Disclaimer: Please see Chapter One for all disclaimers. This chapter was written by Vampire's Phoenix!
"Yes sir...No he...Yes I know but...Yes Sir. I'll see to it, sir."
It took every bit of Ianto's patience and professionalism not to throw the phone through the glass separating his boss' office from the rest of the hub. Arthur wasn't one to easily lose his patience but for some reason when Jack entered the equation, everything became a random variable. For some reason every time Jack and Arthur came within a reasonable distance, or even spoke over the phone, the conversation progressed into a shouting match. It was worse than Jack's calls to UNIT. At least then Ianto could usually take over and calm everyone's nerves. There was a particularly memorable event that involved Ianto's stopwatch and a pair of handcuffs they had salvaged from a destroyed Mara ship...
No! This time thoughts of what he and his boss used to do together would not deter his frustration and annoyance. This time Jack had gone too far. Though honestly you'd think Arthur would have gotten used to Jack's style of 51st century flirting. It wasn't as though Jack meant it half the time...sort of. Jack flirted with everything with a pulse, no matter who or what they were. It was just who he was...even if it drove Ianto crazy.
He sat down on the couch next to Jack's desk. Currently Jack and Gwen were gone, inspecting some sort of glowing rock a kid found just outside of Splott. Owen was autopsying a dead alien that had been washed up by the Rift and Toshiko was working on a new program for Rift activity detection. Ianto had been ordered to stay behind to search the archives for anything that could be related to the rock. There was nothing, he could have told Jack right then and there, but Jack had been adamant that he go only with Gwen. As he usually did as of late.
Ianto collapsed back on the couch. Jack had been gone for a month...gone with that Doctor of his. It had only been two weeks sine he had been back and already the ex-Time Agent had swooned in like he had never been gone. It was as though everything had gone back to the way it was, Jack and Gwen included. Ianto sighed with frustration. They had not slept together since the immortal man had returned. Every night Ianto went home alone, though he would not falter in his decisions. He wasn't about to let Jack back in so easily.
He stood when he heard the hub alarms alerted the return of Jack and Gwen, with a rather large glowing box. Ianto steeled himself before going out to deliver the verdict from Arthur. Jack had avoided this for long enough. It was time to pay the piper.