Inside the hub, all was quiet excepting the muted hum of machinery. Owen, Gwen and Tosh, after receiving their assignments for the next morning, had been given the rest of the day off. Ianto was sleeping peacefully on the camp bed in Jack's quarters. And Jack sat, waiting, in the fake tourist office, needing to see to one more task before he would have to wake the young man.

The door to the tourist office slammed violently inward, perfectly framing a seething Constable Andy Davidson in the opening. "Harkness!" Andy took several threatening strides forward. "I didn't bow and scrape enough to the mighty Torchwood so you decided to collect your pound of flesh, is that it?"

Jack didn't react, just as he hadn't reacted when the door crashed open. He simply sat, as if he were still the lone occupant.

Andy advanced to the counter, slamming his hands on the smooth surface, furiously spitting out, "Have you nothing to say?"

Jack finally acknowledged the livid man. "Yes I do. Shut the door, will you? You're letting in the cold."

"Oh, for the love of ..." Andy strode over and slammed closed the door before turning defiantly back towards Jack.

"You have a complaint to lodge?" Had Andy known the Captain better, he would have noted the edge of amusement in the voice.

"Complaint? I get suspended and you think I'm here to just lodge a complaint? "

Jack's eyes glittered with wisps of enjoyment. "You haven't been suspended."

"Stop pretending. You arranged it, didn't you?" Andy huffed irately. "I defied the great Captain Jack Harkness by not telling you I'd found Ianto so you decided to get back at me. When I showed up at work today, I was told I was off the schedule indefinitely and to report to you."

"As I said, you haven't been suspended. You are, however, being temporarily reassigned." He tossed the gun sitting on the countertop at the policeman. When the cool metal landed on Andy's palm, he began to juggle it as if it were a spitting viper.

"Bloody hell, Harkness! Have a care." Andy eyed the gun resting in his hand guardedly. "This could have gone off."

Jack smirked. "Only if it was loaded. At least you have enough sense to be cautious." He stood and strode around the counter. "Until further notice, you have been temporarily reassigned to Torchwood."

Andy absently nodded and then looked at Jack in shock. "Wait! What?"

"It's a temporary arrangement. Just until we find whatever is causing all these suicides. Owen and Tosh will be working together on the medical and technological aspects of our investigation. I'll be busy keeping an eye on Ianto while he's undercover which would leave Gwen by herself. No one will be in the field without backup, so as much as I loathe to admit it, Torchwood needs someone. We'll just have to settle for you."

As if in a daze Andy replied, "I'm working for Torchwood."

"Temporarily. Gwen will pick you up in the morning and give you some training with that." He nodded towards the gun. "After that, she will be following up leads and conducting witness interviews. Your sole task is to make sure nothing happens to her. I'm deadly serious. Gwen gets so much as a pimple and I will hold you personally accountable."

Andy nodded as he slid the gun into his back pocket. "She'll be as safe as houses."

"She'd better be." Jack waited until Andy had turned towards the door. "Oh, and Andy? I haven't forgotten that you didn't tell me about finding Ianto. Don't ever ignore a directive from me again. You won't like the consequences."

OOO

By the time Jack was sliding down the ladder to his quarters, Ianto, already dressed, was occupied with smoothing the last wrinkle from the bed sheet. "I don't like this."

"I know." Ianto continued to fiddle with the bedding, chasing invisible wrinkles from its surface.

Jack leaned back against the ladder. "Wish I could freeze us in this moment. You here with me," he said before continuing with a whispered, "safe."

"But you can't." Ianto turned and sat on the bed. "And even if you could I wouldn't let you."

With a frustrated sigh, Jack pushed away from the ladder and joined Ianto on the bed. "Why can't we have ordinary lives with ordinary jobs?"

Despite the somber mood, Ianto couldn't keep himself from grinning. "Firstly, no one, other than Torchwood, would be daft enough to hire you. Secondly, you'd be bored within twenty minutes." His voice became grave. "We talked about this when we decided to move our relationship beyond casual sex. There are times when we just work for Torchwood. And like any normal job, it annoyingly interferes with our private lives all too frequently."

