Authors note: This beginning of this story shares some similarities with 'Taking the Bullet' by marzipan77. Both stories were written independently and any similarities are strictly coincidental. Marzipan77 is aware of this fiction and has agreed to this disclaimer.

'Taking the Bullet' can be found on Live Journal.

Any unique story elements are copywrited to evalentine99

This Fan fiction has been created for enjoyment and is not for profit.

This begins with the cannon episode 'Meat" and then follows an alternate time line.

Note: Jack and Gwen Bashing.

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All Fall Down.

Chapter One

Pulling out the letter Ianto unfolded it carefully and read it again as he had multiple times over the last four weeks. He felt frustration course through him as he let out a deep breath because he was running out of time. He had put off trying to give an answer but his last extension had come with an ultimatum: accept or decline. He had to have a reply in two days or the offer would be rescinded. Sighing he folded it, placed it back in his top jacket pocket and headed for Jack's office. Making Jack a final mug of coffee, he noted Jack didn't look up as he entered. He placed the mug on his desk as Jack continued on with the paperwork in front of him.

"You said we could talk," Ianto said moving from foot to foot in an effort to control how nervous he felt.

"Jack." Ianto said a little louder to see Jack look up at him, irritated. "You said we could talk," Ianto repeated trying to keep his nerve.

"Sorry, remind me?" Jack asked as he returned to the task at hand.

"Earlier today, remember? I said I needed to talk to you about something…important," he tried to say as Jack looked at his watch to see how late it was, then paused.

"I did? Can this wait till tomorrow, I'm swamped," Jack told him not looking up then turned over the sheet in front of him.

"It's important," Ianto repeated as he pursed his lips.

"I heard it's important, and I promise tomorrow we will sit down and talk. Come into my office, say 10am and I'll set time aside," Jack said in annoyance as he continued to read.

Ianto looked at him, not sure if he could push the issue. Jack had been pushing him away and he had no idea where he stood with him; that was part of the problem. He went over his options as he observed Jack absorbed in the task before him.

"Okay. I'll come back then," he said as Jack picked up his pen and started writing. "Good night," Ianto said. He turned sadly as he let out a breath and left the office.

Several minutes later Jack looked to see Ianto had gone. He picked up the mug and took a sip of coffee and felt annoyed, 'at least he could have said good night,' he thought as he picked up another piece of paper and studied it. He wondered what Ianto had wanted; he should know better interrupting him when he had so much work. He thought for a moment and felt a tinge of guilt as he now recalled their conversation earlier that day. He looked at his watch and promised himself he would make it up to him tomorrow.

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Arriving home Ianto hung up his jacket and took out the letter again and spread it out on the coffee table. It was an offer from Torchwood House to come and work there. It represented a complete contrast to working at Torchwood Three. No fieldwork, and the opportunity to be leader of a team who were to compile Torchwood archives worldwide with the emphasis on artefacts.

There was possible travel overseas, regular hours, weekends, and an active social life which Torchwood House was famous for. Magda, another Torchwood One survivor who was working there had even come down to sing its praises. It was an incredible opportunity and he would have taken it in a heartbeat but for one thing: Jack. He had no idea where he stood with him.

Jack had returned from his absence claiming he was a changed man and promised he was going to make Ianto a priority in his life, but within weeks they had fallen back into exactly what they had before Jack had left. Jack had promised so much on his return and he kept hoping that Jack would actually follow through. Instead of a deepening of their relationship, Jack had grown completely dismissive. He was no fool, he could see something had happened to Jack while he was away but unless Jack opened up to in any small measure he couldn't help or understand.

All of Jack's good intentions seemed to have faded away and recently there had been two instances which had caused him to doubt he meant anything to the man at all. They had caused him to seriously reconsider their relationship or whatever it was they had. The biggest problem was he had real feelings for the man despite everything. Those feelings were strong enough that before he made any decision he had to know if he had any future with Jack. All evidence suggested he didn't but he wanted to hear him say so.

He started to undress, and let out a sharp breath as felt his resolve. One more chance; he would make Jack listen to him, give him a chance like Jack had given him had after Lisa. There was always the possibility he was wrong; maybe he was being oversensitive or misreading things. Or perhaps there could well be something going on for Jack he had missed or was unaware of. Tomorrow he told himself. Jack had said he would make time, tomorrow.

