"Erm, guys!"

Owen raised an eyebrow. Ianto did likewise but concealed it with a polite smile. Toshiko didn't even look up from her laptop.

"Well, we're short one team member. Before I came along Jack told me it was a team of five members - Suzie, Jack, and you three. Well, I was thinking."

"Oh bloody hell, no." Owen groaned.

Gwen narrowed her eyes at him but continued on as if he hadn't said anything. "I was thinking - we need another team member. When you got hurt," She said to Ianto, "It made me realise that we need some one reliable to help us out every once and awhile."

Ianto stared at her with dread. It was like she was making this official - Jack's not coming back. Gwen Cooper, former newbie, was now running Torchwood. Slowly, Ianto looked at Owen and Toshiko. And they were all letting it happen.

"Okay!" Owen said brightly, springing from his chair. "Ianto, you go make the fliers. Make sure it says, "Help wanted! Needed skills: fire arm knowledge, alien-artifact notations, oh, and you got to be suicidal because when this is all said and done, you're gonna die and we're going to shove you in a box in the morgue and you're never going to be seen again.' Meanwhile I'll go prepare. Do you think I should go for the mad scientist look or...?"

Ianto looked away so none of them would see the quirk of his lips, the humour in his eyes. He had never liked Owen; they shared a mutual tolerant/hate relationship, if it could be said they even had a relationship of any kind, but Ianto had to admit that the man did have his moments.

Toshiko bit down on her lip as she looked down at the screen of her laptop, fighting a smile.

Gwen Cooper, however, was not amused in the slightest. Her eyes narrowed at Owen as she glared at him, before she promptly turned her back to him and addressed only Toshiko and Ianto. Ianto dispensed of his amusement and stood straight, portraying a blank face.

"I'm not joking with this. We're shorthanded and with this, it can be dangerous - to the point of deadly. We need another person when we're out on the field; we need another person to watch our backs when we're dealing with things that are way over our heads. We can't go to anybody with anything we do! We can't call for help, or backup, or anything else."

Ianto knew this. Toshiko knew this. And Owen knew this - probably better than all of them.

"So, cooperate with me please. I've got three people that will be coming in. We'll need to temp all of them - separately, see how they work on the field, et cetera. Ianto, Owen, Toshiko, I'll need all of your help."

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"Who does she think she is?"

Ianto braced himself for the onslaught as Owen barged into the room. Ianto continued filling the cups with coffee, preparing for Gwen's "temps", and set them on the table in front of him.

"Gwen bloody PC Cooper! First day on the job? Did she set her desk on fire? Did she accidentally spill her coffee all over her papers? Oh, no worries! She just released a alien gas that completely controlled some girl and then went and screwed people to death! I think that's not too bad, eh?"

Ianto felt himself nodding. Why? He couldn't have agreed with Owen. But he had to admit, even if it just was to himself, that he was just as frustrated as Owen was. Jack just wouldn't up and leave them - he had to have a reason. Did he feel threatened? Maybe he had gotten sick of them all and just decided to -...

"Does she think we're stupid or something? That whole load of rubbish about us 'not being able to turn to anyone' blah blah blah crap. I wonder if those people of hers are all cops? Maybe she's starting some kind of freaky club or something. If you've seen one cop, you've seen them all - they're all alike. Them and their 'human emotion' shtick. Gwen thinks we're all robots, most likely, and what do you want to bet she'll have all of use replaced by the end of the year? Well, if she thinks I'm going to train some gawky kid who has the attention span of a dead eel, then she is dead wrong!"

One cup to go. Ianto picked up the brown mug and froze - Jack's cup. It didn't look like anything special - it was a brown mug with no other markings. It was chipped on one side. The handle was worn. The bottom of the cup inside was stained and remained that way no matter how hard Ianto scrubbed, washed, and bleached. But Jack wouldn't drink from any other mug.

Ianto walked over to the cabinet and opened it and slowly set the cup aside to one corner. All of the other mugs were set neatly in rows, Owen's, Ianto's, Toshiko's, and Gwen's. He felt unease as he stared at the brown mug with his brow furrowed. Finally he moved it to the very front of all the other mugs and closed the cabinet.

Owen sighed behind him. "Look what Jack has done to us all. He's even got you taking care of his mug."

Ianto turned to face him, surprised. "What?"

"Oh don't even go there Ianto. We all know that brown mug of his. We all know that you're the only one who sets foot in that damn office of his just to make sure that all of his papers are stacked in neat, orderly rows and then dust the window so it doesn't get dirty and disturb the view of the main room. He's got you so...set that everything you do fits in with Jack. Jack always gets the first round of coffee, and he always, always has you running around like his own personal lap dog. That does tricks."

"I'm not Jack's lap dog."

Owen snorted. "Then why haven't you left? No word from Jack, no orders, not even a postcard. Maybe we should all admit it that when Jack left, he left for good. And it was because of us."

"Why haven't I left?" Ianto said. "Because I have some faith, Owen. Because I trust that even though we royally screwed up, Jack wouldn't just tire of us so quickly. I haven't left because even though Gwen is acting like the world is going to bloody end tomorrow, I won't leave her to deal with all of this herself. I wouldn't leave Toshiko no one to talk with when she feels like Gwen wouldn't understand and your too high and mighty to care. I haven't left because, even though you are arrogant and you treat me like complete and total crap, I wouldn't leave you to fight a battle by yourself. Whether you admit it or not, Owen, you need Gwen and Tosh. You need me and you need Jack. Because no one would put up with you and you know it."

Owen regarded him calmly. "I guess we finally have something in common, right Ianto?"

Ianto sighed and turned back on the coffee maker. "I guess we do."