked in on you doing more than kissing."

The blush was back. "Those are designated breaks," he insisted.

"You're crazy," Gwen said. "It's just a relationship, Ianto. It's not rocket science, and I think Jack would appreciate a little affection now and then."

"I show Jack plenty of affection, Gwen," Ianto said. "Believe me. I spend most of my free time showing Jack all sorts of affection." He raised an eyebrow and smirked, but Gwen was having none of it. That, he supposed, was the downside to working with someone who knew him so well--she knew all of his attempts at distraction.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to be a little more open about it, is all I'm saying," she said. "I understand that you like to keep these things private, but when it's just him and me, there's nothing to hide, pet."

"Why are we still talking about this?" Ianto asked, leaning over his workstation and shuffling through the paperwork on top of it, eyes glazing over the words, trying his best to look busy even though he knew Gwen could see right through it.

"Because I think you need to--"

Whatever Gwen thought was cut off by the proximity alarm going off and the door rolling back to reveal Jack leaning sheepishly in the doorway, his bag still hanging off his shoulder.

"I forgot the medical reports for Martha," he said, jogging inside and up the stairwell to his office. "Glad to see you haven't burned the place down in my absence."

"You've been gone two minutes," Ianto said. "We've barely had time to get the matches out."

Jack's answering laughter faded as he disappeared into the office and reappeared a moment later with a stack of folders. His expression was much less petulant than it had been earlier. "I'm leaving again now," he said. "For real this time. I'll probably make it all the way up to the cab before I remember something else I forgot."

"You'll only be gone a week," Gwen said. "I think you can live without nearly anything you may be missing."

"Yeah, but it gives me an excuse to see your gorgeous faces again before I leave," Jack said with one of his trademark charming smiles. Still, his feet dragged as he came down the stairs. He glanced longingly over his shoulder at his office, before coming to a stop in front of them in a nearly identical scene to the one that played out only a few minutes beforehand.

"You need to leave now," Ianto said. "You're going to miss your train if you don't."

"Can't get me out of here fast enough, can you?" Jack asked.

Ianto glanced at Gwen for a fraction of a second before reaching forward impulsively and wrapping one hand around the back of Jack's neck and using the other to cup his cheek and pull him in for a relatively chaste kiss.

When he pulled away, Jack was smiling, but perplexed.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Just... have a good trip," Ianto said. He looked away, examining his shoes.

Jack grinned at him, preening, and leaned in for another quick kiss. "Why, Ianto Jones," he said, "are you going to miss me?"

"Hardly," Ianto said, "but if it would make you feel better, I can pretend."

"I'm going to miss you," Jack said, winding his arms around Ianto's waist. "That big hotel bed, room service on the Torchwood credit card, and no one to share it with. You could always make the trip with me."

Ianto rolled his eyes and slid his hands down Jack's arms. He intended to push Jack away, but found his hands resting gently on Jack's elbows instead. One more moment, he told himself. One more moment and I'll pull away.

"If I went with you, we'd never leave the hotel room, we'd rack up dozens of room service charges, and we'd never be invited to another UNIT summit. Plus, we'd be leaving Gwen alone on the rift, and god knows if we'd have a Cardiff to come back to."

"Hey!"

Served her right for meddling in his personal life.

"I have yet to see a downside to this plan," Jack said, leaning in for another kiss. Ianto quickly put his hand in front of Jack's mouth.

"Go, Jack," he said. He felt Jack's lips press purposely against his palm and suppressed a shiver. Jack leaned back and gently pulled Ianto's hand from his mouth.

"I'm going," Jack said. "If I have to. I'll call you two when I'm settled into the hotel."

"We'll talk to you then," Ianto said.

"Have a safe trip," Gwen called over cheerfully. Jack extracted himself from Ianto's arms and picked up his bag and the files for Martha before throwing them a sloppy salute and heading through the cog door once more.

Ianto didn't need to look at Gwen to know that she was beaming smugly.

"Oh, shut up," he muttered, heading over to his desk and very narrowly overcoming the urge to make a rude gesture as he left.

"I'll make it up to you," Gwen said, following him to his desk. "Anything popping up on the predictor program for today?"

Ianto had checked every day in the three weeks leading up to Jack's departure and six times since morning, mostly as a demonstration for Jack's sake. Still, he found his fingers flying over the keys in a familiar pattern until the spikey line graph popped up again.

"Nope," he said.

"Well, then, when was the last time we had a day off, hm?" she asked.

Ianto frowned. "Are you counting the twenty-two hour lockdown we had two weeks ago?"

"No," Gwen said.

"Then I can't remember," Ianto said.

"And if you have to ask, that really just goes to prove my point," Gwen said. "You still have the rift monitor hooked up at your flat?"

"Yes," Ianto said, feeling a smile start to spread across his face. Gwen walked around to his side of the work station and leaned over him, typing away at the keyboard and bringing up a different program.

"I'm directing the systems here to my mobile. We're taking the night off."

The tiny smile turned into a full fledged grin as Gwen rested her chin on his shoulder.

"You're in charge for thirty minutes and your first act is to send us home early?" Ianto asked, turning slightly to attempt to look at her.

"Have a problem with that, Mr. Jones?" she asked.

"No," Ianto said, "I'm just thinking about how upset Jack will be when he returns to find that I've mutinied behind your leadership after all."

Gwen laughed and pushed off of him playfully.

"Go home!" she said. "Put your cabinets back in order."

Ianto was already shutting down his computer.

"I'll close up shop," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Bright and early!" Gwen said cheerfully as she started moving from computer station to computer station to put the machines in sleep mode. "Unless I decide to have a lie-in, that is."

"When the cat's away, the mice will play, eh?"

"I would hope you didn't decide to start playing around behind Jack's back." Gwen smirked at him over her shoulder. "He'd be right upset you didn't invite him along."

"You've been in charge for less than an hour and you're already thinking like Jack," Ianto muttered. "God help us."

Her laughter was the only reply.

Monday

There was a rift spike on Monday morning right around the time Ianto would normally be leaving for work, so he rung Gwen and told her he'd take care of it and asked her to pick up breakfast on the way in. The monitor indicated it was smaller than his fist and inorganic. The only energy reading it was giving off was the fuzzy green cloud that meant it had been near the rift, the same cloud that surrounded everything that came through. The same cloud, actually, that was starting to show on Gwen and Ianto when they turned the scanners on themselves.

Jack, with all his travels through time and space, lit up like a Christmas tree under the scanners and had for as long as Ianto had known him.

With no energy pattern of its own and no dangerous radiation, Ianto felt no qualms in simply walking up to the small grey sphere and dropping a containment box on top of it, scooping it inside with a rolled up newspaper. He didn't even need to break the gloves out of his kit.

He got to the Hub just as Gwen was pushing the hidden button in the tourist office with her elbow, hands full of coffee and pastries.

"Good morning!" she said cheerfully around the car keys hanging from her mouth. Ianto obligingly held his hand out underneath her chin and managed not to wince when the first thing that hit his palm was the soggy lanyard that had been clamped between Gwen's teeth.

"Good morning," he said. "Nothing much out there." He lifted the containment box. "No energy signature to speak of except for traces of rift energy. It's a round... thing."

"I can see why you're our archivist," Gwen said, and Ianto only narrowly resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her.

"I'm not normally allowed to archive before I've had my coffee," he said, pulling his swipecard out to activate the lift.

"Good thing, that," Gwen said with a mischievous smile, and if Ianto had a hand free, he might have pinched her.

The Hub felt odd without Jack, but not bad, necessarily. It reminded Ianto of the mornings he and Gwen used to spend together when Jack had disappeared on them, off traveling with the Doctor. Gwen came in early, Ianto lived at the Hub, and they had anywhere from one to two hours alone before the others trudged in. They were the hours that cultivated Ianto and Gwen's friendship. Well, those hours and the hours at the pub when the others had gone home for the night.

"Breakfast in the conference room?" Gwen asked. It seemed silly when it was just the two of them, but Ianto found himself nodding anyway.

"I'll get the laptop," he said. "Check the overnights, log this thing, delete the two dozen pornographic e-mails Jack's sent from London...."

"Only two dozen?" Gwen asked.

"Well, two dozen on my work e-mail, two dozen on my private e-mail, two dozen on his e-mail that he knows I'll be checking," he said breezily. "I'll meet you up there."

They worked side-by-side in a comfortable silence that wasn't at all as depressing as it should have been. Without Owen's music and Tosh's soft muttering and Jack's ridiculous stories, they could have heard a pin drop all the way down in the cells. It should have felt like a tomb, Ianto thought, but instead it was homey and natural. Gwen scanned through police reports. Ianto ran some tests on the artifact he picked up on his way in. They each had a muffin and then split a cheese danish between the two of them.

Ianto found, oddly, that he barely missed Jack at all.

He hadn't missed him the night before, either. Well, he hadn't much had time to miss him. He'd called not long after Ianto returned to his flat with dinner, bored on his ride to London, wondering why Ianto hadn't put better audio books on his iPod. He called again when he checked into the hotel, again before meeting Martha for dinner, and twice more after settling in for the night. Ianto had been tempted to put his phone on silent, but he knew that would probably just present an excuse for Jack to return to Cardiff, insistent on investigating Ianto's refusal to pick up.

"Did Jack call you last night?" Gwen asked, as if reading his mind. "No, wait. Stupid question. How many times did Jack call you last night?"

Ianto snorted. "Five," he said. "You?"

"Three," Gwen said. "You win."

"Don't much like my prize," Ianto murmured, distracted, as he leaned over a scanner and tapped the screen. "That's odd."

Gwen glanced up from her computer. "Hm?" she asked.

"When I picked this thing up this morning, it had rift energy all around it. You know, the standard green. Now it's completely clean." Ianto carefully prodded the top of the sphere with a gloved fingertip. "What--oh!"

"What?" Gwen asked. She leaned over to get a closer look.

"I think I've figured it out," Ianto said. He slid closer to her, bringing the handheld scanner and the sphere with him. "Watch this." He gently cupped his hand over the top of it and then quickly pulled away. There was a hazy sheen of red heat energy where his hand had been and then--

"It's like it sucked it inside," Gwen said, watching through the scanner.

"I think it absorbs energy," Ianto explained. "I remember a report from the seventies I read on Mainframe a few months ago. Jack described something quite like this. They found a different connecting bit in a box of junk that fell through the rift. There's a sort of cone thing that attaches to... funnel the energy in, I guess." He pointed at two rounded indentations about an inch apart. "The cone came through, but there was no sphere. Jack described the whole thing in working detail in the report."

"Brilliant!" Gwen said. "So we have the connecting bit, then?"

Ianto snorted. "Somewhere. The seventies were when Jack took over as archivist after that weird bout of alien measles that we all have to get inoculated against now. The reports from that time are in utter disarray. It would take me a week to find it. Jack's idea of filing is to stick everything under 'w' for weapon or 'm' for 'miscellaneous.'" He was rather sure the look on his face made his feelings on Jack's archiving abilities very clear.

"Something to keep in mind for the future, then," Gwen said, patting his hand.

Ianto nodded. "Might as well go put this where it's supposed to be, at the very least."

"I'll call you back up for lunch," Gwen said, waving him off and leaning back over her computer.

Ianto smiled indulgently and gathered the artifact and pertinent forms, as well as a stack of filing from his and Gwen's desks once he was back in the main Hub. It was nice to have time to catch up with the mundane tasks that had taken a backseat to rebuilding the city. He'd been down in the archives a dozen or so times since Tosh and Owen, but it usually wasn't long before Jack appeared with a pointless question to get him back up to the Hub. He hadn't been able to lose himself in the inventory lists and alphabetizing, in hunting through the detritus of a hundred and thirty years of Torchwood.

He'd made a significant dent in the pile on his desk, stopping for a brief lunch with Gwen and to run the comms while she investigated a mysterious mutilation near the park, which turned out to be the victim of a rabid dog. Much later, he was starting a box of artifacts to be filed when he heard the soft thud of the door to the archives swinging open and then the measured shuffling of Gwen's trainers on the concrete floor.

"You still down here, sweetheart?" she called out.

"I'm in..." He glanced up at the markings on the drawer in front of him. "H-J, artifacts. Sixth row in." As Gwen's footsteps got closer, he glanced down at his watch. "Shit, is it really already five?"

"Yup." Gwen's voice echoed through the catacombs. "I figured we could call it a night. Would you like to come by for dinner?"

Ianto rolled his cuffs back down his arms and pulled his cufflinks out of his pocket to secure them into place, glancing at the small pile he had resting on top of the filing cabinet. He only had a few more items to archive in this batch, and it wouldn't kill him to stay a little later....

Of course, if he started with that pile, he'd move onto the other and before long, it would be past midnight and he'd be alone in the Hub with only Myfanwy and Janet for company. Alone in the Hub, when he could be alone in his flat.

"No thank you," he told Gwen when she finally appeared. He grabbed the pile off of the cabinet and led the way back towards his desk. "I appreciate the offer, but I quite like the idea of spending some time alone in my flat. It's been weeks."

"You sure?" Gwen asked, slipping her arm through his. "Rhys always makes plenty, you know that."

"I'll come by tomorrow," he promised. "I'd like a night to eat takeaway in my shorts in front of the television without someone pestering me every five seconds."

Gwen laughed and patted his arm. "Okay, then. I know how it goes. We'll walk out together, though, yeah?"

"Of course," he said. He deposited the pile on his desk and grabbed the jacket to his suit. "And I will come by tomorrow. Promise." He offered Gwen his hand and she took it, allowing him to lead her out of the archives, flipping the switch and arming the alarm as they went back to shut down the Hub proper.

A whole night to himself in his flat. A whole week of nights to himself. He was already making a list of dinners he wanted to eat (foods Jack usually didn't care for), programs he wanted to watch (Jack talked through nearly everything), and chores he could finally accomplish (Jack frequently proved to be...distracting).

They might have planned the week as a vacation for Jack, but Ianto couldn't help but feel it was a bit of a vacation for him, too.

"I'll see you in the morning," he said to Gwen as they crossed the car park together sometime later.

"Sure thing," Gwen said. "Call if the rift monitor goes off."

"I will," Ianto promised. "Have a good night!"

"You too, love."

He was already planning on it.

Tuesday

It was just after midnight.

Gwen was in bed, nearly asleep. Rhys' arm was heavy and comfortable over her waist, his nose against the back of her neck, buzzing pleasantly as he snored. It had been a nice night, she reflected sleepily. Dinner in, even if Ianto hadn't come round, a film, some necking on the couch that soon transfered to the bedroom, and now she was curled up with Rhys in the warm cocoon of blankets.

She really should have expected the ringing phone.

"Shit!" she hissed, grabbing for it even as Rhys sat up with a start, swearing and nearly knocking her off the bed.

"What the bloody hell is that?" he asked, just as she managed to accept the call.

"Torchwood," she said to Rhys, and then, "What is it, sweetheart? Do you need me to come in?" to the phone.

"Ooo, does Rhys know you're calling me sweetheart now?"

Gwen had been halfway out of bed, groping around blindly for her jeans. She froze and slumped back into the pillows when she realized that it was not Ianto on the phone with urgent Torchwood business.

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Gwen groused. "I thought you were Ianto."

"Is that Jack bloody Harkness?" Rhys growled.

"So it's okay for you to call Ianto sweetheart but not me?" Jack asked. "I'm hurt!"

"It's the middle of the fucking night!" Rhys said. "Doesn't he have any decency?"

"It's Jack, love," Gwen said to Rhys. "Of course he doesn't."

"Of course I don't what?" Jack asked.

"Cardiff better be under attack from an army of aliens or else I swear--"

"Of course you don't have any idea of what time it is and that decent people are trying to sleep," Gwen said, pulling herself out of bed and trekking into the living room so as not to bother Rhys any further. "Honestly, Jack, it's after midnight! Just because Ianto hung up on you doesn't mean you need to call me. We're both fine, I promise."

She slumped onto the couch and closed her eyes. Hanging up on Jack seemed like a rather brilliant idea. She really needed to drop this reputation she had for being the nice one.

"Ianto didn't hang up on me," Jack said defensively. "He said good-bye first."

"Oh, then that makes a phone call in the middle of the night perfectly acceptable," Gwen said, covering her eyes with the hand that wasn't holding her mobile to her ear.

"It's not that...." Jack trailed off. "Okay, maybe it is late. I lost track of time when I was on the phone with Ianto."

"Likely story," Gwen muttered, but it actually was likely, and even through her grumble, she had to smile. She was glad Ianto was happy. He had spent far too long being slightly uncertain as to where he fit into Jack's life, and every reminder that they had really become the couple that Ianto refused to admit they were made Gwen relax that much more.

"So everything's okay in Cardiff?" Jack asked.

"Jack, why are you asking me questions you already know the answers to?" she asked. "It's been three hours since you last called. The world hasn't ended in the past three hours, I promise. If it had, I'm sure you would have heard about it, even all the way over in London." If he had been on the phone long enough to lose track of time, she could only imagine he called Ianto as soon as he hung up with her, earlier. That made two calls to her after hours, plus however many to Ianto, in addition to the half dozen times he called the Hub the day before. It was cute, almost, that he already missed them so much, especially since he was more keen on talking to them than knowing what was going on at the Hub, but it was going to be a long five days if he felt the need to touch base every time he took a breath.

"I'm just checking in," Jack insisted. "You never know with this job. Things can be fine one second and critical the next!"

"I promise we'll call you if things get critical," Gwen said. "But it's after midnight and some of us have to work in the morning."

Jack sighed.

"I just--"

"I know, Jack." Jack was lonely and Jack was scared. Jack spent a long time not tying himself to this place. Jack lost half the family he made on Earth in a few short minutes, and Jack was desperately afraid of losing the rest of it every time he closed his eyes, every time he blinked. She understood, she really did, and every one of her instincts cried out for her to comfort Jack, for her to tell him to come back home to them. Every part of her knew that, no matter where he was born and what he had been through on other worlds, this was where he belonged.

But Gwen could be practical, too. They had a job to do, all three of them, a job that had to be separate from their relationships with each other. A job they couldn't do when Jack walked around terrified that the two of them were going to disappear the moment he turned his back.

"Just a few more days," she told him. "We'll be fine."

Another sigh from Jack.

"Sure," he said. "I shouldn't keep you up. Go to bed, Gwen."

Gwen rolled her eyes. As if she hadn't tried.

But her voice was gentle when she said, "Good night, Jack," and she she got back into bed with Rhys, there was a smile on her face.

---

Gwen was indulging herself with a bit of a lie-in when her mobile began to buzz on the bedside table. Before Tosh and Owen, she normally aimed to be at the Hub between eight-thirty and nine, but Ianto usually arrived for eight, if not earlier, and the three of them had been sticking so close together that in the days afterward, she'd adjusted her schedule to his.

It was nice getting to luxuriate for that extra thirty minutes. Or it had been nice, before her mobile began to ring.

"Jack, if you're calling to check in again--" she muttered without looking.

"It's me," Ianto said quickly.

Gwen sighed and sat up.

"Thank god," she muttered. "He called me twice last night after we went home."

"He called me three times, so consider yourself lucky," Ianto said wryly. "I hate to bother you, but Andy called the Torchwood line earlier. There was a burglary with some mysterious circumstances he thought we might be interested in."

"What sort of mysterious circumstances?" she asked, interest piqued.

"Nothing too intriguing, as far as I can tell, but he's usually not bad for this sort of thing, so I thought we'd check it out. Otherwise, we've got another day of catch-up and filing ahead of us, probably."

Gwen stretched and yawned and climbed out of bed. "Okay, okay," she said. "You're probably right. Did he tell you what was going on?"

"Robbery," he said. "It was at Piers Engineering. Apparently there's a big to-do because the firm was working on some government-sponsored projects. But, whoever broke in didn't go anywhere near those floors, they stuck to a general storage room on the ground level."

"How is this at all mysterious?" she asked, pulling her hair into a messy ponytail with one hand and wandering into the kitchen.

"There was no sign of forced entry, no images of the robbery caught on the CCTV, the alarm system wasn't deactivated, and there was an odd--well, Andy called it slime--all over all of the doors."

Gwen kissed Rhys' cheek absently and them hummed to herself.

"Okay, it's sounding more Torchwood-y."

"Torchwood-y?" Ianto said with a snort. "Is that your official opinion?"

"Oh, shut it, you," she said lightly.

"Ianto?" Rhys asked around a mouthful of sausage. Gwen stole a sausage off of his plate and nodded.

"Anyway, I told him we'd meet him at the scene in twenty minutes. I'm sending the coordinates to your mobile," Ianto said. "Is that enough time?"

"Plenty," she said. "I'll have Rhys drop me off on his way to work. I'll see you soon."

"Indeed," Ianto said. "I'll bring the coffee."

Gwen disconnected the call and dropped it on the table, swallowing the bit of sausage quickly before giving Rhys a proper good morning kiss.

"So I'm the Torchwood Taxi service now, eh?" Rhys asked, poking her in the side.

"Hush," Gwen said. "It's on your way. Piers Engineering. That big, ugly, grey building near the university, I think."

"Fine, fine," Rhys said. "The things I put up with. You should have me on payroll, you know, the things I do for you and your alien fighting scifi team."

"I'll talk to Jack about it," Gwen said. "I think he'd agree to anything if it meant we'd never send him to a conference by himself again."

Rhys chuckled and waved her towards the bathroom. "Go get ready. I'll have breakfast for you when you get out and then we can go."

"You're perfect, you are," Gwen said, kissing Rhys again and then heading into the bathroom to shower and dress.

True to his word, Rhys had an egg sandwich waiting for Gwen when she came back into the kitchen clipping her gun onto her belt and putting her ID and wallet into her jacket pocket. She accepted the sandwich, but frowned when Rhys handed her two brown paper bags.

"What's this, then?" she asked.

"Lunch for you and Ianto," he said. "Nothing much, just some leftovers from last night. With Jack out of the office, I thought it might be nice for you to have something other than takeaway for a change. Can't live on takeaway alone, can you?"

"Ianto's twenty-five, love," Gwen said with a laugh. "He probably could. But I'm sure he'll appreciate it all the same." She kissed his cheek and followed him down to the car.

It was grey but not raining as they pulled up to the police tape outside the Piers Engineering building. The Torchwood SUV was already parked between two patrol cars and Ianto was talking to Andy next to it. Gwen thanked Rhys for the ride and the lunch and wished him a good day at work before grabbing her bags and hopping out of the car, waving to Ianto with her free hand. He offered her a small smile in return and left Andy's side to hold up the police tape so she could join them.

"Morning, pet," she said. "Did you have a good night, then?"

"No one to spoil the ending of my film or comment on the 2025 remake, so yes," Ianto said dryly. He handed Gwen a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," she said. "I'll trade you." She handed him one of the brown bags, which he took with a frown.

"What's this?" he asked.

"A pack lunch," Gwen replied, stashing hers in the back of the open SUV and reaching under the seat for a scanner. She took a drink of her coffee, then glanced at the scanner and left it in the backseat cupholder. As much as she wanted it, it would probably just get in the way.

"For me?" Ianto asked. When Gwen looked back over at him, he was holding the bag pinched between his thumb and forefinger, as if he didn't quite trust it.

