Jack sat down. He stopped crouching as his legs were starting to hurt. It reminded him painfully of the poison that Ianto had given him, and it also occurred to him how readily Ianto had taken food, and drinks and water. Ianto was entirely willing to accept what they wanted to do to him, however they saw fit to deal with him. He had asked for them, to help him. Did he really expect that they would hurt him?

"How was it different Ianto?" Jack asked. He really shouldn't, he didn't want to upset him. As angry as he had been at the time, he didn't want Ianto to die, or even to think that was his plan, Jack would never have killed him.

"I didn't want to leave," Ianto said.

Ianto had whirled around at the sound of Jack's voice. He stumbled back and his eyes widened as he looked at him, immaculately dressed in clean clothes, and his coat. For some reason, after the way Ianto had touched it, Jack wanted the defence of his clothes, mainly his coat, he wanted to keep it from Ianto. It was his, he didn't want Ianto to violate it. Jack was going to get it dry cleaned as soon as he could.

Jack had carefully watched Ianto's reaction to his sudden appearance. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Jack, stood there looking exactly as he had the day before. Jack didn't doubt that Ianto had checked him thoroughly, to make sure he was dead. Ianto would have been entirely meticulous about that. Jack was simply grateful it was Gwen who had found him, she was the one who understood his quirk best, she had witnessed it before.

For a long moment, all Ianto could do was stare at him in shock. The packet of coffee dropped from his hand and he backed up, slamming into the nearby railings, making the chains rattle violently. Jack could see the fear in Ianto's face, but there also appeared to be a mild flash of irritation. Jack didn't even have the decency to stay dead.

"But, you were…"

"Dead," Jack said casually. He slid his hands into his pockets and stepped towards Ianto. He backed up the short flight of steps onto the main level of the hub. Ianto sent a frantic glance in the direction of the others. They all watched impassively. Some less than others, Owen could look Ianto in the eye, Gwen had trouble with that but she tried anyway, and Toshiko was a lost cause. Then Ianto looked back at Jack.

"But…" Ianto backed up as Jack stepped forward. Jack paused as Ianto stumbled against the coffee table.

"I can't die," Jack announced, deciding to put Ianto out of his misery. Or just make it worse, judging by how pale he went.

"You were dead," Ianto said, flatly.

"Fine, if you want to be technical about it, I do die, I just don't stay that way. It didn't seem wise to mention it while you were actually killing me, you know, just in case you decided to take further precautions."

Ianto's eyes were slowly widening in shock. His eyes darted around as if looking for a way out. There wasn't one, they had all exits covered, and Ianto was penned in. He looked at the others, but his eyes always returned to Jack, who regarded him coldly. Some things Jack could easily forgive. What happened with Lisa, he could let go, the others found it harder but Jack could accept that as well. But the sheer maliciousness in Ianto's actions was something that Jack had not expected, and on some levels it frightened him. While he had been forced to sit there, waiting to die, he had felt incredibly vulnerable. And it wasn't something Jack liked.

The tense situation was diverted momentarily as the systems reacted. Toshiko went to the nearest computer, thankful of something to do.

"The lockdown is trying to instigate," she announced.

"It won't work by the way," Jack informed Ianto pleasantly. He backed up a little further, falling back and landing on the sofa. He looked down at the floor, eyes still wide with shock, but unable to look at them any further. His hands tensed on the edge of the sofa, gripping the soft material tightly.

"Jack," Toshiko said slowly. "It tried to lock down after he arrived."

"Well, logically," Owen snarled. Jack turned and frowned at her. Toshiko looked up, and glanced at Ianto, who sat slumped on the sofa, head down, unmoving. She returned her gaze to Jack.

"No, I mean he set it running after he went in, the doors were supposed to lock behind him."

"He was going to lock himself in with us?" Owen asked, and then snorted. "He must know what we'd fucking to do him… me anyway."

Jack looked at Ianto but he hadn't reacted to that.

"Jack, we've got a rift alert as well," Toshiko added. She looked around at Owen and Gwen for help. It couldn't have happened at a more inconvenient time. However, Jack didn't turn a hair, he looked up at them and said.

"Let's go then," he said, rather insistently. The three of them looked at each other, and then back at him. "Go on," he added forcefully. They still couldn't seem to believe it but eventually, after a long, heavy pause that seemed to hang in the air they slowly started to move. Jack took several steps towards Ianto, leaning down to murmur in his ear.

"I will deal with you later."

The tone of voice made Ianto raised his head. Jack saw the tears glimmering in his eyes and the confusion at the turn of events. What none of them knew was that he had set up the rift alert. Jack got the feeling that leaving them all together was not a very good idea, and he wanted to give all of them some breathing space. Ianto was going to have to have his on his own. Even Jack felt a little unnerved being around him, seeing how Ianto had behaved while he watched him die. Jack most certainly wanted some space to get his head around it.

Later on, he wondered if he had let that shred of fear get the better of his judgement.

