Owen pushed his way into the room as soon as Ianto opened the door.

'Jack?' He spotted the pale, miserable figure on the bed, 'Jesus mate, you look like crap!'

'I see your bedside manner has improved in my absence' said Ianto by way of greeting.

'Yeah, yeah, good to see you too, Teaboy' Owen's attention was completely focused on Jack, as he looked into his eyes, took his blood pressure smelled his breath and prepared to draw blood, 'so what's been happening' he snapped

'Chills, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps' Ianto rattled off the list as Jack lay back on his pillows and groaned

Owen frowned 'If I didn't know better I'd say he's going cold turkey from something' he mused as he pulled out various bits of equipment and skilfully extracted a large syringe full of blood from Jack.

'Cold turkey?' stammered Jack, 'that's ridiculous, I...' Ianto who had been watching him carefully rushed forward with the long suffering waste bin and Jack vomited once more.

Owen was busy unpacking what looked like an entire pathology lab from various bags and rucksacks. He cleared the table top and began plugging in diverse pieces of equipment. He decanted some of Jack's blood into various different receptacles and slotted them into his kit. He reached over and took the bin from Ianto who standing by the bed, stroking Jack's hair and looking helpless and scared. Owen looked inside, pulled a disgusted face and collected some of the blood stained vomitus for testing.

Ianto moved to the table in order to look over Owen's shoulder. Owen looked at some of his readings, tutted and started a new test running; Ianto gazed fearfully at the busy medic, 'Owen? What's up with him? Owen?'

'Working here, teaboy' snapped Owen

'Oh, ok. Sorry' said Ianto quietly

Owen looked up; Ianto was standing looking very young and vulnerable, tears shining on his lashes. Owen felt like he had just kicked a puppy, gently he took hold of Ianto's shoulders and turned him round to face the bed where Jack was curled in a foetal position, shivering and whimpering.

'At the moment, he needs you as much as he needs me' he said soothingly, 'my job is here with the tech, yours is over there with that man who, despite everything, never stopped grieving for you, never stopped loving you, alright?' Ianto nodded and sniffed, Owen smiled at him, 'good, so I'm going to get on with my job and let you get on with yours, OK?'

Ianto gave him a watery smile and moved with some urgency to the bed, quickly he stripped himself down to his boxers, slid in next to Jack and pulled the suffering man into his arms. Jack sighed and his entire body seemed to relax as Ianto brushed soft kisses over his brow

'Yan'

'Cariad'

Owen tried to ignore the soft loving murmurs coming from the bed behind him as he concentrated on the readings on his laptop. The biochemistry of Jack's blood looked weird, even weirder than its usual weirdness. He frowned and tapped a few keys screening out the usual 51st century molecules and vortex energy that made Jack's blood so very special. The molecular chain that was left rotating on the screen was one that Owen had never seen before.

'Fuck' muttered Owen, 'someone has been drugging him'

Ianto lifted his head from the pillow to stare at him, 'what?'

Even though both men had kept their voices low, Jack stirred and struggled to raise himself up. Ianto immediately sat up in order to support him. Owen unplugged his laptop and took it over to the bed.

'Budge up, Captain. Make room for the medic.'

Ianto rolled his eyes as, sick as he was, Jack managed a weak grin and low, dirty chuckle, 'ooh a threesome. Is it my birthday? Oh...' his face fell, 'am I dying?'

'You make even a bit of a move on Owen and you'll be dying faster than you ever imagined possible' growled Ianto possessively as he pulled Jack closer to his side and scowled theatrically at Owen.

'The pair of you shut up and look,' Owen plonked the computer down on Jack's lap and tapped the screen.

'There is a rogue chemical in your blood Jack, which seems to be degrading and causing some nasty side effects as it does so. I was right; you are going through severe withdrawal. The problem is I don't recognise this...whatever it is, I've never seen it before'

Jack was staring at the screen in horror, 'I have,' he whispered eventually, 'It's PUSH. That fucking bitch Gwen, she's been feeding me PUSH' He began to shake, 'it's PUSH' he said again.

Ianto pulled him even closer and made eye contact with Owen. His eyes were full of questions but Owen could only shrug helplessly.