"Yes," Gwen said. She rolled her eyes and shoved his arm lightly. "From Rhys." Ianto snorted. "Hey! None of that! He likes you and he knows how hard it's been, lately. He's just trying to be helpful. I don't think he thinks Jack feeds you properly."

"You told him that I'm frequently the one feeding Jack, right?" Ianto said, but he folded the top of the bag down neatly and placed it in the back of the SUV, next to Gwen's.

"There you go," Gwen said. She grinned at him and reached up to ruffle his hair, a move he smoothly ducked, flattening his hair out as we went.

"Well, that's enough of that," he said. "Let's see what's got Andy so riled up."

Andy was leaning on the back of his patrol car, not five feet away, and was regarding them with a frown.

"Just the two of you, eh?" he asked. Gwen got the distinct feeling Andy thought he was being fobbed off on the b-team. "Where's Captain Swish?"

"Conference in London," Ianto said.

"Already time for the annual X-Files convention, then?" Andy asked with a smirk. Gwen rolled her eyes, but Ianto chuckled.

"Oh, come on," he murmured to her as Andy looked away, pleased with himself, "You have to admit, that was a good one."

Gwen let her skeptical look speak for itself.

"Anyway," she said, turning to Andy with a bright, if forced, smile, "What have you got for us?"

"No weird bodies or anything," Andy said, heading towards the building and gesturing for them to follow. "No need for all of this mess, really, but the bloke in charge has some pull in the mayor's office and they're doing something top secret up at the top of the building, so they called out the whole bloody force." He stopped, turning and narrowing his eyes at Ianto and Gwen. "You wouldn't know anything about this top secret bollocks, would you?"

Ianto and Gwen shook their heads and Gwen bit back a smile.

"Not every state secret has to do with Torchwood," Gwen assured him.

"Torchwood, technically, isn't even a state secret," Ianto said. "Outside the government and all."

"Still," Andy said, "they weren't after the state secrets. Just took some junk from a downstairs store room. No one can figure it out."

Most of the officers on the scene were standing around, grumbling and drinking coffee. Gwen remembered that feeling, standing outside restlessly, doing nothing, stuck because the higher-ups wanted it to look like the police had a vested interest in a particular crime. She even remembered what it felt like to be brushed aside when another agency or a higher ranking officer showed up on the scene, remembered rolling her eyes the way the gaggle of officers near the bushes rolled their eyes at Gwen and Ianto as they marched past. It felt like it happened in another life time, something distant, but not unfamiliar.

She wondered if Jack felt like that all the time.

Ianto held open the door of the building, gesturing for her and Andy to go first, and Andy led the way to a non-descript door cordoned off with more police tape.

"I wouldn't have bothered to call you except... well, it's all weird, isn't it?" Andy said. "The door was locked. No one on the CCTV. But all these things were logged last night and missing this morning and there was this weird slime all over the inside of the door."

He pulled open the door and Gwen and Ianto peered inside. It was a standard storage closet lined with metal shelves that held a collection of laptops, computer monitors, and bits of machinery that Gwen didn't recognize. She glanced back at Ianto, who was studying the inside of the door.

"We took samples," Andy said. "But it looks right weird to me."

Ianto hummed softly under his breath and took the scanner from Gwen, passing it over the door and then frowning. He placed his coffee cup on a shelf and took three steps back, still looking at the screen, then three more steps back. Soon, he was backtracking outside with the scanner still on.

"All right, love?" Gwen called, and Ianto nodded absently, before pushing the door open with his back and continuing outside. She shared a look with Andy, and for a moment, she was back on the beat, watching some oddball DI try a new investigative tactic they heard about on teevee.

"What's he--"

"Best not to ask," Gwen said smoothly. She turned back to the door and rummaged in the pocket of her jacket, wishing Ianto had given her a sample container before he disappeared. There wasn't much she could do when he had both their forensic supplies and her scanner. "So, what, exactly, was stolen?"

Andy shrugged. "Junk, by the sounds of it. Some computer monitors, some sort of laser scalpel thing like they use in eye surgery. Um...." He pulled out a notebook and flipped back a page. "A radio wave amplifier, whatever that is. A tool box. The surgery thing was broken and the monitors were outdated, the techie said."

Gwen nodded. It did sound like junk. She wondered if Ianto would be able to make any sense of it, if this was a case for them at all.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Ianto reappeared and quickly strode across the room, smiling blandly.

"Gwen, would you take a look at this?" he asked her, handing her the scanner, finally. She tried not to grab it from him in her haste to see what he found so interesting.

She frowned at the display. There was a long stripe of purple across it. She rubbed at it with her thumb, wondering if there was something stuck on the screen.

"What--"

"All the way to the street," he said. "Then it just disappears abruptly and all that's left are the regular reds and yellows and greens."

An energy pattern, then. Some weird, purple energy pattern that didn't match anything she remembered seeing on the scanners before.

"Huh," she said. She looked up again and he was scraping some of the slimey residue into a sample container and pulling his PDA out of his pocket and then a long cord with a suction cup on the end.

"I'm starting to think you use some sort of alien technology on those suits," she said. "I have no idea how you keep so many things in your pockets."

"I'm just spatially efficient," Ianto said. He looked up and gave Andy his best fake smile. "Right. I'm sorry, Andy, Gwen's going to need to confiscate those samples you took. This is potentially carcinogenic. We have the facilities to destroy it safely, and I'd hate to put anyone else at risk."

Andy scowled. "Oh, sure it is," he said, but when Ianto put on a pair of thick gloves before dropping the sample container into a plastic bag, he looked less sure.

"I'm going to get a larger containment unit and take care of this," Ianto said to Gwen. "Then I think we're good to go back."

He wasn't rushing her, by any means, so she assumed that whatever his PDA had found, it wasn't pressing. Maybe it would be a pleasant diversion while Jack was away. While the quiet of Monday had been nice, five days of nothing would probably drive the two of them a bit mad.

Gwen followed Andy outside to the gaggle of other police officers, tuning out his muttering about Torchwood elbowing in without even giving them any answers. As if that was news.

"Thank you," Gwen said, making a show of holding only the corner of the evidence bag, as if she was afraid of catching something from the contents. "We'll dispose of this right away. You haven't been exposed for long enough to get ill, but if you notice an odd green rash, you should contact us."

The forensic tech's eyes widened and he nodded, taking two steps away from Gwen. Andy rolled his eyes, but Gwen noticed he was inching away as well.

She bid Andy goodbye and headed back to the SUV, putting the sample bag in the boot and slamming it closed. She got into the passenger seat and pulled out her own PDA, trying to look busy and not like she was waiting impatiently for Ianto and trying to avoid helping him clean up slime.

Ianto returned less then ten minutes later, his face carefully blank and a large, clear box in his hands. The stringy blue slime sloshed against the sides as he walked, and the police officers gave him a wide berth as he approached the SUV. Gwen hopped out of the passenger seat, opened the boot again, and helped him slide it into place.

"Sorted?" she asked.

"If I left any traces behind," he said in a tone that implied that was impossible, "the neutralization agent I sprayed inside should take care of it."

"Good," she said. "Back to the Hub? You can fill me in on the way?"

Ianto slammed the boot and shrugged.

"Not much to fill in," he admitted.

They got into the SUV and Ianto carefully pulled them around the police vehicles and back onto the road.

"The slime is definitely alien," he said. "Organic, but nothing in our database. Mainframe has a couple of guesses based on make-up, but we need to be back at the Hub for more information."

"Hm," Gwen said. "And the things that were taken? Andy was right, it's a rather weird collection, isn't it?"

Ianto shrugged. "Who knows? None of it is dangerous."

"When we get back, I'll take a look and see if anything similar's gone missing, yeah?"

Ianto shrugged. "Sounds fine," he said. "Not sure how it's connected to us, but it's not like we've got cases piling up at the moment."

They were interrupted by the electronic trilling of a mobile phone, the standard ringtone of their Torchwood phones. They tapped their headsets simultaneously, then looked at each other and started to laugh.

"Hello? Ianto? Gwen? What's so funny?"

Jack's voice sounded the way it always did over the bluetooth. If Gwen didn't know better, she'd think he was back at the Hub waiting for them and not in a hotel in London.

"Nothing," Gwen said, still chuckling. "We just had a moment. How are you?"

"Bored," Jack said with a deep sigh. Gwen and Ianto shared a look, rolling their eyes. Eyes never leaving the road, Ianto pulled his PDA out of his pocket and flicked it on. He glanced down briefly.

"Aren't you supposed to be on your way to a meeting with the PM and General Codey?" Ianto asked.

"Like I said," Jack said. "Bored. What are you two up to?"

"Just coming back from a call," Gwen said. "Andy found something peculiar."

"Oh?" Jack said. "Anything interesting?"

"Probably not," Ianto said, holding up a hand to keep Gwen from responding. "We told him we'll take a look, but I doubt it's anything dodgy, just run-of-the-mill hooliganism."

"Ooo," Jack said. "Say that again. Very sexy."

"You're not having phone sex while I'm on the line," Gwen said warningly.

"Nor while I'm driving," Ianto said.

"Does that means it's not ruled out for later?" Gwen could hear the leer in Jack's voice.

"Go to your meeting," Ianto said. "We've not burned down the Hub in your absence. You can rest easy for another two hours."

"Fine," Jack said. "I'll check in later."

"Best if you don't," Ianto said pleasantly, and Jack's line went dead.

"Why'd you do that?" Gwen asked. Ianto gave her his best blank, innocent look, but she was long past falling for it.

"What?" he asked.

"Call it 'run-of-the-mill hooliganism,'" Gwen said.

"Jack likes my vowels," Ianto said. "Don't know why he doesn't like yours. I suppose you should blame Newport as a whole."

"You know what I mean," Gwen said, smacking his arm. "It might not be anything major, but it's definitely a bit weird. Why didn't you tell Jack?"

"Because that's why we sent him away, isn't it?" Ianto asked. "We need to prove we can get on without him. The first sign of trouble and he'll be making excuses to run back to Cardiff. If we figure this out on our own, it'll prove to him that he doesn't have to hold our hands every time we leave the Hub."

He glanced over to her and patted her on the arm when he saw her uncertain expression.

"Don't worry," he said. "Half-truths are standard for Jack and me. It's fine."

It wasn't, not really--Gwen wanted the three of them to be more truthful with each other in the wake of Tosh and Owen, not less. But Ianto was right in thinking that Jack would use any excuse to come storming back to Cardiff, and right in reminding her that they had something to prove to him.

She smiled at him and squeezed the hand that was still resting on her arm, trying to clear the guilt from her mind as they travelled the rest of the way back to the Hub.

---

When they arrived back at the Hub, Ianto took the containment unit and disappeared down the stairwell in the carpark that lead directly to the cells.

"I'll dispose of this and then come up and make some more coffee," he told her. "I'm sure the sample you have should be more than enough to run the tests we need."

Gwen glanced at the seat next to her, where Ianto had left the little bag of blue slime. She picked it up by the corner and grabbed her handbag, heading down to the Hub proper to get started.

She sat down at her work station, leaving the sample bag at Ianto's, and quickly pulled up the network for the police department. She remembered, distantly, her outrage in her first week, the way her eyes had widened as Tosh showed her, blase, how to hack into the police system and take control of their files, how to edit reports and erase evidence. She'd been too shocked to say anything to Tosh and too enraged to articulate herself to Jack.

Those feelings had all passed quickly. She didn't even flinch, now, as she started to search through their case files for reports similar to the robbery this morning.

She hadn't even noticed Ianto's return when a cup of coffee mysteriously appeared at the corner of her workstation.

"Mainframe's done analyzing the substance from the scene," he called over, and she glanced to his desk. More time must have passed than she thought. "I'm sending you the results."

A window popped open on the far right side of Gwen's screen listing first a series of earth-based elements followed by UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN and then the same series of earth-based elements followed by some other-worldly chemicals with names she vaguely recognized.

BIOLOGICAL SECRETION. SPECIES UNKNOWN. LIKELY TELEPORTATION RESIDUE.

"Hm," Gwen murmured. "That would explain how the thief got inside, at least."

"Quite," Ianto said. "I'm checking into the purple energy pattern now."

Gwen nodded absently and started adding more parameters to her police search. No sign of forced entry, no CCTV footage, no witnesses.

Dozens of results popped up. Naturally. Gwen sighed and narrowed the dates and times down to the last week and at night. It knocked the total down to twelve, which was more manageable, at least. She opened all twelve cases in new windows and scanned through them quickly, immediately eliminating six based on the reports. Of the six remaining, three of them caught her eye. A flat near the university on Friday night, the university itself on Saturday night, and a dentist's office on Sunday night. All three of them had valuables ignored in favor of seemingly useless items, and all three of them reported a strange blue substance left behind on their doors.

"Ianto," Gwen said, "I think I've got something!"

She read through the reports again as Ianto crossed to her desk, just to make sure she hadn't missed anything.

"There were three break-ins this weekend," she told him. "All stupid things stolen, like microwaves and old televisions, and all three right near the university. Plus, all three of them reported the weird blue stuff."

"Definitely sounds like they're all related. Why do you think no one's connected them so far?" Ianto asked. Gwen just shrugged.

"Low priority, I'd wager. Different lead officers on each case, and nothing dangerous or even very valuable has been taken. They probably just didn't even notice the connection."

Ianto leaned over her shoulder to read her screen and frowned. Chewing his lip, he reached around her to the keyboard and began typing in commands until a list of recent rift spikes was displayed.

"Huh," he said. It only took her a moment to see what had caught his attention.

"The robbery ocurred right after that rift spike on Friday night," she said.

"Yes," Ianto said. "The one we investigated but couldn't trace."

"Do you think they're connected?" Gwen asked, even though she knew the answer. Jack was going to gloat for weeks if one of the pointless things he'd been yammering on about as an excuse to skip the summit was actually true.

Ianto shrugged. "Only one way to find out. Let's have a go interviewing the victims, shall we?"

---

Ianto drove them across town in his car. While he admired Jack's leadership skills and ability to make tough decisions, they occasionally disagreed on certain nuances of running Torchwood. Like subtlety. There was no need to announce who they were to the various victims they were going to be interviewing this afternoon, especially since they were undercover.

"First stop is Eugene Hayes," Gwen said, reading off of the police notes she had printed and filed together. "He came home about a week ago to find some of his music equipment and his microwave missing. The doors and windows had all been locked and the only other people who have keys to the flat are the landlord and his roommate. The landlord was clean and the roommate had been out with his girlfriend all weekend."

"Stereo equipment and a microwave," Ianto mused. "Things that they could have gotten anywhere."

"Not stereo equipment," Gwen corrected, flipping back. "Music recording equipment. Eugene Hayes fancies himself a musician."

Ianto's noise of disbelief was quiet, but unmistakable. "Right," he said. "Still, the question remains. Why this equipment? Why this flat?"

"The rift spike was across the street, at the uni," Gwen said. "Convenience?"

"But the uni would have had that same sort of equipment," Ianto said. Something about this was niggling him. "And it was robbed next. They couldn't get everything at once from there?"

"If whatever did this was disoriented when it came through, maybe it just loped off in whatever direction it was facing," Gwen said, shrugging. "Maybe it went into every empty flat in the building until it found what it was looking for. Maybe it had some sort of scanner that locked onto the signal it needed. We won't know more until we do a little investigating, I'd wager."

"I suppose you're right," Ianto said. "It was just a thought."

"It's a good thought," Gwen assured him, reaching across the center console to squeeze his arm. "I just don't think we're quite at the stage where it's a useful thought. Not yet, but soon."

Ianto nodded, but something still felt wrong. It was like an odd itching in the back of his mind, a connection that wasn't fully formed. It wasn't something he was used to feeling. Ianto didn't operate on intuition--that was what Gwen was good at, what Jack was good at. They were so alike in that respect, so quick to run after a gut reaction. Ianto preferred facts, knowledge, logic. He liked to see all of the pieces of the puzzle and wrestle them together, make sure everything fit before moving forward. Emotion made it difficult to see the logic behind things. Emotion was what lead him to pull a half-converted cyberman out of the rubble of Canary Wharf, right into the heart of Cardiff. He'd seen what emotion could do, and he wanted no part of it.

Best to go with logic for now, with procedure. Gwen was better at this investigative stuff than he was, and holding off on random speculations until they had more information did make sense.

Eugene Hayes lived in an apartment building that was mostly filled with students. His flat was on the fourth floor, and once they arrived, Ianto no longer had any question why it was this building that was robbed. He only wondered why it didn't happen until the fourth floor.

"Well this is..." Gwen started to say, trailing off as she trod in something sticky.

"'Putrid' is the word you're looking for, I believe," Ianto said.

"Oh, come on, Ianto!" she said. She shoved his arm good naturedly. "It's student housing! Don't you remember your first disgusting little flat that was all your own? Paint peeling off the walls, bugs in the bathroom, tiles missing from the kitchen floor?"

"I may have been broke when I moved to London, but I still had standards," Ianto informed her, but even as he said it his mind was returning to the third story walk-up he lived in before he got the job at Torchwood. His flat was little more than a bedroom and bathroom, but the landlord was house-proud and he'd certainly never had to deal with anything like this.

Of course, at eighteen, pre-Torchwood, he might not have minded so much. As soon as he got the job at Torchwood, though, the posh job in the impressive-looking office building he'd imagined, the first thing he'd done was move into a nicer flat. Couldn't have his colleagues knowing he lived somewhere so cheap.

It was the first step, really, in cultivating the persona of the young, sly, swank man of mystery who knew everything, the person he'd always wanted to be.

In some ways, he didn't know if he had completely shed that persona.

"This is it," Gwen said, standing in front of 4D. "I'll lead?"

"You're best at it," Ianto agreed. "I'll... snoop."

"You're not half bad at that," Gwen said. She rifled through her pocket and seperated a police ID card from the myriad of fake IDs Ianto made sure the entire team was equipped with. She slid it over the card in her Torchwood ID case and smiled when she saw Ianto doing the same. "Ready?"

"Yep," he said, and Gwen knocked on the door.

And knocked on the door.

And knocked on the door.

When she started knocking a third time, Ianto relaxed his posture.

"Maybe he's not home?"

"Maybe it's only ten am and he's a student and he's still asleep, more likely," Gwen said. She knocked harder.

"Mr. Hayes?" she called, loud enough for half the hall to hear her. "Mr. Hayes, it's the police!"

The door finally pulled open and a bedraggled looking young man hung between the door and the jamb, blinking at the both of them. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes and then his throat.

"Sorry, Eugene's not here," he mumbled.

Gwen gave him her best innocuous smile. "You must be Phillip Matthews," she said. "Eugene's roommate?"

The young man nodded slowly.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, that's me. What's going on?"

"We're just doing a follow-up on the robbery from last weekend," Gwen continued. "Do you mind if we come in?"

Phillip tensed as Ianto leaned forward imperceptibly to try and see inside the flat.

"Erm," he said, "it's... kind of a wreck." Gwen grinned at him encouragingly until he pushed the door open a few more inches. Both Gwen and Ianto glanced inside and only Ianto was able to hide his wince. The entire flat was trashed. "Sorry," Phillip continued. "I, ah, haven't had a chance to clean up yet. Will do before Gene gets home."

"Right," Ianto said slowly, forcing himself to look away from the disaster area. "And where did you say Mr. Hayes is?"

"Home," Phillip said, scratching his throat. "He was right upset about all his things stolen. He went to spend some time with his parents. It was my microwave, so it's not like he's the only one suffering. Anyway, those other cops told him they didn't need him anymore. I can give you his parents' number, I guess."

"We're looking to speak to him in regards to another case that might be connected," Gwen said. "We'd appreciate that number."

"Sure," Phillip said. "I'll just be a mo."

Phillip disappeared inside the flat, leaving the door open just a crack. Ianto and Gwen exchanged a look.

"Living in that kind of squalor as a student, then, Gwen?" Ianto asked, raising his eyebrow.

"I wasn't quite that bad," Gwen admitted. "After a party, maybe. I'm surprised he noticed anything was missing, living like that."

Ianto hummed in agreement and surreptitiously pulled an energy scanner out of his pocket.

"More of that purple energy," he murmured. "A high concentration in front of the door, but it looks like it's less inside."

"Maybe whatever it was stood here," Gwen said.

Ianto hummed again and tapped on the scanner screen. The purple inside was fuzzier, in addition to there being less of it.

"Something interesting?" Gwen asked, peering over his shoulder. Ianto smiled sadly and shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Something about those readings is odd and... well, I'm not Tosh."

Gwen pat his shoulder. "No one expects you to be, love," she said.

They heard Phillip approaching, shuffling through the mess, and Ianto slid the scanner back into his pocket.

"Got it," Phillip said, passing them a grease-stained scrap of paper. "Anything else you need?"

"Were you around at all the night of the robbery?" Ianto asked.

"Out with my girlfriend," Phillip said. "The other police already asked me all sorts of questions."

"Right, right," Ianto said. "Just being thorough. We'll let you go."

"Right," Phillip said. "Cheers." He didn't quite slam the door in their faces, but he closed it hard enough that both Ianto and Gwen took an involuntary step back.

"Hope for the world after all if a slob like that can land a steady girlfriend," Gwen murmured.

"Hope for the world?" Ianto said. "We should be despairing that he may be polluting the gene pool."

Gwen smacked his arm as they headed back towards the decrepit lift.

"I'm rather certain he was stoned," Gwen said. "Did you see his eyes?"

"Or hung over," Ianto agreed. "We'll probably have more luck calling the parents to speak with Eugene."

"If he'll even be any help at all," Gwen said. "He sounds like a stressed, scared kid."

"It can't hurt to ask," Ianto said.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Gwen asked, nudging Ianto with her shoulder.

"I thought we might switch places for the day," Ianto said. "I'll be intuitive and compassionate and you can be methodical and sarcastic."

"You say that now, but once I'm standing in front of the coffee machine you'll change your tune."

"You're right. I take it back."

They exited the lift and bypassed Ianto's car in favor of walking over to the university. The earlier gloom had cleared into a relatively nice day, which Ianto saw no reason to waste. It was a bit weird, walking among the university students. They weren't much younger than he was, but they were leading lives that were completely beyond him. He didn't even remember having that sort of casual obliviousness to life moving by. When he was living at home, he counted down the days until he could leave. Once he was in London, he couldn't afford not to look painstakingly towards the future, budgeting out his meager wages, always looking for something better.

Once Torchwood had him, his eyes were permanently opened. He could never go back, now.

"You okay?" Gwen asked, looping her arm through his. "You seem... thoughtful. Missing Jack already?"

Ianto rolled his eyes and laid his hand on top of hers. "Hardly," he said. "I'm just thinking."

"About?"

Ianto shrugged. "Life. Torchwood. How incredibly oblivious these students are to everything out there."

"It's not their fault," Gwen said. "We're the ones keeping it from them."

"Not just that," Ianto said, shaking his head. "Not to aliens. To the entire world."

"Of course they are," Gwen said. "They're students. Comes with the territory. You remember."

Ianto shook his head. "Nope," he said. "Never got quite this far. You know that."

Gwen frowned. "I guess I do," she said slowly. "I mean, I knew it, I suppose, but... well, you're so... smart. You're brilliant, pet, you really are. It's just so easy to think of you here, studying, sitting exams...."

"I've got a good memory," Ianto said. "I learn quickly. I'm... curious. But I left school when I was seventeen and I've never been back."

