When Jack's Gone

A/N: This is just an idea had a while ago and I hope people will enjoy it (and review it!)

It had happened so suddenly no-one had any idea what was going on. Basically, one minute Jack was there, then there had been some strange noise outside, and a strong wind that had messed the Hub up, and Jack was gone.

After about an hour searching, checking CCTV and a lot of shouting, they had deduced that something had come through the rift and taken him. He wasn't coming through on their comms, and they couldn't track him. He had just vanished.

None of the team was sure of how to deal with it. They'd never been in Hub without Jack there, or on the comms. It was like, without him, they were nothing. Torchwood no longer meant anything.

They'd all had a meeting to and work out what they should do. They were all looking forward to having some of Ianto's coffee to bring them to their senses. Strangely though, the coffee wasn't as good as it should have been; in fact, it was disgusting. Normally, Ianto always tasted his coffee before he served it, and if it wasn't up to standard, he would make a fresh brew. It was annoyingly clear that he couldn't care less this time. Annoyingly because this brew was beyond disgusting; it was barely drinkable. Apart from the first sip of each mug, it was left on the table, going stone cold.

Even if it was the normal coffee, not much of it would have been drunk anyway; they were all too concerned as to what they should do. Well, all of them except Ianto Owen noticed. Owen kept an eye on the young Welshman throughout the whole meeting. As a result of neither man making much commitment to the meeting, Gwen and Tosh carried the whole thing, so it was decided between the two women that Gwen would take charge of the team while everyone else just did what they had already done.

As everyone cleared out, Owen noticed that Ianto hadn't moved; he was still in the same position he had been after he'd put the awful mugs of coffee on the table at the beginning. He was just staring at the wall. He didn't even look like he was breathing. Owen edged toward him. Ever since the Lisa incident, Owen was never sure what to say to Ianto. He would never admit, but he was a little afraid of him.

He started to pick the full mugs of coffee up. He was watching Ianto as he did so, and nearly dropped one. Ianto snapped out of his trance at the sound, and took the mugs out of Owen's hands and started to pick the rest up.

As he made his way out of the door, he turned back to Owen, and apologised for the awful coffee. Owen just smiled and nodded. He watched Ianto as he empty mugs away. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the young man.

A few weeks later, and still no word from Jack. As a result, the coffee had somehow gone from bad to worse. No-one thought that it could have gotten worse from that day Jack had vanished, but Ianto was seriously letting the standard slip. It was getting so bad; Tosh had started smuggling takeaway coffee into the Hub for everyone. Well, everyone except Ianto, who drank his own terrible coffee.

Everyone knew why Ianto was acting so withdrawn; Jack. They were all missing him, and it was effecting all of their work (Gwen was missing some fairly obvious things in reports, Tosh was leaving information out of reports, and Owen had nearly killed himself the other day by attempting to catch a scalpel after he dropped it, but luckily he had missed it) but none of them was letting it affect the way they acted. Except Ianto.

Gwen and Tosh hadn't really noticed; they were too busy trying to keep everything running smoothly without Jack. Owen was too of course, but he had also managed to not only notice how bad the coffee was, but also how Ianto was acting. He hadn't mentioned it to the girls, as he had expected them to have noticed by now.

Owen was a doctor; therefore it was part of his job to care about the wellbeing of others. But only when people came to him complaining of a problem. He never thought he would have to tell anyone they had a problem before he worked out what it was. He knew he would have to, he just didn't know how.

That night, Owen stood outside Ianto's building. He was quite nervous; the two weren't exactly the best of friends. In fact, less the month earlier, Ianto had shot Owen. At the time, Owen was furious. Looking back at it, he could see that he had been in the wrong, and Ianto had been in the right. Not that he would ever admit it of course.

Taking a deep breath, Owen rang the doorbell for Ianto's flat. There was no reply. Owen wasn't surprised, he was just grateful it wasn't raining. He rang the doorbell again. This time, a pretty young woman in a dressing gown answered the door.
"You looking for Ianto?" she asked, with a thick English accent and a surprisingly sweet smile, considering he had obviously got her out of bed.
"Um, yeah, is he in?" he replied, embarrassed.
"Yeah, but he's been acting weird for a few weeks. Do you know why? I'm really worried about him."
"Well, I'm his doctor, and I just came to check on him actually."
The girl looked relieved. "Okay, well I should just go up if I were you."
"Thanks." He said, as he went up the stairs.

