Anythingdrabble Challenge 7 - Missing in action

[m_findlow]

Title: Missing in action
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Torchwood team
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: G
Notes: Written for Challenge 7 - Missing at anythingdrabble
Summary: Jack has lost something very important.

'I've lost my Ianto!' Jack cried out as he left his office.

Gwen looked bemused, where Owen merely rolled his eyes. 'You can't lose a person, Harkness.'

'You can, if they're...  you know...'

This morning's rift retrieval hadn't gone quite to plan. It was still early when the alert came through, so it was just Jack and Ianto who'd gone to investigate. The plant was harmless enough, but it spawned a face full of pollen when Ianto went to pick it up. The pollen was a defense mechanism, meant to confuse and disorient. A quick check from Owen confirmed that he'd be fine, he just shouldn't operate heavy machinery until it wore off. Or any machinery for that matter. Confused was putting it mildly. It was more like he was a million miles away.

Jack had sat him down in the chair opposite his desk so that he could keep an eye on him. Ianto didn't object. In fact, Jack wasn't entirely sure he even knew what was going on. He was quite content just sitting there, playing with a rubix cube Jack had given him, which had been in his drawer since 2002. He'd never been able to solve them without peeling the stickers off, but Ianto seemed happy enough fiddling with it. At least he had been.

Jack had only been gone five minutes. Just long enough to grab a mug of hot chocolate and lose his lover.

'None of you saw him go past?' Jack asked.

They shrugged. 'Can't say we noticed,' Gwen confessed. 'We're so used to him just going about.'

'Fine. Tosh, pull up the CCTV.'

'Sorry, Jack. I had it turned off while I was running system upgrades.'

'Okay. Well, look, he can't have gone far in his current state. I'm more worried that he doesn't know what he's doing or where he is, and could hurt himself. We should split up and search.'

'Good idea,' Gwen said. 'We'll find him in no time.'

'Then I'll cuff him to the chair,' Owen said, annoyed but in agreement with Jack. There were plenty of things in the hub that could be dangerous to the uninitiated. Or the drugged up on alien plant spores.

They searched high and low for Ianto, checking the boardroom, the interrogation room, the cells, the archives, the hothouse, and dozens of corridors and storage rooms - anywhere he might have wandered in his absent-minded state, but there was no trace. He'd simply disappeared.

Jack began to panic. 'Could he have gone outside? Maybe he got out and he's wandering the streets. We should call the police. Better yet, I'll go down there myself. Let me grab my keys.'

He strode into his office, clambering down the ladder to his bunker to fetch his car keys, only to turn and find Ianto fast asleep in their bed.

'Don't worry, I found him,' he said, returning.

'He's been down there all this time and you didn't think to look there?' Owen said. 'You pillock!'

Comments

[bk_forever]

*giggles* I had a feeling that was where he'd be! He may be confused, but he still managed to find the nearest bed for a nap =D

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

He was subconsciously trying to be good little spaced out minion. Poor Jack was terribly worried though. You just never know what someone that clever might do when they're under the influence. :)