My first Torchwood story! I'm not sure I have the Hub layout quite right, but hopefully this is easy enough to follow anyway! This story is basically just an excuse for some worried and protective Jack, which I love. I own nothing. Enjoy!

Ianto saved the report, closed it, and flagged the file as "HIGH RISK" before pushing away from the workstation. He yawned, glancing at his watch. Was it really one in the morning already? Yet again, he hadn't realized how tired he was until he stopped working.

The Hub was quiet. Well, it was never completely quiet – the water tower and the low hums of the computer servers and the rift manipulator actually made a fair amount of noise. But still. No one typing, no one walking on the metal catwalks, no one shouting or clanging or wrestling a weevil into a cell. It had been quiet more often, lately. Ever since Tosh and Owen…

Ianto cut off that train of thought and got up, gathering his things to head home. Gwen had left hours ago, and Jack was off following some lead around the city. And Ianto needed sleep.

He had just checked to make sure his mobile was in his pocket when he paused. Something… he turned and looked out across the Hub. Everything seemed to be perfectly in order – he'd spent some time clearing things up earlier, so it damn well should be. And yet, he couldn't shake the strangest feeling that he was being watched.

Ianto turned back to his bag and continued to go through it, trying to act like he was looking for something as his mind raced. Had he just imagined the light sound of footsteps from the catwalk above him? He watched the hazy shadows on the floor around him for a moment. When one of them moved ever so slightly, Ianto left his bag where it was and began to walk calmly to the weapons locker.

Thankfully, that meant he had to go across to the other side of the room, and into the hall that led downstairs a little ways. He opened the door and grabbed a handgun, and then, leaving the door open, stood behind it. He got out his phone and quickly pressed the three buttons that would send a Hub intruder alert to Jack. It was a fairly new security measure, installed after Tosh had been attacked by the alien lying on their exam table – the alien they'd thought was dead. That would have been classified as an internal threat alert. Ianto prided himself on the number of categories he'd come up with. Even if he was probably the only one who'd bothered to memorize the codes for all of them.

Ianto stood there, keeping his breathing slow and even, and listened. For a moment, everything was quiet, and then he heard the metal part of the floor creak as the intruder stepped on it. Again, silence. They hadn't expected that. Ianto flicked the safety off his gun.

A shadow appeared, stretching underneath the open door of the weapons locker before disappearing into the darkness beyond. Ianto waited until he could see the shadow's legs. Then, moving quickly, he slammed the door. It collided with his target, who let out a cry, and before the man could recover Ianto had grabbed him and shoved the gun against his temple.

But the intruder wasn't giving up that easily. He twisted, knocking the gun away from his head and breaking Ianto's hold on him. Ianto made to back up, but before he had taken two steps he found himself on the floor with a split lip and a bruised jaw.

"Stop!" Ianto shouted, pointing his gun up at the man. He was tall and well-built, an athletic sort, but on the older side, past his prime. He was dressed in cargo pants and a black vest that looked to be of military origin. Ianto spotted two guns strapped to the man's chest.

The man grinned wickedly at him. "Those aren't my orders."

"Your orders? Who sent you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," the man chuckled.

"Look, I suggest you get out, or I will shoot you."

"No, you won't." The man's tone was unconcerned.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" Maybe, Ianto thought, the man was UNIT, sent to steal some of Torchwood's files. It wouldn't be beneath them. He could've done without the punch to the face, though.

"Isn't it obvious?" The man grinned wickedly. "Torchwood Three's got to go."

"Go?" If this was some sort of assassination attempt, Ianto thought, then why hadn't the man pointed a gun at him yet?

"Oh, they did say I could take my time," the man said, as if he'd heard Ianto's question. "One at a time, I think. You're lucky number one." He paused and tilted his head. "Think your coworkers will be worried when you don't show up for work tomorrow?"

"You won't get that far," Ianto said as steadily as he could. "I've already called for help. They'll be here soon." If he knew Jack, the captain was probably racing back to the Hub at breakneck speeds. Assuming, of course, that he hadn't gotten caught in his own unexpected fight. Which, in the world of Torchwood, seemed to happen on a fairly frequent basis.

