A/N: Greetings all! Happy Halloween! I am not a celebrator of this tradition by any great measure, but today I was suddenly struck with the idea of a Torchwood Halloween party and thought that while I had the excuse of it being the 31st I may as well utalize it! Hope you all enjoy this rather silly and fun chapter! Hannah xxx

The 31st of October. Halloween. Hallows Eve. The Day of the Dead. Call it what you like and I'll still detest this ridiculous 'holiday'. Ever since I was young I've hated Halloween, came to dread it even. Rhiannon always used to drag me out trick or treating with her, dressing me up in ridiculous costumes and causing no end of embarrassment. And then there were those awful Halloween discos in primary school… they were even worse. Everyone was dressed ridiculously and acting foolishly dancing around to 'Monster Mash' and the like, wrapping each other up with toilette rolls pretending to be mummies. I tended to stay out of the way, sitting down in the corner. I'm not one hundred % certain what first sparked this dislike, but my opinion has not and will never budge. Which is exactly why I am dreading this absurd Halloween party Jack is trying to organise for this evening…

I suppose I should have anticipated it sooner, after all, he may not strictly speaking be American but for all intents and purposes he shares their loud outgoing and charismatic manners. So naturally, he shares their love of this particular holiday.

It started a couple of days ago, I'd invited him over for dinner and… well… you know… and he suddenly, completely out of the blue, asked me what I was dressing up as for Halloween this year. At the time I had just taken in a large mouthful of red wine and it took all of my efforts not to spit it back out again.

"Halloween?" I question, after swallowing, praying he was just joking.

"You know, pumpkins and candy and scaring kids and stuff. Halloween!" He clarified, grinning.

"Well, I wasn't planning on dressing up at all… but if you had something in mind?" I replied, wiggling my eyes suggestively – having learned from the best. I tried desperately to control my blushing at such an uncharacteristically evocative remark having left my mouth. If anything would distract Jack from saying the words 'Torchwood Halloween party' then it was sex.

He giggled lightly before answering: "Nothing like that Mr Jones, I clearly have been having an influence on your innocent mind! No what I was thinking was Torchwood Halloween party!" He all but yelled, grin growing wider.

Oh no. "Sounds great" I replied. I just couldn't tell him. I just couldn't spoil his fun by telling him how much I hated Halloween; he seemed so happy and excited. I love Jack, and sometimes love is just about putting up with things in order to make the one you love (partner? boyfriend? lover? other half?) happy.

He told the rest of the team the next morning and they all thought it was a brilliant idea. Typical. I did let on to Tosh about how much I was dreading the thought of a Halloween party and explained my utter loathing for said holiday. She laughed and said I should have just told Jack and he probably would have called the whole thing off. I told her that I couldn't bear to break the news to him, as he was clearly so into it all and seemed so excited. She just laughed again, called me 'adorable but silly' and ruffled my hair. Perhaps I should have just told him…

Ever since he announced it, he's been collecting together piles in the far corner of the hub, of fake cobwebs and grave stones and skeletons and bats for decorations. He's advised Tosh to wear something revealing to catch Owen's eye as, according to Mean Girls, Halloween is an excuse for girls to dress as scantily as they like without being called 'slutty'. Poor Tosh, almost choked on her sandwich when he said that, no doubt she'll wear anything which is but respectable anyway, she has a very classy sense of dress outside of the work 'jeans and jacket' look.

He has also given me my… costume; I am starting to think he has an obsession with me wearing red. It's a devil's outfit. He said, grinning wickedly, that there were two in the shop: one was essentially a deep red silk shirt with a brighter red cape, standard horns tail and fork, to be worn with black trousers. The other had the same accessories but no cape and was simply a pair of red Lycra hot pants. I think I must have looked terrified as he quickly said:

"Relax Ianto, I went with the cape"

I let out a sigh of relief in response. There was no way on earth that I would have worn such a costume for a whole evening, not even if it made Jack happy… which I'd like to think it would have.

On top of this he's given me an instruction list of food and nibbles and drinks etc. that we 'desperately need'. Actually this part is quite sweet; he put a little message at the beginning before the list saying:

'Dear Jones, Ianto Jones,

I have decided that you are the most trustworthy and qualified member of the team to carry out the very important task of purchasing our desperately needed food and beverage supplies for the 31st. Could you please also replenish our coffee supplies, as nobody else knows what on earth blend (s?) you buy to create such an orgasmic sensation!

Many thanks,

Captain Jack Harkness xx'

He knows how much I like receiving formal letters.

So anyway, today is the day and my stomach feels like it is tied up in knots. Tosh and Gwen have been decorating the hub all afternoon and, despite my hatred of this holiday, I must say it looks amazing. It's ridiculously over the top and more amusing that terrifying, but they've done a good job, Jack will be pleased when he comes back.

