Sixteen hours missing….

Jack punched the wall in his room, the scurrying of rats on the other side becoming a normal sound, like the weevils growling in the cells or the soft tap of Tosh's keyboard. They had gone through every possible explanation, the spike in the rift hadn't been enough to take someone… at least not all of them; he cringed at the thought and quickly pushed it aside. He grabbed a cup of coffee and then spit it back in the cup, it tasted like acid and moldy vegetables.

Somehow they had all forgotten how to make coffee, or either the coffee just didn't taste like coffee without Ianto making it. There was no trace of the man, they had gone to his flat and said it looked classy and modern and Jack only grimaced because he knew it was Lisa who had insisted on the modern. Ianto had told him on more than one occasion that while he enjoyed the cleanliness he would much rather have a traditional style to it all. The captain hissed and fell to his bed, groaning as his muscles relaxed for the first time since that morning, he hadn't realized he was so tense. Normally, around this time, Ianto would give him a cup of tea and a backrub as well as a little more to 'tire him out'.

Now, in the early morning hours, he was reminded exactly how cold his bed was, how empty the hub sounded, how musty it smelled without the aroma of coffee; it prickled the back of his eyes and he cursed himself. What had been the last thing he said to Ianto anyway? Something about cleaning up after the rats, or was it something about coffee? He couldn't remember, and that hurt him even more than he chose to acknowledge.

A soft nock on his desk had Jack jumping from the bed and clambering his way up to his office, once there, he was greeted with a haggard and very tired looking Tosh; the invisible lift was also coming down with Gwen and Owen. Jack noted that no one had used the tourists entrance since Ianto was first discovered missing. "You just standing there looking pretty for me, Tosh?" He attempted his normal toothy smile but it failed, she didn't seem to notice and she didn't even try to smile for him.

"There's nothing." she whispered softly, her hand rubbing at her elbow, "what if…" her voice trailed off not wanting to give up on her dear friend and yet, not having any leads left them at a dead end, again.

"Don't even think it." He again attempted a smile and was pleased when he pulled it off half way before it fell into a slight scowl, "we won't give up on him. He wouldn't give up on us."

Owen entered the conversation then, "just don't see how it happened in our own house. It's like something just came in, snatched him, then was gone before we even noticed."

A long silence fell over them and it was as though the guilt of before was settling on them; they had ignored him, taken him for granted…again. They had all just assumed he would be there, Jack most of all and now, he just wasn't there. "I think you should all go home and rest." Jack spoke softer than he had in months, "there's nothing to do here but wait anyway. I'll call if something comes up."

No one objected, lost in their confusion and grief they trudged out, one at a time without passing a word to anyone. Jack watched them and realized a little too late exactly what a big part Ianto had been in their lives.

It was well passed lunch when everyone crawled into the hub, assaulted with the smell of something decaying deep in it's confines and suddenly they were on red alert, Tosh tapping away at keys trying to find the smell. Jack joined them when he heard the quick footsteps across the grate and when he came out of his hole he nearly gagged. "What the hell is that?"

Gwen glanced at him warily, "hoping it's not Ianto."

"It not." Owen perked up from the morgue, "human's don't decompose that quickly."

"They do if they're in a hot part of the hub." Tosh said almost sympathetic as she looked at the screen, "I didn't check the furnace."

"We have a furnace?" Jack was clearly confused.

She nodded, "Ianto keeps up with it so it's no wonder we hadn't a clue. In the scan I didn't even think about going that far, it's old and it covers up any heat signature in the room so it was pointless to even try."

Even before she was finished speaking, Jack, Gwen, and Owen were all running down the corridors of the hub; Gwen was chanting, "please god, no." over and over until one of them told her to shut up.

Jack burst through the door leading to the furnace and the woman behind him doubled over and wretched on the floor, Owen soon followed her. The captain fought against the nausea and only gagged a few times before shutting the door, "Tosh, is there any way you can shut the furnace down? It's too hot and we have to get in there to do clean up."

"Did you find him?"

"We don't know yet."

Twenty seven hours missing….


I...don't actually know where I'm going with this. I did but - now I'm kinda lost. So updates will be slower (hence the reason I'm called "slow as christmas").

Again, thank you all for the favorites/alerts and comments. I read them all even if I don't respond. I'm quite shy and am rather puzzled as to how to respond to them. But I do appreciate them!

Once again, I'm completely open to critique. I don't bite, really. If you think this is going a little off, someone's OOC, or it's just completely absurd - I welcome the critique with open arms.