Sorry for the slight delay in posting, I had a little trouble with this chapter but hopefully the ones after it will be quicker.

As always, please review!

Chapter 7

Jack returned to the Hub, still a little annoyed that the Doctor had managed to resist his infallible good looks and undeniable charm. He scrubbed his face and looked up to see the group huddled together on the couch. Curious and slightly suspicious, Jack walked over to the cluster and looked closely at the faces.

"Something I should know about?" Jack stared hard at his team, knowing that eventually one of them would cave. Tosh looked down guiltily and shuffled nervously as Jack zeroed in on her. She coughed slightly and glanced at the Doctor out of the corner of her eye before answering Jack slowly.

"Well, we… I mean… the Doctor was just apologizing to us for the price-checker thing and the balloons and Myfawny. He understands the difficulty he has put us through and has apologized for it." Tosh looked up at Jack fully when she had finished and nodded to the Doctor. Owen looked at Tosh and then nodded to Jack. Ianto glanced at the Doctor, pouted slightly, and nodded. Gwen opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, and smiled slightly at Jack.

"Are you sure there is nothing going on? Nothing I should know about?" Jack searched the faces before standing and shoving his hands into his pocket. "Well, never mind. If you think of something, I'll be in my office." Turning on his heel, coat billowing behind him, Jack strode off to his office. Inside, he threw off his jacket and slumped down in his chair. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Jack shifted in his chair and cracked his neck. He heard the door open and spread his fingers so he could see who it was.

"Ianto…" A small sigh escaped him as he saw the steamy cup of coffee held carefully in the Welshman's hands. Placing the cup gently on the desk, Ianto clasped his hands behind his back and watched as Jack drank greedily from it. Pausing, Jack looked warily over his cup, questioning eyes boring into the carefully guarded ones. Quirking an eyebrow, Jack placed his cup down and focused on Ianto.

"Anything you want to say, Ianto?" Jack noticed the way Ianto cast a quick glance out to where the Doctor was pacing. Fidgeting, Ianto shut his eyes to steel himself, opening when he had taken a deep breath.

"Look, we're having difficulty doing our job with your crazy friend so we came up with an idea. We want you to take him home, not your bunker, but the guest house and take care of him there." As Jack opened his mouth to argue, Ianto surged past him, "I know you think that we need you here, but I promise that we can handle ourselves for a few days and," Ianto pressed on ignoring the look on Jack's face, "We promise to call you if anything has happened." Jack glared up at Ianto, seething quietly.

"Did you all agree on this?" Jack gestured vaguely towards the others and ground his teeth. Ianto nodded silently and mumbled a small 'It's for you' into his shirt. Staring at the obviously uncomfortable Welshman, Jack considered what he was saying and sighing, reached his conclusion.

"Fine," he sighed, startled Ianto looked up with wide eyes, "Yea, yea, I'll take him off your hands." Jack muttered as he shook his head, shooting a glance at Ianto's happy, if mischievous, face and cleared his throat. "But, I'm going to phone you guys twice a day and I want detailed reports of the day e-mailed to me at the end of the day and if there are any decisions or important phone calls, I want to be notified immediately. That is the only way I'm going to agree, alright?" Jack saw Ianto carefully considering the conditions before agreeing. Smiling happily, Ianto walked down the stairs gathering the gazes of the rest of the inhabitants of the Hub.

"Did he agree?" Gwen asked, poking Ianto in the arm. Ianto nodded and recited all the terms that Jack had laid out for them to follow. The Doctor smiled softly, chuckling at Jack's inability to let go.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?"

"No, but it's the only way, besides sedation, that can get Jack to have some semblance of relaxation."

"Are you going to play pranks on him? I don't think that that would be very relaxing method to use…"

"Not pranks so much as I plan to use naivety to keep him focused on me rather than the stressful situation that is Torchwood."

"But what happens if we actually need Jack? Wouldn't one long uninterrupted rest be better than short restful periods?"

"Don't worry about that, TARDIS will monitor the Rift and will suck up enough energy that nothing dangerous or alive can get through. If it does, she'll let me know and I'll contact you somehow."

"I think we've been doing this long enough…"

"I know, I know. But I'm still going to do it because you're only human, you need down time too."

"Thank you."

"Nah, don't mention it, least I could do." The Doctor smiled at the group of hardy humans before him, marvelling in their tenacity and loyalty to Jack. There was a series of slams before Jack appeared in the door of his office with a tired smile on his face. He walked down to the group and quickly and quietly said his goodbyes and final instructions to the group before pulling out a pair of handcuffs. The Doctor's eyebrows rose on his face and his eyes widened. Jack grabbed the Doctors wrist before he could run and quickly cuffed the Doctor to his left hand.

"Jack… what is this?" The Doctor raised his right hand, jerking Jack's left up with it. Jack shrugged and pulled the Doctor's hand back down.

"Insurance."