Hello again. Suzie's gone, on with the aftermath.

I really think that has to be a lot more to it than what we saw on the screen, so I hope no-one's expecting Day One to start anytime soon!

Tosh had barely made it through the door to Jack's office when another shot echoed through the Hub, oddly, in stereo. Muffled and echoing from outside, short and sharp from the still-open CCTV behind her. Tosh froze momentarily, the impulse to follow Ianto and do something warring with her deep-seated sense of caution. They had no idea what they'd be running into, and a quick look back at the CCTV would fix that. The twin impulses kept her swaying in the doorway for a timeless instant, but the need to know won out, so she backtracked and slid into Jack's chair again.

"Ianto," Tosh yelled, or tried to. The sound came out as a whisper, a whimper, a plea. The tableau on the screen sent a scream as far as her lips, where it struggled against a sob of relief. Apparently there wasn't room for both to escape, because she stayed silent, staring at the screen as though her disbelieving gaze had the power to alter the display. Jack was still alive, and Tosh clamped down on the voice within her mind that continued to shriek that he couldn't be. Jack was alive and Suzie wasn't. Suzie was lying sprawled on the Plass with her gun still in her hand and a deep red scarf lying across her throat and flowing down into the stones. Only it wasn't a scarf, was it? That was just a clever illusion Tosh's overwrought mind was trying to let her see. Her very own perception filter. Tosh rubbed her tired eyes and looked again. It wasn't a scarf.

They'd have to get those stains out of the stone. Cardiff council wouldn't be impressed.

Suzie was dead. Jack was alive. Again. Alive and uninjured. Moving. Talking. Talking to the woman on the ground. Tosh could see his lips moving but the microphones weren't picking up his words.

That was annoying. Tosh would have loved to hear what he'd found to say to the woman currently curled into foetal position, shaking visibly against the steadying arm Jack wrapped around her shoulder. What was her name, the one from the other day? The woman he'd Retconned? Copper? A copper, no Cooper. Gwen Cooper. Constable with the Cardiff police. Tosh wished she knew how Jack was explaining this, because she could use an explanation herself.

It occurred to Tosh that her mind really shouldn't be working this clearly. It's the fight-or-flight reaction kicking in, she reasoned, reveling in the clinical detachment which was probably only temporary. Within her, nature's inbuilt defense mechanism stirred, riding an intense surge of adrenaline which allowed the injured to flee, the threatened to escape. And gave the terminally confused a window of clarity in which to think.

"Tosh, hurry up," Ianto called. The cog was open. He was standing just inside it, an arm across the door to prevent it rolling shut again. As though he was holding an elevator, Tosh thought, fighting a totally inappropriate urge to laugh. Another effect of shock, she supposed.

"I'm coming," she yelled back. "Just give me a minute."

Tosh was glad she wasn't close enough to hear exactly what Ianto said in reply. She could tell from the tone it wasn't good. He was angry, possibly panicking, but Tosh knew what he needed to hear, so she let it out before her sense of discretion could censor it.

"Jack's OK," she called, turning back to the CCTV so Ianto wouldn't later be mortified she'd seen his relief. "He didn't get shot again, and he didn't shoot anyone."

It might have been partly wishful thinking, but Tosh wanted to believe Jack hadn't killed Suzie. Tosh had to believe it, because she couldn't accept that Jack was sadistic enough to make that shot, right up under the chin, where he'd have to look straight into Suzie's eyes. Jack wouldn't do that, not when he could have been equally effective from further away. Especially not given how the position would make it easier for Suzie to wrestle the gun from him and shoot him - again

Jack appeared to be impervious to bullets, though, so maybe the risk didn't bother him that much. Tosh inhaled deeply, once more fighting the impulse to laugh at how calmly she was processing it all. The cushioning effects would wear off soon, though, and Tosh was determined to use this brief interval of shock-induced clarity to keep herself and Ianto – and Lisa - safe from the repercussions of the events on the Plass tonight.

