LOVE

TWO

The phone was ringing and it wouldn't stop.

Ianto Jones groaned, rolled over and opened his eyes. Or maybe he opened his eyes and then rolled over. Whatever. He quickly glanced at the bedside clock before fumbling for his mobile. It was 3:15… 3:15 in the flipping a.m. The hour of the wolf and never, ever a good time to get a phone call.

From the caller I.D. he knew who it was. "Jones here," he said; his voice still husky with dreams and sleep.

"Ianto? This is Rhys." Rhys' voice didn't sound good and it hit him like an ice cold shower. Hour of the wolf indeed…

"Yes, Rhys. What can I do for you?"

"Gwen never came home last night."

"Have you called…?"

"She phoned me just before she was leaving the office, asking me if I wanted her to pick up anything on the way home. I told her that I didn't. That was over four hours ago."

Ianto tried again. "Have you called the Hub?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. I'm at the Hub, Ianto. She's not here."

Ianto abruptly sat up, the bed linens falling off his torso and pooling around his waist. He rubbed the slumber out of his eyes as Rhys continued talking.

"It doesn't appear that things were shut down normally for the night here as they ought to have been. The place is as wide open as a gift shop on Christmas Eve. The lights are all on, the computer systems too. And listen…"

Ianto strained to hear what Rhys wanted him to hear. There was muffled music in the background; he couldn't quite make out what he was listening to. For a few seconds he felt like he was on some sort of quiz show: Name That Tune! He was almost happy. Almost. But then Rhys started talking again.

"That's the iPod at Tosh's old desk. You know, where Mickey sits when he and Martha are in town. It's been left on and it's still playing, Ianto. You can't tell me that isn't just plain weird."

The young Welshman threw off the covers, pivoted and placed his bare feet firmly on the carpeting. With his free hand he waved high above his head, the motion automatically turning on the bedroom lights. "Not good," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." He was looking around for his clothes. "Rhys… I want you to walk into Jack's… I mean Gwen's office." He spied the trousers he'd been wearing the day before, folded neatly over the back of a chair, and grabbed them.

"Yeah, boss. Hold on…" There was a brief interlude followed by: "Okay, I'm here."

"Open up the outer door to the secure storage area."

"But I don't know the combination. I don't have authorization…"

"Don't worry about it. I'm giving you the authorization. Now just go ahead and do as I tell you. It's all right."

"Roger that, whatever you say."

Ianto gave Rhys the combination to the safe, made him write it down and then repeat it back to him before proceeding. Again there was a brief interruption in the conversation. Ianto held the phone against his ear with his shoulder as he buttoned up his shirt.

"Right," Rhys said as he came back on the line. "The outer doors are open and I'm looking directly at the interior of the secure storage locker."

"How does it appear?" the Welshman was fussing with his tie.

"Well I've only seen the inside of the safe once or twice before. As far as I can tell, and you know I'm not an expert or anything, it all looks pretty normal. We've got, uh, ten or twelve separate…"

Ianto Jones was just about ready to breathe a sigh of relief when Rhys cut into his own monologue, "No… check that… wait…"

"What is it?" Ianto's heart skipped a beat.

"Erm, there's something strange going on here. The lower left-hand drawer… it looks…"

"Don't touch it!" Ianto screamed into the phone.

"What? No! I won't! I won't be touching anything now will I? But, there's something funny… it's not… it's not closed properly."

Ianto Jones pulled the phone away from his ear and glared at it like it was the worst thing he'd ever seen in the entire universe. "Jesus fucking Christ," he hissed.

As he stared at his mobile he could hear Rhys' tiny, detached voice, although he couldn't quite make out the endless stream of words. Somehow that lack of clarity seemed appropriate. Ianto felt like he was at one end of a long, dark tunnel, peering far off into the distance at something that was just barely beyond his field of vision but which was undoubtedly, truly, horrifically, terrible. And it was heading straight toward him. The bottom line was that it didn't really matter what Rhys was saying. There was very little that mattered now except… well, except what really mattered.

"Stay where you are, touch nothing. I'll be right there," he said to the phone before ending the call, his voice affecting a strength and confidence he did not feel.

Ianto Jones fought off an uncharacteristic yet powerful urge to hurl his mobile against the wall. Damn you Jack Harkness! Why didn't you destroy him when you had the chance?

-00-

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
Lao Tzu