This is written especially for Shade O'Killer, who pretty much suggested it. I have several short story ideas at the moment, just need to get around to writing them…

Thanks to all who reviewed my last chapter: brionyjae, L.A.H.H., chironsgirl, PadawannaB, Shade O'Killer and Torchwood Cardiff. Hopefully everyone's read the last chapter otherwise this one won't make much sense.

More Milk

Jack was about to force the door when he realised he had the key anyway. Gwen notes this down mentally as a reference point for later – N.B. Jack has the key to Ianto's flat. Further investigation not required. She's never been to Ianto's flat before so this is quite intriguing, although, really, these weren't the circumstances she would have chosen.

"All this and I bet he's just slept in." Owen mutters, hefting his gun in one hand.

"Ianto never -" Tosh begins, before Jack puts a finger on his lips.

Ianto had not been there before them this morning: Ianto was never late. There was no coffee waiting: there was never no coffee. Ianto had not turned up at all: Ianto never did that either. Ianto had not answered Jack's calls: Ianto never - ok, Ianto did sometimes not answer Jack's calls, but usually for a good reason. And he did usually answer them by the tenth time, unless he was ill, or being held hostage, or d-

Yeah, let's not go there.

Ianto's flat isn't as tidy as Gwen thought it would be. She reads this as a warning sign. Looks like someone's left in a hurry.

"Ianto?" Jack sticks his head round several doors. "Not in his bedroom, so not ill. Or still asleep."

N.B. Jack knows Ianto's floor plan and the location of his bedroom. Really, really do not investigate this, at all, ever. Or at least not until we find Ianto. Which we will.

"Jack? I've found a note."

Jack crosses to the kitchen. "A note?"

"Well, a shopping list." Tosh confesses. "But look."

Owen cranes over Jack's shoulder. It's a normal, neat, Ianto-kind of shopping list, until the end, where it becomes a hurried scrawl.

'Chocolate (lots!)

party ring biscuity things

More chocolate

MILK!'

"That's not much like Ianto." Gwen comments.

"I think that's the point." Jack murmurs grimly. "He's drawing attention to it. Added later, in a hurry."

Tosh runs their code through in her head, appreciating once again just how ridiculous it is. "Were party rings vehicles? I can't remember."

Owen shrugs. "I wish he'd been more specific about the number of attackers. S'pose he didn't have much time though. And it'd look suspicious."

Jack is pacing – his own way of mentally coping with the situation, instead of making irritated comments about the victim's unhelpful clues. "Tosh, can you-?"

"Mobile trace? I'm already on it."

Gwen frowns. "Didn't you do a mobile trace earlier?"

"Yeah. It said-"

"-It was here, on the side?" Owen waves the mobile in their faces. "Charging. Which is probably why he hasn't been returning our calls."

"Any cameras outside?"

"Nope."

Jack completes another lap of the small kitchen. "No mobile trace, no cameras… Alright, I wan t a full scale search, finger-printing… We need to work out how they got in, and-"

The lock clicks and several fingers automatically reach for gun triggers.

Ianto walks in with a look of pure exhaustion on his face, and reaches the coffee jar before he notices them. "Hello. Why-?"

"Are there any grapes in your glove-box?"

"What?"

"Are you doing this under compulsion?"

"Making coffee? No."

"Good, 'cos otherwise I would have blown this anyway. Ianto, what's going on?"

"What's the note for?" Owen asks belligerently, still keeping his gun out, just in case.

"Note?"

"'Lots of armed men. Help.'"

"I never wrote that!"

A crumpled shopping list is thrust into Ianto's face. "Oh, that. It's not code. Just a shopping list. Only I forgot to take it. And my phone."

"We noticed." Owen wonders if something's wrong. Gwen's right that this isn't the normal Ianto.

"I, I had a phone-call this morning. It's my nephew's birthday and my sister made me promise I'd go visit, but it slipped my mind. Then she rang up and told me she was ill and I got lumped with running the party. I was in such a rush I forgot to ring you." Ianto collapses on a chair. In an attempt not to stand round cluttering the kitchen, Tosh starts making tea, on the assumption that the coffee here is also out of bounds.

"So I bought up a load of chocolate to keep them happy, and it turns out chocolate was not a good plan. Then I was stuck in a room full of hyperactive kids for four hours, trying to stop themselves from killing each other or burning the house down or…" Ianto shakes his head. "I know we always joke about Torchwood being a load of primary school kids, but you're really really not. And they dropped the cake on the floor and broke a window and and…"

Gwen rubs his shoulders in a vaguely soothing sort of way as he rests his head in his hands. "Is this normal protocol then?" He asks in a slightly calmer tone of voice. "That you break into my house and eat all my biscuits after six hours of no contact?"

Tosh tries not to look guilty as she finishes the chocolate digestive. "We wanted to make sure you were safe."

"I wish you'd come earlier. Then you could have rescued me. I'm sorry, Jack."

"It's fine. Want to take the rest of the day off? You look like you need it."

As Ianto nods gratefully Tosh turns to him with a cup of tea. "I can't find any milk, I'm afraid, but…"

Ianto's head returns to his arms. He seems to be shaking slightly. Owen runs through the common symptoms of a nervous breakdown in his head.

"Ianto…?"

"I forgot the milk!"