A/N:

Setting: AU. After my story Family Matters and Chapter 59 in Short Stories(post TW season 2 / DW season 4)… as usual, it is NOT necessary to be familiar with my other stories to follow this, as long as you don't mind taking it on faith that certain things are the way they are. I will try to give some back story along the way and as always if there are any questions, drop me a note and I'll be happy to respond.

Rating: M (or R) for mature themes, strong language and Jack and Ianto's sex life.

Summery:Strange events on the streets of Cardiff prompt Jack to call in the help of an old friend. And for one member of the Torchwood team, things are going to hit a little too close to home for comfort. AU.

The usual disclaimers apply:I don't own Torchwood or any of it's characters, or Henry and Vickie, either.

As usual, if you like what you see, please hit the button and review! (Or if you have suggestions, comments, etc., feel free to leave those, too ;-) Nothing makes a writes' day more than an email box of reviews.

Chapter One: Bad Beginnings

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"Now what?" Mickey Smith asked when he and Ianto Jones rounded the corner to find themselves alone in a dead end alley. The alien had been just a few paces ahead of them and there was nowhere for it to have gone.

Mickey had been with Torchwood on this Earth for almost three months and in general felt confident in his ability as a field agent. However, there was something about running the midnight streets of Cardiff with the impeccably dressed Welshman who also happened to be his boss's husband that made him second guess himself when faced with impossible situations. The feeling was made worse by the fact that Ianto never seemed to break into sweat. Even after chasing a lanky grey skinned, four legged alien for ten or fifteen blocks on foot, Ianto didn't seem have much as a hair out of place or a wrinkle in his shirt.

Mickey was beginning to liken it to how all female comic book super heroes had an unspoken super-power, gravity defying breasts. Ianto Jones never broke into a sweat and at the end of the night, he would go back to the Hub and brew a perfect pot of coffee. And from what Mickey had heard (although would rather not have) the Welshman still had energy left over for whatever 'advent garde' dabbling' he and Jack got up to in their spare time.

Ianto tapped the com in his ear. "We lost it."

Mickey heard the Captain's frustrated sigh on the other end as well.

"Anything on the monitor?" Jack asked Gwen, who was sitting in the backseat of the SUV.

"No. Ianto's right, it's gone."

"It had to have gone somewhere," Mickey spoke into his com piece.

"Probably up," Ianto nodded towards the buildings.

"What was that thing, Spiderman?" his companion asked.

Ianto just shrugged. After watching the alien sprint for twelve blocks, he wouldn't wall crawling past it. He had never seen a creature so uncannily agile before, either up close and personal or in any of the files he'd archived over the years. He tapped his com again. "Any idea what it was?" he asked Jack and Gwen on the other end.

"Negative," Jack snapped.

It was a well known fact that Jack didn't like unidentified aliens running around Cardiff. He liked them even less when they appeared to be mostly teeth and claws and moved as fast as the thing Mickey and Ianto had been chasing down. Additional demerits were awarded for fast, agile tooth and claw aliens who displayed any sort of intelligence, something the thing they'd been chasing seemed to do as well.

"Sweep the area," the Captain ordered. "If you don't pick up any trace of it in fifteen, head back in." He sounded edgy.

Mickey switched off his com and turned to Ianto, "Please tell me you two aren't having another fight."

Ianto gave him a dark look, but switched his com off as well. "Jack and I don't fight."

"Every couple fights."

"We occasionally have disagreements. We don't fight."

"Yeah, whatever," Mickey scoffed. "I can't tell you how many fights me an' Rose used to have."

"I'd rather you didn't tell me," the Welshman muttered back.

Mickey just grinned a sly grin that suggested he knew better; it infuriated the Welshman, but they both knew that's why Mickey did it. He holstered his pistol and pulled the handheld energy detector from the leather shoulder bag he wore to carry field gear.

"Anything?" Ianto asked him.

Mickey shook his head, "Not even a residual trace. It's like that thing was never even here," he shot a puzzled look at the Welshman who was walking around the alley way looking for visible sighs that the alien had been here. There were none.

Ianto holstered his weapon and started looking for a way to get onto the roof. There weren't any fire escape ladders, but there might be a window…

"What're you doing?"

"Trying to get in," he explained. After having been out on a few field assignments with Bobby, he was becoming more and more convinced that there was always an open window somewhere, all one had to do was find it. "Found it," he announced with a glib smile.

"Jack said sweep the area, not play ninja commando."

"Check around the other side of the building," Ianto instructed. "I'll check this out and meet you out front in ten."

Mickey gave him a look. "Splitting up is never a good idea, mate…" he cautioned.

Ianto rolled his eyes. "You've been watching horror movies again, haven't you?" he teased. Without waiting for an answer he reminded Mickey that Torchwood on this world only employed six people and two of them had the night off. He hoisted himself up to the window and shimmied in. "Pass me a torch," he said, reaching his hand out the window.

Mickey handed it over telling Ianto to be careful, the last thing he wanted was for Jack to give him the sack for getting his partner killed in the field. "Besides, knowing you, the paperwork's a bitch," he joked.

"In triplicate," Ianto replied in a frighteningly serious tone before heading into the darkened building.

Reluctantly, Mickey circled around to the front of the building to see if he could spot any trace of the alien.

The industrial district street lacked the bright lights of the busy City Centre avenues Mickey preferred, but it was hardly what he would call desolate. Just the same, the longer he and Ianto were separated, the more uneasy he became…