"Rhys? You heard from Jack?"

"Not since yesterday," Rhys said, pulling off his coat. "But he had a date last night, so I expect they're still at it."

"I don't think so," Andy said cautiously. "Jack was in this morning, but didn't seem… I don't know… with it. I nipped out to do some errands and when I got back I couldn't find him. Figured he went for a kip, so I didn't think anything of it for a bit. Then there was a Rift alert, nothing major, but he didn't come up to see what was going on. I checked his tracker to see if he went home or something, but I can't get a signal on him at all. His personal mobile is on his desk and his Torchwood one is off the radar, along with his tracker."

Rhys began to take on Andy's look of concern. "Rift activity, other than the one you mentioned?"

Andy shook his head. "I checked, it was just the one I went after in Penarth – Dogon eye, typical junk."

"What about a negative spike?"

"No, not a blip."

"So… are you saying Jack's gone missing?" Rhys asked, hoping Andy dismissed that notion quickly.

"I don't know. I feel like it's a bit too early to jump to that conclusion. It is Jack we're talking about and all. You know what he's like, disappears for a few days then wanders back like he'd just gone for a pizza."

"Yeah. And he could disable his tracker if he wanted to be left alone. So, maybe he and Ianto went off some place for the weekend."

Andy shook his head doubtfully. "Yeah, I know, but I can't see Jack going without telling us or leaving a way to get in touch. He may be many things – and usually is – but he's never skived off where the Rift is concerned."

"John?"

"Possible, but I doubt Jack would be dragged away easily. Even for an evening on whatever debauched planet John Hart's off to next."

"Maybe we need to ring Ianto, see if he knows where Jack's gone," Rhys suggested.

"Have we got a number for him?"

"You said Jack's mobile is on his desk. We just ring him from there."

"Doesn't that sort of seem… unethical?"

"Andy, how long have you been around here again? Ethics in Torchwood is a bit of a grey area. Defiling corpses for the greater good and all that?"

Andy rolled his eyes but went up to Jack's office to fetch his mobile.

Ianto sat on the couch, glaring at his coffee and porridge, which had both gone cold over an hour earlier. He'd hardly slept – mainly because of his mobile going off about once an hour – until around 5 in the morning, and then he hadn't woken up till passed 9. He had strange dreams as well, of being chased by caveman-like creatures with truly horrid dental hygiene. When he finally got out of bed and went to fix his usual breakfast, he found himself going through the motions and not really wanting to eat anything.

He just didn't know what to think or feel. He'd been seriously pissed off at Jack last night. Still was, really. But he was also rather disappointed with himself for walking away and not just having a logical discussion about the whole tidy-up Torchwood idea. He did understand Jack's concerns about his safety, he had the same worries about Jack after all, even if Jack was apparently immortal. But at the moment it had just felt like Jack was telling Ianto that he wasn't good enough. That was still a feeling Ianto had found no capacity to deal with properly.

His mobile ringing again jarred Ianto out of his sulk. He knew he and Jack needed to talk about it, he wanted to talk to Jack and explain himself better, but he was also still annoyed. Jack probably thought he could smooth it over with flowers and a nice dinner and some fantastic sex followed by cwtches and assurances that he understood Ianto's feelings. Ianto realized that he needed to stop Jack thinking those kinds of things fixed everything.

With a sigh, Ianto picked up his mobile and swiped to answer. "Hello, Jack. Look, before you say anything, I'm sorry about walking away last night. That wasn't especially mature, I know. I want to talk, though, and -"

"Ianto! It's not Jack, sorry," Andy said, cutting Ianto off before he could go further.

"Oh… um," Ianto checked the screen again and it indeed said the call was from Jack's mobile.

"Sorry, Ianto, it's Andy. We, uh… we thought Jack might be with you."

"Not since last night. You mean you can't find him?"

"No. He came in this morning but wasn't here when I got back. Only, both his mobiles are here and we can't raise a signal on his tracker."

Ianto was silent for a long moment. "You think something's wrong, then? Did he go after some alien and get… hurt?"

Andy and Rhys both knew what Ianto meant when he talked about Jack getting hurt. "Ianto, Rhys here as well, speakerphone. Getting, um, hurt wouldn't shut off Jack's tracker. It doesn't run on vital signs or anything. In fact, we've used it a few times to… uh… get to him before… well, the morgue."

"Did he say anything about where he was going?" Andy asked.

Ianto sighed again. "No, not to me. We… had a bit of a row. I left, came home, tried to sleep and kept being woken up…." Ianto stopped as a sick feeling washed over him. "You don't think he needed help… and I ignored it…."

"No, I definitely don't think that, Ianto. I saw Jack this morning. He was ok. Out of it, but ok."

"But what if he got killed, out there last night? I know he comes back, but…."

"Take it easy, Ianto," Rhys said. "If there was something Jack needed help with, he'd have called one of us in on it. He would never have rang you if there was a situation that might not have been safe. There's really no need to worry, he'll probably be back in a few hours."

Ianto took a breath but didn't feel entirely reassured. He didn't think Andy and Rhys would be ringing him, on Jack's mobile, if there was nothing to worry about. "Ring me as soon as he's back, will you? And tell him to ring me as well."

"Yeah, definitely will. No problem," Rhys said, picking up the phone and ringing off.

"Right. They've had a row. Blowing off steam on Planet Vice is suddenly not so unlikely," Andy concluded. Taking the mobile back from Rhys, he scrolled through the contacts to find the one set to reach John's wrist-strap.

"Your planet had better be 90% obliterated already. I'm in the middle of sauna with a dozen Regnamau who really think Time Agents are cool…. So unless this is an extreme cr-"

"John, shut up for a minute and listen," Andy snapped.