Gwen was quiet as they continued to walk towards the campus security, which was out of character for her, but not uncomfortable. She smiled at him when he held open the door to the campus security office and by the time they were waiting to speak to someone concerned the robbery, her disarming Torchwood smile was back in place.

Campus security, however, offered very little in the way of new information.

"Just a telly and a soda machine," the bloke in charge said, shrugging. He didn't even look up from his computer. "Things get vandalized in the student lounges all the time, really, so it's not surprising. The locks on those doors are a bit of a joke. Just, with no CCTV and that weird stuff on the doors and the lock not being broken, we thought we'd call in the police. We didn't know if the blue shit was going to hurt anyone."

He paused, then, and did look up.

"Erm... it's not going to hurt anyone, is it?" he asked. "Because... well, I told him not to touch it, but one of my men... well, it was an accident. I had him wash it off in the chem lab, but--"

"It's fine," Ianto assured him. "Exposure in that limited quantity shouldn't be a problem. Probably just some students, messing around, not realizing what they were dealing with."

The security director looked relieved, and Ianto wondered if it was really one of his men who had the misfortune of touching the slime.

"That's what I thought," the man said. "Anyway. I filed all the forms with the police and it's been long cleaned up now. Don't know what you're looking for, really."

"Just curious," Ianto said. "We won't bother you any longer."

"Good, good. Good day, and all."

He didn't look up as Ianto and Gwen left the office.

"The last break in was just around the corner," Gwen said as they walked back to the car, glancing down at her PDA. "Allbright Dental Centre. Weird, them all being so close together."

"Maybe we should look for a connection," Ianto said. "Maybe the reason it was these places was because they were places the perpetrator was familiar with. I wonder how many uni students use that dentist office and if any of them live in Eugene Hayes' building? Maybe someone is interning at the Engineering firm?"

"I'm sure they'll have records for that sort of thing," Gwen agreed. "Looks like--well, that's odd."

"What about this hasn't been odd?" Ianto asked.

"Looks like they stole an entire x-ray machine and loads of lead aprons," she said. "There are three dental offices in the building and every single bloody apron is gone."

Ianto frowned. "Are you sure this isn't Andy and your old mates at the police having one over on us?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know, Jack's out of town, they decide to take the piss out of the two of us?"

"Honest," Gwen said, "I don't think Andy even knew about this one."

If it wasn't for the impossible exit and entry from each building, Ianto would have firmly put this in the "student prank" column. None of the thefts made a lick of sense, and he had a feeling the dentists would provide just as little information as the university staff and Eugene Hayes' roommate had.

Allbright Dental Centre was a squat, beige building that opened into a perfectly nondescript lobby that lead to a long hallway filled with doors. One of those doors was cordoned off with police tape.

"Hello!" Gwen said cheerfully to the elderly woman manning reception. She didn't even look up.

"Sign in on the clipboard," the woman said. "We'll call you when it's your turn. We're running about fifteen minutes behind today."

"Oh, no," Gwen said. "We don't have an appointment."

"No extra slots today," the woman said, still not looking up from her computer. "Sanders across town does emergency work, if you need it."

"We're with the police, actually," Ianto said, pulling out his ID and giving the woman a polite smile when her head snapped upward.

"Oh, more of you lot?" she said. "I thought we'd answered all your questions. Unless you've found the missing equipment?"

"No," Gwen said, shaking her head. "We're actually working another case; we think they might be connected."

The woman sighed and pushed herself up from her desk in a way that made it clear what she thought about this interruption.

"Through here," she said, leading them down the hallway to the police tape. Past the tape were two connected rooms separated by a glass window. One contained a hole in the tile and an odd discoloration, as if something had been moved from that spot.

"Right from the floor!" the woman said. "I don't know how they managed to get it out, that thing is bloody huge. It was here at night and gone the next morning. And all the lead aprons, too! None of us can figure it out."

Ianto pulled the scanner out of his pocket and flipped it on, but frowned. There was nothing but a faint trace of the purple energy they'd been tracking all day, so light he wondered if it was just a stain on the screen.

"That's odd," he said to himself. Gwen glanced over his shoulder.

"That is odd," she said.

"I wonder if it has anything to do with the lead," he wondered out loud. "That's why they use it for x-rays in the first place, isn't it? It blocks the radiation?"

"Could be," Gwen mused.

The receptionist cleared her throat. Both Ianto and Gwen looked back up at her.

"If that's all...?"

"Actually," Gwen said, "we were wondering if you had a list of patients from a particular address? We're investigating a similar robbery at a building near the university and it's possible someone in that building is a patient here. Maybe they were followed?"

The woman sighed. "I suppose, if it's the police asking," she said. "Follow me."

Ianto let Gwen follow her back to reception and slipped under the yellow tape to take some more readings on his scanners. The entire room gave off the same faint purple trace and he finally sighed and gave up. Not that the purple had been very helpful at any of the other crime scenes, but still.

When he joined Gwen out in reception, she was holding a piece of paper and tapping it against her chin with a grim smile.

"I think it's time we give Mr. Hayes a call," she said. "There are five people who live in his building who are patients here. He's one of them."

---

Ianto tried Eugene's number at his parents' house as Gwen drove his car back to the Hub, but it went right to voicemail, two cheerful pensioners alternating a greeting and asking the caller to leave a message.

"We're not home right now--"

"--but if you'd like to get in touch--"

"--leave a message after the tone--"

"--or try down at the pub, eh?"

"Oh, really, Harold!"

"We'll ring you back when we've got a chance!"

Ianto rolled his eyes at the spectacle, wondering how two such seemingly chipper people could raise someone as high strung as Eugene Hayes seemed to be.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes," Ianto said after the tone. "I'm trying to reach your son in refrence to the break-in at his flat over the weekend. I'd appreciate a ring back as soon as he's able." He gave the dummy phone number that redirected to his Torchwood mobile and hung up, just as Gwen pulled his car into the underground Torchwood car park.

"No luck, then?" Gwen asked, and Ianto shook his head.

"Mr. Hayes does seem to be the only connection we've got," he said. "Student at the uni under quite a bit of pressure, according to his roommate. Patient at the dentist, and his flat was the first burglarized. And guess what his major is?"

"Engineering," Gwen said dryly. Ianto nodded.

"Even if he isn't the thief, he's definitely connected."

"Mm," Gwen agreed. "I'll see if I can't do a bit of snooping on the computer."

"And I'll check the archives and see if I can't find any connection between all of these random objects that are missing."

At the bottom of the stairs that opened up into the Hub, they split up. Ianto headed down towards the archives and Gwen headed up towards the workstations. Once Ianto was situated as his desk in the archives, he tried running every possible combination of the missing objects through the database. He learned quite a bit about fixing Wexlian space craft, the 'An'Do'Se allergy to lead, and the problems caused by a surgical laser from 2001 falling through the rift and ending up in 1906, but nothing that connected all the objects simultaneously.

He was about to give up and make a round of coffee while checking in with Gwen, when his headset crackled to life.

"Ianto?"

It was Gwen.

"Yes?"

"You've got a call on the landline."

"Mr and Mrs Hayes?"

"Guess again."

Ianto sighed.

"Our fearless leader, then."

"Yup."

"And he couldn't call my mobile?"

"Said he tried and it went straight to voicemail. He was 'concerned.'"

Ianto could hear the air quotes.

"Fine, fine," Ianto said. "I was going to take a break anyway."

He may have purposely taken the long way up from the archives, bypassing the lift and jogging slowly up each flight of stairs until he found himself in the main atrium of the Hub. Gwen was leaning against her work station, holding a phone to her ear, and holding back laughter.

"No, no," she said into the phone. "He's just gotten up. No, I imagine he decided to take the stairs instead of the lift. Exercise, you know. Now, Jack, that's silly. Why would he want to avoid talking to you?"

Ianto rolled his eyes and yanked the phone away from Gwen once he got close enough.

"Sorry," he said. "I was in the middle of something."

"Hey!" Jack said. "What's up, Buttercup?"

Ianto's eyes widened in horror and he quickly hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Gwen asked, frowning.

"I think we made a terrible mistake, Gwen," Ianto murmured. "I think we've actually driven Jack insane."

The phone rang against almost immediately, and Ianto picked it up cautiously.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Did you just hang up on me?" Jack asked.

"Sorry," Ianto said. "I assumed you had been possessed by an alien."

"Nope! Still me. If you want, I could tell you some things that only I could know to prove it. In graphic detail."

"Gwen's sitting right next to me."

"Maybe Gwen wants to hear them too."

"Maybe it's time for me to hang up again."

Jack laughed. "So, what's up?"

"You called me," Ianto reminded him. "And you interrupted actual work, so I'd assume you had a good reason."

"Of course I do."

"Oh?"

"Wanting to hear your voice isn't reason enough?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, then no, I don't have a good reason. What are you working on?"

"Just some research into that thing Andy had us on this morning. It's probably rubbish, but best to check."

"So it's not real work, then?"

Ianto sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Jack, I am hanging up again."

"Fine, fine. Sorry for wanting to have a conversation. I didn't realize it would be such a burden."

"Just... call when it's not work hours, yeah? We should be out of here at a reasonable time. I'd be more than happy to catch you up then."

"I don't want to be caught up on the case, Ianto," Jack said patiently. "I want to hear about how you are."

Ianto could feel himself blushing. "I can... do that too."

"Okay," Jack said. "I'll talk to you later, gorgeous."

This time, it was Jack who hung up. Ianto's cheeks were still too inflamed for him to risk moving and revealing them to Gwen. She knew, though. She always seemed to know, and from the way she was smirking at him, he could tell she saw through his indifferent facade.

"Good talk, then?" she asked.

"Fine," he said, trying to sound dismissive. "You know Jack." He spied the brown bag that held the lunch Rhys had packed for him and quickly crossed the room to grab it. "Anyway," he continued, "I'm heading back down to finish up my search. Buzz me when you're locking up for the night."

"Oh, no no no," Gwen reminded him. "Dinner at ours tonight. You promised."

"I did," Ianto murmured. "Okay. Buzz me when you're ready to go, then."

Gwen nodded, and Ianto once again descended into the bowels of the Hub to search fruitlessly through two hundred and fifty years of files that held no answers.

---

At six in the evening, Gwen appeared in the doorway to Ianto's office in the archives, leaning against the door frame and holding out his jacket.

"I've already done the shut down," she said. "You just need to hit the systems down here and we can go."

Ianto glanced up at her, bleary eyed, and nodded. Honestly, he was exhausted. His head ached from reading the cramped, aged handwriting on old files and then switching to his computer screen to skim the summaries of newer ones. As much as he loved Gwen and Rhys, he would have quite liked another evening on his own.

Still, he had promised.

He shut down his computer and collected his jacket from Gwen, following her towards the stairs and pausing only to hit the switches that turned off the lights and turned on the security systems in the lower levels.

"Can you drive?" Gwen asked. "Rhys dropped me off this morning."

"Of course," Ianto said.

It wasn't a far journey to Gwen and Rhys' flat, but it was long enough for his neck to untense and his shoulders to relax. By the time he was following Gwen up the staircase to her floor, he thought maybe he'd have a fair time after all.

When the door opened and he was hit by the delicious aroma of a homecooked meal, he fervently changed that "maybe" to a "definitely."

"Evening, you two," Rhys called out from the kitchen. "It'll be a few minutes yet, but I'm almost done."

"Thank you for the invitation, Rhys," Ianto said as he shrugged out of his coat and hung it neatly on the pegboard by the door.

"Oh, don't mention it!" Rhys said. "With your boyfriend out of town and all, I thought you might like some company."

"Jack's not my--" Ianto snapped his mouth shut and forced himself not to finish that comment. He had a feeling that if he did, he'd be stuck in a conversation with Rhys Williams about what, exactly, Jack was if not Ianto's boyfriend. "Yes," he said with a weak smile. "Still. Thanks."

As if reading his thoughts, Gwen punched him lightly in the arm and lead him to the small table set for three, uncorking the bottle of wine on the sideboard and pouring it into the waiting glasses.

"See?" she asked as Ianto took his seat and took a sip of his wine, "isn't this better than half-chilled takeaway and whatever flat beer you've got in the back of your fridge?"

"Much," he agreed. He raised his glass towards her. "Cheers."

They touched glasses and each took another sip while Rhys puttered around the kitchen. It was nice. Relaxing. It would have been nicer if Jack was sitting next to him, hand resting on his knee the way it sometimes did when they were out with Rhys and Gwen after a long day, but spending time with just Gwen and Rhys was nice too.

And he wasn't supposed to be thinking about Jack. He was supposed to be enjoying his time alone.

He took another, longer sip of wine, and shook the thought of Jack, the phantom weight on his knee, out of his head.

Dinner was some sort of casserole with spinach and chicken and a creamy sauce. It was the type of meal they threw together on cooking shows in what was supposed to be thirty minutes, but really seemed like it would take hours. Ianto was suitably impressed. Conversation was light and easy, Rhys filling them in on the antics of some of his drivers, people that Gwen seemed to know of, at the very least, if her laughter was anything to go by. But Ianto found himself laughing too. Rhys was a rather good storyteller. Nothing on Jack, of course, but he was funny and genuine and not everyone could command the attention of a room the way Jack Harkness could.

And there he went, thinking about Jack again. Christ.

He was about to throw back another mouthful of wine, maybe get a second glass, when his mobile rang. Ianto wrestled it out of his pocket and sighed at the display.

"Jack," he said, rolling his eyes. Speak of the devil. Gwen snorted.

"Well, it's been three hours since he last checked in," she said. He bit his lip and glanced down at the display. Answering his phone during dinner would be incredibly rude, but on the other hand, he had invited Jack to call back after hours and even though he'd called three times, Ianto hadn't really gotten a chance to actually speak with him.

"Oh, stop fighting with your manners and take the call," Gwen said, shooing him away from the table. "We don't mind."

Ianto looked to Rhys, who nodded, before connecting the call.

"Hello," he said, climbing out of his chair and crossing to the relative privacy of the hallway.

"Hey, gorgeous. Do you finally have a minute for me?"

Ianto leaned against the wall, back to Gwen and Rhys. "A minute?" he said dryly. "Generally it takes longer than that, but if you want me to get the stopwatch out again...."

Jack laughed and Ianto pointedly did not feel his heart flutter girlishly in his chest. "Have I missed anything exciting yet?"

"Nope," Ianto said. It wasn't really a lie, not yet. The case was interesting, maybe, but not exactly exciting. "Just Andy's thing this morning. Feeding the pets, doing the paperwork... you know, all the little things that need to be done to run the organization efficiently that you usually ignore until Gwen and I are resigned to doing them ourselves."

"It couldn't be more boring than this conference," Jack said.

"So next time I need the expense reports, all I have to do is threaten you with another conference?"

Jack laughed again and Ianto heard the shifting of glassware. It sounded like he wasn't the only one in the middle of dinner. "You and Gwen are getting by, then?" he asked.

"Yes, Jack, in all of our sitting around and researching and filling out forms, we managed to keep the Hub from imploding."

"Good," Jack said. "Then I don't feel guilty asking you what you're wearing."

Ianto snorted. "Jack, I'm at Gwen and Rhys' for dinner. We're not having phone sex."

"How come Rhys invites you over for dinner all the time, but when I'm home, Gwen has to twist his arm to get him to let you bring home leftovers for me?" Jack was exaggerating a bit; he'd been over to Gwen and Rhys' with Ianto several times, more frequently since Tosh and Owen's deaths, but it was true that Rhys was always slightly more hesitant to offer a meal to Jack.

"I can't think of a single reason why Rhys would be reluctant to spend more time with you," Ianto said.

"I know, right? I'm irresistible!"

"Yes, quite," Ianto replied dryly. "Besides, Rhys thinks I'm a good bloke, aside from the iffy taste in men, which I can't argue with--"

"Hey!"

"--and he also seems to think you don't feed me." Ianto could almost see Jack's dirty grin when he quickly added, "Please, don't make the obvious joke. You're better than that."

"Am I really?"

"Yes," Ianto said firmly. "Anyway, I should stop being rude and get back to dinner."

"I was really looking forward to the phone sex."

Ianto tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling, before begrudgingly saying, "Try back in a few hours."

"You are amazing, Ianto Jones. Give Gwen and Rhys my love."

"Of course. I'll talk to you later, Jack." Ianto disconnected the call and slipped the mobile back into his pocket. He took a few deep breaths, hoping to wipe the ridiculously juvenile smile off of his face. Once he was able to school his features into his usual indifference, he turned back to the table and joined Gwen and Rhys, who were trying hard not to look like they had been eavesdropping across the very small apartment.

"Thanks for not having phone sex in our hallway, sweetheart," Gwen said, kicking him under the table.

"Any time, love."

"So Jack's still not leaving you two alone, eh?" Rhys asked. Ianto glanced at Gwen, who shrugged.

"It's complicated," Gwen said.

"It's not that complicated," Rhys said dismissively. "You just lost your friends, Jack doesn't seem to have any others, and he's afraid you'll disappear if he's not there to protect you." He speared a bit of chicken with his fork and brought it to his mouth, chewing serenely. Ianto and Gwen stared at him in shock. "What?" he asked once he noticed their looks. "I'm not stupid. I can follow a bloody narrative. But sooner or later he's got to realize you've made the right choice, yeah?"

"Sooner or later," Ianto agreed, scrambling to regain his composure. He sometimes forgot that, despite not officially being part of Torchwood, Rhys was privvy to almost as much as they were.

"Well, it damn well better be sooner," Rhys said. "I don't think I can take another midnight phone call just for a chat."

"Believe me, we're working on it," Ianto said.

Any further conversation, however, was halted by the staccato beeping that Ianto immediately recognized as a rift alarm. Ianto was up and racing to the computer desk in a flash, Gwen just a half-step behind him. The Torchwood laptop sitting next to Gwen's PC was flashing red. Gwen reached over his shoulder and typed in a few commands, bringing up more details.

"Shit," she said, "that's not a rift flare, it's a weevil sighting. Two of them."

They looked at each other. One weevil was managable with only two people--there wasn't as much reconnaissance needed, and two people could definitely handle just one weevil. But two started to get tricky. It was best to have someone running interference from the SUV, but with only two of them, they'd both need to be in the field, chasing the things as well.

"We could call Andy?" Ianto suggested weakly. "Tell him it's a wild animal or something?"

Gwen looked away, frowning, but then said quickly, "I have a better idea."

Ianto followed her gaze.

To Rhys.

"Jack is going to kill us," he murmured.

---

Rhys wasn't afraid to admit that he was, occasionally, jealous of Jack Harkness. While Jack wasn't his favorite person, Rhys could be objective enough to admit that, yes, Jack was rather charming and led a secret alien fighting group while Rhys had put on a few since his rugby days and managed a haulage firm. But all of those bits of Jack he was jealous of--his charm, his good looks, his excellent job, the way Gwen was willing to follow him to the ends of the earth, no matter how crazy he sounded--were nothing compared to how bloody jealous he was of the Torchwood SUV.

It was impressive. If Rhys didn't know any better, he would think Jack was compensating for something, but he'd been drinking with Ianto more than once and around the fourth pint, Ianto frequently decided to break out the bawdy stories. He knew enough from working in haulage to tell that the Torchwood SUV wasn't one of those pointless flash cars that blokes bought their wives to cart the kids around after school--the vehicle had the power and specs to actually do all that countryside off-rounding crap that car companies were always trying to convince you they could do. He knew too, from Gwen, just enough about the sort of tech that was inside to go a little green with envy every time Jack or Ianto dropped her off in front of the flat, or picked her up, blue lights flashing as they ripped through the streets of Cardiff.

Predictably, then, he was one hundred percent in favor of Gwen's plan once she announced it.

"All he needs to do is follow the CCTV footage and drive," Gwen said, arguing Rhys' case even as the three of them ran down to the curb where Ianto's car was parked. "I think Jack would much prefer we didn't tell all of Cardiff about Torchwood whlie he was gone, so sticking to those who know would be best, right?"

"I'm not arguing!" Ianto insisted. He pressed a button on his keys, opening the doors to his car with a beep. "I just asked him if he was sure he wanted to do this."

"And I told you, I'm sure," Rhys said.

"I mean, we could always just take your car," Gwen said, sliding into the passenger seat as Ianto ran around to the driver's side and Rhys got into the back.

"Absolutely not," Ianto said immediately. "It was just valet serviced after someone got into it dripping with that orange mucous. Plus, it doesn't have half the tech or supplies or space."

"Then why are you arguing?" Gwen asked as Ianto pulled into traffic and started towards the Hub.

"I'm not arguing!" Ianto said. "I'm just saying that this is going to be dangerous and asking if he was sure! And he said yes. So I don't know why we're still having this conversation, really."

"This would be easier if you'd driven the SUV to mine," Gwen said. She was leaning over a PDA, tapping the screen as Ianto flew through traffic and headed towards the bay.

"I'm not Jack bloody Harkness," Ianto said through gritted teeth as he slammed on the brakes at a red light. "I don't feel the need to be the biggest, loudest person on the road when I'm going out to dinner. Also, do you realize how much it costs to fill that thing with petrol?"

"I'm just saying," Gwen said, but Rhys could see a hint of a smile curl around the corner of her mouth. "Anyway, they still haven't left the warehouses. We just need to hope that they stay together and that no one decides to take an evening stroll through industrial Cardiff."

They were coming up on Roald Dahl Plass, but Ianto veered off and turned into an underground car park that Rhys had never noticed before. At the bottom of the ramp to enter, there was a heavy metal roll door that was closed. Ianto reached up and pressed a red button on the black box clipped to the driver's side visor. It looked almost like a garage door opener, and, in fact, seemed to control the metal door at the foot of the ramp. It rolled up and as soon as the car was clear, Ianto drove in. The door rolled down behind them.

Parked on the far side of the carpark was the sleek, black SUV with "TORCHWOOD" inscribed on the bonnet. There was also a motorbike and a sedan with a flat tire. In the back corner was a collection of crates and a tool bench. There were four doors, all of which opened with an electronic keypad.

Rhys was learning new things about Torchwood every day.

Ianto parked his car next to the sedan with a flat. Rhys didn't need to be told twice that it was time to switch vehicles.

"Right," Ianto said, tossing Rhys his keys, "it's the one with the round black top. Gwen will show you how to work the monitors. I need to get some supplies. Do you have your weapon, Gwen?"

Gwen patted her hip where her jacket concealed her handgun, taking Rhys' arm and pulling him towards the SUV as she did so. Rhys hit the unlock button on the round keypad that hung off of Ianto's keys, and the lights came on accompanied by the familiar beep of doors unlocking. Gwen hustled him into the driver's side and then ran around to the passenger door as Ianto started going through the crates in the corner.

The inside of the SUV was just as he imagined it. No--better. There were all sorts of screens and technology attached wherever there was space. Monitors could fold down from the ceiling or swing over from the back. The screens from all the tech gave the inside of the car a cool, blue glow that overpowered the dome light.

It was definitely cool.

"Now," Gwen said once she had fastened her seatbelt, "mostly we need you to monitor us and the weevils." She swung a screen around from the back. "This shows the CCTV footage. It locks onto the nearest cameras automatically." When she tapped the screen to rid them of the screensaver, it showed three different views of the garage, one of the street they had just come off of, and four empty hallways that he could only assume followed the doors he had spied when they drove in. "There's a search function down here, so you can manually switch it to any other cameras you want." She tapped the spot on the screen where it said "search" and a text input box popped up. "Just type in the cross streets. We don't anticipate you'll be needing that, but best to be prepared."

