Ianto worked steadily in Jack's office with only occasional glances at the CCTV feed from the vaults. Gwen was pacing in the confined space glaring up at the surveillance camera from time to time. Ianto found he couldn't really stand to look at her and so made a conscious effort to concentrate on what he was doing. Eventually he could bear it no longer and decided to visit the archives to see what sort of mess they were in.

He was checking on the contents of medical archives when the alarm on the cog wheel door sound and, glancing at his watch, he was surprised to realise that Jack and the others had been out for nearly five hours. He got to his feet anticipating demands for coffee but broke into a run when he heard Owen yelling at the top of his voice, 'Teaboy, Teaboy, IANTO '

Ianto shot into the main area of the Hub, Owen and Tosh were lowering a dazed and confused looking Jack onto the ratty old sofa; Ianto threw himself down beside his spouse, pulling him into his arms and running his hands over Jack's body checking for damage of any kind, 'what happened?' he demanded.

'Hello, Yan' Jack draped himself over the younger man nuzzling his neck, 'mmm, you smell edible' he purred

Ianto tried desperately to capture Jack's roaming hands which were determinedly heading south , 'Jack, behave' he glared at Owen who was unsuccessfully trying not to laugh, 'What the hell happened?' he repeated.

Tosh giggled, 'It was space junk, as we suspected. It looked like crates of party supplies; you know balloons, party hats stuff like that. There were some canisters of what Jack called 'party relaxant', he said he had been to parties when it was released into a room to help everyone become much more...friendly.' she giggled again, stroking Owen's arm with her fingertips, 'I don't know what sort of parties he was thinking of. But one of the canisters was damaged. It was cracked and when Jack picked it up the contents sprayed into his face. Since then he's been completely disinhibited, even more than usual'

'I love you so much Yanni Wanni' murmured Jack trying to unzip Ianto's trousers.

'Do we know how long the effects are likely to last' said Ianto blushing and squirming uncomfortably as Jack insinuated his fingers into his underwear, halting his progress with a tight grasp on the older man's wrist.

'Jack reckoned 12 hours. It was virtually the last sensible thing he said before he became so... totally adorable' smiled Tosh dopily

Ianto raised an eyebrow at Owen, 'Standing close to Jack was she?'

Right next to him' confirmed Owen

Tosh was leaning heavily on Owen and looking at him adoringly

'I could sedate him' offered Owen.

'I dunno' said Ianto, 'don't you think he has been drugged against his will enough over the last few months?'

'just a very mild one, enough to help him sleep it off' suggested Owen, 'Let's face it, Cooper is a tricky cow and if you have your hands full with Captain Gropey here, who knows what might happen.'

'Ok' Ianto was trying to pull Jack's head out of his lap where he appeared to be amusing himself by breathing moistly onto Ianto's penis through his boxers, making it twitch 'Gwen is confined, Jack is...' he gave a shrill yelp as Jack took advantage of his lack of attention and slide his hand between Ianto's thighs to cup his balls, '...indisposed. Owen, if you can safely dial him down a bit I would be grateful. I'll stay here with him and keep an eye on things and you two can go home, I think you might have your work cut out as well, Owen.' He glanced at Tosh who was threading her fingers through Owen's with a look of intense concentration on her face, ' A night in the cells won't do Cooper any harm, tomorrow we can sort her out, once we have Jack and Tosh back to normal.' He groaned as Jack had begun to suck and lick at his neck, 'Owen if you can do something that can help, please do it soon.'

Owen was already heading to the medical bay, 'I'm on it' he said, 'I don't need to see this go much further thank you.'

It had been surprising easy to sedate Jack who had been more interested in exploring the interior of Ianto's mouth with his tongue than what Owen was up to. Owen had gathered up Tosh who was gradually becoming increasingly affectionate and headed out throwing a sympathetic glance Ianto's way as they disappeared.

'C'mon, Cariad,' said Ianto sliding a supporting hand around Jack's waist, Jack was swaying sleepily as Owen's sedative was beginning to take effect.

'Are we going to bed?' Jack's speech was slurring slightly

'Yeah I think you need to lie down' replied Ianto steering Jack towards the bunker under his office.

'Yay!'

Even though mildly sedated Jack was still able to make it down the ladder and remove both his own and Ianto's clothing with all of his old skill and finesse. Ianto lay down and allowed Jack to curl up next to him.

'This is nice' yawned Jack as he rested his head in Ianto's broad chest, 'I like being here with you. I don't have to be Captain Harkness, don't have to make the hard decisions, do the dirty jobs or be the bad guy. I can just be Jack of Ianto and Jack.' He ran his fingers over Ianto's hip whilst repeating.' IantoandJack, IanotandJack,' in a sing-song voice

Oh thought Ianto, suddenly realising why Jack had appeared so improbably protective of Gwen earlier on, how stupid of me! He held Jack close and murmured 'Is this why you don't want to make a decision about what to do with Gwen? You don't want to be the bad guy?'

'Yeah' said Jack, softly and slowly, dropping tiny kisses onto Ianto's naked chest and snuggling closer, 'I have lived a long time, I've done... questionable things. I have tried to be a better man, your love, your acceptance of me for who I am has made me a better man. I'm not trying to make excuses for Gwen, I know she is a dangerous liability; I know she is a real threat to you and to me, to us. I know exactly what steps I must take to keep you safe from her; I know what needs to be done but I don't want to do any of the things that she deserves. I'm scared that if I did what I wanted to her, if you saw what I am truly capable of, if you saw who I really am, you wouldn't want me anymore and I...I couldn't bear that' his voice trailed away as he slipped into sleep.

