"Why do you have to be such an arrogant idiot at times?" Gwen growled as the team stomped into the hub.
"It's not that big of a deal." Jack said, yet again. "I told you I could take it."
"What's the point of having a "team" if you're going to act as though we're not there?" Owen asked.
"That thing could have killed you." Tosh added.
"Even if you think you can handle something like that on your own, humor us and let us help out." Ianto put in as he gave Jack a look that let him know he would be sleeping alone for a long time.
"I knew I could handle it." Jack said. "Why put all of you in danger...."
"Because, we're a team, Jack." Gwen cut him off. "We go in together, we take care of these things together."
"I'm sorry." Jack said as he held up his hands and looked at each of them in turn. "Next time, I'll do what you ask."
"You're lucky there's going to be a next time." Tosh sighed.
"I know, I'm sorry." he repeated. "Sometimes I figure I can just do it on my own." he explained. "I won't do it again."
"What if we weren't around?" Ianto asked. "What if, one of these times we weren't there and you thought you could do it alone, and you were wrong?"
"Luckily, I don't think I'm going to have to find out." he smiled. "My crack team wouldn't let anything happen to their handsome, fearless leader."
"You can be a right git sometimes, Jack." Owen said as he spun on his heel and left, the others filing out after him, each glaring as they went.
"Come on, let's go out, get a beer." Jack called after them. "You're really gonna leave too, Yan?" he asked as the younger man pulled on his coat.
"I feel like staying home tonight." he nodded. "Besides, there are things you feel you can handle on your own, right? Let's see how true that is after a while." he added before walking out, leaving Jack alone in the hub.
"He's getting more and more of an attitude every day." Jack laughed as he watched the door close behind Ianto.
Jack woke up early the next morning and headed down into the center of the hub. He couldn't help but laugh at his team's reaction to him taking on one small alien on his own. Did they have no faith in him at all? Still, it did make him feel good to know he had people who worried about him. He would apologize to them when they got there. And this time, he would mean it.
He looked at his watch. Only five thirty. Still half an hour until Ianto would come in. Unless he decided to come in late just to teach Jack a lesson. Would be just like him, at least lately. After checking all the computers, and looking in on his friends in the cells, he decided to go out for a walk before the others arrived. It was good to go out and be by yourself once in a while, he thought.
An hour later, he walked back in, expecting to have four people giving him the cold shoulder. He would have preferred it to what he found. The hub was empty. No coats hung near the door, no computers were up and making the all to familiar whirring noise that he'd come to find comforting. No smell of freshly brewed, delicious coffee. There was no one at all. Not a soul.
He pulled out his cell and dialed Ianto's number. One ring, two rings, three, four, five.....No answer. Okay fine, he's still mad. He dialed Gwen's. The same thing. Tosh, the same. Owen...Where were they? They always answered, they had to since they never knew what the call was going to be about, and how much danger Cardiff was going to be in. He looked at his watch and checked that it was still working, then he checked the clocks. It was nearing eight in the morning. They should be there, they should be answering.
He grabbed the keys to the SUV and headed to Ianto's. If he wasn't going to answer his calls, then he would have to answer his door.
He stood in front of Ianto's apartment and knocked. Once. Twice. Three times. Still no damn answer.
"Excuse me, dear." a woman's voice said softly from Jack's elbow.
"Oh, hello." he said with a smile.
"Hello." she said, returning the smile. "If you're looking for the couple who lives there, they've gone off on their honeymoon."
"The couple?" he asked, looking back to check the address again.
"Yes, the sweet Chinese couple." the woman nodded. "Just married. It's so lovely to see young people in love." she said.
"Yeah, it is." he nodded. "Wasn't there a guy who lived here?" he asked. "A young Welshman?"
"No, not that I can remember." she said, shaking her head. "Before the Mings, it was an older gentleman, but he was Swedish. No, he was Irish." she explained. "No, he was Finnish. Or was he Russian?"
"Oh, well, I'm sorry." Jack said, hoping to stop her from reciting the name of every European country. "I must have the wrong address."
"I do that, too." the woman laughed, as she lightly tapped Jack on the arm. "Although, you seem a bit young to be going gaga." she teased.
"I'm older than I look." he said with a smile. "Thanks for the help." he shook her hand and headed for Gwen's.
"What is going on?" he asked himself as he started the engine and headed off. "Where is Ianto?"
"No, it's a gay couple who live there." the tired looking red-head told Jack as yet another child came to cry at her demanding milk.
"Not a man and a woman?" he asked. "Rhys and Gwen."
"No, it's Steve and Maurice." the woman said as though she was talking to an idiot. "Neither is a woman, unless she's a very, very ugly woman with a full beard."
"No, that's not her, thanks." Jack said as he turned to leave just as yet another child appeared demanding toast.
Jack stood at Owen's door, having gone by Tosh's building only to see it an empty lot. He did not know what was happening, but he was getting sick of it. He made sure he was standing in front of the right door before knocking and stood, waiting impatiently for someone to answer.
"Oh, thank God!" he sighed when Owen opened the door. "Have you seen the others?" he asked.
"Excuse me?" Owen asked, raising one eyebrow in confusion.
"Who is it?" a woman's voice called out, sounding a lot like Tosh's.
"Tosh?" he called. "You two finally got it together, huh?"
"I don't know who it is." Owen said. "I'm not Owen, and I don't know who Tosh is, and I have no clue who the "others" are." he added as he began to shut the door.
"Wait." Jack said, throwing out his hand to stop the door. "If you're not Owen, and she's not Tosh, what's your name then?" he asked as he saw Tosh, or at least she looked a hell of a lot like Tosh, come to stand behind Owen, or who he thought was Owen.
"I'm Gavin, this is my wife Maelee." he said. "And that's all you're going to find out." he added as he made to close the door again.
"Let me guess, you guys are all still mad about yesterday, so you decided to teach me a lesson." Jack laughed. "Good one." he said.
"If you don't leave, I'm calling the police." Tosh/Maelee replied as she moved away from the door and came back holding a cordless phone.
"Oooh, you're going to call the police?" a child asked from somewhere behind the couple.
"Take Katie into the kitchen, I'll get rid of this weirdo." Owen/Gavin told his wife. "I don't know who you are, but you need to leave. If I find you near my house, or my wife and kid, I'll kick your ass. Got it?" he said quietly, not wanting to be heard by Katie. "Now shove off." he growled as he slammed the door in Jack's face.
"What in the hell is going on?" Jack groaned as he made his way back to the SUV. "This has to be a really sick, elaborate joke." he decided as he started the car. "Either that, or I'm losing it."