Finally an update! I know it's been forever, but if you're still reading this story I hope you enjoy it. The next bit is written so it'll be posted up soon too. Warning, general adorableness and fluff ahead, also some smut LOL

The IOA and Creepy Boxes Don't Mix

The next few months were amazing for Ianto. His and Daniel's relationship grew stronger every day, and he could honestly say that no matter how much he'd thought he loved Jack once upon a time, and Lisa before him, neither of those feelings could ever compare to how he felt about Daniel. The man was truly the most beautiful person he'd ever met, and every moment they spent together only made Ianto love him more.

Tosh had spent the time at the SGC getting to know the place and the people. She'd fit right in with the group the moment she'd arrived to join them during their holiday, and within a few days of her arrival at the SGC, it was if she'd been there for years. Ianto loved seeing her at work every day again. It brought back the happy memories he had of his time at Torchwood. He also loved watching how Tosh and Teal'c's relationship bloomed during her time at the base. They really were the most adorable couple. Everyone thought so.

Unfortunately, like all good things, Tosh's time on the base eventually came to an end, and Ianto would have been lying if he had said there weren't tears in his eyes as he hugged her goodbye in the living room of his and Daniel's apartment. They'd invited the entire group over for dinner so they could spend a bit more time with her and be there to see her off. Ianto was glad for their company, and he knew Tosh appreciated them being there too.

"I will be back to see you again before you know it," she promised him.

"I'm going to hold you to that," he replied, all but squeezing the life out of her.

She pulled back and kissed his cheek. "You take care of yourself and the rest of this lot until I get back."

"I always do," Ianto replied with a grin, giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek right back. She then moved on to say goodbye to the rest of the group, and Ianto felt Daniel's hand slip into his.

"I know it's hard to say goodbye, but it won't be forever," he whispered reassuringly.

"I know it won't," Ianto replied softly. "I just wish she didn't have to go away at all." He looked over at his best friend who was currently locked in Teal'c's strong embrace. "It must be even harder for them than it is for me."

"Yeah, I'm sure it is," Daniel agreed. "I can't even imagine how horrible it would be if you had to go away."

Ianto squeezed his hand and smiled adoringly at his archaeologist despite how sad he was currently feeling over Tosh. "Well thankfully, you'll never have to find out."

"I am very thankful for that," Daniel replied, his eyes full of sincerity.

"I love you," Ianto whispered, allowing the warmth those words brought him to ease some of the pain he felt about Tosh going home.

"I love you, too," Daniel replied as the Torchwood computer genius ran back to throw her arms around Ianto one more time.

"I will miss you all so much," she said as she pulled back. "You look after my bestie all right," she ordered Daniel.

"Just you try and stop me," Daniel replied, reaching forward to give her one last hug.

When at last she'd said all of her goodbyes, Jack ordered the Promethius to beam her up. She gave Ianto one last smile and Teal'c one last wistful glance before she disappeared in a bright yellow flash of light. For a moment, the living room was silent, and Ianto knew that even though he and Teal'c were the ones who'd feel the loss of her presence the most, the entire group were going to miss her.

Once everyone had gone home for the night, Ianto headed into the kitchen to make him and Daniel a cup of tea to take into bed, while the archaeologist moved through the apartment locking up. As he poured the water into Daniel's favourite cup, it suddenly struck Ianto just how easily the two of them had settled into this routine together. It felt so … domesticated, and even though he'd never imagined finding himself in this sort of situation after Lisa died, he really enjoyed the sense of comfort it brought him.

For a moment, as he let the tea steep just the right amount of time, he allowed his mind to wander, and he imagined what their future might be like. Would they stay in their apartment or maybe move to a house one day? Would they maybe even get married somewhere down the track? He'd not considered the possibility of marrying anyone since Lisa, and really, they hadn't been together that long in the scheme of things, but if he were being honest with himself, he'd marry Daniel in a heartbeat if that's what the other man wanted.

He brought himself back to reality, completely ignoring the fact that he must have had the world's cheesiest smile on his face and took the tea bags out of the cups as he heard Daniel padding into the kitchen behind him.

"Are you all right?" the archaeologist asked softly, slipping his arms around Ianto from behind and snuggling into his back.

"Yeah," Ianto replied, Daniel's words reminding him of Tosh's departure. "I'm going to miss her so much, but I'll be all right. He reached down and took a hold of Daniel's hands. "You have no idea how glad I am that you're here. I wish there were better words to describe how much I love you than just the ones you hear all the time in sappy romance movies, because I really don't think they do my feelings justice."

