Don't own Torchwood or its characters. I just feel free to abuse the heck out of them…

TW

Ianto woke up slowly, eyes adjusting to the gloom surrounding him. He could hear voices near him, low, too quiet for him to make out what they were saying. He grimaced when he tried to move, realizing his hands were bound behind him, tied together and pressed against a cold pipe. He tried to pull away, finding his neck was also bound to a pipe. A gag was in his mouth, muffling the cry of pain as the leather strap around his neck tightened. The more he pulled away from the pipe, the tighter it got. Soon it was digging into his skin and he stopped, breathing heavily. He was tied in a sitting position, his legs straight out in front of him and he felt another strap securing his ankles together. Great, he thought to himself. I was already having a crap day.

Who had taken him? Some sort of alien? Some old enemy of Jack's, bent on revenge? He peered into the darkness, toward the tiny lantern his captors were huddled around. They appeared human, but appearances were often deceiving. He could count three. Two men, one woman. He recognized the hoodie on her, and his memories came back. The tourist in the shop, her smile as she watched him being taken. He started to panic, but remembered Jack. Torchwood would already be tracking him down. Ianto wondered how long he'd been unconscious. He peered into the darkness when he realized that the low voices had become silent. The woman approached carrying the lantern, followed closely by her two colleagues.

"If I remove the gag, will you promise not to yell for help? No one can hear you."

Ianto felt a lump in his throat, and his stomach started doing flips. He didn't move.

"Can you hear me?" He nodded. "Do you promise not to scream?" He shook his head no and a smirk parted her lips slightly. Dammit, he thought to himself. He felt like such a coward, but he couldn't help being terrified. "Well," her voice filled with hatred, "if you do scream or yell or say one word without being asked to, these two will shut you up. Am I understood?" Ianto nodded, and the woman removed the gag. He bit his tongue, wanting to ask them who they were, but remembering her threat. Jack would've asked, as would Owen, Tosh or Gwen, damn the consequences. He couldn't help being ashamed of himself, but he held his tongue. Just hold out until Jack gets here. One of the men whispered to her and she nodded.

"We need you to do something for us. There's something inside one of your vaults. Torchwood took it away from us, and we need you to get it back for us." Ianto just stared at her. She held a piece of paper in front of his face, bringing the lantern up so he could see what was drawn on it. "Do you recognize it?" He lied, shaking his head no. He had catalogued it earlier today. An appearance manipulator, it let the wearer appear as anything that the manipulator had come into close proximity with. His denial earned him a rough kick in the side from the man on the left, and he grimaced as the neck strap tightened. His side ached and he could feel a cracked rib as he breathed. "Do you recognize it?" she repeated.

"No." He may not be as brave as Jack, but he knew when he should lie. The man's foot came down on Ianto's knee and he jerked in pain. "One more of those to your knee and you might break something. Do you recognize it?" He shook his head, grimacing as he saw the man raising his foot. "That's enough, I believe him." Thank God. "Will you be able to find it?" The man on the right stepped forward, standing extremely close to Ianto, looming over him.

"Maybe, I don't know." A kick to his other side. "Yes, probably," he amended.

The woman's voice continued. "Good, my colleagues will give you instructions on the way back to Cardiff."

"I said I could find it, I didn't say I would." He'd earned a kick to the stomach, and blood leaked slowly from his mouth. The woman laughed merrily, which scared Ianto more than the kicks he'd received. "They're already looking for me. They'll find me and stop you." The woman looked at the man to her right. He pulled out a device from his pocket, hitting a few buttons. He shook his head at her.

"They haven't even noticed you're missing yet. Why do you think we picked you?"

TW

Ianto stood outside the Information Office and brushed himself off. There was dust on his suit, and if he was going to pull this off, no one could know that anything was wrong. He re-buttoned the top few buttons to his shirt and straightened his tie, covering the red marks that had been left by the leather straps. He pulled his shirt sleeves forward as far as they could, again covering the red marks. He took a deep breath, praying that something would happen to save him. He could feel the tiny explosive device they had rather painfully sewn into the skin of his stomach. It was a thin strip of a material he didn't recognize. The two men had held him down while the woman had sewn it onto him with a needle and thread. It was a good thing he was wearing a dark suit, because blood soaking through would definitely tip off someone in the Hub. If they even noticed, he thought to himself. He'd been gone for two hours, and apparently no one had noticed, not even Jack. He tried to hide the limp from when the man had stepped on his knee, and did his best to stand up straight. He could feel the broken rib every time he took a breath. They had planted a small video camera somewhere on him, he still wasn't sure where. He looked around the front of his suit and caught sight of the tie clip. It wasn't his. They'd told him if they lost video feed for any reason, or saw him tipping off anyone, they'd hit the detonator.

Ianto made his way downstairs, starting to take a deep breath to calm himself, but cut it short. His broken rib was going to be a problem. He made his first stop at the coffee maker, trying his best to act normally. Soon he had four cups of steaming hot coffee on a tray and was doing his rounds. Tosh thanked him politely, keeping her eyes on the computer screen in front of her. Gwen took her cup, not saying anything. He handed Owen his cup. The only response he received was a quick, "Took you long enough, Tea Boy." If circumstances had been different, Ianto might've laughed. But things as they were, he responded with a "Sorry" and headed towards Jack's office. This would be the tough one. Jack didn't ignore him like everyone else did.

He went up the stairs slowly, careful not to spill the coffee. He reached Jack's door and knocked. "Come in!"

"Coffee, sir," Ianto stated in his most butler-like voice.

"Hey, Yan, where have you been? Archives?"