'Jack' Ianto slid his finger under Jack's chin so that he could look into his face, 'tell us, please. What is it? How can we help you?'

Jack made a visible effort to pull himself together, Ianto handed him a bottle of chilled water, he took a deep swallow, took a tight hold of Ianto's hand and began to speak.

'Phenyl-uraniate-suxameth-hexethalene, known as PUSH; a synthetic drug created and marketed in around 5037. It's the ultimate compliance drug, put a couple of drops in someone's drink and make the right suggestions and you have a willing and consenting partner for the night, put ten litres of it in a colony's water supply and you have a community that will quite happily wipe themselves out if you ask them politely enough, release enough of it into the atmosphere of a planet and...well you get the picture.'

'Fuck' whispered Owen

'Yeah' agreed Jack. 'It was enough of a problem when it was being used as a date rape drug , the Intergalactic Law Society and the Shadow Proclamation worked for five years just to come up with a new definition of consent that incorporated absence of mind altering drugs, hard to prove rape when PUSH made every victim a willing collaborator with their rapist. That was enough of a scandal but once it was used to initiate planetary self genocide it was clear it had to be eliminated.'

'Banned?' asked Owen

Jack shook his head, 'no eliminated; it was one of my last jobs for the time agency. We went back and killed the parents of everyone associated with its creation so that the developers never even existed, they were never even conceived. It was the first and only time the Agency operated with the total approval of the Time Lords. It was brutal but the end really justified the means'

'So, if it never existed, where has this come from?' asked Ianto

'A 51st century guerrilla fighter crashed through the rift about nine months ago' said Jack, 'It was when you had all those rib fractures and were on sick leave. It must have been lost before the elimination mission. There was a container of PUSH in their weapons store. Gwen made herself responsible for ensuring it went into the secure archives.'

Ianto looked horrified, 'you gave her codes to the secure archives?'

Jack looked shamefaced, 'I changed them the same day' he said defensively

'But Jack…'

'Well if you had been more careful, you would have been there to deal with it yourself'

Ianto sighed in exasperation, they had gone over this so many times; 'I was being careful! No-one deliberately gets sat on by a forty stone Zarutheran…' he began hotly

Owen cleared his throat pointedly, ' any hoo' he said, 'as much fun as it is watching you two argue like an old married couple let's get back to the point, shall we children? Cooper has access to the granddaddy of mind control medication and what? She just waited for you two to have a bit of a spat and made her move?'

'Yeah, I guess so. Fucking evil bitch, no wonder she made us all drink so much that night of the pool tournament. Remember Owen, how she made sure the drinks just kept on coming?' growled Jack, 'First dose works best if given with alcohol, that information was in the archives, she must have found it when she was poking around down there.' Ianto gave a little mew of distress at the thought of Gwen Cooper poking around in his archives and Jack dropped a comforting kiss on his bare shoulder. 'I should have recognised the feeling of disconnect. I told you,' Jack turned eagerly to Ianto again, 'I told you that it felt as if everything was happening behind a thick curtain or to someone else, like it was all going on around me without my participation. I should have suspected PUSH – people who had it administered to them nearly always explained their experiences in those terms. And Gwen...she was so insistent, "let him go", "he never loved you", "we were meant to be together", "move in with me", "you love me". I wanted to fight but I just couldn't everything she said seemed so plausible and so desirable – so right. She must have been using it on me regularly ever since that night to keep me compliant, it's like most drugs the more you take, the more you need. I've been avoiding her as much as possible since last weekend because I was planning this time away and I didn't want her to know about it, plus the rift has been playing up so I have been pretty much living on takeaways and store bought coffee. She mustn't have had the opportunity to drug me as much'

'Is it addictive?' asked Owen

Jack shrugged, 'I don't know. As far as I know no-one has ever been given it on a long term basis.'

'Is there anything that counteracts it?' asked Owen practically, noting that Jack was grimacing and shifting uncomfortably.

Jack huffed a pained laugh, 'easily, on this planet' he gasped, clutching his stomach as another wave of cramp took him, 'it's soluble in ascorbic acid.'

Owen laughed, 'Brilliant! Ianto, did I see a convenience store at the end of the street?'