Rhys nodded, watching on the CCTV as Ianto jogged over to the car with four aerosol cans and several thick, plastic restraints. Then he looked up, because Ianto was opening the door to the back and getting inside the car.

"Okay," Ianto said. "Are we ready?"

"I haven't shown him the heat sensors yet," Gwen said, but Ianto waved a hand dismissively, having dropped the items he was holding onto the seat beside him.

"We can do that when we get there. Make sure you hit the door button for him--don't want him getting a shock because he doesn't have the right thumbprint."

Gwen laughed and reached up to hit the red button on the box clipped to the visor. "Right, now, you know where we're going, right?"

Rhys glanced down at the PDA that Gwen still held. He recognized the warehouse area. Harwoods' had done some deliveries there in the past.

"Yeah," he said. "Just let me know where you want me to stop."

He pulled up the ramp and onto the street. It was hard not to let out a whoop of joy as Gwen hit the button for the flashing blue lights and he floored the accelerator.

The drive to the warehouses was shorter than Rhys would have liked, but the SUV handled even better than he had imagined. Fuck, what he wouldn't give to be Jack Harkness for a day. Well, maybe not be him. He didn't think he was cut out for the full-time alien-fighting business, and shagging Ianto wasn't something he was eager to experience personally. What he wouldn't give to have Jack Harkness' car.

"Stop here," Gwen said once he had driven into the industrial park, slowing to a crawl and killing the lights as soon as they'd gone through the gate. Rhys put the car in park, but didn't kill the engine. "Right," Gwen said. She pulled another monitor around from the back and typed a few things on the attached keyboard. Ianto leaned forward from the back.

"Right around the corner," he murmured. "It looks like they're eating something."

"Brilliant," Gwen said. She glanced down at her shirt. "This was a nice top, too."

"As long as it doesn't tear, I can probably get the blood out," Ianto assured her. He pushed the screen they were look at towards Rhys. "This is a heat tracking sensor. The weevils have a slightly lower body temperature than we do, so they come up more yellow and green, whereas we'll be red and orange." He reached into his pocket and handed Rhys a bluetooth earpiece. "Put this in. It's connected to ours. Just keep an eye on the CCTV. If the weevils run, let us know which direction. If more are coming, or any civilians are nearby, let us know. If anything else happens that seems important, let us know that, too."

Rhys nodded and put the earpiece in.

"Tap it once," Gwen said, pointing at the button in the middle of her own. Rhys did as she said and suddenly he could hear Gwen and Ianto in surround sound.

"Be careful," Ianto said quietly, pushing the rear door open. "Stay alert. You have good instincts. Hopefully this won't take long."

Gwen leaned over and kissed him. "Be safe," she said. "Thank you for doing this."

"Oh, don't mention it," Rhys assured her. She pushed open her door, jumped down, and, just like that, she and Ianto were gone.

Rhys turned his attention to the CCTV footage. The two weevils were still leaning over... something... and tearing it apart, but he saw a tell-tale ripple in the shadows that could only mean that Gwen and Ianto were preparing to strike.

The weevils froze. One of them looked up.

"No, no, no...." Rhys murmured under his breath, but it was too late. The weevils were both up on their feet and running towards the shadows, where Ianto sprung out, spraying an aeresol can that was filled with something that the weevils definitely did not like. One of them keened so loudly that Rhys could hear it both through the headset and from around the corner. The other weevil ducked out of the way of the spray and came at Ianto. He had no choice but to fall to the ground to duck the weevil's onslaught. Where was Gwen?

The sprayed weevil was shaking itself, regaining its equilibrium. It began to lope away from Ianto and the more alert weevil, towards an alleyway.

"Gwen! Ianto!" Rhys said, "One of them's getting away, going back towards the right!"

Gwen appeared from nowhere, charging at the weevil with a small, stout object that he couldn't see very well in the grainy CCTV. She managed to hit it on the arm and the heat monitor lit up in a flash of red where the object in Gwen's hand connected with the weevil. There was another inhuman howl and Rhys glanced over to the other side of the screen, where Ianto was rolling on the ground, fending off the creature with one hand and grappling for his fallen spray bottle with the other.

"Gwen, Ianto needs help!" he said, just as Ianto managed to flip the weevil off of him. Ianto dove for the spray can just as the weevil dove at him, but Ianto was quicker. He had the can in the weevil's face and there was more howling, the creatures' cries mixing together as Gwen hit her weevil again and drove it closer to where Ianto was finally getting the upper hand against his. Ianto's weevil was curled on the ground, ineffectually and blindly pawing against the spray, but disarmed enough that Ianto could get on top of it and capture its hands, securing them in plastic restraints.

Before he could get up, though, Gwen managed to land another, longer blow to hers. It wavered on its feet and then--

"Ianto, get out of the way!" Rhys yelled, but it was too late. The weevil hit the ground like a dead weight, right on top of the other weevil. Ianto was sandwiched in between them. "Bloody hell!"

Ianto was cursing a blue streak over the headset.

"Fuck!" Gwen said. She grabbed at the weevil, which seemed to be out cold, and tried to pull it off of Ianto. Between the two of them, they managed to get it onto the ground and off of Ianto's back. Gwen leaned over to apply plastic restraints to that one as well, while Ianto lay on the ground, wheezing.

"You too all right?" Rhys called.

"Fine," Gwen said.

"Still breathing," Ianto coughed.

"I'm so sorry, love," Gwen said, turning her attention from the weevil to Ianto. She offered him a hand up. "I didn't see you."

"It's fine," Ianto insisted. "No harm done." The way he was limping slightly as he got to his feet made Rhys think otherwise.

"It's okay, Rhys," Gwen called, turning towards the direction the SUV was, even though Rhys could only see her on the monitor, "we've got them neutralized. Can you help us load them into the boot?"

Rhys glanced around the front of the SUV and found a button to open the boot on the lower right hand side. He pressed it and then quickly exited, rushing around the corner to meet Ianto and Gwen.

It was an odd sort of disconnect, seeing the space between the warehouses that he'd previously only seen on the SUV's monitors. He took a second to orient himself and then went over to help Ianto heft his weevil off the ground.

"I'll get it, mate," he said. "You took a nasty fall."

"Oi, what about me?" Gwen called, but Ianto was already helping her drag the other weevil towards the SUV.

"You didn't get stuck in the middle of a weevil sandwich now, did you?" Rhys asked, and Ianto and Gwen made exactly the same disgusted face.

Between the three of them, they lugged the weevils into the boot of the SUV. It didn't take long to get them both settled into the back and for Ianto to climb into the passenger seat, gesturing for Rhys to drive again. Rhys tried to hide his smile.

"So," he said to Gwen as he backed out of the industrial park and headed towards the Hub, "about being put on payroll."

"Now we will definitely badger Jack the moment he gets back," Gwen said, grinning at him in the rearview mirror.

Rhys grinned back. There were worse ways to end a night.

---

Ianto slunk into his flat, filthy and exhausted, thirty minutes later. The bedroom seemed miles away and the thought of going through the motions of taking off his clothes when he could just as easily flop onto the couch, fully clothed....

His face was pressed into the upholstery before he had time to register that he had moved. By then, he was far too comfortable to change his mind, anyway.

So, of course, his mobile rang.

"Fuck," he muttered into the couch cushion. He considered letting it ring through, but it was possible it was Gwen with some sort of news, so he reached into his pocket to pull it out.

"What?" he asked.

"Hey, beautiful," Jack's voice said from the other end of the line. "I was hoping you'd be a bit happier to hear from me."

Fuck. That was right. He had promised Jack a bit of a game, hadn't he.

"Sorry," he said, letting his head drop down onto the couch again. "Forgot I told you to call. I'm knackered."

"Anything I can do to help?"

Ianto thought that Jack's voice nearly always had a slightly seductive quality. He wasn't sure if it was because of a sort of sexual anticipation whenever he was around Jack for long periods of time, a weakness for the accent that he would never admit, or if Jack just always talked like he was ready to tear off someone's pants. There were times, though, when Jack actually made an effort to sound seductive, and those were the times that Ianto had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes.

"Unfortunately, not this time," Ianto said, wistfully thinking of Jack's obscenely gorgeous hands that were currently all the way in London, completely unable to knead his shoulders or rub his feet. "Sorry for getting your hopes up. But, you always say you could get off on the sound of my voice. Why don't you settle in and I'll read you the dictionary for a bit?"

"As tempting as that offer sounds," Jack said around a laugh, "you could always just tell me why you sound like you just went five rounds with a weevil."

If Ianto had the energy to quirk an eyebrow, he would have.

"Probably because I just went five rounds with a weevil," he responded. There was a long silence, and he quickly added, "I'm fine. No permanent damage. Not even a scratch. Just some bruises and general exhaustion. I took a few falls and then Gwen hit one of the bloody things with a stunner and it fell right on top of me. Not light, weevils."

"Not generally, no," Jack said. "You sure you're all right?"

"Just tired," Ianto said. "And no, that's not a good excuse for you to come home, so don't even suggest it."

"I wasn't," Jack said petulantly, which made it clear that he was. "Anyway, if you're tired, I'll let you go so you can go to bed."

"Haven't made it to the bed yet," Ianto admitted with a slight hesitation. He wasn't ready for Jack to go just yet. It had been a hard evening and a pointless day and talking to Jack was... nice. "I'm working up to it. How was your day?"

"You should sleep," Jack said. "You sound exhausted."

"Yes, well, you're not my mum, so tell me about your bloody day, would you?"

There were times when Ianto was deeply, deathly afraid that Jack was his boyfriend. Oddly, it was never the times that he would think it would bother him. It never occurred to him when they were leaving a cinema holding hands. He didn't think about it while they were slow dancing in the middle of the crowd at the jazz club that Jack liked. It didn't niggle while they were eating at their favorite restaurant by the bay, or even on the occasions when Jack would kiss him on the Plass, right out where everyone could see.

No, it was times like this that made Ianto worry that Jack was really his boyfriend. There he was, alone in his flat, curled up on the sofa with his mobile, grinning like a teenaged girl, all the while forcing his voice to maintain its usual inscrutable evenness. He couldn't lose the grin and he couldn't hide that it was getting a call from Jack that made it appear in the first place. Without crowds and music and their public facades, in the privacy of his own home, Ianto Jones couldn't hide from the fact that hearing Jack's voice was enough to make his day a little brighter, enough to make him forget about his aching muscles. He had to accept that Jack Harkness made him happier than a time-travelling immortal veritable superhero from the future really should make any sane person.

It was mortifying and a little depressing, but when Jack was telling a truly overwrought story about the very scandalous and completely untrue piece of gossip he had idly started at the night's cocktail hour, Ianto really couldn't be arsed to care.

Wednesday

Gwen woke up before her alarm and stretched pleasantly. The bruises from last night felt much better after a back rub from Rhys and a night sleeping with the good pillows, the ones Rhys normally hoarded before she managed to get to bed. She could hear Rhys making breakfast and singing along to the radio, and although she and Ianto weren't to meet for another two hours, she found she'd rather join Rhys in the kitchen then curl back up under the duvet for another hour.

God, what had Torchwood turned her into? She could feel the last vestige of her twenty-something self shuddering at the idea of being up before her alarm and of her own accord.

She shook her head clear and joined Rhys at the breakfast table. There were eggs and bacon and potatoes and Rhys seemed overjoyed that she was up before he had to leave for work. He couldn't stop talking about how brilliant the weevil hunt had been, how impressive she and Ianto were, and how flash the SUV was.

"I mean, I've seen you do the whole secret agent 007 thing with the space whale, but, last night, that was just you and Ianto and those creatures!" he said as Gwen sipped her tea. "You do that all the time?"

"Erm, well, honestly, Ianto and Jack normally go weevil hunting on their own these days," she admitted. "I don't ask too many questions about what happens during. Or after. But yeah, sometimes I'm with them."

"Dangerous," Rhys said, but it almost sounded like an afterthought.

"We usually let Jack take the hits for us," she said. "Shouldn't you be on your way to work?"

The attention was nice and it was sweet that Rhys was, for once, so enthusiastic about her job, but it was a bit hard to get her head around the current case when he was still talking about something that had become as routine as taking out the trash.

Oh god. Taking down an alien being that lived in the Cardiff sewers had become as routine as taking out the trash. Torchwood really had changed her.

Rhys glanced down at his watch and shoved one last piece of bacon in his mouth as he got to his feet.

"Right, right," he said. "You and Ianto got anything planned for today?"

"Just Andy's thing," she told him. "Depending on how long it goes on, I might be able to meet you for lunch."

"Sure," he said. "Got to keep your energy up for fighting those aliens, eh?"

"Exactly," she said. She accepted a kiss and then watched as he grabbed his coat, wallet and keys and left the flat.

She enjoyed her breakfast and did the washing up, her mind going over what they knew so far. It would be nice to wrap this up today, though the field work had been a welcome distraction from the monotony of Jack's absence.

By the time she was showered and dressed, it was still early. She sent Ianto a text telling him she'd bring breakfast by the Hub and took the long way to the Plass, stopping for bagels. A quick check on the pets and the overnight monitors and she sat down at her workstation to go through the readings they took the day before.

The readings didn't tell her much. Mainframe couldn't identify the source of the purple energy pattern, nor did it have any more information on the blue slime they'd pulled from the scene. The energy pattern and the slime were really all they had to go on. She'd gone back to try and pull up any more information on the rift flare that they had tentatively linked to the string of robberies, but there was no new information to be found there, either. The readings indicated the object that came through was only a few inches long and smaller than a human fist. Organic, but no life signs. All things they already knew. Nothing that was helpful for the case.

Well, not entirely. At least they knew that whatever came through probably wasn't causing this directly. It was possible it was a weapon or some kind of tech, but she didn't think a fist-sized bit of organic matter could move an entire x-ray machine by itself.

She went back to investigating the purple energy pattern. There was nothing in the archives, but she hadn't yet considered checking Cardiff as a whole. They had dozens of resident aliens, and maybe whatever was giving off that energy would show up if she did a city-wide energy scan.

She wasn't even sure she could do a city-wide energy scan. It stood to reason that if she could scan a particular area and if the rift monitors could scan nearly all of Wales, then it would just take a little jury-rigging to get the apply the energy scan to the entire city. Of course, Ianto was usually better at that sort of thing than she was, but Ianto still wasn't in, so it fell on her shoulders.

She pulled up the program they normally used to do energy scans. When it asked for the area to be scanned, she shrugged and typed in "Cardiff."

A processing bar popped up on the screen. She drummed her fingernails on the desk, watching the percentage slowly climb to 100%. The computer dinged when it was done, and all of Cardiff was suddenly on her monitor, lit up in reds and oranges with hints of green and tiny specks of other colors walking about.

Easier than she thought, then.

She zoomed on the area near the university, which was the only place she noticed any purple. As the zoom cut in closer, she was able to pick out the university, Eugene Hayes' apartment building, the engineering firm. She caught the dentist's office and then--

It scrolled by too fast. She slammed on the space bar to stop the zoom and backed up. It was just there. She clicked back again and found a definite spot of purple in the vicinity of a street of shops not far from the university. It seemed to be centered about halfway down the street, but the program didn't allow her to zoom in far enough to see precisely where it was located.

She looked at the clock on her computer and pulled out her mobile, dialing Ianto.

"'lo?"

Gwen was honestly a bit surprised. Ianto sounded sleepy and muddled, even though it was well past eight am. Normally he was on his way to work by now.

"You all right, love?" she asked.

He grunted in response. "Didn't get much sleep last night," he told her. "Fell asleep on the couch. Slept through my alarm. Sorry, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Gwen said. "Take your time. I found some more of that purple energy pattern over by the uni. I was going to load up the SUV and head over, see if we can't beat the police to the next break-in site."

"Mm, that's fine," Ianto mumbled. "Good. I'll take a shower and meet you. Send me the address."

"Take your time," Gwen said again. "You sound exhausted. I can handle a little snooping on my own."

"No, no," Ianto said. "I'll be fine with a cup of coffee. Don't want you going in alone. What if something happens?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "I'm sure everything will be fine," she insisted, but she couldn't help but smile at his concern.

"Just in case," he said. "Rhys and Jack would kill me if anything happened to you because I was too stupid to sleep in a bed last night."

"Sure thing, sweetheart," she said. "Half an hour?"

"Twenty minutes," Ianto assured her. "I'm getting undressed now."

"Ooo, don't tell Jack, he'll get jealous," she teased.

"More likely he'd beg to join in," Ianto muttered darkly. "See you soon."

And he was gone. Gwen couldn't help smile to herself, rolling her eyes. Jack talked a good game, but Gwen had a feeling that he wouldn't be quite as open to sharing Ianto as Ianto liked to think, especially since... well, since everything that had happened.

She gathered together the supplies they needed--scanners, sample containers, weapons, Ianto's earpiece--and loaded them into the SUV. It was always odd driving it on her own, the big, hulking, mysterious black car manned by the slightly goofy ex-PC Cooper. She knew her former colleagues had automatically pinned some sort of secret agent fantasy lifestyle on her, the same one they pinned on all the members of Torchwood. Hell, even Rhys did it, that morning's breakfast being a perfect example. Still, she didn't feel like a secret agent. Sure, she was well trained, now, her eyes were open to the world around her, but she still felt like... Gwen Cooper. She still felt like she was just pretending she could handle this and waiting for someone to realize that and call her on it.

She parked the SUV on the opposite side of the street and glanced up and down it. No police presence. The coffee shop and dry cleaner were already open and nothing seemed amiss, but the rest of the windows were still dark. It was possible that the shops had been broken into and the theft had yet to be discovered. She pulled out the energy scanner. She told Ianto she would wait for back-up, but there was nothing wrong with doing a little harmless investigating before he arrived.

She walked up and down the sidewalk, holding the scanner. There was a definite end and start point to the purple energy trail, but it didn't seem to actually go into any of the shops. It never strayed from the sidewalk up front. Past the dry cleaner, the pet shop, the stationery store, the jeweler, the coffee shop--

Wait.

She backed up and paused in front of the jeweler. The energy trail on the screen was brighter and thicker in front of that shop window. Down the rest of the block it was a straight line, but here it spread out and thickened as if... well, it was almost as if someone had been pacing.

She looked in the dark windows of the shop. She didn't see any of the odd slime. The display cases all appeared to be intact. There were certainly no signs of a struggle, not that there had been in the other robberies. She considered going back to the SUV to hack into the CCTV network, but there hadn't been any CCTV footage at the other crime scenes either.

Gwen frowned and glanced up and down the street again. It was early, yet, and aside from a few people popping in and out of the coffee shop and a car cruising down the street, she was mostly alone. She walked to the corner and spotted an alley between the row of shops and the shops on the next street over. Looking around again, she pulled out her scanner and pointed it down the alley. No purple energy to speak of. Well, the thief hadn't used the back way in, then.

She headed back to the SUV and pulled out her mobile as she walked, dialing Ianto again.

"In a cab now," Ianto assured her. "I should be there momentarily."

"That's fine," she said. "I've been looking around--"

"Gwen! I thought we'd agreed you'd wait for back-up!"

"I wasn't really getting into it," Gwen insisted. "I was just looking around! And, anyway, I don't think anything on this street's been taken."

"What makes you say that?"

"I followed the energy trail down the street, but it hasn't actually gone into any of the shops," she said. "I even went around the back. But it's weird--it's definitely concentrated around the jewelry store. It's like whatever it is was pacing in front of it, almost."

"Casing the joint?" Ianto suggested, and Gwen had to laugh.

"You watch too many movies," she told him, but it was probably a fair assessment. "But they're definitely interested in the jeweler's."

"Odd, isn't it?" Ianto asked. "I mean, by all accounts, the rest of the things that were taken are junk. But jewelry...."

"I know," Gwen said. "Not that anything else about this case has made sense. But I was thinking, if they've got their eye on the jeweler, maybe we can catch them in the act."

"You mean like a stake-out?" Ianto asked. "Been awhile since we did one of those."

"Didn't you and Jack just do one a few weeks ago?"

"Erm." Ianto coughed. "Something like that. Anyway, I'm almost there. If I ask you not to do anything else potentially dangerous before I arrive, will you actually listen?"

"Probably not," Gwen said, "but I'll promise for you anyway, if it will make you feel better."

Ianto sighed and hung up without really replying.

Just in case she was wrong, Gwen pulled around a monitor from the back of the SUV and flipped the display to the CCTV network. She rewound through the early morning businessmen popping in and out of the coffee shop, through the dry cleaners walking down the street and unlocking their shop. She rewound until around one am, when she watched a figure in a dark hooded sweatshirt run backwards towards the jeweler. Her finger froze over the button, and then she went further. The same figure spent ten minutes walking up and down the street, lingering in front of the jeweler at each pass. When she played the footage forward, on his final pass, he took a step towards the window. There, the CCTV flickered off, only to pop back a moment later. According to the time stamp, only three seconds were lost, and the picture picked up with Hooded Sweatshirt taking off down the street at a run. A few seconds passed, and a pair of drunken revelers stumbled into the camera view, leaning on each other and talking animatedly.

She tried to follow Hooded Sweatshirt through the next few sets of cameras, but after the second street he became lost in a crowd outside a pub. She sighed and rewound, squinting at the footage, but it was no use. The cameras never got a clear shot at his face and the hood on his shirt obscured hair and even skin color from the camera's view. Even using the Torchwood tech to zoom in on him was no use.

She sighed and leaned against the driver side window.

Then jumped with a gasp when someone tapped on the glass.

"Christ!" she panted when she rolled down the window for Ianto, who was holding two travel mugs of coffee. "You gave me a bloody heart attack."

"Sorry," he said, though he didn't sound sorry at all. He handed her one of the coffee mugs. "Anything exciting going on?"

"Get in and I'll catch you up," she said.

Ianto slid into the passenger seat and Gwen explained what she'd learned so far. Ianto's expression was unreadable and he nodded along, tapping his fingers on the side of the door.

"Is it possible," he said when she finished, "that he just went and found what he was looking for somewhere else?"

"It's possible, I suppose," Gwen said. "Haven't heard anything from Andy and I set up an alert in the police system to send us a message if anything with similar details cropped up, but that's been quiet, too. When I did the scan this morning, this street had the only fresh trail of that purple stuff."

"So you think, whatever they didn't manage to get, they'll be back for it?" Ianto asked.

Gwen shrugged. "I think it's the best lead we have right now," she said.

"Okay," Ianto said, leaning back into the seat. "Stake-out it is."

Ianto picked at the bagel that Gwen brought him as she set up the energy scanner to focus on the jeweler. He looked as exhausted as he had sounded on the phone and she had to resist the urge to tell him to take a nap. As much as she thought he needed it, he'd probably be offended by the suggestion.

"Didn't sleep much last night?" Gwen asked instead, tapping in a few extra parameters and then flicking the monitor to show the street's CCTV again, even though they could clearly see just as much as the camera showed.

"Mm," Ianto said. He turned his head, still leaning against the seat, and offered her a weak smile. "Tired from the weevil, then Jack called."

"And you didn't tell him to shove off until morning?"

Ianto shrugged weakly. "It was nice to hear from him," he said.