There was a loud sigh down the line. "What are you doing ringing from Jack's line, Spare Blond?"

"Well, Jack's left his mobile, both of them, and gone off. We figured he might be with you."

"No, I haven't got him. He's too busy fussing over his precious new eye-candy. Not that I'd share my present bounty with him anyway. Not after how rude he was to me."

Andy and Rhys could hear a sound like glass bells ringing in the background that was apparently Regnamian laughter.

Rhys's patience with John Hart was wearing quickly. "Well, would you mind trying to get him on his wrist-strap? We aren't having any luck with our equipment here."

"Are you kidding?" John huffed. "Have you tried Eye-candy? They're probably shagging like bunnies."

"Yes, we have tried Ianto, actually. He hasn't seen Jack either. So, if you would kindly try to get on to Jack?"

"Oh for fuck's sake. Alright, fine. Just a minute," John grumbled. "Not getting anything here…. Not even a signal. That's… technically not possible. These things can't go off. The VM itself can short, obviously, but not the signals. The only way you can lose a signal is to be out of range. Only, 'out of range' is, approximately, the end of the universe."

Andy and Rhys exchanged looks. Was there a chance John was serious, not lying as usual?

"Look, I'll be there in… uh… less than an hour."

Andy and Rhys's looks turned downright worried.

Two days. It had been two days. Ianto still hadn't heard anything from Jack or his workmates. He tried putting it out of his mind and just going about his Sunday evening routine, getting his things ready for the week ahead. The entire time, all Ianto could think was how much he hoped his sleep would be interrupted by a phone call.

At 13 minutes passed 2 in the morning, Ianto was jolted out of an insubstantial doze by the phone. He scrambled to grab it and answer, clumsy with sleep and jittery with worry. When it was Rhys Williams' voice answering him back, not Jack's, Ianto wasn't any relieved. After a minute's conversation, in which Ianto told Rhys that, yes, he and Andy could come up to the flat, Ianto was practically sick with worry. His hands shook as he pulled his dressing down on over his pyjamas and went to open the door for Jack's colleagues.

Something told Ianto that putting on a pot of coffee would be a good idea and set about making some while waiting for his mid-night visitors. At any rate, it offered a distraction from obsessing (panicking) over what kind of news was about to be delivered.

By 3:00 AM, Ianto had been given a crash course in the basic principles of vortex manipulation and possible explanations for Jack's two-day disappearance. He'd also been apprised of the current state of affairs in Torchwood Cardiff – to wit, turmoil.

"It's impossible to tell if it's related, but the Rift has about exploded these last couple days," Andy said, gratefully sipping his second cup of Ianto's coffee, which was every bit as good as Jack had billed it.

"Off the scale. Never seen it like this," Rhys concurred, cradling a mug of his own.

"I take it, then, it wasn't circus animals that got loose on Queen Street yesterday?" Ianto said, rolling his shoulders to loosen them.

"Oh, they were circus animals," Andy sighed. "From the third ring of the planet Greb… they heard about a 'three-ring circus' and thought they'd blend in…."

"Interesting," Ianto said, "and I sympathise, as much as possible, but I don't particularly know what I can do."

Rhys and Andy exchanged glances. "Well, Ianto…," Rhys said, "you already offered to give us a hand. Now, I know that offer might no longer stand, what with Jack's situation…. But, well… we both think it's a good idea."

Ianto studied the two men sat across from him. "Jack didn't think it was such a brilliant idea."

"Jack doesn't always know a good idea when he sees ones," Andy said.

"You do know that when I made that offer I was talking about tidying up around your place, a bit of time on weekends, evening now and then."

"Well, yeah, we know, but… what would you think of coming on full-time with us?" Rhys asked. "We need the help, seriously, and it isn't as though we can put out an advert in the Penarth Times, is it?"

"General support wanted. Must be good with aliens," Andy said shaking his head. "You've no idea how many responses we'd get."

"And we're not hiring Henry Parker, thank you," Rhys added. "Or that kid who's forever trying to tag along… whatshecalled."

"Eugene."

"Right! No chance."

"I'm sorry," Ianto said, cutting in before the discussion digressed further. "Just to get this clear – Jack was totally against me even volunteering a few hours, but now he's disappeared, you want to bring me on?"

"Yes," Rhys said bluntly.

"How's Jack going to feel about that when he's back?"

There was a silent moment during which neither Andy nor Rhys dared voice the "if" they were all thinking.

It was Andy who finally spoke, setting his empty coffee on Ianto's coffee table. "Ianto, Torchwood is a world of doing what we can with the resources we've got. We can't always do things the way we'd like. Sometimes – most times, actually – we have to improvise."

"That's it exactly, Ianto," Rhys said. "Like I said, Jack doesn't always make the best decision. He usually has reasons, not necessarily ones we understand, but that doesn't mean he's always right. Sometimes we've had to get a little creative in demonstrating our points."

"But at the moment, the main thing is, we really need to help," Andy entreated. "We've got all we can manage. We won't push you to take on anything you're not alright with, seriously, but if you're willing to give it a go… we'd be exceptionally grateful."

Ianto took a long breath. "Alright, how about this – I'll take a couple days off at work, come in to help, and we'll see how it goes, yeah? Trial period. And it'd only be until Jack's back."

"Fair play," Rhys nodded.

"Yep," Andy agreed. "And you don't have to be worried about your job being there if you want to go back. We, uh… can manage those sorts of things."

"What, amnesia pills and records altering?" Ianto said with a raised brow.

"See there, you know the drill already!" Rhys grinned.