Okay, this is my first fanfiction in a while and hopefully I will finish this one!!

THIS IS NOT A OWEN/IANTO fic, just to make that clear.

Please reveiw, it will motivate me to write the rest!!

I do realize that some of the charectors in this story may seem a bit OOC but remember, they all changed after JAck left and that is what I am looking at in this story.

He knew he was being selfish, but what else was he supposed to think? He knew that the others missed Jack as well but they weren't the ones Jack had kissed, minutes before abandoning them all… leaving them, with no idea of where their leader, their captain, had gone.

Ianto finished and signed the report he was working on to do with a mission the team had been on that day. It was just a routine Weevil hunt, but that didn't mean that the paperwork could be ignored did it? And who else was going to do it? Gwen had Rhys to get home to and Toshiko… well her heart was in the right place but she had been working nearly as hard as him and she deserved a break. And as for Owen… well… lazy bastard just about summed him up.

It was gone midnight and Ianto was the only human left in the Hub and, seeing as how he had been in before five this morning, it had been a long day. He couldn't help the nightmares that plagued him at night could he? He couldn't help that they were so bad he avoided sleeping as much as possible could he? Ianto sighed and lent against the filling cabinet, feeling drained and exhausted but he couldn't leave now, he'd only be back in, in a few hours when he was woken by Lisa's screams or Jack's face just out of reach… or someone else in the team leaving… abandoning them all…

It had been three months since Jack had saved the world from Abaddon and then disappeared, leaving only papers strewn around the Hub in his wake, and still he plagued Ianto's dreams… never in reach but always there in the background… Even during the long, wakeful hours in the Hub, Ianto would occasionally hear Jack's laugh or feel like somebody was watching him from the office that nobody dared enter…

He doubted the rest of the team noticed the black circles under his eyes, his cheekbones slowly becoming more and more prominent as he forgot to eat and the paleness of his already too-pale skin. He was just part of the furniture… tidying up after everybody else… doing the paperwork nobody wanted to do… keeping the coffee cups filled and the pizza hot. Nobody would miss him if he left… if he ran away… retconned himself… at least until they wanted another coffee or couldn't find the file they wanted. He knew the others were suffering with the loss of their captain, Gwen struggling to accept the role of 'leader' with Owen downright refusing to take on the position, but at least they had other things to concentrate on: Gwen on Rhys; Owen on whatever girl he wanted to pull that night and Tosh… well Tosh always had her computers. And him, well he had had Lisa… the one good thing left in his life… and she had been killed by… guess who? O yes, the mighty captain himself. And just when Ianto thought that he was getting over Lisa, finally leaving her in the past, with the help of Jack of course, and what had Jack gone and done? Abandon him, leaving him, and the nightmares had come back, even more terrible then they had been after Lisa had died, so much so that Ianto was actually afraid of sleeping, of seeing the faces of those who had left him.

Ianto jumped upright as the cog door rolled open and span around, almost sure that it was Jack, returning to them, to him, but was disappointed as Owen walked through the door, mid-yawn. Ianto shut the draw he had placed the file in with a slam and Owen visibly jumped and spun around to face Ianto, gun already drawn.

'Ianto? What the fuck are you doing here?'

'Hello Owen. Can you please put down the gun?'

'Oh, yeah, sorry.' He said, lowering the gun. 'What are you doing here?'

'Well… seeing as I'm at work… I'd say I'm working…'

'Ha-bloody-ha, I mean what are you doing at work at…' he looked at his watch 'ten past one in the morning?'

'I could say the same to you seeing as you're here as well.'

'Yeah, well… I'll ask you no questions, you'll ask me no question, agreed?'

'Yeah, sure.'

Owen walked over to his station and turned on his computers. Ianto walked over to the coffee machine and pored some into Owen's favourite mug and carried it over to Owen's desk.

'Cheers Ianto. What you up to?'

'Just catching up on filing and paperwork, you know… the things you avoid most…'

'Yeah, only because I've got you to tidy up after me.'

Ianto, used to Owen's sarcastic, and sometimes hurtful, comments grinned forcefully and walked away back to his desk and the unfinished paperwork. He knew that was all the team saw him as, a 'tea-boy,' but it still hurt to have it said out loud.

They worked in silence for a while until Owen stood up, stretched and walked over to the coffee machine for another cup.

He glanced at Ianto who was frowning, trying to decipher Gwen's scribbled notes on a mission to recover an alien artefact that had come through the rift earlier in the week.

'Ianto, mate, are you okay?'

Ianto jumped and glanced over at Owen. 'Yes, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?'

'I dunno… it's just ever since Jack left you've been really quiet and you don't look that healthy to be honest.'

Ianto flinched at the sound of his ex-lovers' name and then looked surprised at the fact that Owen had even noticed that he was around, never mind that he wasn't looking his best.

'I'm fine Owen,' and at Owen's sceptical look, 'really, I'm fine.'

'Ianto, it doesn't take a doctor to diagnose 'panda eyes' and pale skin as lack of sleep and food. Mate, go home, eat something, and go to sleep.' Owen said, leaning one hip against the desk next to where Ianto was working.

'Owen, I'm fine okay? Now leave me alone. What happened to 'no questions' huh?'

Owen sank down on the floor next to Ianto's chair and sighed. 'We all miss him, you know?'

