Right, major warning for this chapter, dub-con, fairly explicit –although I did try to minimise that- not that pleasant, and the characters are pretty… well, pretty fucked up. I mean, more so. *is very nervous*

Enjoy!

Chapter 14

Ianto was trying to drive him insane.

Jack knew it was true, but if there was one thing Ianto knew, it was how to mess with someone's mind, without incriminating himself.

It was little things. Very small things but they were there.

First, his Webley pistol hadn't been in the top drawer that morning when he'd gone for it. It had been in the second drawer. The coat stand had been moved a foot to the left so when he'd gone to grab his coat he'd nearly fallen over. His computer screen wasn't tilted just right. His blue and white mug was missing.

They were all very tiny things that made up his day, gave him a sense of rhythm and repetition that helped him cope with the madness Torchwood threw at him.

And Ianto knew that!

"Jack?"

"WHAT?"

Tosh jumped, looking shocked, holding some papers in her hands. Jack sighed, feeling bad at once.

"I'm sorry Tosh. I'm just stressed by all of this."

"Ianto." sighed Tosh.

"If he would just agree to the terms, I would let him go and we can begin to get better."

"You know he never will."

"Well I can't go back now."

Tosh shook her head, looking very aggravated, but she said nothing about it.

"I've got that report for you."

"Oh, great. Thanks."

Jack accepted the report and reached out blindly to grab the pen on his desk that was always in the same place…

… and was now on the other side of his computer screen.

"Damnit Ianto!"

"What's he done now?"

"He keeps moving things. Just enough to really annoy me."

"That's very petty for Ianto."

"Yeah, well, I guess I took away all other weapons he's got."

"He is certainly resourceful."

Tosh's tone surprised Jack. It was bordering on annoyance.

"I thought you were on his side."

"I was. But he'd acting like a child. Yes, I don't like that you're keeping him locked up here like a criminal, but you're doing it because you care about him. All he seems to be doing is sulking over it." Tosh slid into the seat across from Jack, clasping her hands in her lap, "I know, what you did was very wrong, and I still can't believe you were that foolish, but Ianto's not handling any of this any better than you are. What he did to Ivor Jones is still consuming him, I know it is, but he's not even trying to deal with it anymore. He's ignoring it in favour of fighting with you."

"He said to me last night he was doing his best to convince himself I didn't exist." Jack's voice was a soft murmur and he grimaced as he realised he'd said it aloud.

"Oh, oh Jack." Tosh's eyes were compassionate as she looked at him. "He doesn't mean it."

"He sounded like he did."

"Jack, you big idiot." Tosh gave him a small, sad smile, "If he really meant that, why is he moving all your stuff?"

Jack blinked then gave Tosh a watery smile.

"Sometimes I forget just how intelligent you are Toshiko."

Tosh smiled, inclining her head towards him, "It helps to be a woman sometimes. We are much better built for these sorts of things."

Jack laughed, "Considering how the three men of the team are handling this situation, you're probably right."

"Look, Jack, you can't keep Ianto here forever."

"I know that but-"

"I know, you just want to keep him safe. But I'd like to think I still know a bit about Ianto. How demeaning he would have found an offer like yours."

"It wasn't meant to be demeaning, it was meant to be a compromise. I told him I'd give him the pain without the injury. That way at least, he'd be safe."

"No offense Jack, but do you really understand why Ianto does those things? It might not just be for the pain. It couldn't be. There has to be more to it than just the pain. Even if he had accepted your offer, I don't think you could give him what he really wants from it."

"What do you think he wants? I assumed it was the pain, the recreation of the original experience under his own terms."

"I'm not sure. It can't just be the pain. But if he wants to recreate the scene, I think you're the last person he would want to do that for him."

"Do you think-"

The Rift Alarm went off. Tosh and Jack immediately went to see what was happening.

~*~

Ianto was really fuming by the time the team had finished rounding up the aliens that had fallen through the Rift. Jack had ordered him to computer sit without a pause and effectively told him he wasn't needed on the field in his state. His state?! There was nothing wrong with him. Aside from a sudden lack of freedom, Ianto was the same man he'd always been. But Jack doubted his capabilities in the field. Bastard.

Ianto decided enough was enough. With a small smirk on his lips he pulled out his phone and dialled an old number. It took a while for the call to be answered, but soon that wonderfully muddled accent came through.

"Hello?"

"It's Ianto."

"Ianto! How are ye?"

"I need your help."

There was a pause, as if the person on the other end could sense the seriousness of the statement.

"I'm all ears."

~*~

"How much longer are they going to keep this up?" demanded Gwen to Owen as they watch Ianto walk away from Jack even as Jack approached him.