Ianto frowned at the non sequitur; 'Yeah there's a Tesco Metro on the corner'

Owen pulled a twenty pound note out of the pocket of his jeans, 'go and buy as much high quality orange juice as you can carry.' Ianto still looked blank, Owen sighed, 'Orange juice, full of vitamin C otherwise known as...'

'Ascorbic acid' Ianto snatched the money, leapt from the bed and headed towards the door at speed.

'Oi, Teaboy'

Ianto spun round angrily, 'what? What now?'

'Pants?' suggested Owen, mildly.

As the door closed behind Ianto, Owen turned to look at the man resting next to him in the bed.

'How long until the juice takes affect?' he said

Jack shrugged, staring blankly down at the bedding and twisting his fingers together 'I don't know. Guess I'll just keep drinking it until I feel OK again'

'Or until your blood chemistry settles down'

'yeah'

Owen looked at Jack with concern, 'You OK mate?' he asked

Jack wriggled uncomfortably, 'It's just...bloody Gwen. I don't get it. What did she think she was doing?'

Owen laughed 'that's obvious isn't it? She was having it all; Ianto hurting and gone, you compliant and hers. She must have thought all her birthdays had come at once.' Jack looked at him in confusion, 'C'mon Jack, it's all she ever wanted from the moment she laid eyes on you. How can you not get that?'

'Yeah I knew she had a hero worship thing going on and I guess I didn't help with the flirting but how could she take me seriously. Didn't she see that I was with Ianto in every sense of the word?'

Owen had the grace to look abashed, 'yeah, well...I think we all underestimated that relationship' he said sadly, 'you both hid it so well, we all thought you were just fucking. I think Tosh was the one with the most insight, she told us about some CCTV footage she had seen of you and the Teaboy in the Hub one night; you were both laying on the sofa and he was resting in your arms. Tosh said she had never seen such love on anyone's face as she saw on yours as you watched him sleep. She said it made her cry to see it'

'I love him' said Jack softly

Owen rested his hand comfortingly on Jack's shoulder 'Yeah I get that now'

The two men sat in silence for a moment then, 'what are you going to do about Cooper?' asked Owen

'I don't know' said Jack, 'I don't want to think about her. Ianto is my priority at the moment. I want him back, I need him back. He is as injured by this as me. Whatever we decide to do with Gwen, we will decide together.' He frowned, and clutched at Owen's arm in a sudden panic, 'where did you tell Gwen you were going? I don't want her to know where I am.'

'No problem' Owen smiled, 'Tosh gave Teaboy the access codes for the Torchwood helicopter – I didn't know where I was going until I got here, Tosh doesn't know where I am at all, although...it's Tosh, I suppose she could probably find me if she really wanted to but Ianto asked her not to so she won't try.'

Jack was resting back on his pillows his face pale, 'Gwen'll give you the third degree when you get back. Owen, if she has access to PUSH she is highly dangerous, she can't be trusted; don't accept any food or drink from her. Keep Tosh safe'

'Don't worry, Captain. I've got it covered' Owen fished a small plastic bag from the pocket of his jeans and held it up before Jack's face.

'Retcon?'

'Yep, just a small dose. I'll take it as I leave here, snooze my way back to Cardiff, lose about half a day and not even remember I was here.'

Jack panic spiked once more, 'but you'll forget about how dangerous Gwen is. Owen I don't want to put you and Tosh at risk.'

'Hmm' Owen looked thoughtful, 'how about you send a top priority text to both Tosh and me warning us about her. Just make sure you don't give too many details, we don't want to trigger my memory. If it's priority one we're unlikely to disregard it. Worst case scenario – it will at least put us on our guard.'

Jack took Owen's hand and squeezed it gratefully 'Thank you Owen'

The door swung open and Ianto burst into the room.

'Will ten litres be enough' he panted worriedly, 'it was all the stock they had.'

'Should be' said Owen, passing a container to Jack who immediately began swigging from the carton. Eyes rolling Ianto went into the bathroom and returned with a clean glass, which he handed to Jack.

Once Jack had ingested a full litre, Owen took some more blood from him for analysis. After a couple of minutes he glanced up at Jack who was already looking much improved.

'Well?' asked Ianto anxiously from where he was back glued to Jack's side

Owen let out a relieved sigh, 'it's working, the molecular chain is breaking down faster and the ascorbic acid is neutralising the side effects. Another four litres should just about do it.'

