'Damn.' Ianto slammed his fists into the workstation before bowing his head in frustration. The small artefact hadn't rendered anything useful from the scans, no radiation or any electrical activity had been noted and the device now sat there, almost mocking him as his frustration grew. It was definitely not helping that he was developing a large headache between his eyes and his vision was becoming blurry. He'd have to ask Gwen later if she suffered from this malady regularly; if so, then this little artefact was not going to be sat there much longer. He brought two fingers to his temple and began to massage his headache, hoping it would help in some way before it grew any more.
'Guessing you haven't found anything.' The sound of Jack's voice from behind him startled the young man, sharply sitting back in his chair and cursing Jack under his breath for sending a shot of pain across his sight. 'Well, suppose all we can do is wait until our guest arrives.' Ianto could feel Jack's large hands resting on his shoulders, rubbing slow circles into his flesh with his thumbs. Ianto wasn't thinking anymore about the current situation; Jack's touch and presence were more than enough to send away the fears and concerns that were growing in his stomach. He let out a small moan as he flung his head back and rested his head against Jack's chest.
'Who did you call?' Ianto was trying to make conversation, telling himself that allowing Jack to slip him into a state of relaxation would not be good if there was a sudden call to arms. 'Not that I would mind, but if you did call the Doctor you know we are going to have more trouble before success.' He could feel the tremors of the laugh Jack was emitting. Ianto looked up to Jack and smiled back at the look of joy across his partner's face.
'No, don't worry. He didn't even cross my mind.' Jack looked down and caught Ianto behind Gwen's brown eyes. As he peered closer, he could have sworn the figure of Gwen melted away and his Welshman materialised in front of his eyes. 'This kind of predicament called for the help of a nightingale.' Jack released one of Ianto's shoulders and brought his hand up to caress his face, running his thumb up and down the smooth cheek. He could no longer see Gwen; all he could see was his Ianto and all he wanted to do was take him in his arms and settle down for the sleep neither of them had had for the past twenty four hours. Deep down, Jack knew this was all his fault and he sadly dawned on the fact that when Ianto's time came to die, it would be because of Torchwood, because of him.
'Well, we Jones' have the knack for fixing things.' Ianto knew his reply was laced with a double meaning and silently prayed that Jack wouldn't pick up on it. He didn't need Jack sentimental at a time like this and Ianto knew that it would only lead Jack into one of his signature dark moods, catching a glimpse of the life he could only dream of having. Before he could shake the thought completely from his head, he felt Jack meet his lips in a quick and chaste kiss, before feeling more than hearing Jack's reply.
'I know.' Jack bowed his head once again to catch Ianto's lips in a more heated kiss, needing to feel his lover behind the face he was trapped behind. Jack could feel the sensations he had felt not two weeks ago stirring in the both of him; Ianto needing to prove that it was indeed him and Jack needing to believe Ianto was safe and indeed himself during his state. He wasn't prepared for Ianto to break away so soon and leap from his chair.
'Jack, wait.' Ianto held his arms out, hoping to prevent the approach of his Captain. If only he could keep Jack away for two minutes, he might be able to convince the pair of them that this was a bad idea. 'Maybe this isn't such a good idea.'
'We're both alone and Martha isn't due for a couple of hours. Perfect for a little us time.' Jack moved so quickly Ianto hadn't even noticed that he was now in the arms of his partner. He could feel Jack's arms soothing his back before he felt the hot breath on his neck.
'Jack, this is wrong.' Ianto was lying of course, it felt too right to be wrong. He didn't have a chance to develop his reply as Jack caught his lips in a passionate kiss and felt his lover's tongue begging entrance to his mouth. Except, this wasn't his mouth, it was Gwen's. And all of a sudden, Ianto shook slightly with fear. Its Gwen he wants. The thought could not be shifted when it was planted into his head; technically, it had always been there but since Gwen's wedding and the deaths of both Tosh and Owen, Ianto had felt Jack become closer to him, as if the immortal man was becoming, dare he think it, monogamous. But still, deep down in his subconscious, his mind would still turn when he caught Gwen watching Jack, the two of them laughing together or the way Jack would hold Gwen when she got upset. Yes, he knew he was being jealous and childish, but Jack was the first man Ianto had ever fallen for and there was no way the green eyed monster was going to just sit back. He pulled back violently, leaving Jack bewildered as he headed down to his beloved coffee machine, hoping Jack wouldn't follow. No such luck.
'Sorry, maybe I went too far.' That was an understatement, Ianto thought as he started up his machine. He settled the mugs on the stand and manoeuvred his way around Jack to prepare their drinks. 'You know I only see you, don't you.' Ianto hovered the spoon over his mug as Jack's words slowly drifted themselves into his mind. 'It's not like before where you had to kiss me to get my brain to register it was you. I can see you; there is no way you could hide behind Gwen's eyes.' He gave a small laugh as he nudged himself closer to Ianto, still with his spoon clutched tightly in his hand. He needed Ianto to understand him, he needed to see that he wasn't lying.
The sound of his phone rang throughout the Hub and Jack cursed himself for not turning the damn thing off. Pulling his phone free from his pocket, he smiled as Ianto's name scrawled across his small screen. He continued to smile as Ianto strained to look at who was calling them. 'It's you,' Jack laughed as he pressed accept and held the device to his ear. 'Gwen, how can I help?...Wait, slow down...what do you mean...okay, hold the fort and we'll be there as soon as we can.' Snapping his phone shut, he turned back to Ianto who looked at him with a worried expression.
'I guess this means we have less alone time than we thought.' He followed Jack to the cog door and waited for it to open. 'So what is it?'
'We need Martha to get here as soon as possible,' was Jack's reply as Ianto helped him on with his military coat. 'We've got a body; one that apparently is almost the spitting image of you.' With that one sentence, Ianto knew that his headache was definitely going to be the least of his troubles today.
And in their hasty retreat from the Hub, neither noticed the decorative pattern on the head of the corpse in the medical bay pulsing with a searing red light.