"Hmm," the man said. "A shame. I suppose we'll just have to get on with it then, won't we?"

Ianto didn't wait. He fired the gun.

The man had already moved, ducking under Ianto's guard and knocking him down so his head slammed hard against the concrete, dazing him. He knocked the gun out of Ianto's grip and put his hands around his throat, squeezing mercilessly. Ianto scrabbled at the man's hands, but it was difficult to think, to act, with the world tilting nauseatingly around him.

"I like to use my hands," the man told him conversationally. "Much more of a personal connection that way, isn't there?"

Vaguely, Ianto thought he felt his mobile vibrating in his pocket. Jack, he thought, and his training came back to him in a rush. He crossed his arms together over his head and forced the man's elbows down, at the same time hooking his foot on the outside of his attacker's and lifting his hips to roll him. He took the opportunity to punch him in the face, then the throat for good measure, leaving him gasping, before he scrambled to his feet, scooped up his gun, and ran for the door.

He was halfway there when pain exploded in his shoulder, causing him to cry out and fall to the ground. Something warm and wet was spreading through the back of his shirt, and a small part of Ianto's brain spared a thought for the ruined shirt and waistcoat he was wearing.

No time for that, though. He turned quickly and fired at the man. The bullet hit his vest and the man stumbled, grimacing, but kept going. Some bullet proof vest, Ianto thought. Usually people at least fell over.

But the man was aiming his own gun again, and Ianto didn't have time to try for a head shot. He forced himself to his feet and ran in the direction of the medical bay instead, knowing that the time it would take for the barred gate and cog door to the exit to open would be more than enough time for the man to kill him several times over.

Something exploded just above Ianto's head as he ducked behind a desk, but he kept going. The medical bay was a dead end; he didn't want to get stuck there, so he ran instead to the other hallway that led down to the lower levels. He had just rounded the corner when the door alarms went off.

Ianto took another few steps, letting his momentum carry him, before he stopped, swaying slightly, and listened. The man seemed to have stopped as well. This might be Ianto's chance – the man was outnumbered now. Though Jack wouldn't know what he was walking into – human assassins were pretty low on their list of common attackers, somehow.

Wincing, Ianto shook out a handkerchief and tried to reach around and press it to his back. He had to transfer his gun to the hand attached to his injured shoulder, and the handkerchief would surely be soaked through in minutes, but it was something. As quietly as he could, he crept back to the doorway and crouched so that he had a view of the entrance, interrupted as it was by various desks and chairs.

The man was standing in front of the gate, his gun pointed at the cog door, which rolled open just as Ianto took his position. The man wouldn't shoot Jack immediately, would he? If he did, Ianto would have time to take aim and actually finish the job. And then Jack would be fine. Yes. Jack would be fine.

Ianto raised his gun and tried to aim it at the man, but his head was pounding, and the world still seemed to be tilting slightly from side to side.

Jack stepped through the door, his gun already out and aimed immediately at the man as the circular hatch closed behind him. The two of them stood there for a moment, sizing each other up.

"Welcome home, Captain Harkness," the man drawled.

Jack didn't answer right away, instead moving forward and through the barred gate. The man let him. Ianto saw Jack's eyes flicking around, and thought he saw his face pale when he spotted the blood. Jack followed the trail with his eyes, but Ianto knew he wouldn't be able to see which way it had gone past the desk Ianto had ducked behind on his way down the steps.

"What, no words of welcome for me?" The man gestured with his unoccupied hand. "Quite a place you've got here."

"Where's Ianto?" Jack's voice was quiet but deadly, and full of a simmering rage. It was a chilling tone, one Ianto didn't think he'd ever heard from Jack before.

The man shrugged as if he was answering a question about the weather. "Oh, around here somewhere, I'm sure. Your arrival was very timely for him."

Jack's eyes flicked to the entrance to the medical bay before scanning along the back wall. His eyes passed over the doorway without pausing; he hadn't noticed Ianto in the shadows. Which was fine. It might be better if Jack didn't know where he was, so as not to accidentally telegraph anything to the intruder.

