The Last Laugh

Gwen stood statue still in the firing range, looking down the barrel of the gun she was holding. Memories of the first time she fired a gun went through her mind and she smiled. Jack was stood so close behind her, guiding her hand, his other hand on her hip, moving her to one side. It felt good, she had to admit.

Jack was a handsome man and Gwen often daydreamed of being in a relationship with him. But Ianto Jones had put an end to that.

Ianto Jones, the clean-shaven, suited individual who turned Jack's head almost daily now, with his shy smile and out-of-this-world coffee. 'Oh, sometimes I could kill him!' she thought, firing off a round.

"Nice shooting," came a voice from behind her.

"Jack! I wasn't expecting you." She looked behind him "No Ianto?"

Jack laughed. "We're not exactly joined at the hip, you know."

"No?" She fired off three more round, then put the gun down. "Did you want something?"

"Yeah. Andy Davidson called. Said something about some forms you asked him to get. Wants you to call in the station to pick them up."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest., giving her that 'What's up' look.

"Is there something I should know about?"

"Not really."

"Not really, as in 'mind your own business'?"

"Well…"

"Gwen!"

"Okay! I said I'd help out with some missing kids, alright?"

Jack smiled, shaking his head. "Don't you have enough work here at Torchwood?"

"I can do it in my own time you know."

"Right, like that's gonna happen with Rhys at home."

Gwen frowned. "He won't mind."

"Ha! He thinks you work too much already. He'll blame it on me."

"No he won't," laughed Gwen. "It's missing kids, Jack and I want to help."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "If that's what you want to do, you better go see Andy after lunch."

"Thanks, Jack."

Jack turned to leave.

"Jack?"

Jack stopped. "Yeah?"

"You and Ianto…is it serious?"

Smiling, Jack walked to the door. "Yep, I think it is."

'Shit!' Gwen thought.

Once back up in the Hub, Jack watched as Ianto sat behind a workstation, fingers playing over the keys. He thought of those fingers undoing the buttons on his shirt. Pushing braces down over his shoulders. Lifting his t shirt over his head. He took a deep breath, feeling a stirring in his groin. Pushing the heel of his hand against the material, Jack sat back behind his desk. 'Plenty of time for that…later' he thought, smiling.

Ten minutes later, Ianto was standing at his door, papers in hand.

"Ianto. Come in."

"Tosh said you wanted these and I offered to bring them up," he smiled at the immortal.

"You know you don't need an excuse to come see me, Ianto Jones."

Ianto blushed. "I…know that, sir."

Jack pretended to shiver. "Ooww, that word, spoken by you…"

"Jack!"

Jack laughed. "I can still make you blush," he took the papers offered to him. "Dinner tonight? Bellini's?"

"Mmm, about 9pm."

Jack frowned. "Why so late?"

"Lots to do and my boss is a tyrant!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'll have words with him. Tell him you're the one for me."

"Thanks." Ianto walked back toward the door. "Jack, is Gwen finished down the range?"

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Jack frowned.

"I was going to make coffee, actually."

"Right."

"Jack, is something wrong?"

Jack cleared his throat. "No, everything's fine."

"Right then, I'll go make that coffee."

Jack watched him leave, then ran a hand over his face. He knew that Gwen was trying to get him into bed and at one stage, when Gwen first joined Torchwood, he wanted nothing more than a romp in the hay with her. He and Ianto had sex on a regular basis even then, but after Jack came back from the-year-that-never-was, he knew he wanted to be with Ianto. And he was with Ianto now and intended to keep it that way. The Welshman was good for him He understood Jack, the man. Not Jack the immortal, the man who would live forever. He was Jack's anchor, grounding him. Letting him know that when the others doubted him, Ianto was on his side. Jack thought Ianto knew more about him that he let on, but that was fine by Jack. Gwen was in love with the latter. Leaning back in his chair, Jack looked at the door that Ianto had just passed through and sighed, then looked back at the papers he'd brought to him. Tosh had designed a new security protocol. It was up to Jack to approve it and send a copy to UNIT for their approval. A lot had changed since the Cyberman incident.