He had straightened up, looking Ianto directly in the eye, seeing that mass of emotion in the younger man, and Jack had walked away. He just followed the others. Even at the time, he knew he could have locked Ianto in, taken him down to a cell to contain him. But in the end he hadn't, he had just left him there.

And none of them were entirely surprised to find him gone when they came back.

"If you didn't want to leave, why did you?"

Ianto didn't answer. His shoulders shifted uncomfortably, in what could have almost been a shrug, if the gesture had been a little more assertive.

"I didn't know what to do, or think. Nobody wanted me there."

"You'd planned to trap them in the hub, and you'd killed me. Do you have any need to wonder why they were all so hostile?"

"And you," Ianto said. Jack raised his eyebrows. There was no doubt that he was the deciding factor in the whole affair. Maybe he had handled it all wrong, Jack wasn't sure. He didn't know if there was a correct way to handle it.

"You had just killed me, Ianto, I had every right to be angry at you."

"You hated me," Ianto said. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"No, I said I was angry at you. I never said I hated you."

"Same thing," Ianto argued, his voice low, and he cringed slightly as if he realised that he was contradicting Jack and knew that he shouldn't.

"No, it's not," Jack argued back. Ianto said nothing further so Jack was clearly getting the last word on that one.

"So if you didn't want to leave, why did you? Aside from the shocking fact that I wasn't dead, what reason did you have to run? If I was going to kill you in retaliation I would have done it then and there. You knew that much, didn't you?"

There was a slight movement of Ianto's head that appeared to be a nod.

"No one wanted me," Ianto said flatly. After a pause he added. "Not even Lisa. No one could even be bothered to kill me."

"So you thought killing me would entice the others to kill you. Especially since you were planning to trap them in the hub with you," Jack said. Ianto didn't answer, he kept his head down and shrank back a little. It didn't make any sense to Jack, but then again, how the hell could anyone in Ianto's shoes behave rationally. Jack had been given a long time to analyse it, while Ianto was gone and as he faded from the forefront of Jack's mind Jack became a little more rational about what he was seeing.

"Did you suspect anything about me not dying?"

Ianto slowly shook his head. "I hate you, I want to kill you," Ianto said, very tentatively but Jack could only assume it was also completely honest. And it was also, very significantly, in the present tense.

"Still?"

"Sometimes," Ianto said.

"What about the other times?" Jack asked. There was a long pause. Ianto's head shifted, almost as if he dared to look up but then thought better of it. Jack waited a minute or so, and his patience paid off. Ianto's voice was low, breaking occasionally.

"You left me there, all on my own. I'm always on my own, and now there's nothing, nothing in my head where all there used to be was Lisa…" Ianto stopped, his hand was running up and down the wall, scratching his palm hard against the stone. Jack winced as he saw the smears on the wall. Reaching out he took Ianto's wrist and pulled his hand around to look at the grazes on his hand. The scabs had opened up from the wounds he had caused, after crawling for so long, trying to reach Jack. Someone he still hated, because he was the only thing Ianto had left. Jack watched the violent hitch of Ianto's chest, and knew it was not something he should really push. He had enough information to know that Ianto wasn't emotionally stable, he wasn't rational and he was vulnerable.

Jack decided to change the subject. They still needed to know as much information as possible.

"Ianto, how did you get away? Did you escape, or do you think they let you go?"

He changed the last bit, just as he spoke. Jack didn't want to infer that Ianto might have simply been kicked out of the door. But it couldn't be ignored as a possibility.

"I waited, I couldn't get away, not straight away. But I got a chance, when they took me out for exercise."

The last word was spoken with extreme nervousness, Jack frowned.

"What do you mean exercise?"

Ianto sniffed. "They took me for walks, on the gravel path behind the building."

Jack's eyes dropped down to Ianto's feet, half tucked up in the blankets and covered in black cotton socks. There was probably no need to ask if that was before or after the damage to his feet. The damage was only part of the torture, if Ianto was then made to walk on them, it would have been excruciating.

"They made you walk on your injured feet?" There was a nod from Ianto. Jack felt the anger rise in him again. "How long for?"

"Hours sometimes. I'd pass out now and again, especially on hot days. They would just wait for me to wake up again."

Jack felt his jaw harden and he let the anger burn in his eyes. Ianto wouldn't look up and there would be no danger of him seeing the expression and misinterpreting it as directed at him.

"So, how did you get away?"

"There used to be three guards, the first few times. But it was just one that day. They stopped... they didn't think I would get away."

"Had they tried to make you run before?"

"I think so," Ianto said, then his head shook, just a fraction. "I'm not sure."

"It doesn't matter, but when you escaped wasn't one of those times?"

"No, I don't think so." Ianto's voice went a little vague, as if he was contemplating that idea. Jack didn't want him doing that, he didn't want Ianto's random speculations. What he wanted was the actual facts. Jack himself, could speculate later.

"But you decided to try and escape."