So she kept Ianto waiting a moment longer while she switched Jack's CCTV back to its default view and made sure the screen locked. Should have done that already, Tosh chided herself. It was all the more important now that Jack never discovered the Hub hadn't been empty tonight. He'd be on the alert, after this. After one of his team….went mad? Is that what had happened to Suzie?

If something had driven Suzie mad, Tosh knew what to blame. The glove. That damned glove.

Perhaps Ianto's impatience was infectious; perhaps Tosh had developed some of her own. It didn't seem to matter either way, as they blundered their way out through the tourism office in the dark, too impatient to find the light switches.

Ianto didn't even pause to lock the door behind him. Totally out of character. Tosh watched the departing figure for a bemused moment, then turned back to engage the dead-latch herself. Obviously it would be her responsibility to cover their tracks tonight.

Ianto was out of sight by the time Tosh set off in pursuit, her feet sliding slightly on the damp paving. Really, Ianto was being terribly careless tonight. It would be something in the order of a miracle – another one – if Jack wasn't alerted by the pounding of his footsteps. Oh well, at least the sound gave Tosh something to follow, which meant she could watch where she placed her feet instead. Which in turn meant that Tosh cannoned unexpectedly into Ianto's back as he came to a sudden halt in the shadow of a pillar.

It was amazing that Jack didn't hear the collision either, accompanied as it was by astonished 'oooof' noises and vague apologies as Ianto hauled Tosh upright, all the while without taking his eyes off the scene in front of them. Tosh followed the direction of his gaze and swallowed uncomfortably. The tableau in front of the water tower had changed since her last look at the CCTV. It also explained why Jack hadn't noticed the sounds of their approach. He'd been busy with other things. He still was.

Suzie had vanished, for one thing. Tosh's eyes followed the dark trail that led from where Suzie had crumpled and saw it stop abruptly at…..at the stone that marked the invisible lift.

Tosh pulled her gaze away, knowing from experience that if she stared long enough, her brain would take her eyes past the filter. She didn't want to see what – who -lay there. Jack must have moved the body. Tosh tugged on Ianto's hand and whispered an explanation. She saw his eyes widen as he took it in, watched his head turn slightly as he too followed the trail of blood with his eyes.

With that second glance, Tosh realized the pool of blood was larger, and her stomach churned as she forced herself to look more closely before once more dragging her eyes away. For a second, she'd thought Suzie might be alive, but she'd seen the pool grow only sluggishly. No evidence in the steady seepage that a heart still beat to urge blood out through the wounds Suzie had inflicted on herself.

But it did mean Suzie was still lying there. Tosh had to admit she'd never really been fond of her only female colleague, but it hurt to think that Jack hadn't even sent the stone down into the Hub.

"No prizes for guessing who's cleaning that up tomorrow," Ianto muttered. His voice was strange, soft in volume yet hard in tone. Businesslike, perhaps. A match for the granite-faced butler mask. Understandable, in this instance. He'd need a fair store of detachment, given the prospect of mopping a colleague's lifeblood away from the front of their workplace.

Except that it wasn't the blood which had turned Ianto to stone.

Was he jealous? Tosh wondered, even as her heart twisted in sympathy. Did it burn Ianto inside to see the man he denied loving wrapped around someone else? They were far enough away that Jack and Gwen made a somewhat blurred figure. Only one figure, though. Jack's arms were around the smaller woman, her head tucked beneath his chin, so close and tight that there was no light between them, nothing to mark where one person ended and the other began. Jack's chin moved restlessly across her hair, and the edges of the conjoined figure wavered as his hand traversed the woman's spine, while soothing murmurs echoed across to where Ianto and Tosh stood in the shadows.

"He's seems to have it under control," Ianto said. The Welsh vowels Jack praised sounded clipped and harsh. "Doesn't look like he needs me….us…..after all." The hard voiced faltered, close to shattering - and taking Tosh's heart with it. Tosh inhaled deeply and prayed to the God she still believed in to give her strength enough for both of them tonight.

Across the Plass, the scene changed again. Gwen pulled away, curling into herself on the damp stone. Sobs drifted in bursts across the cold night air, between repetitions of the same, damning phrase. "I remember. I remember."

