Author's Note: Huge thank you to those who comments and added my story to their alerts! You make me happy and I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Chapter 2 gets going a bit more and is longer so hope you like this just as much!

Disclaimer: Recognised characters are not mine.

Soulmates

Chapter Two

The thud of Jack's boots echoed around the Hub, the buttons on his open coat clanging against the railings as he took the stairs two at a time to reach the main computer consoles. Gwen turned from where she was monitoring the latest Rift activity, jumping slightly at the sudden appearance of her boss.

"Jack..." she started, intending on filling him in on the inverted spike which had appeared on the latest readout.

Jack ignored her, and logged onto an empty console. Gwen looked him over. His hair was windswept, his cheeks flushed and his clothes crumbled and ruffled. Gwen narrowed her eyes as she squinted at Jack. Was he crying? She looked around the Hub and frowned.

"Where's Ianto?" She asked, knowing the two of them had agreed to take time away from the Hub. It was the reason she was there alone that night, having forced them out of the door by agreeing to be on Rift watch. When Jack continued to ignore her and tapped frantically at the buttons on the keyboard, screen after screen flashing past on the monitor, Gwen grew scared. She took up and crept towards him, not wanting to disturb him but the desperate look on Jack's face, the franticness of his actions and the tears which continued to creep down his cheeks caused a painful knot to appear in her stomach. She reached out and lightly touched Jack's arm.

"Jack," she repeated.

"It took him Gwen," Jack hissed through clenched teeth, "the Rift took Ianto."

* * * * *

Ianto looked around, blinking as the bright light faded from around him. His heart rate hammered in his ears and his breathing scratched at his throat. People bumped into him, as if they didn't see him standing there. Hundreds of people all scurrying about, packages clutched to their chests, their heads down, not looking at anyone else, as if they just wanted to disappear. He was standing in a street. It was paved but not with anything he had ever seen. Ianto turned his head to the sky, following the height of the buildings which reached up from each side of the street. The tops weren't visible, swallowed by cloud cover. It was dark, like night time, but it was as busy as though it was day. The lower floors of buildings were bright with light, like shops and restaurants. People walked out of them carrying plates of food and bags of shopping. Everyone was dressed in similar attire, baggy clothes of plain colours and simple shoes – no socks. Murmurs of conversation floated about, giving a low buzzing noise to the air. Cries of creatures as large as buses which flew overhead drowned out the murmurs without warning but nothing landed, and shadows with huge beating wings disappeared between the cloud covering buildings.

Ianto looked around once more, suddenly feeling dizzy and disoriented. He sat down on the floor, not caring about the feet that kicked him as they passed by. He watched his hands shake and clenched his fists. Where was he? The last thing he remember was Jack... being with Jack. Kissing him... A ghost of a smile touched Ianto's face briefly. Then there was running... the Rift! The Rift had opened and then he remembered a light and Jack's panicked face and then... then...

"Then I was here..." he whispered out loud, the sound of his own voice startling him.

But where was here? The people around him looked human enough and he could breathe the air, but apart from those vaguely comforting conclusions, there was nothing to help him. He could be hundreds, even thousands of light years from home. And he knew the chances of him being returned were damn near 0%. Tears suddenly blurred his vision and he covered his face with his hands. And in the middle of this alien street, being ignored by everyone around him, his friends and family having no idea where he was, Ianto Jones cried.

* * * * *

"Jack, what are you trying to do?" Gwen shook his arm, almost desperately. Jack had been working at the computer solidly for four hours. He hadn't said anything after after the revelation that Ianto had gone. His tears had dried in shining tracks on his cheeks and his eyes were bloodshot from crying and staring fixatedly at the computer screen for so long but Gwen couldn't rouse him.

She had gone off on her own for a while and grieved for Ianto, calling Rhys and sobbing down the phone. Then returned with a cup of coffee for Jack which now lay stone cold next to him. He hadn't even glanced at it. Gwen couldn't work out what he was doing. It was all happening too fast. Jack seemed to be searching through files and programmes, looking for something, then every so often Rift readouts and predictions would appear and vanish. Gwen couldn't make sense of it and only hoped the Rift hadn't spat something out when it took Ianto. If she was the only member of Torchwood currently functioning, they would have no chance if something decided to attack. Gwen just wished Jack would speak to her.

