Gwen and Toshiko had gone home. Owen refused to leave, rudely and flatly. Jack hadn't really had much of a leg to stand on. Most of the monitors in the hub were now tuned to Ianto's cell, watching as he slept peacefully. Scans were running over his system, just checking Ianto over for any change in his condition. He could be drug addicted, his organs were under strain, his blood pressure was low, and he was a mess. Jack didn't blame Owen for insisting on staying. What else could he do, he was a doctor with a seriously ill patient to care for.

But early that morning Owen was taking a nap on the sofa, Ianto woke from four hours of sleep and Jack made his move.

Ianto opened his eyes. He felt tired, and as he moved the shooting riot of fire ran up and down his body. Shifting slightly he tensed at the pain as the mattress dipped; it shot up around his bruised ribs. He felt hot, unbearably so, and it wasn't usually something he complained about. Most of the time he was cold. Ianto pushed the blankets away and lifted his head a little. The first thing he saw was the clear panel at the front of the cell. Ianto paused and stared at it, he forgot about feeling hot as he felt the chills inside as he didn't quite register where he was.

Had they moved him? Ianto stared and stared at the spot he could see, the surface was slightly smeared, it needed a good clean. Shifting on the bed again he winced and realised he was lying on something soft, he stared at the pillow and let his head turn to take in the blankets he was wrapped up in. His hand clenched on the woollen material, his panic rising. He was not used to comforts, everything was usually hard, and cold, and painful. All he could think of for those few seconds was they must have come up with some new plan, a new change in tactic.

Still, some instinct, deep down, drove him and he moved again, slowly rising up on all fours. The blankets covering him up slid away, flopping down as he rose and he turned to look at the sleeping platform on the other side of the cell. It structure and size was familiar, and he turned his head to look at the iron door on the wall behind him. Although it was sluggish, hardly able to put anything coherent together, his mind worked, and he forced himself to run back over events, what he could remember. It sometimes didn't pay to do that, but this time a chain reaction occurred and after a moment, he started to recognise where he was.

It was Torchwood Three, he was in the vaults, locked away. Ianto's mind rolled with the recent events, they had come for him, Jack had come for him when he had called. Ianto winced as he moved, looking down at his tightly bandaged feet, the clean soft clothes – a grey tracksuit that looked little better than a prison suit, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter he was locked away, he could hardly expect Jack to trust him, and it was settling. In recent months his entire life had been one bare room after another; it was oddly reassuring to him.

But he gasped and tensed as he heard the sounds, of metal echoing around the stony space, a gentle rhythmic sound that he soon realised was footsteps coming down the old iron staircase that lay in the corridor beyond. Ianto pressed himself back against the wall, curling his legs under him and reaching out one hand to press against the stone wall behind him. His other hand he wrapped around himself, reaching up to grab the material of the sweatshirt he was wearing. By automatic reaction his head went down and he stared at the lower part of the clear cell wall and waited.

He recognised the boots immediately. They were Jack's. Ianto had spent the last few months knowing who was there by their footwear, and the sound and pace of their footsteps. Jack walked up and stopped by the door in his usual unhurried fashion, his strides long and confident. He paused there for a moment, then there was a gentle sound and Ianto watched the door sweep back and Jack's feet stepped into the cell.

Ianto pressed himself back against the wall, ignoring the pain as his aching body pushed back against the wall. His right hand stretched out, trying to find the corner of the cell. He couldn't quite reach, so he pressed his palm back against the stone wall, hitched a breath and waited. He didn't look up as Jack paused, instead he regarded his boots, they were pointing in his direction so Ianto could assume Jack was looking at him. Ianto waited.

After a moments pause, which seemed to stretch out eternally for Ianto he watched as Jack's feet turned and there was a gentle clatter as he put something down on the other side of the room. Ianto risked bringing his head up a little higher, it was only looking into people's faces that was forbidden, to see what was happening. He stared at the silver box on the sleeping platform and watched as Jack flicked open the catches. Ianto watched, shivering slightly as Jack lifted out a black, rectangular device, turning it in his hands, so it was the right way up. Then he swivelled around and put it on the floor in the centre of the cell.

