The alert came in around three.
Gwen had gone home early, mumbling something about Rhys and her mother in law and bolting out the tourist office, so only Jack and Ianto were around to hear the shrill beeping echo through the hub. Ianto, sound asleep on the cot, nearly leapt out of his skin.
Jack, awake of course, was half-way up the ladder before Ianto remembered where he was.
"Rift activity! Whoa- pretty big, too."
Almost as though it understood and was offering it as a mercy, the rift had been quiet as of late. Since Tosh and Owen's deaths, they'd had hardly anything more than a weevil sightings. At first it'd been a blessing, but Jack, ever the poster-boy for adult ADD, had been growing restless. In a sense, Ianto supposed he should be grateful.
In another sense, it was three in the morning, and Ianto'd been having a wonderful dream.
He paused to pull on his pants before climbing the ladder. When he got to the top Jack was already buzzing around his office, clipping his Webley to his belt and hastily pulling on his suspenders. Ianto sighed and grabbed his own gun from where it rested on Jack's desk, then made his way to the door to step into his shoes. "Where is it?"
"Landough" Jack ran his fingers through his mussed hair, and Ianto wondered once again at his boss's vanity. "Campbell Drive."
"Pretty near, then." That was a relief. Maybe, if their luck held up, they'd be able to deal with whatever'd come through and get back to sleep.
Yeah. That was likely...
"Shall I phone Gwen?"
Jack paused and thought about it. Then shook his head, already eagerly heading for the door. "No need for her to get up."
"Right." Lucky girl...
Because anything else would have been far too original, the rift spike had originated from a decrepit old warehouse by the bay. Ianto sighed deeply as they drove up, and Jack'd tried (not very successfully, mind you) to hide his smile. The archivist hadn't been sleeping so well lately; it just figured that this would happen on the first night he'd managed to sleep soundly.
"You coming?" He asked, hopping out of the car and turning to grin back at his lover. Ianto decidedly did NOT smile back, instead fixing him with a scowl and slowly un-buckling his seat belt. Jack turned back to the building, chuckling under his breath.
"Let's just hope this goes better than the last time we were in a warehouse together. Hey- maybe we can find Myfanwy a mate." Jack got no answer, other than a weary sigh.
The door was bolted shut, but the lock and chain were rusted and the wood warped. One good shove from Jack (Ianto stayed back and wondered if they'd ever use get around to using the bolt cutters he'd purchased...) and the two were in.
Predictably, the insides were dark, dank, and foreboding. In Jack's opinion, anything else would have been incredibly boring. At first glance nothing seemed all that out of the ordinary-- just the usual assortment of spiders and dust- but much of the view was obstructed by boxes and crates.
"Well- might as well split up and have a look around. eh? Get it done faster." This appeal to Ianto's tired side seemed to work, and the archivist jogged off without complaint. Jack, meanwhile, headed in the opposite direction.
Nothing big seemed to stand out as he moved along through the maze of old crates and abandoned fork-lifts. However, as Jack looked closer, he noticed smaller details out of place. Some boxes had been recently moved- the cobwebs hanging off them broken and dangling; and on the floor there were some smudges in the thick layer of dust that covered the floor that upon closer inspection proved to be some sort of tracks leading off to where...
"Jack, I've found something!"
Jack dropped what he was doing and jogged over to the source of Ianto's voice.
"What--" His voice stopped as he skidded to a halt. Well... that wasn't what he'd expected. "Oh. Wow."
"I think we ought to call Gwen now, sir." Ianto said dryly, already pulling out his phone.
On the floor, huddled up against one of the boxes and staring at them with wide, terrified eyes, was a little boy.