Ianto watched as Gwen walked from the stairs to her workstation. She eyed him and frowned then added a small smile.

'What's she up to now?' he thought, putting a mixture of beans in the coffee machine. When she looked up at Jack's office, an even bigger smile on her face, he knew. 'The bitch is after my man!'

Owen made his way up from the autopsy bay, a sheet of paper in one hand and a white plastic bag in the other.

"He's what killed the Blowfish," he said, holding up the bag. "A parasite burrowed into it's brain and started eating it."

"Yuck!" said Tosh.

"Nasty way to die, even if it is a Blowfish."

Ianto raised and eyebrow and carried on making the coffee. "Positively disgusting." he muttered.

"You and Jack going out tonight, Ianto?" Tosh asked.

Ianto poured coffee into cups. "We are actually, yes."

"Where to?" asked Gwen, moving to stand next to the young man.

Ianto cleared his throat, not wanting to answer the question.

"He isn't privy to that information yet, Miss Cooper," answered Jack, as he walked down the stairs. "I haven't decided. I might just keep him to myself and order in." Jack smiled at Ianto, then winked, placing a hand on the small of his back.

Ianto felt relief flood over him. He was hot with jealousy, yet Jack had told him that he was the one for him.

But it didn't stop Gwen from sidling up to Jack, placing a hand on his arm and asking, "Will you be going into town?"

Jack just smiled. Not a sexy smile, or a come on, just a friendly smile.

"Not givin' much away, Harkness," said Owen.

"And I intend to keep it that way. Last time we went out on a 'quiet' date, Gwen turned up with Rhys and Andy Davidson in tow. We want a quiet, intimate dinner, just the two of us."

"It was a coincidence," Gwen said, eyes wide.

"Sure it was. Tosh lettin' slip where we were going, didn't have anything to do with it, I suppose."

"No!"

Jack shook his head fondly. "Still not tellin'."

Gwen felt like stamping her feet to get a response from Jack, but thought better of it. She didn't want to bring attention to herself and let the rest of the team know that she still held a torch for Jack Harkness.

Ianto narrowed his eyes as he watched Gwen closely. 'She's up to something, I can feel it!'

"Have a great time, whatever you decide to do," said Tosh.

Ianto smiled at her, moving away from Jack and picking up the tray of cups. "Thanks, Tosh," he said, placing a cup on her flowery place mat.

Gwen frown as a cup was placed next to her handbag on her worktop. She just gave Ianto a weird grin and looked back at Jack.

Ianto was dying to say something. Maybe, 'Keep your fucking eyes and hands off of him, he's mine!' but just smiled back and moved on to give Owen his coffee and then Jack his.

"Thanks, mate," said Owen, smelling the aroma coming off the coffee.

Jack did the same, closing his eyes as he did so. "Perfection," he said, opening his eyes again and looking at Ianto.

The young Welshman felt like he was floating on cloud 9 and didn't ever want to come back down. Gwen on the other hand, was seething. Her eyebrows almost blocked out her eyelids as she scowled, first at Jack and then at Ianto.

"What's wrong, Gwen?" asked Owen, "Not gettin' enough attention?"

"Shut it!" she replied, walking to her workstation, picking up her bag and leaving through the cog door at a brisk pace.

"Was it something I said?" laughed the medic.

Jack grinned. "She has to go see Andy Davidson. Something about lost or missing kids." He shrugged. "But I thought she was going after lunch.

Ianto just smiled.

Tosh looked up from her computer. "Yes, I heard about that."

Now Jack was interested. "What have you heard?"

Tosh removed her glasses, sat forward and said, "3 have gone missing in the last 24 hours from the Cardiff area. Last week 2 went missing and the two weeks before that another 5."

"10 in all?"

"As far as we know. I could check and see over say, the past 6 months."

Jack nodded. "Do it."

Slim fingers worked the black computer keys, as Jack and Ianto watched over her shoulder. A graph came up on the monitor and Ianto drew in a breath.

"Jesus, Jack! 40...40 missing children!"