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Description
CHAPTER TWO

Jack listened intently as Gwen filled him in on what she’d learned from Andy.
“He found her, Jack. That girl that went missing a few weeks ago in the woods,” Gwen said with great intensity.
Jack nodded and put his hands in his trouser pockets, chewing the inside of his lip thoughtfully
“And what makes you think that this is a matter for Torchwood?” he asked.
“I haven’t herd the full story yet, but how many people go missing in the woods around Cardiff, Jack.”
“Maybe she tried to run away from home and after a few weeks realized that she couldn’t cut it.”
“Who runs away to the bloody woods?” Gwen argued. “I am going to see her.’
‘By all means.”
Jack held out his hands in surrender, a cracking big smile.
“You arse!” Gwen hissed, smacking Jack’s arm.
“Sorry. You look so hot when you get mad.”
Ianto cleared his throat loudly, tapping his foot impatiently.
“Not as hot as you do when you’re mad,” Jack murmured as he walked past the sullen Ianto. His voice was full of charm, dripping with seduction.
Ianto found himself slightly less angry.
“Ianto, I’m going to the hospital with Gwen. Why don’t you stay here? I might need your expert research skills,” Jack continued.
“Yes, sir,” Ianto replied.
Jack’s eyes glowed with lust and Ianto felt his heart begin to race in his chest,
With a wink at Ianto, Jack turned and headed for the invisible lift. Gwen joined him on the stone slab.
Jack activated the lift with a button on his wrist strap, and the lift started to rise.
Ianto stood by the lift, watching it go up. Jack stared at him intently until the lift reached the top.
With a sad sigh, Ianto looked around the empty Hub. He hated being left behind.
“Might as well go back to my cleaning,” Ianto muttered, snatching an ear piece from the desks, activating it, and slipping it in his ear.

The Torchwood SUV screeched to a halt outside of St. David’s Hospital.
Jack climbed out of the driver’s seat, his military greatcoat flowing behind him majestically in the wind, Gwen was at his side, apprehension sinking into the pit of her stomach,
Since joining Torchwood, she had seen so much death and evil, more than she had ever imagined possible in the world. As a police officer she had seen the occasional death and had gotten a slight taste of the evils of man, but Torchwood didn’t often deal with the evils of man, they dealt with far darker forces.
Andy was waiting for them at the front of the hospital, his hands worrying his hat nervously.
“inspector Andy Davidson!” Jack called like he and Andy were old friends – which they were not.
“C-Captain Harkness,” Andy stammered as Jack enveloped him in a bear hug.
Gwen hid her snicker behind her hand. Jack truly did flirt with everyone and everything he encountered.
When Jack broke the hug, Andy turned to her, his eyes bulging out of his head dramatically.
“You okay?” Gwen asked, fighting another laugh.
“Is he always so….?” Andy began, shocked.
“Seductive? Yeah. You get used to it,” Gwen answered.
Shaking his head, Andy led them into the hospital.
They went down the corridor to the lift, and rode it up to the eighth floor.
“So, Andy, what’s going on?” Gwen asked.
“I think it’s best if you ask Catrin that, I can’t quite wrap my head around it all,” Andy replied, watching the floor numbers increase on the elevator display.
“I’m glad it was Gwen that came looking for us and not you,” Jack muttered under his breath.
Gwen shot him a dirty look. Andy had been kind enough to inform her of this case. They were lucky that he still even had anything to do with her. They’d done so much good thanks to Andy putting his job on the line for them.
The lift doors opened, and Andy led them down a long corridor to an open room.
“She’s in there,” he said, white as a sheet.
“Thanks, Andy.”
Gwen patted Andy’s arm companionably and smiled warmly.
Andy nodded in return.
Gwen and Jack entered the room, Andy hanging back by the door.
In the hospital bed lay a thin girl, anorerxically thin, her dark hair pulled back and clipped up, making her face look even more emaciated. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles, giving them a sunken appearance. Her cheekbones jutted out through her taut skin.
