AUTHOR NOTES: Another chapter and we're not far from the 15th now. Thank God came the cry. I think I've forgotten how to write Ianto it's been so long since we've seen him... but I promise all (well not all - but a fair amount) shall be revealed in the next chapter. For now enjoy this one with extra helpings of Rhys. :)

Thursday 14th August 3.07am

"Rhys, it's not that I don't want you to stay love, it's just that me and Jack have got a lot to do and-" Gwen trailed off. She didn't want to leave Rhys with the impression that he was useless, but she couldn't think of anything for him to do that would be a help rather than a hindrance. She glanced behind him at Ianto's precious coffee machine. No, Ianto would never forgive her when he came back to find out she'd let Rhys – the person who'd exploded the microwave only last week after leaving a spoon in the bowl of soup he was reheating for his lunch – tamper with the coffee machine.

"Well it's not as if I've got anywhere else to be is it. No point in me going into work when the city's ground to a halt now is there?" Rhys asked.

The police had stopped all traffic in and out of Cardiff now, setting up roadblocks on the Cardiff M4 off-ramps, trying to contain whoever had been stealing children. Too bad roadblocks didn't contain the Rift.

"Let me at least stay love." Rhys coaxed, a hand reaching out to grab onto Gwen's pulling her closer to him as his other hand slide round her waist. She could feel his wedding ring cool against her sweaty palms and she nodded. She needed his support now, she needed Rhys Williams' ranting just because he could and she needed him to just hold her.

She lent forward so her head was resting on his forehead, kissing him gently as she felt his arms coming round her, holding her close. Her head slipped sideways onto his shoulder, inhaling the smell of diesel on his coat that never seemed to go away when he worked for Harwoods, no matter how many bloody times she washed the coat. She could smell him as well. She couldn't describe the smell of Rhys, Ianto had asked her about it once when they'd been discussing how intoxicating Jack smelt and Ianto had made a lewd comment about him smelling so much better after sex. Gwen had found she couldn't put into words how Rhys smelt.

"He just smells like home."

Ianto had let a knowing shy smile cross his lips at that which is when Jack had interrupted them with his own lewd comment about how Ianto smelt after sex. Ianto to her smelt like coffee and the refreshing smell of new books, unless of course he'd spent the night with Jack then it seemed no matter how many showers he took throughout the course of the day he still smelt like Jack.

Gwen found herself breathing in the scent of Rhys deeply, again trying to define what he smelt of so she could finally tell Ianto when he got back. But again words failed her, Rhys just smelt like home.

Thursday 14th August 6.14am

Gwen was still shifting through rift readings from the last few days, trying to find patterns and comparing them with the one from when Finn had disappeared. The problem was just before Finn disappeared there had been a negative spike, which indicate that someone or something had been taken before Finn. There were no missing children reported as disappearing from Bute Park before Finn, which left Gwen to wonder if the machines had accurately recorded it. She'd checked, double checked and triple checked using Tosh's programs but nothing seemed to be out of place. She frowned, biting down on her thumbnail in confusion.

"Problem?" Jack asked from where he was busy sifting through Tosh and Ianto's reports from when John Hart had come through the rift, trying to determine how he'd been capable of bending the Rift to his will with his vortex manipulator. Problem was Hart's hadn't been tampered with like Jack's.

"Yeah. No. I don't know." Gwen answered, continuing to frown as she looked at the screen.

"Thanks for clearing that up." Jack replied curtly, getting up from Gwen's desk and crossing to Tosh's old workstation, peering over her shoulder to see what was troubling her.

"We've determined that negative rift spikes, however minute, are indicators of the Rift taking something right?" Gwen asked slowly, as if trying to set things straight in her own mind.

"Right." Jack agreed, folding his arms as he stood behind her chair, looking down at her rather than the screen now.

"And positive spikes indicate something coming through the rift."

"I'm with you on Rift 101 so far." Jack teased, sounding slightly more condescending than he meant to, but he was tried and losing patience with reading over old case notes.

"Well then surely if the boy had appeared through the rift before taking Finn we would get a positive spike followed by a negative one, yes?" Gwen asked, turning her head to look at Jack.

"I would assume so yes."