As if things needed to get any worse.

Tosh twined her fingers around Ianto's cold hand and tugged. "We should leave," she suggested.

A shudder ran through his body and into hers via their joined hands.

"They'll be fine," Ianto agreed, still using that hard voice. "Jack's about to apply his favorite remedy for shock, if I'm any judge."

Ianto laughed at his own comment, a low, coarse sound that Tosh could hardly believe him capable of producing. It was so unlike Ianto that for one blazing instant Tosh burned with fury at Jack for doing this to her friend. But she couldn't maintain the anger, not with a tiny, rebellious, possibly reasonable part of her mind reminding her that Ianto had rejected Jack long ago, and still dodged every attempt the older man made to mend the breach between them. The same part of her brain which knew, beyond a doubt, that if Ianto went to Jack now, the quaking, terrified woman who also needed comfort would be forgotten.

Jack mustn't know they were here, anyway. It would be just about the worst thing that could possibly happen, however much Tosh's sentimental side urged her to drag Ianto across the Plass and shove him into Jack's arms. Jack would be grateful now, but their presence here tonight would inevitably raise questions. What had they seen? Why were they here?

Lisa's safety rested on their ability to avoid those questions. But Jack shouldn't have to handle this alone, should he?

Once again, it appeared Tosh had to choose, and it felt harder than ever before. On the crest of a sudden wave of guilt, Tosh accepted that Lisa wasn't the focus of her loyalty anymore. The woman beneath the Hub wasn't the same person Tosh had learned to care for all those months ago. The gentle, loving, frightened woman had become harder, harsher and colder. Maybe that was an inevitable result of the trauma she'd suffered, maybe it was something else that they'd never understand. Regardless, Lisa was different, and if what Tosh faced was really a choice between Jack and Lisa, Tosh knew she'd be running across the Plass to her boss right now.

But helping Jack wouldn't only threaten Lisa; it would destroy Ianto. Jack or Ianto was a much harder choice to make. Yet still Tosh wavered, even with Ianto's hand resting in hers. Jack had saved her from Unit. She owed him, didn't she?

The hand within hers trembled and Tosh's heart quaked in response. She looked up into her friend's impassive face and hurt for him with an intensity of feeling she hadn't been capable of when Jack first brought her to Torchwood.

Jack might have freed her body from prison, but Ianto had restored her soul.

Tosh looked once more at Jack twining his arms around the dark-haired interloper and felt a stab of resentment. She hoped Ianto was wrong about the sort of therapy Jack planned to offer, but it didn't go in his favor that he'd chosen to cuddle with Gwen on the Plass instead of attending to Suzie. The body of his employee, his teammate, his friend, lay unseen and unacknowledged, spilling its secrets into the uncaring stone. Whatever drove Suzie to this madness, she deserved better from the man she'd looked up to for so long.

The resentment stiffened Tosh's resolve. Jack had chosen an outsider over Torchwood. That was where his loyalties lay. Fine. It gave the rest of them license to look after each other. Any lingering doubts Tosh harbored over their decision to keep Lisa a secret vanished, along with the remnants of guilt.

Tosh squeezed Ianto's hand. "It's not safe for us to stay," she said, injecting her voice with all the authority she could summon. "With Suzie on the lift, he'll have to come back into the Hub through the office entrance."

"Which will take him right past us," Ianto agreed. His gaze drifted towards the darkened tourism office. "I don't suppose I could…."

Tosh shook her head firmly. "Jack might leave any second, Ianto. Even if you got into the Hub before him, he'd probably hear the cog alarm. He might brush that off any other time, but not tonight."

Ianto nodded. "You're right, of course." He straightened, looked around once more, and then tugged on the hand he still held, leading Tosh around behind the pillar and towards the garage.

Their cars were parked only a few spaces apart. Ianto eyed Tosh uncertainly as she unlocked her door.

"Are you OK to drive?" he asked. Not the stone-face anymore. No butler mask to hide the concern shining out of his eyes. The icy core of shock still residing inside Tosh began to melt. Ianto must surely be just as tired as she was, but he was still trying to look after her.