Ianto lowered his head, staring down and seeing his body shift as he felt a shiver of panic. His legs moved as his thighs tensed and his feet started to throb. He moved a little, going a little further away on the bed, and his fingers dug into the mortar between the stones as he watched Jack's competent hands click something into place. As Jack turned a switch, several green lights flickered on and Ianto flinched, a sound of strangled fear forced it's way out of his ever tightening throat. Blood started to pound in his head, and his heart hammered erratically.

"Ianto," Jack's voice was low and calm as he suddenly addressed him. There was no real emotion to his voice as he spoke. "It's a lie detector, if you say anything that's untrue the lights will turn red. Do you understand?"

Ianto took a second to answer after he heard the question, he nodded his head tentatively, and managed to find his voice, although it was a rather strangled croak. "Yes, Sir."

Jack slowly stood up. Ianto followed Jack's boots as they came towards the bed. Jack bent down and Ianto again saw Jack's hands and the strong muscles of his forearms as he reached for the bedding that had slithered from around him as he had got up. Jack lifted two of the sheets, pulled them out a little and then started to wrap them around Ianto. He eased Ianto forward to put the blanket between him and the wall and tucked it so insistently around his shoulders that Ianto found the hand that had been clenched on his shirt grappling for them to hold the sheets around his body.

"Best we keep you warm," Jack said carefully. Ianto watched every movement as Jack crouched again, so close to him that he caught Jack's familiar scent, it made his throat tighten again but he didn't dare move, despite the instinct to curl up and huddle away. Although he had asked Jack to come for him, to help him, Ianto didn't expect Jack to be too kind to him, not after what he had done.

He flinched again as something moved close to him and his eyes, or rather eye, focussed on Jack's hands again as he produced a bottle of water. They twisted the top and there was a familiar crack as the plastic seal was ripped open, Jack put it down with the cap still partially on and produced a straw, wrapped up neatly in a cellophane packet. Pulling it free of the packet, he removed the bottle top and dropped the straw in before offering it to Ianto. Since Ianto was too stunned and frightened to move and take the bottle himself, Jack helped him, lifting his chin a little and guiding the straw into his mouth. Ianto obligingly drank, his mind slowly starting to comprehend that the water wasn't laced with anything, Jack had opened it, and the straw in front of him. He swallowed as much as his could, feeling it loosen his throat, the cool water easing the panic. His stomach ached dully, but the food he had been given earlier had helped him. He didn't resist as Jack took the water away from him.

"Better not make you sick, Owen will be furious," Jack commented. He put the bottle down on the floor, leaving it close by Ianto before slowly standing up and stepping away. Ianto watched his progress as he walked across the cell, carefully stepping around the still flickering lie detector and Ianto watched the movement as Jack sat himself down on the sleeping platform, leaning forward to rest his arms on his thighs, lacing his fingers together. There was a pause and Ianto heard Jack take a breath.

"After you left the hub, that morning, where did you go?"

"Home," Ianto said dully. "I packed, and took as much money as I could."

"You ran away," Jack said. "Where were you planning to go?"

"Nowhere," Ianto said. "I just hitched a lift, if I bought tickets then you might have been able to find me, I just travelled, just to get away."

Jack released a breath. "Someone did find you, where were you?"

Ianto blinked, shaking his head a little, trying to clear his memories to focus down on what Jack was asking. There was a heavy silence as Jack waited for the answer.

"Sheffield," Ianto eventually said.

"How did they find you?"

"I'm not sure, I thought I was careful."

"Careful about what? Why would anyone else have even been looking for you?"

"I didn't have much money, there were some Torchwood protocols I could use to gain access to certain accounts. I couldn't use my own."

"Course not, I was tracking them. So what accounts?"

Ianto gave a heavy swallow, he watched Jack shift slightly, starting to sit back. He could just imagine the steely glint to Jack's blue eyes as they stared at him.

"Old accounts from Torchwood One, I was using them to… help Lisa. I couldn't exactly use accounts from here, someone would have spotted it."

"There's still access to all that old stuff?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded.

"I could access it from the computers in the hub, shift some of the data and money around a bit."

"How could you know any of the codes? You wouldn't have had access to any of that information, you were just a Junior Researcher."

"Not until I came here."

"Ah," Jack said. He sat forward again. "Another reason to wangle your way in?"