He knocked on Ianto's door.
"Go away." Came Ianto's voice. He didn't sound drunk. He did, however, sound like he was crying.
"Ianto let me in." There was a pause. "Please, mate. I just wanna talk to you."
Ianto answered the door. He looked surprised to see Owen, but let him in nonetheless.

Ianto's flat was immaculately kept. There was a place for everything, and everything was in its place. There was no alcohol out, so at least Ianto hadn't been trying to drink his troubles away. Instead, there were tissues everywhere. To confirm Owen's suspicion, Ianto's eyes were red and puffy.

Ianto knew Owen had worked that out, but he still tried to be polite.
"Can I get you a drink?" he sounded like he was close to crying again.
"No, thanks." It instantly became very awkward. Ianto gestured to the sofa. Owen sat down. More awkwardness. Ianto sat down next to him. Another dose of awkwardness.

After what felt like a lifetime, but was actually less than 5 minutes, Ianto spoke up.
"Why are you here Owen?" Ianto wouldn't look at him as he said it.
"I'm worried about you, mate." Now Ianto looked at him in confusion. "I know you're normally very quiet, but since Jack left, you've been much quieter. And, no offence, but your coffee's been terrible. I don't know if you've noticed, but Toshiko's been smuggling takeaway coffee in."
"I noticed."
"Then why didn't you say anything? Last time we had takeaway coffee, you lectured us for nearly two hours about how hard you work to make us fresh coffee everyday!"
"I just couldn't be bothered."
Owen was gob-smacked. Ianto, not caring about coffee! The very thought seemed impossible!
Ianto continued, "So other than to confess to me that you lot have been smuggling takeaway coffee into the Hub, why are you here?"
"As I said, I'm worried about you. It's not just the coffee, although that it a big issue, you just don't seem to care about anything anymore." There was a pause. "It's Jack isn't it?"
Owen saw Ianto tense up. Owen swallowed. "Look, we all miss him, and all our work is being affected in some way or another, but we're all acting the same. You're not." Another pause. "Talk to me Ianto! I'm a doctor for Christ's sake!"
Ianto took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes, it's Jack. I know I'm overreacting, and I'm sorry, but I just don't know what to do! He just vanished! A-" he wanted to go, on but, quite suddenly, he had a coughing fit, and that was the end of his speech. Owen hit him on the back until he stopped. Ianto, obviously embarrassed, then proceeded to go get some drinks from the kitchen, leaving Owen alone with his thoughts.

Ianto didn't normally have coughing fits, Owen knew that. In Owen's doctor opinion, it sounded a lot like a smoker's cough. When Ianto came back in the room, he asked him straight out, "Ianto, do you smoke?"
As Owen had expected, Ianto looked appalled. "No, why?"
Owen was faced with a decision; tell Ianto the truth and probably get yelled at, or lie and try to work it out for himself. He went with the one he wouldn't normally go for; the truth.
"It's just, well, that coughing fit, you had just then, people who cough like that tend to be smokers. Do you?" Silence. "Ianto, come on, this is for your health. Talk to me mate." More silence. "Either you tell me now and we talk about it, or you don't and I find out myself and cause unnecessary embarrassment for both of us. The choice is yours."

Ianto took another deep breath. "Okay, yes I do smoke. The only other option I could think of was to drink, and I prefer the idea of smoking, although I'm not happy about it." Ianto looked close to tears. "I'm sorry, alright. But… I… it's just." He couldn't find the words. Tears were spilling down his face now.

Owen had no idea what to do. Last time he'd seen someone cry because they were confession an addiction, it had been in the early years of his career at Cardiff General Hospital. It had been a fourteen-year-old girl with a heroin addiction. She had been crying because the people she had called her 'friends' had threatened to kill her if she didn't take it. So, looking at Ianto now, Owen suspected that there was a bigger secret than just the smoking. Owen just prayed that he didn't have another hidden cyber-girlfriend somewhere.

He didn't press the matter any further that night. He'd got Ianto another box of tissues from the cupboard, made his excuses, and left. He would continue his Ianto investigation tomorrow.

A/N: I hope this has been enjoyed! I will continue this if people want me to. To let me know you want me to, please review!