The only vaguely comfortable place in the hub was Jack's own little area, under the office. But there was no way that Ianto could even hope to reach it, the state he was in. Instead Owen had left him sat on the sofa in the main area of the hub, which still didn't seem very comfortable. Ianto didn't want to lie down, his arm felt better strapped in a sling and raised. So he tried to sit up while he waited for Owen and Tosh to set up two chairs in Jack's office.

The simple plan was to use Jack's office chair, that was comfortable enough and Owen thought to bring one up from the conference room for him to rest his feet on. It wasn't ideal, not by a long shot but Ianto wasn't going to argue with anyone, he felt so zoned out from painkillers that he wouldn't have cared if they had let him lay down in the morgue.

Owen had gone down into Jack's space to gather up some cushions, and a blanket for him, until Jack and Gwen returned with a change of clothes for him. It would hopefully make it even more comfortable.

"Are you all right?" Owen asked. "Is that comfortable?" He moved the pillow behind Ianto's back to a better position. At least he thought it was a better position.

"Owen, I can hardly feel a thing," Ianto said drowsily. He could hardly keep his eyes open and his head kept dropping down onto his chest as his eyes drooped.

"They're industrial strength painkillers, trust me, you'll be fine for a while. You are probably best off trying to get some sleep." Owen looked up and glanced at Tosh, he nodded his head and she retreated a little, taking the hint that Ianto was best off without too much fussing. She went over to her computer and started to type. There were a few things she wanted to follow up. She might need to take some more energy reading off Jack, she thought, when he got back.

"I'll try and stay awake until Jack gets back."

"Don't worry about him, we are quite capable of looking after him," Owen said, straightening the pillow under Ianto's feet.

"I know, but…" he stopped talking and opened his eyes properly to look at Owen. Owen crouched down, reaching up to the sling.

"I'm just going to loosen this a little."

"But he does seem a little nervous around the rest of you."

Owen glanced up, "you noticed that, huh?"

"Well, you shouted at him, Tosh seems frightened of him and I don't think Gwen knows quite what to do," Ianto said. "He trusts me."

"That could simply be because you were the first person he saw. It may just have imprinted since you had to persuade him everything was all right."

"I suppose."

"Don't worry about him too much. I don't think he's really going to get into that much trouble now. If nothing else, we can keep him down here and just watch him in shifts. I'm here, you're here, and he'll be fine."

"Okay," Ianto said. "Just… could you please stop threatening to put him in the vaults? Please?"

"Who says it's a threat?" Owen muttered concentrating on the knot on the sling. He glanced up at Ianto again and rolled his eyes and sighed. "Okay, fine, I'll stop threatening him with the vaults." Owen paused, keeping his gaze on Ianto. "If you tell me exactly what is in the pill bottles in your bathroom cabinet."

It really wasn't fair to pull that out of the bag while Ianto was in such a state, and Owen saw his eyes widen in shock. The comment brought him out of his dozing mood a little. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair. Owen loosened the sling and guided Ianto's arm down a little. With the painkillers and his other sudden preoccupation he hardly noticed the move.

"How did…?" Then he stopped. Owen gave a slight grimace.

"Jack mentioned it this morning. At least he asked me if I knew you had nightmares and the conversation kind of went on from there."

Ianto took a sharp breath. Thinking back, Jack had been on his own in the bathroom. Ianto had simply left him too it, hardly considering that Jack might look around, and then that night….

"Oh God," Ianto said.

"No, just me, I don't think Jack talks to God much."

Ianto said nothing, he just gaped at him. With the painkillers in his system his eyes had dilated. It just added to his expression of shock.

"I don't think you can really blame him," Owen said, to try and fill the silence. "I think he was worried, especially after the nightmare."

"I know he was. It was my fault I forgot to take…"

Owen stopped fiddling, finally happy with the set of the sling. It kept the arm elevated but not quite as tightly bound as it was before. Owen decided he would look at it tomorrow, after Ianto had got some rest. And he wouldn't do that until Jack was back. So while they waited, Owen could at least make use of the time. He lent on the side of the chair and looked up at Ianto.

"So the others…?" he prompted. Ianto looked away, his jaw tensed slightly and Owen saw his eyes darken. "Ianto…" he prompted again.

"All right!" He raised his left hand to cut Owen off. Owen stilled down and waited. "It was just…"

"How often do you take them?" Owen asked.

Ianto glared at him. "The nights I'm not with Jack, okay!"

Owen nodded. "He said when he cuddled you, you calmed down. Okay," Owen said. He paused to think about it. Ianto said nothing; the tension came off him in waves. This was the last thing that he wanted anyone to know.

"And Jack would never have normally told me, not in a million years."

"I asked him not to," Ianto said flatly.

"Did he want to?" Owen asked. Ianto paused and frowned. He shifted in the seat again, wincing as that moved his arm and a dull throb shot up to his shoulder. All he wanted to do now was curl up, and try and forget everything. He had never wanted anyone knowing this. He had tried to hide it from Jack for God's sake.

