A/N: a bit from Jack, he's got his priorities straight :)

Spoilers: Sleeper

Beta-ed: TattedLibrarian

Ianto was in foul mood. Usually Jack would have done something about that and avoided consequences of that mood but there were too many things going on. Not the smallest of them was an oncoming invasion, and his dick hurt which didn't help matters any.

It was frightening to see that sleeper agent so calm and innocent sitting right in front of him. He felt the urge to just kill her off on the spot but he couldn't afford to act so rashly. The others would never understand his certainty; he knew undoubtedly that she was sleeper. His gut told him in the apartment without weapon, but he was sure when he looked at those unconscious eyes. Seeing how the needles and the knife broke was just confirmation.

Jack ordered the team to drag out the mind probe. He was nervous in doing so and it may prove to be useless, then he would never find out how close the invasion was. After the Master experience he wasn't even remotely amused by a chance of an enslaved Earth, it was too vivid in his mind. That's why he carried on even after Tosh and Ianto, his most quiet team members, spoke up against it. Like he didn't remember his bad decision in trying to get something out of that damn Latious dressed up in human tissue.

"That species had extremely high blood pressure" he answered Ianto annoyed, Ianto was the last person he would expect to have a hard time accepting his leadership again.

"Oh, right" Ianto just couldn't let it pass "their heads must explode all the time." He said and Jack decided not to address to him anymore, there were more pressing matters than explaining the safety trigger that Latious' had installed in them. It was like a natural cyanide in the tooth thing; they would explode when someone tried to penetrate their mind. Considering that their natural predators were creatures that haunted with illusion and telepathic deception, it was a good defence. At least when they weren't dressed up as humans, their natural shape would just blow and fly away. Jack didn't expect that they would detect the mind probe as telepathic attack, he was wrong.

Jack sent Gwen to get Beth; he had been more than an understanding leader today; considering that he would like nothing more than to just set them in straight in line, obeying him without all that chatter.

"Hey" Jack warned Ianto off when he started to shake in the chair. If he continued to act like that Jack would have to initiate their talk, and it would be about work behaviour. It was something he hadn't done before, it could prove to be interesting... but then Beth came in and Jack lost his short lived sense of humour.

Jack informed her on what to expect. He thought it was the best he could do for her, he was honest. He hated when someone would soften expectations just to hit him with pain. Beth didn't appreciate that, it would hard for her to do so; it took experience to know the fine lines of pain and expectations. Gwen continued her mention of the bed and Jack was lost for a moment, what was he here; boss or a gossip centre. Then to his horror Ianto spoke up and Jack had to cut him off. Jack didn't look in his direction. He would have to have that talk with him. It was one thing to be perceived as the play boy of the day, it was flattering to a point, but it was another to be revealed personally. Jack still hadn't felt at ease with what had been going on between him and Ianto and he wasn't sure he would get any more relaxed about it.

Then Beth asked what his task is and that returned him to the moment.

"I'll be watching" Jack told her the partial truth. He was watching, watching to know when to kill, when to shoot, but her human persona didn't need to know that. Jack almost felt sorry for that human persona, but he had to stay cold, detached, because none of them could.

The mind probe did its job and Jack stayed stern asking to go further in until finally her real, cold, soldier persona emerged out from its sleep just to give them serial numbers. Jack looked at her in horror knowing exactly what he was looking at, he didn't look away, but he didn't shoot either. There were more pressing matters than just killing one soldier. He had to discover the others and their plans. Damn him if he'd let them destroy everything now that he finally got back to Earth to stay.