"I've found him, Jack. I've found Eye-Candy."

Jack blinked. Then he blinked again.

"Er, hullo, anyone at home. I said I found him."

"I heard what you said." Jack snapped, "I'm warning you if this is some kind of scam, I'll tear you limb from limb and feed you to the weevils."

"Oh come on. Seriously? After everything we've been through, you think I could do that to you?"

"With you, John. I don't know what to think. Now, where the fuck is he?"

"Ah well, I'm not exactly sure."

Jack thumped the Perspex wall so hard it made Tosh jump.

"Dammit. I warned you."

"No wait." John protested, "I said I've found him and I have. I just haven't pinpointed his exact location yet. Anyway, the real question is not where he is but when he is. Please, let me out of here and I'll explain everything."

Jack reached for his Webley and keeping the gun trained on him, he opened the cell door and pulled him out of the vaults.

"Tosh, briefing room now and tell Gwen and Owen. I'm calling a meeting."

"Jaaack, C'mon on, there's no need....."

John's plea was cut short by a resounding click as the handcuffs snapped shut, securing him to the chair.

"Just shut the fuck up," Jack growled. He reholstered his gun and sat down, taking the seat opposite his ex partner.

"Look, I'm sorry," John said, "I would have come sooner if I could, but you know how it is, timelines and everything."

"Since when did you care about preserving timelines."

"Since I went legit."

Jack laughed.

"Hey, I'm serious. I'm an upstanding member of society now."

"Yeah, right," Jack scoffed, "What's the angle?"

"Believe what you want but it's true. Give me a chance and I'll prove it to you."

Jack was about to tell him hell would freeze first when the others walked in, Gwen giving him a comforting pat on the shoulder as she took her place at the table.

"Okay, you've got our attention," he said, "now talk."

"As I was saying," John replied, glaring at him,"I'm legit now. Only with the Time Agency gone I need a way to make an honest living and given my background what better way than catching criminals."

"Ha!" Owen guffawed. "Are you trying to tell us you're a copper now."

"Actually, I'm a bounty hunter," John corrected him. "Thing is, I tracked my last assignment all the way through the 31st Century, caught up with him in 3159 in one of the pleasure resorts on Terellian 5."

He reached inside his jacket and in an instant Jack was on his feet, Webley in hand. John slowly backed up and turned to Tosh who was sitting on his left.

"Do me a favour sweetheart," he purred.

She looked at her boss and he nodded once, keeping his eyes and the gun firmly on the seated figure. Reaching across she pulled out a piece of paper which she handed to Jack.

"It's a bill of sale." John explained, "It was among our man's possession when I arrested him. It turned out the resort was experiencing some financial difficulties and he was there brokering a deal with another resort. They were selling off some of their.......assets, if you know what I mean, and I know you do Jack"

Jack's lip curled, baring his teeth, yeah he knew. He'd even visited one of those places in his younger days but that was then and he'd been a different person back then. It wasn't so much that he was averse to paying for it anymore, it was more that nowadays he stuck to establishments that didn't use kidnap as a recognised method of recruitment.

"Notice anything familiar about item 3," John went on.

Putting his gun away, Jack looked at the paper for the first time. After a few moments, his face paled and he flopped back in his chair, letting the paper fall to the floor. A soft "no" escaped his lips and he held his head in his hands.

"What is it, Jack?" Gwen asked, "What's item 3"

He rubbed at his face and then sat up straight, pulling his hands through his hair as he did.

"It's Ianto," he said, his voice breaking.

She bent down and snatched the paper from the floor. She looked at it briefly before her head snapped back up,

"This is in English," she said, "you mean to tell me they speak English on this planet."

"Why wouldn't they?" John countered, "Even in your time most of the World speaks it as a first or second language. It may have escaped your notice but Jack and I speak it and we grew up worlds apart and light years from here. It seemed natural when human beings started settling on other planets that English would be the language of choice."

"So these Terellians. They're us, they're humans doing this," Gwen looked visibly shaken, "selling people like they're.......commodities."

"Oh, don't look so shocked, Miss Goody Two Shoes. How do you think Primark make those tops you're so fond of so cheaply, and that rather fetching ring you're wearing? Are you sure the gem wasn't dug up by some unfortunate African diamond minor with a gun pointed at his head?"

Gwen looked as if she was going to say something else but she was interrupted by Owen.

"Getting back to item 3," he said, "how do we know it is Ianto."

"It says so right there," Jack nodded at the bill of sale which Gwen was still holding, "21st Century Earth boy, approximate age 28, brown hair, blue eyes,and yes Gwen before you ask we do still count in Earth years in the future."

"But that could describe millions of people, billions probably."