She was hooked up to an IV, and the heart monitor beside her beeped with every beat of her heart.
The sound of their footsteps, the girl opened her eyes and regarded them with fear,
“Hiya,” Gwen said with a warm, comforting smile. “Don’t be afraid, dear, we’re not going to hurt you. We’re here to help.”
“W-who are you?” the girl asked, her voice weak.
“Torchwood,” Jack cut in authoritatively.
“Torch…?”
“We help people like you,” Gwen continued. “People who have experienced the unexplainable."
The girl nodded resignedly, falling back against her pillows.
“Your name is Catrin, right? Catrin Foster?” Gwen asked.
“Yes,” Catrin replied softly.
“I’m Gwen. Gwen Cooper.”
“Captain Jack Harkness,” Jack said without his usual seductive charm. He was all business.
“Catrin, can you tell us what happened to you?” Gwen inquired gently.
Catrin sat up with a struggle. Gwen sat at the foot of the bed and helped her up.
“I-it’s all kind of fuzzy,” Catrin began.
“That’s okay,” Gwen soothed. “Anything you can remember will help us.”
“I remember…meeting Aeron.”
“Your boyfriend?”
“Yeah. I had something to tell him, but…..I can’t remember what….”
“What happened next?” Jack pressed.
“We went for a walk. He-he took me to a sanatorium. We went inside and….”
Catrin cut off, tears springing to her eyes.
“Something murdered him,” she sobbed.
Gwen rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.
“I-I got away. I ran.”
“You were gone for two weeks,” Jack informed her.
Catrin’s brow knit in confusion.
“Two weeks?” she whispered.
“You don’t remember?” Jack asked.
“No. I just remember running for a long time, and then…I woke up here.”
Gwen and Jack exchanged silent glances. This was definitely a case for Torchwood.
“I’m feeling knackered.” Catrin said quietly.
“We’ll let you rest,” Gwen replied. “Thanks for you help.”
“Rest up,” Jack said with a kind smile.
When they were out of the room, Andy shut the door behind them.
An Indian doctor stopped, eying them speculatively.
“Do you know Ms. Foster?’ she asked.
“We’re Torchwood,” Jack said cockily.
Recognition flashed through the doctor’s eyes. Apparently she’d heard of Torchwood.
“Who are you?’ Jack challenged.
“Dr. Anand. I’m the doctor in charge of Ms. Foster’s case,” Dr. Anand replied, calmer now.
“Will she be all right?” Gwen asked.
“She was severely starved and dehydrated,” Dr. Anand answered. “We’ve put her on an IV and seems to be recovering nicely. I reckon she’ll need extensive psychological help when this is all done. Her delusions are very severe.”
“Delusions?” Gwen pressed.
“There is no sanatorium in those woods, not according to any existing records.”
“So you think the sanatorium is a manifestation of the trauma of watching her boyfriend get murdered in front of her?” Jack asked.
“Police never found his body,” Dr. Anand,” confessed. “I’m no mental professional, but I imagine that she’s suffered an acute mental breakdown following the miscarriage.”
“Miscarriage?’ Gwen choked.
“Ms. Foster was pregnant when she was brought it. Not eating or drinking for several weeks robbed the fetus of vital nutrition. Luckily, she miscarried here and not out in the woods. She probably wouldn’t have survived that out there.”
Gwen choked back a sob. That poor baby, she thought wretchedly.
Dr. Anand’s pager went off shrilly, breaking thee uncomfortable silence.
“Excuse me,” she said. “I’m needed in the operating theatre.”
As Dr. Anand walked away, Andy ushered Jack and Gwen out.
“So?” Andy asked. “Another of your spooky dos, is it?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jack replied.
“Thanks, Andy,” Gwen said, hugging him.
“Don’t mention it.
Gwen and Jack made their way back to the SUV.
“Gwen?” Andy called after her.