"I'll manage, Ianto," Tosh answered, surprising herself with the weariness in her voice.

Ianto shifted uneasily. "I could drop you off," he offered.

Tosh rubbed a hand over her eyes, trying to force herself to think. Her mind didn't have that bizarre clarity anymore, and she kind of missed it.

"Can't risk leaving your car here," she answered eventually. "Jack's sure to call in some help. He might use the GPS to find out who's closest." Tosh shook her head. "Imagine if he finds your car's been here all night. It could be disastrous."

Ianto wanted to argue, but he well remembered how often Jack used the GPS to check on his team. And on him, specifically. Tosh was right again. Jack was bound to be more suspicious of anomalies tonight. He ought to go home.

But home was just a word for an empty flat, more packing boxes now than furniture. And Tosh looked so tired, so frail. He couldn't just leave her. Not yet.

"I'll follow you," Ianto decided. "Make sure you get home all right."

"That doesn't get you home safely," Tosh added pertly. "You're in no better state than I am, Ianto, and don't you dare pretend otherwise."

Ianto's brow furrowed deeply.

Tosh smiled faintly and grasped his hands in her own. "I'm OK at the moment, really. But I can feel a meltdown coming on." She managed a somewhat shaky laugh. "And honestly Ianto, I don't think you're far off one either. So, follow me home, if you like, but stay at mine tonight. We can look after each other."

"Again," Ianto chimed in, with a tiny smile.

"Again," Tosh agreed. "And it's silly, I know, but I hate the thought of being alone tonight." Alone, like Suzie on the Plass. Tosh shuddered.

Ianto smiled his crooked smile and pulled her into a brief, reassuring hug. "I don't want to be alone either," he admitted. "Meet you at yours, then."

-XXX-

Jack urged Gwen onto the Torchwood couch and pried her grasping fingers from his arm. Very unlike Jack Harkness, to be peeling a pretty woman's hands off himself. It'd be funny if he wasn't so damned drained.

Gwen looked up at him with wide eyes and hugged herself in an attempt to contain the shivers wracking her body. Jack thought of Suzie, lying cold and alone on the Plass, and told himself firmly that the cold couldn't hurt her anymore. It could, however, hurt Gwen, so Jack scrabbled around Owen's domain until he found the somewhat scratchy blanket Owen kept for his few live patients. It wasn't great, but it was that or a fire blanket. Jack didn't know where Ianto kept the spare bedding, and he didn't want to offer Gwen his own bed.

The reluctance sat strangely in Jack's mind as he draped the coarse wool over Gwen's shoulders. It might be the first time he'd shied away from the idea of an attractive woman in his bed. It wasn't that the idea didn't appeal, Jack told himself. It was the situation. Yeah, maybe she'd been clinging to him as though he was her favorite teddy bear, but Gwen couldn't be thinking straight right now. And she had a boyfriend, didn't she? And there was still the chance they'd have to Retcon her.

Jack piled the excuses up in his mind until he convinced himself. The only reason he was thinking about Ianto now was because if the efficient young Welshman was here, Gwen would already be wrapped in proper blankets and eating or drinking whatever was best for shock.

And if Ianto was here, Suzie would be decently laid out in her designated drawer, instead of lying on the invisible lift where Jack had quite deliberately arranged her body to ensure her blood would cover the splatters of his own.

Jack didn't even know which drawers were free anymore. He'd left all that to Ianto.

And someone would have to clean the gore off the Plass before it got reported to the police. How they'd achieve that, Jack didn't have the faintest idea. But if anyone could get blood out of a stone, it'd be Ianto. Ha Ha. Good one. He'd have to remember to say that when he gave Ianto the order to clean it.

Ianto. Ianto. Ianto. Damn the man, he'd made himself indispensable.

Jack shook his head at himself, trudged into the kitchen to get Gwen the cup of tea she was pleading for, and averted his eyes from the coffee machine. He didn't need a coffee. OK, maybe he did, but he was quite capable of making it for himself.

