Written for the prompt Any, Any, Missing, believed having a good time at fic-promptly
Jack saw the flier when he sat down at his desk for the first time after the madness that had ensued on his return home. At first he thought it was just something that Ianto had forgotten to tidy up when doing his usual cleaning of the office, but then he realised that the other man must have left it deliberately for him to see.
It was a picture of him, wearing his coat and a massive smile, confidence and charm almost oozing out of his picture. Above the picture were the words 'Missing, believed having a good time.' Below the picture was his vital information, minus one part that he thought particularly important; but that a mother reading the sign on a lamppost may be horrified at.
He wondered for a moment if they had actually put these up in his absence, if they had cared or worried about where he had been. He certainly hadn't been having a good time as they had thought he had been. Watching the destruction of a planet was no longer something that he found entertaining or in any way good.
"We didn't put them up." Ianto told him as he entered the office, two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. "Gwen's handiwork, I'm sure you recognise it, she wanted to put them up all over Cardiff, but we managed to convince her otherwise. It did mean allowing her to think that she was in charge though."
Jack just nodded, it did seem like Gwen's style, the human element of everything. It would have spelled disaster for the team if she had done so though. If anyone had caught wind of the fact that he wasn't in charge in the Hub then all sorts of terrible things could have occurred. UNIT could have tried to take Toshiko back into their custody, or they could have tried to take over Torchwood which would have given them access to the archives and all their technology.
"We covered for you well enough, we adapted as well as we could." Ianto explained. "I took all calls with the Palace, Whitehall, UNIT etc. I told them that you were busy, and managed to quite easily in fact persuade them that dealing with me directly rather than you would be easier and less painful for all involved."
Jack smirked at that, he wasn't known for playing well with others. "Are you going to continue to deal with those calls now I am back?" Jack asked, hoping the answer was yes, he hated dealing with those calls.
"Possibly." Ianto told him. "In the field we made it seem like you were elsewhere dealing with something more important, or in meetings. Toshiko improved our security while you were gone, she also set up a few false backdoors into the system so that anyone who cared to could access random snippets of CCTV from when you were gone, all of which you appear in of course. The things that woman can do with a keyboard and a CPU terrify me at times. She says that she is working on a time lock programme, she should have a report prepared for you to go through within the next few days."
Grinning at the thought of his little genius Jack took a moment to consider the other members of his team. Ianto had obviously stepped up and filled Jack's boots, taking his calls, doing his paperwork, forging his signature on forms by the look of the neat piles on his desk, as well as taking on fieldwork, and no doubt coordinating their subterfuge around Gwen. Owen and Gwen he wasn't sure how much of a role they had played in concealing his absence or helping in other ways but he would find out.
"Owen once you left became obsessed with our health and safety. He started insisting on weekly physicals if we could fit them in, a proper rota for sleep for us all, and he even took over my duties when it came to meals. I was surprised at first, but then got used to finding the kitchenette fully stocked with fruit and vegetables that were good for snacking and Owen disappearing around any meal time we were working at and returning with food. He also took on my share of the requisitions paperwork, I signed everything necessary as you of course, and he's been working with the weevils, he's increased the strength of the weevil spray again, it seems to be more effective the details are in one of those piles of paper." Ianto waved towards the piles on the desk that he had left for Jack to read through.
Jack nodded, eyeing the piles of papers in distaste. "And Gwen? What was she doing?"
"Well," Ianto prevaricated, not wanting to speak badly of his fellow countrywoman. "She wanted to contact UNIT straight away to get help to find you, we talked her out of that and out of reporting you missing in any way. Convincing her that we didn't need more help from UNIT to man the rift was harder, but we managed. Gwen sort of took the lead in the field, but as the rest of us all have more experience when it comes to aliens and technology it was really in name only. She did continue to liaise with the police and she didn't cause any disasters through mishandling tools or technology."
Jack groaned, knowing that he would have to tackle the piles of papers to get a complete view of things that had happened, and he'd need to talk to his staff. He looked at Ianto, noticing how tired he looked, his whole team had looked rather tired. He'd give them as much time as he could to recuperate, he could man the rift alone for a day or two if it came to it.
"Right, I think that will do for tonight Ianto." Jack told him, standing and coming round his desk, dropping the flier in the bin as he did so.
"So were you, having a good time that is?" Ianto asked.
Jack stopped for a moment, "No, not really, but that is a story for another time. Come on Mr Jones, time to get you home."
Jack practically manhandled the tired man out to his car, driving him home, knowing that the Welshman was too tired to drive safely himself. Once Ianto was safely in his flat with instructions to take the next day off barring the apocalypse Jack began the walk back to the Hub, using the time to gear himself up to tackle the papers on his desk.