PART TWO
For the life of him Ianto couldn't stop laughing, he was half way through a mouthful of beer when Rhys let rip with the punchline. He snorted spraying brains bitter everywhere which caused Jack to leap from his seat in horror and Gwen to almost fall off her seat when she started laughing as well. Rhys sat there with a chuffed and somewhat bemused expression on his face. It was good to see them laughing, even if the joke had been pretty weak and Ianto was well on the way to getting very pissed. Not that Rhys begrudged the lad one bit. It made a pleasant change to see the formal, quiet man let his guard down and relax for a bit. Rhys wondered when any of them had done that last. He got to his feet.
"My round then? Jack?"
"Just water, thanks."
"Ianto, another?" Rhys gestured to his almost empty glass and Ianto smiled up at him, definitely three sheets to the wind.
"Thank Rhys. I'll come and give you a hand." He lurched upright and swayed dangerously and Jack automatically pulled him back down.
"You stay put, I'll go. Gwen keep an eye on him."
Gwen arched her eyebrow and giggled. "Yes sir and a vodka and diet coke if you please!" She watched their departing backs and turned and smiled drunkenly at Ianto who was staring into his now empty pint glass.
"We should do this more often."
Ianto leant forward, elbows on the table. "Just don't suggest to Jack that we're double dating, whatever you do."
"Why not? That's exactly what we're doing." She grinned. "You boys are alright, aren't you?"
Ianto dipped his chin and belched and then blushed as he covered his mouth.
"Sorry. Yeah, I guess we are. I can never tell to be bloody honest with you. He hates the whole, we're in a relationship thing, but he's so...... oh never mind." He was too drunk to process a thought pattern, but not drunk enough to spill his guts, unless it involved vomiting, which was a distinct possibility. He hadn't been beer drunk since his university days.
Gwen offered up a sympathetic pat to his arm.
"Poor love. You'll work it out between the two of you, I'm sure."
Ianto wasn't, but he was relieved when Jack and Rhys returned with drinks and a half dozen packets of crisps.
"Eat those Ianto." Jack instructed, more than a little concerned by Ianto's state of inebriation. Ianto beamed at him.
"Right after I've been to the loo."
He appeared to go the long way round as he swayed precariously through the crowded pub. Jack watched him worriedly before he disappeared into the men's bathroom. Gwen was watching Jack as closely as he was watching Ianto.
"Jack, let him relax, ok? He needs this." She chided noticing his terse expression.
Jack sighed and picked up his glass of water. "Have you ever dealt with a hungover Ianto Jones?"
Gwen giggled and snuggled into Rhys' side.
"Don't worry mate. It'll do him good to let his hair down. You and Gwen lean too heavily on him and he's just a boy really."
Jack narrowed his eyes at Rhys. "He's not just a boy." He responded irritably.
Rhys shrugged. "Yes he is Jack. You two seem to forget that, he should be out two or three nights a week having a laugh with his mates... Has he even got any mates or family, have either of you bothered to ask?"
Jack and Gwen exchanged guilty looks.
"Most of Ianto's friends are dead Rhys. The only family he has he stays away from, because of Torchwood."
Rhys took a long draught from his pint. "He needs a life, go to a Rugby match or do a pub quiz or something. I don't think I've ever seen him smile once before tonight and that's the beer talking."
"Rhys...." Gwen tried to shush him up.
"No Gwen, I'm not havin' it. Poor Ianto gets treated like.... like a bloody servant. He's always doing things for you two, especially you Jack and you can't even be bothered to take him out on a proper date."
Gwen's eyes went like saucers and she kicked Rhys' shin under the table.
Jack just glared at him. The three of them sat in silence after that. It was some time before they all realised that Ianto had not come back from the toilets. Jack turned to look in the direction of the men's loos and sighing he got up.
"I'm just gonna check he hasn't passed out or something."
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Ianto lurched through the door and blinked away the nausea. Before he even realised it both his arms had been firmly gripped and he was being led unprotesting out through the fire exit at the back of the pub. His world tilted on its axis and Ianto's legs gave out, but he was held upright and dragged like a boneless doll across the darkened car park. He could hear the voices of the men pulling him along, but they made no sense, shit how much had he drunk? Focus. Ianto found he couldn't at all his brain was too befuddled with something far more powerful than alcohol. He finally recognised the language as Japanese as he was bundled into the back of a black van.
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Jack took all of about 20 seconds to conclude that Ianto was no longer in the pub and he quickly dialled the young man's number only to discover that Ianto had left his mobile on the table next to his pint and his wallet. A sense of dread gripped at his gut.
"Gwen, did Ianto come back this way?"
She shook herself immediately sobering up.
"Jack?"
"He's gone, he's not here."
They searched the pub, the car park and then Jack ordered Gwen to go to the Hub on foot with Rhys via the most direct route. Jack ran to Ianto's house 2 miles away and found it empty. As he stood in the lounge Gwen called him on his mobile. Ianto wasn't at the Hub either, she'd also checked with the regular cab firms and discovered that he had not taken a taxi anywhere. Jack hung up with a sigh and decided to head back to the pub to get a look at their CCTV. It was a night mare starting to unfold as he ran back to the pub as a dozen scenarios ran through his mind. On arriving back at the pub he had an argument with the landlord over the CCTV and losing his patience he waved his Webley in the man's face. He was very compliant after that and once he realised someone had been abducted from his own pub, he rang the police. Jack just burnt the CCTV footage onto a disk and took it back to the Hub.
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The moment he entered through the cog door he was holding up a disk and waving it at Gwen.
"He was taken, run this through the computer, see if you can pull off some faces or the licence plate."
Without hesitation, Gwen got to work. Rhys hung back feeling a bit like a spare part.
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Not yet Rhys." Jack was at another terminal trying to track the vehicle in question, he soon found it, parked a short distance away outside a warehouse on Barry docks. "Shit, I think I've got it Gwen." He was frantic with worry.
"Reg number myt 342g? Well that's fake for a start off."
"Yes that's it. Gwen stay with it I'm going out there, I need to know if that van moves with Ianto in it before I arrive."
"Jack you can't go alone!"
"No choice Gwen. It's too risky to take Rhys and I need you here. I'll be fine... Call the police and advise them to approach quietly. I don't want Ianto hurt."
Gwen nodded. "Ok, be careful Jack."
He was gone in a whirl of coat tails and Gwen stood at the computer chewing on her bottom lip. Rhys went straight to her side and put a comforting around her shoulder.
"Don't worry love, Jack'll get him back."
Gwen tried desperately not to think of the consequences if he didn't.
AN: That's it for a couple of days as I am off to Norwich tomorrow!
Thanks so much for all the reviews, I can't believe so many of you have been reading.
Have a good weekend... hey look the weather in the UK is supposed to be good for once, enjoy!