"Yes, Sir."

"So, how could those accounts have got you… kidnapped?" Jack asked, sounding like he wasn't sure if that was the word for it.

"I needed access to part of the server. There's no where really powerful beyond here to do it. I was using a computer at an internet café, but I needed to create the programme to gain access. I knew how to do it…"

"But you needed to work on one machine over time to write the programme."

"Yes."

"There were places you could have used, if you found somewhere with a big enough mainframe."

"If I got my way in there, took a job anywhere like that I'd end up on a system somewhere. I didn't even want to risk using an alias. If I came up on any CCTV network or database, you would have flagged it."

"Assuming we were looking that hard," Jack said. Ianto cringed.

"I couldn't take the risk."

"True. So how did they grab you?"

"I was working at the internet café, just general maintenance, and part time, cash in hand, no questions asked, and no records, but I managed to access the old Torchwood server and get what I needed."

"And you didn't think we'd flag that?" Jack asked.

"I'd hidden some of it on the system, it was a risk but… I was hoping I would have enough time to get what I needed, try and get away, new identity."

"How hard were you really trying, Ianto?" Jack asked. Ianto tucked himself down a little further, and he tilted his head away from Jack.

"Ianto?"

"Not very," Ianto said. The flickering lights on the lie detector stayed green.

"So, someone found you, when?"

"Thirteen days after."

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"Late night, the café was still open, I said I would lock up. They came in acting like it was a robbery, there wasn't much money on the premises, I got knocked out and the next thing I know, I'm in a van and…"

"Do you know where they took you?"

Ianto shook his head. "They kept me blindfolded, a lot, at the beginning."

"At the beginning, you don't know how long for though?"

Ianto shook his head, "It was just dark rooms, and then they moved me a few times, I think."

"How many times?"

"Three, or four… I'm not sure. I was drugged for a while that time. It might have just been a different room, they did that."

"Moved you around?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded dully.

"I think so."

"Did you recognise any of them?"

"No, I never really saw any of them clearly," Ianto said.

"They kept you blindfolded for most of it?"

"Some of it."

"Didn't you ever get a look at any of them, any other time?"

"No," Ianto whispered, his voice lowering.

"And what did they want from you?"

"Information, they asked about what I was doing, and how I did it."

"Just that?"

"At first."

"Did they ask anything about Torchwood?"

Ianto nodded.

"Say yes or no Ianto."

"Yes Sir," Ianto said.

"What did they want to know about Torchwood?"

"Codes, security information, data access."

"Did they ask just about Torchwood 1, or did they ask about us, Torchwood 3?"

"They asked."

"What about Torchwood 3?"

"Access codes, security systems and the layout."

Ianto cringed back as Jack drew in a long heavy breath and released it slowly.

"Ianto, did you give them any of this information?"

"No," Ianto said and then whimpered as the lights on the lie detector suddenly flickered red. They had been steadily stayed green throughout the entire conversation until that point. Ianto hadn't lied, he hadn't wanted to lie. Ianto saw Jack lean further forward, as if he needed to look harder, just to take in the flashing light. Ianto shuddered and felt tears rush into his eyes, the black box and the lights blurred. His swollen eye started to sting.

"I don't know," his voice rose, catching slightly as his throat tightened again. "I used old codes, defunct information but I don't think they believed it. They asked me again, over and over and it hurt and they gave me something and I got so confused. I can't remember what I said."

Ianto screamed as a hand gently touched his shoulder. He hadn't seen Jack's advance, and he would have pitched sideways, trying to find the corner of the cell except Jack took him firmly, pulling him back onto the mattress. Ianto's cries died down to whimpers and he tried to curl up, getting himself ready for what was to come.

"I think that's enough for now. Come on."

Ianto went with the movement, his body going limp as Jack lifted him and then laid him back down on the mattress. His body started to ache all over again, heat rising up in his body, although he felt so cold inside. He didn't register Jack putting him down, or tucking the sheets around him, or gently running his fingers through Ianto's slightly long and dull, lank hair. Ianto shook in shock, curling his mind up inside himself, the edges of his consciousness darkening around him as he fought for oblivion. Some part of him registered Jack's gentle voice.

"Come on, you get some rest now."

Then thankfully, for Ianto, there was nothing.