Gwen turned back to face him, using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
“Catch whomever or…whatever did this.”
Gwen nodded and climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV.
Jack threw the vehicle into drive and sped out of the parking lot.
Gwen dissolved into tears, burying her face in her hands as she wept. The baby! That poor, poor dear! How could something have done something so evil?
“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?” Jack suggested softly.
Gwen nodded, the tears streaming like heavy rainfall, or a broken dam.
“Ianto?’ Jack said into his earpiece.
“Sir?” Ianto answered.
“I need you to do a search of those woods. The Cwm Nofydd?”
“Anything in particular?”
‘Yeah. Look for anything about a sanatorium. The girl said her boyfriend took her to one before he was murdered. Apparently, there’s no record of any sanatoriums near those woods.”
“On it, sir.”
Jack could hear the sound of Ianto’s deft fingers flying over the keyboard. For a second, he was reminded of not too long ago when it would have been Toshiko’s fingers pounding away expertly at the keyboard.
A pang of guilt and sadness stabbed Jack deeply in his chest.
He swung the SUV into its parking spot and killed the engine.
“Are you okay to drive yourself home?” he asked Gwen.
“I’ll be fine,” she replied, sniffling. “I’m sorry I fell apart.”
“Don’t be. You’re human, Gwen, never forget that.”
“With days like today I don’t think I ever could.”
Gwen got out of the SUV and fished her keys out of her purse before getting into her Saab and driving off.
Jack watched the Saab disappear into the distance before heading to Roald Dahl Plass to catch the invisible lift back down to the Hub.

Ianto was so engrossed in his research that he didn’t hear Jack come in until he stepped off of the stone slab of the invisible lift.
“Where’s Gwen?” Ianto asked, looking over at Jack.
He looks dashing in that coat, he thought, tapping his fingers on his knee.
“She got a little upset about everything, so I sent her home,” Jack replied, slipping his coat off.
“Upset? What the hell happened at the hospital?”
Ianto pivoted in the chair to give Jack his full attention.
Jack sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair,
“It wasn’t good.” He sat down beside Ianto and set his coat on the work desk. ”The girl doesn’t remember what happened. She had no idea that she was out there for weeks. and she was pregnant.”
“Was?”
“She miscarried when she got to the hospital.”
“Jesus,” Ianto muttered, throwing his arms around Jack instinctively. It felt good to feel Jack so close, and when put his arms around Ianto, he felt safer than he ever had before in his life.
“Gwen couldn’t handle it,” Jack continued.
“That’s understandable,” Ianto replied.
Jack broke the hug and kissed Ianto tenderly on the cheek.
“What did you find out about the sanatorium?”
Ianto cleared this throat.
“No records exist of a sanatorium in those woods, not in the genera search anyway. I took it upon myself to access the Torchwood Archives and dig a little deeper,”
“Ianto Jones, you are brilliant!” Jack exclaimed, clapping Ianto on the back.
“According to the Archive there was a sanatorium out there that was closed down in 1920 for malpractice. Experiments were being conducted on the patients that were…far from legal.”
“Go on,” Jack encouraged,
“DNA splicing between humans and Weevils humans and fauna, humans and lizards. Lobotomies without anesthesia, amputation. All sorts of gruesome things.”
“How did I not know about this?” Jack wondered.
He had been a member of Torchwood since the Victorian Age. If Torchwood had dealt with this monstrosity, surely he would have remembered?
“We should go check it out,” Ianto continued.
“I’ll go.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ianto offered, rising.
“No, it’s too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous?” Ianto scoffed. “Jack, ( work for Torchwood. I’m in dangerous situations every bloody day. Don’t get all protective on me now.”
“Please, Ianto. For once, just, please, do as I say and stay here.”
Ianto sighed with resignation. There really was no point in arguing with Jack.
“What about you?” Ianto said. “You’ll be in danger.”
“I’m immortal, nothing out there can hurt me.”