"Then why have I got readings for one massive negative spike, no sign of a positive one anywhere?" Gwen asked, flicking through a couple of screens until she came to the readings she was looking for.

Jack frowned. "Is it like that every time a child disappeared?" Jack asked, bending forward now so he could get a closer look.

"No, that's the really odd thing. The first time there's one negative spike but every other time there's a positive followed by a negative." Gwen explained, shifting through another couple of readings to prove her point.

"But that would mean that the boy didn't come through the rift, he was taken through the rift at that exact time as Finn was, but Finn was the only kid in the area that went missing." Jack voiced, seemingly trying to work things out by talking them through.

"Any other readings from that time? Could the boy have been in the park for a long time before Finn? Just waiting?"

"There's no rift activity in that area since the week before and we know what that was. That bloody Hoix that we ended up chasing through Cardiff Castle, chucking you off the battlements and causing Ianto to –" She stopped mid-sentence at the mention of Ianto's name like it hurt to recall something so stupid and recent.

"Anyway, that boy said that one minute he was in the rift and the next he was holding Finn's hand." Gwen tried to reason.

"Made us a cuppa." Rhys interrupted, the silver tea tray shaking as he tried to balance it in one hand, lifting Gwen's cup from it and giving it to her first. The second one he gave to Jack, which he took hesitantly. It was matt black - Ianto's mug. He wanted to say something, wanted to scream and shout and tell Rhys that this wasn't his mug, but Jack had cracked his only a few days ago and Rhys wasn't to know it was Ianto's. Jack caught Gwen staring at him, a look of concern on her features as Jack stared intently at the mug in his hands.

"Thanks Rhys." Jack said gruffly, as if to show to Gwen he wasn't affected by it, but he knew he wasn't fooling anyone, least of all himself.

Thursday 14th August 9.25am

"Hello? Yes, could you transfer me to Ward 22."

Jack waited, listening to the various beeps as he was transferred to what he was sure was every department in the hospital.

"Hello, Ward 22."

"Oh Hello, I just wanted to check on a patient. A Ria Lloyd."

"Can I ask who you are Sir?"

Jack fumbled for words. He was sure he couldn't lie through his teeth now and tell them he was Ria's husband, not when Chris had been in with a very strong Welsh accent.

"My name's Jack Harkness, she's my sister in law." Jack was surprised at himself. He could have flashed his Torchwood card and got all manner of information, but no, here he was playing the family card.

"I'm afraid I can't give you confidential information over the phone, but I believe that the Doctor is hoping to have her released later today. Would you like me to have her give you a call if that's the case?"

Jack could hear the nurse smiling down the phone at him.

"Please, if you wouldn't mind."

"Does she have your number?"

"I think so." Jack recited his number down the phone for the nurse just in case, giving her his mobile on the off chance he was away from the Hub. He hung up, turning back to the case reports in front of him. One good piece of news for the day, he hoped this was a turning point.

Thursday 14th August 3.55pm

"I can't wait any longer." Jack's voice was booming in the silence of the Hub as he got up from the sofa and crossed to his office doorway.

"What do you mean you can't wait?" Gwen asked, sounding angry as she too got to her feet, abandoning her computer that she'd been staring blankly at the for the last half hour.

"I can't wait about for something to happen, for someone to present me with those children and Ianto. I can't just sit around not doing anything." Jack sounded more confused and desperate than angry now as he disappeared into his office. Gwen made to follow him but Rhys held out a hand to her.

"Let me talk to him." Rhys reasoned. Gwen almost scoffed at the idea but she realised she was having no luck getting through to Jack so she didn't see the harm in letting Rhys try. She watched nervously as Rhys disappeared through Jack's office door, fidgeting with the hem of her jumper before she decided that she could no longer be idle either and crossed to the kettle to make herself a cup of tea.

"Jack." Rhys spoke softly and as calmly as he could muster at that moment in time, he was fed up of Jack Harkness' antics and unpredictability and the detrimental effect it was having on the remainder of his team, more specifically Gwen.

Jack didn't answer, was busy attaching his gun to his belt, not looking up when Rhys stepped forward. Rhys decided to just go for it.