It would just taste like shit. Jack didn't want to dwell on how he knew that. Sufficient to recall he'd eaten a lot of things in his long life, and only found out what they were later. Death by starvation tended make you far less fussy about what you put into your mouth.

Gwen whimpered. Jack stirred in some sugar, which he was pretty sure you were supposed to do for shock, and carried it out.

"Here's your tea," Jack said awkwardly, pushing the mug into Gwen's hand and wishing she'd stop looking at him as though his face held the answers to the mysteries of the universe. Any other time, having a woman – or a man - or a many-tenatacled being of dubious gender, for that matter– look at him like that would stroke Jack's ego to fever pitch, but right now he had too much else to do.

Gwen's gaze changed slightly as she cradled the mug. "Have you put more of that amnesia drug in this?" she demanded.

Gwen was clever. Suzie had said that, too. Suzie was good at reading people. At least, she used to be.

"No," Jack answered shortly.

Gwen eyed him suspiciously. "Why should I believe you?"

Jack actually managed a laugh. "You shouldn't," he admitted. "I'd have thrown some in if I could've, and lied about it if you asked. But in this instance, I'm not sure it's safe to give you another dose, so I haven't. You can believe me, or go thirsty. Take your pick."

Gwen's eyes switched from his to the mug and back again. "I don't think I care, anyway," she announced. "I wouldn't mind forgetting tonight." And she raised the cup to her lips and took a deep swallow.

Feisty, Jack thought, smiling. She'd be asleep soon. He wasn't lying about the Retcon this time, but he had slipped her a mild sedative. Better than locking her in a cell. Hopefully he'd have Owen's go-ahead for another dose of Retcon by the time the sedative wore off.

Jack sighed. He needed Owen. He needed Ianto. He needed someone to find out who to contact with the tragic news of Suzie's accident, whatever that was going to be, which meant he needed Tosh as well.

Jack looked down at his hands and was annoyed to see they were shaking. This was all too bloody much. He'd died tonight, for Gods-sake. He couldn't do this alone. He shouldn't have to do this alone. Jack needed his team, but he couldn't call any of them until he'd seen to his own cover story.

There was something else to be done first, though. Something far more important and so much harder. Something he couldn't do with Gwen watching. She'd seen enough tonight, poor woman.

So Jack waited, with as much patience as he possessed, while Gwen finished her tea. She placed the cup down with a sigh, smiled weakly, and leaned back against the shabby couch. Jack watched her eyes flutter closed with relief.

With his last excuse for delay gone, Jack dragged his feet to the base of the lift. He raised his arm before him in salute to his fallen comrade, and with fingers trembling across his beloved wrist strap Jack summoned Suzie into the Hub for the last time.

-XXX-

By unspoken consent, it was hot chocolate warming their hands through their mugs, not coffee, as they slumped beside each other on Tosh's couch. Tosh yearned for the oblivion of sleep but her mind still raced, and it would be foolish to add artificial stimulants to the natural cocktail still ebbing through her system.

"Guess Jack was right about not taking artifacts out of the Hub," Ianto mused. "Maybe if Suzie was never alone when she used it, someone might have noticed what it was doing to her."

Tosh nodded. "We all took something though," she pointed out. "Suzie had the glove, Owen took that spray, and I…..Oh, crap!" And Tosh leapt to her feet with a sudden burst of energy and rushed to rummage through her shoulder bag, while Ianto looked on in confusion.

After a moment, Tosh held a small black bag aloft. "I forgot to put it back," she groaned.

"The data recorder," Ianto said. "The one you put Lisa's library on."

Tosh nodded. "And to think, the first time I smuggled it out, it felt like having a rock in my bag," she mourned. "Yet I've carried it around all this time and didn't even notice."

Ianto laughed weakly. "You only took it back from me this afternoon."

Tosh blinked at him. "It feels longer than that," she murmured. She slid the artifact back into her bag, then returned to her spot on the couch and reclaimed her cooling chocolate. "Jack's going to be furious," she mumbled into her mug.

"It might be useful," Ianto said thoughtfully. "If he's got something to yell at us about, he might not bother probing into what were all up to tonight."