"If you let me finish. It also says he's got a distinctive tattoo on his left hip and although they've spelled it phonetically; they give his name as Y-A-N-T-O. Either one of those things on its own could be coincidence but both together? Wait." He looked up sharply and turned to John, "how do you know about the tattoo?"

John smirked at him, raising an eye-brow.

"Fuck off, John." Jack growled, "No fucking way!"

"Oh, relax. Nothing happened, though the way you were treating him back then I wouldn't have blamed him if it had. It was the night after well you know, that day. Don't think he missed the way you greeted Miss Goody Two Shoes over there when we got back to the Hub. You were all over each other. You should have seen the look on his face, Jack but of course you didn't because you were too busy wrapped up in PC Plod."

Jack glanced at Gwen who was staring guilty at her lap. He sighed. It was like the old saying said, you never knew what you had until you lost it. Three weeks after the Grey incident, Ianto had gone missing and Jack's world had come crashing down.

"After you dealt with Gray, you went off gods know where." John continued, "He told me you were probably trawling the clubs looking for a fuck for the night. Just said it, just like that, as if he was telling me you'd popped out to buy milk; but I knew it was a front. I decided there and then I'd do for him what you should have been doing. If you couldn't give him what he needed then I would, but it didn't exactly work out that way. We ended up getting drunk and comparing battle scars. That's when he showed me the tattoo."

Jack pursed his lips and nodded.

"You know, Jack. That boy deserves better and if you don't intend to give him what he deserves, just say the word because I can make sure he gets looked after properly....."

Jack banged his fist on the table,

"You've made your point, John. I've learned my lesson and if...no, when we get Ianto back I'm going to make sure he never has cause to doubt how I feel about him ever again."

Owenshifted in his seat.

"So, if we've established this is Ianto," he said, "how are we going to get him out?"

"That's where it gets complicated," John answered him, "even in the 31st Century there are limits. The authorities turn a blind eye to the resorts because they're an important source of revenue. As long as they pay their taxes, no one asks questions about pay or working conditions. However they draw the line at the buying and selling part of it. That's why the resorts use criminals to act as middlemen, so if they get caught they are kept out of it. Only the broker knows where Ianto is now and last time I asked he wasn't saying. I did try but he wasn't giving anything away and I didn't want to arise suspicion by pressing the matter."

Gwen frowned.

"Hang on, though." she queried, "there's one thing I don't understand.

Jack tried to keep a straight face but groaned inwardly. Please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it.

"If you have to travel forward in time to get him," she went on, "why not just go forward to a point before he was moved on, when you know where he is?"

Fuck. She had to say it. Jack had been trying really hard not to think about doing that very thing, because while his head was saying beware of the consequences, his heart was saying fuck the consequences. He'd follow Ianto's timeline all the way back to before he was taken and pull him out before anything bad could happened to him.

"Erm," Tosh coughed and gave a brief, shy smile, "it's a paradox, isn't it?" She looked to Jack for confirmation but it was Owen who spoke up.

"Duh, obviously."

"Riiight," Gwen said, "Look, I know I'm not the brains of the outfit but would someone please explain."

"If we grab Ianto at any point before he's so......" Owen stumbled on the word they'd all been avoiding, "before he's moved on, then that document doesn't exist so John can't find it and he can't come back here to tell us where teaboy is."

"But he all ready has....." Gwen struggled to understand.

"Yes, but if we change history, he hasn't and who knows what might happen. We could change it so that Ianto is still taken but we never find out where he is, or worse."

"It's the first thing we learn in the Academy," John went on, "If it makes you feel any better, Gwen, most of us don't understand the mechanics of it, it's just hard wired into us. Messing with a paradox is bad, potentially very bad."

"Right," Jack said, placing his hands flat on the table, "I think that's enough for now. John I'll set you up in one of the guest rooms, everyone else go home and get some rest. We'll reconvene tomorrow."

Owen patted his arm on the way out, "Don't worry," he said, "we'll find him."

Tosh stepped forward to gave him a hug and he held her close, kissing the top of her head. She pulled away and smiled at him. No words passed between them but Jack understood and she followed Owen out of the room.

"Jack?"

"Not now Gwen, please."

She looked at him but after a couple of seconds she gave her head a brief nod and walked towards the door.

"One more thing, Gwen," he called, "could you ask Rhys to join us tomorrow?"

She opened her mouth to ask why but thought better of it and nodded instead.

"Of course. I'll see you in the morning, Jack"

After she left, he stepped around the table and released his ex-partner from the cuffs.

"Finally," John rubbed at his wrist, "you trust me, now?"

"Not as far as I can throw you, John. But if we're going to get Ianto out of this mess, I need you. Just keep in mind, I'm watching you."

John nodded. "I suppose that's the best I can ask for at the moment."