"Stop what you're doing! listen up!" Jack shouted as he bounded out of his office.

There was no evidence that he had spoken at all. Everyone continued with their work, showing no acknowledgment to their boss's outburst.

"Guys! Hello there!" Jack tried again. Still there was nothing. "Ianto, Gwen, Owen, Tosh!"

"Have you really not gotten the message yet?" Jack's face showed clear confusion at Gwen's response. "We're not talking to you. Remember what happened yesterday?"

Jack nodded before exclaiming "of course I do, but I thought you were all over that. Ianto is, he said it was fine"

Ianto turned towards Jack with a glare.

"What?!" Jack shrugged back.

"Right!" Owen responded, his voice coming up from the medical bay. As he reached the top of the stairs he turned his attention towards Ianto. "What's he talking about?"

Ianto sighed heavily "well, it's a lot harder for me! you lot can carry out your silent treatment and then just head home and enjoy your evening. Jack and I had a date last night at that French restaurant in the town. I couldn't just carry on the silence treatment, could I? some date that would have been! an evening of silence."

"I don't think you could have managed that in the events that followed" Jack grinned at his lover.

Ianto blushed but also managed to respond with a slight smile.

Jack continued "look I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to get us so lost. I just don't trust those Sat Nav things. I'm sorry that you all got so wet, I thought the SUV could take it..."

"Well clearly not" Tosh muttered, removing her glasses slowly.

"Forgiven?" Jack asked, putting his hands together in a mock prayer.

"I guess" Ianto shrugged. Before Jack could responded a grin formed on Ianto's features "on one condition. You clean it?"

Jack's face fell. "clean it, really? you mean you haven't already done that? your standards are slipping"

Owen laughed as he walked over and patted Ianto on the back "well that's pretty clear. I mean look at his boyfriend!"

Ianto chuckled at Jack's responsive pout "a boyfriend that not has some cleaning to do"

Jack softly nodded in response. He knew there was going to be no way out of this one. "fine. but only for you" he added with a wink. "Anyway, I bellowed at you because I think we should go on holiday"

"Holiday?" Gwen asked "all of us?"

"Together?" Owen added.

Jack flashed a smile in their direction. "yes, as a team. A bit of bonding, no work"

Ianto nodded in consent "sounds good to me. All on Torchwoods expense I presume?"

"Naturally" Jack confirmed.

Tosh smiled "a little Torchwood outing? so where you thinking, boss?"

"Well..." Jack stuttered looking down at the floor "I thought maybe we could re-establish our links in the Brecon Beacons"

"What?!" four shocked voices immediately responded.

Jack sighed and slowly began "It'll be okay, even fun this time!. The fresh air and landscape will do us all good. It's important to not have any fears. If we need to go there for an emergency, I want us to have no apprehension. So we're going, that's an order. Nothing will happen this time, your handsome protector will not leave your side."

Ianto gave a slight smile in response, determined not to show any fear.


"I can't believe this is happening" Owen sighed.

"I can't believe Ianto gets to ride shotgun!" Gwen added.

Owen grinned and muttered "I wonder why"

Jack's laugh boomed around the car as he switched the SUV into first gear. "He's directing me. He knows this area better then any of you."

Gwen responded with a sarcastic laugh before leaning forward and muttering to Jack "you do know that him giving you directions does not need to involve you touching or kissing him?"

"God, you guys are frigid" Jack responded with a sigh. "I only kissed him once."

"You know, it's quite squashed back here." Tosh moaned while fidgeting around, trying to find a comfortable position. "Maybe we should invest in a people carrier or something."

"Maybe we should" Ianto quipped in "At least Jack couldn't drive at 150 miles per hour. Survival rate of journeys would greatly increase."

"Hey! that's not fair!" Jack exclaimed defensively. "I've never crashed before!"

Ianto scoffed back at him "you liar!"

"Okay, well I've never crashed the SUV..."

"Yeah, but you battered up my car!" Ianto responded.


"How many?" Owen asked as the group carried the large tent out from the boot.

"Four" Tosh confirmed after look at the tent bag.

Owen glared over at Jack "I thought this was meant to be a holiday? there's not even enough room for us in the tent!"

"The middle sections of these things our huge, a person can easily sleep comfortably in there" Gwen suggested.

Owen scoffed in response "yeah, and I wonder who that will be!"

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"Well, the girls will obviously share, so they'll have one compartment. Then out of us lads it doesn't take a genius to see who's going to be left out on their own."

Ianto stayed silent as he looked over at Jack. Owen definitely had a point."

"Okay Owen, you and Ianto can have the compartment. I'll be fine in the middle section."

"Jack?" Ianto questioned. It was hard enough to be away from Jack any night but out here with so many bad memories to plague him, Ianto needed him.

Jack squeezed Ianto's hand in a reassuring gesture.


"Bloody Welsh weather!" Owen remarked as the five adults were squashed together in the centre of the tent. For the last half hour all of them except Jack had been leisurely sipping from larger bottles that the boss had brought along.

"We're meant to be team bonding, right? Gwen quipped in. "So lets chat."

The four other looked up at her with a definite lack of enthusiasm.

"Tosh!" Gwen exclaimed causing the Japanese women to jump back slightly "Tell us about you"

"Okay" Toshiko responded reluctantly "so, born in London but moved to Osaka when I was two. Came back here a few years later and got a job with the ministry of defence. Then I came here."

"That it?" Gwen remarked with a sigh "how did you get from the ministry of defence to Torchwood?"

"It wasn't exciting. Jack just tracked me down and asked me to join."

Jack looked over at her but said nothing.

"Right" Gwen muttered, clearing disappointed at the lack of gossip. "Ianto?"

"Born in Cardiff. Average childhood. Average school. I have a sister Rhiannon, she's a few years old then me. Went from school to university in London and got a job at Torchwood one and then... well... you know the rest" he trailed off clearly not prepared to talk about his experiences there.

"What about your parents?" Tosh asked.

Ianto gulped before responding solemnly "both dead now"

Tosh reached over and gave his arm a quick squeeze "I'm sorry"

Jack reached over and entwined his fingers with Ianto's, resting their entwined hands in the young mans lap.

"Don't worry about it. My Father wasn't exactly the best Dad you'll ever meet"

No one was brave enough to enquire any further so Jack hastily changed the subject.

"Then Myfanwy brought us together" he said with a grin.

"Literally" added Ianto.

The girls grinned in their direction as Owen scoffed loudly.

"Please stop, romance makes me queasy."

Ianto looked down at his lap, staring down at his and Jack's entwined hands. In one quick movement he flung his hand away and turned his face from the group. Jack whipped his head round to Ianto in shock. Upon seeing his lovers demeanour Jack merely nodded sadly remembering Ianto's insecurities about exactly where he and Jack stood.

As the team looked at Jack sympathetically his defensive wall shot up. "This is ridiculous Ianto! no matter what I do I can't win. I try to talk to you about us and you don't want to know. I try to lay off and you push me for more. I attempt to get us to talk properly but you just respond with a load of lame excuses! I really don't know what your problem is! But maybe I don't need to... if this, us, is not going anywhere then what's the point? You don't want anything official and your too clingy for a part-time shag. Anyway, I don't need you for that!"

Ianto just stormed out of the tent and into the rain.