Owen watched them. There had been a time when he'd felt jealous of Jack and Ianto's relationship. Not that he wanted to shag Jack or anything like that, but they were close, in a way Jack had been with Owen until Ianto had come along and stolen that spot. It had been the beginning of a new rivalry which had lasted until… well truth be known, Owen couldn't figure out when it had dissipated. He supposed all this shit with Ianto and Ivor Jones and his and Jack's stupidity had put it to the back burner.

Now that relationship seemed to have gone down the toilet. Jack spent much of the day looking frustrated, and Ianto looked moody and was only near civil to everyone, although he seemed to be saving his most venomous tone for Jack.

As for Ianto's treatment of Owen… there was nothing to say. Ianto was ignoring him, cleaning up after him, and refusing to meet his eyes. Owen was pretty sure Ianto was afraid that if he did meet his gaze, Ianto wouldn't be able resist beating the shit out of him. Owen was quick with his fists, but Ianto was as strong as Jack. There would be no contest. Ianto would flatten him. In his current state of anger, he could probably overpower Jack.

"As long as it takes for one of them to break I guess." he said to answer Gwen's question.

"How can you let Jack get away with keeping Ianto prisoner like this? For God's sake Owen, he's your brother."

"Yeah, and right now the only thing I can see when I close my eyes is my brother trying to get himself killed by some random guy in a bar. Keeping Ianto here may be pissing him off, but at least he can't hurt himself here."

"Oh, yes. Because the Hub is such a safe environment with its guns, Weevils, pterodactyl, drugs and alien tech, all of which Ianto had access to."

"Jack's watching him at night, we're watching him during the day."

"We've got him under lock and key, with almost no privacy. I'm amazed you or Jack hasn't been going with him to the bathroom to watch him take a piss!" Gwen's eyes were flashing. Owen could remember that passion being quite a turn on in the good old days when she'd been brand new in his life. Now he really wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

"Look, I let Ianto down by leaving him victim to that bastard when he was thirteen. I won't let him be hurt again. If keeping him here until he sees sense is the only thing for it, then so be it! Now fuck off Gwen! I've got work to do."

Gwen huffed and stormed away to have a good bitching session with Tosh no doubt. The two women had bonded well over this situation. No doubt complaining about how stupid men were when it came to handling delicate situations.

Owen had to admit, the evidence was mounting.

~*~

Jack stood in the door of his office, watching Ianto wander around the Hub, looking unbelievably restless. That was probably because Jack had sealed off the Archives, and all other corridors save for the one that led to the room Ianto was sleeping in.

When Ianto had realised he was stuck in the main Hub and near Jack, he'd disappeared into his room to sulk, but then had come back out a few hours later looking agitated.

"Y'know, I could think of a few things we could do to pass the time, if you're bored." Jack had no idea what possessed him to say that aloud, much less in that flirtatious voice, but it was too late to take it back. Ianto's face gave him all the answer he needed. "Just a thought."

Ianto glared at him, having refused to say a word all day. Jack sighed,

"Look, you can act like a child all you want, but eventually we are going to have to deal with this. And the easiest way is for you to grow up and talk to me properly."

Ianto looked away, his jaw twitching. Jack rolled his eyes,

"Well, at the very least, get me a coffee. I've got paperwork and I could use some. Please."

Ianto didn't look at him, but after a few moments he moved to the coffee machine. Jack smiled, feeling pleased he was getting through to him in some small way.

Going back to his desk Jack switched the CCTV on, smiling at the familiar motions of Ianto making coffee. He always made it look incredibly sensual. Jack missed standing near him and watching him. Hell, Jack missed being with him in any way other than the way they were now.

Ianto finished making a cup of coffee –Jack could smell it in his office and his mouth was watering- and brought it to his face. Jack watched him inhale the scent, smiling a little at it, and then Ianto took a sip of the drink. Jack watched as he sipped at the drink, wondering when, and if, he would get his.

Ianto finished his mug of coffee, all the while staring at the machine as if it held the secrets of the universe. Then again… perhaps it did. It was a coffee machine after all. Jack cracked a grin and wished he could make that joke to Ianto, knowing the younger man would insist it did.

Jack's amusement was very short lived however as Ianto set his mug down, still staring at the machine. With one hand, he stroked the shiny top in a loving gesture. Then the hand moved to the back of the machine and with a slow, but deliberate movement, Ianto pushed the machine off the counter and watched dispassionately as it crashed to the ground. Jack jumped as the sound reverberated through the Hub, right into his office. He'd been so transfixed by the screen, he'd nearly forgotten it was real just outside his office.

Leaping to his feet Jack ran out to the main Hub and then stuttered to a halt as he watched Ianto stamp on the machine. The crack of the outer casing was as loud as a gunshot. Jack was unable to comprehend what he was seeing. It wasn't just the random destruction of a piece of machinery. It was the coffee machine. Ianto's coffee machine. The machine he'd picked out his first week on the job. The one that had enabled them to get through the longest of hours. The thing Ianto defended with the fierceness of a mother hen from the rest of the team. And yet, there he was slowly, cruelly destroying it, not as a random act of violence he would regret later, but as a cold hearted attack on something Jack couldn't quite interpret, but could see in front of him plain as day.