Ianto composed himself as he handed Jack his coffee. "Yes, archives." He turned to walk out, praying that Jack would let him go.

"Hey, about earlier with Gwen. She doesn't mean anything by it, you know that, right?"

"Trust me, I'm over it," Ianto stated simply.

Jack stood up and walked around his desk, an impish grin on his face. "Ya know, that cold shower this morning was pretty brutal. I might have to take you up on your offer a little sooner than I'd planned." Ianto tried to remember what had happened. Oh, right. Punishment. He didn't have time for this. They'd given him one and a half hours. Jack leaned in and planted a kiss on Ianto's lips, circling his arm around his waist. Ianto jumped as Jack's arm touched his ribs and he pulled away from the embrace. "What's wrong?" Jack's face grew concerned, and Ianto prayed he didn't blow up right then and there.

"Nothing, Jack. I've just got to get back down to the Archives." Jack's face relaxed a little, and Ianto continued, doing his best to sound like his usual self. "Tonight then, sir?" A smile spread across Jack's face.

"Tonight." Ianto headed down toward the Archives, praying he would be alive to keep that promise.

Ianto walked through the Archives room, straight toward the file cabinet that held the Appearance Manipulator. It was small, designed to be slipped over someone's wrist. He stuffed it into his pocket and headed upstairs. He did his best to avoid scanning the rest of the room with the video camera attached to him, wanting to keep their knowledge of Torchwood to a minimum. He glanced down at his watch. Damn, coffee had taken longer than he'd expected. He'd already used up 45 minutes…half his allotted time. That meant he had 45 minutes to get past everyone and hop into the van waiting a five minute walk away. Maybe he would survive this.

He continued up the stairs and nearly bumped into Jack on his way down. Jack smiled at him. "Thought I could keep you company down here."

Ianto leaned against the wall, trying to be discrete about it. His knee ached and his side throbbed. He did his best to keep his breathing steady. "You hate it down here."

"Hey, it's not about where you are, it's about the company you're in."

"I was just on my way to make some more coffee."

"You just brought us coffee."

"Yes, well, an army marches on its stomach?"

Jack's face held a hint of concern again. "Ianto, did I do something wrong? Are you avoiding me? You have an 'I'm off to make coffee' face, and that wasn't the face you were wearing when I ran into you."

"I wasn't aware of that, sir." Ianto tried frantically to think of a way to wipe the concern off Jack's face. He could feel the explosive strip heating up, a warning from his kidnappers. He was getting desperate. Luckily there was one thing that always brightened Jack's mood. "You're right, sir. I wasn't on my way to make coffee. I thought maybe we could…" He cut himself off and looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"Right now?" Jack asked, disbelief clear in his voice. Ianto never wanted to do anything, and he meant anything, during working hours. Jack's face brightened up immediately and Ianto said a silent prayer of thanks as the strip on his stomach cooled down.

"Well sir, I'm not suggesting anything much. Just maybe a little more of…when I brought you your coffee." Jack didn't need to be invited twice. Soon Ianto was pressed against the wall in the stairway, Jack all over him. Ianto could barely contain the scream that tried to come to the surface. Jack was smashed up against him, and Ianto was finding it hard to breath. His ribs hurt like hell, but he had to deal with it. He put his arm up behind Jack's head, glancing at his watch. Thirty minutes left. Jack pulled back and smiled at Ianto, obviously pleased that he'd loosened up enough to allow something like this at work.

"You okay? Seem a little tense." He was still smiling though, and Ianto smiled back. Just a little longer and Jack wouldn't suspect anything when Ianto would suggest heading back to work. He pulled Jack's face closer, kissing him again. Jack's hands worked their way down his chest. Ianto's blood froze as he felt Jack tense. Jack tried to pull away, but Ianto stayed with him, continuing the embrace Jack was clearly trying to free himself from. Ianto reached down and grabbed Jack's hand, searching it for what had made Jack freeze. There was blood on his hand. Ianto's heart beat wildly, but he didn't break his kiss with Jack. Ianto pulled Jack's hand behind him, wiping the blood off onto the back of his suit. He had no way of knowing if the Tie Clip had audio capabilities as well, and he didn't want to risk it. By now Jack new for sure something was wrong. Ianto hadn't stopped kissing him, and Jack slowly worked his mouth, his eyes open, watching Ianto's fear-filled eyes. Jack did his very best to look reassuring. Ianto finally pulled away, not breaking eye contact. He smiled immediately and Jack followed suit.

"We'd better get back to work, sir. The others might suspect something is up." Jack pretended to pout a little before agreeing. Ianto was relieved that he was playing along.

"Coffee later?" Jack's voice was calm and collected.

"Yep."

"Where are you heading?"

Ianto scrounged for something to say. "I think I'll head to lunch. Do you need me to pick up anything for you, sir?"

"Sure, you know what I like." Jack smiled at him and winked as they parted ways, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

Ianto passed by the others unnoticed. Glancing down at his watch he saw that he only had fifteen minutes left. He rushed out of the Information Office and headed the direction they'd told him to go. He was relieved that Jack hadn't given him away, and even more relieved to know that the team was working to help him…finally.

TW

Aww, poor Ianto! If you're reading this please let me know what you think. This is only my second Torchwood fic ever, so I may not have the characterizations quite down. Oh, and if you can't tell, I'm not a Gwen fan. My first fic I did my very best to make her seem like a nice person, but I decided to vent my feelings about her on this story, as it fits in nicely with the storyline.

This is me begging for reviews, by the way. I'm not beneath begging. *begs some more* They don't have to be nice reviews, you can yell at me for whatever mistakes I made. :D