"This is getting us nowhere," Gwen complained as she leaned against the SUV.

Jack sighed not disagreeing. They'd gotten to their destination and spent the whole afternoon walking the streets waiting for something out of the ordinary to happen – so far nothing had. "Probably just some local's overactive imagination," he ventured as he looked up at the streaks of pink across the sky, the sun just about set now. "We are a fair way out for the Rift to be active."

"So what do you want to do then?" she asked turning to face him.

"We might as well head...." Jack stopped mid sentence cut off by a piercing scream. They looked at each other and ran. As quickly as it had begun the screaming stopped and so did they not having anything to run towards. Jack checked his wrist strap.

"Anything?" Gwen asked slightly breathless.

Shaking his head Jack turned in a circle. "Nothing." When he turned back to her Gwen was slumped against the nearby brick wall. "Are you okay?"

"Nothing a month's sleep won't fix," she replied as she pushed off the wall.

He felt a stab of guilt then – he sometimes forgot how human Gwen and Ianto were – he knew he pushed them too hard, asked too much. "Come on," he said as he walked back towards the SUV.

Gwen handed him his chips through the window. "They're pretty good."

Jack tried one and gave her a look.

"I'm starvin'!" she replied defensively. "Just about anything would taste good to me right now."

He lifted an eyebrow but said nothing. He looked at his watch – it had been five hours since they'd heard the screams and they'd been sat in the SUV ever since. Nothing. He did a quick calculation and worked out Gwen had been on duty for about thirty-eight hours now. "Get in," he said as he dropped his uneaten chips on the floor. Ianto must never find out!

"Where are we going?" she asked as he started the car.

He turned to her and smiled.

"I'm fine Jack really," she argued when they'd pulled up out the front of the motel. "I can sleep in the SUV if I need to." But Jack wouldn't take no for an answer insisting she'd sleep in an actual bed tonight.

She'd just put her bag on the table when she heard the door open again. "Where are you goin'?"

He shrugged. "It probably won't do any good," he replied. "But I thought I might as well drive around for a while...see if I can pick anything up."

It was Gwen's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"I didn't mean that..."

"Well I'm not stayin' here on my own," she said as she hung her bag back across her shoulder.

"You need to rest," he said to her. "You can barely stand up."

"And you think I'm going to sleep?" she said as she crossed her arms.

He looked at her a moment figuring out pretty quickly he wasn't going to win this one.

She sat on the edge of the bed her back to him watching his reflection in the mirror; he had his back to her as he began to undress, shrugging the greatcoat from his shoulders with an ease borne of practice. He turned towards her slightly as he threw the coat over the back of the chair.

She watched as he shot his cuffs, fingers deftly removing the small shiny silver links that held them together, placing them gently on the table; the braces were flicked off so fast that had she blinked she would've missed it. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips as they parted, her breathing becoming deeper. How can something so simple as a pair of braces hung loosely at his sides be so damned sexy!?

Those long fingers moved up to the small plastic buttons of his dark blue shirt; images of that shirt spun in her mind; running down the aisle to stop her wedding – but not claiming the bride; hands on her shoulders as she watched his reflection in another mirror hearing him say she'd knocked his world out of kilter – wait! – not him, she remembered; pulling her high into his arms - 'the hero always gets the girl' as he pressed her hand into Rhys'.

Gwen refocused on the mirror to find Jack looking at her, watching him. He looked down, then back at her through long lashes – his eyes darker now; she could feel the blush as it hit her sudden and hot.

He looked away again pretending to be concentrated on his task, pulling his shirt free of his trousers to undo the last of the buttons. The shirt joined the coat on the chair as he turned to face her fully now his eyes meeting hers briefly as his hands moved to his belt buckle; deliberately, slowly now, he pulled the end of the worn leather from the loops of his pants, seemingly all engrossed in what he was doing as he unfastened it, slowly sliding the leather from the plain brass buckle. Popping the button, he lowered the zipper only an inch or so, just enough to slip his white t-shirt from its confines making sure he lifted it enough to briefly show his flat, hard stomach.

She swallowed hard absently biting her bottom lip as she watched his every move.

Crouching down he quickly untied his boots slipping them off along with his socks; strong legs pushed up so he was standing facing her again – but not looking at her – not yet. He knew this dance so well, he felt like he'd choreographed it from the beginning – now! he caught her eyes suddenly in his not letting her go as he slowly slid his hands up his toned stomach bringing his t-shirt with them. It had been his job once to read human emotions - he noticed how her throat moved as she swallowed, the pulse point in her neck drumming out a staccato beat as her pulse quickened, the rise and fall of her chest faster, deeper now, the dilation of her pupils.

She wanted to look away – she needed to look away; his hands sliding torturously, slowly up to his chest, the muscles of his torso standing out proud and strong. She could almost imagine how smooth, how soft his skin must be, but she didn't want to imagine – she wanted so badly to stand up and walk to him – to reach out and run her hands over him, over all of him.

so yell at me if you wanna know what happens next ;)