The Conference

"What I can't figure out," said Tosh as they all sat in the conference room watching her presentation on the alien device, "is why it switched you and Ianto. You came in and threw it on my desk—why not you and me?"

"You're not missing anything," Ianto murmured, and Jack threw him one of those same withering stares Ianto had been so good at in his own body.

"From what I remember," Jack replied, "two people would touch it at the same time to swap bodies with their consciousness."

"Did you and Ianto touch it at the same time then?" she asked. They looked at one another and shook their heads.

"I picked it up first, back in the alley, then tossed it to Jack once he revived," said Ianto. Tosh was still trying to get used to the idea of seeing Jack in a suit—even though she knew it was really Ianto and that it certainly fit his personality better, Jack's body just looked so different, albeit in a good (rather 1980s) kind of way.

Ianto sitting at the head of the table in period military dress was even stranger, and she shook her head to concentrate. She'd spent two hours on the device while they had "cleaned up" and had found almost nothing.

"So you did both touch it," she said. "Ianto touched it first, then Jack. I didn't touch it before I started scanning it. So maybe it remembered you somehow when it finally turned on?"

"But what activated it?" asked Jack. "It did nothing the entire way back to the Hub. Why wait so long? Did you notice anything before it turned on? Did you do anything different?"

"She just started scanning it," said Owen, and Tosh nodded in agreement.

"But I didn't pick up anything on the scanner." She shook her head in frustration. "And I didn't pick up anything after it spun around either, or anything since. It's just like you said—it might as well be broken."

"Maybe there's some trick to activating it, or the scanner had some sort of effect," said Ianto. He turned to Jack. "Have you ever actually used it before? Be honest."

"No, I never did," said Jack with a rueful shrug. "Had to study them, stole a few and sold 'em, but I never really wanted to leave my body. I was fond of it. Still am."

He winked and Tosh watched in fascination as Ianto blushed again.

"Anyway," said Owen, a look of uncomfortable exasperation on his face. "If it's got some sort of memory for whomever touched it, maybe all you need to do is touch it again to switch back."

"But we've all touched it now, so why haven't we all switched bodies?" asked Gwen. "Not that I want to," she added quickly. "No offense."

"Well, it hasn't gone off again, has it?" asked Owen.

"But Tosh has been running scans constantly," Gwen pointed out. "So maybe that wasn't it."

Tosh was thinking. "I haven't figured out how to activate it, but maybe it has to switch them back before it can move on. Perhaps it remembers the last two people who touched it and won't work until they touch it and swap back again."

"Flesh memory," murmured Ianto. "Brilliant, we're in a bloody Harry Potter novel."

Tosh grinned. "Like the Snitch."

"Which was almost certainly an alien, you know," said Jack, his tone going up in that way it had when he was getting ready to tell a tale. "I once saw something just like it on…"

He trailed off at the looks the team was giving him. "You know what a Snitch is?" Gwen asked. Owen snorted.

Ianto sighed. "He borrowed my copy. Kept me up all night asking questions."

There was a slightly stunned silence at the table until Jack finally rolled his (Ianto's) eyes. "So I read at night, big deal. Moving on. If the EED has some sort of flesh memory"—Owen snorted again and Gwen giggled— "then like Owen said, maybe all we need to do is recreate what we did before."

Ianto shrugged. "Worth a try. Tosh?"

She was skeptical; nothing had reactivated the device since it had first came on, and she doubted it would work now for no reason other than they wanted to believe it would. Still, it was something, so she nodded.

Both men reached out toward the device and touched it; nothing happened. Tosh ran her scanner over it several times, but it remained still and dark on the table, and Jack and Ianto shook their heads as they sat back.

"So maybe it just doesn't work anymore," said Owen. "Maybe you're stuck like this."

"Please god no," said Ianto as dryly as Tosh had ever heard Jack's voice drop a line; she was fairly certain Ianto was taking the mickey because Jack shot him an immediate frown.

"Hey! That's my body you're talking about."

"I just want my own back," Ianto replied calmly; but he winked at Tosh, and she hid a smile. "Or I'll have to buy you an entire modern wardrobe."

"Funny. Tosh, what if we—"

Jack was interrupted by the Rift alarm going off; Ianto swore vehemently and they all gave him a look of surprise.

"Sorry, Jack's body and all that."

"Your mind, your words, mate," said Owen, and Jack laughed in spite of the seriousness of the situation; Tosh was already checking her PDA.

"Jack, it looks like the aliens are back, we've got two reports of Rift spikes and disturbances nearby." She gave them all a grim look as she read through the reports. "What to you want to bet they're looking for their toy?"

Jack leaned back and frowned as he stared at the metal knot. "But what's so important about it? When I was with the Time Agency, they were available at just about any underground black market if you knew the right planet and had enough money."