“You know, one of these days, something will be able to kill you and then what? What will happen to Torchwood? What will happen to me?”
Jack blew air out of his cheeks and crouched down in front of Ianto.
“I appreciate your concern, Ianto, I really do.” He reached up and stroked Ianto’s cheek affectionately. “I promise I’ll come back to you.”
‘Yeah?” Ianto asked quietly.
“Always.”
Jack pulled Ianto into a deep, passionate kiss, twining his hands in Ianto’s short brown hair.
“Be here when I get back,” Jack murmured, breathless from the kiss.
“Always.”
Jack smiled and pulled his coat back on. He glanced back at Ianto and then strode across the main room to the armory.
He equipped himself with a few handguns – besides the Webley he always carried – and some ammunition. He had no idea what he would be facing out in those woods, but he wanted to be prepared for anything. Sure, he was immortal, but he could die temporarily, and honestly, dying hurt like a bitch.
Jack walked back into the main room to find Ianto waiting for him like a dutiful partner.
He really does deserve better than me, Jack thought sadly. He deserves someone who can give him a normal life, who can protect him from the evils of the world, not throw him head first into them.
Ianto caught his eye and smiled an encouraging smile.
“I’ll wait here for you, Jack. But you’d better come back.”
“I will,” Jack assured him.
“You have until nightfall. If you’re not back by then I’m coming after you.”
“Oh, Ianto Jones, you’re sexy when you get dominating. Maybe next time we use the UNIT cap you can be the soldier and I'll be your alien prisoner,” Jack teased with a lascivious grin.
“That sounds fantastic,” Ianto enthused.
Jack shook his head.
“You’re making it hard for me to go, Ianto Jones?”
“Am I?” Ianto asked with fake coquettishness.
“Oh, yeah.” Jack licked his lips.
“Maybe you should stay, then, for a bit.’
“That would be bad.”
“I like it when you’re bad.”
Ianto stared up at Jack from under his eyelashes.
“We do have the Hub to ourselves,” Jack pondered.
“That we do, Captain Harkness.”
“Oooh, Captain Harkness. You really know how to hit all my erogenous zones, Mr. Jones.”
“That’s my job, Sir.”
Jack couldn’t fight it anymore and he allowed his greatcoat to fall to the floor.
Ianto reached over and slid the braces from both of Jack’s shoulders.
Jack undid Ianto’s tie and let it fall to the floor beside his coat.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” Jack chuckled, as Ianto started kissing his neck.
“No one’s in danger at the moment. An abandoned sanatorium can wait to be explored until you’ve been sated.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Ianto Jones?” Jack teased.
Flashes of his dream cut through Ianto’s mind, and he shook his head to clear it.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked, concern etched on his face.
“Yeah, it’s…it’s nothing,” Ianto lied.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Just kiss me, Jack.”
Jack happily complied.

Jack awoke a while later, Ianto tangled in his arms. With a heavy heart, he slipped out from under Ianto and got dressed.
Ianto stirred softly in the bed, but didn’t wake,
Jack watched him for a few seconds, wishing that he didn’t have to do this, didn’t have to put Ianto through the worry and heartache he was about to put him through.
It’s the job, he reasoned, buttoning his shirt back up.
With one last glance back at Ianto’s sleeping form, Jack exited his room and went back up to the main room of the Hub. He pulled his coat on and made sure that the weapons and ammunition were still in the pockets.
He stood up on the stone slab and activated the invisible lift for the second time that day. Quietly, the slab started to rise and Jack could see the Hub getting smaller and smaller and he rose higher toward the surface of Roald Dahl Plass.
When the lift reached the top, he stood there for a second, watching people going about their day for a few seconds. It if weren’t for the perception filter, people would see him popping up from under the street. With the perception filter, they wouldn’t notice him until he had stepped down on to the street,
Doing so, he hurried down to the SUV and got in. He turned the key in the ignition and drove off.

