It's not absolutely necessary that you read A Ghost in the House to read this story. But it would probably make the reading easier and make me look less bad as a writer since I'll be writing with the notion that the other story has been read.

Jack smelled the coffee before the mug entered into his line of vision. And by the aroma, it was the expensive, industrial-strength blend that required its preparer to carefully measure out different types of coffee grinds with chemistry-precision. While actual beakers were probably not necessary, eyeballing was unacceptable. In short, it was coffee-making of the most time consuming, irritating kind for the brewer.

And the fact that Ianto was now giving him a cup without the requisite begging, pleading and bribing from Jack put the Captain on bemused alert.

"This has to be bad," Jack said, not looking up from his paperwork. "Did you accidentally let Myfanwy escape?"

"No. Not as such."

There was a mild shade of anxiety in the archivist's tone and Jack looked up from his desk. Ianto was giving him a slightly worried frown, as if he was trying to puzzle out a mystery while simultaneously figuring out the best way to deliver less than good news to his immediate superior.

"How bad?" Jack asked, taking the coffee to prep himself. "You made your the World Is Ending coffee blend."

"Actually, I've labeled it the Humbling The Boss coffee blend, but yours works as well," Ianto replied.

Okay, so it couldn't really be all that terrible if Ianto was willing to make a slight jest about the coffee. But his tone was half-distracted, vague, which kept Jack at attention. When it came to the strict lines of the job, Ianto rarely got overwrought if errors occurred, but after the last few days so soon after his part in the Jonah Bevin case, his coping skills when it came to his never endingly oscillating relations with Jack were a little off.

He'd been angry with Ianto over the insubordinate behavior. He'd called it that, not a betrayal. But he'd also known that deep down, the archivist had been right to tell Gwen. And technically, right trumped The Way Jack Wanted Things. They hadn't really talked about it, but Jack figured the near bone-crushing embrace he'd subjected Ianto to for a good hour later that evening had made it more or less clear that he'd forgiven him. Really, if Jack thought about it, he knew that he could forgive Ianto just about anything. He gave a more encouraging smile as Ianto shoved his hands into his pockets with a thoughtful look.

"I don't suppose you've taken anything from the archives lately," Ianto asked. "Only, something's gone missing. And I've asked the others and no one's taken it out since I put it in the basement so it couldn't have gotten misplaced."

It could have been a folder. A piece of alien tech. Even a boot from 1876 spat out by the Rift. But Jack had a sinking feeling he knew what the missing item in question would be.

"What's missing?" Jack asked instead, taking a sip of the offered coffee.

Ianto noted his unanswered question, but left it alone for the moment. "You remember the odd looking skull that the Rift shot out a few months back? The one with the markings on it?" He watched Jack's expression go from neutral to unreadable and fought back an impulse to sigh. "Jack…"

"It's fine," replied the Captain, taking another gulp of the coffee to add nonchalance as well as buy some time. "Your archiving talents aren't slipping," he added with a grin.

"So you have it?"

Leaning back in his seat, Jack bit the bullet. "No, I returned it to its owner," he answered with equal tones of casual and dismissive.

At this stage in his career, dealing with the enigmatic side of his boss was more or less standard for Ianto. Not that it made it any less annoying. Especially considering it'd caused him to waste nearly an hour trying to hunt down the missing object "What do you mean you returned it to its owner? Who's the owner?"

Before Jack had a chance to answer or come up with something that could pass for one, the lights flickered and sputtered until half the room was in darkness. Even as it put Jack on worried alert, he felt a small bit of gratitude for great timing. Jumping up from his desk, he rushed out to the main area with Ianto at his heels.

"Toshiko?" he called down, his voice in stereo with Gwen's.

"Who's messing around with the bloody power?" Owen shouted from his autopsy area, sounding more irate than usual.

"On it," the tech answered, her fingers already flying over her station's keypad. "We've got a power drain," she stated. "Working at 72 percent. I'm trying to isolate the source of the drain now…Owen!"

"What?"

"The drain's being diverted to your station. What're you doing down there?" she demanded.

"Owen, you're not back on that site, are you? Not after last week," Gwen asked, leaning down over where Owen sat by his monitors in the autopsy bay. Behind her, Tosh's computer screen indicated the power diversion in a series of blinking green lights.

"Do we need to set parental controls on his console?" Jack inquired.

"For the last time I ended up there via a spam link!" Owen snapped. The doctor stood, pulling off his rubber gloves. "I'm running samples of the cell cultures from that Ventarian we got last week. Or I was. Machine's dead now. Don't know what you're seeing, Tosh, but I'm on emergency power."