"Maybe this one is different," said Ianto. "You said the two people involved had to touch it at the same time, and we clearly didn't need to do that."

"So maybe this is a prototype of some sort?" asked Tosh. "One person touches it, then another, and then when it's activated, they can…" She trailed off at the implication. "But that would mean you could take someone's body without their permission, just by getting them to touch it and then activating it later."

Jack nodded, arms crossed over his chest as he frowned. "Which would be brilliant if you were either dying and wanted a new body, or were a criminal and wanted to escape."

"I bet we've got the latter," muttered Owen. "Or maybe an alien mob, using it for their witness protection program."

"Maybe it's just broken," said Gwen, obviously trying to stay positive. "Or unfinished. Maybe they need it back so they can get it to work right."

"Or maybe that's how it works: permanently." Ianto didn't look up, and they were all silent as the thought sunk in.

Jack blew out a breath. "I think we have to assume it's dangerous, and that their intentions go a bit beyond having fun with it, given the rather violent reaction we encountered this afternoon and the fact that they've sent more after it. We need to keep this thing secure. If it's a prototype of some kind of weapon and they develop more, they could take over a planet and no one would even know."

"Invasion of the body snatchers," murmured Ianto. "Only without the creepy pods."

The thought was sobering; just two hours before they were laughing about Jack and Ianto swapping bodies and having a bit of fun with it. Now the danger was real, that these aliens could potentially take over people's bodies with such a device.

"All right, where are they?" asked Jack after it sunk in and they all shook themselves of morbid thoughts. "We'll try again after we neutralize them."

"It looks like there's still just the two reports coming in," said Tosh. "One in the city centre and one in Whitchurch."

"All right, Tosh, you stay here and coordinate so you can keep working on that thing some more. Find out how to activate it. I'm going to assume it's not permanent and that it swaps people back like it's supposed to, and I want to be ready to try when we're done with these things. Security Lockdown 3 just in case more show up looking for it. Gwen, Owen, you go out to Whitchurch. Ianto and I will head out to the city centre so we can be closer to the Hub in case something goes wrong." He paused and took a breath. "These things are vicious and messy. Shoot to kill, because they can pop right back up if you don't do it right the first time. And they have no issues with sticking things right through your gut."

Everyone stood, but Owen held back, frowning as he tapped a pen on the table.

"Owen, something wrong?" asked Jack, patient curiousity written across his (Ianto's) face.

"Well it's just that you two—"and he pointed to Jack and Ianto—"are compromised, aren't you? You're operating from inside a body you're not familiar with, under stressful circumstances that could put you at risk in the field."

Jack glanced at Ianto and frowned. "Owen, we can't just stand down. We need to stop these things, and then we'll switch back." He shrugged. "Besides, I'm getting used to it." Ianto nodded in agreement.

Owen stood, still upset about something. He waved the girls off and came to stand very close to Jack and Ianto.

"Look, I hate to be the one pointing this out, but your positions are reversed now. Your mortality is reversed. Jack's body can't die, but Jack—" he turned to Ianto's body—"you can now. Don't go getting teaboy's arse killed, because you'll probably go with it and leave him stuck with your little problem of forever."

"Shit," said Jack, staring at Ianto. "I didn't think of that."

Ianto gave him a funny look. "So now I'm the one who can't die saving the world, and you're the one who will have to be sure you don't make any stupid mistakes."

Jack's (Ianto's) eyes hardened. "That's easier said than done, Ianto. I'm not just going to let you sacrifice yourself if I can help it."

"Funny, I remember saying the same thing a few hours ago," Ianto replied, somewhat cheekily as they stared at one another. Owen took a step back; now he knew what they had been arguing about when they first came in.

"But that was different, you were mortal then!" said Jack.

"And now you are," replied Ianto evenly. He stepped forward as if he wanted to be closer to Jack, but merely offered a small smile instead of reaching out. "Please don't muck up my body too much. I do want it back when this is finished."

Jack closed the distance between them and pulled Ianto into a searing kiss. Owen fled, although he glanced over his shoulder before he left. Leaning his forehead against Ianto, Jack whispered, "Please don't get yourself killed. I don't want you to experience what that's like."

Ianto nodded, though his voice came out hoarse. "I'll try if you try. Now, are you ready?"

"Let's go," said Jack. "We need to tell these things to stay the hell away from our planet with their toys."

Author's Note:

Some of you are reading my mind. It's a bit freaky, or else I'm just getting predictable. I should just let you all write the next chapter, like a choose your own adventure. Ah well. I'm going with it and just hope you enjoy it even if you see it coming from a parsec away. Thank you so much for the reviews! Give me a few for the next chapter, my other plot bunny (Look Not Mournfully) needs to be fed too. :)