Description
CHAPTER TWO

Jack listened intently as Gwen filled him in on what she’d learned from Andy.
“He found her, Jack. That girl that went missing a few weeks ago in the woods,” Gwen said with great intensity.
Jack nodded and put his hands in his trouser pockets, chewing the inside of his lip thoughtfully
“And what makes you think that this is a matter for Torchwood?” he asked.
“I haven’t herd the full story yet, but how many people go missing in the woods around Cardiff, Jack.”
“Maybe she tried to run away from home and after a few weeks realized that she couldn’t cut it.”
“Who runs away to the bloody woods?” Gwen argued. “I am going to see her.’
‘By all means.”
Jack held out his hands in surrender, a cracking big smile.
“You arse!” Gwen hissed, smacking Jack’s arm.
“Sorry. You look so hot when you get mad.”
Ianto cleared his throat loudly, tapping his foot impatiently.
“Not as hot as you do when you’re mad,” Jack murmured as he walked past the sullen Ianto. His voice was full of charm, dripping with seduction.
Ianto found himself slightly less angry.
“Ianto, I’m going to the hospital with Gwen. Why don’t you stay here? I might need your expert research skills,” Jack continued.
“Yes, sir,” Ianto replied.
Jack’s eyes glowed with lust and Ianto felt his heart begin to race in his chest,
With a wink at Ianto, Jack turned and headed for the invisible lift. Gwen joined him on the stone slab.
Jack activated the lift with a button on his wrist strap, and the lift started to rise.
Ianto stood by the lift, watching it go up. Jack stared at him intently until the lift reached the top.
With a sad sigh, Ianto looked around the empty Hub. He hated being left behind.
“Might as well go back to my cleaning,” Ianto muttered, snatching an ear piece from the desks, activating it, and slipping it in his ear.

The Torchwood SUV screeched to a halt outside of St. David’s Hospital.
Jack climbed out of the driver’s seat, his military greatcoat flowing behind him majestically in the wind, Gwen was at his side, apprehension sinking into the pit of her stomach,
Since joining Torchwood, she had seen so much death and evil, more than she had ever imagined possible in the world. As a police officer she had seen the occasional death and had gotten a slight taste of the evils of man, but Torchwood didn’t often deal with the evils of man, they dealt with far darker forces.
Andy was waiting for them at the front of the hospital, his hands worrying his hat nervously.
“inspector Andy Davidson!” Jack called like he and Andy were old friends – which they were not.
“C-Captain Harkness,” Andy stammered as Jack enveloped him in a bear hug.
Gwen hid her snicker behind her hand. Jack truly did flirt with everyone and everything he encountered.
When Jack broke the hug, Andy turned to her, his eyes bulging out of his head dramatically.
“You okay?” Gwen asked, fighting another laugh.
“Is he always so….?” Andy began, shocked.
“Seductive? Yeah. You get used to it,” Gwen answered.
Shaking his head, Andy led them into the hospital.
They went down the corridor to the lift, and rode it up to the eighth floor.
“So, Andy, what’s going on?” Gwen asked.
“I think it’s best if you ask Catrin that, I can’t quite wrap my head around it all,” Andy replied, watching the floor numbers increase on the elevator display.
“I’m glad it was Gwen that came looking for us and not you,” Jack muttered under his breath.
Gwen shot him a dirty look. Andy had been kind enough to inform her of this case. They were lucky that he still even had anything to do with her. They’d done so much good thanks to Andy putting his job on the line for them.
The lift doors opened, and Andy led them down a long corridor to an open room.
“She’s in there,” he said, white as a sheet.
“Thanks, Andy.”
Gwen patted Andy’s arm companionably and smiled warmly.
Andy nodded in return.
Gwen and Jack entered the room, Andy hanging back by the door.
In the hospital bed lay a thin girl, anorerxically thin, her dark hair pulled back and clipped up, making her face look even more emaciated. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles, giving them a sunken appearance. Her cheekbones jutted out through her taut skin.
