Chapter 23

Ianto dashed through the halls of the hubs so that he entered the hub from the cog door as if he was upstairs, while Jack entered from the lower levels.

No point giving the others anything else to gossip about them.

Ianto stepped into the main area of the hub looking impeccably dressed, as always, a file tucked under his arm looking for all the world like he'd been working upstairs and not like he'd been two seconds away from screwing their boss into the mattress.

Gwen, and Owen looked over at him with uncertain expressions from where they stood around Tosh's desk.

Why did he get the feeling he was going to be questioned to death later?

Tosh glanced over in his direction with a raised eyebrow, silently questioning him when Jack was.

"What's the problem?" Jack asked sweeping out of his office coat already on as he straightened the collar.

Tosh's eyes flew in Jack direction before moving back to Ianto in confusion, obviously she's assumed they'd run off for some reunion time together.

"What took you so long?" Owen demanded

Ianto winked at Tosh and she quickly covered a smile getting the message that they'd planned their entrance.

"I was busy, went down to check on the damage on the lower levels since you lot don't even know your way around down their half the time," Jack replied hand resting on the back of Tosh's chair as he read her screen over her shoulder.

"Ah Tosh, there's nothing there, what's with the alarm?" Jack asked

"I don't know. It went off but there's nothing there, maybe it's a glitch, or maybe something went wrong when we reconnected everything or got damaged when the rift was opened." Tosh replied typing away furiously trying to assess the damage.

"Tosh not knowing something about a computer, that's got to be a first," Owen muttered.

Jack rolled his eyes grabbing the back of the younger man's chair and tipping it, so Owen had to either jump off or land on the floor.

Owen caught his balance and spun around to glare at Jack who was making himself comfortable on Owen's now empty chair, about to help Tosh with the rift program.

"Don't you have work to do," Jack said pointedly ignoring the glare from Owen.

Gwen stifled a giggle which was quickly silenced when Jack tossed a look in her direction.

"I'll just go and finish…" Gwen muttered before heading back towards her work station.

Ianto and Jack exchanged a quick warm glance before Ianto made his way to the conference room to finish the cleaning he'd began in there last night.

Hearing soft footfalls Ianto turned to see Gwen in the doorway.

Here it comes, Ianto thought leaning the broom against the wall before turning to face her completely.

"What can I do for you Gwen?" Ianto asked with a polite smile.

"Um… I was wondering…" Gwen began looking at the ground between them,

"What about?" Ianto replied

"Jack kissing you," Gwen replied blushing slightly

"Jack's a flirt and a very tactile person, we all got greeted differently on his return. Can you seriously tell me that you've seen Owen and Jack hug before?"

"I guess not. So that's all it was then a greeting from remorse and relief?"

"I suppose so, yes." Ianto replied

Remorse for losing him, betraying him, him leaving me for days. Relief that he was back, we were both safe and together again.

"Good I wouldn't like to see you hurt again. He's not exactly a relationship kind of guy, you deserve a nice young girl you can settle down with," Gwen smiled before leaving the room

Well that wasn't quite what I expected Ianto thought going back to his cleaning.

When Ianto finally made it down from cleaning the conference room he could feel a frustrated feeling in the back of his mind but he wasn't sure why, nothing had been bothering him lately.

"Ianto, I'd give anything for a coffee if you're not busy," called Jack's tense voice from his office.

Ianto turned to make his way to the office as soon as his back was turned he couldn't help the smile that broke across his face.

It wasn't his frustration at all, he could sense Jack's. Their bond was working.

As the happiness and excitement spread through him he felt Jack's frustration lift a little.

Jack looked up from where he was sitting at his desk, still wearing his coat, as Ianto opened the door.

"What are you grinning at?" He asked smiling back in amusement

"I could feel you. I was walking from the conference room and in the back of my mind I felt a little frustrated, but I didn't know why. Then I realised it was you. I could sense exactly how you were feeling." Ianto replied walking towards Jack and with a quick look to make sure the others couldn't see them from this angle he pulled the older man into a heated kiss.

"Didn't you believe me?" Jack smiled as Ianto pulled back.

"Yes, but it's one thing to know and another to feel it?" Ianto replied pressing his forehead to Jack's

"Good or Bad?" Jack asked

"Good, very Good," Ianto replied lips meeting Jack's again both sensing the other's feelings as they deepened the kiss.

A throat was cleared from the doorway and the pair jumped apart guiltily, relaxing however when they spotted Tosh standing there grinning at them.

"Just be grateful it was me, otherwise you'd be suffering from Gwen's questions or Owen's teasing." Tosh smiled stepping into the room and handing Jack a file of papers.

"Here's the readouts, see if you recognise any of the reading, I haven't seen anything like it before." Tosh shrugged

"Thanks. Yan, any chance of a coffee?" Jack asked looking hopefully at his lover.

