Thank you for the extremely warm welcome back. I got some lovely messages and reviews and they all made me smile.
When I wrote the first chapter of this it was purely a scene I'd had in my head. I had no idea what was going to happen next or what plot the story would have. I hope you all like what I've come up with here.
Please review x
"What?" Owen and Ianto exclaimed together, their heads both looking up almost in sync. They were sat around the meeting room table in the Hub a few days later with the rest of the team. Barely a word had been exchanged between the two of them since the steamy kiss, but nobody else really noticed as their relationship was hardly the most chatty even at the best of times. When Ianto had emerged into the main Hub he'd seen Owen scurry back down into his medical bay without a backward glance. He'd gone off to the kitchen to make a batch of coffees but upon delivering one to the medic he'd received nothing more than his usual vague mumble of "Thanks."
"Are you okay?" Ianto had asked, keeping his voice low as to not draw attention from the rest of the team.
"Fine." Owen replied simply, not lifting his eyes from the paperwork he was clearly pretending to fill in.
"Clearly." Ianto sighed before turning on his heel and returning to his work, missing the sneaky flick of Owen's eyes as he went, settling all be it briefly on his departing body. The Londoner had let out his own irritated sigh before rubbing his hands over his hair, grasping at it in frustration, before letting out a barely audible curse.
"You want us to what?" Owen asked, his voice a mix of irritation and surprise as he scowled at Jack across the meeting room.
"As I just said," Jack began sounding a little frustrated, "I need two of you to spend a few nights sleeping rough in Bute Park. There's been a spate of homeless people going missing and we need to investigate."
"Isn't that what the police are for? Or social services? Or somebody who might care?" Owen asked harshly.
"These people are vanishing almost without trace. Tosh has pinpointed Rift spikes in the area. Could you try listening at any point when we come in here for these little gatherings?" Jack remarked.
"So why do we need to sleep out there?" Ianto asked calmly.
"We don't know its the Rift. We're just working on a theory. We need you to talk to other homeless people and see what they know. They're more likely to talk to you if they think you're the same as them." Jack explained. "We have clothes you can use, and it shouldn't be too hard for you to come up with stories and identities. Thankfully we don't need to come up with any paperwork as the homeless don't tend to carry any. You won't be able to carry your comms on you but we've a couple of old battered mobiles you can use if you need to get in touch. It should take a few nights at the most."
"Can't I just go on my own?" Owen asked.
"If something or someone is taking people, especially the Rift, we need to know about it. We need to find out what's going on." Jack explained.
"So you're basically using one of us as bait and the other as a witness?" Owen pointed out roughly.
"Hopefully not." Jack replied. "Right, get to work."