Jack stared dumbly as Ianto turned and left the office, but the minute he was out of sight Jack jolted back into action and hurried after him.
"Hey!" he called from the doorway.
Ianto waved a dismissive hand and continued to walk.
"Dammit, Ianto, we're not done yet!"
The Welshman stopped, his head dipping slightly before he glanced over his shoulder. "I have nothing else to say."
"Oh really?" countered Jack fiercely. He was vaguely aware of Tosh slowly spinning her chair around to face them, but ignored her attention. "Because I don't think you said nearly enough just now."
Ianto stared at him coolly and said nothing.
"You can't just tell me something like that then walk away," Jack went on, his confusion making him angry. "Don't I deserve an explanation?"
"You want to have this conversation now?" Ianto asked in a flat tone, just as Owen stomped into sight from the medical bay, drawn by the raised voices.
"I want you to explain what the hell you meant," Jack growled. He knew he should have taken Ianto's hint and moved the conversation into more private surroundings, but he wasn't entirely sure the other man would follow if he tried. "How can you say you don't trust me, after demanding I give you my trust only this morning?"
Ianto's expression remained carefully blank. "Perhaps if you'd given it..." He trailed off and shrugged. "I guess we're equal now."
Knowing he shouldn't be surprised by Ianto's sarcasm, Jack still frowned in bewilderment. "What's gotten into you?" he asked helplessly.
"I thought we'd already covered that one," Ianto replied. "An alien got into me and screwed with my head, remember?"
"Ianto," sighed the Captain, "just...come back into the office."
"I told you, I've said all I have to say about this."
"So I'm not allowed to know what I've done to keep you from sharing that part of your life with me?"
Ianto rolled his eyes. "I'll answer that if you can tell me why I should share it with you."
There was a trick here, Jack knew, and he narrowed his eyes at the younger man. "Because of what we have," he replied cautiously. "Isn't that worth your honesty?"
Ianto smiled and shook his head, gaze directed somewhere past Jack's shoulder. "I can't believe you're even trying to use that argument." He started to turn away but span back, a scowl distorting his features. "No, seriously, I can't believe it. How dare you try to use that against me!" He took a step forward, finger stabbing the air in punctuation. "All the crap I put up with, everything I do for you, and you think that gives you the right to demand even more from me?!"
"I'm not demanding-"
"You are! You want me to open up, to tell you every single secret I might have, with no regard at all to my privacy!"
"Is it really so bad that I want to help?!" Jack asked, his anger rising again. Why was Ianto being so defensive about this?
Tosh slipped from her chair, eyeing both Ianto and Jack with something akin to fear. "Guys..."
"This has nothing to do with you, Tosh," Jack snapped. "Stay out of it."
"Don't talk to her like that," Ianto retorted just as sharply.
"If you'd come into the damn office and stop hiding behind her then I wouldn't have to."
Ianto stared incredulously at him. "Hiding?" he echoed.
"Yes, Ianto, hiding. Using her presence to try and keep me from mentioning your little kink."
The snide tone came from his frustration, the threat from his exasperation, and together they elicited a narrow fearful glare from the young Welshman. Jack could almost see the calculations taking place in Ianto's mind; would he really bring that up now, in front of the others, just to get his way?
The answer in this case was: yes, absolutely. Now that Jack knew the extent of Ianto's secret habit, he could not allow it to continue outside the Hub, and he would do whatever it took to make sure that Ianto stayed out of harm's way.
"Don't you fucking dare," Ianto said, his voice low and hostile as he recognised the determination in the Captain's eyes.
"You keep saying that to me," replied Jack, "even though you know I'll do whatever I deem necessary to keep Torchwood safe."
"It has nothing to do with Torchwood!" Ianto cried yet again. "It's my life, my problem and I don't want you involved!"
"Jack, I think you should listen to him," Owen said, finally climbing the last step up from the medical bay. He had a scowl upon his face, but his empty hands were held up before him in a placating gesture.
