Summary: Following orders always reminded Ianto of Torchwood 1. Occasionally, Jack has to remind him that he isn't like Yvonne Hartman. Five times Jack Harkness punished Ianto Jones and one time he didn't.

Disclaimer: Torchwood belongs to RTD and the BBC. And yes, that rhymes.

Warning: spoilers for 1x10 "Out of Time".

Orders Disobeyed

Third Time

The atmosphere in the hub had been tense all day. Just half a week earlier, they had bid their farewells to the three people from 1953. Especially Owen was still suffering from the loss of Diane and had been in a very foul mood every since. He'd been disrespectful to Jack, had shouted at Gwen and with one snarky comment, managed to almost reduce Tosh to tears. Right now, his sights were aimed at Ianto.

"Teaboy!"

Ianto appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down at Owen, his features schooled in a neutral expression.

"Get me some more coffee."

Ianto walked down the stairs and took the empty cup Owen had left. Then, he calmly turned to the doctor. "No. I think you've had quite enough for the day. Your manners are starting to suffer."

Owen dropped the scalpel he'd been holding and took a few steps forward. "Look, you fucker," he began, not noticing the sudden dangerous gleam in Ianto's eyes. Neither did he notice Jack, who was walking by the entrance to the morgue gallery at that moment and halted when he heard the raised voices. "Just because you shag the boss, doesn't mean you don't have to do your bloody job!"

Ianto dropped the mug and reached Owen within just a few steps. He was the one that had done the most work when it came to creating new identities for the three stranded travelers and now that they were gone, he was exhausted and had a short fuse. Without hesitating or thinking about the consequences, he drew his right fist back and punched his colleague in the nose. Owen jumped at the chance to release some of his aggression and retaliated immediately. Soon, the two men were fighting, oblivious to their surroundings. Both were so enraged that at first, they seemed pretty evenly matched, but it didn't take long for Owen to get the upper hand.

Jack needed just a few seconds to alert Gwen and Tosh, and together they rushed towards the autopsy bay. Gwen and Tosh managed to wrench Owen off Ianto and Jack hauled his youngest employee up from the floor and restrained him by putting his arms around his waist, holding Ianto back.

Owen quickly shrugged himself loose from the two women, but didn't attempt to start the fight again. Instead, he pressed his hands to his nose, trying to stem the blood flow. Ianto wanted to regain his freedom as well, but Jack held on to him, afraid of what would happen if he let them both go.

"My office. Now!" He commanded, pulling Ianto back until Owen was half-way up the stairs and on his way.

Once they had arrived, Jack made his employees stand in front of his desk, well apart from each other. He remained standing himself as well, which made him more able to intervene if that proved to be necessary.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?"

Neither of them replied.

"This organization works as a team. If we start fighting amongst ourselves, how on earth are we going to do our jobs?"

His words were starting to have effect. Ianto shuffled his feet guiltily and Owen turned his head to the right, purposefully looking away from Jack and Ianto.

"Ianto, I think you threw the first punch."

Ianto looked him in the eye, his own eyes dark with anger. "I was provoked, sir."

"I know," Jack said. "But you know better than to rise to it. If you'd let him be, Owen would be on his way to home and you wouldn't be in trouble. However, that doesn't mean," he turned to Owen and rounded on him, "that you should be allowed to provoke Ianto. Neither should you, once the first punch is thrown, dive headfirst into a fight. Now, I can't lose two of my people by putting them on suspension. You've been behaving like six-year-olds and therefore I'm going to be punishing you as such."

Owen spoke for the first time, sarcasm heavy in his voice. "What? You're going to put us on the naughty step?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't have a naughty step. Yet. What I do have, however, are two corners. I suggest that you, Owen, take the right one and you, Ianto, the left. Stand facing the wall."

Owen stared at him in incredulity. Jack looked right back. Owen had known Jack longer than Ianto and knew for sure when the older man was deadly serious and dangerously pissed off. He didn't want to risk a suspension. The idea of sitting at home for a few days with nothing to do but regret Diane's departure, was less than ideal. After a moment, he made up his mind and stomped towards the corner without further comment. Ianto watched him go and then turned to Jack.

"This is ridiculous. I'm twenty-four, I'm not going to stand in the corner!"

Jack took a step forward, invading Ianto's personal space. "If I say you're going to do it, you'll do it." He wasn't surprised that Ianto was giving him more trouble than Owen. Owen hadn't been sleeping since Diane had gone and on top of that, was still grieving. The medic was exhausted after his short outburst of aggression. Though Ianto was also tired, he had more energy left than Owen and was still running on adrenaline. "So unless you want to be suspended for the rest of the week, you're going to listen to me." Ianto still didn't budge. Jack took the time to look meaningfully at a metal ruler on his desk. The young man followed his gaze. "Right now, Ianto, or I'll be showing you another punishment for six-year-olds."

Ianto turned a shade of deep red, rolled his eyes, gave Jack a final vindictive look and then strolled to the left corner, where he stood ramrod straight, trying to maintain as much dignity as possible. Jack first checked whether either of his employees wasn't seriously hurt by their fight and when he was satisfied that they'd both live, he started on the pile of paper work on his desk. For over an hour, the only noise produced in the room was his pen scratching the paper.

When ninety minutes had passed, Owen started to get restless and began rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. Jack stilled his movement with just one look. Ianto hadn't moved a muscle since being banished to the corner. His head was slightly raised and he barely blinked. It was as if he'd shut himself off. Jack started on a new report when he heard Tosh calling him from downstairs. He went to assist her with the alien object she was studying.

Owen waited until Jack's footsteps died away and then turned his head towards Ianto. "This is ridiculous. He is ridiculous."

Ianto answered with a quick nod, sparing Owen only the smallest glance. He felt like a child, not wanting to be caught by the teacher while chatting to another pupil.

"I mean, it's typical, of course."

Ianto turned his head fully this time, not able to help being intrigued. "Typical?"

"Yeah," Owen replied casually. "Jack's getting older, isn't he? I suppose being immortal messes up your biological clock a little, but he's at a stage where he needs to be a father figure sometimes. And we just happen to substitute for his children."

"You think that's it?"

"I know it," Owen said confidently. "Textbook case."

"So what do we do?" Ianto asked, quickly looking behind him to see whether Jack was already coming back.

"Well, I think we better humour him. He just needs to get it out of his system. He'll probably be fine tomorrow. He might even be embarrassed by this and probably feels the need to make it up to us."

Ianto wasn't so sure about that last point. Jack really wasn't one for regret or apologies. "So that's what we're doing right now? We're humouring him? It's not that he can be really scary when he's angry?"

"No, that's not it." Owen said decisively, before narrowing his eyes at Ianto. "You're not scared of him, are you?"

"Of course not," Ianto said quickly. "I was just checking."

"Good." They were silent for a bit. "Hey, Ianto?"

Ianto looked at Owen again.

"Fancy going for a pint when he lets us out of here?"

"Sure."

At that moment, they both heard footsteps on the stairs and turned back to the wall. Ianto was standing stiff at attention again, while Owen adopted his position with his hands in his pockets. The door flung open and Jack strode back in, glaring at them. "Did I say you were allowed to talk?"

"No."

"No, sir."

"Then don't!"

TBC

A/N: Thanks again for all your great comments! Really love reading them. The next chapter will be up in a day or two.