For a moment, Daniel was silent, then he whispered something into Ianto's ear in a language he thought he recognised, but couldn't understand. "That's ancient Babylonian," Daniel explained before Ianto could ask. "It means 'my love for you knows not the bounds of ocean or mountains, of the stars or the heavens themselves. It knows only you, for nothing in existence could ever come close to matching the heat of the fire that burns in my soul for you.'"

"It's beautiful," Ianto gasped.

"Does it do your feelings better justice?" Daniel asked.

"Far better," Ianto replied with a soft smile. "It's perfect."

"That's good," Daniel replied, "because I've been waiting for a perfect time to say it to you, and I'm really glad I'm not the only one that feels that way."

Ianto was completely floored by the other man's words. He turned in Daniel's arms and pulled him into a loving and heart stopping kiss. Their tea was forgotten as they stumbled their way to Daniel's bedroom, ripping off each other's clothes as they went. That night, their love making had a depth to it Ianto hadn't experienced before, and he knew they'd reached a new point in their relationship, even if it didn't really have a name other people would recognise.

By the time they were snuggled up together in bed, drifting off to sleep in each other's arms, Ianto could honestly say, for the first time in his life, that he was perfectly happy.

XX

It was only a few weeks later that found Jack, Sam and Teal'c, along with a group of scientists, standing around a table in one of the SGC's science labs, studying an artefact SG5 had brought back from a recent survey mission. Jack had circled the large, metal contraption several times and was now back at what he assumed was the front of it. He could quite honestly say he'd never seen anything even remotely like it, and judging by the way Teal'c was studying the thing with his head cocked to the side and Sam was fixated on it with the excited look she got whenever she had a new puzzle to solve, he assumed they hadn't either.

Jack looked up at the group of scientists who'd been studying the thing for the last couple of hours and asked, "So?"

The scientists looked confused. "So what, Sir?" one of them asked.

"What is it?" Jack explained the question as if he were talking to a four year old.

"Oh … well … we don't actually know," one of them replied.

"We were hoping perhaps one of you had seen something like it before," added another.

"That would be a no from me," Jack replied. "Teal'c?" he asked his Jaffa friend, even though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"I am also unfamiliar with this device, O'Neill," Teal's replied.

"Carter, any ideas?" Jack asked his resident expert.

"None yet, Sir," Sam replied. "I'll have to study the device a little longer to get any real idea."

"Well then, off you go," he said with a shooing motion toward the device, secretly enjoying the way his lover's eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of studying an unknown item. He didn't understand the thrill this sort of thing gave her, but he always enjoyed making her happy. She got eagerly to work and Jack left the lab with Teal'c at his heels, trying not to grin at the disgruntled but resigned looks the other scientists had on their faces. It was sad for them, but he knew none of them would be able to work this thing out as quickly as Sam, and he knew they knew it too.

"What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?" Jack asked his companion.

"As we are not scheduled for any missions this afternoon, I had planned to meditate," Teal'c replied.

"Up for a round of boxing before you do?" Jack asked.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you not have a busy afternoon planned O'Neill?"

"Nope," Jack replied happily. "I knew Daniel and Ianto had the day off together, so I made sure my schedule for today was light so Ianto wouldn't feel bad about abandoning me all day."

"That was kind of you O'Neill," Teal'c praised with a small smile.

"Well the kid deserves it. I don't think there's a single day that he doesn't work his ass off at this place," Jack replied. "It's not exactly a secret that I'm much more suited to exploring other worlds and shooting Goa'uld than I am at desk work."

"Are you considering returning to active duty, O'Neill?"

Jack sighed. "Oh if only," he replied wistfully. "With Hammond gone I don't think I could give up command. Far too much of a chance that we'd end up with someone like Woolsy. I do miss it though."

"Perhaps you could accompany us on a mission sometime, O'Neill," Teal'c suggested.

"I had planned to do just that when I took over this post. You can see how well that turned out. Still, with Ianto around now I could probably manage a trip through the old gate sometime soon. I hadn't really noticed until the other day that he pretty much runs the place on his own these days. He just dusts me off when I'm needed to make a military decision and hands me things that need signing. He's gotten so good at knowing what everyone needs all the time he barely has to ask me anything anymore," Jack said, not sure whether he felt proud of Ianto or annoyed at himself. He'd been so keen to rid himself of the work he didn't like that he'd encouraged Ianto to be autonomous as much as he could be. Turned out Ianto was far more skilled than Jack had originally thought and had taken over most of Jack's duties without either of them realising it.

