20
They found Janet squashed into the far corner of her cell, snarling and shaking her head from side to side in a vicious manner.
"Easy girl" Owen soothed, placing his hand on the plexi-glass, only to snatch it back.
"What is it?" Jack asked, stepping forward to touch the wall himself.
"It's freezing!" Jack gaped.
"What the fuck would cause that?" Owen muttered with wonder as he pointed up, towards the ceiling. Icicles.
"What could have caused such a drastic drop in temperature?" Gwen asked, looking up with the rest of them.
Tosh was scanning it and noted the temperature change in the upper areas still.
"Rift?" Owen asked as he scratched his head.
"Possibly a spike, hard to tell with the temperature changes we usually get as well." Tosh shrugged. "Ianto will have the readouts for this level somewhere."
Jack looked at her as she spoke, then around at the rest of them and a look of horror crossed his face.
It wasn't until he was running back up to the main hub that Owen twigged, "Fuck. Ianto."
They all scattered across the hub, weapons drawn as they searched for their comrade.
Ianto exited the kitchen with a tray of drinks and gave a shout of surprise, dropping the try with a large clatter as Gwen grabbed his arm.
"Are you OK?" she demanded and he looked at the floor with a look of despair.
"I was" he said dryly.
"Gwen?" Jack had rushed over at the crashing and now found Ianto on his hands and knees as he picked broken china from the grating.
"I … I thought he …. I saw …" she frowned as she looked at Ianto like it was his fault.
"Don't look at me!" Ianto snarled as he went to get a mop and bucket.
"I'm sorry" Gwen called after him with slumped shoulders.
"Gwen, what happened?" Jack asked.
"I saw him walking and I thought, I know it's silly but it looked like someone was walking with him, I could have sworn he had an arm around his shoulder, like they were speaking to him," she frowned.
Ianto returned with his mop and bucket, glaring at Gwen as he started to clean the mess up. He levered up a section of grating and sighed as he found a pool of tea. "What a mess, didn't even get to her."
"Who?" Gwen asked.
"Mainframe. She likes tea."
"Ianto, did you hear something before Gwen spoke?" Jack asked, "When he grabbed you?"
Ianto canted his head as he considered the question.
"I don't… maybe. There was a breeze from the outer doors … I think" Ianto huffed, "They weren't open, were they."
"No Ianto. The outer doors are all secure. Gwen saw something near you" Jack said softly as he watched Ianto's eyes widen.
Ianto looked around and then frowned, showing a backbone as he straightened his back and squared his shoulders.
"I'm not afraid" he said calmly, "I have you."
Jack felt something inside of his gut move. Ianto's face was earnest and full of affection.
Gods, the Doctor was going to kill him when he found out.
Jack had fallen in love.