"And then there are times that we are Torchwood. When our private lives and our relationship doesn't matter. When one or both of us may have to risk everything." Silence reigned for a few minutes. "I just wish I wasn't having to order you into danger this time."

There was rough bark of laughter. "Jack, just a few hours ago you were angry at me for defying your order to not pursue this. You can't have it both ways. Besides, you're not ordering me. This is my choice. Respect that and respect me."

"I do." He stood and offered a hand to Ianto. "Come on. It's time to get going."

The antithesis of that morning's drive, Jack kept up a steady stream of instructions as he navigated through the streets of Cardiff. "Don't let anyone or anything touch you. We don't know how people are being affected but we're certain that it's through touch of some kind."

"Yes, Jack. I remember what Owen said."

"And I packed your stun gun in the inside pocket of your rucksack."

Ianto's voice was more than a little exasperated when he snapped out, "Jack!"

"I know you insisted on no gun but I am not letting you go into this completely defenseless so it's the stun gun or I turn us around and head back to the hub."

"Fine," was the grudgingly given agreement.

"I also threw in a bunch of socks. Don't forget you're supposed to change your socks frequently and use those salves Owen gave you."

"Yes, mam. Did you also remember my thermos of hot chocolate?"

Jack gave him a quizzical look as he eased the SUV into the space where he had picked Ianto up that morning. "Huh?"

"Mam always packed me a thermos of hot chocolate whenever I went camping on cold nights."

Jack had the decency to look a tad sheepish. "I guess I have been mothering you a bit."

"Just a little," Ianto said with a grin. "I kind of like it though. It's nice having someone worry about me." He leaned forward, placing a quick kiss on Jack's lips. "I should go."

Jack reached up and readjusted the woolen cap on Ianto's head. "Leave this on. Don't want to risk someone seeing your comm." He tensely watched as the young man exited the vehicle.

OOO

"This is bollocks!" Owen watched as yet another vagrant shuffled away. "A complete waste of time."

Tosh gave a soft sigh, having heard this exact argument each time Owen completed an exam. "That's not true. You've been able to treat several people who really needed medical attention."

"Sure," he spat. "Diagnosed two cases of HIV, five cases of hepatitis. Dealt with I don't know how many ulcerated feet. What else? Oh, yes. Skin lesions, bronchitis, pneumonia. Not to mention the fellow with trench fever." He unconsciously scratched at his arm. "Both of us will need to undergo decom when we get back to the hub. Get rid of any creepy crawlies we may have picked up here."

He scathingly looked around the tiny storage cupboard where he was conducting his examinations. "What's our cover story here anyway?"

"TB screening. It's a common enough aliment for homeless people so the shelter didn't question the need for us to set up in here."

Owen snorted. "Tuberculosis. About the only thing we haven't seen today. That and signs of our emotional vampire at work. Plenty of mentals but no one with a damaged pineal gland or any strange bruising. Let's call it a day. We're just wasting our time here."

Shaking her head, Tosh replied, "There's only one more person to see today. Do a quick exam and then we can go back to the hub."

"Fine." Owen poked his head out "Next." When no one immediately appeared, he snapped out, "hurry up! I don't have all day."

"Too bad! I'll get there when I can." The voice that floated back was decidedly cranky and ill-tempered. A few moments later, a elderly woman, with hair so gray it seemed to be an almost pale blue, shuffled into view. "They," she said with a contemptuous wave towards the front of the shelter, "said I had to be examined before they would give me any cheese sandwiches." She stopped a few feet from the doorway, peering intently inside, obviously not liking what she saw. "You can examine me out here. I won't go in a room that has a window with a screen on it. They could be listening."

Owen muttered "nutter" under his breath.

Fortunately for Owen, the woman didn't hear him. "That's how they get you. They put listening devices in dewdrops on flowers and water droplets on window screens. Then they know when you're alone so they can experiment on you." She spat on the floor. "Filthy Karteians!"

"Eh?" Owen's disinterested attitude quickly morphed. "Karteians, you say?" He studied her intently before walking to the window. Within seconds he had opened it, blithely punched out the offending screen, and shut it again.