"He called three times yesterday," Gwen said. "And that was just while I was with you. I'd have thought you'd have heard from him enough."

Ianto shrugged again, his cheeks coloring slightly as his eyes focused on his bagel. Gwen simultaneously wanted to smack him and hug him.

"Oh, Ianto," she said, trying vainly to hold back a laugh, "he's your boyfriend! It's okay to miss him."

"He's not my boyfriend," Ianto said quickly, fidgeting and reaching for the door before abruptly aborting the movement.

"Oh, really? So what do you call the guy you're shagging and going on dates with and living with, then?"

"I tend to call him 'Jack,'" Ianto said dryly, but it was clear he was aware he was dodging the question.

"I don't understand why it's so hard for you to admit it," Gwen said, reaching over and rubbing his arm. "You love him, don't you?"

"Of course," he said.

"And I know he loves you. Is it really that hard to admit you're a couple?"

"It's not--" Ianto started to say and then stopped. "It's just... I don't like... must we talk about this?"

Gwen glanced at the clock. It was only just coming up on nine am. She had a feeling they'd be in the car for quite a bit.

"No," she said, patting his shoulder. "Of course not. Finish your breakfast."

Ianto focused grateful single-minded attention on his bagel again. Gwen rolled her eyes and watched the sidewalk as a man inside the jewelry store approached the door and flipped the sign from "closed" to "open."

---

Stake-outs, on the whole, weren't very exciting. Before working for Torchwood, Gwen had based most of her assumptions about stake-outs on television. Of course, it never occurred to her that the triumphant moment when the police officers cornered the bad guy had to be preceded by hours of boring surveillance, stuck in a car with limited supplies and access to bathrooms.

When she returned from using the restroom in the coffee shop for the second time, about four hours after Ianto had shown up with coffee, she was already regretting the two bottles of water she was bringing back with her.

"Still nothing," Ianto told her as she slid into the passenger seat, having switched with Ianto about an hour beforehand.

"I'm shocked," she said dryly.

"This was your idea," Ianto reminded her. "We could have watched the CCTV just as easily from the Hub."

"Yes, but then if we actually saw something, we'd have to come all the way across town to do something about it," she said. "And at least we have a suspect now."

"Yes," Ianto said, "the man of average height wearing a black hoodie. We'll have no problem pinning him down, I'm sure."

Gwen wrinkled her nose at him. "You get grumpy when you're bored."

"I get grumpy when I'm hungry," he corrected her. "How are you not starving? It's been hours."

"You should have let me know!" Gwen said. "I could have gotten you something from the coffee shop!"

"I don't want pastries," Ianto said. "I want lunch. Pastries aren't lunch. Pastries are breakfast, at a stretch."

"They have egg sandwiches," Gwen told him. Now that she thought about it, they had smelled delicious.

Her stomach rumbled.

"Well," she said, "I wasn't hungry before, but I am now, thanks to you." She shoved his shoulder lightly and pulled her purse out from the back seat. She rifled through it and pulled out half a Cadbury dairy milk bar. "Split it with you?"

"Chocolate is not lunch either," Ianto insisted. "Especially dairy." He did, however, break off half of the offered candy and pop a chunk into his mouth. She rolled her eyes at him, but started when her mobile began to ring. Before she could even get it out of her pocket, Ianto's began to ring as well.

"Rhys," she said, glancing at the display.

"Jack," Ianto said before he even had his out of his pocket.

"'Lo, love," she said once she accepted the call.

"Gwen!" Rhys said cheerfully. "Free for lunch?"

"Don't call me that," Ianto said next to Gwen. "Because I'm not a girl!"

"No," Gwen said to Rhys sadly. "Much as I wish. I'm bloody starving, but Ianto and I got pulled into a stake-out. I'm hoping he'll go out and pick up some lunch." She gave Ianto a significant look. He rolled his eyes at her.

"No, just trying to get Gwen to pick up some lunch for once," Ianto said into his mobile. "You know how she is."

"That's too bad," Rhys was saying. "Want me to bring something over?"

"That would be wonderful," Gwen said. "Ianto! Rhys'll bring something over."

"Really?" Ianto asked. He looked away from her and said, "No, Rhys is bringing lunch. Oh, what does it matter? You're not here. If I hadn't told you, you'd never have known in the first place!" Turning back to Gwen he said, "Kebabs?"

"I fancy a pizza," Gwen said.

"Pizza?" Rhys said.

"Yes," Gwen said. "Pizza'd be lovely."

Ianto leaned over into her personal space and shouted, "Ignore her, Rhys. We'd like kebabs if you're going to be nice enough to bring something over."

Gwen wrenched her phone away. "Pizza," she said to Rhys.

"No," Ianto was saying into his phone, "Gwen wants pizza. Well you're not here! Go and get a pizza in London if you want one so badly!"

"How about I go to the place that does both?" Rhys said.

"That's fine," Gwen said.

"I want kebabs!" Ianto insisted. He was pouting like a child. It would have been cute if she wasn't so frustrated with him. He glanced down again and said into the phone, "I sound like a child? I'm not the one calling Cardiff every bloody hour because I can't stand to be on my own!"

"He's getting both," Gwen told Ianto, but he was focused on his phone conversation now, lunch argument forgotten.

"No!" Ianto said. "I'm not! And it's about time you--yes, right now!"

"Gwen?" Rhys asked.

"Sorry," Gwen said. "Kebabs and pizza both would be lovely. We're over by the uni, around the corner from that pub that Banana got booted from after Edwin's stag do. We're in the SUV."

"It's not my fault that--no! And I'm not going to be--you're not even listening to me!" Ianto continued, his free hand wrapped around the stick shift, knuckles white.

"Ianto and Jack are fighting," Gwen said to Rhys.

"I thought Jack was in London 'til the weekend," Rhys said. "Wait--let me guess. He's on the phone. Again."

"Yeah," Gwen said. "Again."

"You'd think he doesn't trust you two," Rhys said.

"I think he just misses Ianto as much as Ianto misses him," she said, trying to catch Ianto's eye as she said it. Ianto waved her off.

"Fine," he said. "Fine. Go to your bloody meeting. We'll call if the world ends." He ended the call forcefully and then shoved the phone back into his pocket. Gwen just shook her head.

"We'll see you soon," she said to Rhys.

"Right," Rhys said. "Might stick around for a few if you need a break. Being the boss has its advantages, yeah? I can take a long lunch."

"We'll see," Gwen said. "Love you."

"Love you too!"

Gwen ended her call with a bit more civility. Ianto was hunched down in the driver's seat, staring across the street moodily.

"Sorry," she said. "About lunch."

"It's fine," Ianto said, closing his eyes.

The silence stretched.

"It's just--" Ianto started to say again, and then stopped. "Well, it's just that--I do. Miss him."

Gwen hid a smile.

"Is that so?" she asked.

"The empty flat was nice at first," he continued, picking at a ding in the SUV's door. "The extra space was nice. The quiet. But it's been a few days and--I miss having someone start breakfast while I'm in the shower. I miss being woken up at two am because he can't sleep and wants to do laundry. I even miss his bloody talking while I'm trying to watch a film."

Gwen reached across the center console and rubbed Ianto's arm.

"Sweetheart, it's okay," she said. "It's normal to miss your--to miss someone you care about when they're out of town. You missed me when I was away on my honeymoon. I know because you texted me two dozen times."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Well, yes, but that's--you're--and Jack's--" He shrugged helplessly, but glared when Gwen raised her hand to hide a chuckle. "He's only been gone three days, so excuse me if this is the most mortifying conversation that I've ever had in my life."

"I'm sorry," she said. She squeezed his shoulder, but he was determinedly staring out the window, now.

Gwen leaned back into the passenger seat, staring out at the jeweler's. She watched as a giggling young couple came out the door, the woman holding out her hand to the man, huge smile on her face.

"You know," Gwen said slowly. "I think what you and I really need is to get out of the car for a bit."

Ianto turned to her. "What do you mean?" he asked.

She just smiled.

---

Gerald glanced up when he heard the bell and put on his best shopkeep smile for the couple who came inside. They seemed a bit mismatched--the gentleman was wearing an expensive, finely made three piece suit and the woman was in jeans and a plain cotton t-shirt with some sort of colorful design on it. She had both of her arms wrapped around one of his, and when she smiled, he spied the large gap between her front teeth. She looked a bit older than him--not so much to make it improper, but enough for Gerald to notice. Despite the suit and the swagger, Gerald didn't think the young man could have been more than thirty at the most. The woman seemed just a few years past that.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

The gentleman looked down at the woman and smiled. "Go on, darling, see if there's anything that catches your fancy."

She giggled and kissed his cheek, before wandering off to start at the end of the cases, eyes wide as she inspected the rings there. The gentleman wandered over towards Gerald's end of the counter. He rolled his eyes a bit and leaned against the glass.

"Women," he muttered. "I don't know how they can spend hours just staring at little rocks--no offense, mate--and still not come to a decision. This is our third shop today."

Gerald smiled knowingly. It was an odd coupling, but hardly the first time he saw a woman eager to fritter away new money before the marriage certificate was even printed.

"But I bet you see this all the time," the man said, as if he were reading Gerald's mind. "Women coming in, making big eyes at diamond rings and conning twats like me into spending an obscene amount of money."

"It's not uncommon," Gerald said with a touch of humor. "You know women--they want everything to be perfect on the big day, and in the meantime, they want something to show off to their friends."

"Don't I know it," the man said. "Good for people watching, though. I get none of that in my office. Same walls, same people. Nothing interesting or different to break up the monotony."

"I don't know," Gerald said. "It's a bit dull here, most times." He spared a glance for the woman, who was looking at some sort of cellphone in her purse, then leaned closer to the gentleman. "Although, we have had a bit of suspicious activity lately."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked. Gerald nodded.

"The former Mrs. Sellers, who bought her last three engagement rings from me, was back in being sized for a fourth. I can't be certain, but I have my suspicions."

"Suspicions?" the man asked.

Gerald leaned even closer. "I think she may be a black widow. You know, murdering all those men for their money. It's just a feeling, but if this one ends up dead too, I might go to the police."

The man nodded, eyes wide. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you," he said. "Wouldn't want her getting wind of it in case she goes after you, too." He raised a finger to his lips to mime silence, and Gerald couldn't help but notice his exquisite cufflinks. It was odd enough to see a young man embracing the cufflink, what with those mass produced shirts you can practically get at the corner grocer these days, but the cufflinks he was wearing were fine indeed. Gerald would bet that they were antiques.

"I'm sorry, lad," he said, reaching gently across to tug at the man's shirtsleeves. "I can't help but notice--jeweler's eye and all--that your cufflinks are magnificent."

An odd expression crossed the man's face and his ears turned just a bit pink. "Oh, well. Thank you."

"Family heirloom?" Gerald asked, reaching automatically for his loupe when the man extended his arm hesitantly for Gerald to make a closer inspection.

"Um, no," the man said. He looked a bit flustered. "A gift from my boss, actually." He paused. "They, ah, they may be antique. That's sort of his thing."

From the way the young gentleman was twitching uncomfortably, Gerald had a feeling that it wasn't his boss who gifted him the cufflinks. If he had to guess, he'd say that the man in question was stepping out on his excited bride-to-be. It wasn't Gerald's place to say anything, though, so he gently let go of the gentleman's arm and glanced up at him.

"Definitely antique. I'd say turn of the century. Remarkable craftsmanship. These days people just buy those mass produced pieces of junk, if they even bother with cufflinks at all. Your 'boss' has good taste." He winked at the young man, who gave him a strained smile in return.

"Well, he does like fine things," the gentleman murmured.

Before Gerald could reply, the woman called over, "Sweetheart, come take a look at this one, yeah?"

The man straightened up and rolled his eyes before saying, "Of course, darling." He gave Gerald another polite smile before ambling over to where his fiancee was waiting. Gerald shook his head. He wondered how long it would be until she figured out. They always figured out.

---

"Isn't it beautiful?" Gwen crooned, pointing down at a selection of rings.

"Gorgeous," Ianto said. In a quieter voice, he added, "Gwen, we're not actually buying a ring with the Torchwood expense card. Jack and Rhys, both, would murder me."

"Let me show you the picture of Mary's ring," Gwen said, elbowing Ianto as she pulled out her PDA. She managed to subtly slide the data card from the scanner into her PDA while Ianto was chatting up the jeweler, and the rather lackluster results were already on display.

"And I'm sure you want one nicer than hers," Ianto said. He leaned closer to the PDA and sighed a little. "Nothing," he said quietly. "No purple."

"It was strongest out on the street in front of the building," she said softly. She pulled up the previous scan. "Right out on the sidewalk. Nothing in here."

"They haven't come in yet," Ianto said. "Not even to look around. Isn't that... odd?"

"What do I know about robbing a jewelry store?" Gwen hissed.

"You used to be a police constable!" Ianto whispered back. Gwen looked at the jeweler out of the corner of her eye. He was still tidying the other corner of the shop, clearly ready to pounce on she and Ianto the moment they indicated they needed assistance. She took a step closer to Ianto and slid an arm around his waist.

"Well, it wasn't exactly like it is on the telly," she said. "Plus, I was just a beat cop. I wasn't exactly chasing high profile criminals, was I?" She kissed his cheek and rested her head on his shoulder as she slipped her PDA back into her bag. "So," she said, loud enough for the jeweler to hear, "I just don't know."

"You don't have to decide now, love," Ianto said. "We're not seeing your parents until next week, after all."

The jeweler was suddenly at the counter in front of them, smiling a standard shopkeep smile. "We do custom rings as well," he said. "We have a wide selection of uncut diamonds for you to choose from. You can dictate the cut of the gem, the shape and setting of the ring... completely designed to your liking." He paused. "It's a bit more expensive, but most brides find it's worth it in the end."

Gwen had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. He probably thought he was being subtle. Of course, Ianto, in his pristine suit with his devil-may-care affect, looked like he had money to burn. She really shouldn't blame the man for trying to take advantage.

"Oh, darling, can we think about that?" she asked, turning to Ianto and grasping his hand. She put on an over-the-top pout. "Please? It would really make the whole engagement even more perfect that it already is!"

"We can look into it, certainly," he said, petting her hair. There was an odd twitch to his cheek. She wondered if he was having as hard a time keeping a straight face as she was. He turned back to the jeweler and asked, "Do you have any literature on the custom orders that we can look over? Price guide, setting options, that sort of thing? Not that money's a problem."

"Of course!" the jeweler said. He nearly tripped over himself in his haste to grab from pamphlets from the other end of the counter. While his back was turned, Ianto arched one wry eyebrow at Gwen and she had to stifle her giggles when the jeweler returned and handed several different brochures to them. "Take your time to look them over. This one lists all the different options for customization and this other gives examples of cuts and settings. We can put a ring together in any combination, and you can even choose your own diamond."

"Oh, well that's a must," Ianto said. "I wouldn't want the future Mrs. Jones wandering around with just any rock on her finger." He leaned down and kissed Gwen's cheek. She bit the inside of her mouth to keep from snorting.

"You have fine tastes, sir," the jeweler said. He pointed to a business card stapled to the top of one of the brochures. "This has my contact information and the number for the shop. Just give us a ring and we can set up an appointment for you."

"Wonderful," Ianto said. He handed all of the paperwork to Gwen and then reached over to shake the jeweler's hand. "Thank you. I'm sure we'll be seeing you shortly. I promised we'd have a ring on her finger before Mary's wedding next month, and I'm a man who keeps his word, aren't I, love?"

"You certainly are," Gwen said, resting her head on Ianto's shoulder again. "Oh, wait until the girls at the pub hear about this!"

"It was a pleasure," the jeweler said. "I look forward to seeing you again."

Ianto winked at the jeweler and then led them out of the store, swaggering a little.

They made it about five steps from the front before they burst out laughing. Gwen was impressed by their restraint.

"Oh my god!" she said around gasps of laughter as they stumbled across the street to the SUV. "That was amazing. I can't believe we pulled that off!"

"Neither can I," Ianto admit, pressing a hand to his face to try and calm his hitching breath. "No offense, Gwen, but you're a crap liar at best."

"I know!" Gwen crowed. "I don't know what came over me!" She climbed into the SUV and waited for Ianto to circle around to the passenger seat. "But you!" she continued once he was inside. "You were incredible! It was like you were a different person!"

"Yes, Gwen," he said, still grinning, "it's called 'working undercover.' It's best if you don't start by introducing yourself to your mark." He snorted and shook his head. "He thought I was stepping out on you."

"I could tell," Gwen said. "He wasn't very subtle. Speaking of...." She grabbed his arm and held up his wrist, displaying his cuff. "Cufflinks from your boss, eh?"

"You know Jack," Ianto said, pulling his arm back gently and smoothing his jacket back into place. Still, Gwen caught the admiring look he gave the cufflinks. "He likes giving me things. I think he thinks it's a way of proving he's taking this seriously. It's not like he ever wears them. Or, if he does, it's those atrocious aeroplane ones."

"I think the planes are cute!" Gwen insisted. Ianto gave her a look that made it clear what he thought of Gwen and Jack's taste in accessories.

"He said he had them for a long time," Ianto said. "You know how much he likes old things."

"And young things," Gwen said slyly, elbowing Ianto gently over the center console. The tips of his ears went pink.

"Anyway," he said. "The owner hasn't seen anything unusual and if our burglar hasn't been inside the shop yet, I think we're going to be stuck waiting for another good while." Gwen nodded, but she was still smiling. Her smile widened when she glanced over Ianto's shoulder and saw a familiar sedan driving down the street. Rhys parked about four spaces ahead of them and appeared, after a moment, with a box of pizza, a brown paper bag, and a six pack of diet soda. He walked casually down the street, not looking at the SUV. He looked up and down the sidewalk, and as if given some sort of cue, ducked quickly to the side and pulled open the back driver's side door and slipped inside, slamming the door after him.

"I don't think I was followed," he said in a hushed voice. Gwen and Ianto exchanged an amused look.

"Well, good on you," Gwen said. She grabbed the bag without preamble and held it out to Ianto, who opened it eagerly. Gwen, meanwhile, was making grabby hands for the box of pizza, which was just out of her reach.

"'Thank you, Rhys, for risking life and limb to bring us lunch,'" Rhys said as he handed it to her, but there was no bite in the admonishment.

"Thanks," Ianto said, tucking a paper napkin into his collar.

"Of course, love," Gwen said, opening the pizza box and pulling out a slice. "You're a lifesaver. We're starved."

Rhys gestured across the street. "There's a coffee shop over there."

"Pastries aren't lunch," Gwen informed him seriously. Next to her, Ianto gave her A Look before focusing his attention on his lunch.

"If you say so," Rhys said. "So. Anything exciting happening so far? Caught any bad guys?"

"Lots of sitting," Gwen said after swallowing her mouthful of pizza.

Ianto wiped primly at his mouth with a napkin before adding, "We just spent ten minutes undercover. Very exciting."

"Oh!" Gwen said. "That reminds me!" She pulled her wedding and engagement rings out of her jeans pocket and slid them back on. Rhys frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Part of the undercover bit," Gwen explained. "We were pretending to be ring shopping. Couldn't very well go in with a wedding ring on, now could I?"

Rhys sighed. "Well, better him than Jack, I suppose."

"Thanks much," Ianto said, though he didn't seem particularly bothered by the comment. Either that, or he was too hungry to care.

"This is the other side of special ops, I suppose," Rhys mused, taking a piece of pizza from Gwen. "There's chasing aliens through the streets in the middle of the night, and then there's sitting at the side of the road pining for kebabs."

"Pastries are not lunch," Ianto reminded him with a stern look.

"Of course," Rhys agreed, hiding his smile behind the slice of pizza. Gwen caught it anyway and smiled back, Ianto at least acting oblivious to their gentle amusement at one of his many bizarre personal rules.

"Has anyone ever mentioned you're a bit of a control freak?" Gwen asked.

"Only you and Jack daily," Ianto said dryly. "Why do you ask?"

"Just checking," she said.

This time, neither she nor Rhys tried to hide their smiles.

---

Rhys left after lunch was finished and Gwen and Ianto resigned themselves to another few hours of sitting around doing nothing, waiting for their perpetrator to strike. Ianto had stacks of work he could be doing back at the Hub, a frustration he kept to himself. He didn't want to leave Gwen alone on the off-chance that something happened during the afternoon and he certainly would feel like an utter shit if something happened at the jewelry store and they missed it because they were bored and decided to go back to the Hub. He felt bad enough that he had fallen asleep for two hours and Gwen hadn't bothered to wake him.

Still, when the rift monitor started beeping in the middle of their fourth card game of the evening, Ianto was the first to volunteer to investigate.

"I'll just look around," he assured Gwen. "It's not very far. I'll take a jog over, see if it's dangerous, and come right back."

"I don't know," Gwen said, frowning. "isn't this exactly what you didn't want me to do this morning?"

Ianto was already checking his gun and resliding it into his holster, shoving a scanner into his pocket.

"No, this morning I didn't want you to wander into a potential crime scene with an unknown and possibly alien suspect and no back-up," he told her. "All I'm doing is checking up on an inert rift flare that has an equal likelihood of being an alien artifact or an alien fork." He gave her his best reassuring smile, but Gwen didn't stop frowning.

"Do not touch anything you can't identify," Gwen said.

"Yes, Gwen, thank you, because this is my first day here at Torchwood and also, I'm an idiot," he said.

"You know what I mean," Gwen said, swatting at him. "I worry." She paused and then smiled guiltily. "Also, I'm as bored as you are."

"You can deal with the next one," he promised. "I'll pick up food on my way back."

"Fine," Gwen said with a sigh, as if she was really going to prevent him from going. "Be careful."

"Always am," he said, and fled the SUV before she could come up with any other reasons to detain him.

They were lucky, in a way. This was the first rift spike of the day and it was within walking distance of the row of shops they'd been observing all day. It was also inorganic matter with no life signs. They could have had to deal with a live creature roaming around Penarth.

It was a pleasant evening for a stroll, and though he knew he should be quick in case anything happened with Gwen or anyone picked up the alien kleenex, he was compelled to linger. There was a nice breeze and the twilight skies were clear. It was the sort of night he'd be likely to find Jack up on a rooftop, not brooding, but rather taking in the scenery, surveying his domain like some kind of superhero.

He frowned and fingered the mobile phone in his pocket without even realizing it. He hadn't meant to shout at Jack before lunch. He was tired and hungry and the boredom of the car and the little questions Gwen kept asking just kept... piling up. And Jack was a good target. Jack was frequently a good target for his frustrations because Jack understood. Jack usually let it slide or snapped right back with something inane or witty that made him realize just how ridiculous he was being. Jack let him rant it out, if he needed to.

Maybe this trip wasn't as good an idea as he initially thought.

Or maybe this line of thought was exactly the reason why the trip was a good idea in the first place.

Regardless, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he talked to Jack again, that wanker. It was entirely his fault for making Ianto care so much.

He hit Jack on speed dial as he took the long way over to the alley the rift spike had been in.

"Hi," he said quietly, toeing at the stray gravel scattered across the ground.

"Excuse me, General," he heard Jack say. "I've got a status update from Cardiff."

There was shuffling and the sound of a door opening and closing.

"What's new, hot stuff?" Jack asked. His tone was cautious and Ianto sighed.

"You didn't have to do that," he said. "I'm sure whatever you were talking about was important. I could call back."

