A/N Yes, it's been a while (almost 2 years!) - I know. Been very, very busy teaching as well as writing exam papers for A level Biology, which isn't as much fun as writing fanfic, but pays better. But I have been reading fanfic and wishing I could get on with writing more of my own, especially the unfinished fics. I did lose all my notes for this when my pc crashed last summer, but I am working it out, once more. To recap, Ianto's been to visit Jack in between Christmas and New Year's Eve, on his return he found Johnson and her men at his house, who resorted to violence to try to find out where Jack is hiding. Owen knows all, Tosh knows a little and Gwen is being kept in the dark.
Chapter 15
Once they had returned to the Hub, Owen escorted Ianto down to the autopsy bay with the intention of checking his injuries and administering some painkillers. He'd suggested that Tosh spare Ianto his blushes by working on blocking calls to and from Ianto's phone whilst he checked the groin injury. He was also a bit worried about the boot print on Ianto's throat.
As soon as Tosh left them on their own, Ianto took the opportunity to use Owen's phone to call Jack, explaining that he'd managed to lose his on the taxi ride back to his house that evening. That involved a discussion about why he hadn't taken his own car and a lecture about exhaustion and taking it easy. Ianto had to promise to check in as soon as Tosh had provided him with a secure replacement. They'd agreed that Jack wouldn't accept any incoming calls from Ianto's old number.
"You keeping a track of all the lies you're telling?" muttered Owen as he held out a foil strip of tablets and a glass of water.
"Don't. It's becoming more and more complicated," Ianto gulped down the water to wash down the tablets, his voice edging towards hysteria as he allowed himself to take stock of the situation. "I'm not sure I'm even been telling myself the truth anymore."
"Shhh! Keep it down, Tosh will hear you, she's suspicious enough as it is."
"They'll have Jack's contact number now, won't they?' asked Ianto dejectedly.
"It's all they have and as long as he doesn't accept any incoming calls, they won't be able to locate him."
"But-"
"Tosh is working on it and I can assure you that the government don't have the resources to locate him from that number."
"UNIT nearly did-"
"The closest they got was narrowing his position down to the north of Wales. Remember, Jack's contact managed to nip that in the bud."
Ianto was indeed grateful to Jo Grant for her assistance in calling off UNIT. There were times when the Doctor's name did come in useful.
"But what if-?"
"Ianto – give it a rest. Trust Tosh to know what she's doing."
"You weren't there, Owen," Ianto shook his head in despair. "They're not going to give up until they know where he is and what he's doing."
Owen scratched his head and then grinned. He pulled up a map of North Wales on his computer and zoomed in on the northern coastline.
"Then we'll have to take them on a wild goose chase won't we?"
"How do you mean?"
"Road trip – the two of us. I'll call UNIT in to watch out for Rift debris and weevils and then we can go on a trip together. Tell the girls it's something Jack asked us to do, that we can't divulge any details without a breach of security and -"
"Not camping I hope. It's bloody cold up there and there's snow –"
"Do I look like a fucking masochist? And that's rhetorical – no need to answer."
"So, not camping. What have you got in mind?"
"They must have traced your train journeys, which will take them as far as Bangor."
Owen pointed at the coastal town on the screen.
"Right – so north Wales? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"Not really – they'll have listened into what UNIT did find out, so anywhere too far from there will be too obvious. I'm thinking Anglesey would –"
"I don't know what the hell you two are planning – but if you want to get away with this, you're going to have to confide in me."
The two men looked up guiltily from their whispered conversation.
"Tosh?" exclaimed Ianto, wondering when his friend had learnt to sneak around the Hub wearing those heels. "Um … Owen was…"
Ianto looked at Owen beseechingly as he tried to move in front of the screen blocking it from Tosh's view.
However, Tosh was undeterred as she walked down towards them.
"I know that Jack's hiding something and that both of you know exactly what it is and that you've both seen him since he left Cardiff." Tosh stabbed a finger at Ianto and then at Owen.
"We can't –" begun Owen, only to be cut off by Tosh as she then pointed at her own head and glared at him.
"I also know that you deliberately messed with my memory so that I can't quite recall what bullshit you fed me and Gwen. What I do know is that whatever is going on with Jack is serious enough that he didn't make any attempt to return when Ianto was injured. We've had UNIT sniffing around and now the ministry is breathing down our necks and sending in their not-so-friendly colleagues to beat the answers out of Ianto. Whatever secrets you two are keeping are in danger of getting out and getting us all killed."
"It's for your own safety," Ianto mumbled, not completely buying the sentiment any longer.
"Bullshit – how long do you think it will take them to make house calls on all of us? Even if they don't think we know the answers, I'm sure they realise that threatening any of us could weaken the resolve of those of us who do know the truth."
Owen looked over sheepishly at Ianto as if waiting for permission to tell Tosh exactly what was going on.
"Tosh – if we tell you, it has to stay within these four walls-"
"And which four walls would they be, Owen?"
The three colleagues all turned as one to see Gwen standing at the top of the steps down to the autopsy bay, hands on hips and a decidedly pissed-off expression on her face.
"What are you doing here at this time of night?" demanded Owen, deflecting Gwen's question. "I thought you'd gone home hours ago."
"I got the alarm from Ianto's phone – same as you did."
"And I send out a text to say that Tosh and I would deal with it."