'Oh Jack' Ianto pressed a tender kiss onto the sleeping man's temple, this vulnerable, disinhibited, truth-telling Jack was heart-rending, 'there is nothing you could do that would stop me wanting you.' He held his husband tightly; he knew now what he had to do.

Gwen Cooper lay back on the uncomfortable stone bench that doubled as a bunk, hands folded behind her head, legs crossed at the ankles. She wasn't scared or even that worried; she was confident that no matter how bad things looked she would be able to talk her way out of it. The PUSH she was using on Jack was like a miracle drug in Gwen's opinion, there seemed to be nothing that she couldn't get him to do with just a firm suggestion and, apart from the last few days she had been giving it to him in varying doses for eight months. God knew how much there was still in his system. She was supremely confident that, if she told Jack with enough authority to release her, he would. When Jack had forgotten her birthday she had given him a triple dose of PUSH and hinted that the way to ensure that he remembered her important day in the future was to carve the date into his body. Jack had obeyed her without question; standing naked in their shower with blood streaming down his arms and torso, until eventually the blood loss killed him. Gwen had Retconned him on his revival, truth be told she had quite frightened herself both by the fact that she had even thought of making Jack do such a thing and the almost sexual surge of power she had experienced as she watched him carry out her demand. I'm changing, she mused, I used to look for the good in people but now I look for their weaknesses, for ways to exploit them to my benefit. She remembered how Jack had told her he has employed her so that she could remind the rest of the team what they were fighting for. A look of derision crossed her face, old Gwen was such a wet, she thought to herself, new Gwen knows what she wants and she gets it. This won't even slow me down. Once Jack has let me out I can make him deal with the rest of them, it's a shame about Owen I suppose but Tosh can go without any hardship whatsoever and this time I won't make the mistake of leaving Ianto Jones alive. Once Jack is convinced that the bloody Teaboy is gone forever he can concentrate fully on us. Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside of her cell and Gwen uncoiled from the bunk and moved to stand at the Plexiglas wall. She was unsurprised to see Ianto come around the corner carrying a tray.

'Where's Jack' sneered Gwen, 'sent you to do his dirty work has he? Not like Jack to send a boy to do a man's job.'

'Not in the least,' replied Ianto evenly, 'No decision has been made about you. The team have had other more important things to deal with since they put you down here, ' Ianto felt a swell of satisfaction as he saw the outrage and fury on Gwen's face, clearly she could not conceive of anything that was more important than she was. Ianto continued, ' it simply occurred to me that, what with one thing and another, you have been down here getting on for fourteen hours with nothing to eat or drink and that seemed unnecessarily cruel to me, so...' he held up the tray which held a plate of sandwiches, a thermos flask and two mugs and some water.

Gwen laughed, 'do you think I'm stupid? Like I'm going to eat or drink anything YOU give me' she threw at Ianto

Ianto raised an eyebrow and picked up a random sandwich from the plate, he held it up to the glass, 'where?' he asked simply

'From the centre' said Gwen immediately.

Ianto took a bite, chewed and swallowed. They stood looking at each other, in silence for five minutes before Gwen snarled, 'OK. No Recton in the food, give'

'Step back from the door' instructed Ianto, with a smirk Gwen moved to the back of the cell and ostentatiously put her hands behind her head as Ianto slid the plate into the cell. As soon as he had relocked the aperture she moved forward and snatched up the food

Is that coffee?' mumbled Gwen through a mouthful of cheese sandwich

Silently, Ianto unscrewed the thermos and the heavenly aroma of his coffee spread throughout the cell block. He poured some into one of the mugs and, eyes locked upon Gwen's, took a deep swallow. She watched him closely and as he appeared to show no ill effects nodded and moved voluntarily to the back of the cell ad Ianto filled the second mug to the brim and slid it into the cell.

Ianto leant back on the wall and sipped his coffee, 'you really are a psychotic bitch aren't you?' he said conversationally, 'how the fuck did Jack not see you for what you are, a selfish, egotistical, spoilt brat, who thinks the entire world and everyone in it exists to meet her every whim.'

Gwen snorted, 'I know what I want and I do what I have to do to get it.'

'Even if what you want belongs to someone else?' enquired Ianto icily

'A man like Jack Harkness could never in a million years "belong" to a pathetic little boy like you,' scoffed Gwen, 'he needs a real woman, a experienced lover, like me, to show him what he really needs and deserves.'

'And he really needs and deserves to be methodically drugged and raped over a number of months, does he?'

'Huh' Gwen shrugged, 'rape? He was shite in bed if you really want to know! After the first few times I felt like his head was a million miles away from our bed. But I had a strategy to deal with that, to help him raise his game in the bedroom'

'You fed him PUSH' stated Ianto bluntly.

Gwen frowned, 'how do you know about that?' she blurted then bit her lip.

'Oh, you forget, I know everything,' smiled Ianto, 'Jack was fighting you and your little drug even before he ran away from you. When we met up in London, Jack told me everything he could remember about PUSH and then I spent a very educational afternoon in the medical archive and now I know a lot more.'

'Yeah, like what?'

'I know that the amount of susceptibility to suggestion is directly linked to the amount of PUSH a person is administered. I know that the larger the dose the quicker the effect, I know that the half life of the drug is around 24 hours and I know that the taste is very bitter, making coffee the ideal transport mechanism.' He eyes drifted to the now empty mug that Gwen was clasping.

'What? No. You are lying. You drank the coffee too. The thermos was clean' stammered Gwen in confusion

Ianto laughed, 'you really are dense aren't you? The PUSH wasn't in the thermos, it was in the mug.'