"Believe me when I say that was categorically not important," Jack said.

"I'm, er, sorry about before," Ianto said. "Earlier. I was a bit stressed. I didn't mean it when I called you a child."

"Yeah you did," Jack said. "But you're right. I mean, I do trust you."

"I know," Ianto said. He pulled the scanner out of his pocket and crossed the street to the spike on the monitor. There was a sizzling chunk of metal on the ground in the middle of the alley.

"So," Jack said. He dragged it out, and Ianto chuckled.

"I'm on a retrieval," Ianto said. "No phone sex."

"It's already Wednesday, Ianto," Jack whined. "You promised."

"I never promised," Ianto said. "I believe my exact words were, 'I'll think about it' and 'Maybe, if you're good.'"

"I've been very good," Jack insisted. "Ask anyone. Ask Martha. Want me to go get Martha?"

"Retrieval," Ianto reminded him. "Work hours. Rules."

"Your rules are ridiculous," Jack said. "Have I mentioned that?"

"Not since last week, no," Ianto said. "Anyway." He was silent. The things he wanted to say were stuck in his throat, as usual. I miss you and I slept like shit last night and Since when do you have a side of the bed and why does it feel so odd when I glance over and it's empty?

"Yeah," Jack said.

Ianto ran a scan over the metal--inert, no radiation, solid all the way through, regular earth steel. He kicked it over behind a dumpster. No reason to bring it back, then. He leaned against the wall of the alley and sighed. He really needed to get back to Gwen.

"You sound tired," Jack said.

"Didn't sleep well last night," Ianto said as he pulled himself up and started back towards the SUV.

"Told you to go to sleep," Jack said. "You have no one to blame but yourself."

"Mm," Ianto said. "And perhaps the man who kept me up all night telling stories."

"They were good stories," Jack said.

They were. Jack's stories were always good. Not that Ianto would ever admit that to him.

"Still, you can hardly blame me. Hard to sleep with all that yammering."

Another lie, but the best kind. The kind of lie that Jack knew was a lie, the kind of lie that said, 'And I loved every second of it and thank you for indulging me and you made my night better.'

He wasn't lying when he told Gwen he and Jack deal in half-truths. The only difference is that they usually knew each other well enough to understand the other half of the truth, the sentimental half.

They talked the rest of the way back to the SUV, Ianto taking a meandering path through the streets that stretched the mile walk into something closer to two miles. Jack had at least a dozen more stories from his day in London, even though if even half of them were true, Ianto had no idea how he'd actually have time to attend meetings. Ianto listened, mostly, and inserted as many biting comments as he could manage as he walked along the curb and stopped to pick up Thai food.

The conversation wound down naturally as he crossed the street to the SUV.

"I've got dinner for me and Gwen," Ianto said, leaning against the passenger door of the car. "I should go."

"Getting me all worked up over here and then abandoning me," Jack said with a heavy, melodramatic sigh. "I'll remember this, Ianto Jones, next time I have you cuffed to something."

"I'm sure you will," Ianto said. "Get back to work."

"Work is over!" Jack insisted. "Cocktails with bureaucrats are infinitely less exciting than your conversation."

"I'm sure you'll find something to entertain yourself," Ianto said. Through the windscreen, Gwen mouthed, 'Jack?' and Ianto nodded.

"Fine, fine," Jack said. "I know when I'm not wanted."

"I'm sure I'll talk to you tomorrow," Ianto said.

"You'd better," Jack said.

Ianto ended the call, smiling to himself.

When he entered the SUV, Gwen was grinning like a loon.

"Made up, then?"

Ianto handed her the bag of food.

"Weren't fighting," Ianto insisted. "I got Thai."

"Wonderful," Gwen said. "I'm famished."

They ate in near silence as, one by one, the shops on the street started to close up for the night. The dry cleaners was first, then the pet shop. As they watched the jeweler wipe down his glass cases, Gwen said, "Tell me something about Jack. Something I don't know."

Ianto leaned back in his seat, musing to himself.

"He leaves his socks everywhere," Ianto finally said. "He's good about boots on the mat and coat on the coat rack, but halfway through the night he inevitably takes off his socks and leaves them where they fall."

Gwen giggled and slipped her empty takeaway container into the bag it came in.

"Tell me something I don't know about Rhys," Ianto said. Ianto knew much less about Rhys than Gwen did about Jack--rather, Gwen knew more about the particular ins-and-outs of his relationship with Jack than he knew about Gwen and Rhys' marriage, but still. It was nice to hear about their somewhat normal life.

Gwen was quiet for a moment, but then turned to him, grinning wickedly. "About... six years ago, I suppose, Rhys and I took a girl from Rhys' office to bed with us."

Ianto choked on his dinner.

"Excuse me?" he said.

Gwen winked at him.

"She was a temp," she said. "She was out with us and a few other people from the office and we'd all had a bit much to drink and it just sort of... happened. Rhys was mortified the next morning. She and I took it much better than he did. Bloody fun night, though."

Ianto was still reeling.

"There's something to be said that my story about Jack involves dirty socks and your story about Rhys involves a threesome," he said, slightly dazed. "Unfortunately, I'm a bit too shocked to think of what it could possibly be."

"I don't know," Gwen said, leaning her head against Ianto's shoulder. "Makes sense, doesn't it? You and Jack like to pretend it's all about sex, so of course the personal things are more domestic. And Rhys and I used to be the model of domesticity for the rest of you, so the surprising thing would have to be something sexual."

"You could have told me he was allergic to shrimp or something," Ianto insisted, resting his head against hers, the shock fading somewhat.

"You wouldn't have made that amazing face if I had said something like that," Gwen said, and Ianto snorted.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Bored," she said. "We've been here for twelve hours."

Across the street, the jeweler's lights went off one by one. He disappeared out of view and then reappeared a moment later in a jacket, carrying a briefcase.

"Well," Ianto said, "it's finally evening. Shouldn't have to wait much longer, I'd imagine. If something was going to happen, it's sure to happen now that the store is closed."

"Mm," Gwen said, and Ianto watched her eyes move to the storefront, where the jeweler was setting the alarm and then locking the door behind him. She had a particular gleam in her eye.

"Gwen?" he asked slowly.

"Well," she said, her head still resting on Ianto's shoulder, "since we think this is where he's likely to strike next and our nosy proprietor is gone for the day...."

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Ianto asked, one eyebrow raised.

"It would be like sneaking up on him," Gwen said. "An ambush. If nothing else, it would be better than spending another six hours in the bloody car."

Ianto opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it. As usual, Gwen had a point.

---

They waited another three and a half hours before they slipped out of the SUV and across the street. By then, the coffee shop had closed up and the rest of the businesses had gone dark long before. Gwen dug a long red device out of the boot, the one that could disable CCTV and security systems if you knew the right codes. Jack did, of course. One day, Jack was going to give the two of them a straight answer when they asked how he knew the ins and outs of all of this fairly suspect alien technology, but for the moment, Gwen was glad of his knowledge. The only problem was the regular door lock, the old fashioned one with tumblers that needed a key.

When Gwen pointed this out, Ianto only smiled.

"Leave that bit to me," he said, and pulled a thin black case out of the glove compartment.

Gwen thought it best not to ask any questions, for once.

She hit the buttons on the red bar before they left the SUV. Once the monitors in the car showed the footage flicker out both on the street and in the jewelry store, she let Ianto lead the way to the darkened store front. He opened the black case and pulled out two long metal picks that looked rather familiar. It wasn't until he was sliding them into the door lock that Gwen recognized them from her police training.

"And just how do you know how to pick locks?" she whispered. Ianto smirked.

"You should read my personnel file some time," was all he said, and then the door swung open.

Once they were inside the store with the door closed behind them, the adrenaline coursing through Gwen's veins seemed to peter off. The risk of getting caught at this point was far less than it had been when they were sneaking about on the street, and even that risk was minimal. All they had to do was flash their IDs to any one questioning them. They had a legitimate reason to be here, after all.

Still, it was a bit thrilling, breaking and entering.

"So," Ianto said, hands on his hips, "what do we do now that we are here?"

Gwen shrugged, walking around the shop again and pulling the scanner out of her jacket pocket.

"Wait, I suppose," she said. The screen on the scanner lit up, giving the fixtures in the store and Ianto's face an eerie glow. "Still no sign of that energy pattern in here. Not in the shop, not on any particular objects...."

Ianto nodded absently and leaned over to inspect a case of watches.

"I just wish we had something more to go on than this weird energy that we can only track half the time," she said, flipping off the scanner and replacing it in her pocket. There wasn't much more to do in the shop than there was in the car, after all, until their suspect arrived.

She wandered through the display cases, looking at the jewelry. Some of it was rather gaudy, and she almost hoped that was what their thief was after. Having it go missing would probably be for the best. It certainly beat some poor girl walking around Cardiff actually wearing it.

A shrill ringing pierced the silence and Gwen just barely stopped herself from jumping as she realized it was her mobile phone. Shit. She was never going to bloody remember to turn the ringer off in the middle of a case, was she? At least this time the only person it gave her location away to was Ianto, who merely raised an eyebrow as she picked it up.

"Rhys, love," she said, "I really can't talk right now."

"Oh?" Rhys said. "Finally caught your mysterious alien, then?"

Gwen used her sleeve to buff away a fingerprint she left on a glass case after the phone ringer had startled her.

"Not quite," she admitted. "We're ah. Well, Ianto and I've done a bit of breaking and entering."

"It's not breaking and entering," Ianto called over. "Beyond the police, outside the government, et cetera et cetera."

"Jack says it better," Gwen said.

"To the surprise of no one," Ianto replied dryly.

"You're breaking in somewhere?" Rhys asked over the phone. He sounded a little too interested. "Where?"

"Can't really say," Gwen said. She absentmindedly pulled the scanner out again and turned it back on, fiddling a little and trying different angles in vain hope of getting a different result.

"Oh, well, I won't keep you, then," Rhys said. "Any idea when you'll be getting home?"

"Not yet," Gwen admitted. Across the room, Ianto froze.

"Gwen," he murmured, "I see someone coming up the street."

"Gotta go, Rhys," Gwen said quickly. "Love you, bye!" She shoved the scanner into her pocket with one hand and thumbed the 'end' button on her mobile with the other, leaning on the counter to better see out the window.

"We should get out of sight, I think," Ianto said. Gwen couldn't help but agree. There were two doors in the shop. She reached for the first, set into the center of the back wall of the store, and found it locked.

"Shit," she murmured. Certainly not enough time to pick it.

The second door, in the corner, opened easily. It was filled with cleaning supplies.

"Good plan," Ianto said. He was across the room in seconds, following her into the closet and pulling it closed behind him.

Their breathing was loud in the silence. Gwen's hand went to her hip to check that her weapon was still in her holster. She strained to hear what was going on outside. If it was the alien, it could be inside in a matter of seconds and could probably get through the door to their closet just as fast. She needed to be ready to act fast. She needed--

Another loud ringing echoed through the air.

"Shit!" Ianto and Gwen whispered simultaneously. Gwen reached for her mobile and froze. One pocket held a scanner, but the other was empty. She patted down her other pockets as Ianto hastily pulled his phone out of his jacket.

"It's mine," he hissed.

"I left mine outside!" she responded. "Fuck! I must have put it on the counter when--"

"It's Jack!" Ianto snapped. "I'm going to bloody kill him."

He fumbled to turn the ringer off and brought the phone up to his ear.

"Now's not a good time!" he hissed into it.

Gwen could hear Jack's voice, obscenely loud, across the small space between Ianto and herself.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

Outside of the closet, Gwen heard what distinctly sounded like the door to the shop swinging open.

"We've got to go," Gwen whispered into Ianto's phone.

"The two of you sure sound cozy. What are you--"

Ianto ended the call before they could hear whatever it was Jack was going to insinuate they were doing.

"Hello?" a muffled voice called out from the shop.

"Shit!" Gwen whispered. "Definitely not the thief! What are we going to do?"

"What would Jack do?" Ianto asked.

Their eyes locked for a long, silent second, as the idea hit them both at once. After that, they were a flurry of movement. Gwen's hands were loosening Ianto's tie while Ianto's messed up Gwen's hair. Gwen pulled Ianto's shirt tails out of his trousers and Ianto tugged Gwen's shirt to the side so it slid off her shoulder, revealing a bra strap. As the footsteps outside the door came closer, Gwen grabbed the collar of Ianto's shirt and smashed her mouth against his.

The door opened.

A light shone in their eyes.

A very familiar and suddenly clearer voice said, "Bloody fuck, Gwen!"

Gwen and Ianto shoved each other away simultaneously.

"Oh thank god," Gwen said, squinting through the light and into the face of Andy Davidson. "I thought you'd be the store owner."

"All this talk!" Andy exclaimed. "All this, 'Oh, I love Rhys!' 'Rhys is the only one for me!' 'Couldn't survive without Rhys!' and you've got a bit on the side."

Gwen was straightening her hair out and blinked at Andy. "What?" she asked.

"I mean, Captain Flash is one thing," Andy continued. Ianto was fixing his tie and tucking his shirt back in. "But him? Really?"

"Oi!" Ianto said as he re-buttoned his waistcoat. "I'm perfectly shagable. Just, er, not by Gwen." He gave her a sheepish look. "That was rather like kissing my sister."

"Come off it, Andy," Gwen said, swatting his arm. "We're not really shagging. We thought you were the shop owner. We were here undercover earlier, acting like a couple."

Andy was still holding his flashlight up, looking rather outraged and put-out.

"Why are you here, Andy?" Ianto asked.

"The security camera went out," Andy said. "This whole block. With all the robberies, we've been investigating every down camera in the neighborhood. When I saw someone moving about and the door was open, I figured I'd better peek inside, make sure nothing dodgy was going on. What the bloody hell are you lot doing here?"

"Same thing, really," Gwen said. She tried to grin at him disarmingly, but he was still pouting. "Doing a bit of investigating on our own and we--"

For the third time, a noise interrupted them, but this time it definitely wasn't a mobile.

Gwen looked to Ianto and he shrugged, but then frowned and pointed to her pocket.

"Your pocket's glowing," he said. Gwen pulled out the scanner that she had forgotten to switch off.

"Oh my god," she said, "the purple, it's..." She slowly scanned the room. When the scanner was pointed directly at the locked door, the scanner lit up like a Christmas tree. "Get that door open!"

Within seconds, Ianto had the black case of lock-picking tools out again and was fumbling at the lock on the door. Gwen stood over his shoulder, gun drawn, motioning for Andy to stand out of the line of fire.

"Ready?" Ianto asked. Gwen nodded. He counted to three and then shoved the door open.

Gwen went in gun first and looked left and right, sweeping the room frantically.

There was no one there. The room was empty, but when she caught sight of the back door in the far wall, she groaned. The door was covered in stringy blue slime.

"We're too late," she said as Ianto followed her inside, weapon drawn.

"What do you mean we're too late?" Ianto asked. "We were right here!"

Gwen gestured towards the door and Ianto swore under his breath.

"What's going on?" Andy asked. He cautiously approached the open doorway.

"We missed them," Gwen said.

"Missed them?" Andy asked. "How could we bloody miss them, we were right here!"

"They've come and gone," Gwen said.

"Come and gone in a room full of expensive jewelry?" Andy asked. His voice had taken on a slightly higher pitch. "A room full of expensive jewelry with a copper and two bloody secret agents standing right outside?"

"We don't know what was taken, if anything," Ianto said. "The things taken from the last few places were worthless."

"I'm going to be the laughing stock of the whole of the South Wales police force!" Andy shouted. "Standing right bloody outside while a place was robbed!"

"Look," Gwen said, "The CCTV was down. Call it in, say you found it like this."

Andy was glaring at her.

"This is your fault!" Andy said. "This is your... spooky bullshit! And you know who's going to be chewed out for it? Me!"

"Andy," Gwen said soothingly, but he was hearing none of it.

"I'll lose my bloody job!"

"We'll find the person responsible," Gwen insisted. "We'll make sure we find them and get everything back, and we'll let you have the arrest." She was pulling things out of thin air, now, trying to placate him. If it was an alien, they certainly couldn't let Andy have the arrest, but if they could just get him to calm down, preferably without retcon....

"Andy." Ianto put a hand on Andy's shoulder. Andy and Ianto were nearly of a height, but Ianto was usually quite adept at fading into the background. When he made use of his full stature, it tended to throw people off. "Call it in now. I promise you, we'll figure out who did this and we'll make sure everyone knows you were integral to the investigation."

Even Gwen was a little stunned by the authoritarian tone to Ianto's voice. Definitely spending too much time with Jack.

"You're a bunch of tossers," Andy muttered to the pair of them, but he leaned into his radio and called in, "Yeah, this is PC Davidson. There's something dodgy going on at Beaucroft Jewelers. The door is open and it looks like one of the inside doors is open too. Request backup."

"Good man," Ianto said. He let go of Andy's shoulder and grabbed Gwen's mobile off the counter, tossing it to her. "We're heading back to our base right now to try and figure this out. Call Gwen the moment you figure out what's been taken, yeah?"

Andy glared at them mutinously, but nodded and followed them out onto the street.

"Thanks, Andy," Gwen said, squeezing his arm as Ianto jogged over to the SUV.

"You'd better figure this out," was all Andy said before he turned away.

Thursday

Andy called them around five am to tell them that, of all the things in the store to be stolen, all that was missing was four uncut, slightly flawed diamonds that had been laid out on the jeweler's desk. Ianto heard Gwen try to press him for more information on the reactions of the police supervisors, but the conversation ended quickly after that, and Gwen looked quite glum.

"Would you like a coffee?" Ianto asked.

"I'd like a nap is what I'd like," Gwen muttered.

"Why don't you lie down for an hour?" Ianto suggested. "You can use Jack's bunk."

"One," Gwen said, ticking off a finger, "I am not sleeping somewhere that you and Jack have had sex."

Ianto very carefully did not point out that she had slept in his bed, on his couch, and on the couch in the Hub on several occasions.

"Two," she continued, ticking off a second finger, "I am not sleeping until we figure this out. Every time I see Andy these days I'm making his life harder. I owe him this much."

Ianto nodded sympathetically and went back to analyzing the energy signature from the shop, watching out of the corner of his eye as Gwen sat on the edge of the sofa to read over the paper reports from the past instances that they caught the energy pattern in action. It only took her ten minutes to nod off, and he smiled to himself when her head finally tipped to the side. He covered her with the worn afghan and then went back to his own research.

Gwen, however, wasn't the only one running on just a few hours of sleep. One moment, Ianto was picking through past unknown energy patterns in the archives and the next thing he knew, Gwen was shaking his shoulder and he had the impression of his keyboard in his forehead.

"Shit," he said. "I was--where--what time is it?"

"Just past ten," she said, sliding a lukewarm mug of coffee towards him. Just past ten meant he had been asleep for almost two hours. He blearily pulled up one of the programs he had running. The archive scan had finished in the time he was napping and none of unknown energy patterns they had logged in the past had circumstances even close to the ones they currently found themselves in. None of the aliens on file gave off any sort of residue like the kind they were seeing on the scanners.

"Another dead end," he muttered.

"We'll figure it out," Gwen insisted, rubbing his shoulder. "And if we don't, Jack'll be home in two days and I'm sure he'll know it straight off."

Ianto frowned. That was one avenue they hadn't yet considered.

"We could... well." He glanced at Gwen. "We could call him."

"We could," Gwen allowed, speaking slowly, her lips curled into a half-frown. "I mean, just to ask. Not to have him come home."

They couldn't quite meet each other's eyes.

"We should have done that from the start, shouldn't we?" Ianto asked.

"Well, in our defense, we didn't realize until last night that this was going to be such a problem," Gwen said. "And, really, if we hadn't bollocksed things up for Andy so badly, it really wouldn't be a problem. I mean, no one's been hurt, right?"

"And aside from the diamonds, nothing really expensive's been taken," Ianto agreed.

"It's certainly not urgent," Gwen said.

"It can definitely wait until after breakfast," Ianto added.

Their eyes met over Ianto's computer monitor and they smiled.

"Place on the corner?" Gwen suggested. "With the egg sandwiches?"

"Good as any," Ianto said. "We deserve a bit of a break. Fresh eyes and all." He paused and then added, "And, yeah, maybe we can call Jack when we get back."

Ianto felt a bit guilty for enjoying breakfast while there was a mystery unsolved and Andy was perhaps in a spot of trouble, but being hungry wasn't going to make them work any faster and the fresh air was doing quite a bit to reawaken his senses. In the end, they wasted less than an hour eating breakfast and then crossing to a different cafe where the coffee was better in order to get some takeaway cups to bring back to the Hub.

He waited until both of them were settled at their computers before dialing Jack and putting him on speakerphone.

The phone rang once. Twice.

Three times.

Four times.

Five times.

"Harkness. Leave a message at the tone."

After the long beep that followed, Ianto was too surprised to say anything, at first. After days of Jack calling every ten minutes, they finally needed to get a hold of him and that was it? He didn't pick up?

Luckily, Gwen was paying a bit more attention.

"Hi, Jack!" she said cheerfully. "It's just us. We had a question about a weird energy reading. Nothing to get excited about--we've just hit a bit of a brick wall. Get back to us when you can, and if you can't, we can talk about it on Saturday. See you!"

Gwen ended the call while Ianto was still frowning.

"He didn't pick up," he said.

"He is there to work, you know," Gwen reminded Ianto. Ianto rolled his eyes.

"Like he ever--"

Ianto was interrupted by his mobile ringing. Ah. Jack had probably just stepped away.

"After all that, you couldn't even pick up?" he said as he flicked on his mobile.

There was a pause on the other end. "Excuse me?" the voice said.

It was definitely not Jack. It was, in fact, a woman.

"Erm..." Ianto said.

"I'm sorry, is this Mr. Jones?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Ianto said. "Sorry about that. I was expecting someone else. May I ask who's calling?"

"This is Miriam Hayes," the woman said. "You called earlier this week about my son, Eugene?"

"Right!" Ianto said. He caught Gwen's eye as he said, "Mrs. Hayes. Is Eugene there?"

"That's what I'm calling about," Mrs. Hayes said. "Eugene's not here. Harold and I have been in Ibiza on holiday and only just got back today. He called us to tell us about the break-in at his flat--terrible, really. We told him, 'Eugene, stay at home! You'll save so much money, and it'll be good for you to be out of that terrible neighborhood!' but you know children. He wanted to be independent."

"Quite," Ianto said. "But, Mrs. Hayes, you're saying you haven't seen your son?"

"Not in weeks," Mrs. Hayes said. "But if I see him, I'll be sure to give him this number."

"That would be incredibly helpful," Ianto assured her. "Thank you, Mrs. Hayes."

Gwen was waiting patiently as he hung up on Mrs. Hayes.

"That," he said unnecessarily, "was Mrs. Hayes. Seems she and her husband have been on holiday for weeks and haven't seen Eugene."

"So I gathered," Gwen said. "Things are not looking good for Eugene, are they?"

"Not at all," Ianto agreed. "Pull up everything you can on him. He may be more involved in this than we know."

Two hours later, they were still waiting for Jack's call. Ianto was going through Eugene's financial records. Gwen had used about half a ream of paper to print out everything she could find on him everywhere she could think to look.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I mean, he seems a bit high strung, but nothing points towards 'alien burglar.'"