"Us?" Tosh queried. "All you've ever had at home was the GPS echo, and you returned that already."

Ianto quirked an eyebrow. "Who do you think Jack's going to blame for artifacts walking out of the archive?"

Tosh smiled and settled back against the cushions. She didn't feel wired anymore. Maybe she'd start feeling sleepy soon.

"Jack," she repeated, turning her mug in her hands, remembering a bullet wound closing by itself. "Do you think it's just bullets?" she asked suddenly. "And maybe something else would kill him?"

"Perhaps a stake through the heart," Ianto suggested, eyebrows lifting. He knew he was evading the subject, but if they started debating the impossible now, neither of them would get any sleep in the few precous hours left before they'd have to go back into the Hub. And from the sparkle that grew in Tosh's eyes at his comment, she needed some lightness as much as he did.

"He's not a vampire," Tosh said decisively. "You can see his reflection in a mirror."

"Oh yeah," Ianto agreed solemnly. "Mind, if Jack couldn't see his own reflection, I think he'd do the stake himself."

Tosh giggled, and it felt so good after the night of tension that she couldn't help pushing it just a little further.

"He did like biting your neck, though," she teased, giggling as a blush started creeping up from the very neck in question

"But he never drew blood," Ianto responded, trying valiantly to stop the blush going any further, and failing miserably.

But Ianto's reddened neck brought another to mind, and Tosh sobered abruptly. "Suzie bled," she said.

"I noticed," Ianto said, suddenly weary. He reached across and squeezed the hand which wasn't holding her mug. "It's a platitude, but at least she's at peace now."

Tosh bit her lip. "I won't pretend we were best friends, but I can't believe Suzie was a murderer. It was the glove. And that knife. They got into her head." Her fingers twitched within Ianto's, twisting around his palm and clenching. "I tried to use it, Ianto. It could have been me."

"Or me," Ianto reminded her. "I tried it too. We all did. The difference was, we rejected it. Suzie welcomed it." He forged on quickly as Tosh opened her mouth to argue. "I'm not saying she knew what it would do to her, Tosh, but don't you think she must have wanted what it offered?"

"Maybe," Tosh said softly. She remembered how the glove felt; the one time she'd worn it. Draining her, but offering something back. Something stronger, perhaps, but Tosh was frightened by the feel of something being drawn from her. She'd pulled the glove off and refused to try again. It was comforting to think that her fear, which she'd always considered a weakness, might well have saved her.

Ianto tipped the dregs of his chocolate into his mouth and set the mug on the coffee table with a slight rattle. "Let's try not to dwell on it," he suggested. "It'll just give us both nightmares."

Tosh place her hand on his chest and gave him a tiny shove. "Are you going to pretend you haven't spent half the night planning how you'll clean the Plass?"

The borrowed T-shirt Ianto was wore shifted beneath Tosh's hand. She frowned, remembering how this very shirt had strained across Ianto's chest the first time he'd worn it, and drew back for an inspection. The T-shirt was indeed much looser. Mickey Mouse's ears were nearly round again. Either Ianto had lost yet more weight, or the fabric had stretched to accommodate him.

Ianto tugged at the shirt, tweaking Mickey's nose, and smiled ruefully beneath her scrutiny. "I've stretched it," he confirmed. "Sorry. Guess you'll have to throw it out."

Tosh shook her head slowly. "I thought I might start sleeping in it myself," she confessed. "Then, after….." Tosh's voice broke. She deposited her own mug on the low table before it had the chance to slip from her fingers and looked across at her friend, meeting an intense blue gaze that reflected her own sadness. She wondered whether he was thinking, as she was, that this might be the last time they'd be able to turn to each other for comfort. With the data they'd sent Dr Tanizaki tonight, Lisa's freedom seemed so very close. Tosh tried to be glad, but couldn't help thinking about how much she'd miss this.

"After you've gone," Tosh continued, forcing her voice into a semblance of steadiness, "Even through the Retcon I'm sure I'll think of this as a special shirt. Kind of a security blanket. Because….because I know I'll feel safe whenever I wear it."