Suddenly, Jack leapt out of his seat with what, at a stretch, could be classed as a triumphant cry. Gwen jumped and backed away, suddenly afraid at the grim look in Jack's eyes. She daren't speak but waited, hoping her boss, her friend, would finally explain himself. Jack stared at her, opened his mouth but then turned, his greatcoat flapping behind him. He vanished up to his office and Gwen could hear a lot of banging about, papers fluttering and a chair being overturned. Before she could make a decision as to whether she should intervene or not, Jack reappeared, ran back downstairs and hurriedly typed in a long and complicated looking password into the computer he had been working at. Whatever it did, it was what he was looking for and Jack turned to her, the sudden smile on his face refusing to reach his eyes.

"I'm going after him," Jack said, turning towards the weapons bay.

"You're... WHAT?!" Gwen was horrified as she realised Jack's intentions. "Jack you CAN'T!"

"Yes, I can," Jack called back to her as he went to load guns and find places to keep them on his body that wouldn't put himself at risk or restrict his movements.

"Jack," Gwen appeared at his side and roughly grabbed his arm, forcing him to face her, "you can't go into the Rift. You could end up anywhere, you'll never come back. Ianto is gone and I'm sorry, I truly am, but this is madness! What about Torchwood? What happens here if you go too? Have you even thought about that? You can't control the Rift, Jack. You can't find Ianto."

"Yes, I can," Jack repeated, yanking his arm from Gwen's grip, "before she died, Toshiko was working on a programme which allowed us to track the Rift in ways that had never been done before. Instead of just tracking its activity as we were doing, it would track the time and place from the other side of the Rift, essentially knowing where the other side would come out. I asked her to look at it after you discovered Flat Holm. The energy you put into it reminded me of why we are here. And I figured if we could find out where a person was taken when they entered the Rift, we could bring them back unharmed. It was just an idea but Tosh managed to get it finished. And I'm going to give it a test run."

"NO!" Gwen pleaded with him, smacking his arm to make sure she had his attention, "it's not been tested and you're still talking about controlling the Rift. That's dangerous, you could destroy Cardiff, not to mention the world. It can't be done, Jack."

"Watch me," Jack finished loading his guns and straightened his greatcoat into place. He reached out and touched Gwen's face, cupping her chin in his hands. He looked deep into her eyes and kissed her lips, "this programme, will briefly open the Rift to the same time and place as the last. I'm going to bring Ianto back to us."

Gwen's lip trembled as she watched Jack punch more commands into the computer, "but what about me?"

"Phone Martha Jones at U.N.I.T. Explain everything to her. She'll help you find some temporary Torchwood employees. Bring Rhys in; I'm sure you'll find him something to do. I have to get Ianto, Gwen. I can't lose another."

Gwen opened her mouth but no words came out. She had run out of arguments and could do nothing but helplessly watch as Jack brought up the commands to open the Rift. Fear replaced her blood and she trembled, wrapping her arms around herself. She didn't want to think about what would happen if this went wrong, if Jack ended up god knows where and the Rift didn't close after he'd gone through.

Jack finished his commands on the computer and stood up straight. He didn't look at Gwen, traces of guilt starting to thread through his system. He loved Ianto. There was no way on Earth, or any other planet, he was going to just abandon him out there if there was a chance of rescuing him. Common sense told him this could go horribly wrong, but his head had lost the battle to stay in control several hours ago. He remembered Ianto's confused expression as the Rift swallowed him, like he wasn't exactly sure what was happening. Jack closed his eyes tightly. I'm coming for you, Ianto. He promised. Jack reached over the struck the Enter key. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. Then a crack echoed through the Hub and a streak of lightening tore through the roof and stayed there, crackling and spitting out flares.

"I'll be back," he promised Gwen, half turning to acknowledge her presence, "I've downloaded the same programme into my vortex manipulator so there's no chance of me being stranded." The words I promise lingered on the edge of his tongue but never made it out loud.

Then he walked into the sliver of light, his body vanishing before Gwen's eyes. The lightning instantly vanished, and was replaced by silence. Gwen's breathing was loud in her ears as she stared at the spot where the lightning had struck. She looked up at the hole in the roof of the Hub and sank down on the nearest chair. She had picked up the nearest phone and dialled Rhys' number without realising it. She couldn't do this alone.