"I don't think I ever gave him the option."

Owen nodded. And now Jack, without his memory, some of his personality and one hell of a scare to boost him along, had done. The cat was well and truly out of the bag and nothing could hide it away now. Not that Owen would tell anyone else, but at least now, he had some inkling of what he was really dealing with.

"So instead, you stay here, he goes and sees you and we are all left to think that it's just sex."

"That kind of helped it along."

Owen gazed at him very steadily. "So, you mean under all that sexual innuendo and silly remarking, Jack was, in fact, hiding your very severe psychological problem."

When it was put like that Ianto didn't have much room for argument. He felt his eyes start to water. He widened them a little, trying not to blink, so everything stayed where it was. Owen sat there and waited.

"Yes." Ianto's voice was slightly strangled, trying to control his tears.

"When in fact you could have just told me; I am your doctor."

"How the hell could I do that? Part of the problem tried to kill you!" Ianto put his head down into his one unbound hand. Owen sighed and reached out to grip Ianto's good forearm. It was hard enough for him to try and comfort someone, without worrying about hurting them. He was never very good at this kind of thing. He always seemed to sound so false, and the more he tried to force it, the worse he sounded. All he could do now was be practical.

"Well, she didn't, someone else did."

Ianto's breath hitched, telling Owen, the fear was now way much deeper because of Lisa's attempt to take over Torchwood.

"What about when Jack was gone?"

Ianto took a breath, "that's where the other stuff came from. I didn't want to…"

"Where did you get it from?"

"This is Torchwood, we have connections."

"And you could have no idea what you are taking, and if you mix it with something… Jesus Ianto! You have no idea what you could have done to yourself."

"I'm fine. I was careful. Some weren't as strong as the others, I could take them when I was really exhausted, it didn't need the… extreme measures."

Owen sat back, plonking his backside on the floor, trying to look a little less threatening. He crossed his legs and waited until Ianto looked up. He took a deep breath.

"I promise you, I will not get angry at the answer to this question because I think I might know it. Did you get hold of anything that was stronger than what I prescribed you?"

"Yes," Ianto said quickly. There was no way round it. Owen would find out. He watched Owen warily but all he did was nod, looking down, taking in another involuntary breath that he didn't really need to bother with. But his body did it on occasion. Usually an occasion like this. When Owen looked up, his face was utterly calm.

"Okay, I know Jack got you something, because he said it had the Torchwood label on."

"Those were the same as yours, he wouldn't do anything else. That just hid how regularly I was taking them."

Owen gave another slow careful nod, and thought before he spoke again. Just to make sure he was tactful, but forceful enough to get the resolution that he wanted.

"When I let you go home, you are going to get those five bottles together and when you come back to the hub, you are going to bring them with you and give them to me. Then I will re-prescribe something for you, for the nights when Jack isn't there. Which is how many a week?"

"Three. Two I'm here and two Jack comes to me, late night…or day, depending on what we are doing."

"And your little weevil hunting sessions?"

"A bit of everything."

Owen sighed. He was making the most of his ability to whoosh air though himself this evening, he thought.

"You should have just told me. Especially when Jack disappeared. What did you think I was going to say, I mean… did they start after Canary Wharf?"

Ianto shook his head, "I've always kind of had them, ever since…" he paused and looked away, looking out at Toshiko who was concentrating on her computer rather than the intense conversation she knew was going on close to her.

"I've had nightmares since I was young, bad ones, but yes they got worse after The Battle of Canary Wharf and they're almost constant after Lisa."

Owen saw Ianto relax heavily after he said that sentence. It wondered it was guilt. Just plain and simple guilt that wouldn't allow him to rest, or if it was way deeper than that. If he had really had consistent nightmares from childhood that spoke of being a foundation, to what Ianto thought was the problem.

"And how does Jack stop it?"

Ianto shook his head. "He shouldn't really, but he does. If I'm with him, then I don't think about it. It can't seem to get through."

Jack would probably love that, Owen thought savagely to himself. It wasn't fair, and certainly not a fair assessment as to how Jack viewed the situation, but being the one thing that held a nightmare back, Jack would, on some level love that. Which was probably why he had allowed Ianto to dictate the terms on it. Despite everything, sometime Jack's ego could really let him down.

"Okay, that's fine, but I need to know this. You should have told me, especially when he went AWOL, you should have told me." Owen paused. "You could have told me."

"I know," Ianto said. He rested his head in his good hand.

There was nothing more to say. Embarrassment was the only thing that had stopped him saying anything, to Owen of all people. He could have torn it apart, but he wouldn't have. He wouldn't have said anything, because above and beyond his desire to torture people in happy relationships, he would have seen how he needed to help.

For a moment they looked at each other. Then the sirens started to wail, heralding the return of Jack and Gwen.