"Oh Tosh," Ianto whispered, gathering her into a hug. "I'll miss you too, Cariad. So much."

-XXX-

It was done. Suzie lay in the single cold storage slot the autopsy bay possessed. Owen could see to her later.

Jack checked on Gwen before trudging to his office. She was still asleep. With a bit of luck, that boyfriend, whoever he was, wouldn't notice her missing for a few hours yet. And if all went well, that same boyfriend would pick her up from hospital later today, with the missing hours explained. Jack hoped they wouldn't have to produce an extra bump on her head, but he'd leave that to Owen.

If all went well. Why should it? Jack thought wryly. Nothing's gone well for days now. Or weeks, or months, hell, for the last century.

Jack sank gratefully into his office chair, but was soon frowning at his active terminal. He'd forgotten to shut it down when he charged up after Suzie appeared. Oh well, no harm done. Now that he'd started using the screensaver thing Tosh insisted on, he probably hadn't even wasted much power.

Jack typed Myfanwy into the appropriate space and indulged in the memory of rolling around with a Welshman in a warehouse, until the CCTV view lit up his screen. It was still dark out there, but with the dawn the dark stains on the pavement would be glaringly obvious to anyone passing by. Jack sighed and thought he'd better get the area fenced off until they could deal with it. There were some road-works barriers in the garage. Whoever he dragged in first could bring them up.

Jack consulted his mental to-do list. Delete the CCTV first, since it was already running. Once the evidence of his death and resurrection was gone, Jack could safely call in the rest of team. Accordingly, he browsed through the CCTV master system, feeling annoyed at himself for not keeping up with Tosh's upgrades. He didn't know his way around it as well as he used to. But he couldn't hand this particular task over to Tosh. The only way to protect his secret was to delete the footage from the Plass himself, and do it so thoroughly that even Tosh wouldn't be able to restore it.

Moments after confirming the deletion, Jack shuddered at the realization that he'd not only deleted the views across the Plass, but he'd somehow managed to delete everything for an hour either side of his death. All the footage from all the cameras linked to the Hub. Tosh might actually kill him, which would totally defeat the purpose of the exercise. Oh well, done is done. Tosh of all of them would most easily accept his argument that he'd wanted to preserve Suzie's dignity.

Jack checked on Gwen again, and then checked his watch, wondering if any of the team was awake yet. Or maybe they hadn't made it to bed. In which case he could pull someone in now. He was sick of doing this alone.

The mere thought lifted his spirits. Jack logged out of the CCTV and into the tracking system. Every employee had a Torchwood GPS device in their vehicle. Torchwood design, far better than those shiny new ATMOS gadgets people were raving about. Owen had complained long and bitterly about the intrusion into his privacy, until Suzie came up with the idea of covering the fuel costs of any vehicle bearing the device. She'd assured Jack that if Owen's privacy had a cost, it would be equal to the pump price.

She'd been right again. Smart Suzie. What happened to the girl who'd laughed with him as they debated the dollar value of Owen's principles?

Suzie's car was nearby. Deal with that later.

Owen was at home. Had been for most of the night. Maybe the morose medic had gotten lucky. Jack was pretty sure the woman at the next table had been eyeing Owen off while they were at that bar. She'd been one of the few who hadn't watched Jack's own progress as he left. Good luck to him, then. Jack flicked a salute at the screen and scrolled onwards. No reason to spoil the doctor's fun until he had to. Gwen was still asleep, after all.

Tosh was at home, too. Sleeping the sleep of the innocent, no doubt.

Jack congratulated himself on leaving Ianto until last. He wasn't obsessed. So there.

But Ianto wasn't home. Not at his home, anyway.

Jack stared at the screen, but his glare didn't change the address currently winking beside Ianto's car registration.

Looked like the whole team had gotten lucky tonight. Except Jack.

And Suzie, of course

Hope you enjoyed.
(For anyone who's possibly scratching your head and saying 'ATMOS wasn't around yet' I know I'm a season early, but I'm allowing for market saturation. I'm a tad anal about stuff like that for which you can blame my work history. Sad, isn't it?)