The Captain turned on him. "Why are you taking his side?" A disturbing thought entered his mind. "You already knew didn't you?" Owen shook his head in confusion but Jack wasn't having any of it. "Of course you knew. You'd have seen the...the what? Bruises? Rope burns? Whip marks?" He glanced back at Ianto. "You never did go into detail," he said with an unrepentant shrug.
The young Welshman stared at him in astonishment. His mouth opened but no words came out.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Owen said in his place. "What the hell? What are you talking about?"
"Ianto?" Tosh asked quietly, peering up at the shocked Welshman.
Jack took in the stunned atmosphere and wondered if he might have been a little hasty to assume Owen knew anything about the situation. Ianto was good at hiding things, after all; maybe he'd even managed to conceal any telling marks from the doctor as well.
"You bastard," Ianto ground out. His breath was coming in sharp gasps, face reddening with either embarrassment, rage, or both. "You have no right-"
"I have every right when you're putting us all at risk! You placed your life in an outsider's hands and let him manipulate you! What if he'd tried to use you to get at Torchwood?"
"What? Alex doesn't know anything about Torchwood."
"And how can you be so sure of that?" Jack demanded. "You know that threats can come from anywhere, why is this guy clear of suspicion?"
Ianto's face grew even redder, his body tense and his gaze locked with Jack's. "I must have missed the memo about performing background checks on everyone we associate with," he said sarcastically. "Oh, but wait, you've never done that for any of your contacts. I guess it's only me with poor judgement, right?" He spoke the last few words in an uncharacteristic sneer, his face twisting with ugly emotions.
"Don't be a fool, Ianto. You know perfectly well how much power you gave that man and how it could have been used against you." Jack couldn't believe he had to argue this hard to get his point across. It wasn't often that Ianto was blind to something so obvious...in fact it was downright unprecedented.
"Oh-kay fellas," Owen said in a surprisingly soothing voice. "I think we all need to just calm down and-"
"I didn't give him any power," declared Ianto, ignoring Owen's attempt to intervene. "I was the one in control."
"The sub dominates from below?" Jack asked. "True, unless the goddamn sadist has a secret agenda and a gift for manipulation."
Ianto groaned with frustration. "He's not the enemy, Jack! I'm sure you've already done a check on him, so why are you acting like he's the bad guy?"
"Because you are continuing to prove just how blind you are to this situation. And if your judgement is impaired then I'm not going to let you prance around the city getting spanked by any bloke with a business page on Facebook!"
Quiet fell abruptly across the room like a drenching of ice cold water, leaving only the sound of Ianto's wheezing breath to break the silence.
Jack held his gaze, refusing to back down now he had the upper hand. In his peripheral vision he saw Tosh glance worriedly at Owen, who in turn moved forward to block their line of sight.
"Right, that's enough!" he growled fiercely, glaring at the Captain. "Jack, bugger off. Ianto, sit down before you collapse, and for God's sake take a deep breath."
Jack opened his mouth to protest but Owen saw and took a step towards him, radiating menace despite his smaller stature. "I don't give a fuck what you're about to say, Jack, so don't even bother. All I care about is the fact that he," the doctor jerked a thumb over his shoulder to where Tosh was pushing Ianto gently towards the old battered sofa, "is about to hyperventilate. Now get lost until he's breathing normally again!"
The urge to protest still remained, in spite of Owen's warning, but when Jack glanced at Ianto's now pale face, a tiny thread of sense slipped past his anger. He realised with a start that the delicate state of balance Ianto had only just been holding in place the past few months had just crumbled to dust.
Because of him.
He hesitated, loath to run away when the matter was far from dealt with, but Owen's dark glower left him in no doubt that his presence would not be tolerated by any of them right then.
"Fine," Jack said unhappily, "but he's not to leave the Hub." Tosh glanced up at that, surprise and concern in her dark eyes, whilst Ianto merely stared blindly at the coffee table. "If I see him anywhere near an exit, I'll put us into full lockdown. Got it?"