"So you want to kill us all, is that it?" Jack asked, looking back at the man.

"Got it in one!" The man laughed. "They did say you were smart."

"You've got two options," Jack warned. "Either you drop your weapon right now, and lose the fancy vest, or I kill you. I suggest you decide quickly, because my trigger finger is feeling real jumpy today."

"Hmm." The man stroked his chin. "No." His gun went off. Ianto flinched, but instead of a bullet wound appearing in Jack's head, as he'd expected, there was the sound of metal clattering to the ground, and Jack swearing in pain. The man had fired the gun straight out of Jack's hands.

Jack was shaking his hand out, but he didn't seem to be bleeding, as far as Ianto could tell. The man was a good shot.

"Fine then!" Jack shouted, throwing his arms wide. "You want to kill me? You should try it! See what happens."

The man laughed, but Ianto thought he could see the calculating look in Jack's eyes. He was probably trying to figure out if he would be back before the man could find Ianto. At least, that was the thought process Ianto would have had, if he'd been in Jack's position. For Jack, there didn't seem to be any faster way to finish this.

But Ianto was leaning against the wall, blood running down his back, and he wasn't sure if he was capable of getting up and moving now. It would take longer for Jack to come back to help him than the few seconds it would take for the man to find him.

Back to the original plan, then. Be ready, and fire as soon as he had a clear shot.

Ianto let the handkerchief fall and picked up his gun in his right hand again. His grip on it was slippery in his now blood-covered hand. The back of his shirt was quickly becoming soaked as well; it slid wetly across his skin as he shifted. He should've used his vest, Ianto thought. Taken it off, bundled it up, and sat pressing it against the wall to keep pressure. Assuming he'd have been able to take if off in the first place, with his shoulder in that condition.

Either way, too late now. Every little movement sent pain firing through his shoulder and up his neck.

"Oh, I will kill you, Jack Harkness, you can be sure of that," the man was saying. "Don't you want to know who sent me? Mr. Jones was quite curious about that himself." Jack clenched his jaw and didn't say anything. The man titled his head. "Oh, I see. You're worried he'll bleed out while we chat."

Jack took a sharp breath in, and Ianto tried to scoot forward.

"Well see, that's exactly what I want. You've upset quite a few governments, you and your little team here, and some of them have decided you're not worth the trouble. The British government won't even acknowledge you exist, though, so they've had to take matters into their own hands."

Maybe he didn't have to kill the man in a single shot, Ianto thought. Maybe he just had to hit him, or even miss him, make a distraction, and then Jack would have his chance.

"And which governments would those be?" Jack asked. "Just so I know who to come after once I'm done killing you."

The man smiled. "I'll leave that a mystery you can take to your grave. Wouldn't want anyone looking at your internal security records later to get any ideas, would we?"

Ianto raised his gun. His arm was shaking, and his vision was going in and out of focus, but he'd managed to scoot himself forward a foot or so, and he had a better line of sight to the man's head now. You don't need a perfect shot, he reminded himself. Just a distraction.

He fired.

The man flinched as the bullet sailed past his head. He began to turn instinctively toward where it had come from, but Jack had, as Ianto had hoped, taken the opportunity to leap forward and punch the man in the face. In a moment Jack had grabbed the gun from his grip and shot him in the head.

Ianto let his own gun clatter to the floor and leaned his head against the wall.

"Ianto? Ianto!" Jack rushed around the desks and skidded to his knees in front of him. Ianto tried to smile at him, but he was really feeling very woozy now.

"Ianto? Hey. Ianto! Stay with me, now." Ianto opened his eyes. Huh. He hadn't realized he had closed them. Jack had one hand pressed to his back, the other cradling his face.

"Shit, okay," Jack muttered. "Okay. Can you stand? Bandages, we need to put pressure on that…"

"Don't think," Ianto tried, but the words were raspy, and he realized that below the all-encompassing pain of the bullet wound was still the pain of the near strangulation. "Don't think I can," he managed. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Okay, listen to me. Ianto? Ianto, look at me." With difficulty, Ianto raised his head to meet Jack's gaze. Jack's eyes were red and scared, and seemed to be pleading with him. "I'm going to go grab a few things from the med bay. I'll be right back. Don't close your eyes. Okay?"