"His bank account is about average for a student," Ianto said. "His car payments and loan payments are on time. Not too much credit card debt." He flipped to the next page and frowned. "But there's a weird note from the bank here... let me see if I can..." A few clicks and he was inside the system, skimming the text of the note on his file. "This is... this is interesting. Gwen, how much have you found on the roommate, Phillip Matthews?"

He heard Gwen rifling through her papers.

"Not much," she admitted. "I wasn't looking for him. A few posts on Eugene's Facebook?"

"There's a note on Eugene's file with the bank. Apparently his landlord charged him extra for rent. When he questioned it, the landlord said it was because his roommate neglected to pay his share three months in a row."

A few more clicks and he was pulling up Phillip Matthews' records. They were... less than stellar.

"Phillip Matthews is in debt up to his eyeballs," Ianto murmured. "His bank account's in the red. Bounced checks to the uni, to the landlord, to all sorts of places." In another window, he opened the university's website. It didn't take long to hack into their systems, thanks to the protocols Tosh had installed in the system. "The university has issued him an ultimatum--if he doesn't pay his outstanding bills by the end of next week, they're kicking him out."

Gwen was at her terminal as well, typing away.

"Didn't Matthews tell us he was with his girlfriend when the flat was broken into?" Gwen asked.

"Yes," Ianto said. "They had a date."

"Well, according to Facebook, the girlfriend, Rachel Lin, broke up with him Friday night."

Ianto looked up, meeting Gwen's gaze.

"I think we need to talk to Mr. Matthews again," he said.

Ianto's mobile buzzed again. This time, before picking it up, he glanced at the display.

"Jack," he said, flicking on the speakerphone.

"Morning, handsome," Jack crooned.

"It's afternoon," Gwen said.

"Still," Jack said. "Hello to you too, Mrs. Williams. What's this mysterious energy pattern you need help with?"

"We're not sure," Ianto said. "We've been tracking it on and off all week. It's an odd color on the scanner and it's not matching anything we have on file. It comes up completely unknown on every search."

"Well," Jack said, "there's always the chance that it is unknown, but the Torchwood databases are pretty extensive. Can you e-mail it over to me?"

"Sure," Ianto said, minimizing the bank records of Eugene Hayes and Phillip Matthews and pulling up his e-mail program. It was a few clicks until he had the file of their latest energy readings attached to a secure e-mail, and he tapped his fingers on the desk until he heard the tell-tale "ding" from the other side of the line that meant Jack had a new message.

"Hm," Jack murmured and Ianto could hear his quiet typing. "Oh! Hey, I've got it. You're not looking at one energy wave here, guys. It's two."

"Two?" Gwen asked. "How do you mean?"

"This isn't a living creature and it's not tech--it's both. It's two patterns right on top of each other, blending into one. Pull them apart and try searching that way. You might have better results."

Ianto stared at the reading, dumbfounded. Why hadn't he thought of that?

"Thanks," he said slowly.

"So," Jack asked. "What's going on with this? Alien roaming the streets?"

"No," Ianto said absently. "Just Andy's weird string of burglaries. Nothing important taken. We'll let you know if anything comes up."

"Aww, you don't have time to stay and talk?" Jack asked.

"Nope," Ianto said. "Rift flare downtown. Have to get moving. But I'll call you tonight, yeah?"

"Sure," Jack said. "I can tell you all about the exciting day of meetings I'll be sitting through."

"Talk to you later, Jack," Ianto said, before disengaging the call.

He shook his head.

"I'm an idiot," he said more to himself than to Gwen.

"No you're not," Gwen insisted. "I didn't think of it either. Give it a run through, see what you come up with."

For what felt like the hundredth time, Ianto ran the energy pattern through the archive database. This time, however, he modified the search to include anything that was a partial match.

That was when the rumbling started.

It was quick, really. If Ianto had been in his flat rather than underground, he would have assumed a lorry had rolled by.

He glanced at the rift monitor and his eyes widened. The entire city of Cardiff seemed to have been blanketed with a layer of green rift energy. It was just for a moment and not an actual spike. From what he could tell, nothing had appeared or disappeared, energy had just poured from the rift for a split second, shaking the Earth as it did so.

"That was weird," Gwen said.

"Yeah," Ianto said. He leaned over to investigate further when his archive search popped up.

SEARCH COMPLETE. TWO RESULTS.

He clicked through to the two results.

"Okay," he said, "the database says--oh."

He read it again.

"Oh, shit."

Gwen got up from her desk and very quickly crossed to his, standing over his shoulder.

"Jack was right," Ianto said quickly, summarizing the findings for Gwen as he quickly scrolled through them. "It's a living energy source and a mechanical one. The living is an Ithior life sign. They're a race of gaseous, psychic beings and the mechanical source is what's known as a Crinda. It's an Ithiorian prison cell."

Before Ianto could continue, there was another rumbling through the ground, this one longer. He swung another monitor around so he and Gwen could view it. Another surge of rift energy without a rift spike.

"This can't be good," Gwen murmured.

"Right," Ianto said. "One thing at a time. This Crinda--it's a locket. A pendant, really, to be worn by specially psychically trained guards. The guards, called Ridu, essentially give their lives for the honor of guarding a Crinda. In gratitude, the Crinda is designed to give them a relatively benign set of special powers, including the ability to phase through solid objects, limited invisibility, and some general telepathic abilities. Because the creatures inside are so psychically attuned, they can manipulate nearly anyone without the proper training. They can't do anything while actually in the Crinda, but if they could get the person under their influence to open it, they're free to wreak the sort of havoc they were imprisoned for in the first place."

Another rumble. Ianto studiously ignored it.

"And what does it take to get the Crinda open?" Gwen asked.

Ianto skimmed through the archive file. "A massive amount of energy, filtered and focused onto the latch of the locket, the Crinda," he told her.

Another rumble.

"Like," Gwen said quietly, "perhaps rift energy?"

They both turned to look at the monitor.

"Shit," they whispered.

Ianto grabbed his mobile and hit Jack on speed dial. The phone rang and rang, Ianto swearing under his breath the whole time, promising to never ignore one of Jack's calls again. As he waited impatiently for a connection to Jack, he immediately started searching the archive database again.

"We need something to stop it," Gwen said, dropping into the chair across from him.

Jack's phone rang through to voicemail.

"Jack," he said after the beep, "we need you to call us. We've got a problem. Please. As soon as you get this."

He hung up. There was nothing else to be done.

"The energy is building up," Gwen said. "It's centered around... it's centered around Eugene and Phillip Matthews' flat!"

"The Rift Manipulator!" Ianto shouted, scrambling to his feet and racing towards Jack's office. "If we could use the Rift Manipulator to...."

"Manipulate the rift?" Gwen was chasing after him, only steps behind him as he scaled the stairs to Jack's desk and pulled open the safe, entering Jack's combination. The plans for the Rift Manipulator were one of the few things not entered into the digital archive database. There were three paper copies hidden around the Hub and another copy in a safe deposit box off-site that Jack thought Ianto didn't know about. Jack said the information on how to attempt to control the rift was too dangerous to be readily accessible by anyone could could hack their systems.

Times like this, though, Jack's paranoia was a pain in the ass.

Ianto spread the plans on Jack's desk while Gwen booted up Jack's computer and pulled up the relevant displays. The rumbling had started again, and this time it wasn't stopping, a steady shaking of everything around them. It wasn't enough to knock the knick-knacks from Jack's shelves, but with the way it was building up, Ianto knew it was only time.

His eyes whipped over the plans, his fingers shuffling through the pages, looking for written instructions and explanations. He finally stumbled across a sheaf of handwritten pages. They were in Jack's handwriting and he skimmed them, hastily, for any information on how to excise rift energy build up.

"Here here here!" he said. "'2005 - immense build up of rift energy brought on by Margaret the Slitheen tricking the Doctor into--' What the bloody hell is he--"

"Just read it!" Gwen said. The rumbling was growing louder and Ianto could feel the floor shaking. "The energy levels keep climbing!"

"Um, this woman Margaret was building up the rift energies in order to blow up the planet and use the power to propel herself back to her home planet. It doesn't say how they dissipated the energy. But it was--this account, it's not from Torchwood, this is Jack's personal account! He's talking about the TARDIS and--I don't think they used the Rift Manipulator at all." Ianto felt his stomach sinking. He paged through the rest of the file quickly. "It doesn't--nothing in here talks about taking the pressure off, draining it this way. There's nothing in here on how to get rid of rift energy like this!"

He slammed his fist down on the desk and pulled out his mobile again, this time texting. Maybe Jack couldn't answer his phone.

Need you. Important q's about the rift. URGENT.

Gwen was still watching the growing energy levels. Off in the arboretum, Ianto heard the smashing of glass as the ground around them continued to shake.

"Okay," Gwen said. "Okay. We can't use the manipulator. There has to be something else. Something in the archives. We have to have a solution."

The shaking abruptly increased in strength. Several of the objects on Jack's shelves crashed to the floor.

"We need to go over there!" Ianto said. "It's all I can think--we need to go to the flat and see--"

The lights in the Hub flickered. When they came back on, the screen Gwen was looking at was flashing red.

"Shit!" Gwen shouted. Ianto didn't ask why. Above the graph showing the energy build up, the word "DANGER" had appeared flashing in red letters. Gwen's fingers flew over the keyboard. "Ianto! This says there's only twenty minutes until the energy reaches its maximum capacity!"

"Twenty minutes?" Twenty minutes was not enough time to drive across town and come up with a solution to enact once he got there. "Fuck!"

Still, he was already grabbing the keys to the SUV and running for the entrance to the car park.

"Where the bloody hell are you going?" Gwen shouted over the sirens that began to wail in the Hub.

"We've got to do something!" Ianto shouted. "Maybe I can... I don't know, figure out what he's doing, stop it! You keep searching the archives, see if you can--"

He wasn't sure what made him glance over at his desk, at the pile of artifact reports he had collected for Jack's perusal. Sitting on top, complete with a photo clipped to the front, was the report on the sphere they had found, the one they had been playing with on Monday morning. He wasn't sure if it was meant to be used on this large a scale, but by god, he had to try.

He turned abruptly and dashed for his desk instead of the car park, grabbing the file and tossing it to Gwen, who was only a few feet behind him. He dropped into his chair and pulled up the archive database again, searching for Jack's report from the seventies.

"The funnel!" Gwen shouted as she caught up to him. "There's another part, you said. That funnels energy--"

"If we can program the type of energy into it," Ianto said. "If we can--if we can find the bloody thing in the first place!"

There was no official designation number on it, just a year and an aisle number. There were dozens of cabinets in that aisle, and going through them all would take hours. He had just under twenty minutes.

Still, he had to try.

"Okay," he said to Gwen. "I'm going to go down to collect the sphere and see if I can find that other part. Search through the database, see if you can come up with a back-up plan. And let me know how much time I have left."

"Do we even know how this thing works?" Gwen asked, grabbing Ianto's arm before he could bolt for the archives.

"Not a bloody clue, but we have to try!"

---

It took two minutes to run all the way down the stairs, one to grab the sphere and shove it in his pocket, and another seven to start going through filing cabinets as fast as he could, blindly attempting to think like Jack, pulling classifications out of thin air and paging through the files in random order, with Gwen shrieking in his ear the entire time.

That was how Ianto found himself in secure archive room B, swiping his card through the lock and pulling the box he needed out in the nick of time. By the time he was leaving secure archive room B, the funnel's box clutched in his hands and the report pressed against his chest, he knew they were close to ten minutes. He bypassed the lift again, but this time because he knew he could sprint up the stairs faster than the ancient lift could go. He burst into the atrium to find Gwen already waiting by his workstation. The archive report on Jack's half of the object was on her screen.

"You'd better pray the funnel can integrate with Mainframe," Gwen said. "I've just read this--we can signify what type of energy we want it to soak up, but it's not as easy as pressing a button."

Ianto was already flipping the latches on the box. He saw, immediately, where it connected to the sphere and latched it on. The display on the side of the funnel lit up instantly. Ianto had no idea which buttons to press.

"Here!" Gwen said, shoving a cord into his hands. "Connect this to the output thingy. Tosh's--"

"Translation program!" Ianto finished, shoving the cord into the indentation on the side. A box immediately appeared on the monitor, a line of text flipping through dozens of characters before slotting into broken English.

Gwen tapped the screen with her finger.

"There!" she said. "The fourth option! 85%, yeah? That's got to be the rift energy!"

"Are we sure?" Ianto asked. "The one below, 62%?"

Gwen bit her lip. "Which do you think? The 85% is glowing green, rift energy shows up as green. But maybe green means safe, and the 62% that's red, maybe that means danger?"

"Mauve," Ianto said vaguely, his mind stumbling over a story Jack had told a long time ago. He shook his head clear. "But maybe the 62% is heat energy and that's why it's red? If we're going by scanner colors."

Gwen didn't reply. Ianto stared at the screen, aware that the clock was ticking. He closed his eyes and pulled his mobile out again, one last shot in the dark, his heart hammering as he dialed Jack.

This time, the phone when straight to voicemail.

"Fuck," he whispered.

"Jack," he said after the beep, "if you get this in the next--eight minutes, call us back immediately. Don't listen to the rest of the message, just call us back. We're in some trouble and we need to know how the energy funnel you pulled out of the bay in the seventies works. We're not sure which read out we need and--well, if we get it wrong, you won't have a Cardiff to come back to." He shared a look with Gwen and then his eyes focused back on screen. "We're about to select our best guess, but if we're extracting the wrong energy from the area, this could be over a lot more quickly than eight minutes." He bit his lips, tears springing to his eyes unbidden. Fuck. He'd always imagined he'd die saving Cardiff, saving the world, but he'd hoped Jack would be with him when it happened. This was... bollocks.

"And... and, look, Jack, I don't mean to--I don't want this to be a--" He swallowed. "Jack, I love you. Please call us back."

He hung up before he could say anything else he might live to regret.

"So," he said, trying to sound chipper as tears streamed down Gwen's cheeks. "The 85?"

Gwen looked at the screen, still chewing her lip, and then nodded.

Six minutes to go. The ground was shaking hard enough to knock over anything that wasn't fully bolted down. Ianto reached for Gwen's hand. She met him halfway.

He pressed the button next to the read-out that translated to 85% and closed his eyes.

The shaking intensified. The sphere in his hand started to burn and he quickly dropped it to the desk, hissing.

There was a noise like a sonic boom. The sphere began to glow and shake and then--

And then it was over as abruptly as it started.

The shaking was gone.

The Hub was silent.

The flashing red on the monitors was back to a faint green.

Gwen and Ianto, hands still tightly clasped together, stared at the monitors in shock. Ianto's eyes were still wet, and he was afraid, for a moment, that his vision was too blurred, that he wasn't seeing the outcome properly. He still couldn't bring himself to lift a hand to wipe them dry. It was too easy. It had to have been too easy, there was no way this was--

"It's over," Gwen whispered. Her grip on his hand tightened. "That was--I guess we--"

Ianto wiped at his eyes and then stumbled over to the couch, pulling Gwen along with him. They heaved deep, choking breaths, willing the adrenaline to leave their systems. Gwen's hand was curled around Ianto's knee and he'd slid his fingers on top of hers gratefully. They'd saved the world. Or, rather, they'd temporarily stayed the execution. It was something they did on a regular basis, yes, but usually Jack was there. This was the first time it had been just the two of them, the first time the lack of Tosh and Owen had been this clear. And Jack. Jack would never know.

Oh, god, except...

Ianto patted down his pockets. Shit. His mobile was still at his desk. "Give me your phone," he said urgently to Gwen. Gwen frowned at him, but shuffled through her pockets and pulled it out.

"What is it?" she asked. "Did we forget something? Is something wrong?"

Ianto hummed and shook his head, dialing Jack's number by heart, crossing his fingers that whatever had kept Jack from his phone for the past few hours still had him occupied.

The voicemail picked up after four rings. Ianto knew Jack's passwords and phone codes as well as his own, and had no problem punching in the five digit code that gave him access to Jack's voicemail. He couldn't do anything about the text message, not from the couch, but the voicemails....

Four more keys and they were gone, wiped from the phone's memory before Jack had a chance to hear them. He sighed with relief, his heart hammering in his chest again as he leaned back into the cushions and handed Gwen her phone. She was frowning at him.

"What was that?" she asked. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Ianto said automatically. At Gwen's glare, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, I just... I thought it would be best to delete the messages we left for Jack." Gwen's glare just intensified. "Well, we don't want him panicking and running out of a meeting, do we? We handled it, and he doesn't need to--"

"No," Gwen said. She grabbed his wrist and tugged until he was looking at her again. "No, this isn't about that! My god, Ianto, why can't you just tell him?"

He loved Gwen, he did, but he was so bloody tired, still scared and still on edge from nearly destroying Cardiff. He couldn't help himself, couldn't stop himself from turning to her and snapping, "And why is it any of your bloody business anyway, Gwen?"

He could feel her tense and see her eyes fill with tears. His stomach clenched. Oh god, oh god, how could he say that to her? How could he--

"Because I love you!" Gwen shouted. "Because I love you and I love Jack and I'm just so scared! I'm scared all the time, Ianto, every day, because I didn't see Owen and Tosh coming and because now... now that it's just you and me and him... I can't take that! Don't you understand, Ianto, I couldn't stand to lose you and Jack won't be able to do it either! And for you to go around, every day, with all these things unsaid...."

She covered her face with her hands and Ianto touched her shoulder hesitantly, relieved when she didn't pull away from him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean--"

"But you did!" Gwen insisted. "You meant to delete it for that reason, Ianto, you can't lie to me. And I won't let it be like Tosh, not again! You need to tell him. This job, Ianto... we never know and it's so bloody pointless if we don't tell people. You can't let him read it in a note after you're gone. He deserves better than that. Don't be like Tosh--she had a million chances to tell Owen and in the end it was too late. It was too late for both of them. That can't happen again, Ianto. I can't take it, I just can't!"

Just like that, she was crying full on. The tears were sharp and familiar. They were the tears of mourning, the tears for Tosh and Owen, the tears that had mostly tapered off, but still appeared at the strangest times for the strangest reasons.

Ianto felt the adrenaline draining from his system and he wrapped his arms around Gwen, holding her close. The fight was over and they were alive, even if Tosh and Owen weren't.

"I love you," he whispered. "So much, Gwen. I'm sorry." He was horrified to feel the tears collecting in his own eyes. He pulled her closer against his chest, petting her hair, pressing his face into her shoulder.

"I know, Ianto. I'm just so scared that he'll never know. That he'll never get a chance to hear you say it." He wiped his eyes against her shoulder inconspicuously.

"I know," he said. "I promise, it's just... it's not easy for me, Gwen. Not at all. I can't--the last person I loved--and Jack, Jack Harkness of all people...." He pulled away, gently, and wiped Gwen's tears and mascara from her cheeks with his thumbs. "He knows. But I'll tell him, Gwen, I swear."

Gwen's phone chimed brightly from the place it had fallen between them, tucked between the cushions of the couch. Gwen fished it out with one hand, wiping at her eyes with the other and leaning back into Ianto's one-armed embraced.

"It's Jack," she said, her voice still thick and a little wet. Ianto nodded, feeling his insides tie into knots again. It was stupid to want Jack nearby. They needed to prove to him that they could do this on their own. That was the whole point. But Jack just had a way of making things feel better, of reminding Ianto that there was hope for the future. He felt weak for wanting it so badly, but he knew he'd sleep easier with Jack's arms around him.

"Hello, Jack," Gwen said into the phone, resting her head against Ianto's shoulder. The phone was too far away for Ianto to pick out the words, but he could tell by Jack's tone and the frantic pace of his side of the conversation that Jack was nervous. "He's right here. He's fine. His phone is probably upstairs." Jack's tone relaxed slightly, but he was still pressing. "No, no. It was a minor problem that we thought would be worse. We've got it sorted." Jack didn't seem convinced, and Ianto didn't blame him. Gwen still sounded wrung out and hoarse. "No, I swear, Jack, it's fine. It just put us a little on edge and... Ianto and I had a bit of a tiff afterwards." Jack again, talking even faster. "We're fine. We're just tired. It all sort of built up and we had some words, but we're fine. He's right here if you want to talk to him."

Gwen held the phone out to Ianto. He took it and kissed her forehead, holding the phone up to his ear.

"Hi," he said softly.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked.

"I'm fine," Ianto insisted. "I'm sorry about my phone, I think I left it upstairs and things got a little tense down here."

"That's okay," Jack said. Ianto didn't hear him sigh, but he could feel the tension draining out of Jack, even all these miles away. "As long as you two are okay. I was stuck in this meeting with no service and I came out to this text message.... I didn't know what to think."

"We jumped the gun a bit," Ianto lied smoothly. "We figured out what we needed to do. You'll hear all about it when you get back, I reckon."

"Sure," Jack said. "I can't wait." Ianto could see his smile. "But you're okay? You're sure. You don't sound right, Ianto. Neither of you do." Ianto closed his eyes and rested his head against Gwen's.

"We had a bit of a row," he said. "Me and Gwen. And Tosh and Owen came up and...." He trailed off. Jack could fill in the rest.

"I'm sorry," Jack said quietly. "I wish I could have been there. I wish I was there now."

Ianto swallowed against the sudden swell of emotion in his throat. "I wish you were, too," he said softly. His eyes were still squeezed shut. "I..." Three little words. He could say it. If only for Jack. If only for Gwen.

"Yeah?" Jack asked.

"I miss you," Ianto whispered. An admission, one that it hurt to make, but was painfully true. But not the right admission. Still, Gwen's arms wrapped around his chest.

"I miss you too," Jack said, voice so soft it broke Ianto's heart. "Both of you," he added quickly, but Ianto understood the implied meaning.

"We should get back to work," Ianto said, though what they really needed to do was sleep. He knew they wouldn't. At least, not until they figured out how to track this thing down, how to get rid of it for good.

"Are you sure you don't need me?" Jack asked. "I could get on the next train and be there in no time flat. I could borrow a truck from one of these UNIT boys and be there sooner. If something's going on...."

"Nothing we can't handle," Ianto assured him. "I promise, Jack. We have it under control." He hated lying to Jack. It reminded him too much of his first desperate months at Torchwood, of the way he never felt clean. He was always lying, whether it was to Lisa about his slowly developing feelings for Jack or to Jack about his reasons for coming to Torchwood Cardiff.

This wasn't lying, though. They could do this. They had to. If they gave in now, Jack would never let them alone.

"If you're sure," Jack said.

"We are," Ianto said. He breathed in in the silence. Then out. "I'll call you tonight, yeah?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "Or earlier. If you need anything. I'm serious."

"I know. Goodbye, Jack."

"Bye, beautiful. Talk to you soon."

The call ended on Jack's side of the line and it took Ianto a moment to lower the phone and hand it to Gwen. She placed it on her thigh, but neither of them moved beyond that. Ianto knew they needed to, that there was work to be done, but his heart had stopped racing and feeling Gwen's chest expand and contract next to his own was comforting, grounding. He'd move in just a moment, but for now he was going to greedily take this comfort, hold onto it with both hands for as long as he could.

---

The phones started ringing almost as soon as Jack and Ianto hung up. Gwen managed to pick through the debris on the first floor of the Hub to get to the main police line, just as her mobile began to ring again. She had left it on the couch, and Ianto picked it up and glanced at the display.