He could definitely understand why Captain Harkness had wanted him on his team. It made him wonder though whether Ianto might be better suited to a different job; one that better matched his skills.

"Ianto Jones has indeed proven himself a worthy ally," Teal'c commented.

"And of course your opinion is not at all skewed by the fact that he introduced you to the young Miss Sato I'm sure," Jack teased his friend. He'd expected a playful jibe back from his Jaffa friend, who had finally managed to grasp the concept of a joke after … he'd honestly forgotten how many years the man had been with them. He was surprised when instead, the Jaffa's happy demeanour changed to one of unhappiness and Teal'c fell silent. Jack silently cursed himself for his stupidity. While Teal'c wasn't the sort to broadcast his feelings, they all knew he was missing the Torchwood computer genius.

Jack knew apologising to the Jaffa wouldn't improve Teal'c's mood so instead, he changed the subject to Ryak and helped his friend find something else to think and talk about for the rest of their walk to the gym. He'd have to give the Ianto matter some serious thought, but that could wait till later.

XX

After an amazing day out together at the museum, where Daniel told him all sorts of assumptions made by other archaeologists and then told him what was actually true about pretty much everything they passed, Ianto was more than happy to snuggle up on the couch with Daniel, a pizza and a beer. It wasn't often they managed to get a day off together, and he was really glad they got to spend it doing something they both enjoyed. Daniel enjoyed talking about archeological things, and Ianto enjoyed listening to Daniel talk about pretty much anything, and watching his eyes light up with wonder while he told Ianto every little detail about a dig or explained how their travels through the gate had helped him understand something and how lucky he was to do what no other archaeologist would ever get the chance to do, made it all the more enjoyable.

Daniel was watching a documentary one of the museum curators had suggested they look up, and explaining how so many of the assumptions were wrong, and Ianto was lying with his head in Daniel's his lap, enjoying listening to him talk some more as well as the feeling of Daniel's fingers stroking his hair, when the phone rang beside Daniel and he paused the documentary to answer.

"Hello … hey Sam … no I haven't, why? … Ah okay … wow that sounds really interesting … are they clear enough to photograph? … okay, I'll check it out first thing in the morning … you too, Sam, goodnight." He hung up the phone and looked down at Ianto. " One of the other SG teams found something today that Sam and the other scientists haven't been able to identify. She said she was about to leave it for the night and head off to bed when she noticed what looks like letters of some sort etched into the casing."

"Does she recognise them at all?" Ianto asked.

"She's not sure. She said she thought they looked a little like Ancient but she isn't completely sure so didn't want to make assumptions."

"As no good scientist should," Ianto replied with a nod. "Too light for photos I'm assuming."

"Yeah, I'll have to wait till tomorrow to check it out."

Ianto nodded, smiling at the barely contained excitement he could see in his love's eyes. Daniel always got excited about a new discovery, particularly when he and Sam got to work it out together. "I wonder what it is," he thought out loud. "Did she give you any particulars?"

"Not really," Daniel replied. "Big, metal, that's about it."

Ianto nodded. He saw Daniel reach out to grab the remote again, and Ianto settled down to continue watching, looking forward to more commentary. When nothing happened, he looked back up at his love to find Daniel looking at him with a curious expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just realised we have spent the entire of our day off together doing things that I like and even now you're lying there listening to me rant about how silly this documentary is when we could be watching something you like or even doing something else. I'm sorry, I have been really selfish today," he said contritely.

Ianto chuckled. "Goodness you sound so guilt-ridden." He reached up and gently stroked a stray strand of hair out of Daniel's face. "Cariad, I thought you would have realised by now that I'm happy to do pretty much anything as long as you're doing it with me. Besides, I like going to museums with you and watching very incorrect documentaries that you pick apart with more efficiency than a crow picks at an animal carcass. It's extremely entertaining," he explained.

"Still, I feel like I've monopolised the entire day and when I really think about it, we always seem to do things I like when we have a rare day off together. Doesn't that bother you?"