Ianto's face was blank as, with a final weight induced crack, the casing gave way and shattered, allowing Ianto's boot to crush the more delicate interior.

There was silence in the Hub as both men stood in their respective places. Jack felt like all the threads of control he'd been holding, trying so hard to keep Ianto safe were snapping in his grip.

Ianto lifted his foot out of the coffee machine, and stepped over it, like he was stepping over a dead body and walked away, down the corridor to where he'd been sleeping. Jack waited until his footsteps were gone and then hurried down to the kitchen and knelt by the coffee machine, hopping it was salvageable. The panic bubbling at the back of his mind was ridiculous. It was just a coffee machine. Ianto's coffee machine.

With tender hands, Jack lifted the coffee machine back onto the counter and stared at it. Bent, battered, delicate, like an abused victim. Ruined beyond repair. They would have to get a new one. But Jack wanted this machine. He liked this machine. It had been a brilliant machine.

Now it had been completely ruined and Jack felt as guilty as if he'd done it himself.

~*~

Ianto wiped at his face, grimacing at the sweat on his forehead. The room was too warm, and it was too small. But Ianto wouldn't give into the claustrophobia that had been pulling at him since he'd been first condemned to being stuck in the Hub.

His foot twinged, having not appreciated being pushed into the coffee machine. But Ianto had not been able to resist the urge when it bled into his conscious thought.

His phone beeped. A text message.

Drawing in a deep breath, he flipped it open and read the message.

'On my way. Will be there tomorrow, early. Xxx.'

The sharpness, almost cheerfulness, of the message made the tight knot in Ianto's chest loosen a little. Things were always better with her. After all it was she who saved him. He just had to last the rest of the night and then he'd be able to get out and get away from Jack.

Still… if he was going to be leaving… Ianto couldn't resist angering Jack a bit more. At this point, he no longer cared if he'd ever felt anything for the immortal captain. Nothing he felt for the man was worth his freedom.

Smirking to himself, Ianto reached under the camp bed and withdrew a shoebox. Pulling out its contents, Ianto wondered just how much this would anger Jack, and then promptly decided that he didn't care. The angrier, the better.

He wasn't scared.

~*~

It was two hours since the coffee machine had been destroyed. Jack knew this because he'd been staring at the small clock on his desk since he'd returned to his office less than a minute after picking the machine up. Two hours and not a peep out of Ianto.

As Jack wondered how he could possibly resolve this mess, a strange smell tickled his nostrils. With a grunt Jack lifted up his head and sniffed deeper. He knew that smell. There probably wasn't a person in the western world who wouldn't recognise that smell these days.

Cigarette smoke.

Getting to his feet, Jack marched out of his office and like before, came to an abrupt halt by what he saw.

Ianto had never looked his age as much as he did right then. Sprawled out on the couch, his hair scruffy, stubble on his jaw, a large book in his lap and a cigarette dangling from his fingers. Without looking at Jack, Ianto took a deep drag of the cigarette, held his breath for a moment and then slowly let the smoke out of his lungs with the ease of a regular practitioner. Jack watched the pale grey smoke drift above Ianto's head, almost surrounding him. Jack could almost see the tendrils of the smoke wind around Ianto's throat, choking him.

That bubbling panic began to build up in the back of his mind again, even as he strolled down, trying not to react to an obvious goad.

"You shouldn't smoke. It's bad for you." he said in a light tone.

"So I've heard. But with so much shit in life, a single pleasure surely won't do any harm." Ianto smirked at him, his eyes dark, almost malicious. Jack wondered if that had always been there, just well hidden.

"It shortens your life."

"A life that has been too long already and will be cut short someday soon no doubt."

"That's not always the case."

"Really? We both know better than anyone the life expectancy of anyone working for Torchwood, especially Cardiff. The record's forty. Owen's almost there, isn't he? He's thirty three. Just seven more years until he breaks the record. It's impressive he's lived until now, thirty is the average age. So… four more years for me. What's a few inhalations of nicotine compared to a grouchy Weevil?"

Ianto took another deep drag, and just as slowly as before, let it out between his soft red lips. Jack felt like he could see the smoke permeating through Ianto's body, damaging it, taking away precious moments. Hurting him.

Repressing a growl, Jack clenched his fists and said,

"Put it out."

"I'd rather not. May as well enjoy the last of it, eh?" Ianto's eyes were daring Jack to take action.

"The smoke isn't good for Myfanwy." It was a lame excuse, but Ianto still cared about the dinosaur, Jack was sure.

