Jack came into the Hub and stopped abruptly, Gwen practically walking into him.
"Oi, warn a girl when you're going to stop like that!" She exclaimed, rubbing her nose where it had collided with Jack's back.
"Sorry," he said, smiling down at her. "Do you smell that?" He inhaled deeply. Gwen sniffed and smiled. "Is Ianto cooking?"
"Smells like," she said, ducking around him to drop her bag at her station. "Ianto?" There was no answer, so she made her way over to the kitchenette and took the lid off of the slow cooker to peek inside. "Lovely." Jack had followed behind her and sniffed again.
"What is it?" He asked. A moment later his stomach rumbled and Gwen laughed.
"Dinner, I suppose," she said, replacing the lid. "Looks like a roast. Makes the place seem homey, doesn't it?"
"It does," Jack said. The things Ianto did never ceased to amaze him sometimes. "Wonder where he is?"
"Archives, probably," Gwen said as she checked the carafe. Good, it was full. Neither of them dared attempt to run the coffee maker, but Ianto was pretty good about leaving some for them when they needed it. Since they were so short-handed, they had to make compromises, and fresh coffee was one of them. Though, she reflected, even Ianto's not-so-fresh coffee was good. She poured a cup and raised it in inquiry to Jack, who shook his head.
"I'm going to put this away," Jack said, waving a device around as he turned and headed off to his office. They had just recovered it from some teenage kids who thought it would be fun to use in their role playing game. Until, of course, it lit up and started causing all sorts of trouble. Jack shook his head as he thought about the mess that they had found when they got to the house the kids were in.
He dropped the device on his desk and pulled off his greatcoat. A moment later it was taken out of his hands as Ianto appeared from nowhere and hung it up. "Hey," Jack said with a smile.
"Good afternoon," Ianto said, his hands smoothing out the coat after he put it on its hook. "How'd it go?"
"As well as could be expected when you blow the windows out of a house," Jack said with a chuckle. "I don't think their parents are going to be pleased when they get home. Here it is."
Ianto turned to the desk and regarded the device. He glanced at Jack who nodded. Given that tacit approval, he carefully picked it up and examined it. Most of it was diamond shaped and royal blue, with white lights circling the circumference. One end extended out into a pole, almost as if one would hold it. He made sure he didn't accidentally trigger any depressions or switches.
"Looks innocuous enough," he said, glancing back up at Jack. "How'd it end up wrecking the house?" It was this aspect of the job they did that he found fascinating. Finding alien tech and figuring out what it did. Jack leaned against the desk, close to where Ianto was standing.
"It apparently reacts to sound," he said, reaching out to indicate a dark area that looked like a sponge or something. "That's a sensor. They were running a role playing game and one of the kids was a bit too enthusiastic with pretending he was a troll. His growling trigged the device which went into a protection mode. It emitted a frequency that shattered every piece of glass in the place. They were just lucky it didn't hit the range to blow out their ears. When Gwen and I got there, they were writhing on the floor, though." He looked up at Ianto. "Kids."
"It's a good thing they weren't in a public area. It could have been much worse," Ianto mused, turning the device and examining it before placing it back onto Jack's desk. "Do you need to do more research or should I just file this away?"
"No, leave it for now. Something seems familiar about it, so I'm hoping I can jog my memory by having it here." Jack said, pulling out his chair and sitting down.
"I could also look in the archive records and see if we have something similar," Ianto suggested. Jack nodded absently, intent on the device before him. Ianto watched him for a moment, but he was lost in thought. Give Jack a puzzle and he'd worry at it like a dog until he got what he wanted. Ianto smiled and turned away to go back to work.
"Oh, Ian?" Jack said, making the other man pause. "When's dinner going to be ready?"
"Shouldn't be too long, sir. I'll be sure to let you know when it is," Ianto assured him.
"Good, because it smells delicious," Jack said with a grin at Ianto before turning his attention back to the device on his desk. Ianto chuckled, amused to know that despite Jack's preoccupation, he still had some priorities where food was concerned. Ianto headed back down to finish his chores before they stopped to eat…
