My continuing thanks to JonesIantoJones for betaing this story for me and thanks to the lovely people who have taken the time to review and also to those who have put it on story/favourites alert.
Disclaimer: I'm still only borrowing the boys and girls as they still belong to the BBC.
Returning to London part 6
Owen woke up feeling nauseous. He also had a pounding headache and his mouth felt like something had died in it. He sat up gingerly so as not to aggravate his stomach, it was then he saw the photo of Katie and the previous day came crashing back to him. He rushed to the bathroom where he threw up in the toilet. After what felt like hours but in reality was minutes there was nothing left to bring up. Owen flushed the toilet rinsed his mouth and put the shower on. He felt a little better when he'd finished and made his way back to his bedroom and dressed for the day. He debated whether to have breakfast but decided against it as his stomach was still feeling delicate. On his way to the front door he grabbed his keys, wallet and mobile. As he picked up his phone he noticed he had a message. Looking at it he saw it was from Ianto, he pressed the view button and read 'Just checking ur ok afta yesday. If u want to tlk i'm here ok. Oh & thanks. I.' He flipped it shut without replying and left his flat.
******TORCHWOOD******
Ianto had given up on getting anymore sleep at half five. He'd maybe got a couple of hours in before the nightmares came and once he was awake he just couldn't get back to sleep, so here he was cleaning his flat. He'd sent Owen a text but wasn't expecting a reply as it was still very early. He decided at seven that his flat couldn't get any cleaner so headed for the Hub where he knew there would be lots to clean as he hadn't been there the day before. Ianto always found that cleaning had a calming effect on him. Some called it OCD but Ianto didn't care, it helped him when his mind was full of things he didn't want to think about. The first thing he did upon arriving was make a pot of coffee. He hadn't had a decent cup in over 24hours and he needed one badly. As the machine was warming up he fed Janet and Myfanwy but taking his time, as he knew the rest of the team wouldn't be in for another hour at least, except Jack who lived there. Ianto was a bit surprised that he hadn't seen Jack yet especially with the coffee on. As he came down from Myfanwy's nest Jack was coming up from the shooting range "Is that coffee I smell or just a Welshman?" Jack said grinning at Ianto.
Ianto greeted Jack with a smile "Morning Jack, coffee?"
As Ianto headed up to the coffee machine to finish making them coffee Jack followed asking "How's the patient you picked up in London? Did you get them settled on The Island?"
Ianto handed Jack his blue and white striped mug as he replied "Shelley is fine. Just a little disorientated about where she is and what she's seen but with Helen and the staffs help Owen is hoping she will be ok."
"Good. And how was London?" Jack inquired.
Ianto hesitated before answering "London was... lets just say I don't want to go back there in a hurry and I don't think Owen does either."
Jack looked at Ianto questioningly but when he didn't elaborate Jack didn't ask anything else, he just let it be. "Right so have you done the report?"
"Yes I've written mine it's on your desk. Owen still needs to do the medical report on Shelley and then it's complete." Ianto said as the sirens went off alerting them to someone coming into the hub. To both their surprises it was Owen.
Jack looked at his watch and laughed "Is the world ending Owen or did someone give you an alarm clock that works?"
Owen ignoring Jack shouted "Any coffee left teaboy or have you two drunk it all?"
"There's a bit or you can wait for a fresh pot, which I was just about to do." Ianto said turning back to the machine ignoring the teaboy dig - Owen was obviously in a bad mood. "Maybe London affected him more than he let on." he thought again vowing to himself he'd be there if Owen needed him.
"Just give me what you have." Grumbled Owen confirming he was indeed in a bad mood.
Ianto poured Owen a mug and added milk and sugar before handing it to Owen who had made his way over.
"What's put you in such a grump? Some girl kick you out of her bed too early." Smirked Jack.
"None of your damn business Harkness." Owen snapped back grabbing his mug and stomping down to the autopsy bay where he switched on his computer and made a start on his report.
Ianto stared at Jack before saying quietly "Go easy on him - I suspect going back to London wasn't easy on him either."
"What do you mean Ianto?" questioned Jack.
"Not my place to say but we all have memories we'd like to forget." Ianto said cryptically walking away and down to the archives.
Jack looked from the autopsy bay to the archives and wondered just what had happened in London. He then went back to his office brought up the internal CCTV, splitting the screen so that he could see both Owen and Ianto and sat back watching.
******TORCHWOOD******
Twenty minutes later Tosh and Gwen were just getting in when the rift alarm sounded. Tosh hurried over to her bank of computers as Jack came down from his office "Morning Tosh, what've we got?" He asked coming to stand behind her.
Tosh didn't take her eyes off the screens as she answered "Rift activity down by the docks, doesn't look too big."
"Ok Owen with me." He yelled already heading towards the garage.
Owen met him by the SUV, getting into the passenger seat as Jack was already in the drivers with the engine going. As they made their way to the docks Jack looked over at Owen before asking, "So what happened in London to make you so grumpy today and Ianto go on one of his cleaning frenzies?"
"How'd you know it's not the reason you said. And what'd you mean cleaning frenzy?" Owen quickly retorted back.
"Because if it'd been for a woman kicking you out of bed you would've made a joke about her, which you didn't. And also Ianto said to go easy on you after yesterday."
"Nothing happened in London. I'm fine it was just a long day." Owen lied hoping Jack would believe him. " You still didn't tell me about Iantos cleaning."
"Ah that. Whenever something is bothering Ianto he cleans, reckons it calms him down. He was in the Hub just after seven this morning and by the state of his hands when I saw him it wasn't just the Hub he'd been cleaning." Jack told Owen "So c'mon what happened in London?"
They had arrived at the docks and as they got out Owen said "It's not my place to say, but I think we may need to keep an eye on him."
Jack raised his eyebrow but said nothing. "Looks like I need to keep an eye on them both. Something happened - I'm just not sure what." He thought to himself.
"Right Jack the energy signal is coming from the building at the far end. It looks to be harmless but take care." Toshs voice sounded over their comms.
"Thanks." Responded Jack. "This way." he added to Owen walking away from him. Owen followed muttering something about teaboys and keeping their mouths shut. As they got to the right building they both withdrew their guns and cautiously approached the door. Owen opened it to let Jack in, and when he was sure it was safe Owen followed. They walked towards the back keeping their eyes peeled for anything unusual. The only thing they found was a small square box. Jack scanned it and it was the piece they were after and it was indeed harmless. They made their way back to the SUV and then back to the Hub.
Once back Jack gave the box to Tosh to run tests on it before it got filed. Ianto stayed in the archives only coming up to order lunch, but he didn't eat with the rest of the team. Owen finished the report for Shelley. Gwen was doing liason work with Andy. Tosh finished the tests she was running and Jack was sat in his office watching over his team. At six he decided that as the rift was quiet, they could all go home. Before he left Owen went to find Ianto who was still in the archives "Ianto you ok after yesterday? Any nightmares?"
"No no nightmares. I'm fine thanks." Ianto lied then quietly asking "What about you? I realised it couldn't have been easy for you either."
"I'm ok. And you still owe me a dinner and don't think for one minute I'm going to forget about it." Owen laughed then turning he started to leave before adding "If you do start having nightmares and can't sleep or if you just want to talk let me know I promise I won't judge you." He started walking again but not before he heard Ianto quietly say "I'm here for you too."
They both knew it would take something big to get them to talk about their fears.