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Sweet, Delicious Despair

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Summary: A group of strange suicides comes Torchwood's way when the police can't figure out why happy people with everything to live for are suddenly taking their own lives for seemingly no reason. The team is on the case, but there are no leads… Until one of their own is threatened.

Pairing/Timeline: Established Jack/Ianto, set likely sometime mid-season 2

Rating: M/NC-17

Trigger Warning for talk of suicide and self-harm, possession and, later, some sexytimes

Disclaimer: I do not own them. Not one bit!

Chapter Count: There are nine chapter is this story. Please know that I have the entire story written, but I need to polish the chapters up before I can post. There will be updates once a week, fudged occasionally by a day or so.


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Chapter One: In My Veins

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"Definitely self-inflicted." Owen reported, dropping in late on the debriefing. He was still in his lab coat, his face grim after having done a third autopsy on a suicide victim who had, near as anyone could tell, everything to live for. Just the day before, she had been a happy woman, in love and thriving. All the others were the same: regular, happy people with no history or signs of depression.

The case probably wouldn't have even come to them had the police not found the first suicide odd, and the man's family desperate for an investigation on what they were sure was a clever murder. Even then, they might not have deemed it Torchwood material if they hadn't gotten footage of the second suicide, a perky young mother, picking up her mother's pain medication that she would use to kill herself with roughly an hour later, talking about her daughter's progress in piano lessons and the trip they were about to take as a family. She'd been animated, open and alive. There was no hint of suffering on her face, no hint of what was to come. Even if she'd been the world's greatest actress, it would have been suspicious.

And so, the police had contacted them, finally at a complete loss. Three suicides in two weeks, all strange and unexpected, all weird… and thus, all Torchwood's.

"You can tell that for sure?" Gwen asked, taking a bite of her lunch, with nary a grimace. The things they talked about over pizza…

"It's got a lot to do with the angles." Jack answered and Owen nodded.

Tosh looked between them, "So, we're certain she killed herself. The police are positive this woman is connected? No chance she actually did this herself?"

Ianto read from the report, "She just finished the degree she'd been working on since before their wedding. She was up for a promotion at work. She and her husband made the decision to go off birth control two days ago."

Gwen winced. "All right, they're connected."

"Unless she had the same feelings on the prospect of motherhood as I do for fatherhood, then I'd say so." Owen concluded, shedding the lab coat as though to physically shake off the depressing task he'd just completed.

Ianto glanced at the police report again, "She worked in a day care."

Owen took a second from shoving his face full of pizza to send a half-hearted glare Ianto's way.

"All right," Jack said, bringing the attention back to him. "I want Tosh and Ianto to go through the archives, see if you can come up with anything that seems relevant or could have caused this. Gwen, go over their lives with a fine tooth comb, see where they intersect. Owen, after lunch you're coming with me, we're going to head over to her flat and see if we can't find leads there." He received nods all around, until he got to Owen.

"Not if you want that autopsy report typed up for the police." Owen said, "I haven't even gotten a chance to finish up the last one."

Jack sighed, paperwork often his last priority. "All right, Tosh, get started on the archives yourself. Ianto, you're with me."

Gwen hesitantly darted her eyes between Jack and Ianto. "Perhaps you'd like me along, Jack? If her husband is there…"

"He won't be. The police said he packed a bag to stay with his parents. He doesn't want to be at the flat." Jack answered, not unkindly. "Ianto and I won't be stuck comforting grieving husbands."

The look on Jack's face spoke volumes on just how glad he was for that.

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Luckily for secretive Torchwood, the press had mostly cleared out by the time Jack and Ianto arrived at Bethan Astley's flat. That had turned out to be the only thing that went their way for the rest of the day.

Their information about her husband's desire to be anywhere aside from the home that he'd shared with his wife was true, but the timing wasn't. He was still in the flat when they arrived and they'd crossed paths through the door. The man was pale and shaking, but not crying. He seemed like he'd had the life drained out of him nearly as successfully as his wife. He'd stumbled ever so slightly on the way out the door and Ianto had carefully caught his elbow before letting to quickly. He wasn't sure what integrity mattered in the wake of what had happened to him, but he was going to allow the man to keep as much of it as possible. Still, Bethan's husband barely seemed to notice Ianto and Jack existed, let alone that Ianto had helped him.

