Author's Note: I always seem to start these with an apology don't I? I'm gonna stop doing that lol! I've been having numerous Internet problems lately, it's driving me nuts. My wireless is semi-working at the moment so I'm taking advantage. I'll keep this short. Thank you, thank you, for the comments and follows. I hope you continue to enjoy the fic :) Love Kal x

A Chance in a Million

Chapter Nine

"Jack?" Ianto gasped the name out loud. His heart sped up just from hearing Jack's voice. As his brain started to form more words for him to say, Ianto was suddenly confronted with a soft click and a steady beeping sound. The connection had been severed.

"NO!" Jack yelled at his vortex manipulator as he heard the line being disconnected. He tried to ring back but it wouldn't work. He flung the device across the room in a temper, hearing it smack into the wall and drop to the floor with solid clunk. He wondered if it was broken. He didn't care. It had let him down when he needed it the most. It deserved to be broken.

Ianto was alive. Ianto was alive. Ianto was alive! IANTO WAS ALIVE!

Jack's brain screamed at him. His heart begged him to return home. He could do nothing but pace the floor of his suddenly crampingly small room. He dug his fingers through his hair in frustration and resisted the urge to scream. He didn't want to alarm people in nearby rooms. He had to find a way home. He had never been so sure of anything in his life. He reached for his great coat which was hanging on a hook on the wall nearby. Sliding his arms into the sleeves, he bent to pick up the discarded vortex manipulator and shoved it into a pocket. He opened the door and left the room without looking back, the last thing he heard was the door softly clicking into place.

Ianto's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. He listened to the monotone sound which rung down the phone. Eventually even that stopped, giving way to silence.

"Jack?" He whispered even though he knew there was no one on the other end. He wanted to say something more. Several expletives ran through his mind but he couldn't find one which summed up how he felt right now. So he said nothing more but simply lowered the phone. Questions tumbled through his mind. What could have caused the call to cut off? How had Jack got his mobile number in the first place? How had Jack known he was alive and why hadn't he called sooner?

Unfortunately he couldn't come up with any answers.

He placed the phone back on the bedside table, his fingers trembling so the phone rattled against the top as it was set down. He wondered what time it was and turned his wrist towards his face to read his watch. But it was too dark in the room to see the face. He would either have to pick up his phone again or move and turn on a light. There was a lamp on the table just past the phone. He reached out and his fingers hovered over the phone briefly. He decided against it. An irrational fear sprung up in his mind that if Jack called back and he was in the middle of pressing a button, he might cut him off. When the lamp clicked on he saw it was gone 10pm. He rubbed his hands over his face. How had he slept that long?

A pressing ache in his bladder called him to the bathroom and he decided to take a shower, remove the last dregs of the night before. Then he'd try and sleep again before heading into work.

"Gwen!" Ianto burst into the Torchwood office early the next morning. She was glad to see he looked much more refreshed and energised than the day before.

"Glad you're in early," Gwen said, intending on getting him to ring up Martha Jones and see if she was getting any further with finding them a medic. The flying dog Andy and Jamie had hauled in the night before was lying on a table in the autopsy room. Or rather its corpse was. Jamie had found out the hard way that tranquiliser darts had no effect on the creature and spent much of the night in A & E getting stitches for her efforts. Luckily Andy's bullet had been true and the creature hadn't gotten any further than clamping its jaws on Jamie's arm. But Gwen didn't get as far as asking her question because Ianto spoke first;

"I've spoken to Jack!"

Silence rung through the office as Gwen's mouth fell open. Her mind flooded with questions, the main one being Is Jack back?

"He's not back," Ianto hurriedly clarified, seeing Gwen's eager expression. Her face fell slightly but he pressed on. "He phoned me, Gwen. It was really him."

"He phoned you?" Gwen couldn't keep the astonishment out of her voice. She opened her mouth, expecting more to come out but there was nothing. Gwen Cooper had nothing to say to that.

"I know, I don't know how he did it," Ianto started to pace the floor as he thought out loud. "I was asleep and my mobile rung. I assumed it was you. Rhiannon would never call that late and no one else has the number. When I answered there was silence. I almost hung up when... when I heard his voice."

"What did he say?" Gwen found her own voice again. She was leaning forward on her desk, as though it would make Ianto's words flow faster.