'Yes I know,' Ianto said wearily, 'and I know I'm selfish for missing him 'cos I'm 'just a tea boy' and his 'part time shag,' so you can skip the lecture, okay Owen?'

Owen looked slightly shocked at Ianto's words and sat there for a few seconds before saying quietly, 'You don't actually believe that do you?'

Ianto didn't say anything, concentrating perhaps more then necessary on his report.

'Ianto? I only say that stuff, I don't actually mean it you know.' Ianto glanced up from his paperwork and looked disbelievingly at Owen.

The pair sat in silence for a few moments but it wasn't the strained silence that usually fell between the pair but a more understanding, comradely silence. Both united by the abandonment of their leader. Ianto broke the silence.

'I just feel we were never good enough for him, you know?' he sighed, 'but I guess nothing's ever going to be good enough for a person who's lived for over a hundred years is it?' Ianto almost seemed to be looking for assurance that he wasn't to blame for Jack's disappearance.

'Yeah I always thought that he'd leave eventually, but recently… I dunno… just the way you two were, the way he looked at you sometimes… I thought that he would finally… 'settle down' so to speak.'

Ianto stood up, closed the file he had been working on and walked over to the filing cabinet, saying as he went, 'Like you said, 'part time shag' that's me, nothing more… at least on Jack's side.'

Owen stood up as well and silently walked over until he was standing behind Ianto, frowning at his back. Ianto turned around and started at seeing Owen in front of him. 'Do you have to do that?'

'Sorry, couldn't resist.' He peered at Ianto's face. 'You know Ianto, no offence or anything, but you really should get some sleep. Why don't you go home, get some sleep and I'll finish up here?'

'Thanks Owen, but even if I did go home I wouldn't be able to sleep.'

Ianto made to walk back to his desk but was stopped by Owen putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked momentarily surprised by how skinny Ianto was but quickly recovered. 'What do you mean you wouldn't be able to sleep? Ianto, you look dead on your feet and if you keep up like this you're going to end up collapsing from exhaustion. Trust me, I'm a doctor.'

'I can't,' Ianto whispered, his voice breaking, 'I can't.'

'Can't what?' asked Owen just as softly, 'Can't sleep or can't trust me?'

Ianto looked slightly insulted, 'Of course I trust you; you have to in this job. I can't sleep.'

'Why Ianto? You know you can tell me, even if I am a prick sometimes.'

Ianto mumbled something under his breath.

'What? Ianto mate, you might have to speak a bit louder, I don't have supersonic hearing.'

'I get nightmares.' Ianto admitted, somewhat reluctantly.

Owen didn't look surprised by this admission, if anything, he looked pleased that Ianto had finally admitted it out loud. 'Do you want to talk about them or do you want me to give you something to help you sleep?'

'Sleep first please.'

Owen grinned at this and walked over to his station, pulling a box of pills out from under one of the piles of paper. 'Right, these are… well you don't really need to know what they, just that they'll knock you out for at least eight hours, a deep sleep so you won't even dream okay? You could go home and take one but I'd prefer if you took it here, just so I could keep an eye on you, as they are quite strong. That is, if that's okay with you?' Owen looked at Ianto questioningly. Ianto smiled tightly and nodded.

Ianto thought about it for a moment, 'Where will I sleep though?' Ianto was thinking of the small sleep space under Jack's office, which no member of the team had entered for three months apart from Ianto who only went in their to clean.

Owen seemed to read Ianto's mind and, thankfully, offered an alternative, 'Well, I have found, after much experience, that if you're tired enough, that the sofa behind Tosh's station, with enough blankets and pillows, is surprisingly comfortable.' Owen pointed out the sofa in question, under the huge 'Torchwood' logo, and then the cupboard in the corner of the Hub, which, for some unknown reason, Torchwood kept a supply of blankets and pillows.

Ianto smile was a bit more relaxed this time as he made his way towards the cupboard and started pulling blankets and pillows out of it, carrying them over to the sofa and dumping them in a pile.

'Ianto?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you have anything to change into? I don't think that a suit is the most comfortable thing to sleep in.'

'Yeah, I have some stuff in my locker.'

'Go and get changed, I'll finish this off,' Owen said in a kinder, more understanding voice then Ianto had ever heard him use before. He nodded and walked off, leaving Owen to sort through the mess of blankets left on the sofa.

Ianto returned five minutes later in tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt, looking quite different to the usual 'crisp and clean' Ianto. Owen had finished the makeshift bed and was walking across the Hub holding the box of pills and a glass of water. He raised his eyebrows upon seeing Ianto but didn't say anything, just handed Ianto the water and two of the pills.

'Cheers,' he said, knocking back the pills and water and sitting back down on the sofa. Owen walked back over to his station, leaving Ianto to get comfortable in his 'bed.'

'Owen?' Ianto asked, already sounding sleepy.

'Yup?'

'Why are you here so early?'

Owen laughed quietly, 'Why don't we concentrate on you tonight huh, Ianto? We'll talk when you wake up.'

Ianto mumbled something and then said, sounding even sleepier, 'Owen?'

'Yeah?'

'Thanks.'

Owen looked up, a surprised look on his face. 'No problem mate,' he said softly. But Ianto was already asleep.

Okay, so there we go, I hope you liked it!!

Please reveiw and visit my profile and vote on the poll to try and stop the continuous argument between me and my friend which is starting to drive out other friends slightly insane...