It wasn't until two that morning that Jack stumbled into the hub, his cheeks flushed, a silly grin on his face as he leaned against the door frame. "Ianto," he called a little gruffly and chuckled at himself.

He had expected the welsh to pop up from the hole leading to Jack's room but was caught a little off guard when a sleepy voice called to him from the couch. He turned, eyeing the man warily as his blue eyes blinked the fuzz away only to close again in defeat; Jack sighed, then a frown tugging at his lips as he looked at the sleeping man. He was shirtless, curled beneath a thick blanket because the captain knew from experience he was always burning up when he laid down but freezing by morning. He tiptoed to the couch, running his fingertips along the exposed neck and Ianto half growled, "you smell like cheap perfume."

His eyes didn't open and his voice was gravely from being asleep and most likely part of him still was asleep. It made a shiver run down Jack's spine and puddle in his groin, he leaned in to suck the spot that he had just touched with his hand only to have a palm smashed roughly against his forehead. "Kiss me now and I'll bite your tongue off."

"Kinky," Jack purred and leaned against the palm, swiping his tongue out at the wrist.

Ianto shoved his hand hard against Jack's forehead, hard enough to bruise, "Back off." his eyes were open now, and they were burning at him with anger and hurt.

Blue eyes rolled as he smoothed over the reddening spot between his eyes, "shit Ianto, go take a Midol and soak in the bath." He stood and stomped to his room, making sure to slam the office door on his way.

The Welshman felt a lump in his throat but swallowed it down, his mind going over the list of things to do tomorrow to keep away the thought of how much Jack had just hurt him. Two hours later, he sighed and gave up the battle for sleep; deciding he needed to get an early start on cleaning the hub, there was a smell somewhere in the lower part and if it wasn't handled now it would only get worse. Probably a dead rat from the traps he had bought earlier that day, he grimaced and pressed a hand over his stomach as it lurched, no breakfast this morning.

At six, he started the morning coffee, avoiding Jack completely until the others came in for the morning meeting. "Your coffee, sir." he looked at the man's hand noting the slightly healing bite between the digits and he felt his stomach do another churn and before he could hear the usual thank you, he turned his back and offered the coffee to everyone else. He could feel Jack blinking at him, staring at him like he had just grown a third arm. Owen smiled approvingly and nodded at Ianto, Tosh patted his hand and Gwen had a little smirk on her mouth before they all turned, glaring daggers at their fearless leader.

"Ok," he began slowly, "I think I might have missed something yesterday."

"What do you want us to do today, Jack?" Gwen sipped her coffee, her tone icy.

"Or are you going to go shag the bag lady." Owen said under his breath.

Jack's anger was evident on his face as he stood quickly, but before he could say anything Ianto stepped beside him, placing a hand on his arm and the captains shock smothered his anger completely, "I took the liberty of getting sticky biscuits for everyone. Please, stuff yourself." The others clearly understood the meaning and when offered the plate, smiled or nodded apologetically.

The rest of the meeting went by in a boring confused haze, no one giving funny little quips or even rolling their eyes when Jack said something witty; instead, they received their to do lists and left without much of a word. The 'American' leaned back in his chair, watching them all go, uncertainty in his posture; he was starting to wondering if an alien had attacked and left them all with a slight case of PMS. A scratching in the wall off to his right made him call out in annoyance, "Ianto! I thought you took care of those rats!"

"Still working on it, sir!" he called from somewhere deep in the hub and his voice was muffled by something, he assumed it to be a mask to keep away the dust.

"Well hurry up! It's not sanitary!" His voice was harsher than he intended but he was upset that his good shag mood had been ruined by a moody Ianto and even more upset that his entire team seemed pissed at him for something.

There was no response and he sighed, retreating to his office to make phone calls and type letters. Every now and again he was catch a glare from either Owen or Gwen and he would glare right back, it wasn't until his coffee cup ran empty that he spoke, "where the hell is Ianto."

Gwen blinked at her own empty cup, "still in the walls."

They all looked up then, glancing between them to see who was supposed to get the coffee now. In the years they had been together, no one had to refill their cup on their own and it seemed more than a little odd. Owen finally sighed and raised a hand, "he tried to teach me how to use it so I'll give it a shot."

