4.
Jack opened the door and let the others in. He didn't know why it needed Owen, Gwen and Tosh to do this and suspected that it was more a case of Gwen and Owen being nosy buggers and wanting to know what his home looked like.
As Tosh set up the small, wireless cameras and tested them, Owen and Gwen snooped around the place, picking up photographs and rifling through the books. When Owen went to touch the book that Ianto had been reading before he died, Jack snapped and grabbed the book before Owen could pick it up and lose Ianto's place. Owen backed away from the bookcase, hands raised in defence.
"Just don't touch anything!" Jack snapped.
When the cameras were in place and Tosh declared them fully functioning, Jack ushered them out of the flat and poured himself a glass of whisky from the cut crystal decanter on the sideboard. He put on a CD of Acker Bilks' greatest hits and sank down on the sofa. He sipped his whisky, enjoying the burn as it slid down his throat. Once he'd finished, Jack picked up the phone and called the local Chinese and felt a pang of shame as he was greeted by name as soon as he started to speak. His shame grew even more when they reeled off his usual order, checking to make sure he didn't want anything different.
As Jack sat and ate his meal, the loneliness that he usually managed to keep at bay, crept up on him and before he knew it, his appetite had disappeared. He put the lids back on the cartons and placed them in the fridge, leaving his dishes on the side.
He was mindful of the cameras as he stripped and deliberately turned his back, denying Tosh of a full frontal shot, smirking as he imagined her disappointed expression.
Jack slept fitfully and when he woke in the morning, it was with an erection and no sign of his release. When he wandered into the kitchen, he found his dirty plates on the side, exactly where he had left them the night before. He wasn't sure whether or not to be disappointed that they hadn't captured any nocturnal footage or pleased that the strange goings-on had seemed to stop.
The next few nights proved to be the same, Jack waking up with a morning erection and the house getting steadily messier. It seemed like Jack's little problem had resolved itself and he requested the recordings be stopped.
On the fifth night, Jack went to bed as normal, leaving his clothes at the foot of the bed and the dirty dishes for the morning. He slept peacefully, dreaming of Ianto and in the morning he woke up feeling satiated and crusty.
Jack washed and went to put the sheets in the hamper, only to stop at the sight of yesterday's clothes crumpled in the bottom. With a look of frustration he quickly dressed and raced to the hub determined to get to the bottom of ithe strange goings on.