A/N:
PCJanto : Thanks it's hard for Jack because really that is a great way into Torchwood (whether that's what this situation is or not you'll find out) As for Gwen, well she's Gwen. If there isn't a reason to avoid it staring her right in the face she tends to the overly emotional, especially in this circumstance.
PiratelfDair: You'll see. Thanks.
Hayley: Thank you
randomness6: yes Ma'am!
30obelow: Glad to hear it! Thank you
Ianto sat in the cell head in his hands. What was going on? He was so confused. Jack's face. That hurt worse then anything. Not when he pointed his gun at him, the look before. The resignation so sure he had gone crazy, he didn't think he'd ever seen Jack so vulnerable. So broken.
He glanced up when he heard footsteps stop outside the cell, "I thought for sure Gwen would come," he said dispassionately.
"We forced her to go home," Martha answered.
Ianto turned away to look at the opposite wall, "And Jack?"
Martha frowned shifting uncomfortably, "Jack's a bit . . . busy, up in his office. He's . . ."
"It's fine," Ianto said without emotion. Then he turned to look at Martha, "He's right you know. You can't trust me."
"Unless we learn how you came back," Martha injected hopefully, "That's what we're going to be working on. Finding out."
Ianto smiled at her. Martha heard footsteps behind her. Ianto looked past her shocked, then she watched as walls seemed to come down cold hate like she'd never seen on Ianto's face settled. "What are you doing here?"
"I work for Torchwood now," Martha heard Johnson say.
Ianto stood up walking right up to the clear wall, "After what you did to Jack? After you BLEW HIM UP? Why the hell have you decided to work here?" His voice was hard with tightly controlled fury burning.
"Ianto?" Martha was shocked, she'd never seen him like this.
"Captain Harkness, found me," she said flatly, "He asked me to work here. I'm here to bring you up," she held up handcuffs.
"Why would I let . . ." Ianto started.
"Captain's orders," Johnson explained.
That stopped him. "Ianto, please," begged Martha. The man glared at the other woman for a full on minute before nodding and offering his hands, mutinous look on his face.
Johnson opened the door, then efficiently hooked the cuffs and angled herself behind Ianto to walk him forward and out of the cells Martha following.
When they entered the main part of the Hub Ianto looked up to Jack's office. He saw the man standing there eyes cold, watching before he turned away and closed the blinds.
"I've got to go prep the medical tests," said Martha, she waited for a nod from Ianto before she turned to go down to the autopsy bay. The other woman led him over to a seat by a bunch of equipment that Mickey was still working with.
"Smith, will you be ok?"asked Johnson.
"Yeah I can handle this," Mickey waved her off, then he looked over at the other man, "You can take the cuffs off though."
"He's a possible threat," she argued.
"He's in the open, in the middle of the Hub, with all of us here. He'd be pretty stupid to try something now."
"My dealings with Jones tend to have proven him clever and unpredictable," she said with some respect in her voice.
"And if he is Jones, then we have nothing to worry about," the young man answered as if it was obvious.
Johnson started, she clearly hadn't thought of that. "Jones happens to be in the room and quite capable of hearing you," Ianto commented acerbically. Johnson quickly removed the cuffs and left.
"Sorry mate," Mickey grinned unrepentantly. "Mickey Smith, by the way," He introduced himself while fiddling with a devise.
"Ianto Jones," He answered even if the other man knew his name.
"Nice to meet you, could have been under better circumstances though."
Ianto let out a sardonic chuckle, "Could have been worse too."
Mickey considered never taking his eyes off of the computer he was working on, "Too true, this is Torchwood after all."
Ianto paused at that the other man spoke as if he knew from experience. "How long have you been working for Torchwood? Oh god, how long have I been gone?" he hadn't even considered the time he was missing. The hub was rebuilt so it had been a significant length of time.
"From what I understand about sixteen months, that you've been gone," answered Mickey a throwing a sympathetic look over, "As for me Jack recruited me about a week ago."
Ianto's head spun, "Over a year."
Mickey turned to him with a scanner running it over him, "Yeah."
Ianto's practical nature came out. He could accept this, he'd accepted weirder before. "And you were only recruited a week ago?"
"Yeah, so was Johnson," he stopped scanning looked at the readout then turned back to the computer.
Now Ianto was confused, "So it was just Jack, Gwen and Martha for over a year?" With Gwen being pregnant that didn't seem possible.
Mickey shook his head, "No, from what I understand, U.N.I.T. was running this place, Martha was working for them and Gwen was advising."
"Jack let U.N.I.T. in here?" Ianto asked with an incredulous look, "Where was he?" he felt a sharp weight settle in his stomach. He didn't like the way things were beginning to look.
"Don't know," another device was waved around him, "You'll have to ask one of the girls."
The men sat in silence of a few minutes. Mickey typing on the computer to interpret the data.
"Anything?" asked Ianto.
"Nothing from any of the quick tests," he sat back still looking at the various screens, "The others will take time to process. You best head down to the autopsy bay."
Ianto briefly considered making a comment to the other man on letting a possible threat loose in the Hub, but decided that would be just a bit too weird at the moment. He got up and headed down to see the doctor.
Martha turned just as he came down, raising an eyebrow, "Hey mister, where's your escort?"
"I left Mickey, unconscious and tied to his computer," he said dryly.
Martha went up the steps to glance out into the main Hub, "Mickey, there's been an invasion of pink elephants," she called.
The man didn't look up from his work, obviously not paying attention, "Uhuh."
She glanced over at Ianto who just raised an eyebrow daring her to argue. She shrugged, "Close enough,"then came back down into the bay. "Just sit down." Ianto sat down on the autopsy table.
Martha rolled up his sleeve and drew some blood, then turned to put it into one of her machines. Ianto took a breath, "What happened?" he asked.
"That's what we're trying to figure out," she answered a bit too quickly. She could feel the look Ianto was giving her. She sighed, "Too much."
"I heard from Mickey that Jack's been gone?"
"Jack ran," Martha answered.
"What?" he asked, "Where to?"
She shrugged picking up the Brekan scanner, and used it, "Every where, was off planet for the last nine or ten months."
"With the Doctor?"
"No."
"Why did he run? My . . . death, shouldn't have been enough to push him to run," Something else must have happened.
Martha set down the scanner. She hooked her foot in the chair and brought it over dropping into it. Ianto felt his unease increase, what was Martha trying to avoid telling him?
"He had minutes to save all the children, millions of children. He had no choice, and after he lost you he was crushed. . ."
"Martha," Ianto interrupted. He knew he didn't want to know, which is exactly why he had to. "Just tell me what he had to do."
"I . . . " Martha looked torn before she finally came to a decision, "It's not my story to tell. I just want you to know, when he tells you what he did, that he had to. To save everyone."
Ianto sat back worry written all over his face. He thought back to the look on Jack's face when he'd shown up at the Hub. What had happened?