"You should have over 20 percent of our internal power by you," Tosh insisted, staring at her screen. "It's…hang on..." she frowned at her monitor. "That's odd. It's now-"

Before she had a chance to finish, the lights abruptly came back on with a tonal whirl.

"Did you fix it?" Ianto asked Tosh.

"No. I didn't do anything. I was still scanning when they just came on."

"Run a full scan of the entire Hub for life signs," Jack ordered. "There should be only four here, not including Owen-"

"Thanks for that," Owen chimed in.

"If there's anyone else, I want to know where," Jack continued over the interruption.

"Are we under attack?" Gwen asked.

"Not taking any chances if we are," said Jack. "While Tosh is running the scan, the rest of you-"

The lights sputtered and powered down again. Jack swore under his breath while Owen made his feelings a lot more audible.

"We're down to 34 percent," Tosh announced from her area. There was a slight pause where even her typing ceased. "Jack," she finally called. "Take a look at this."

Gwen twisted around to look over at Tosh, but her view of the monitor was blocked by Jack as he crowded by the computer. But even in the darkened lighting, she could see the lines of tension in both his and Tosh's bodies.

"You sure that's right?" Jack asked Tosh, his expression grim as he stared at the blinking green light. The technician nodded. "But there's nothing there. It's been cleaned out and locked."

"I know," Tosh replied, keeping her voice low. "But that's where the power's going."

"Do we have a camera set up down there?"

"No, it didn't seem necessary. It could just be a power outage," Tosh tried a bit weakly. "If the cabling got loosened…" she trailed off as she realized what she was saying. Or rather repeating from all those months previous.

Glancing up to where Ianto still stood by Jack's office, Gwen exchanged puzzled glances as Jack and Tosh continued to murmur while huddled around the computer. Finally, the ex-policewoman moved closer to them. "Jack? What is it?"

Staring at the evidence on the screen, Jack ignored the question. Silently he considered the possibilities and only one seemed the most logical. Logical by their standards, at least. But he had to be sure.

"Okay, Tosh you're with me. We're going down to take a look," he said. "Gwen, open the armory and get ready just in case. Owen, we're going to stay in touch with you through the comms. If we're out of touch for any longer than ten minutes, engage a lockdown," Jack continued. "Ianto, go up to the Tourist office. Give UNIT a call and let them know the situation in case this does turn out to be something more than faulty wiring." He saw Ianto open his mouth and cut in before the Welshman could begin. "If we have to trigger a lockdown then I'm going to need someone outside who can undo it when the coast is clear and you've got all the codes."

"Why's UNIT got to be a part of this?" Owen asked to Jack's back as the Captain all but grabbed Toshiko to head down toward the basement.

"Building friendly relations, obviously," Jack replied. Owen couldn't tell if it was a joke or not.

Toshiko clutched onto her handheld as Jack dragged her down the stairs as quickly as possible. She let her boss manhandle her until they reached the bottom step when she finally shook him off. In the illumination of their torches, she saw Jack mouth a quick 'sorry' to her for the harsh grip and activate his comm. "Owen? Can you read us?"

"Yeah," Owen's voice tinned back. "Two dots, on screen. Your voice, in ear," he listed off. "Gwen's pulled enough stuff out for us to take over a small country. Ianto's talking to Martha."

"Good. Tosh and I will get back to you. But remember, ten minutes -"

"Yeah, lockdown. Got it," Owen interrupted. "Anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu?" he added to no one in particular. Jack silently ended the line.

"Do you really think we're under attack?" asked Tosh. She hadn't said, but she'd agreed with Owen's last comment. Jack started to shake his head before converting it into a nod halfway through. Tosh stared. "I have no idea how I'm supposed to read that gesture. Is that a yes or no?"

"Both."

"Very helpful."

"I have a guess," Jack tried to clarify. "But if we are under attack, it's not from any person or alien." Tosh had a justifiably puzzled look on her face. "We need to take a look at that storage room. Is the power still being drained there?"

Tosh checked her handheld. "Yes."

"Positive?"

Having remodeled their systems herself after the first time the Hub's power had been diverted all those months ago, Tosh staked her life on it.

"Okay, let's take a look."

The two moved swiftly toward the storage room that had once held someone that could have destroyed the world. And someone who had been dearly loved. The last time Jack had been there, the room had been the unfortunate resting place for a lost ghost. She'd finally be able to move on with some assistance, but then there had been the other one…

Keeping her eyes on the handheld as they moved forward, Tosh quietly broached the subject. "Last time this happened it was Ianto's -"

"It's not him this time," Jack cut in rapidly.