"You haven't told him yet?" Tosh asked in amusement.

"Told me what?" Jack asked

"Oh it's nothing to serious, just a slight casualty when the hub was falling apart," Tosh replied face serious.

"Who? Janet? Not Myfanwy, I haven't seen her since I woke up." Jack asked worried

"No, no Janet's still in her cell and Myfanwy's broody in her nest with our basketball again," Ianto reassured

"Then who?" Jack asked confused

"My coffee machine, she got hit by a falling beam. We've been living off take-out's I'm afraid." Ianto replied solemnly only just managing to keep a smile from slipping across his face as Jack realised he'd been had, and threw screwed up paper at the amused pair.

Tosh, Owen and Ianto walked across the Plass on their way to the coffee shop.

"So come on Tea-boy, how long have you been shagging Jack?" Owen smirked

Ianto rolled his eyes "I'm not shagging Jack,"

Bonded to, mated with, sleeping with, having a relationship; yes, but not really 'shagging him' not the way Owen thinks.

"So what do you call that snog then?" Owen prodded

Just what I needed to tell me I hadn't lost my lover like I thought.

"Jack pushing the boundaries like he normally does, he flirts with me in front of you all the time the next step was bound to be stealing a snog wasn't it. It's just Jack being Jack Owen." Ianto shrugged he was going to kill Jack when he got back to the hub, either they came out to everyone else or he had to keep his hands to himself a little better!

Once the coffee's had been collected they quickly made their way back across the Plass, laughing and joking about the pimple covered teenager behind the counter who'd blushed and stumbled over his words in Tosh's presence.

They were half way there when Ianto froze in his tracks getting a swell of odd emotions from Jack.

Surprise, disbelief, worry, elation, fear, panic.

"Ianto are you ok?" Tosh asked her hand resting on his elbow.

"Tea-boy?" Owen asked stepping in front of Ianto so he could look into his eyes, prepared to put his medical lessons to use if need be.

"Yeah I'm..." Ianto began before he heard words push into his mind.

Sorry... Going... Doctor... Wait... Coming... Back...

"Ianto?" Tosh said sounding worried.

"What?" Ianto asked blinking in confusion

"You spaced out; you were just staring into space." Owen replied tipping Ianto head back so he could look at his eyes properly.

Ianto pulled his head from Owen's grip and stepped back

"I'm fine. I think I'm just tired can we get back to the hub please." Ianto said walking ahead of the others.

Ianto walked as quickly as he could back to the hub without looking suspicious, something was wrong with Jack.

He could feel that Jack's emotions were still in total turmoil and the fact that he'd tried to contact Ianto, even though they both knew the bond wasn't strong enough, only told Ianto it was important and almost desperate.

They were in the lift and Ianto had to resist the urge to tap this foot and swear at the damn thing for being so slow.

Suddenly he lost all feeling from Jack.

Ianto froze in fear, it wasn't til Tosh's hand on his arm pulling him from the lift that he began to breathe again.

The cog door rolled open and the trio stepped inside, Ianto's eyes instantly scanning the place for any sign of Jack.

"Did you see Jack on your way in?" Gwen asked

"No," Tosh replied

Ianto's eyes flickered between the others where the hell was Jack

"I thought we tidied up in here." Owen muttered before turning to look at a confused Gwen, "What's the matter?"

"He was just here. Something's taken him, Jack's gone." Gwen replied

Ianto was the first to move dashing to Tosh's station and pulling up the CCTV of the hub.

They watched as Jack stopped staring at the hand, looking up with a smile as a sound echoed throughout the room, it seemed to be coming from the invisible lift where it was up on the Plass.

The computer instantly began analysing the sound.

They watched Jack grab a bag and stuff the hand inside before tearing out of the room and huge smile on his face.

The mainframe beeped signalling the completion of its search.

The screen turned red as the result began flashing before them.

Ianto had his answer; he knew what had caused the false reading earlier, he knew where Jack had gone he knew what the mixed feelings and broken messages meant.

It was something he'd worried about, he knew it would have to happen, Jack needed his answers, but he thought he'd have a bit more time.

Jack would be back... but when? How long would he have to wait before he could see his mate again? One Year? Ten? One lifetime?

The screen flashed in front of him teasing him with the one thing that could take Jack from him.

"THE DOCTOR"

Ianto did the one thing he could do, as the other's panicked he slipped into the background, unnoticed.

He walked towards the lower levels of the hub.

He needed to train, If Jack wasn't going to be here to help him he'd have to learn it all on his own,

He still didn't want the others to know.

They couldn't know.

Never.

Stepping inside he closed the door behind him and leaned back on it staring at his training room before him.

Head falling back to thump against the door.

"Fuck."