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Racing down the corridor, Ianto chased the man who had just pointed a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He caught up with him and spun him around, and there was scuffle as they fought each other. Struggling as he tried to grab the man's arm, a slice of fire near his midriff caused him to momentarily let go. The man twisted and took off back down the corridor. Cursing Ianto ignored the pain and chased after him. As he turned the corner he saw the man dive into an office. Reaching the office door he kicked it in to see the man on the floor stuffing money into a bag.

"Pray you survive," Ianto snarled at him, pressing the stun gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Turning, he now raced back to Owen who was arranging to kill the creature in the warehouse. Following behind he watched as Owen put it out of its misery. He stood panting to catch his breath and felt warm wetness trickling down his hip.

"Owen...Rhys," Jack commanded the medic and indicated to the fallen man who had been shot.

"You okay Tosh?" Jack checked as he looked towards Tosh.

"Yeah I'm fine, bit shaken but okay," she told him as she glanced across at Ianto who was standing right next her looking pale and spaced out.

"I'm going to take Gwen and Rhys back to the Hub with Owen," Jack told her.

"Ianto, Tosh, make sure no trace of the alien remains then retcon the workers," he charged, throwing a vial towards him. Reaching up Ianto tried but a sharp pain pulled at his side and he winced and fumbled the catch. The vial fell to the ground and he scrambled to pick it up. When he stood up he saw Jack was helping Gwen to her feet and together they helped Rhys stand as Owen attended him.

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Stepping back, both Ianto and Tosh watched as the giant creature turned to dust along with all the bales of meat from throughout the warehouse. They had been so busy, this was the first time they had stopped even for a moment.

"Are you okay Ianto? You look like you're in pain," Tosh asked as she saw Ianto favouring his left side and limping.

"It's nothing Tosh," he told her.

She looked sceptically at him. "Let me see," she said not going to take no for an answer. He pulled away as he did her hand brushed his coat. She looked down to see a smudge of blood.

"You're injured," she said concerned.

"It's just a scratch, it's a bit painful that's all," he told her as they now started to make their way out.

"Oh no it's not that easy ,I need to look." She pulled back his coat as he tried to object. His shirt was ripped and blood-soaked across his back and side.

"When did this happen?" Tosh asked him as she saw him wince.

"It was earlier, I think one of the blokes I was chasing had a knife," he told her as she gently eased his shirt out of his trousers. "I mean it hurt at the time, but we had so much clean up to do, I didn't want to say anything. It's just a scratch, feels much worse than it is."

"Ianto this is serious. You have a deep laceration right into the muscle. No wonder it hurts. Let's get you back the Hub," she told him.

"What about the rest of the clean up?" he said when he saw she was not taking no for an answer.

"I'll sort that out Ianto, we need to get back so Owen can check you out," she said kindly as she assisted him to her car.

Driving with speed but as much care as she could they arrived back and she parked in the Hub garage. She helped him out of the car as he had stiffened up during the drive. They opened the door to shouting, it was clear a major row was going on.

"I wouldn't know anything different," Gwen bellowed at Jack.

"I would," Jack replied forcefully staring her down as he took a deep breath. "Give Rhys my love and I will see you tomorrow," he said through his teeth then as she left he went to his office and turned on the CCTV monitor, sat back in his chair glaring at the screen.

Tosh heard Ianto take a sharp in breath at Jack's declaration as she led him over to the medical bay and helped him sit on the examination table. Owen was clearing up and she help him ease off his jacket.

"Fuck," Owen said when he examined the wound. It was a clean cut but ran from his midriff to his back, around seven inches long and oozing blood. Moving around the medical bay he placed local antiseptic and sutures into a kidney bowl and placed them on the table. Then up he pulled out iodine, wipes and gloves.

He handed Tosh some medical scissors and she cut the shirt off then threw it on the floor.

"I need you to lie down," Owen told him as both he and Tosh assisted him into a comfortable position.

