Chapter 4.

Ianto arrived later then usual at Torchwood the next morning. He wasn't sure how Jack would react. Last night there was a change in their relationship. It seemed to be no longer a bit of flirty office fun... Or was it just Jack. Jack putting on another mask.

Ianto logged on his old and battered computer that sat as a prop in his little tourist office, and took a swig of his coffee. He wiggled himself into his office chair and relaxed for a moment. There was peace in Torchwood. And that's when Gwen bustled through the door, a little bell ringing at her entrance.

"Morning, Ianto!" She chimed, cracking her great big, gappy smile at Ianto. He nodded in reply and started to get up and walk towards his coffee machine in the back."How do you always know what I want, Hon?!" Gwen giggled, and made her own way into the hub.

Toshiko arrived next. Slightly rushed and stressed, but nothing that Ianto's coffee couldn't fix.

Much later Owen trundled in. He needed a lot of Ianto's coffee.

There was still nothing really happening. No significant Rift activity, and the few reports that came in seemed to be the result of a drunken night and too many disaster films. Nothing for Torchwood to do. The team, including Ianto, were gathered around Gwen's desk as she scanned through and reported on the various Police reports, and that's when it happened. The phone rang. It broke the awkward silence that had been hanging over Torchwood the entire morning, but left Jack with another problem. Ianto could tell.

"Listen, would you please do something about John," Owen complained, with a sharp, disapproving look from Jack, "I mean, I've had the few clingy girlfriends, but this is just taking the piss. I thought you said that you'd sort it,"

"Oh, leave him off, Owen," Tosh said as she went for her PDA. But the phone was still ringing. Still holding a fist around the team. Ianto started to turn round, ready to go and hang up on John, but Jack put a hand out in front of him.

"Don't." He said. Jack strode over to the phone, and took a short, sharp breath. He pressed the speaker phone button, and motioned for everyone to be quiet. They stood in silence as they waited for John to speak over the phone.

"Hello, Jack. I know it's you. Even without seeing you, I know it's your tall, dark and handsome figure over the phone," There was another silence, as Jack stood, arms crossed. "C'mon!" John chuckled then stopped silently as Jack still didn't reply. "No really. C'mon." The unnerving sternness in John's voice unsettled Ianto, but Jack still didn't move. "I had something to tell you Jack..." John teased. "But, if you're just gonna be like that I'm not gonna tell you. And you know what happens when I get carried away with secrets... Remember that time, who was he? A general? Yer, Amazing cheekbo..."

Jack pressed the phone off, and turned round to check on his team.

"I shouldn't of done that." Jack looked briefly down at the metal floor of the hub and stalked off to his office.

"J...Jack?" Gwen flustered.

"Keep checking for any reports..." And Jack wondered off...

"Well what the hell was that all about?!" Owen spouted as he turned to walk back to his desk. Throwing his hands out in exasperation.

"You know what's Jack's like" Gwen said, "It'll go one of two ways, either he'll eventually have to tell us, or it'll disappear and we'll never hear of it again,"

"Why are you acting so calm all of a sudden?! You're normally the first to go digging into Jack's past!" Owen picked up a nearby pen, and threw it lightly into the side of Gwen's face. He slunk back in his chair, his eyes wide and his mouth in the shape of an "o."

Gwen smirked. "You cheeky..." She started running after Owen, picking up a pile of pens that were sat on her desk. Owen scrambled to move out of his own chair and started bolting it down to the medical bay, but Gwen was not far behind. A small barrage of pens landing across the floor of the hub. Tosh looked on disapprovingly at them. But when she spotted Ianto staring at her, she returned to her own desk, rapidly typing onto her computer. It was obvious how Tosh felt about Owen, or at least Ianto seemed to notice.