Pop Goes the Weasel!
Gwen and Owen stood in Jack's office staring at the manhole which led to Jack's private quarters. Tosh was sat on the couch watching the pair in amusement.
"You let the bloody thing out of the cage; you go down there and get it." Owen snapped at Gwen.
"I'm not going down there! It's Jack's private quarters, who knows what he'll do if he finds out we were down there," Gwen replied crossing her arms and looking around the office for anything that might help them in their current predicament.
"I know I'd be furious if I found out one of you guys had snooped around my place." Tosh remarked sipping from her tea.
"Not helpful Tosh," Owen snarled, glaring at the technician, who in his opinion was way to calm considering she would be lumped in with him and Gwen when it came to Jack tearing into them.
Tosh just grinned into her tea; this was just too much fun.
"Can't we just leave it until he gets back? It's not like it's very big or ferocious." Gwen groaned.
"They're at a UN conference Gwen; they could be back anytime today or next week. I wish he hadn't taken tea-boy with him, we could have sent him down there to get it without it being a problem."
"Ianto can't always be the one to clean up your mess Owen," Tosh snorted.
"It's not my bloody mess, though is it?! Gwen let the bloody thing out of the cage," Owen growled; he stepped closer to the manhole and peeked down but it was too dark for him to see anything.
The alien that was down there however could obviously see him as they could suddenly hear it scuttling about down there and the sound of something, probably glass, breaking as it was knocked over.
"We can't leave it down there, there's no telling what sort of mess it will make." Tosh pushed, ignoring Owen's groan as he stood up again.
Gwen slumped into the closest chair, then, realizing it was Jack's chair, she self consciously got up and moved to the other side of the desk and into a desk chair.
Owen leaned against the wall, "What does it say in that file about them?"
Tosh picked up the file where it was on the couch next to her and began to flick through it looking for anything that might be useful.
"It says here they're irritated by high frequencies." Tosh read, not thinking it would help but it was the only thing in the file that was really any use.
"I've got it!" Gwen said jumping up and dashing out of the room.
"What's she doing?" Owen asked and Tosh shrugged in reply picking up her tea and continuing to watch the chaos that the pair were creating unfold.
Gwen returned a few minutes later with a small alien device. It had fallen through the rift and Jack had determined it was a musical device of some sort but the frequencies were too high for the human ear to hear so it was no use to anyone and had been dumped in the useless junk box in the archives.
"Oh, this is going to end badly," Tosh muttered into her mug so the others couldn't hear her
"Perfect!" Owen said snatching the device from Gwen, and turning it on. They couldn't hear anything from the device but they could all hear the creature shriek and run around below.
"That's supremely helpful Owen, give it here." Gwen said snatching it back. "Okay get ready, I'm going to turn this up and drop it down the manhole, so it should come running out, we just need to be ready to catch it."
Owen and Gwen took their positions and Gwen turned the device up and dropped it down the manhole.
There was a very loud shriek and then a popping noise as pink goo exploded out of the manhole covering Gwen, Owen and the rim of the entrance.
Tosh burst out laughing as Gwen and Owen stared at each other in horror. God only knows what Jack's quarters looked like now.
"I guess I should update the data in the file. The high frequencies irritate them because they explode if the frequencies get too high," Tosh mused ignoring the glares that were thrown in her direction.
"Did we just kill it?" Gwen asked
"No, little buggers are harder to kill than that. They have a central growth that stays intact when the body explodes. Once the danger has gone the goo will reform into the annoying little fluffy thing it was a minute ago." Owen grumbled peeling off his slimy jacket and dropping it down the manhole to join the rest of the goo.
"But I'm covered in it!"
"Only the goo touching the central mass will reform, the rest will stay a mess wherever it landed."
"Jack's going to kills us," Gwen moaned.
"Not if Ianto gets to you first. With the device down there it can't reform so you're back to square one with a much bigger mess," Tosh replied,
The proximity alarm sounded.
"They're back early!" Gwen hissed.
"We're dead," Owen muttered as the three of them moved into the main area of the Hub just in time to see the cog door roll open and Jack and Ianto walk in.
The men were laughing about something but froze the minute they saw the team, before promptly bursting out laughing again. Jack's a lot louder than Ianto who was trying to be polite and cover his amusement up a little.
"You to look like you lost a fight with a Compai," Jack grinned.
"You could say that," Owen muttered.
"Well you might as well get yourself cleaned up," Jack said as he and Ianto headed towards Jack's office.
"Jack wait, there's something we need to tell you," Gwen called, Jack stopped, turning to look at them but Ianto continued into the office.
Gwen floundered over her words for a minute, not quite sure how to say it when a string of welsh curses erupted from Jack's office.
Jack raised a questioning eyebrow before heading into his office, Tosh right behind him. Gwen and Owen followed at a much more cautious pace.
Once they entered the office they were faced with a furious Ianto and a highly amused Jack and Tosh.
"What happened, exactly?" Jack asked.
Gwen and Owen didn't know what was scarier, this calm amused Jack or a furious one... at least with a furious Jack they knew what to expect.
"It got loose and ran down there. We didn't want to enter your living quarters without asking so we tried to spook it out," Gwen explained in a rush.
"Bloody thing exploded though didn't it?" Owen muttered.
"Jack we're really sorry, we'll replace anything that's been damaged," Gwen said throwing her big puppy dog eyes in Jack's direction hoping he wouldn't get too mad at them.
Jack frowned in confusion, "Gwen there's nothing down there except for a bed and a few spare outfits it's nothing to stress about."
"But all your things, you must have personal belongings Jack, things you've collected over the years," Gwen said she glanced around at the others. Owen looked just as confused as she felt. Tosh was watching them with a curious look in her eyes and Ianto was staring at her like she'd grown another head.
"Gwen nothing's down there anymore. I only use it as a place to nap if I have to stay at the Hub to watch something instead of going home at night," Jack explained.
"Wait a minute, you moved out of the Hub?" Owen asked.
"Two months ago; I thought you'd all noticed by now," Jack replied.
"Why didn't you tell us?! We could have had a flat warming party!" Gwen grinned already planning a belated party in her head.
Jack shrugged, "We didn't want to make a big deal out of it."
"Not a big deal? Jack you're finally getting out of this place a little more. It'll be good for you," Gwen smiled.
"I don't see the big deal," Owen muttered.
"Of course you don't. You know what we should do? Have a dinner night! One night a week where, rift providing, we go to someone's house for dinner," Gwen suggested.
"That's not a bad idea," Tosh agreed.
"Exactly, and rotate between our five homes who gets to host."
"Four," Jack corrected, Tosh grinned and Owen's jaw just about hit the floor where he stood, eyes flicking between Jack and Ianto.
"Don't worry about Rhys, he'll be fine, we can do it between all five houses," Gwen replied.
Ianto snorted and Gwen looked at him in confusion and disbelief that he'd just snorted at her suggestion.
"Gwen, that's not what I meant. It's four houses because I moved in with Ianto," Jack replied.
Gwen was doing a marvelous impression of a goldfish as Tosh stepped forward and hugged the two men, "I suspected you might have, congratulations!"
"I didn't, but you know whatever, congrats," Owen said.
"You moved in with Ianto?" Gwen asked not quite believing it.
"Yes and right now we're heading home. Make sure you clean up this before you go home won't you. Tosh, can you lock up afterwards?" Jack asked.
"Of course. 'Night you two," Tosh smiled.
Jack and Ianto smiled and nodded heading for the door, Gwen was still staring at them as they left and Ianto couldn't help but smirk; maybe now she'd start to get the hint.
END
