20

The hub seemed less musty and Ianto pondered if his previous visit was the cause then Tosh whispered to him that she had started some low level power 'acquiring' to vent out the place.

"Naughty minx" Ianto snorted and then he paled as he neared her drawer.

"It's OK" she assured him, "I'm here. That's just a part of me I had to let go. So do you."

He nodded and Jack looked over with a slight frown, realizing that Ianto was having a private conversation with the AI.

The body bags seemed so light and Jack carried his brother was a heaviness more in himself than the corpse, watching as Ianto demanded Tosh's.

Then Jack went back, pulling open a drawer that had held a petite red head, her name still visible on the top of the bag where he had clipped it before sealing her in.

"Amelia" he whispered, his hand on her for a moment then he lifted her and carried her out as well.

Ianto had wondered who the two extra graves were for and watched as Jack went alone for the last one, coming back with two.

"They stay together" Jack said by way of explanation and they all shrugged and kept loading.

Jack had been saddened to see his office a mess but in the drawer that held his tin he found his heart still intact and sighed with relief.

The trip back to the pier was silent, but for Ianto hurling over the side. Jack didn't remember him getting sea sick previous times but nerves were a bit heightened.

They drove home, Mickey and Martha in a second vehicle as Jack made sure they have enough room for the archives he knew Ianto was going to beg.

He felt the pressure of the tail, making several stops and unexpected turns before sure they were not being followed only to have Martha curse over the coms that she had one.

Ianto felt a spike of anger and snarled as he wrenched his belt to swing around.

"We can take them!" he said to Jack as he reached for his sidearm.

"Easy there speedy!" Jack laughed softly, "Let's give Martha a chance, yeah?"

Ianto slumped back against the seat and Jack started to laugh at this uncharacteristic display of bloodlust and they spent another half hour playing tag until the tail was lost.

"I don't like that one bit!" Mickey said as he swung from the cab of the small truck. "Next time, we change vehicles and see if they are following one of us by splitting up."

"Agreed" Ianto nodded and then stepped back as Jack opened the SUV to get the body bags out.

"I feel like they should have caskets" Jack muttered.

"They are of soil, they should be in the soil" Ianto said calmly, "They don't care either way now, this is more for us and you know it. I think it nicer that they be allowed to drift away, not be confined anymore."

Ianto carried Tosh again, still sad that they had never found anything of Owen they could salvage.

He pulled their boxes of personal effects over to the hole and knelt, opening them and taking out a keepsake from each, then tipping them in, on top of her body. Owen's white coat fluttered and the buttons gleamed up as it lay over her and Ianto found it fitting, letting Jack help him to his feet.

"What did you keep?" Jack asked softly and Ianto opened his hand to show a little hair clip with a butterfly on it and one of Owen's buttons.

'What's Up Doc' with Bugs bunny leering from it, making Ianto smile softly. It was one he had left on Owen's desk early on in his employment and he had been touched when Owen had added it to his collection with open mirth.

Jack went over to kneel by one of the body bags Ianto didn't know and reached out to place a flower in the grave, watching it fall and sighing, then looking up at the sky in a melancholy way.

"Who's that then?" Mickey asked the question Ianto wanted to and everyone waited.

"This little lady was called Amelia Corsby" he said softly, "She was an amazing Torchwood Agent with a heart of gold. She was three months pregnant when she fell. I …."

Jack rose and cleared his throat, "She knew how I felt about children. After Alice and … she knew. We had such a huge fight about it. She went out for a routine retrieval and I was still too angry to talk sanely to her. She came back in a body bag."

Ianto was looking at Martha as she turned to look at him and she saw the look of triumph as Jack proved him right.

He didn't want another child.

"And this one?" Mickey pointed to the one on the other side of Jack and he snorted.

"That was my first Welshman. Sean Garret" Jack grinned, "God but he was a racehorse! So quiet and polite, like this one, but in the sack he could make you boneless. Great at that, the Welsh."

"You make them sound like a breed of dog" Mickey scoffed and put on an American accent, "Yep Rover was a good wee Welshie. I got Roger once he popped off. Like the Welshies, me. Great wee breed!"

Jack threw his head back and roared with laughter as Ianto steamed, glaring at Jack as he tried to think of a way to get his attention back to the matter at hand.

"I want to say a few words" he said softly.

"I don't even want to ask about the third one, probably for the complete set!" Mickey laughed and Jack's face became serious again as Ianto turned away from them.

"That was Sean's daughter. Angela. Lovely girl and … hit and run. She was only twelve. Broke his heart. He never let a day go by without visiting her and kissing her picture on the door of her drawer. That's why I put them together." Jack sighed and shook his head with genuine sorrow, "Broke his fucking heart."

Martha turned to look at Ianto and found an empty space.

Ianto had already fled.