"No," Ianto replied simply. "I like doing the things you enjoy, they're fun. And to be honest, it's been so long since I've had any free time to really get into anything, and the things I used to like before I started at Torchwood I've all but outgrown, so I wouldn't say I have any particular hobbies anymore. I'm looking to find some new ones." He stroked Daniel's face gently. "I had fun today, and I have fun every time we go out together. I organise things I know you like because I want to enjoy them with you. You're expanding my horizons and I like it. Don't feel bad for that, okay."

"Okay," Daniel agreed reluctantly. "But next time we have a day off together, we're going to do something that has absolutely nothing to do with my enjoyment. The day is going to be all about you."

Ianto grinned slyly. "Really? Nothing at all to do with your enjoyment? But what if I want to?" he asked seductively.

Daniel smiled back and leant down to give Ianto a long, languid kiss which warmed his blood and sent a bolt of lust straight through his body. Moaning quietly, Ianto slid up and straddled Daniel's lap, slipping both hands back into his lover's hair and deepening the kiss. Daniel echoed his moan, slipping his arms around Ianto's back and pulling him closer.

When they broke apart for air several moments later, Daniel whispered, "I know exactly how we're going to finish our day off."

"Oh really? I have no idea what you could mean," Ianto replied lustfully.

"Actually, I think you may just be right about that," Daniel replied, switching the tv off with the remote and pulling Ianto into another heated kiss before urging him to stand up so Daniel could get up too. They made their way to their room, stripping each other's clothes off as they went, and Ianto was very glad they both knew their way around the unit as well as they did, otherwise they probably would have run into every wall on the way.

When at last they made it, Daniel stripped off the last of Ianto's clothes and slipped the cover off the discs before pushing him gently down onto the bed and stripping himself. When Daniel was finally naked, Ianto took a moment to enjoy the view presented to him before looking up at his love curiously. "So, what is the plan, lover?" he asked breathlessly.

Daniel smiled seductively, "Well today was all about me and what I like, tonight is going to be all about you," he replied.

Ianto opened his mouth to argue, but all thoughts of arguing fled his head when Daniel climbed onto the bed and covered Ianto's body with his own.

The man hadn't been lying. He kissed, licked, caressed and teased every erogenous zone Ianto possessed so expertly that Ianto felt like a puddle of goo, powerless to do anything but submit willingly. It was well into the night by the time Daniel's body filled his and he brought Ianto to the brink three times before allowing himself his own release.

Ianto was floating on a happy, euphoric cloud as Daniel disappeared into the bathroom to retrieve a warm washer and brought it back to clean him off. He was so wrung out he could barely roll over to help Daniel get the cover fastened back over the discs. He would have told the man not to bother if he didn't know the hyper stimulated sensation would drive him crazy and ruin the amazing night they'd had.

When Daniel crawled into bed beside him Ianto tried to reach out and hug him, but his arms refused to cooperate. Daniel chuckled and pulled Ianto into his arms, making sure Ianto was comfortable before settling down himself, burying his face in Ianto's hair and kissing it softly. "How are you feeling, love?"

"Amazing," Ianto murmured back. "We can do whatever you want every day off we have together if I get that afterwards."

Daniel chuckled again. "I can agree to that bargain."

"Although tomorrow night it's your turn," Ianto told him. "Because that was truly amazing, and I want you to feel like I do right now."

Daniel tilted Ianto's head up and kissed him softly. "I only know how to make you feel that good because you've taught me well. You're an amazing lover, Ianto. You make me feel incredible every time we're together like this."

"I'm glad," Ianto replied, gazing fondly into his lover's amazing blue eyes. "You are so beautiful. I love you so much," he whispered.

"I love you too," Daniel replied quietly, stroking Ianto's face. After a few moment of silence he whispered, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course?" Ianto replied.

"I know this is a silly question but … how do I measure up to … you know?"

Clearly Ianto was tired because it took him several moments to work out what his love was asking and even longer to process the shock of being asked that question. He stared at Daniel blankly for several moments before asking, "Why do you ask, love?"

"I just … well I know he's probably had a lot more experience, and I'm sure he's the one who taught you all the amazing things you know how to do, which I imagine is only a taste of the skills he's perfected over the years," Daniel explained. "I have been trying to pay attention to the things that you do that I really like so I can replicate them and taking notice of where and how you like to be touched. You seem to be pretty happy after everything I just did but … I don't ever want you to be disappointed."

