Jack was sitting in his office above the hub, it was barely dawn. Trying to catch up on some reports that needed to be filed at Torchwood 1 he had logged into his computer. He found an email from the head of personnel at Torchwood 1. Sighing he opened it
"What do they want now?" he said out loud.
This was the 3rd he'd had in as many weeks, this was exactly the same. He hadn't had a holiday in well over a year.
Dear Jack
From tomorrow you are to place yourself on a forced sabbatical for a minimum of 3 weeks. Our records show that you have not used any leave in the last year. This is not only against Torchwood rules and regulations but also could endanger yourself and your team if you do not take a break.
Our records also show that Ianto Jones is overdue on leave. You will enforce a sabbatical on Mr Jones for a minimum period of 2 weeks.
These requests are not negotiable and are effective from midnight tonight. If you breach the terms stated on these requests, formal disciplinary action will be taken against you.
Marie St Angelo
Human resources
Torchwood 1
"What the hell do they mean effective immediately, dangerous to the team" he screamed out loud as he angrily pushed away from the desk. The only reason he hadn't taken any leave was because he didn't want to and he had no-where to go anyway. He stormed out of the office and went to the kitchen for coffee. He picked up the jug, it was empty. In a fit of rage he threw the glass jug against the wall and it smashed.
"Oh shit, Yans gonna kill me" he said as the jug hit the wall.
Still fuming that 1 was interfering with his team and him; he stormed off to the cleaning cupboard to clean up the mess before Ianto came in.
Ianto turned over and switched his alarm off, walking into the kitchen he pushed the button on the kettle placed a teabag in his waiting cup and walked to the shower.
10 minutes later he was impeccably dressed in a black suit, white shirt and a red paisley tie and sitting at his kitchen table finishing his tea. Exactly 3 minutes after that he was locking his front door and heading off for the 10 minute walk to the Plas.
Jack was just picking up the remainder of the glass, when he heard the secret lift on its way down. He couldn't stop thinking about the email, forcing him to take a holiday.
"No wait a minute, he was on a forced sabbatical and so was Ianto" he smiled and lost his train of thought, suddenly a sharp pain shot up his arm. He looked down to find the source of the pain and found blood dripping from a cut in his hand; he'd unwittingly gripped a shard of the broken glass. He got up and put his bleeding hand under the tap.
Ianto walked into the hub, the lights were still set on night. Jacks office light was on. Ianto smiled and headed straight up. He peered into the office, it was empty.
"Jaaack" he called, Ianto would never normally scream out his name in the hub. But he was the only person here.
"Yan, I'm in the kitchen" came the answer
Ianto smiled and walked back out to the small little kitchen. He saw Jack standing at the sink, blood pouring from the deep cut on his hand.
"Jack what happened?" he asked crossing the kitchen and taking Jacks injured hand
"Ouch, Yan it hurts"
"How long have you been standing here, bleeding like this," he said grabbing a clean tea towel from the drawer and wrapping it tightly round the wound.
"Only about a minute or so, I can't get it to stop bleeding," he said
"I'm going to call Owen, he needs to look at that" he said putting his arm round Jacks waist and raising his injured hand above his heart and steered him back into the main hub
"Computer daylight" he said and the lights brightened.
He sat Jack on the couch
"Keep your arm up Jack, I'll call Owen"
"Yan its only 8am, he'll still be in bed"
"Yeah well he'll just have to get in here won't he" said Ianto picking up the phone and pressing the fast dial for Owen.
The phone clicked over to answer machine
"Owen Its Ianto pick up"
Nothing
"Owen pick up the fucking phone, Jacks been hurt, he's bleeding," he screamed down the phone, the tears threatening to fall. From where he was standing he glanced across at Jack, the blood had soaked through the towel and was beginning to trickle down Jacks arm
"Ianto its Owen" came an answer on the other end of the line
"Owen get in here quickly, Jack cut his hand on some glass and it won't stop bleeding"
"Alright alright, I'm on my way, just keep it up and wrap something tight around it"
"I did that Owen but the bloods seeping through"
"Alright sounds like he's nicked an artery, don't take off whatever you've wrapped round it, just wrap around that again"
"Ok" said Ianto and hung up.
"Lets get you into medical Jack" he said and helped him up.
Once in medical he found a large dressing and bandage and wrapped it over the existing towel as tightly as he could.
"Wouldn't it be easier to take the towel off"?
"No Jack, Owen said you might have nicked an artery he said to just keep adding bandages until he got here"
Ianto sat on the exam table next to Jack, he was still trying to keep his arm up but it kept falling down.
"Yan I can't keep it up, it's killing my shoulder"
"Here rest your elbow on my shoulder" he gently lifted Jacks arm up and placed his elbow on his shoulder
"Relax baby, let me help" said Ianto in such a sweet and loving tone it made Jack go weak. He leant over and kissed Jack gently on the lips
"Cariad" he whispered, "what happened?"
"I lost my temper and threw the coffee jug against the wall and then I was picking up the pieces and fuming about the email from 1, I must have squeezed a piece of glass and it cut me"
"Why did you just wait for me, I'd have cleaned it up for you"
"No Yan, everyone treats you like a skivy, I will not"
"What email, what does 1 want now?"
"Apparently effective as of midnight both you and I are on a forced sabbatical, according to them we're a liability until we return from a forced holiday"
"They can't do that?" said Ianto angrily
"Yes they can and they have, apparently if we don't do as we're told they'll have us up on charges"
"I don't want a holiday, where am I supposed to go, who's going to feed Myfanwy?"
"I don't know Yan, maybe we could talk about it later" he said as he heard the lift activate