She was hooked up to an IV, and the heart monitor beside her beeped with every beat of her heart.
The sound of their footsteps, the girl opened her eyes and regarded them with fear,
“Hiya,” Gwen said with a warm, comforting smile. “Don’t be afraid, dear, we’re not going to hurt you. We’re here to help.”
“W-who are you?” the girl asked, her voice weak.
“Torchwood,” Jack cut in authoritatively.
“Torch…?”
“We help people like you,” Gwen continued. “People who have experienced the unexplainable."
The girl nodded resignedly, falling back against her pillows.
“Your name is Catrin, right? Catrin Foster?” Gwen asked.
“Yes,” Catrin replied softly.
“I’m Gwen. Gwen Cooper.”
“Captain Jack Harkness,” Jack said without his usual seductive charm. He was all business.
“Catrin, can you tell us what happened to you?” Gwen inquired gently.
Catrin sat up with a struggle. Gwen sat at the foot of the bed and helped her up.
“I-it’s all kind of fuzzy,” Catrin began.
“That’s okay,” Gwen soothed. “Anything you can remember will help us.”
“I remember…meeting Aeron.”
“Your boyfriend?”
“Yeah. I had something to tell him, but…..I can’t remember what….”
“What happened next?” Jack pressed.
“We went for a walk. He-he took me to a sanatorium. We went inside and….”
Catrin cut off, tears springing to her eyes.
“Something murdered him,” she sobbed.
Gwen rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.
“I-I got away. I ran.”
“You were gone for two weeks,” Jack informed her.
Catrin’s brow knit in confusion.
“Two weeks?” she whispered.
“You don’t remember?” Jack asked.
“No. I just remember running for a long time, and then…I woke up here.”
Gwen and Jack exchanged silent glances. This was definitely a case for Torchwood.
“I’m feeling knackered.” Catrin said quietly.
“We’ll let you rest,” Gwen replied. “Thanks for you help.”
“Rest up,” Jack said with a kind smile.
When they were out of the room, Andy shut the door behind them.
An Indian doctor stopped, eying them speculatively.
“Do you know Ms. Foster?’ she asked.
“We’re Torchwood,” Jack said cockily.
Recognition flashed through the doctor’s eyes. Apparently she’d heard of Torchwood.
“Who are you?’ Jack challenged.
“Dr. Anand. I’m the doctor in charge of Ms. Foster’s case,” Dr. Anand replied, calmer now.
“Will she be all right?” Gwen asked.
“She was severely starved and dehydrated,” Dr. Anand answered. “We’ve put her on an IV and seems to be recovering nicely. I reckon she’ll need extensive psychological help when this is all done. Her delusions are very severe.”
“Delusions?” Gwen pressed.
“There is no sanatorium in those woods, not according to any existing records.”
“So you think the sanatorium is a manifestation of the trauma of watching her boyfriend get murdered in front of her?” Jack asked.
“Police never found his body,” Dr. Anand,” confessed. “I’m no mental professional, but I imagine that she’s suffered an acute mental breakdown following the miscarriage.”
“Miscarriage?’ Gwen choked.
“Ms. Foster was pregnant when she was brought it. Not eating or drinking for several weeks robbed the fetus of vital nutrition. Luckily, she miscarried here and not out in the woods. She probably wouldn’t have survived that out there.”
Gwen choked back a sob. That poor baby, she thought wretchedly.
Dr. Anand’s pager went off shrilly, breaking thee uncomfortable silence.
“Excuse me,” she said. “I’m needed in the operating theatre.”
As Dr. Anand walked away, Andy ushered Jack and Gwen out.
“So?” Andy asked. “Another of your spooky dos, is it?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jack replied.
“Thanks, Andy,” Gwen said, hugging him.
“Don’t mention it.
Gwen and Jack made their way back to the SUV.
“Gwen?” Andy called after her.
