Unravel

A/N: Aren't we all fascinated with Cyberwoman, at least a little? So much goes unsaid and unseen, except for a suspension that may or may not even be canon, we never learn about the consequences. You could fill an episode with the fallout…so I've made in attempt at a little filler.

This can definitely be multi-chapter if anyone wants it to. I have a few ideas for proceeding forward. Reviews are always appreciated!

Ianto still knelt on the cold floor. After his initial scream of grief, he had fallen silent, frozen by the body of his dead love.

The team, at a motion from Jack, had filed wordlessly out of the basement room. Upstairs, Jack addressed the others. "Go home."

"Jack…the bodies…" Tosh offered tentatively.

"Will be dealt with later. It's been nearly twenty-four hours. Get some sleep. All of you."

Gwen practically ran for the door. Tosh looked at the CCTV monitor that showed the cyber conversion unit and all the damage it had left behind. Damage that, at this point, probably included Ianto. But there was nothing to do about that tonight, and so she left, too.

Owen remained where he was. "I'm not going, Jack.'

"Owen, so not the time."

"Jack, I should be here. You know that. For… whatever," Owen finished cryptically.

Jack glared back at him. "Fine." He knew very well what whatever meant. Whatever meant, to serve as a witness for an official Torchwood execution. It wasn't a formality Jack had planned to bother with, but if Owen felt like it, then that was fine. "Come on."

Neither of them spoke on the way back down to the basement, which was good. Jack had thought Owen might argue about it. Owen would have done the same thing for his fiancée without even blinking. And Jack would have had to shoot him, too. Because sometimes, love just doesn't seem like an adequate excuse.

Ianto was now sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his head in his hands. When he heard Jack and Owen come in he looks up, stared at them for a moment, then slid his back up the wall and got to his feet. Such quiet grace in a doomed man. (Jack had always been attracted to that quiet grace, that dignity. When coupled with one of Ianto's shy, teasing smiles, the desire produced in Jack had been nearly uncontrollable).

Jack walked over to face Ianto. "I told you," he growled.

Ianto's voice was nearly inaudible. "I know."

No begging. No protest. (Ianto never liked to make a scene. He always preferred flitting around the edges, invisible but integral in the lives around them, finding joy in anything he could do to make their lives easier or make them smile). Just was well. There was no need for this to be any more unpleasant. Jack didn't want to do this. But our actions have consequences

Holding the gun to Ianto's head was surprisingly intimate. Having power over anyone's life was intoxicating. With Ianto, whose coy flirting had slowly been driving Jack crazy for weeks, but had proven a surprising challenge to seduce (never resistant, but never fully present; appeared to enjoy himself and at the same time never seemed to really pay attention) it was coupled with a fierce and pulsing desire. Jack wanted to throw him on the floor, to take him over and over again, unstopping and merciless, and let that serve as penance.

Of course he didn't. While his work at the Time Agency had given him an appetite for causing pain, it had mostly faded, and he fought against it every time it resurfaced. That was the worst version of himself.

"Just do it, sir." A voice quavering broke into Jack's fantasies and he awoke to the realization that he hadn't pulled the trigger. "Just be quick," Ianto said again. As much as Ianto was attempting to control it, fear was writing itself across Ianto's face. "Please. At Torchwood One it wasn't always quick."

The quiet horror of that phrase – it wasn't always quick. He really had been planning to shoot Ianto. But he couldn't now.

"No," he said, to one in particular. As if to emphasize the point, he threw the gun to the floor and walked out, leaving them both standing there.

Owen came up to his office half an hour later. Jack was sitting at his desk, trying not to think about any of it. (The light touch of Ianto's lips, playful venturing of tongues, until Ianto broke away and said, "I should order everyone's food", and Jack had grabbed his hand and pulled him back, kissing him until Ianto broke away again.''I should really order that food." "When was the last thing you ever asked me about my life? I clean up your shit and that's the way you like it." "I'll watch you suffer and die." "You execute her or I'll execute you both!" "We can be upgraded. Together".)

Owen spoke. "I checked him over. His blood pressure is sky high; he's been running on adrenaline for days. He has a few bruises from when that thing threw him across the room. Cracked rib, concussion. I'll take him back to my apartment. Someone should watch him overnight."

Jack was facing out the window, his back to Owen. "Keep him here. I'll keep an eye on him."

"You would have shot me."

Jack turned around to face him, looked him in the eye. "No. I wouldn't have." And realized then that he was actually telling the truth. He could no sooner kill a member of his team than he could kill himself.

"Jack. I'm not saying you should have shot him, all right? But you have to do something." The tone of Owen's voice and the look on his face conveyed how serious he was. It was always a bad sign when Owen was serious.

"I know," Jack responded. "I will."

"OK. Well, like I said, keep an eye on him. I'll check his BP again in the morning."

Owen walked out onto the floor and grabbed the jacket slung over his chair. "Call me if you need me," he said and walked out the door.

When Owen was gone, Jack left his office and went up to the roof of the hub. A pale daylight, tinted with pink, was just beginning to spread over the city of Cardiff, but the citizens remained asleep. The city had come so close to being destroyed by a Cyberwoman because of an employee mistake. Almost impossible to believe.

You're going to have to do something. A terrible mistake made out of love by a marginalized employee. Accidental near-deaths of his team. A shattering blow to the sense of their unity as a team – if, for Ianto, that unity had ever existed to begin with. A valuable person whose whole life was torchwood, a person none of them felt they could trust now. And an egregious betrayal to the sense of closeness that Jack and Ianto had built – or thought they had built – with their secret, stolen liaisons. Yes, it was going to be so simple to unravel this.

And below, Ianto knelt again and the cold floor, trying in his mind to redraw the lines between the living and the dead.

A/N #2: If you have any idea for what Jack will do, let me know. I have ideas, but haven't made a decision yet.