"I wasn't suggesting he was," Tosh snapped back. "And what would I think he'd be hiding this time? But whoever is doing this might know about it to duplicate what went on last time. In which case this is a much larger security issue."

Before Jack could reply, he heard the noise of someone…screaming. Only the sound seemed to be coming from much further away or heavily muffled. In front of them now, down the corridor was the storage room door. "Do you hear that?" he asked Tosh.

The technician frowned. "No." She stopped in her tracks to listen. "Nothing."

More out of habit and hope for a corporeal enemy, Jack unclipped his gun and moved to stand by the door. As he undid the padlocks, the sounds of metal scrapping and someone howling in agony grew louder. But there was only darkness when Jack glanced down toward the crack at the bottom of the doors.

"I don't hear anything," Tosh's voice said from behind him. Her softer voice barely filtered through the rising volume of screams. The faint smell of melting rubber and electronics hit Jack along with the nauseating odor of what he horrifically identified as burning flesh. He quickly motioned for Tosh to stay back as he shoved the door open.

The door slammed against the other side with a loud bang and abruptly, the noise and smells disappeared.

Keeping his gun trained in front of him, Jack quickly looked to his right and left. The room was empty save for some tarp piled on the floor and a few broken down tables. There was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen and yet Jack's eyes darted quickly. The last time he'd been in this room, he'd seen him out of the corner of his eye…

"Jack?"

Much to Jack's self-embarrassment, he started a little when Owen's voice sounded off in his ear. The captain tapped his ear piece. "Owen?"

"Lights are back on," the doctor informed. "You and Tosh find the problem?"

Coming up from behind him, Tosh walked over to the main generator relay box of the room. The cover was still on and from the amount of dust covering it, it hadn't been tampered with in a long time. Still she crouched down to take a closer look, angling her handheld to take a reading.

"All energy levels are normal here," she said. "Relay box hasn't been touched, but let me open it up and take another look." She reached out a hand when a jolt went through her fingers as if she'd just brushed them against dry ice. Letting out a startled cry of pain, Tosh fell backwards, landing hard on the floor, cradling her arm to her chest. But holding her arm to herself only seemed to make things worse as the icy chill spread from her limb to her torso and envelope her.

She had a sudden memory of the time she'd fallen into the Bay during a Weevil chase. Of the way the water had closed over her and shocked her system so badly with the cold that she hadn't been able to swim for a good minute before adrenaline had finally kicked in. Now, fear suddenly clawed at her and she couldn't move again. The cold was seeping into her bones, numbing her. She couldn't breathe. She was going to freeze. She was going to drown. She was going to die…

"Tosh!"

A pair of strong hands gripped her shoulders and the heat from them seared into her, melting the ice in a flash. She gasped as her nerve endings activated to the warmth, sending pinpricks through her body. Her eyes focused and she saw Jack's face looking at her with concern, his hands digging into her arms again, only this time she welcomed the dull pain that went along with them.

"Tosh? Tell me what's wrong," Jack ordered. The flat calmness of his voice broke through the last of panic that had settled so quickly into Tosh's mind.

"I'm fine," she said, weakly. "Now I am," she added off of the incredulous look on Jack's face. "I…I think the box shocked me." Even as she said the words they didn't sound right. She hadn't put her hand on the box yet before she'd been knocked backwards. And it hadn't been an electrical shock. It had felt like a blast of ice water being injected straight into veins tens times over.

"Can you get up?" Jack asked.

Holding onto his arm, Tosh rose to her feet. There was a lasting shiver still running through her body. "It's cold," she said, huddling into herself a little. Keeping her head ducked, she missed the look that raced across Jack's face.

"Let's go back up," said Jack after a moment's pause. Gently, he took her arm to guide her out of the room. Before closing the door he took a last glance over his shoulder.

There was nothing.

Back in the main Hub area, Jack ordered for Ianto to return downstairs after letting UNIT know it was a false alarm while Gwen and Owen busied themselves with returning the weapons to the armory. Sitting back at her computer, Tosh pulled her jacket on for warmth while running another diagnostic.

"So just faulty wiring then?" Gwen asked as she snapped the safety back on the weapons she'd taken out. Beside her, Owen pored over what she'd pulled.

"Jack seems to think so," Tosh answered with a frown. She looked up toward his office where she could see him at his desk, his back to them. "Bloody nuisance," she muttered, sourly.

Gwen looked at her, a little puzzled by the comment. Tosh was usually the last one to complain when they were standing knee deep in alien guts in the freezing cold.

"Why did you take this out?" asked Owen, breaking into her thoughts. He held up what looked like a super-sized Swiss army knife.

"Thought it might be useful," Gwen replied.