Ianto nodded. "My feet didn't hurt, not too much. They'd injected me earlier and asked me things, I can't remember what…"

"Okay," Jack said, making sure the conversation stayed on topic. "So how did you escape the guard?"

"The path goes by some fields, and there was some trees, I fell and just grabbed a big rock. When he tried to pull me up, I hit him in the face and he fell, and I hit him some more…" Ianto's breath hitched, his voice wavering and Jack raised his eyebrows. Wondering how much more, possibly enough to kill if Ianto felt strong enough in that moment, and it opened the possibility that perhaps, just a lapse in security, and a fraction of luck, had given Ianto what he needed.

"So, you ran for the trees, the best cover."

Ianto nodded. "I didn't know where it went, I just thought, if I could hide, or… get somewhere… and call you that…"

"Yeah, okay, so how did you get to where we found you? Did you walk, or crawl, the whole way." It didn't sound a likely scenario to Jack, that would have been too close to where they were keeping him, and as far as Owen had been able to tell, Ianto had been exposed to the elements for a while.

"No, I got through and there was a road, and a lay-by, a truck was parked there. I saw someone, the driver, talking on the phone. Part of the side was open, I don't think he knew so I just climbed in, and hid."

"And the truck drove off with you?" Jack asked, guessing the scenario. And it was just luck, no planning on Ianto's part, just dumb luck. Which meant that perhaps whoever it was had no idea Ianto was loose, until it was too late.

"I don't remember that, I must have fallen asleep."

Lost consciousness more like, Jack thought to himself, debating the strain Ianto must have been under to instigate that escape.

"When I woke up, the truck was moving. I just lay there. I couldn't do anything until it stopped. When it did I crawled out again and hid in a pile of boxes. Then I think I went to sleep again, when I woke up I tried to find…" Ianto paused. His voice had gone a little confused again. He clearly thought about it for a moment and then said. "I found the phone, and called you, and you came."

Jack raised his eyebrows at the way Ianto said the last two words, so filled with relief and awe that it really happened.

"Course I did," Jack said. "What do you remember about the truck?"

"It was big."

Jack rolled his eyes at that. It was a truck, presumably it would be. Ianto carried on talking.

"Like an articulated lorry, and it was red, the sides were red. There wasn't anything much in it, just a stack of pallets, I hid behind them. And the back number plate was yellow, I think it was British, I couldn't read it though. There might have been words on the truck but I…"

Ianto stopped talking, stilling down and there was a ripple of tension as he felt Jack's hand on his shoulder. As he felt Ianto's shoulder hunch Jack pulled his hand away, just a little, so he was still reaching out, but not physically in contact with Ianto.

"That's good, Ianto," Jack reassured him. It gave them enough to work on. Despite his shattered state Ianto still retained his ability to absorb detail. Jack retracted his hand and slowly stood up. Ianto seemed to hunch down even further, tensing ready for what was to come. "And it's enough for now."

Ianto immediately got the hint and slowly started to move, so he could lie down. The conversation was over, and the routine that he knew, that he had been going through since his arrival back at Torchwood meant that he was to get some rest. Whether he felt tired or not, no one had yet to ask him when they told him to rest. But it relaxed him as he lay down, and he felt Jack lean over to tuck him in. Ianto compliantly closed his eyes and heard, rather than saw Jack leaving the cell, and the gentle whisper as the door closed behind him.

"Tosh!" Jack yelled the second he got back up to the hub. She jumped. "That industrial estate where we found Ianto must have CCTV covering it?"

"I guess so."

"Track everything that came in the day Ianto called. You're looking for a large red truck, British plates I think, but follow everything that's red, see where it goes, and what happens when it pulls up."

"Why?" Gwen asked. Toshiko just turned to start doing what Jack asked.

"Because that's how Ianto got to that industrial estate, if we find the truck…"

"Then I can track it back through the street cameras, follow which route it took…." Toshiko picked up the thread.

"And maybe we can find where Ianto started the journey," Jack concluded.

"What if the CCTV is black and white, how are we going to look for red?" Owen asked, sauntering up from the autopsy room. Toshiko glared at him in irritation.

"I can set the computer to analyse the shades of grey, to find what would be red in colour. I can narrow it down at least, and then perhaps find something else to confirm it's the truck we are looking for."

"Like what?"

"If it's a good enough angle, Ianto presumably clambering out of it," Toshiko said, her eyes didn't move from the screen as she started to pull up what she needed.

"I'll help," Gwen offered.

"But they're going to know that he'll come to us, surely?" Owen said.

"Not necessarily. The state he was in, there's no way they can guarantee he would reach us. They could be looking, and tracking hospitals, police reports and things like that as well," Jack said. "We've been working as normal, and looking like we are business as usual, heading to and from the hub. So maybe they're watching and don't realise we're ahead of them."

"And if we can get ahead of them, then it's to our advantage," Gwen said. Jack nodded.

"Exactly."

Which, ironically, was the very moment the lights went out.