"Rhys!" he called out, and then answered it himself. "Hello?"

Gwen nodded at Ianto and picked up the police line, only to get an earful of Kathy Swanson, demanding to know what was going on. They really should have switched. Kathy liked Ianto, and Gwen could really stand to hear Rhys' voice just about now.

She assured Kathy that they knew about the earthquake and that it was related to a string of unconnected burglaries.

"We think the man behind them all is named Phillip Matthews. He's 21, a student at Cardiff University," she said. "He should be considered extremely dangerous. Do not approach him."

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Kathy asked.

Gwen was about to tell her no, when Ianto made a surprised noise. He was leaning over a computer terminal and his eyes were wide.

"Gwen, I think he's going back to the crime scenes!" Ianto said. "I had a splash of his energy reading in front of the engineering firm and then it was gone again, but--"

"Get your officers to the engineering firm that was robbed earlier this week, Beaucroft Jewelers, Cardiff University, and Allbright Dental," Gwen said to Kathy. "We think he's revisiting the crime scenes. Do not approach him! We're on our way to his apartment, but we'll meet up with you somewhere along the way."

"We'll call if we find him," Kathy said, and the line went dead.

Ianto was already grabbing a scanner and his gun, along with the energy funnel, and Gwen was on his heels as they ran up to the car park.

"I doubt he's still at his flat," Ianto said as they got into the SUV. "In fact, I'm rather positive he's not at his flat."

"Yes," Gwen said, "but maybe there's a clue as to what he needs and where he's going."

"It's as good a place to start as any, I suppose," Ianto said. Then he flicked on the lights, jammed his foot on the accelerator, and they were off.

Ianto had clearly been spending too much time around Jack. Although the lights and sirens on the SUV did some of the job of clearing the way, not everyone could manage to get out of the way and Ianto was more than willing to use the sidewalks and dividers to his advantage.

In no time, the SUV was skidding to a stop outside Phillip and Eugene's flat. Gwen was out almost before he'd killed the engine, and they raced up the stairs side by side, bypassing the ancient lift and elbowing past people on the stairs, guns drawn. Before they opened the door to the fourth level, however, Ianto held out his arm to stop Gwen and pulled the energy funnel out of his pocket. He pressed the button on the side, the one that was next to the glowing purple 1.2%, but it just sputtered.

"Could need to be recharged," Gwen said, shrugging.

"Or it could mean he's not here," Ianto murmured. He put the energy funnel back in his pocket and nodded towards the doorway. They pushed through and entered the fourth floor together. The door to Eugene and Phillip's flat was open just a crack, but Ianto kicked it in the rest of the way anyway.

Definitely too much time around Jack.

The inside of the flat was even messier than it had been the last time they had been there. Tables and chairs were overturned and the entire wall between the bedroom and the living area was crumbling and charred. Through the hole, they spied... well, it could only be whatever it was that Phillip had been building. Broken metal casings that Gwen recognized as microwaves and speakers were littering the ground. Tools and bits of wiring and machinery were strewn about. Most prominently, though, in the middle of the room, was a contraption made of what Gwen only assumed were the insides of the casings she saw. It was five feet high and the edges were singed and ragged. Wires and silicon chips hung from it at odd angles, and at the top, tucked into what she assumed was part of the missing surgical laser, were four uncut diamonds.

Ianto was entering the room cautiously, gun still drawn, but eyes on the destruction.

"Well," he said, "now we know why nothing showed up on our original scans." He poked the wall with the muzzle of his gun, and Gwen noticed for the first time that the walls were lined with the thick lead aprons that had been stolen from the dentist's office.

"The lead dampens the energy," Gwen said. "Shit. Our first bloody interview."

"It's not our fault," Ianto said, but she couldn't tell who he was trying to convince. "Now we need to focus on catching him before something else goes wrong."

Gwen fingered the half-melted sheets of lead and said, "Let's start at the dentist, unless we hear something else from the police in the mean time. It's closest, aside from the university. We can evacuate the premises and see if we can't catch him for real this time."

"At least we know who we're looking for, now," Ianto said, and lead the way back down the SUV.

The streets were oddly deserted as Ianto raced the car to the dentist. Gwen wondered if the people of Cardiff were starting to realize that when the big black car with the flashing lights was zooming through the streets, it was best to find elsewhere to be.

There was only one patrol car outside of the office and Andy bloody Davidson, of all people, was standing on the curb as Ianto slammed on the brakes.

"The office is closed today," Andy said once the two of them stumbled out. "And I went inside--that slime stuff was on the door, but the place is empty. I don't think--"

Gwen and Ianto glanced at each other on the word "slime" and raced towards the door before Andy could finish. Ianto was fumbling with the energy funnel with one hand, the other still wrapped around his gun.

"He may have already left," Gwen whispered as they approached the door.

"Maybe," Ianto said. "But maybe...."

The funnel must have recharged, because this time when Ianto hit the button on the side, the sphere started to glow a dull purple. It wasn't as bright as it had been in the Hub during the earthquake, but it was definitely the same hue that had been haunting their scanners for weeks.

"He's still here," Ianto murmured. "And, if this really robbed the Crinda of its energy, at least temporarily, now we should be able to see him."

Ianto shoved the energy funnel in his pocket and pointed his gun again. He looked at Gwen and silently counted to three.

The lobby of the office was empty when they burst inside, but they could hear cursing from a room down the hall.

"Shit! Shit shit shit! You said it would protect me too!"

Gwen and Ianto nodded at each other and walked quickly through the hallways, stopping on eitherside of the door the commotion was coming from.

"Phillip!" Gwen called out. "We know you're in there!"

"Shit!" Matthews shouted. "You said they wouldn't find me!"

"We know what you've got," Ianto said. "We know about the prison cell. You have to believe us when we tell you that the pendant you've got is dangerous!"

"Shut up!" Matthews yelled. "Just shut up! Both of you! All of you! I need to think!"

"Sweetheart, I swear," Gwen said. "The creature in that pendant isn't going to help you. I don't know what it promised you, but the machine it had you build would have blown up the world if we'd let it."

"No!" Matthews insisted. "No no no! He just wants out! When he gets out, he'll fix everything! He'll give me enough money to... to get Rachel back! To get back into school! He's going to fix everything and you can't stop him! You can't stop us!"

Ianto was staring over her shoulder at the next doorway over.

"I think they're connected," he whispered. "Remember that crime scene earlier this week? If I go through there and you distract him...."

"....you can get him from behind," Gwen finished softly.

It was a terrible plan, all things considered, but they were running out of options. The only other choice, at this point, seemed to be shooting Phillip.

"He's not going to let you go, Phillip," Gwen said. To Ianto, she mouthed, Be careful! "He's only using you to get what he wants. He's a murderer, Phillip. That's why he's stuck in the pendant!"

The door opened softly and Ianto slipped through. Gwen swallowed past the fear in her throat, the fear that still lingered whenever Ianto was out of her sight in the field.

"No, no, no!" Matthews shouted again. "You're filling... those are lies. They're lies. He hasn't lied to me! It's just you!"

Gwen pushed the door open slightly. "No lies, Phillip," she said. He flinched when the door moved and brandished a pocket knife at her, but didn't seem to be any further armed. The pendant was fastened around his neck. "You felt the earth shaking. You saw the sky when you used that machine. If we hadn't stopped you, the earth would have been ripped to pieces. We all would have died. You, your parents..." A name. He had said a name, his girlfriend, shit, what was her name? "Rachel. All of us."

He stared at Gwen with wide eyes. Over his shoulder, she could see Ianto through the window seperating the x-ray room from the technician's room. He was walking towards the connecting door, his gun still drawn.

Matthews shut his eyes abruptly. "Stop saying that, she is worth it, she is!" When he opened his eyes again, his grip on the knife was wavering. Gwen slowly started to lower her gun.

"I don't want to hurt you, Phillip," she said. "I want to help. See? I'm putting my gun down."

Over Matthews' shoulder, Ianto was making an abrupt gesture that made it clear that he did not approve of her plan. Gwen ignored him. Phillip Matthews seemed like nothing more than a scared kid in a bad situation. It wasn't his fault he had been suckered into this creature's plot, and she certainly didn't want to shoot him.

"Shut up, shut UP!" Matthews shouted. He dropped the knife and covered his ears. As if on cue, Ianto burst through the door behind him and tackled him to the ground. His hands went for Matthews' neck immediately, but Matthews clawed at Ianto, hissing as Ianto tried to undo the clasp of the pendant. One good yank and it was off Matthews' neck, but Matthews elbowed Ianto in the stomach and the pendant went skittering across the floor. Gwen ran for it--

"Gwen, no!" Ianto shouted, but she already had her hands wrapped around the chain.

It was like her brain was on fire.

The voice in her head was like nothing she had ever heard, unearthly and so full of rage she shuddered.

Then, just as abruptly, there was silence. Calm. Quiet. Even her regular worries were soothed away, the fear of losing Ianto and Rhys, the guilt of all that she'd done wrong, the niggling curiosity about whether her life would have been better if she had left Rhys, taken Jack up on the offer that used to linger behind his eyes every time he looked at her....

It can be like this all time. Quiet. Serene. I can help. I can make it all go away.

Yes. Yes, that would be lovely, wouldn't it? Not feeling guilty or angry or frustrated or--

She gasped when she felt her shoulders hit the wall, the pendant slipping from her fingers and skittering across the floor. Ianto's face was inches away from her, his hands pinning her shoulders against the concrete. He was breathing hard.

"Gwen," he said. From his tone of voice, she gathered this wasn't the first time he had said her name. "Gwen!"

"Here," she said breathlessly.

"I've got you," he said, his grip loosening.

"I never doubted it," Gwen whispered. Ianto's eyes closed and his shoulders slumped. Gwen wrapped her arms around Ianto's neck, leaning her forehead against his as his arms came up around her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what?" Ianto said. He pulled back, his cheeks slightly flushed, either from exertion or embarrassment.

Gwen wasn't sure if she didn't know how to articulate what went through her mind when she held the pendant or if she was just embarrassed by it, but she shook her head mutely. "Nothing," she said. "Nevermind. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ianto said dismissively. "Are you okay?"

Gwen nodded, and looked over Ianto's shoulder to where Phillip Matthews was writhing on the floor, tears streaming down his face.

"He was going to make it better, he was going to fix everything, he was going to make it better," Matthews kept murmuring, hands pulling uselessly at his hair.

"You should call Andy," Ianto said, stepping back and letting Gwen out of his grasp, his hands moving to fix his waistcoat and tie automatically. "Have him come in and cuff him, tell him he's the diamond thief."

"Really?" Gwen said, frowning even as she pulled out her mobile. "He hasn't really done anything wrong. It was that pendant. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Retcon would be kinder, yeah?"

Ianto was still staring at Matthews. "He doesn't seem to be relieved to be free of the alien presence," Ianto said dryly. He turned away, glancing down at the pendant on the floor. "Should be able to get that in a container without touching it."

"Andy!" Gwen said into the phone once Andy's end clicked to life. "Ianto and I've got your jewel thief. You can come in and cuff him and we'll drop the evidence by later, yeah?"

"Oh my way," Andy assured them, and Gwen could already hear his footsteps in the hall.

Ianto had scooped the pendant into a plastic bin, but couldn't seem to find a lid.

"Have you seen a top to this?" he asked. Gwen glanced around, certain that it couldn't be far.

"Oi! Look out!"

Gwen whirled around when she heard Andy's voice, but he barreled right past her and towards Ianto. Matthews was up off the floor, once again wielding the pocket knife. He lunged for Ianto the same moment that Andy moved forward. The knife grazed past Ianto's throat at the same moment that Andy tackled Matthews to the ground.

Ianto and Gwen stared down at the two of them, stunned. Ianto's hand was pressed to his neck, his eyes wide.

Gwen snapped out of it first, turning first to Ianto and exclaiming, "My god, are you all right?"

Ianto slowly pulled his hand away. There was a smear of blood on his palm and his neck, but the cut didn't look deep. It was right above the small, light scar left on his throat by the insane countryside cannibals they had encountered during Gwen's first year at Torchwood.

"I'm fine," he said hoarsely. "Andy, are you--"

"Fine," Andy assured them. He got to his feet and stared down at Matthews, who appeared to be unconscious.

"I take it back," Gwen whispered, looking at Ianto again. "Andy can take him."

Friday

Clean up took an exceedingly long time. Even leaving Matthews for Andy to deal with, there was the small matter of returning to the engineering firm to wipe up the alien residue and doing the same at the dentist's office. Phillip Matthews' apartment was already going to be an issue, and that was before they found the body of Eugene Hayes in the closet. Body disposal on top of dismantling the device Matthews had built, cleaning up the general destruction, and retconning several of Matthews' fellow tenants took hours. The sun was rising on Friday morning before they could even think about moving on to plant some stories about the extremely localized earthquake. Ianto spent an hour on the phone and internet seeding a cover story for the rumbling and bright lights, and Gwen helped him out by walking over to get them both breakfast and mentioning it casually to as many people as she could manage.

Late afternoon rolled around the two of them were finally packing up the SUV. They still needed to go by the police station and talk to Andy, as well as update the people in charge on Eugene Hayes' death and tie off any loose ends left over from the whole ordeal. Gwen had told Andy she'd be by "later," but never specified a time. For the moment, she was very much looking forward to going back to the Hub so she could make her report and slip home to take a bath and put her feet up.

She had, however, forgotten one thing. From the look on Ianto's face when the cog door rolled open and they were faced with the mess they had left behind in their haste to chase after Matthews.

"Shit," Ianto said, sagging against the railing next to the door.

"Come on," Gwen said, taking his hand. "I have a feeling we're going to need coffee."

They picked their way up to the kitchenette, which didn't look any better than the rest of the base. Ianto poked at a box of coffee filters morosely and groaned when the box tipped over and filters fluttered to the ground. Gwen winced, taking a step back to look at the general destruction of the Hub. Nothing seemed damaged beyond repair, but there was a lot of tidying to do.

"I guess we can't go home just yet if we want this place to look normal when Jack walks in the door," she said.

Ianto snorted and handed Gwen a trash bag. "Walks in the door?" he said. "A tenner says he'll take the invisible lift. More dramatic."

"You're on, Jones," Gwen said, and leaned over to pick up the crushed biscuits scattered across the floor. At this rate, maybe they could squeeze in a nice cat nap right before Jack's train arrived.

Behind her, the bottle of wine that had been balancing precariously on the edge of the counter smashed to the ground.

A cat nap was probably out of the question.

Saturday

Jack wasn't exactly expecting a party upon his return, but a hug would have been nice. Maybe some kissing. A nice grope. Smiles, at least.

It appeared those things were not to be, however.

He put his best charming smile on as the lift descended and crossed his arms casually, his borrowed suitcase sitting next to him. He resisted the urge to squint down into the Hub to better see the reactions of his team, but once the paving stone settled, it wasn't exactly what he'd expected.

"Told you," Ianto murmured to Gwen. They were both standing near the railing, and if Jack wasn't mistaken, Gwen passed Ianto a ten pound note.

"Miss me?" Jack asked, grinning and holding his arms open. By now, the both of them should have been gathered around him offering hugs and begging him never to leave again. Instead, Gwen sighed and gave him a tired smile, coming around to the lift.

"How are you?" she asked.

"I--"

"It's wonderful to have you back, how was the summit?"

"It was--"

"Good, good, and Martha? How's Martha doing?"

"She's--"

"Lovely." Gwen leaned up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "It's good to see you, Jack. We missed you, really."

Before Jack could so much as kiss her back, Gwen was gone, walking back over to Ianto and kissing his cheek as well.

"I'm off," she said.

"Get some sleep," Ianto said. "I'm sure Himself will call if anything major happens."

"Tea, still, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ianto said. "Six?"

"Mm, seven," Gwen said. "I'm knackered."

"Seven it is."

Before Jack could even ask, Gwen had gathered her purse and coat and was headed for the cog door.

"See you later, boys!" she called over her shoulder without turning around. And then she was gone.

Ianto walked lesiurely over to the invisible lift and removed the suitcase.

"What was that about?" Jack asked.

"She's exhausted," Ianto explained, heading back towards the Hub proper. Jack followed, if only for a lack of anything else to do. "I am, too, but I thought I'd make sure you're briefed before I turn in." Jack's defenses jumped up, but only slightly. He had been in near-constant communication with Gwen and Ianto all week, and although the calls on Thursday were a bit dodgy, they certainly didn't act like there was anything important going on. In fact, they seemed intent on convincing him that it was the opposite--

"Hey, wait a second," Jack said, reaching out and taking hold of Ianto's shoulder until Ianto turned around to face him. "Have you spent all week--"

"The reports are on your desk, sir," Ianto said. Jack looked at his face more closely for the first time since his return. Ianto really did look exhausted. "If you'd like to go up there now, I'll get your coffee and meet you in a few minutes."

Jack let him go--if Ianto and Gwen were still alive and functional and confident enough in the security of the universe to plan for afternoon naps, he figured the world couldn't be in too much danger.

His office was just as he left it, not that he expected any less from Ianto. If anything, it looked cleaner. He was pretty sure he'd knocked some files about when collecting the medical records he wanted to give to Martha, but everything was perfectly piled and waiting for him. He hung his coat on the coat rack, examined the placement of objects on the top of his desk (did Ianto use a ruler?), and was just sliding into his chair when Ianto appeared.

"Coffee," Ianto said, handing Jack the mug and rolling his eyes when Jack purposely fumbled against his fingers before getting a strong grip on it.

"Thank you, Ianto," Jack said. He closed his eyes and took a sip. "Wonderful. You'd think with that many important people in one place, they'd try to make the coffee better. I've missed this." He opened his eyes to give Ianto the sort of leer that made it clear the coffee wasn't the only thing he missed, but frowned when he saw Ianto chewing his lip with indecision.

"I..."

Jack put the coffee on his desk and swallowed. He reminded himself that Gwen and Ianto were both alive and that whatever Ianto had to say, it couldn't be that bad.

"I missed you," Ianto said softly, breathing out. He met Jack's eyes, a bit sheepishly, and Jack couldn't help but smile at him. Oh. Well, this sort of catastrophe Jack could handle.

"You're allowed," Jack said quietly. "I missed you too."

"That's not--" Ianto closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he opened his eyes again, he couldn't meet Jack's gaze. "You being gone. I just--I know I should be--there's no reason not to--Gwen thinks I need to... tell you things."

It was very difficult for Jack to keep from beaming. Instead, he reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and pulled out Ianto's stopwatch.

"Oh?" he said.

"But just because Gwen wants me to do it...I shouldn't do it because Gwen wants me to. I need to want it. And I do." Ianto sighed and looked down at his hands. "It's hard for me--Everyone I--the people in my life--" He closed his eyes again, and Jack almost wanted to put him out of his misery and say, I know. You don't have to say it if you don't want to.

Almost.

"Everyone around me," Ianto started again, "my whole life--I've spent a large part of my life pretending to be this person that...this person that I don't think really exists. Trying to keep this persona in place because it kept me from--from being hurt, I suppose. Even in London, even after I met Lisa, I was just waiting for something to go wrong. And it did, of course, and then I came here and--I'm different, here, but I'm still--" He stopped abruptly and scrubbed at his face with his hands. "I shouldn't have put it on Gwen. It's easy to say I'm only doing something because Gwen's pulled it out of me, because Gwen's needled me. But that's the coward's way out, and while I don't think that I'm not a coward... you do. And you make me want to--not be a coward. And--" He tipped his head back to the ceiling and murmured something that Jack didn't catch, before looking down again and staring Jack straight in the eye. "Jack, I love you. Have done for a long time. And I know it's not going to end well for either of us, but I can't help it, and I don't--I don't want you to doubt it. I love you."

Jack tried, valiantly, to hold back his laughter, but all he succeeded in was twisting his face into some sort of grimace. Ianto's veneer was cracking and Jack suddenly realized he was taking Jack's lack of response in the entirely wrong way.

"I'm sorry, this is work hours, that's entirely inappropriate, I'll--"

Jack grabbed Ianto's wrist before he could bolt.

"No, no, no, Ianto, come back," he said, not letting go of Ianto's wrist even once Ianto had turned back to him. Jack lifted his other hand up to show Ianto the stopwatch nestled in the palm. "One minute and forty-eight seconds," Jack said.

Ianto's brow furrowed.

"I--what?"

"One minute and forty-eight seconds," Jack repeated, letting go of Ianto's wrist now that he was relatively sure he wouldn't flee. "Watch this." He cleared the time, made sure he was looking Ianto straight in the eye, and depressed the button again. "I love you, too."

He managed to hit the button when he was finished, despite how distracting the very pretty blush creeping up Ianto's shocked expression was. He glanced at the stop watch and smirked.

"Two seconds," Jack said. "And I added an extra word, so--"

"What's the point of this?" Ianto asked. His ears were still red.

Jack grabbed Ianto's hand again and pressed the stopwatch into Ianto's palm, keeping his hand firmly on top of it.

"The point is," Jack said, "you should work on getting your time down."

Ianto rolled his eyes, but he squeezed Jack's hand before he pulled back.

"Yes," Ianto said, "I can see now that will definitely be happening." He adjusted his suit, a nervous tic that Jack didn't think he even knew he had, and then slid the stopwatch into the pocket of his waist coat. "I've been looking for this all week. I don't even want to know how you got it."

Jack put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, smirking.

"Nicked it," he said smugly. "Anyway, I'd like frequent updates on your progress."

"Don't hold your breath," Ianto said.

"In fact, you might as well practice right in front of me," Jack said. "Might make it easier. I think I could make time in my day to have you profess your love for me over and over again."

"I think that's the last thing your ego needs," Ianto said.

"Hey, I just spent a week surrounded by people who didn't like me very much," Jack said, pouting. "It could use a boost."

"It was only five days," Ianto informed him. "Also, you're an arse."

"You love my arse," Jack reminded him. "You love all of me, in fact."

"We all have our flaws," Ianto said dryly.

"Hey!"

Ianto sighed and planted his palms on the top of Jack's desk, leaning over to kiss him chastely on the mouth.

"I haven't properly slept in three days," Ianto told him, his face still only inches away. "If I have to continue this conversation right now I will either pass out from exhaustion or fall to the ground and weep. There are two reports on this week's incident on your desk, plus the weekly system diagnostics and operations log. The yellow slips clipped together are your messages. Gwen's invited us round for tea at seven. Don't wake me when you come in, but make sure I'm up for five or if the world's ending, whichever comes first." He kissed Jack again, sweeter and longer, his right hand curled gently around Jack's jaw. "I'm glad you're back," he murmured when he pulled away, "I'll see you later."

Jack blinked, his brain momentarily off-line, before calling after Ianto, "Why five?"

Ianto glanced back over his shoulder, smirking.

"Because that gives us time for me to show you how disappointed I am that we didn't manage to have phone sex this week."

And he was gone, jogging down the steps to the main Hub.

Jack blinked after him, and then turned back to the reports. He had a lot of reading to do if he wanted to be home by half four. He didn't think Ianto would hold it against him if he woke him just a little bit early. With a flourish, he opened the folder of Ianto's report. There was a yellow post-it note right on top.

First things first, Gwen and I are both alive, obviously, so at no point while reading this report should you actually panic.

Jack frowned. Perhaps this was going to take longer than he thought.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Club Wales