Three broken cups later, Jack pushed the medic away from the coffee machine, "Ianto!" he received no answer and sighed, most likely he was too deep in the hub to hear his voice so he nodded at Tosh who looked at her screen and tapped at the keyboard.

She shook her head, "no, apparently he's not wearing an ear piece."

"Why exactly not?" Jack was clearly angry at that information and clenched his fists, "what if there was an emergency?"

"His headset is missing." Gwen spoke quietly from the workspace that was Ianto's desk, "and I think he had it on this morning at the meeting."

There was a pregnant pause and silence aside from the tapping of keys and the slight scratch in the walls that they had all become accustomed to since the heavy rain that drove the rats into the hub. Tosh cleared her throat, "It's not online."

"What does that mean? He turned it off?" Jack hissed at her.

"No, it means…" she fidgeted and then turned to him, "there's a tracking device in each com just in case it gets lost - it's tiny and the chances of it being destroyed, even if it was completely squashed is next to impossible."

"Tosh," The captain crossed his arms and his voice clearly told her to get to the point.

"Yes well, it's gone."

Owen blinked, "what do you mean gone?"

She raised both hands, "it's like it completely vanished."

Jack's mind suddenly went into panic mode, "Ianto!" He took off down a hallway, "Tosh, do a heat scan of the entire hub. Gwen follow me, Owen get your medical kit and a rift scanner."

"I've got the scanner!" called Gwen as she jumped over the railing to trail after their leader, Owen was soon behind her with a hefty container.

Tosh beeped on Jack's earpiece, "the only heat signatures are us and a few rats scurrying around the walls."

"Can you trace the camera's and see where Ianto went last?"

"He crawled into the wall in sector F and that's where we lose visual. But," she paused, "I can look back on the readings of heat signatures and see where he went after - Oh."

"Oh?" Owen ground the word out, urging her on with impatience.

"Well… he disappeared."

They all three immediately stopped, "What do you mean," Gwen said slowly.

"You keep asking me that," she said clearly worried and her irritation and helplessness was showing, "I'm not speaking a different language. One minute his heat signature is there and then it's not."

"Was there a rift spike?" Now, Gwen, Owen and Jack were all standing at the opening to the wall in sector F, Gwen was ticking at the rift indicator and shook her head. "nothing."

Tosh piped in, "About thirty minutes ago there was a tiny spike at the … at the tourists center."

"That wouldn't have affected Ianto down here." Owen was curious and stumped.

"Gwen, Owen, go take a look." Both nodded, "Tosh, how big was it? Enough for something to slip through?"

"Hardly." she sighed loudly, "it's the reason the alarms didn't pick anything up. It wasn't even fully formed."

Owen and Gwen tapped in from where they had all put sprinted to the office, "nothing here Jack, just as Tosh said, it wasn't even big enough to leave a notable signature."

There was another long pause before Owen said in a low voice, "is it possible that he's…that maybe he's slipped back into old habits?"

"What are you implying?" Jack's voice was steely and a clear warning came in an almost growl.

"Everyone's thinking it," he said again, slower, "I'm just the one saying it. He fooled us once and hid a cyber woman in the basement. And now when he's upset at Jack he disappears… are we sure this wasn't planned?"

Tosh's voice rang out clear over the connection, "Shut up. Right now." everyone stiffened at the anger there, they hadn't heard her speak so harshly before, "you won't say that about Ianto. He's our friend and has more than once risked his life to save all of us. How could you even think that? He didn't do this just to get back at Jack, something took him and you are a jerk for saying that Owen Harper."

Another long silence followed by a soft whisper of apology laced with guilt. Jack sighed, "everyone back to the boardroom. It's lunch and we need to think rationally, just calm down."

One hour missing….

Author Notes:

I'd like to say that I would greatly enjoy critique. I'm not a writer and I'm not up on all the british sayings/surroundings and whatnot so I would jump at the chance for critique.

Also, if someone is out of character please tell me and I'll try my best to fix it. Really, I'm not at all offended by such things. I'd like to thank those that added my story to their alerts/favorites and my one little reviewer. Love to you.