Chapter 8

9.00am Ianto's flat, Cardiff

Sunday morning was Ianto's designated day off. He'd not seen the walls of his own flat an entire week, and was looking forward to spending some hard-earned time back there to relax, even if it was only for the day. He was also looking forward to seeing the team, and saying hello to Myfanwy; though not so much Janet- she was more Jack's favourite. He thought he might pop round the hub that afternoon, for a couple of hours, see Jack, but for now a little spring cleaning was in order.

Ianto had barely stepped through his front door when he received a text from Jack, requesting he join the team at the hub. With a resigned sigh Ianto returned the phone to his pocket, turned around to pluck his jacket off its hook and exit his flat in the direction of his car. His neighbours must think there was something wrong- his car was rarely outside his property every night, now it had been there all week. Since he often stayed at the hub overnight or left it at the hub, while on late night rift alerts and was often dropped off direct by Jack in the SUV, the team too tired to drive themselves home. Sometimes Jack's irregular sleep patterns really were a godsend.

Ianto arrived at the hub, still feeling a little self conscious in his riding gear, but only wearing rough jeans and a hoodie this morning. Ianto went over to make his special brew of coffee before joining the Captain in his office.

"Was there something you wanted this morning sir?" asked Ianto carefully, "Or were you just missing my coffee?" He smirked.

Jack looked up from his blue and white mug, mischief simmering in his eyes, "I was missing other things too," his eyes roving over Ianto's sexy, jeans clad body and maroon, long-sleeved, fitted T-shirt. "-but more of that later. Work to do," He winked, before the mischief was gone, to be replaced by The Captain in 'boss' mode. "There's been an addition to the plan, in the hopes we can speed things up a little." Ianto sighed, his lack of information was holding the team back on this investigation and he knew it. Jack picked up a nearby file, "Mr and Mrs Harper, rich horse owners, will be the new additions.. details are in there." Ianto nodded, flicking through the file, as he sat absently down, opposite Jack.

"Tosh and Owen? Thought you'd have put Owen with Gwen." Ianto mused out loud, reading the file carefully, "You know she copes better with the incessant jibes."

"It would have been, 'cept Gwen and I went snooping round there yesterday, she got caught and they threatened to call the police."

"Thought that was you..."

He shrugged, "it means they'd recognise Gwen." Ianto acknowledged him absently, continuing to flick through the file and Jack watched him carefully with increasing trepidation.

A frown gathered on Ianto's brow and increased as he read further down the third page in the file. A page, which had a photograph of Prima Ballerina tacked to the top. "Jack-"

"I know you don't approve," Jack jumped in, "but if you just read through the facts carefully I'm sure you'll understand why we gotta do this-" Jack tried for a placatory response.

"Facts? Is that all this is about Jack? And what about the horse involved? You can't just go around buying world class stallions to ship off willy nilly to some- Some, deplorable criminal! Bella will get ruined by him! Do you have any idea what that man is capable of? Not to mention that we have no idea the effect these drugs will have on an equine immune system!"

"Owen-"

"Owen is a Doctor, Jack. Not a vet!"

"Ianto-"

"No Jack!" Ianto cut in sharply, "You can't do this. It's not-"

"Don't you dare tell me what I can and can't do, Ianto Jones!" Jack threatened dangerously, his voice dark. He was already feeling bad enough about what he believed had to be done. Ianto stopped, taken aback by Jack's vicious tone, he could be very intimidating when he wanted to be and right now he was exerting his case forcefully on his partner. Ianto though, wasn't buying it. This was wrong! Jack was proposing to encourage Llewelyn to experiment on Prima Ballerina and Ianto knew they would be running the risk of permanently ruining a potentially world class race horse! Ianto locked eyes with Jack, holding his gaze, hoping to catch something in Jack's unerring, steel blue eyes; the relentless coldness remained, sending a chill that rocked Ianto to the core.

Ianto's voice was deathly quiet. "Well then you can do what you like, but I'll have no part in it." Ianto said quietly, equally dangerously, before walking straight out of the hub without a backward glance.

-T-

That afternoon, Jack carried on as normally as he could. He swept through the hub towards the boardroom, a terse command for them to follow issued over his broad, fast retreating shoulders. The team walked together and huddled towards the dreaded meeting, Tosh almost shrinking past Jack in the doorway. The Captain held the meeting in the boardroom, and went over the plan with Tosh and Owen. "And you two are-?"