Actually mentioning Jack, I've hardly seen him today. He was in this morning until around 10.30 and then he left saying there was a police call for us that was most likely nothing but that he wanted to check out. Owen offered to go with him, but he said he didn't need help, and that he would be back in 'forty five tops'. Of course that was nearly 3 hours ago… I wouldn't put it past him to off organising some elaborate Halloween trick for us all, perhaps he would return carrying his head?

Before he had left I had tried asking him what he was wearing this evening, but all he said was:

"Aren't I terrifying enough dressed as myself?" and winked.

"Only when you're dressed as yourself and driving above 90… or attempting to make coffee… or cook" I said grinning back. He lightly punched my arm in response. Yes, Owen's sarcasm is definitely rubbing off on me.

I can't help but wonder what he is dressing up as I hope it's not something too outrageous, not something that will make me blush to look at him. I could really do without that on top of the already ridiculous and embarrassing events that will go on tonight. And I can only imagine what colourful comments Owen might come up with in return…

Jack just returned, carrying with him a body, He sighed and simply said 'Weevil attack' whilst placing it on the autopsy table. He said that none of us should touch it yet though. The Weevil that had attacked this latest victim, James Monroe, looked as though he had some form of rabies and until he had run further tests on said Weevil to confirm this he wanted us to stay clear as a precaution. So no pranks after all then, thank goodness.

It's 7.30 pm now, and whilst everyone else has gone home to dress up and prepare I am hear laying out the food and drinks for the impending nightmare that will be this evening. Is it too late for me to tell Jack that I really don't want anything to do with it all? I can just picture the look on his face now… the one where he pulls a great big grin which doesn't quite reach his eyes, whilst he tries to hide his disappointment. No, I'll leave it and endure this evening; everyone should be gone by one, one thirty at the latest, so that's just five hours. I can do five hours easily. I suppose I'd better go and get changed.

I was back down in the hub, devilled up and waiting by the drinks table in the main room by 7.55. This was where I planned to stay for the duration of the evening. I was expecting that the others would probably turn up a little late, as is the fashion with parties, but I was surprised to find that Jack wasn't about, I was sure he had headed off to his office a good half an hour before I had decided to get ready. I mean, I was used to him taking a little longer to get ready than myself, but surprisingly enough he was not usually as slow as one might expect considering how perfect the man usually looks. Oh well, I let out a sigh and put on the Halloween CD mix that Gwen had made in anticipation, the first song was 'Monster Mash'… great.

Tosh arrived promptly after at around 8.10, I grinned when I saw her. She was, as I predicted, wearing an outfit which was not in the least inappropriate. She did, however, look absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing a black, tailored fit dress, cut at the perfect length, with a black tail and pointy ears, and had drawn on a black nose and whiskers with eye liner. If Owen doesn't notice her this evening then he really is a muppet. She laughed when she saw me, which was hardly surprising given what I was wearing.

"What do we look like?" She giggled.

"Well I don't know about me Tosh, but you look lovely" I replied, hugging her as I did so. She blushed and smiled slightly in response.

Owen and Gwen arrived next, at about 8.30, she was giving him a lift over and had been late picking him up because 'she spent too much time faffing about with her bloody hair' according to Owen. Gwen clarified that yes, she had been late to pick him up, but that when she arrived Owen took a further 10 minutes to finish off HIS hair. I stifled a giggle at that.

Gwen was dressed as a vampire, big hair, deep purple dress and black cape and the most convincing fangs I've ever seen – she even had red contacts in as well. Owen was dressed in one of his old lab coats that he had given a 'renovation' to. I.e. slashed it to pieces, applied some red dye here and there, along with covering his face in a mask splattered with 'blood' and wielding a fake saw.

After 15 minutes or so of us chatting, Jack finally appeared from his office. I was very relieved to see him walking down the stairs in a Ghost Buster's outfit and not the horrendous and blush provoking outfit I feared he might adorn. He grinned and pulled out a pack of toilet rolls from behind the sofa. Brilliant it was mummy time.

I laughed along with everyone else whilst we played, but I hated every second. Especially the part where I tripped over some of it, luckily Tosh caught my arm before I landed head first on the floor, but still I'm not usually clumsy and I don't like it when I am. All I can say is Jack better had been enjoying it all.

We stopped to have a 'bite to eat' and after that Jack pulled out what looked like a board game at first glance. Then I noticed that familiar wicked gleam in his eyes and he picked up a glass with his other hand. Damn, I knew what that mean. It was a Ouija board. What else on Halloween? This was going to be worse than the mummy game I just knew it.

