"Ianto? Have you found it?"
Jack tapped his comm to make sure it was broadcasting. "Ianto?"
He looked over at Owen on the other side of the large room filled with cubicles. The medic shrugged.
After another minute without any response from Ianto, Jack and Owen headed for the stairs. They were investigating a Rift spike that had come through in an office building, not unlike the one where Jack had first asked out the Welshman. In fact, the similarities had given him a few ideas, which he was looking forward to trying out later on.
"He was on this floor the last time he checked in," Jack thought out loud, checking the building schematics on his vortex manipulator.
"Jack?" Owen called from the around the corner. "I think I've found 'im," he said sardonically.
Jack approached, stopping at the sound of heavy breathing and quiet moans from a closet off the hallway. "What…?"
"Surprised?" Owen asked, smirking. "Your toyboy's getting 'is rocks off with someone else. Good for him."
"He can do whatever he wants, just not on work hours," Jack muttered, punching the buttons of his vortex manipulator. As if the wristband sensed his mood, the door sprang open quickly.
Even Jack raised his eyebrows at the scene. Ianto's black suit coat was in a pile on the floor, half covered by a ladies coat, dark blue, of similar quality. His face was buried in the long neck of a dark-haired woman, the one who Jack and Owen had heard moaning. Her blouse and Ianto's shirt were unbuttoned and shoved aside to reach skin, and the woman's skirt and Ianto's trousers were loosened, hands twisting inside. From the extent of the groping, Jack guessed they were an inch away from tearing each other's clothes off and having it out in the closet, and for once he couldn't bring himself to enjoy such a debauched sight.
"I hope we're not interrupting anything," he said loudly when the door opening failed to attract the couple's attention. Ianto's face turned toward them for an instant, then returned to sucking and biting at the woman's skin. She gasped, eyes closed, and pulled him closer, hand twisting in his trousers.
"Jack," Ianto groaned into her skin. The gravelly voice caused a throb of heat to run through the captain's body, despite the situation, and he stepped forward to pull the younger man away by the collar.
Ianto was panting, looking at Jack with eyes of molten ice. "It's in there," he gestured to the closet. "We found it inside, and…" he moved closer to Jack, hands gravitating to the captain's shoulders and pulled him in for an uncontrolled, desperate snog.
Jack tugged away, gasping. "Owen, mind looking for the device?"
The medic was staring at the debauched woman warily. "Not that she isn't fit, but I'm not looking to get jumped by some bird under mind control."
"Sophie? What's going on here?"
Owen spun around, handgun at the ready, aimed at the man who'd just sprinted around the corner. "Woah, easy there mate. Who're you?"
The man was white, looked to be in his forties, and was wearing a smart-casual button-up and slacks. He was staring at the woman in the closet frantically.
"Sophie!" he called, ignoring Owen. Jack held Ianto off him long enough to take a look.
"Hey, we saw you on CCTV. You're that guy who was scoping this place out earlier," Jack observed, holding Ianto's hand away from his flies. "Is she part of your crew?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," the man replied, drawing himself up.
"Let him through, Owen, maybe he can distract her while you look for the tech."
Owen backed away from the door so that the man could get to Sophie. The dark-haired beauty immediately pasted herself to his face, much to the man's surprise. The shock didn't last long, though, and he was almost immediately kissing her back.
"Well that turned out all right," the medic said admiringly, eyeing up the couple.
"Focus, Owen?"
"Right." He holstered his sidearm and stepped into the closet, avoiding the mysterious pair who careened out of the small room to hit the other side of the hall, and began inspecting the walls and floor. He found a small device winking red light that was hidden under Ianto and Sophie's jackets and held it up for Jack's inspection.
The captain nodded wisely. "That explains a lot. Hit the middle button." Owen did so, and the red blinking cut out. As soon as it did, Jack stopped restraining Ianto as the man sagged against him, and Sophie slipped nearly to the floor before she was caught.
"Sophie? Sophie!" the man shouted, afraid. Owen helped him put the woman on the ground, reassuring him, "I'm a doctor."
"How is she Owen?" Jack asked, staring at Ianto's bleary eyes. The younger man was already beginning to bear some of his own weight, and as he gained more consciousness his eyes focused. "Jack?" He whispered.