"I'm got spare clothes in my locker," Ianto told Tosh. She now left and went to their locker room as she tried to contain her fury. Right now she would like nothing more than to storm into Jack's office and give him the full measure of her wrath but her priority was Ianto. Opening Ianto's locker she took out his spare shirt and jacket. Returning, she glanced over to Jack's office to see him still absorbed in the CCTV monitor.

Injecting several jabs of local around the wound Owen waited for it to take effect. Several moments later he touched the wound to check it was numb.

"If you feel anything other than pressure you need to tell me. Now this is going to feel cold," he told him. He poured on a measure of iodine across the wound then, taking a series of wipes he cleaned up in and around the laceration. He then assisted Ianto into a sitting position.

"I need you here," Owen indicated to Tosh where to stand. He lifted Ianto's left arm and placed on her shoulder so he could have complete access to suture up the wound.

"I'm going to need to put in two levels of stiches, first to anchor the muscle then to close it up," he informed him as he began the delicate work. "How did you get the bruising on your arms and back?" he asked. Several large bruises were now colouring up around the top of his arms and what looked like a boot print between his shoulder blades.

"While I was tied up one of the brothers decided to express his displeasure," Ianto told him, fatigue and pain evident in his voice.

"Anything else I should know about?" Owen asked as he continued to work.

"One of them kicked me in the right knee," Ianto told him. Tosh pulled up his trouser leg to see; it looked swollen and black.

"I need to report this to Jack," Owen told him as he concentrated.

"Don't tell him, not tonight" Ianto asked them. Both Tosh and Owen exchanged looks as they both glanced over at his office see him still totally absorbed in the CCTV screen.

"He needs to know Ianto. I'm taking you off active duty as of now and I don't want to see you back in for at least five days," Owen told him sternly.

"No point, he won't care any way," Ianto told him as he swallowed. "I've decided to take the job offer from Torchwood House. I going to hand my notice in tomorrow."

Owen and Tosh glanced at each other again. "I'm not happy, I should inform him tonight. He needs to know in case there's a call out," Owen told him

"I know I'm putting you into an awkward position, but I'm asking you just for tonight," Ianto told him. "I need some space to get my head sorted."

"Alright, I'll see him first thing tomorrow," Owen told him. He changed needles and began to final stage of the suturing.

"I'm pleased you decided to take the offer. I think it's a great opportunity go somewhere you'll be appreciated," Tosh told him. She continued to hold up his arm as she glanced over to Jack's office.

"About bloody time," Owen said in agreement. Placing in the final stitch he glanced over to see Jack now sitting staring into space.

Bringing her attention back, Tosh helped Ianto down of the table. "Let's get you home," Tosh said gently.

Owen glared at the office. He was furious with Jack and himself. He should have checked Ianto himself instead of allowing Jack to divert his attention because Rhys had been shot.

As bad as his own negligence was he couldn't understand Jack's treatment of Ianto. Most of the time he ignored him, other times he was completely dismissive. Jack's actions in the past weeks culminating into today had shown how little regard he had for the young Welshman. He knew Ianto had agonised over his decision to leave not wanting to desert two workmates he had forged a camaraderie of suffering with in Jack's absence.

Both he and Tosh had entreated him to accept the offer. It was perfect for him. Ianto remained for only one reason: Jack. He and Tosh could see that all the feelings were on Ianto's side but being the kind of person he was he kept hanging on in the hope things would change. Well the events of today had made Jack's feelings towards Ianto so clear it was impossible to interpret them in any way. Ianto came last in Jack's life on every possible level. Well tomorrow Ianto would making his move to get out of this shit hole and he prayed and hoped he would finally find someone who deserved him.

Turning around, Jack noted the lights had gone dim. He looked at his watch. He got up and walked around. 'Where was Ianto, didn't he had something important he needed to talk to him about?' he asked himself as he went back to his desk and flicked on the monitor in the garage. Tosh's car was still there, so it looked like they might have all gone for a drink and he felt a sense of annoyance, 'Ianto could at least have dropped him off a final cup of coffee considering what a rough day it had been and said good night. Wasn't that two nights in a row he had left without saying good night' he thought. 'What the hell was that about?' Well no doubt he would hear about it tomorrow. Stretching he made his way down to his bunker.