6

The day is dragging. I went to the bathroom earlier to check out what my arse looked like in the mirror.

It isn't too red, although it still feels warm to the touch.

I find myself unable to sit down for too long before I have to stand up and walk around until it cools.

Thank the gods I had a clean suit in my locker and the trousers were the same colour so Owen doesn't do that thing he does when he suspects someone is getting some.

I've got some cream at home that has calamine in it that I'll be able to use to soothe the redness.

I still don't know what happened or what it meant.

If I take Jack's word for it then I got spanked because I made a mistake on the quarterly report. But I know there was more to it than that. Why me?

It isn't what I expected would happen between us, but then my fantasies don't usually match reality anyway. I don't know what I expected would really happen. That we'd have sex and fall madly in love and get married? Ha! Now I know why I'm still single.

Unrealistic expectations.

And what was that comment about anal sex unless he was thinking about it too?

Like I could have felt more uncomfortable in there with my head nearly touching the floor while his fingers were deep inside me.

Boy, oh boy, oh boy.

I walk past Gwen in one of my arse cooling walks around the Hub. She looks up and then quickly back down to avoid eye contact. I decide that I need to say something to her so I walk over to her desk.

"Hi Gwen."

"Hello Ianto. Is there something you want?" She eyes me carefully.

"I just wanted to apologize for the other night. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I was trying to skip out on the party early and thought I'd escape down the stairs. Then I heard you and Owen and, well, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

I shift on the spot as she narrows her eyes. "I hope you don't think I was watching you or anything. That wasn't what happened."

"It's not that."

"It's not?"

"I could get into a lot of trouble if anyone knows that me and Owen are dating."

They were dating? I wonder if Owen got that memo because he sure didn't act like he knew it…for that matter, wasn't there a fella called Rhys? "Oh, I'm sure no-one would mind."

"It's Torchwood policy not to get involved with your co-workers."

First I've heard of that policy.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you wouldn't get in trouble. Captain Harkness is hardly going to punish you for sleeping with a colleague." My laugh is hollow as I think about the words I've just said.

"In any case. If you could keep what you saw and heard to yourself, I would appreciate it. I don't want to become the Hub gossip around here."

"Not a problem." I flash her a smile and head back to my desk. No dating co-workers?

I guess it made sense. When I'm back at my seat I search for the company human resource guidelines.

Sure enough, 'no dating colleagues' is there in black and white. I wonder if that includes spankings? I decide to ask Jack about it next time I'm in his office.

Weird, whoever included it did so almost a hundred years ago, long before it was politically correct and I wondered which teammate had overstepped the line one time too many.

My gaze slid to the Captain's office door. Maybe his father worked here?

Perhaps I can remind him that he was the one that broke the guidelines and he should be punished. I picture myself in a black leather outfit with a whip in my hand.

Nah. Not really me.

But neither was being spanked until today.

I walk past my boss's office. The door is open but he's not there. His lunch meeting must have gone overtime. I'm disappointed; I was hoping to see him again before the day ended.

I glance over at the clock on the wall. There's still half an hour of the working day left and I have no work to do. I consider my options.

One: Call Jack to see if he's coming back to the Hub.

Two: Sit at my desk and play online card games.

Three: Go home early.

There is no way I'm doing option one. I have no idea what the status of the relationship is between Jack and I and I'm not ringing him to find out. So far he's the one that has been dictating the terms and I don't want to think about what he might do if I call.

I'm not keen on option two either. Waiting at work when I have nothing to do seems pointless, especially since I'm only staying so I can see him again, which there are no guarantees of.

So it's three. Go home early.

No one would notice if I left. I walk back to my desk, grab my belongings and walk out of the front door.

.

.

.

Tuesday.

He hasn't been in the Hub all day. I've got the draft back from marketing, so I have work to do, but it feels strange that Jack isn't here. He's not usually one to take sick days. I open his schedule and see that nothing is written about his whereabouts.

I stand up and walk over to Tosh's desk. She is sitting giving Gwen the evils and I wonder if she found the camera footage. Gods, I hope not, it has just occurred to me that she might have wanted Owen.

"Did Captain Harkness say if he'll be in today?" I ask.

"He's out for the rest of the week. Said he had personal matters to attend to. I think he'll be back in the Hub on Friday." Tosh doesn't smile. She still isn't sure about me. I guess I can understand that, but it's her problem not mine. "He always takes the last few days of the month off for personal matters."

Right now I have other things on my mind. "Thanks."

I frown as I walk back to my desk. A personal matter? I wonder what it could be. I was hoping I could talk with him today and get a sense of what yesterday meant. I know I should leave it alone and just relax about it. I'm probably over analyzing everything anyway. It's easier said than done though after what happened.

I feel like I've been under a haze of bad sexual relationships and only now woken up. It was nothing like what I'd experienced before and now I want more.

Well, if he isn't going to be here until Friday, then I'm just going to have to get on with my job and do the best work I can until he returns.

Then I can find out if it was a one-time thing or something that is going to happen on a regular basis.

I'm not sure which I want it to be.