Gwen turned back to face him, using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
“Catch whomever or…whatever did this.”
Gwen nodded and climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV.
Jack threw the vehicle into drive and sped out of the parking lot.
Gwen dissolved into tears, burying her face in her hands as she wept. The baby! That poor, poor dear! How could something have done something so evil?
“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?” Jack suggested softly.
Gwen nodded, the tears streaming like heavy rainfall, or a broken dam.
“Ianto?’ Jack said into his earpiece.
“Sir?” Ianto answered.
“I need you to do a search of those woods. The Cwm Nofydd?”
“Anything in particular?”
‘Yeah. Look for anything about a sanatorium. The girl said her boyfriend took her to one before he was murdered. Apparently, there’s no record of any sanatoriums near those woods.”
“On it, sir.”
Jack could hear the sound of Ianto’s deft fingers flying over the keyboard. For a second, he was reminded of not too long ago when it would have been Toshiko’s fingers pounding away expertly at the keyboard.
A pang of guilt and sadness stabbed Jack deeply in his chest.
He swung the SUV into its parking spot and killed the engine.
“Are you okay to drive yourself home?” he asked Gwen.
“I’ll be fine,” she replied, sniffling. “I’m sorry I fell apart.”
“Don’t be. You’re human, Gwen, never forget that.”
“With days like today I don’t think I ever could.”
Gwen got out of the SUV and fished her keys out of her purse before getting into her Saab and driving off.
Jack watched the Saab disappear into the distance before heading to Roald Dahl Plass to catch the invisible lift back down to the Hub.

Ianto was so engrossed in his research that he didn’t hear Jack come in until he stepped off of the stone slab of the invisible lift.
“Where’s Gwen?” Ianto asked, looking over at Jack.
He looks dashing in that coat, he thought, tapping his fingers on his knee.
“She got a little upset about everything, so I sent her home,” Jack replied, slipping his coat off.
“Upset? What the hell happened at the hospital?”
Ianto pivoted in the chair to give Jack his full attention.
Jack sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair,
“It wasn’t good.” He sat down beside Ianto and set his coat on the work desk. ”The girl doesn’t remember what happened. She had no idea that she was out there for weeks. and she was pregnant.”
“Was?”
“She miscarried when she got to the hospital.”
“Jesus,” Ianto muttered, throwing his arms around Jack instinctively. It felt good to feel Jack so close, and when put his arms around Ianto, he felt safer than he ever had before in his life.
“Gwen couldn’t handle it,” Jack continued.
“That’s understandable,” Ianto replied.
Jack broke the hug and kissed Ianto tenderly on the cheek.
“What did you find out about the sanatorium?”
Ianto cleared this throat.
“No records exist of a sanatorium in those woods, not in the genera search anyway. I took it upon myself to access the Torchwood Archives and dig a little deeper,”
“Ianto Jones, you are brilliant!” Jack exclaimed, clapping Ianto on the back.
“According to the Archive there was a sanatorium out there that was closed down in 1920 for malpractice. Experiments were being conducted on the patients that were…far from legal.”
“Go on,” Jack encouraged,
“DNA splicing between humans and Weevils humans and fauna, humans and lizards. Lobotomies without anesthesia, amputation. All sorts of gruesome things.”
“How did I not know about this?” Jack wondered.
He had been a member of Torchwood since the Victorian Age. If Torchwood had dealt with this monstrosity, surely he would have remembered?
“We should go check it out,” Ianto continued.
“I’ll go.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ianto offered, rising.
“No, it’s too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous?” Ianto scoffed. “Jack, ( work for Torchwood. I’m in dangerous situations every bloody day. Don’t get all protective on me now.”
“Please, Ianto. For once, just, please, do as I say and stay here.”
Ianto sighed with resignation. There really was no point in arguing with Jack.
“What about you?” Ianto said. “You’ll be in danger.”
“I’m immortal, nothing out there can hurt me.”