Ianto gave him an understanding smile and did his best to clear the euphoric haze from his mind so he could answer the question properly. "Cariad, you could never disappoint me," he assured the archaeologist. "You are amazing, in every way. What just happened was incredible and every time we're together it's more wonderful than I can ever put into words. As far as perfecting skills goes, I think you've managed that pretty damn well, and even if you hadn't it still would have been amazing just because it was you doing it."

He leant up and kissed Daniel's jaw. "You shouldn't compare yourself to him. You're completely different people and I mean completely different. You love me, and I can tell you love me; you show it every time you touch me. Jack was different. He didn't love me, he just wanted to use me, and while at the time I thought he did love me that way, since being with you I've learnt how very different it feels to be with someone who truly loves you in that way. I've never been happier, love, truly," he said sincerely.

"I'm glad," Daniel said softly. "I haven't either and that's really saying something because I thought I'd been truly happy with Shar'ai. I don't know why you're different, but I feel so connected to you, and I love you so much."

"I love you too," Ianto replied, in perfect Ancient, enjoying the way Daniel's eyes lit up when he noticed too.

"You're getting really good at that," Daniel complimented.

"Thank you," Ianto replied. "You're getting really good at what happened a few minutes ago. I guess we're both perfecting new skills."

Daniel grinned and leant down to kiss him gently. "How are you feeling now?"

"Still a little floaty," Ianto replied.

"Think you can handle some more?" he asked with a naughty grin.

"Aren't you tired?" Ianto asked.

"Yeah, but I think I can manage something slow and gentle," he whispered seductively, leaning down to kiss Ianto's neck. Ianto moaned and slid his hands up into Daniel's hair, allowing his lover to kiss his body back into happy oblivion. It was so nice to feel loved as well as wanted.

XX

Daniel was keen to get into the base and check out the new artefact, so even though he was tired from the night before he'd set his alarm to wake him up early. Ianto had gotten up with his lover, knowing a day away always meant a ton of work would be piled up for him to do when he got back. He managed to get Daniel to wait long enough to eat a decent breakfast while he made them coffee to take with them, then they climbed into the car and headed for the base.

They were stopped by an unexpected traffic jam on their way which delayed them by at least half an hour, and when they finally reached the base, they found out why. Woolsy and his lot had decided that today would be a good day for a surprise inspection, and the traffic jam had been a result of their security blocking the road to allow their safe passage.

Daniel parked the car and they headed in, exchanging a quick peck in the lift before Ianto headed up to see Jack and Daniel headed down to the science lab. Ianto arrived in Jack's office in time to see the man leaving the office with Woolsy and his lot, the group of them appearing quite disgruntled at being in each other's company.

"Ah, Ianto, glad to see you're in early," Jack greeted him with a relieved smile. "You remember … this lot," he said, waving in the direction of Woolsy and the others.

"Good morning, Mr Jones," Woolsy greeted him with as much relief as he'd seen in Jack's face at his arrival. Both men preferred to avoid as much interaction with each other as possible so anything Ianto could go through with Woolsy meant less time they had to spend in the same room.

Ianto bid them both good morning and was about to ask where they wanted him to start when the phone rang in Jack's office and Jack ducked back in to see who it was. "Yep, righto, sure, bye." He hung up the phone and turned to address Woolsy.

"So, it seems you brought some scientists with you and rather than getting them to come up here and let me know what they were doing first, you sent them straight down to harass my staff," Jack said, sounding far less annoyed than they all knew he felt. "I don't care what you think you have a right to do in my base, you will not send anyone anywhere until they have come up to see me, and if you pull something like this again I will have you all forcibly removed from the premises, am I clear?"

"General, the IOA-"

"Clear?" Jack barked causing Woolsy and the others to flinch at the harshness in his tone.

"Clear," Woolsy replied reluctantly, and Jack headed off down the hallway toward the lift, Woolsy and the others close behind.

It took a few minutes to reach the science lab and none of them spoke a word until they arrived. A few very loud orders from Jack at the science lab door had everyone besides Sam and Daniel scurrying out. As Ianto stood beside Jack, his view of the lab was blocked so he couldn't see their faces, although he imagined both Sam and Daniel looked pleased and amused, as Jack gave the 'visitors' a thorough dressing down and laid down the law regarding the conduct he expected when they entered his base. They all looked about ready to wet themselves when Jack was done, and they shuffled back into the science lab looking like they were terrified that any wrong move would result in their deaths.