"Owen!" Tosh couldn't have sounded more outraged.

"Oh bother it, Tosh. I'll throw a fiver at the management for the damage." He solicitously turned towards the old woman. "What's important is that this lovely woman gets a proper exam. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Maggie and don't sweetheart me," was the grumpy reply. "Let's get this tomfoolery over with."

Owen stepped back to allow her passage. Observing the pained, jerky movements as she labored into the tiny space, his sharp hearing caught the nearly imperceptible sound much like two stones grating against each other as she moved. The grinding noise, and the pain the movement caused, was more noticeable as she lowered herself into a chair.

"Well, get on with it! I don't have all day."

Owen tossed a scanner to Tosh, discreetly nodding towards Maggie. Tosh moved to stand directly behind the old woman, surreptitiously activating the device and starting the series of scans. Both had quickly realized that Maggie would have objected to anything more than a traditional medical exam.

He set about taking her vitals. Karteians! She actually survived an attack. How? Hmmm. Temperature five degrees lower than normal. Is that normal for her or an effect from the Karteian experiments? Skin texture strange. Almost like calcification. Muscles too from the sounds when she moves. Wonder if the organs have been affected.

"How much longer? If you don't hurry, they'll run out of cheese sandwiches," Maggie grumped.

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" was Owen's tetchy reply. There was a mystery sitting right in front of him, the possible answer to a problem that had confounded him for nearly the entire time he'd been working for Torchwood. With a little more time, he might finally be able to finally close the medical file on the Karteian invasion.

"Owen," Tosh's soft voice held an edge of warning. "Maggie shows no signs of having been exposed to TB." Her finger tapped significantly on the scanner in her hand.

"But ..." One look at Tosh's determined face told him that arguing with her would be pointless. "Just let me draw some blood and then you're free to go, Maggie."

OOO

After dropping Ianto off, Jack had parked the SUV around the corner, sent the coordinates to Gwen for her to pickup at her convenience, and then ventured to the highest rooftop which would afford him an unobstructed view of the street. He had, at first, entertained himself by having a highly inappropriate and particularly pornographic conversation with Ianto. One-sided, sadly, since the Welshman was incapable of replying without blowing his cover. Eventually, Ianto had given a frustrated huff and switched off his comm.

Since then he had kept a steely, and somewhat bored, eye on the street. A mouse couldn't move in an alleyway without gaining Jack's attention so he wasn't surprise when Owen, puffing from running up so many flights of stairs, joined him on the roof.

"Tell Gwen I want her to prioritize finding a better location for this group to house themselves at night. Somewhere more isolated and defendable."

"Yeah, sure. Take care of it in the morning." Owen thrust a scanner into Jack's hand. "Look at this!"

"And what's this?"

"Results from earlier today." Owen excitably snatched back the scanner. "Someone survived! Still don't know how but some kind of process causes protein molecules to calcify the tissues which is why we found so many people had been turned into statues."

"Calcified? You never mentioned that any of the vampire's victims had been calcified. A detail like that could help us narrow down which planet it comes from. If it is an alien."

Owen looked perplexed for a moment. "This isn't about the vampire, Jack. It's about the Karteians!"

"And how it this relevant to our current case? We stopped the Karteians three years ago."

"Three years, two months, and sixteen days to be exact. But I never found out how or why they were killing people. Maybe now I can."

"After we catch the vampire! That's our priority for the moment."

Looking a bit crestfallen, Owen replied, "Yeah, okay. But after?"

"You can test this person to your heart's delight."

"Maggie." There was almost a tinge of respect when he said her name. "Her name is Maggie. Well, I'd best be off."

As Owen departed, Jack's comm gave a soft tinge, indicated Ianto had turned his back on. "Just wanted to say good night. I'll try to not dream of you tonight. Don't want to embarrass myself by waking up everyone with my moans."

His sultry laugh whispered through the night air. "Good night, Ianto. I'll be right outside if you need me." Jack stood, unmoving, the entire night, keeping careful watch over the city of Cardiff, the homeless men and women who inhabited it's streets, and, most importantly, the man who was risking himself on their behalf.