“You know, one of these days, something will be able to kill you and then what? What will happen to Torchwood? What will happen to me?”
Jack blew air out of his cheeks and crouched down in front of Ianto.
“I appreciate your concern, Ianto, I really do.” He reached up and stroked Ianto’s cheek affectionately. “I promise I’ll come back to you.”
‘Yeah?” Ianto asked quietly.
“Always.”
Jack pulled Ianto into a deep, passionate kiss, twining his hands in Ianto’s short brown hair.
“Be here when I get back,” Jack murmured, breathless from the kiss.
“Always.”
Jack smiled and pulled his coat back on. He glanced back at Ianto and then strode across the main room to the armory.
He equipped himself with a few handguns – besides the Webley he always carried – and some ammunition. He had no idea what he would be facing out in those woods, but he wanted to be prepared for anything. Sure, he was immortal, but he could die temporarily, and honestly, dying hurt like a bitch.
Jack walked back into the main room to find Ianto waiting for him like a dutiful partner.
He really does deserve better than me, Jack thought sadly. He deserves someone who can give him a normal life, who can protect him from the evils of the world, not throw him head first into them.
Ianto caught his eye and smiled an encouraging smile.
“I’ll wait here for you, Jack. But you’d better come back.”
“I will,” Jack assured him.
“You have until nightfall. If you’re not back by then I’m coming after you.”
“Oh, Ianto Jones, you’re sexy when you get dominating. Maybe next time we use the UNIT cap you can be the soldier and I'll be your alien prisoner,” Jack teased with a lascivious grin.
“That sounds fantastic,” Ianto enthused.
Jack shook his head.
“You’re making it hard for me to go, Ianto Jones?”
“Am I?” Ianto asked with fake coquettishness.
“Oh, yeah.” Jack licked his lips.
“Maybe you should stay, then, for a bit.’
“That would be bad.”
“I like it when you’re bad.”
Ianto stared up at Jack from under his eyelashes.
“We do have the Hub to ourselves,” Jack pondered.
“That we do, Captain Harkness.”
“Oooh, Captain Harkness. You really know how to hit all my erogenous zones, Mr. Jones.”
“That’s my job, Sir.”
Jack couldn’t fight it anymore and he allowed his greatcoat to fall to the floor.
Ianto reached over and slid the braces from both of Jack’s shoulders.
Jack undid Ianto’s tie and let it fall to the floor beside his coat.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” Jack chuckled, as Ianto started kissing his neck.
“No one’s in danger at the moment. An abandoned sanatorium can wait to be explored until you’ve been sated.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Ianto Jones?” Jack teased.
Flashes of his dream cut through Ianto’s mind, and he shook his head to clear it.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked, concern etched on his face.
“Yeah, it’s…it’s nothing,” Ianto lied.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Just kiss me, Jack.”
Jack happily complied.

Jack awoke a while later, Ianto tangled in his arms. With a heavy heart, he slipped out from under Ianto and got dressed.
Ianto stirred softly in the bed, but didn’t wake,
Jack watched him for a few seconds, wishing that he didn’t have to do this, didn’t have to put Ianto through the worry and heartache he was about to put him through.
It’s the job, he reasoned, buttoning his shirt back up.
With one last glance back at Ianto’s sleeping form, Jack exited his room and went back up to the main room of the Hub. He pulled his coat on and made sure that the weapons and ammunition were still in the pockets.
He stood up on the stone slab and activated the invisible lift for the second time that day. Quietly, the slab started to rise and Jack could see the Hub getting smaller and smaller and he rose higher toward the surface of Roald Dahl Plass.
When the lift reached the top, he stood there for a second, watching people going about their day for a few seconds. It if weren’t for the perception filter, people would see him popping up from under the street. With the perception filter, they wouldn’t notice him until he had stepped down on to the street,
Doing so, he hurried down to the SUV and got in. He turned the key in the ignition and drove off.