"Jack, you're their leader for Christ's sake. You go to hell in a hand-basket what chance do the rest of them have? There's only so long Gwen can be the voice of reason for you before you've got to bloody realise that you're the one in charge and as much fun as it is to go in guns blazing, you have to play the waiting game sometimes." Rhys voiced, his confidence growing with every word as Jack looked up at him, almost stunned.

"I'm done waiting Rhys. I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not the most patient man." Jack ground out between gritted teeth, leaning heavily on his desk as he squared his shoulders towards Rhys.

"It hadn't escaped my notice." Rhys replied sarcastically. "I'm guessing your Ianto's the one who usually makes you take a step back then, play's the umpire between you and Gwen?" Rhys asked.

Jack nodded, not missing the use of the word your in front of Ianto's name. He was impressed with Rhys' powers of perception and also a little perturbed at how he seemed to automatically agree with him, like Ianto was his possession or his pet. Ianto was his own man, and Jack knew that, didn't he?

"What you gonna do if you find him then? How you gonna get back? What about Gwen and Cardiff? You'd just leave her behind for Ianto?" Rhys questioned quickly, his gaze never wavering from Jack's. Right at that moment Jack hated Rhys bloody Williams. He was the voice of reason in all this and Jack sorely wanted to punch him because of it. He didn't though, instead his gaze faltered and he looked away from the angry Welshman, down to the piles of papers on his desk.

"I didn't think so." Rhys whispered in triumphant reply before he was turning and disappearing out Jack's office.

Jack let out a shuddering breath as he felt his knees wobble beneath him. He sunk into his desk chair, turning slightly so he could see his computer screen. Numbers and figures glared down at him like a one-way ticket to nowhere, an improbability of getting back that the Doctor couldn't even calculate. He'd be lying if he hadn't toyed with the idea of calling the Doctor but Jack knew that if this had been a life-changing event the Doctor would have turned up of his own accord.

But it was a life-changing event for Jack at least. It was another member of his team taken by the unpredictability of the rift. It was another lover he would never get to hold just one last time. It was another life lost. He wanted someone to come in and take charge, he wanted that reassurance that somebody else was going to end up taking the rap and it wouldn't fall all on Jack's shoulders. The thing was Jack had learned a long time ago that this was his Torchwood and his team, and therefore they were hisresponsibility.

Thursday 14th August 4.52pm

"Jack?"

Gwen was stood just inside Jack's office, looking nervous. He didn't look up or seem to acknowledge her presence so she ploughed on anyway.

"Me and Rhys are gonna head home." Gwen waited for a reply again, but Jack still didn't acknowledge her presence.

"Rhys is going to cook dinner if you want to join us, I know you haven't eaten today." Gwen tried again, she still got no reply though.

"Jack." Gwen was stood beside him now, a hand reaching out for him. He caught her wrist just before it touched his shoulder, placing it back down at her side.

"Go home Gwen." Jack said resignedly.

"But,"

"Just go." Jack said, the tone of his voice leaving no room for argument as he continued to stare resolutely at his knees. Gwen hesitated. She didn't want Jack to spend the night on his own, brooding in the dark of his office, nor did she want him to do something rash and stupid like opening the rift. She wished Ianto was about so she could at least go home, sound in the mind that Jack was being looked after, but Ianto was the reason Jack needed looking after.

"Call me if –" Gwen left her sentence hanging like she had done previously. She didn't want to finish it, didn't want to say all the various endings to that sentence, the only one that she actually wanted to say she couldn't for fear of it not being true.

"Call me when Ianto comes back."

Gwen turned from Jack and his office, her hand slipping into Rhys' as they moved out the cog door and up through Ianto's domain. Gwen paused in the tourist office when she caught sight of Ianto's winter coat still hung on the back of his chair. She picked it up and pulled it to her face, inhaling the smell of Ianto on the coat. Rhys watched her from the tourist office doorway.

"It's cold out." Rhys stated after a long moment where he thought Gwen was crying into the coat.

"I'm sure Ianto wouldn't mind if you borrowed his coat."

Gwen gave him a teary smile as she brought the coat away from her face. She considered how stupidly sentimental she was being but she pulled the coat on anyway, the sleeves falling down past her hands and engulfing her in the smell of Ianto. It comforted her somewhat as she reached out a hand for Rhys, following him out the tourist office and home.