"Come on!" Jack begged "It'll be fun! Besides I bet it won't work anyway!"

"Jack I'm not sure it's a good idea to have a séance in a room where so many people and creatures have died in less than happy states" Gwen said

"I'm all for it, it's just mumbo jumbo anyway, and it is Halloween after all" Owen shrugged.

"Tosh? Ianto?" Jack turned expectantly towards us. I remained quiet, but I knew that if I had been pressed I would have gone along with it.

"Oh why not" Tosh said, and Owen gave her a high five. She seemed very pleased about that…

"Majority rules" Jack quickly interjected before I had had a chance to reply anyway.

We all placed our fingers delicately on the glass, with the music now off the room was filled with tension.

"Is there anybody there?" Jack asked ominously.

The glass began to move towards the square that said 'yes'. Terrific. I was reminded for the umpteenth time tonight that I really hate Halloween.

"Why are you here?"

The glass spelled out a word: R-E-V-E-N-G-E and all of us, myself included, in took in a breath.

"Who are you?" Jack continued

J-A-M-E-S M-O-N… the glass began to spell in reply, but as soon as she realised whose name the glass was spelling Tosh knocked it over in fright.

The lights began to flicker, and then suddenly our eyes were drawn to the figure over by the autopsy bay. The figure who up until that point was a lifeless shadow, waiting for dissection, but who now was glowing and rising up to stand. The lights went out completely, just for a second and we all screamed. When the lighting returned James's body was back lying on the autopsy table, and everything was 'back to normal'.

"What the bloody hell was that" Owen proclaimed.

"I-I've no idea" Tosh replied "was that real?"

"Do you know what it looked like…?" Jack began. "Oh never mind It's probably nothing" He finished with a strange tone of something in his voice and an odd look on his face.

"What?" Gwen demanded.

"Well, from what I've read about them it looked like the Gelth – the ones who were responsible for opening the rift in the first place." He concluded.

"But surely they would have had to come back through the rift, and the alert would have gone off, not to mention the hub's alarms should have sounded if something had got inside." Tosh replied.

"Perhaps there's a problem with our equipment. Tosh and Gwen if you check over the system and make sure everything is running ok, Owen start taking a look at the body – I finished the tests on the Weevil and it the disease it has isn't harmful to humans so you'll be fine. Ianto, come with me to my office – I have the files on the Gelth somewhere in there."

We all set off busily with our tasks. I followed Jack up to his office and watched him root around for a few minutes, he should really keep his office more ordered and tidy, but to be honest I don't think that was stopping him from finding the files he just didn't seem to be searching all the hard. He eventually concluded that they must be in his bunker below, so I followed him down.

Once we were inside he let out an almighty laugh. I didn't understand what was so funny, and my puzzled look only increased the intensity of his laughter.

Then he explained. It had been a joke. He had pulled a trick on us after all and we had all fallen for it, hook line and sinker. Have I mentioned this already? – I hate Halloween.

I sighed and began shaking my head, as I went to walk back up the stairs to his office. I wasn't cross with him of course, but I did think the others might be if we left them up there working for much longer.

"Wait Ianto, don't go, you're not angry are you?" He called after me.

"Of course not", I smiled.

"Are you sure"

"Positive?"

"Absolutely."

"It's just a little bird told me you hate Halloween…"

I was going to have to have words with Tosh. "Ah" I replied.

"Ah indeed. Why didn't you just tell me?" He asked

"Because, I know how much you enjoy Halloween and well I thought that it was worth putting up with a few hours of grief and embarrassment."

"You didn't have to you know, I would have understood. But… I am kinda glad you did put up with it, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pull off that awesome trick – I've been planning it for nearly 10 months now. It beats last year's hands down and that one was a killer." He stated grinning widely.

"It was very convincing, I'll give you that. How did you do it?" I said, not being able to help but grin back.

"Well, I was moving the glass so controlling what it said was easy. And by telling you that the "body" was potentially infected with rabies, none of you got close enough to it to realise that it in fact wasn't real. Aside from that it was just a good application of robotics and electricity." He finished beaming. He really is such a child sometimes, it's quite adorable.

"Well come on then, we'd better go back up and tell them all that it was just a prank" I said.

"Now now, Ianto they'll figure it out shortly – after all I don't imagine it'll take long for Owen to realise that he is dissecting a fake… but for now we're all alone down here… and you are wearing red after all… I say we just leave them to it for a while."

"You, Sir, have an evil streak in you" I said teasing.

"Says you, you're the one dressed as the devil!" And we both laughed.

"JACK!" We heard three angry voices holler from the main room of the hub.

"Well that took less time than I thought!" He said winking as he ran back up the steps to the hub to face the anger and claim his glory.