"This has got to stop" Owen said firmly. "No more lying, no more getting Tosh to cut out bits of the CCTV and no more having me and Tosh cover for you"
Owen, Ianto and Gwen were sitting in a Starbucks not so far from the docks. It had been two weeks since Jack had come back and things had been incredibly tense. Jack would flirt with either Ianto or Gwen only to be knocked back causing him to sulk in his office for hours on end. Tosh and Owen were clumsily trying to hide Gwen and Ianto when they slipped off for a romantic moment which ended in awkward moments.
"Do you know because of last night Jack now thinks I'm shagging Tosh?" Owen snarled as he ripped the sugar packet open furiously. "It's why we're here. Jack's either telling Tosh to be careful or he's trying to seduce her away from me, take your pick"
"Owen are you jealous?" Ianto asked amused.
"NO!"
Several people turned their heads to look at the threesome; all three ignored the customers and workers, all too used to being stared at during work. "Owen, there's nothing wrong with being jealous" Gwen said calmly sipping her coffee. "Tosh would happily go on a date with you"
"This isn't about me and Tosh. This is about you two lying! It's not fair on me and Tosh, we do have lives you know...well I have a life I can't say much about Tosh"
Ianto and Gwen glared at Owen in defence of Tosh. "You know out of all of us being squeamish about lying I would have thought it would be Tosh" Gwen said thoughtfully. "Not you"
"I take offence of that! Just because I'm rude, sarcastic, a bit mean-"
"A bit mean?" Ianto repeated disbelievingly.
"Doesn't mean I'm not an honest guy deep down" Owen continued as if Ianto never spoke. "I do care for Jack and you lot and this is doing nothing but destroying our friendships. So tell him, now"
Gwen and Ianto shared a glance. "We'll try, soon" Gwen promised.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
It was rather late at night. After an evening in where Ianto cooked (Gwen really, really loves this man) and the pair snuggled together reading their books, Gwen turned round after getting to the half-way mark of her book and sealed her lips against Ianto's. The books were forgotten when things began to heat up, Gwen had already taken Ianto's suit jacket and tie off when the phone rang.
"Forget it" Gwen murmured before dropping kisses down Ianto's jaw.
"It might be work" Ianto reminded her patiently as he sat up, arms still round her waist.
Gwen growled as she picked the phone up and answered. "What?" she demanded furiously.
"Gwen is that you? What are you doing at Ianto's flat?" Jack asked rather taken back.
"Err...double date!" Gwen said quickly. "Ianto's got this girl over, he was a bit nervous" Ianto raised an eyebrow at her, he maybe shy and nervous round certain situations but he had no problem dating a girl. "So I and Rhys came over for a dinner and DVD"
"Right" Jack said and Gwen winced at the hard edge she could hear in his voice. "So who's the girl? Is she beautiful?"
"Oh definitely" Gwen said smirking slightly. "Ianto's a very lucky man to have her" Ianto's lips twitched in amusement. "But that's not why you're calling is it?"
Jack sighed. "I've been caught out" he said dramatically. "There's been a murder and serious injury. One guy thrown out of the window, another seriously mangled up and another knocked out. The third guy's wife having a panic attack and something is just not right. Police think it might be our area of expertise. Tosh is already here, Owen's on his way probably cursing me just need you and Ianto"
"All right we'll be over there in five or ten minutes" Gwen said getting off of Ianto who was picking up his tie and jacket up. "But you owe us both a night off"
"How about a night out, the three of us, lots a booze and who knows what can happen" Jack said flirtatiously.
"Goodbye Jack" Gwen said flatly before hanging up. "God, Owen is right we really got to stop lying to that man before it drives me insane!"
Ianto was now buttoning up his jacket. "We could have said we were dating right then on the phone. Yes he would have sulked but then we wouldn't be digging our graves right now" Ianto looked in the mirror in the hallway. "Do I look like I've been snogged?"