Jack groaned, 'I hate oranges'.

Within an hour Owen was packing up his equipment and carrying out a final physical on a restive Jack.

'I'm fine now' grumbled Jack as Owen checked his blood pressure once more and palpated his abdomen for one last time.

Owen grinned, 'yes, I think you are.' He threw a glance in Ianto's direction, 'better brace yourself Teaboy.' Ianto rolled his eyes, but his heart clearly wasn't in it. His attention was entirely fixated upon Jack. 'Right then' continued Owen, 'I'm off' he sent a short text from his mobile to summon the helicopter, snagged a swallow of Jack's orange juice to wash down his retcon and headed towards the door, 'my ride will be here soon'

Ianto followed the medic to the door and, much to Owen's discomfort, pulled him into a hug 'Thank you for coming' he whispered.

'Just doing my job' said Owen gruffly. But he hugged Ianto back

The moment was broken by Jack's petulant whine floating out from the bedroom behind them.

'Ianto! Come back to bed. All this orange juice is making me horny!'

Owen laughed, 'is there anything that doesn't make him horny?'

Ianto grinned 'if there is I haven't found it yet'

Owen moved to leave and then hesitated, 'you need to know, Ianto – he didn't let you go easily, even with the PUSH in his system he fought Cooper's mind games as much as he could.' He sighed, 'I haven't told anyone this but…I discovered him crying in the kitchen one night when I'd been working late. He was just sitting there holding your coffee mug, breaking his heart. He'd found it in the bin, Cooper had thrown it way without telling him. She didn't care, hadn't tried to hide it, it was just placed on top of the rubbish. It was almost as if she wanted him to find it. He just kept saying "this thing with Gwen, it's all wrong. I miss him, I miss him so much" He wasn't the same without you Teaboy, truth be told...none of us were.'

Ianto raised a sceptical eyebrow, 'sentiment Dr Harper?'

'Truth, Teaboy. But come this evening I won't even remember this conversation so what the hell' he turned away and made his way slightly unsteadily down the corridor as the retcon began to take effect.

Ianto stood and watched him go, blinking hard as his vision blurred. He was suddenly wrapped in a warm embrace.

'He loves you Yan, we all do – well, maybe not Gwen - but definitely the rest of us.' Jack rolled his hips so that Ianto could feel the urgency of his erection pressing against his arse, 'no one more than me though.'

Ianto turned to face Jack, 'you are incorrigible'

Jack walked them back into the room and towards the bed, 'not my fault – you incorrige me.'

With the inconsistency of the British weather, the rain had given way to a golden sun filled evening and Jack and Ianto were wandering hand in hand along the South Bank looking for somewhere to eat. Jack would have been happy with room service in bed but Ianto had insisted that they get out of the hotel, partly for some fresh air and partly because hotel housekeeping had been increasingly desperate to get in to service the room. They had showered, separately on Ianto's insistence much to Jack's dismay, and now they were aimlessly strolling along luxuriating in just being together again. They stopped to lean on the embankment wall to admire the view of the Houses of Parliament across the river. The walls of the old building glowed in the soft golden light.

'Beautiful isn't it' said Ianto

Jack's eyes were fastened on the young man at his side 'gorgeous' he said

Ianto caught Jack staring at him and blushed 'am not' he said ducking his head self-deprecatingly

Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist and rested their foreheads together. Ianto looked at him; Jack's eyes were so blue, so calm; the sadness that Ianto has seen the previous evening was completely gone.

'So,' Jack asked tentatively, 'are we back together?'

Ianto kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth, 'yeah'

'If I told you that I had called in a few favours, tweaked the laws of the land a little, would you marry me tomorrow?' asked Jack softly

'I'd marry you right now if I could.' said Ianto

Jack chuckled, 'tomorrow will do' he said happily, ' I called my friend Liz when you were in the shower and she sorted it all out for us. She even said we could get married at her place if we would let her be a witness.'

'Liz?'

'Well, you might want to call her "Your Majesty" when you meet her' warned Jack.

Ianto pulled away to stare at him 'Are you serious?'

'Yep. 11 o'clock. Buckingham Palace. You and me'

'And…Liz?'

'And Liz"