"She doesn't mind." Ianto rolled the cigarette between his fingers, then took another, smaller drag. He was taking his time, enjoying the sensations flowing into his body. By closing his eyes, an almost blissful expression on his face, Ianto was almost recreating the image that had made Jack start this whole incarceration. Enjoyment of damaging himself.

And Jack snapped.

In a matter of seconds Ianto found himself pressed against the wall, Jack's hands curled into fists around the front of his shirt, and Jack's face pressed into his.

"Why are you doing this?! Why are you being so fucking difficult! Why won't you just grow up and let me help you?"

Ianto's lips curled away from his teeth, baring them in a furious gesture, and his eyes sparked with an unbearable fury.

"You call this help? You call your offering of a pity fuck, of making me feel like a used whore help? You absolute bastard!"

Ianto grabbed Jack's wrists, twisted and jerked them and Jack let go. Then, with a snarl, Ianto threw Jack away from him. Jack toppled over the couch and landed on his front with a groan. Ianto rushed after him and threw him onto his back, bringing his fist back and punching Jack in the mouth.

"You bastard! You bastard! You think you're a god, Jack fucking Harkness, that you can call the shots over everyone. Well I won't let you rule over me! You wanna help me? You wanna make me feel pain. Then fine. You do just that!"

Jack didn't have a chance to figure out just what that meant as Ianto smashed his head into the ground, making stars burst in front of his eyelids. It was only when he realised his trousers and pants had been pulled down that he realised what Ianto was trying to do.

"Ianto, stop! You can't do this."

Ianto held him down, having already pulled down his own trousers. Jack managed to catch his eyes and was horrified at the fury and the instability in them. "Why not? Isn't this what you offered? Isn't this what you wanted?" The Welshman spat into his own hand and reached for Jack, stroking hard.

"Not like this. Ianto, don't! You'll hurt yourself." Jack wasn't alarmed on his own behalf. He knew Ianto would stop if he said no.

"I don't care! You bastard, you don't get it do you! You don't care, you never do." Ianto wasn't listening to him, only focused on one thing and one thing alone.

Jack tried to sit up again, but Ianto hit him again and pressed him down as he impaled himself on Jack. Ianto shouted in pain, one hand reaching up to pull at his own hair, swearing and screaming at himself. His free hand pinned Jack's to his chest. Jack watched in horror as Ianto began to fall apart, his hand scratching vicious red marks across his neck, his voice breaking as he snarled and swore, calling himself things Jack wanted to refute. With a burst of determination, Jack managed to pull his hands free and before Ianto could pin him again, Jack rolled them over. He held Ianto down, pinning his wrists to either side of his head. Ianto's eyes widened in fright as he looked up at Jack, well aware he was no longer in control.

"I won't let you hurt yourself, and I won't let you use me to do it, Ianto."

"Get off me."

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I won't let you hurt anymore."

Jack held Ianto's wrists in one hand, and with the other he gently stroked Ianto's cheek, moving to his neck when Ianto tried to bite him. Ianto kicked out, but it only served to drive Jack deeper into him. Jack sighed as he kissed Ianto's neck, moving his hand to between his legs, stroking, almost tickling him. Ianto squirmed, and a soft sob escaped his throat.

"You bastard. You can't! You can't."

"I'm doing this to help you. I'm not trying to hurt you."

"I don't want that! I don't want this! I want-"

"I know what you want, Ianto. But I can't give it to you. Not like that. I'm going to take care of you." Jack moved his hips gently, halting every time Ianto grimaced. He wanted to turn this vicious assault into gentle love making. He wanted Ianto to let himself be loved, to want that over hurting himself. Ianto struggled, but Jack hadn't heard him say no, so he kept going. If Ianto said no he would pull away at once. He wasn't about to make this a rape.

Ianto tried to impale himself, but Jack moved against those movements, keeping it soft. Ianto's breath was coming in heavy pants, tears sliding down his cheeks, panic in his eyes.

"Tell me to stop and I will, we can stop now Ianto. Or you can let me take care of you."

"I don't- I can't- I… I…"

"Yes, Ianto come on, let me help you." Jack kept up the gentle movements of his hips, each time touching that sweet spot. Ianto let out a sob, screwed his eyes shut, and began to go limp in Jack's grip. Jack stopped at once.

"Ianto, I'm not trying to force you, not like that. Please, look at me."

Ianto bit his lip and after many seconds opened his eyes. For a moment, his eyes softened as they looked at Jack. Then they hardened and Ianto roared and he pulled an arm free and Jack had no chance to stop him before something hard and heavy crashed into his head and everything went dark.

Can I just say that when I started this fic it was meant to be a but angsty, a bit fluffy and rather short? Where'd that plan go? This plotbunny has mutated beyond recognition!

Concrit would be seriously appreciated at this point, as I've never really gone this deep into the murky depths of angst, and I'd love to know how I'm doing.

More soon.

Night's Darkness