"You have discovered a new artifact?" Woolsy asked the only thing that seemed safe to discuss right then.

"Yes, we did," was Jack's only reply.

Woolly looked about to ask something else when one of the scientists called out to say he thought he'd found something. Jack and Woolsy both headed in and Ianto followed them, although his view of the artefact was obstructed by all the other people standing around it.

He turned his attention to his palm pilot, checking up on what else he needed to do after Woolsy and the others left so he could start prioritising. He thought the first thing he'd do was make coffee, but after that it looked like there was a bunch of paperwork calling his name and more requisition orders to go through and get Jack to approve. As he started mentally planning his day, he heard the scientist who'd called out earlier say he'd found what looked like a button and Sam saying it hadn't been there before. There was talk about pressing the button and how Sam thought that wasn't a good idea until they had a better idea of what they might find in there. This prompted Daniel to suggest they all get out of the way so he could get a better look at the text, something he hadn't been able to do as all the scientists had been in the way when he'd arrived.

There was arguing about how Daniel was only an archaeologist and it should be left up to the scientists, but Jack quickly put an end to that discussion and Ianto heard the scientists shuffle aside so Daniel could get a proper look at the symbols. All was silent for several moments and Ianto finished his mental calculations and looked up to ask Jack whether now would be a good time for coffee only to stop short when his gaze fell on the device for the first time.

Ice filled his veins as he recognised exactly what he was looking at, his memories from the time Torchwood had found a similar device flooding back into his mind and filling him with terror. He had to get Daniel and all of them away from it as quickly as he could.

The next few moments happened like they were in slow motion, Ianto opened his mouth to call out to Daniel, his feet instinctively moving in his love's direction just as the scientist who'd originally spotted the button reached out and pressed it. The device buzzed and glowed and Daniel instinctively stepped back, but Ianto knew it wouldn't be far enough.

"Everyone out," Jack ordered, and began to head for the door, but Ianto barely noticed. He reached Daniel as quickly as he could and pulled him towards the door, yelling at him and the scientist, who appeared to be frozen in shock, to run.

Unfortunately, it seemed that someone had pressed an emergency lock down button because the science lab doors started to close and Ianto knew they weren't going to reach them in time. They slammed shut just as he and Daniel reached them, trapping them and the shell-shocked scientist inside the lab with the artifact. They exchanged a panicked look before turning their attention back to the device. A dark, shadowy entity had emerged from inside it and was now standing in front of the device studying them. Ianto pulled Daniel close, trying to protect him any way he could.

The entity's seemingly empty eye sockets started to glow a bright orange, and they focused closely on Ianto and Daniel, a shadowy smile spreading across its face. Its attention turned to the scientist that was still standing beside the device with his finger on the button. "Thank you for your greed," its deep, gravely voice whispered before its hand reached out toward the scientist and the man started to scream. Seconds later he fell to the ground, sparks of orange energy zinging from his body. He was dead. Ianto knew he was. There was no way anyone survived an attack from one of these entities.

When its attention turned back to him and Daniel, Ianto's grip tightened on Daniel, even though he knew there was nothing he could really do to protect the other man. As it approached, it seemed to sweep its attention from Daniel to Ianto and back again. "Well," it rasped as it stopped an arms width away from them. "Either of you will do nicely. Let's see who is better equipped to handle the task."

They didn't have time to move or speak before the entity leapt on them and pain fizzled through every nerve ending in Ianto's body. It took only moments for him to black out, and all he could do was hope Daniel would survive whatever was coming.

XX

"Get that door open!" Jack yelled at Sam whom he knew was already working furiously to do just that.

"I can't, Sir. The door isn't accepting any commands, not even if you bypass the lockdown protocol," the blonde woman replied and as much as he wanted to scream in frustration, Jack knew she was doing her very best to save their friends.

He turned furious eyes on Woolsy and the others, "Who activated the lock down?!" he demanded.

"That would be me," Woolsy replied hesitantly, shying away when he saw the furry increase in O'Neill's eyes.

"My people are still in there," Jack growled advancing on the man menacingly.

"I saw the creature emerging and followed protocol," Woolsy argued.

"You do not come into my base and dictate what is and isn't protocol!" Jack yelled. "We could have activated the lock down once we were all safely out of that room and whatever that thing is could still have been contained!"