"Mr and Mrs Harper, owners of..." Owen frowned, scrabbling for the relevant piece of paper in front of him. Jack frowned.

"Bella," continued Tosh, "It's short for Prima Ballerina and we've recently bought her from Ianto's friend-"

"Dafydd Brace," interrupted Owen, "Which is Welsh for 'fat David'." Gwen scowled, trust Owen's only word of Welsh to be derogatory; Jack frowned a warning in the medic's direction. There was a pause, which Ianto would have filled timely with his dry wit, creating a fitting come-back to defend his language. He was conspicuous by his absence.

However none of the team dared to ask- Ianto's face had been as composed as ever when he had left, but his glassy blue eyes had been icy. He'd glared icicles at anyone who looked up, before he left and they hadn't dared to go after him. The Teaboy had never got this worked up over anything before. He was almost as scary as Jack.

The meeting quickly moved on to other things before they dispersed. Gwen leaving early, Tosh returning to her computer and Owen to his Nintendo, until Jack dropped the profile sheet he was supposed to have memorised by now over his hands. The name Prima Ballerina was circled with an angry red pen, as if Jack was taking out his anger on the information. "Learnt it."

Ianto ignored all contact from the hub for the rest of the day and returned to the stables that evening, restless and distracted. He knew he shouldn't have missed the meeting in the boardroom that afternoon- it was essential that he kept up to date with the plans that would involve him. It would also have been useful to know about the other missions that week, to make his filing easier. He sighed wearily and unpacked, before collapsing, laying face down on his bed.

A half hour later, Ianto received an enhanced audio file of the afternoon board meeting from Tosh. It had the content of their meeting, including the graphic files that had displayed on the screen as they discussed them, but no CCTV footage of the team, just their voices. Ianto was immensely glad he didn't have to look at Jack right now. He didn't think he could.

- T -

"Jones! Pay attention boy. What the bloody hell's going on with you? Move her along, you're in charge, not 'er!" Cledwyn called, the Jones boy had a reputation for being the calm quiet one, working well with difficult horses. He was supposed to be good at getting the most out of them. "You're not calming that girl, you're getting 'er even more worked up!" He yelled.

Ianto knew Cledwyn was right. As he circled the high, double-enclosed corral the horse beneath him was picking up on his tension and was playing up even more than usual. He tried to push her into a canter, and she reluctantly responded for two strides, before breaking into a tight trot, which danced almost on the spot, her hoofs snatching at the air. "Shit-" The utterance from Gareth, who was watching the whole sorry episode from the outer railings was too quiet to be heard by anyone else, but he knew what was coming. As Ianto tried again to push the stubborn horse forward, she resisted, tossing her head and yanking viciously at the reins, which slipped through Ianto's clenched, and burning hands. They'd been fighting a battle of wills for sometime and Ianto's hands were raw.

As soon as her head was free, Hucking Harkness reared high up on her back legs and Ianto desperately clung on for all he was worth. Everything slowed and Ianto's perception narrowed to the ears and flying mane contrasting with the skyline above his head. All Ianto could feel was the mount just barely beneath him, teetering precariously on a knife edge as she balanced, flailing her forelegs into the air. Higher. Higher, she went. Ianto felt the moment she lost her balance, and watched as the ground over his shoulder come up to meet him. As he crashed heavily on the turf, his head thudding to the ground, Ianto's eyes widened in terror- the body of the big horse was heading right for him!

He froze, dazed and panicking.

At the last possible second, just as Ianto's vision was going grey, adrenaline exploded through his veins. He rolled, over, and over, curling himself into a tight ball. Feeling the heavy landing of Hucking Harkness barely a foot away from him. All sound faded away into the murky distance and everything went to black...

TBC

Is Ianto okay?

A/N:

I'm evil. Hope this makes up a little for the lack of response this week. I'm just managing to keep a less than crazy timetable. (3 overlapping appointments? Seriously?) I've got two at the same time on Monday too! *pout* Still, I have parts of the weekend to myself, which shall be dedicated to my art. Toodles! Carrie xx P.s. this has had a mini re-work at the end. Dunno why, it's only a small change.