Ianto nodded dimly. Jack kissed his forehead, and then he was gone. Ianto forced himself to track his progress until he disappeared, and then focused on the sound of Jack clattering around in the drawers. His thoughts kept drifting, and he felt so tired now, but underneath it all was the understanding, the fear, of what could happen if he let himself go. And so he kept forcing himself back to the present, to Jack's muttered curses, to the feel of the hard tile against his head, to his own breathing.

Jack reappeared, running towards him, a bundle of things pressed to his chest with one arm and holding his phone to his ear with the other.

"You with me?" Jack asked, searching his face as he dropped in front of him again. Ianto nodded again as Jack pressed the phone to his ear with his shoulder and went to cut his shirt and vest open from the back. Ianto thought vaguely to mount a protest, knew that Jack would take it as a good sign, but he couldn't quite muster the energy.

"Gwen!" Jack exclaimed suddenly, as he pressed gauze to the bullet wound. Ianto hissed. "Sorry, I'm sorry," Jack whispered. "No, Gwen, not you – listen, you need to get some paramedics to the Hub ASAP. We can retcon them later, but I'm not a doctor… It's… Ianto's been shot."

There was an exclamation that even Ianto could hear through the phone, a tone he recognized as Gwen panicking. "Gwen, please, now," Jack said. "I'd call them myself but someone needs to show them how to get in, and I – I'm not leaving him. I'm doing what I can here but I –" his voice broke a little. "It's bad, Gwen," he said quietly.

Ianto swallowed and tried to push himself up straighter against the wall. Jack was flicking a syringe now, then pressing it into Ianto's leg. Ianto watched as it went in, feeling nothing. Jack tipped Ianto's chin up.

"You're going to be okay," Jack whispered. "It's going to be okay."

Ianto tried to focus on his face, but his head was spinning rather badly now, and his vision was blurry – whether from tears or from the head wound or from the blood loss, he didn't know.

"Jack," he breathed. The word seemed to catch in his damaged throat. He reached out with his good hand, fingers catching at the fabric of Jack's trousers, and Jack understood and took his hand. "Jack, I…"

"Shh, none of that, now," Jack said softly. "Just stay with me. Tell me something. How about – how about – how you figured out about that, that antigravity beacon earlier today, for example."

"I, er…" Antigravity beacon, right. He couldn't focus on the memory, his thoughts too scattered to make any sort of order. All that existed for him in any concrete way at that moment was this wall, this floor, and Jack. Jack, sitting in front of him and holding his hand and stroking his cheek, and looking at him with those terrified eyes.

"Ianto? Ianto!" He felt himself being shaken slightly and focused on Jack again. That was strange. He hadn't realized he'd drifted off.

"Stay with me, please, Ianto," Jack pleaded. "I can't – I can't lose you. You know I-" he sucked in a sharp breath.

"I know," Ianto rasped. "I know. I'm trying."

"Stay with me," Jack whispered again, but there were dark spots dancing in Ianto's vision. He couldn't feel the wall or the floor anymore. Jack was saying something, holding his head up, and Ianto blinked slowly at him. He couldn't focus on the words, though the tone was that of terror, and now there was a loud noise behind them, like an alarm. That was strange. He should figure out what it was…

His last comfort before the darkness overtook him was the thought that at least he'd gotten to see Jack one final time.

ooooo

Ianto woke slowly.

First came the vague impression of sound, a steady beeping from somewhere nearby, and a distant thrum of people. There was light too, not bright but enough that he knew he wasn't in complete darkness. The fabric cocooning him was warm and smelled crisp and clean, and as awareness trickled back he realized he was lying in a bed.

He opened his eyes.

He was in a hospital room, his own private one, dimly lit and with a sliver of light coming in from behind the curtained window. He could hear more clearly now the sound of people walking and conversing outside in the hall, muffled by the door. The pain in his back was there, but dulled by what he guessed were intense painkillers.