The doctor snorted. "Gwen, in a fight to the death, I'd prefer a weapon that works when me and the attacker are on the other sides of the room." Snapping the blade out he examined the gleaming metal.

The alarm above the cog door sounded as it peeled open for Ianto walk in.

"What'd you find, Tosh?" he asked.

"Nothing," the technician answered, flatly. Her eyes remained trained on her screen as the diagnostic continued to run. "Probably wiring or something."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" she snapped at Ianto, glaring over at him. "Are you questioning my competence now?"

Ianto blinked. "Uh, no. Of course not. Sorry," he said, uncomfortably.

Behind Tosh, Gwen and Owen traded glances. "Tosh, you okay?" Gwen ventured.

The soft inquiry seemed to shake something out of the technician as she turned to look at the other woman. "I'm fine," she answered, her shoulders sagging a little. "Just a little tired."

"Would you like a coffee?" Ianto asked. "You look a bit cold."

When Tosh turned to look back at him, her eyes seemed unfocused for a split second, as if she didn't quite see him. But then she gave him a small smile. "That'd be great. Thanks, Ianto."

Up inside his office, Jack idly flipped a small business card in his hand. The unpretentious, simple white piece of cardstock was already frayed and tattered at the corners, but the stark black writing on the front remained clear. Jack stared at the information, a frown settling on his face.

He wasn't crazy about the idea of bringing in an outsider by choice. The last time the owner of the business card had come, it had been of his own will and there had been extenuating circumstances.

A possible ghost in the Hub isn't an extenuating circumstance, then? The voice in Jack's head inquired.

Jack sighed. He knew he should have dealt with this a lot sooner. Probably from the moment he suspected anything he should have called the wizard right back to Cardiff to take a closer look. But there hadn't been any other event since that night. And Jack couldn't bring himself to be the one rehash the past again. So he'd waited and maybe hoped that it had just been his own imagination.

Procrastination. Always comes back to bite you on the ass.

Jack wondered when his conscience started sounding a little like Owen.

He stared at the card in his hand again. If he did decide to call the wizard back to Cardiff, he would have to tread carefully. Ideally, he'd want him to come in and take care off the problem without the rest of the team knowing. It'd be a simple, quick exorcism. Jack had seen him do it the last time with Annie Braithwaite's ghost. This shouldn't be any different. But even so, it would be so much easier if they could somehow deal with it themselves. Like they had with Eugene Jones.

Tapping the card lightly on his desk, Jack opened a drawer to put the card back inside for now when there was a loud crash from below.

"Tosh! Whoa! Whoa!" he heard Owen's voice shout.

Jack raced outside to find Gwen and Owen grappling to keep a hold on a struggling Tosh who was screaming something nonsensical, her face twisted in rage. By their feet was a large knife, the blade stained with blood. The red liquid mixed with the coffee that had leaked all over the floor from the smashed cup. Several steps away, Ianto stood, his face pale and stunned.

He was clutching his left arm that Jack could see was bleeding from a large tear that cut through the wool of his suit and ran from his forearm down to his elbow.

"What the hell's going on?" Jack demanded, rushing over to him.

"She…she attacked him?" Owen said it like he couldn't quite figure out if he believed it himself, despite having witnessed it.

"He brought her a coffee and she took a stab at him," Gwen shouted above Tosh's cries. "She just lashed out."

Jack grabbed Ianto's elbow without thinking, eliciting a sharp hiss from the Welshman. Jack immediately let go. "You okay?" Jack asked, sharply.

Ianto nodded, still keeping stunned eyes on Tosh. Suddenly, the technician went quiet and slackened so much that Owen and Gwen went from restraining her to having to hold her up. For a minute, Gwen thought she'd passed out when Tosh shivered violently and looked over to where Jack and Ianto stood. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, god," she gasped, seeing the blood drip off Ianto's fingers.

"Tosh?" Owen called, unsure. He hesitatingly let go of her arm, but kept his hands on her shoulder just in case.

Tosh pressed her free hand to her mouth, her expression horrified. "Oh, god," she repeated. "Oh…I…Ianto…I didn't mean…" Fear flooded her dark eyes. "I don't know why I did that. I didn't mean…I'm sorry. Oh, god, Ianto I'm so sorry."

Whatever anger had disfigured her features just before she'd lunged at Ianto was completely gone. Tosh was herself again, only now in tears. Seeing her sobbing, Ianto took a step toward her before Jack put a hand on his uninjured arm to keep him from going any further. "It's okay, Tosh," the Welshman reassured, quietly. "It's fine. It's okay."

"I'm sorry," Tosh wept as Gwen moved from holding her back to just holding her. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. I don't know what's happening."

TBC