Chapter 2 : Drifted Away
A few hours earlier
"Well I have a hell of cleaning up to do" muttered Ianto under his breath. "Don't worry about that Ianto, we'll help you tomorrow. You need to rest, come here have a sit" Gwen smiled. They were still locked in the Hub, they had to wait another hour before the time bubble turned off. "Gwen, you're incredibly calm, that's scary you know" Ianto said, sitting next to her on the sofa. " I'm trying not to panic, that's all" she smiled weakly, "I'm sure Rhys is alright" Ianto tried to reassure her. " yeah you're right, he is strong and clever... He... He can perfectly take care of himself...m she tried to sound casual but Ianto would buy it. " Come here" he said gently, opening his arms. She collapsed in his arms. Ianto held her tight rubbing gently her back, whispering comforting words in her ear.
They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until Gwen draw back, composing herself. "Why don't we use that extra time for a little team bounding" she said, playfully. Ianto chuckled, it had been aged since their last team bonding.
Tosh and Owen were still alive at that time. Well, at least Tosh was. They had gone to the pub, the five of them. Got a little drunk, even Jack. He remembered Owen making snarly comments about him and Jack as they were both snogging shamelessly and flirty outrageously with each other. 'Yeah, good memories' he thought sadly.
Since Tosh and Owen's death, he and Jack weren't close as they used to be, hell they were miles away from each other. Jack kept shutting him out and maybe the great leader didn't need someone to take car of him, he did ! But Jack was just to far away, and that was killing him.
"Ianto ?" He snapped out of his thoughts as Gwen called his name, worried. "Are you alright? " she asked. " Yeah... yeah sorry, I was just... Lost in thought" he replied absently " I could see that" she chuckled. " What were you thinking about ?" She asked with her gossiping tone. " I...erm...I" shuttered Ianto. " You were thinking about him weren't you ?". Ianto sighted, how the hell he became this readable ? " Yes" he admitted. " Are you okay ? I mean you and Jack" she asked gently trying to make him open up to her. " Er...no. Not really" he replied, looking down at his joined hands on his lap. " What happened?" She tried to understand. He took a deep breath, not looking up he replied " Actually I don't really know, we drifted away since Todh and Owen's death. I don't know why, What did I do, but it's like he doesn't want me around anymore". Tears filled his eyes but he wouldn't cry, he couldn't, not in front of Gwen at least. He had to stay strong. " he will come around you'll see." She smiled at him, setting her hand on his thigh. " Can we talk about something else please ? ". Gwen nodded friendly and started to talk about, Rhys, her family, emission on TV... Ianto just nodded and hummed in agreement thinking about those last weeks.
Gwen interrupted he non-sense talking when an alarm resound in the Hub, among the noise of bullets hitting the floor. "It's over" she whispered, a genuine smile appearing on her face. "Go on, go back home to your man" he smiled encouraging her. "You'll be alright?" She asked, torn up between running out of the hub the faster she could and staying with Ianto a little bit more. "Don't worry, I'll be perfectly fine, go" he smiled. "I'll help you with the cleaning up tomorrow, go rest. And don't worry he'll be back soon I'm certain of that." She hugged him, kissed his cheek and then she was gone. And then Ianto was alone.