A/N: Some sweeping and running.

No spoilers.

Beta-ed: GlassSplinter

The mess was even bigger than he expected it. The Sticky balls had reached the holes in the glass doors and one by one got out in the hall. Piles of them grouped themselves in front of the rat hole, but the rat was squeaking and biting, he was clearly not influenced by the hallucinogen. He would have to make a note of that to Owen. He'd clearly been too distracted to notice that detail. He grabbed the Sticky balls with his sleeve and put them into the trash bin. Gwen was pushing a pile towards the wall with a broom, and Tosh held her device fascinated by results.

"The pattern of the pulse is changing." She was exalted.

Jack was standing beside the plexiglass door and he soothed Janet, who was crouched in the corner. A pile of the balls were toppling each other, trying to reach the hole. Strangely they completely ignored the Captain who was right beside them. Jack turned his head towards him and smiled.

"Ah, Ianto to the rescue." Ianto felt warmth in his cheeks but ignored it. He held out the greatcoat for the Captain, who grabbed it and put it on his shoulders. Then he gave the canisters and gloves to the team. This time, all of them collected Sticky balls.

"Be careful; don't miss a single one of them. One can grow into quite a nice family." Jack gave the instructions to the team.

"Why don't you help out then?" Owen grumbled.

"They don't like my touch. Besides, I am helping, I'm supervising. That's such nice word. Didn't you know that supervising is the most well paid job on Earth in any time? On other worlds they appreciate work that is seen, but we prefer unseen, maybe we think it's harder. Hurry up, the moon will be up soon." He tapped his wrist strap.

"Moon. Job. Managers. Really Jack, I didn't find you to be romantic capitalist."

"Here." Ianto closed the final can. "Sticky Ball Jam, sir."

"Right on time, Ianto." He winked at him and strode out. Ianto took two canisters and ran straight behind him. It was a thrilling experience. If he'd gotten it right it was a rescue mission. Jack had that excited and upbeat look on his face. He loved to save lives.

"No time for the SUV!" Jack shouted and jumped on the invisible lift. He grabbed Ianto by the forearm and pulled him and canisters up.

"Just put them here." He rushed Owen and Gwen. He started the elevator even before the last can was on the floor. He grabbed Ianto's upper arm to steady him but he didn't let go 'til the top. His grip was firm and Ianto discovered that he could lean into that touch, but not now, he warned himself. They got up to street level. It was dark, and there were just a few passersby.

"This is big enough." Jack jumped from the perception filter onto the plas. "Spill them here in the centre." He showed him the spot.

"But sir, all the people," Ianto whispered.

"Don't worry, all they will see is some strange and disturbing street performance, we won't even have to retcon them." Ianto complied and created a nice pile of pulsing sticky balls. They even glowed in the dark. Owen, Gwen and Toshiko came running towards them.

"What now, Jack?" Gwen was panting.

"Now step back kids and learn." They stepped a few paces back and waited. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. A man walked towards the pile.

"Shouldn't we stop him?" Gwen hissed.

"Why? If he touches them he won't remember anything. It saves a whole lot of redcon." Jack was pleased.

"What if you are wrong, sir?" Ianto whispered. He stood close enough to Jack so that the others didn't hear them.

"Then we will have a handful of squeezing to do Ianto. So I hope I'm right. Don't you?" He looked at him playfully although it wasn't a pleasant idea. He did that in the worst of situations, and it made them little more bearable. This time it didn't puzzle Ianto, it just threw him into pictures of skin, and smell. Was it today? It seemed further away. A sound distracted him from Jack's face, which had begun to look lustful, like he was reading his mind. It was a sizzling sound, and it came from a flying saucer. It was like it fell out of a cartoon. It descended downwards beaming a stream of light, and sucked all the Sticky balls into its belly. Then it just went off and away.

Jack was right about the passersby, they just shook their heads in disproval. Ianto even heard an old man saying something about some 'damn magicians'.

"That was brilliant!" Gwen shouted.

"Genius Sticky balls." Owen murmured. "Who could tell?"

Tosh tapped on her pad.

"I'm transferring the data to the main computer. This is priceless Jack; we should keep a few of them, so that we can monitor the communication patterns."

"Yeah, and they would penetrate our safety system in a nanosecond, rescue their captive explorers, and wipe our memory clean, maybe too clean."

"Is that what happened to you Jack?" Owen asked softly.

Jack glanced at him and then smiled widely.

"I have so many holes in my memory that they must have been there at least once." He walked towards the hub. "Nice work, people. Go home and rest."

He turned around and walked backwards. "Tomorrow there will be scary clawed aliens, I promise." He didn't need to say it twice. Everybody picked up their things and went for the doors. Only Ianto hesitated.

"Come on Ianto," Gwen stopped by the door.

"Yeah one pint won't kill you," Owen added, and Ianto felt compelled to go. "Besides, you were useful today." Owen tapped him on the shoulder.

"For a Tea boy." He added with a smirk.

"Owen," Tosh reproached him. "Don't pay any attention to him, Ianto. Wasn't that ship great? Wonder how it allocates gravity or how the commands work..." He spent the evening listening to Tosh and her theories. It was nice, even Owen was bearable. But still. The pause preoccupied him. Jack had paused before he gave his answer to Owen about the holes in his memory. He'd remembered something before giving his all is well smile, something passed behind his eyes, he knew what he had lost, and it hurt.

Advice: Take a pause now, this is a long story give yourself time to enjoy it. (while at it leave review as you bookmark it)