"Nate?" A weak voice asked.
"Yeah, it's me, Soph. How do you feel?"
"She'll be just fine," Jack assured. "They both will. I've seen this before. Your friend might be a bit more, let's say excitable for the next twenty-four hours or so, but there are no harmful effects."
"No harmful effects?" 'Nate' blustered. "No harmful effects? She was just… She… You can't say-!"
"I didn't exactly see you complainin' there mate. Not that I would either," Owen joked.
"Hey, don't talk about-"
"Ianto?" Sophie's voice cut off the beginning of Nate's tirade against the medic.
The young Welshman, who'd been dazedly staring into Jack's eyes for the better part of a minute, shook his head and went to kneel by the woman, who was now sitting up against the wall.
"So I gather your name isn't really Diana White?" he smiled.
"Sophie Devereaux, at your service, Mr. Jones." Sophie's smile was rather more flirtatious than Jack thought was reasonable for the situation.
"I'd like to offer my gratitude for your help in finding the device, Ms. Devereaux," Ianto replied in the same smooth voice.
"You could make it up to me, tonight. I know a nice restaurant around here."
"Sophie, we're on a job," Nate interjected pointedly, trying to cover up his distress. If Jack hadn't been reacting similarly inside his head, he might have laughed at rather flabbergasted look on the other man.
"They're not with Moreau, Nate. They're Torchwood," she said significantly.
Nate paled suddenly. "These- they are Torchwood?" he asked, looking at the three men differently than before.
"Yeah we are, got a problem with that?" Owen asked, offended.
"Owen!" Jack said warningly. "And how do you know about Torchwood?" He asked Sophie.
She laughed seductively. "Oh, I know much more than just that, Jack Harkness."
Ianto's hand on his knee cut off Jack's suspicious bristle. "She's safe, Jack. I've… encountered Ms. Devereaux in the past, although never as closely as today." He grinned.
"Closely…?" Nate asked jealously. Sophie just smiled.
"About that dinner, Ms. Devereaux?"
"Sophie, please. And I'll call you."
The conversation was interrupted as someone else came rushing around the corner. The long-haired man took in the scene with a careful gaze, then rolled his eyes.
"The next time you two start a love nest on a job, mind checkin' in first? Hardison's practically cryin' out in the van."
"That's our cue," Sophie said to Ianto as Nate helped her stand. "Later, then?"
The young man took her hand and brushed a kiss over it with skill that Jack would have admired under other circumstances. "Definitely."
As the three vanished into the building, Jack inspected Ianto's disheveled state. "So, I guess this means you're not staying at the Hub tonight?"
After a few moments of painful silence while the two men gazed at each other, Owen groaned. "I'll be in the SUV. Don't come down 'til the sexual tension's dissipated." Stomping loudly, he followed the path of the others toward the elevators.
Ianto finally broke the loaded silence. "She's just an old acquaintance."
"Didn't look like it from here," the captain retorted.
Ianto glared. "You know that was the alien tech." Jack said nothing. "It's just dinner, Jack."
"Sure about that?"
"Even if I wasn't, would it matter?" Ianto snarled. Jack was taken aback, but kept his stubborn expression. "You sleep around with whoever catches your eye this week, so give me one good reason why I shouldn't as well?"
Jack didn't answer for several long moments, though it felt like longer with Ianto's angry stare cutting into him. "I don't sleep around. Not anymore. Not since I came back."
He wasn't sure why, but Ianto's disbelieving expression hurt. He stepped forward to take the younger man by the arms, willing him to believe.
"I meant what I said. I came back for you. Not for anyone else."
Jack felt like his soul was being searched as Ianto stared at him, but it was worth it. The younger man pressed a small kiss on his lips, then leaned into him. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"So am I."
After a few minutes, Ianto stepped back. "Well, we are still on work hours," he said, reaching for his suit jacket. Jack admired the view. "Looks like Sophie left her jacket here. I'll have to give it back to her tonight."
"You are going, then?" Jack asked. He knew it was just as friends, now, but some inner part of him sank anyway.
"Just for dinner," Ianto answered. "I'm sure I can make it back to the Hub for dessert."
Jack grinned, appeased, and began planning out their evening as he and Ianto left the building.