"Ianto," said the Welshman simply, looking at Gwen. She saw forlorn excitement in his eyes. It was a heartbreaking mixture. "He just said my name. And then the connection got disconnected." Ianto sat down heavily in the chair in front of his desk as though the energy had just drained out of him. "Just my name."

"I wonder what happened," Gwen mused, her gaze on an invisible spot somewhere between her desk and the door to the office as she thought. She didn't notice Ianto's alarm at the thought something could have happened which cut Jack off. "Although," she continued, "it could have just been a bad connection." She looked at Ianto almost guiltily. "I tried to get in contact with Jack yesterday. After... well after you stormed out. I thought I'd found him via his vortex manipulator. But I couldn't get a response." She paused, "maybe I did get through and I just couldn't hear him..."

"Yeah, maybe," Ianto replied although he wasn't really paying much attention to Gwen's rambling's anymore. His quick mind began to tick over ways of strengthening the signal, if that was the problem. If Gwen had connected then he could use the same programme she did. But he would need to fix it so it connected better and for longer. It didn't have to be an hour long phone call while they caught up on the goings on in each other's lives. He wanted to know Jack was okay. He wanted to know... if he was going to come home. He needed one minute. Thirty seconds. It would be enough to ask a question and get an answer. To tell Jack... well he didn't know what he would tell Jack. But he would have time to think of something. "Gwen," he stood up from behind his computer, "can you show me what software you used to contact Jack?"

Gwen nodded. She had stopped talking when she realised Ianto was no longer listened. She wasn't hurt. She had recognised the thoughtful expression on his face. Ianto was coming up with an answer. She moved over slightly so Ianto could see her screen and opened up the software. She explained to him how it worked and what she had done to find Jack's vortex manipulator. Ianto followed the cursor on the screen as she pointed out what she had clicked. He memorised her directions and took notes of what she had typed into the programme on a pad of paper. As Gwen went along, he was mentally making adjustments to her methods, scribbling down the odd note to keep track of his ideas. When she was finished, he went back to his own computer and began to work.

Andy walked in two hours later and raised his eyebrows at Ianto and Gwen who appeared to be in intense staring matches with their computer screens. He let the door close a little too loudly, finding amusement in his friends jerking out of their trances in almost simultaneous movements.

"What's going on 'ere then?" He said in his best 'bobby' accent. He walked over to Ianto's computer, as it was nearest, and recognised the software Gwen had tried the day before. "You're not trying that again are you? It didn't work."

"Jack phoned Ianto," Gwen spoke before Ianto had a chance.

"You're joking?" Andy said, glancing at her. "When?"

"Yesterday," Gwen continued. Ianto was happy to let her control the conversation for the time being. Andy was breaking up his train of thought. "But the connection was severed so Ianto's trying to modify that software to see if we can get a strong signal and hopefully reach Jack properly this time."

"Ah right," the ex-policeman nodded. "How's that going?" This time Ianto had to answer.

"Nearly there," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen as his fingers clicked commands into the programme.

"I'll make some drinks then shall I?" Andy turned away from Ianto, understand he wasn't wanted when Ianto half jumped up from his desk.

"Done!" He exclaimed, running his fingers through his tousled hair. "Let's try it."

Gwen pushed her wheelie chair across the wooden floorboards until she was next to Ianto. Andy stood behind them both, resting his hands on the backs of their chairs. Ianto sat down again and his hand hovered over the keyboard. It was shaking. He glanced at Gwen and she nodded at him, giving him silent support. Ianto bit his lip and pressed the 'enter' key, releasing the signal into the universe. He, Gwen and Andy watched the screen, waiting for it to connect.

The silence was deafening.

"It connected faster than this last time," Gwen whispered, sounding scared to break the silence. The minutes were ticking by.

"Wait," Ianto replied, too afraid to blink, let alone look at his friend.

"Ianto, mate," Andy rested a hand on Ianto's shoulder. "It's not going to connect."

"It has to," Ianto said, failing to keep the desperation out of his voice. His fists were tightly clenched, his knuckles white.

"I'm sorry," Andy said.

Ianto kept staring at the screen until his vision blurred. And then the computer came up with a message.

CONNECTION FAILED. NO RESPONSE FOUND.