When Ianto woke, he was alone in the bed with their young… well, whatever he was, guest just didn't seem quite right. He checked the clock by the bedside which confirmed that it was about the time he usually rose but he couldn't remember the last time he had woken alone unless Jack had gone on a call that didn't require him and usually he woke him long enough to say. Carefully, he untangled himself from the sleeping child and went in search of his lover.
Jack wasn't sitting up on the other side of the screen where he was usually when he couldn't sleep. Instead there was no sign of him. Ianto went out into the main body of the hub, leaving the boy sleeping. The hub was still shut down in night mode and a quick check showed that Jack was in fact still in the base. More confused and concerned, he headed to Jack's office. There he found evidence that he had at least been there during the night. There was an old journal, a disorganized pile of personal papers and a cup of that roofing tar Jack called coffee when he made it himself coagulating in the mug. Now, I'm going to have to strip the coffee machine down for a clean again, he thought to himself, trying not to let the concern for his lover take hold. Casting a quick glance at the papers, he was torn between his desire to find a clue to Jack's location and state of mind and curiosity.
While Jack had opened up a great deal, there were large parts of his life that were still a mystery. Not that Jack wouldn't necessarily tell him, should he ask, but with so much life behind him, Ianto didn't necessarily know the right questions. Sometimes Jack would ramble, sometimes Ianto would ask about a time, or a Torchwood employee whose file he found, and it had to be enough. Pulling himself back, he realized that at least the journal was from that lorry load of Jack's personal things and papers that he had locked up carefully in a storage vault on one of the archive levels down below.
He had found them during the rebuild, after the hub had been destroyed, a room full of stuff with Jack's name, his journals, all kinds of things. Ianto had just glanced at it, then locked the door, coming back later over several nights to shift it all down below when no one else was around. Shifting it into the archives, his area where he could keep a watch on it. The young archivist had never been completely sure what led him to do it. Jack was gone with the Doctor without a word but somehow he couldn't shake the feeling that he would be back. That and he didn't want his colleagues picking at his bones, if Jack wanted them to know, he would say. The loyalty and faith had born fruit as their current relationship showed and he remembered with a great deal of pleasure the pride and joy on Jack's face when he had shown him and told him no one had been through them, except to repack some of the damaged boxes.
"Even you?" Jack has asked cautiously.
"Even me, Sir," he had said, his expression blank, afraid that Jack wouldn't believe him. His response had been …gratifying and Ianto quickly pushed those thoughts away too, needing to focus on finding him and not…well other things.
"Storage locker it is, then," he said aloud to the empty room. But first he decided a quick stop.
It was slightly less than ten minutes later when he stepped through the open door of the storage room with two mugs of industrial strength coffee. As he more or less expected, Jack was sitting in a chair in the corner, head down over an open box, though at the moment he appeared to be just thinking, one large hand resting on his forehead as if he had a headache.
Ianto cleared his throat and Jack's head came up fast, obviously startled, which wasn't easy to do with Jack. "Coffee?" he asked mildly holding out one of the mugs to him.
"Uh, yeah," Jack said, distracted. "What time is it?"
"About 6:30."
"Sorry, I got tied up," he answered lamely. There was something a little off, but Ianto couldn't pin it down.
"Thought that was my job," he said instead, usually a good way to bring Jack back around.
"Ah, yes." The smile was there, but in the dark blue eyes, there was a distance, something that even the thought of a little kinky sex couldn't bring him back from. Instead he reached out for the cup that his lover was holding.
"Jack, what are you looking for? Can I help?" Ianto asked.
"It's… there's nothing," he said though it clearly wasn't. Ianto just looked at him. "It's something John said."
"Does he remember?" he asked instantly. He vaguely remembered Jack reassuring him last night when the boy woke with a nightmare but he had gone back to sleep almost immediately.
"Oh, his memory didn't come back, if that's what you're asking. But he said something. I just… I need to sort it out myself," Jack waved vaguely, trying to act as if it wasn't bothering him, whatever it was.
"Well, you haven't found it so far," Ianto said quietly, reaching out to put an arm around him. "Maybe it's time you took a break? A little coffee, maybe a shower?" he said, making the invitation clear.
"Yeah, maybe… why don't you go heat up the water and I'll be up in a minute." There was something in Jack's voice that led him to wonder if he was going to end up taking that shower alone.