"Bloody hell, do you think I could just leave it at that? Ianto sends out a distress signal and you expect me to just let you get on with it. Apart from anything else it meant there was no one here to keep an eye on things, so I thought I'd come in and see if there was anything I could do to help."
"Well, as you can see everything's fine – Ianto's house had been broken into, but-"
"Oh no you, don't, Owen." Gwen fixed Owen in her gaze, before transferring it to Ianto, not breaking eye contact as she purposefully walked down the steps towards them. "Stop bullshitting me. That goes for you as well, Ianto."
Owen and Ianto shared nervous glances. They were in a corner and it didn't look as if either Gwen or Tosh were in the mood to be fobbed off with any more stories.
"This has got out of hand. I'd buy Jack pissing off with his Doctor, or doing a bunk because he'd had enough – but he hasn't gone completely, has he? Ianto, you've been singing to yourself all day – humming away, grinning like an idiot whenever you thought I wasn't looking. And that look – I know that look. It's the look of a man who's not had sex for weeks and has finally got some – trust me, with this bloody job, I've seen that look on Rhys. You haven't been staying with your maiden aunt in Machynlleth have you Ianto?"
"I did tell you to try to look more miserable!" Owen elbowed Ianto in the ribs.
"Don't blame me. You're the one -"
"Tell us the truth, Ianto," Tosh chimed in. "The only way to help Jack now is we can work together as a team – with no more secrets."
"Owen…?" Ianto slowly shook his head. They'd spent months keeping those secrets from the rest of the team. He was torn between fighting to keep hold of them and finally allowing himself to share them. Jack would go ballistic, but he wasn't here and that was half the damn problem.
"She's got a point, Ianto – those goons were serious. If you hadn't raised the alarm I hate to think what they might have done to you."
"What goons? You said his house had been broken into. Ianto?"
"He's not lying," Ianto sighed. "It was Johnson and her pets from special ops. Frobisher's Rottweilers. They were waiting. Cuffed me, smashed up my front room and kicked me in the nuts."
"Why?"
"Because it hurts like hell - why else?" Ianto rolled his eyes ignoring the warning look that Owen shot his way.
"Don't be clever with me, Ianto. What did they think you knew?"
"Jack's location."
"Why?" asked Gwen. "The ministry weren't that bothered when he disappeared with his Doctor."
"That's because Saxon knew exactly where he was," Ianto replied, biting his lip as the memories of that conversation came flooding back. "No, this time they're very anxious to know where Jack is – perhaps they think he's left the planet, again."
"I thought he'd been keeping up with correspondence, phone calls and the like from wherever the hell he is hiding out."
"He has," shrugged Ianto.
"And you would know that because you've been seeing him, yes?"
"Yes, Gwen."
"The past few days?"
"Yep."
"Good – I'm glad for you," Gwen squeezed Ianto's upper arm, before tugging his collar downwards to expose a read mark on his neck. "And it does explain this."
Owen burst out laughing as he slapped Ianto on the back.
"Told you they'd see that!"
"Boardroom, now. Ianto, if you could make some coffee, Owen, order in some food, I think it's going to be a long night. It's time everyone put their cards on the table. If nothing else, I think that Tosh and I deserve the truth."
"What about Jack?" asked Ianto nervously.
"Whatever he's playing at, he's in trouble and although I suspect you and Owen have been protecting him so far, I think it's time we worked together."
"Much as I hate to admit this, Ianto –"
"I know, Owen. Perhaps it's time to share the contents of your medical files?"
"Really?" Owen's eyebrows shot up.
"Whoa there, is Jack sick?" Gwen held up her hands, looking worried. "You swore to us that he wasn't ill-"
"He's not exactly sick, Gwen," Owen squirmed as he felt cornered in his own domain.
"Oh my god, I think I've worked it out!" exclaimed Tosh. "Those supplies you asked me to prepare for your visits to Jack. The way you've both been behaving. The isolation – they used to call it confinement for a reason didn't they, Owen?"
"Confinement? Like quarantine?" Gwen frowned, suddenly confused. She'd learnt to develop a healthy respect for Tosh's powers of deduction, but wasn't grasping what she was trying to say.
"When I told you he had nothing contagious, I was telling the truth," Owen stated confidently, happy to be able to put Gwen's mind to rest, even though the zealous gleam in Tosh's eyes suggested that the game was up. "Not quarantine as such –"
"He's pregnant, isn't he, Owen?" Tosh fixed Owen within the crosshairs of a glare that was full of accusation.
"Hey there, it's not like it was me that –"
"Pregnant?" Gwen's mouth gaped open, disbelief warring with fascination as she took a moment to assimilate the information. "I thought he was joking when he used to say he'd once been pregnant."
"So did I," muttered Ianto, looking meaningfully at Owen. Oh, how he wished that someone had informed him of the finer points of Jack's internal anatomy.
"Ianto?" demanded Gwen, grabbing hold of her colleague. "Please don't tell me you're the father?"
"There was a time when I would've loved to have said 'no', but Owen's confirmed it."
"We can't let them find him," stated Gwen, with that determination that usually infuriated her teammates.
"No, we can't," agreed Tosh. Then turning to look at Owen and Ianto who were looking suitably chastised, she added: "And now we're working together, we can do a damn better job of protecting Jack and each other."