Slowly, Ianto turned his head towards the door. Jack was sitting in a chair next to his bed, elbows on his knees and head bent over his nervous hands, looking at the ground. A sudden rush of warmth passed through Ianto.

"Jack," he said. His throat still felt raspy, but better than it had.

Jack's head shot up, and though his eyes were a little red, a wide smile appeared on his face. "Hey there," he said, scooting closer and taking Ianto's hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Hopped up on painkillers? Great." The words were hoarse, and by the end Ianto began coughing. Jack's smile faded, and he quickly handed Ianto a glass of water.

"They said," Jack began as Ianto handed him back the glass. "They said you'd been… strangled. You have bruises." He gestured to his own neck. Ianto tapped gingerly at his throat, but there wasn't much pain. The drugs were doing their job, clearly.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Got out of that one, but then he shot me." Jack wordlessly handed him back the water, which Ianto took gratefully.

"When I find out who hired him…" Jack began.

"What?" Ianto asked, looking at him seriously. "What will you do?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe it was the agreement of rogue agents from whatever governments he was talking about. Not officially sanctioned. Either way, they'll try again, eventually."

Ianto didn't have anything to say to that. It was true. If it had been just a single power, or a group of dissatisfied people within a single power, that would be one thing. But multiple governments? Even if the people behind this didn't have the support of their governments backing them, the level of cooperation between them showed an uncomfortable amount of dedication to the cause. The cause being eliminating Torchwood and all its members. And that meant they wouldn't give up so easily.

"Not for a while," Ianto said finally. "They'll bide their time."

"Yeah, unless they have a pool of ready assassins. How did he get in, anyway?"

Ianto shook his head. "He was already in there with us, hiding. Could have been there for days, for all we know." He cleared his throat, and Jack offered him more water, but he shook his head. "I'll look through the security tapes."

"I'll look through the security tapes," Jack corrected. "You are going to stay here for another few days. Doctor's orders."

Ianto sighed but didn't argue, knowing it'd be pointless. He'd have to accept that Jack was going to be a little overprotective, probably for a while, probably over both him and Gwen. And it might be good not to be back in the Hub for a few days. The thought that someone had managed to slip past all their security, unnoticed, and had stayed for who knew how long, watching them, learning their habits, waiting for one of them to be left alone… it made his skin crawl. Ianto had had his flat robbed once, years ago, and this felt similar – like a violation, a loss of privacy and ownership, a loss of control.

"Thank you," Ianto said quietly. Jack looked at him. Ianto wasn't even sure himself what precisely he was thanking Jack for. For coming back as quickly as he had? For saving him? Or for being here with him, now? "For being there," he decided on finally.

Jack watched him for a moment, as if trying to parse what exactly Ianto meant. "I should've gotten there sooner," he said.

"You got there-"

Jack shook his head, cutting him off. "I was interviewing a possible witness when the alert went off on my phone. I didn't check what it was right away. I should've… maybe I could've gotten there before he shot you."

"Jack," Ianto said softly, squeezing his hand. "It's over. I'll be all right. And we have his body, don't we? There must be something on him that can lead us to who hired him."

Jack's eyes turned steely. "Yes. And once we know… they'll regret ever having attacked us."

Ianto quirked a smile. Jack could be very good at being threatening, when he wanted to be. "I look forward to it."

Jack leaned forward, his gaze suddenly so intense Ianto found it impossible to look away. "And you're going to be there with me every step of the way, understand? No getting killed along the line."

Ianto let out a short breath. "Bit of a hazard of the job, I'm afraid," he whispered.

Jack shook his head. "We're taking them down together. Are you with me?"

Ianto looked into Jack's eyes, into the determination there, the promise that Jack would do anything and everything to keep him safe. He nodded. "I'm with you, Jack. Always."

Jack leaned in and kissed him, and Ianto knew that whatever came next, they would face it the best way they knew how. Together.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Reviews mean the world to me - I'd love to know what you thought!