"I wasn't to know that," Woolsy argued and Jack was ready to pummel the man into the floor when the team he'd called to help Sam get through the door arrived along with Teal'c. He ordered the team to get to work then ordered Teal'c and a group of security personnel to get Woolsy and his minions out of the base.

"In case you have forgotten I still have a man in there as well," Woolsy argued.

"If he survives whatever that thing is, I'll be throwing him into my brig until a proper court marshal can be arranged to charge him for endangering everybody on this base," Jack replied, even though he knew perfectly well that a civilian couldn't be officially court marshalled, he would find a way to make that man pay for his stupidity. "You won't be seeing him any time soon." He waved his hand and Teal'c dragged Woolsy away.

As the minutes ticked by, Jack felt more and more useless, but he couldn't drag himself away from the door. Inside that room were his best friend and a young man he'd come to care for like a son. There was no way he'd get any other work done until he found out what had happened to them. From all reports the cameras in the science lab weren't functioning and while there were people working on fixing them, they were getting nowhere fast. The only way to find out what had happened to his people was to get through that door.

"Attention puny humans!" A loud voice that sounded a lot like Ianto's, only deeper and more gravelly, called over the intercom. "I must thank you for letting me out of that retched prison. It had been a while; several thousand years it seems. Because you did aid in my escape, I have decided not to kill you all."

Well, that was comforting.

"General O'Neill, I am addressing you now, although there's no point trying to talk back to me. This call is only one way. I don't actually care about what you have to say."

How delightful.

"Don't bother trying to get through this door. Even ignoring how thick the concrete is I have sealed it in ways your puny minds could never work out and not even the slightly less ape like mind of Colonel Carter will be able to work it out."

Even the entity knew Sam was the one most likely to find a way in, and Jack was almost positive he saw Sam pick up her game after he said that.

"I have some work to do in this lab. If you leave me alone to work in peace and don't try to interfere I will leave this base and this planet in peace when I'm done and you will never hear a peep out of me again. I know you won't believe me when I say so, but you're just going to have to trust me because you have no choice. Earth was of interest to me once, but that was when intelligent life lived on it. Now that you apes have taken over you are of no concern to me, and I don't really care what you do. If you do try to interfere with me however, I will kill my hostage and we both know you don't want that.

Hostage, just one? Was he talking about Ianto whose body he seemed to have claimed from the sound of the voice over the intercom? Or was he talking about Daniel? Or the scientist who let him out?

"Of course you will be wondering who I mean by hostage as there were three people alive in this room when the rest of you fled. I can see from this young man's mind that you are in fact a leader that cares about his people so I'll throw you a bone as you apes say and tell you who is still alive in this room. Not the greedy creature who let me out. He is very dead, I am sure you will be pleased to hear."

Jack would never admit to anyone that the creature was right. One less moron in the world to cause trouble for him and his.

"In the end, it was a choice between Mr Jones and Dr Jackson, and your precious Dr Jackson won the hostage lottery because he has too much of those Lantians in him, and I wasn't jumping into that body. Plus while Dr Jackson fought my entrance this one welcomed me readily because he knows, just like the rest of you do, that Dr Jackson is more important and valued than he is. So, I'll be keeping this body and taking it with me and as long as you don't interfere with my plans, Dr Jackson will be free to go. That is all you need to know. Go back to your lives, I won't be here long."

The communication channel shut off and Jack looked over at Sam who was still working on the door, although he could tell she was slightly distracted by what she'd just heard. He moved over to her and pulled her away, asking her to follow him to his office and leaving the others to continue working. She followed him without question, even though he could see that she didn't want to, and he loved her for it. On his way up, he told Walter to call an emergency meeting of all the scientific and engineering staff in 20 minutes, which of course Walter did immediately, concern in his eyes.

Once they were in his office with the door shut, Jack dropped down into the closest chair and brought his hand up to cover his face, wishing like all hell that this was some sort of horrible dream and maybe he could find a way to wake himself up. Sam's hand on his shoulder was all the comfort she could give him while they were in the base and he welcomed it, glad to have her there with him. He reached up to grasp her hand gently and said, "All right, what's your next step?"

Sam sighed, "I want to go over the surveillance footage from the science lab and see what we can learn from it that might be able to help," Sam replied.

"I've got a team working on getting the cameras running again so we can see what's going on in that room," Jack replied. "In the mean time, I need to call the president and let him know what's going on."

"I think maybe we should call Torchwood too," Sam suggested.