The entire trip turned out to be a bust, even if they hadn't seen Bethan's husband. There wasn't anything strange or out of place about her flat, aside from the bloodstained carpet. Everything in the place spoke to the accounts of Bethan as a happy woman and nothing turned up as odd or off.

At the Hub, Tosh was still working her way through the archives, something that Ianto was a big deal of help with when they got back. Gwen hadn't turned up any connections between the three victims yet and it didn't look like there were many to be found.

At least Owen had finished his autopsy reports.

"This is madness, Jack." Gwen said, dropping her hands from the keyboard during the third hour of extensive, probably invasive research. "All three went to see the same movie over a one month span at two different cinemas. That's about it."

Owen leaned over her shoulder, "Iron Man? God, it's not even a depressing movie."

"That's rather the point." Ianto said from his spot at Tosh's desk, materials from the archives spread between them.

Gwen snorted, her earlier frustration momentarily forgotten.

"Quiet, Teaboy." Owen retorted.

Jack nodded, although he looked like was trying not to laugh at Ianto's deadpanned point. "We're not going to get anything else done tonight," He said, glancing at his wristband. "Head home, we'll start again no later than 8:30 tomorrow morning."

"Better than nothing, I suppose." Owen grumbled, wasting no time gathering his coat and keys. "Night, kids."

Tosh and Gwen were slightly more reluctant to clear out, especially Gwen who had been going over the credit card statements for romantic dinners and tracking the second victim's children's movements in her search for a connection. Jack wouldn't be swayed though, practically forcing her out the blast door with broad hints about savoring one's relationships while there was time.

"Bit heavy handed a message." Ianto said from behind Jack as they watched Gwen leave via the Tourist Office door.

"What, that Rhys might off himself if she didn't visit him regularly?" Jack asked, eyes on the monitor. "Sure, but it worked."

Ianto grinned as Jack turned to face him, "One cannot argue with the results, sir."

"Did we not just watch Gwen leave? I don't see your boss anywhere around here." Jack said, making a show of looking around the empty Hub.

"I don't know," Ianto said, glancing with Jack, "Am I to be thrown out as well, Jack?"

Jack slid his hand around Ianto's back, pulling the younger man to press against his body. "You were biting your lip for a full twenty minutes towards the end there. I could hardly stand it. Good thing no one looked my way."

"And here I thought you were one of the strongest proponents for an office-wide orgy." Ianto said, leaning into Jack. He had thoughts about nipping Jack's bottom lip, but sometimes the banter was half the fun and an action like that would put an end to any talk that required full sentences.

Jack grinned, "Normally, of course." He freely admitted and Ianto wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. "But with you in my favorite suit-"

"You have a favorite?"

"Of course… and biting your lip like that, so focused-"

"I'm glad one of us was." Ianto teased.

"Mmm…" Jack agreed, "Can I be blamed for wanting you all to myself?"

Ianto pretended to consider it, purposefully ignoring the hand that slid down his back to somewhere decidedly less conducive to conversation. "You're lucky Tosh's eyes were glazing over. Otherwise I'd accuse you of leading with your other brain."

That, they both knew, wasn't true at all. Jack wouldn't have sent them home just for a little naked hide and seek with Ianto. It was just excellent timing.

Ianto stepped around Jack, making sure they were pressed together as much as possible, his body sliding against Jack's as he went. "Shall we take this to your quarter's, Captain Harkness?"

"I love the way you think." Jack said, grinning when Ianto did.

He really did love the way Ianto thought, the way that Ianto laughed as Jack chased him down the hall, the way that he looked in that suit and the way he felt against Jack…

So that was probably why he was so completely shocked when, three hours after they'd fallen asleep together, sleepy, sated and happy, Jack was pulling Ianto's syringe-holding hand from where he'd been about to inject one of Owen's strongest alien poisons into his own arm.


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More to come, feedback is love!