"Sadly no, I need to work on that when we get home" Gwen said linking her hand through his. "Come on we got a murder to solve"
"Yeah ours if we keep this up" Ianto muttered.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
It had been a very long night. No one was sure what exactly happened but Jack suspected the wife, Beth, who Gwen thought was a very sweet girl who was obviously terrified of what's going around her. After interviewing constantly, trying to press every single detail out of her Gwen gave up and took her to Owen's autopsy room to get some DNA samples. To their shock every time the needle touched Beth's skin it would break, as if the skin was indestructible. Jack locked Beth into a cell next to Janet to his surprise and worries Janet was terrified of Beth causing him to pull out a metal chair with an arm straps on and a helmet. Ianto was mucking about, joking about exploding heads while pretending to be electrocuted though he waited until Gwen was out of the room since it became obvious that she was attached to Beth.
During the probing, Ianto took her hand which she held at an almost bone breaking grip as Beth let out yelps of pain and begged. Unknown to the pair of them Jack was giving them suspicious glances once in a while. Suddenly Beth's arm morphed into a hideous and dangerous looking built in weapon, red lights glowing beneath the deformed skin. Gwen leapt forward but Ianto caught her round the waist and pulled her back.
After a brief questioning Beth reverted back to herself, unaware of what happened. Jack sent her back into the cells and pulled everything to the conference room.
"She's a sleeper agent. It all clicked when I saw the implant" Jack said once everyone sat down.
"A sleeper agent? Who for?" Owen asked.
"No-one knows very much. They don't leave survivors" Jack said vaguely. "Official designation is Cell 1-1-4. They infiltrate planets, adapting their bodies, gathering intelligence, sometimes for years, watching, until they're ready to take over"
"Okay, that's ... creepy" Gwen said shuddering; Ianto wrapped an arm round her shoulders and gave one of them a squeeze. Owen rolled his eyes and Tosh noticed Jack glaring at the pair.
"If we're lucky, she's the first. They send an advance guard to gather Intel. Give them false memories so they blend in" Jack said turning to look at the security monitor that showed Beth in a cell. "She has no idea she's not human. Her real self must have taken over briefly, killed the burglars. Self preservation"
"Told you she did it" Owen said smugly to Gwen who stuck her tongue out at him in response.
"The point is, by the time they attack, they know every single thing about the planet" Jack said loudly ignoring the childish antics between Gwen and Owen, he turned to Tosh and stared at her with his most intense and serious gaze. "Tosh"
Tosh stood up "The implant gathers information. Normal X-rays don't show it. She's projecting a false image. It's got all this data stored inside it" the monitor showed swirling red which quickly flashed multiple images. "This is a force-field generator - it creates an impervious layer above the skin, just a nanometer thick. That's why you couldn't get the needle inside her"
"Right, well ... God, look, they even know about us" Owen said weakly pointing the monitor that showed their images and information.
"They know more about this place than I do. Nobody knows more than I do" Ianto said annoyed as his ego got bruised.
Gwen took his hand and kissed his knuckles. Owen bashed his head against the table while Jack stared at them shocked. "Aw sweetheart you're always going to know more than any of us" she said comfortingly. "What if there are more of them? What are we gonna do about this?" she asked turning to Jack.
"For a start ... I think we should tell her" Jack said slowly. "But first, can you tell me what's going on between you and Yan?"
Everyone froze, Owen looked hopeful, Tosh looked intrigued and Gwen and Ianto were trying to find a way to tell Jack what was really going on.
"Err...i...well...um..."
"Elizabeth just broke up with me and Gwen's been giving me some comfort, after all we're best friends" Ianto blurted out the lie quickly before even realizing it. "Apparently I've been neglecting her for work one time too many"
Jack looked satisfied with the explanation while Owen repeatedly bashed his head against the table. "Owen stop it, you can't afford to lose anymore brain cells that you got left" Jack said absently.