"You think they might know something about this?" Jack asked.

"Well, I could be wrong, Sir, but I'm sure I heard Ianto call out to Daniel, and start moving forward to stop him before the IOA scientist pushed the button. It makes me wonder if perhaps Ianto recognised the device from somewhere else."

"Either that or he saw the scientist going for the button," Jack suggested.

"Maybe," Sam agreed, "but I don't think it would hurt to ask."

Jack nodded. "Give Tosh a call and see if you can get her here. If anyone over there knows about that thing, I imagine it will be her."

Sam nodded. "Sir, that button, I know it wasn't there before that scientist arrived in the lab. We had combed over that thing so thoroughly there was no way we could have missed it."

Jack looked up at her and saw the curious and concerned look on her face. She was right of course; she was pedantically thorough when it came to scientific study. There was no way she could have missed a button that opened the device.

"Do you think that's important right now?" he asked.

"I think until we have a better idea of what we're dealing with every detail we can get is important," Sam replied.

Jack nodded. "All right, you head off and give Tosh a call then go and get that footage for us to look through during the meeting. I'll call the president then head into the meeting. See you in a few minutes."

Sam agreed and with one last gentle squeeze of his shoulder, which Jack knew meant she really wanted to hug him right now, she turned and left the room.

Jack signed and picked up the red phone on his desk.

XX

Tosh trudged back to the hub wanting nothing more than to shower, eat a decent meal and get to bed. It had been the longest, hardest day she'd had in more than a year, and she was so tired she could barely move. She dropped down into her chair and reached into her top desk drawer for the personal mobile phone she kept in there, pressing the button to see if she had any missed calls and hoping desperately that there would be one from Teal'c or Ianto. She missed them both terribly.

When she picked up the phone to check the screen it began to ring, and Sam's number flashed up on the screen. Tosh's mood immediately lifted, even if the fatigue didn't, and she answered the phone with a bright, "Hi, Sam."

"Hi, Tosh." Her mood instantly dropped at the concern she heard in the other woman's voice.

"What's wrong," she demanded, worry for her best friend and her lover filling her immediately.

She sat dead still as Sam explained what had happened, her stomach filling with icy dread as Sam described the device to her and what it had contained within it. She would have recognised the description of that device anywhere; their last encounter with one had burned it into her mind, along with all the horrible things that had happened because of it. She felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of what the creature at Torchwood had done and what the consequences had been to the poor victim it had possessed. She somehow managed to tell Sam that she would call back as soon as she was ready for the Promethius to beam her up and hang up the phone, although she wasn't sure how she managed to utter a single syllable.

She barely registered the sound of the rest of the Torchwood team entering the hub. "Who was on the phone, Tosh? Someone spunky I hope." She heard Gwen ask the question but it didn't compute in her brain.

"Tosh, are you okay?" Jack's question didn't really register either.

This couldn't be happening, not to Ianto. It couldn't be.

"Tosh?" Owen's voice this time.

She had to get to America. She had to save him. Surely this time, with Sam's help, she'd be able to find a way to save her best friend without things ending the way they had the last time.

"Tosh?" She looked up when she felt a hand on her arm and found herself looking up into Jack's concerned blue eyes. "Tosh what's wrong?" he asked.

She just looked at him for a moment. She needed to tell him that she had to go to the SGC, but should she tell him why? Ianto was so sure that Jack didn't care about him anymore, but Tosh wasn't so sure. You didn't have a relationship with someone like that and not care about them at least somewhat.

"Tosh!" Jack called to her, shaking her slightly, and suddenly, as if freezing water had been poured over her, she snapped out of the daze she'd been in and the tears started to fall.

"I … I have to go to America," she told her boss brokenly. "I … I have to … oh God …" She couldn't say it, not out loud. It was too horrible. She covered her face with her hands and sank downward, sobbing brokenly. She didn't land though, Jack caught her and picked her up, holding her close and calling out to Owen to get her something. She felt him walking and a few moments later the smell of the medical bay touched her nose, the disinfectant strong enough to overpower even Jack's 51st century pheromones. He didn't put her down, but she felt him sit down with her in his lap and moments later she felt the telltale sting of an injection in her arm.

As the mild sedative coursed through her veins, bringing calm where there had no right to be, she calmed her sobs and managed to utter one word.

"Ianto."

XX

So what did we think? If you're still out there reading please let me know, I love hearing what you think.