Series: Taken
Part: Four - Taken Spirit
Word Count: 2327
Characters: The staff of Torchwood Three, Rhys Williams.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst!!! and drama. With slight AU.
Warning: Spoilers up the Adrift and slight character death!
Dsiclaimer: Alas the Torchwood character's are not mine, they belong to other more fabulous people. Which makes me sad.

Un-beta'ed, sorry. Any and all mistakes are my own, and i apologize for them.

Authors Ramble: Ok so the next few parts are going to be very dialogue heavy, as well as going up a bit in the ratings. Only because they curse a bit and there's more death. Lol i am such a masochist, yeah i'm evil. Don't worry i'm still ready to duck that hockey stick of doom. Oh and there are three spin off one shots in the works to companion a few of the chapters, just little extra scenes that didn't make it into the final story. I'll get those posted asap as well. Oh and i'm currently looking for a beta reader, mostly for grammar and punctuation. Not just for this story, but future Torchwood/Doctor Who fics i have planned. Interested? Let me know.

Also, i do have my occasional dyslexic moments so if you see any words that are wrong or other typos feel free to poke me with a 'hey stupid' to let me know ^_^

Summary: Jack was sure that the Rift was out to muck up his life completely.



- Deep in the stillness i can hear you speak -
You're still an inspiration

"Gwen? Gwen?" Rhys' voice snapped Gwen out of her apparent musing.

"What?" She questioned her husband who was sitting on their sofa next to her.

"You haven't heard a word i've said. What's wrong?"

"I'm worried about Jack." She told him with a sigh. "He's just not himself, he looks.... haunted." She attempted to explain the far away look that Jack habitually wore.

Rhys gave her a somber look. True he hadn't always gotten along with Gwen's boss, and for a while there he even worried that he might lose her to Torchwood and the dashing older man. "Sweetie he's in mourning." He said, oddly sympathetic toward Jack. "It can't be easy know someone you love is dead even though their body doesn't know enough to follow suit."

Gwen gave her husband a look, like she was surprised that he understood so easily.

"What?" He smiled. "I do understand about these things you know." He told her in a teasing voice.

"How could you? I don't even understand." She said in a bit of a desperate way.

"Because..." He began, wrapping a protective arm over her shoulder and pulling her closer against him. "All i have to do is think, if it had been you." He paused, looking at Gwen intensely. "And then i can understand exactly what he's feeling."

Gwen smiled softly, leaning up to kiss him. "I know." She whispered. "I know."



"Do you think he'll be alright?" Tosh asked Owen from where she stood up in the theater that over looked the medical bay as the doctor stooped hunched over a slimy looking alien corpse.

"Who now?" Owen asked distractedly.

"Jack." Tosh answered, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, well...." Owen glanced up at her, a look of uncertainty marring his face. "I'm sure he'll be fine, eventually. You know." He shrugged, going back to his work. "It's not easy losing someone you love."
Tosh just smiled at him, saying nothing. At her silence, he looked up. "What?

"Nothing, just..." She gave a one shouldered shrug, smiling sweetly. "It's nice to hear you acknowledge that they loved each other."

"Oh well, yeah. I mean, it guess it was pretty obvious wasn't it." He stood up straight, pulling the latex glove off his one good hand.

"Yeah." Tosh said with a sigh, looking over her shoulder to Jack's office door.

"Yeah." Owen echoed softly, his gaze following that of Tosh's. Landing on the office of their once bright and boisterous captain.



If Jack had known that every single one of his staff members were talking about him at the same time, he might have been a little annoyed. Only, he didn't know. Jack as on autopilot, his body went through the motions of day to day life. But his mind, it seemed, was always a million miles away. He truly looked like a man haunted, in the most literal sense of the word. His eyes were dull and tired, and always seemed to be looking right through everything to something that was just beyond reach. It was a rare moment when he seemed cogent enough to give an order, or make up a plan of attack for the latest disasters that plagued the city on a seemingly weekly basis. But it was an even rarer moment when he got to sleep. So when he did things like fall asleep at his desk, the rest of the team usually left him where he was.

That just so happened to be where he was when they were all talking about him. Sitting at him desk with his head in his hand, dead asleep. If only it had been a comfortable sleep.

"Jack." A voice called out in his mind.

"No." He muttered quietly as he slept.

"Jack." A voice, the same voice. Always the same, Jack heard it constantly. Every waking hour, every sleeping hour. A voice, someone calling out to him. Calling for help. Just beyond reach, just beyond the physical reality that humans seemed to cling to so desperately. The same voice, one he would recognize until the end of time itself.

"Ianto." Jack said sadly in his sleep, his arm slipping against the the wood of the desk causing his head to snap down out of his hand violently. The sudden movement woke him with a start, which in turn almost caused his desk to upturn. The things upon it rattled, a few trinkets that were sitting near the edge fell to the floor scattering every which way. Jack groaned in annoyance at yet another interrupted sleep, pressing the heals of his hands to his eyes.


"Hey." Someone said from his doorway, causing Jack to look over.

"Toshiko? What? What is it?" He asked tiredly.

The petite woman made her way into the office, stooping to pick up one of the fallen trinkets, fiddling with it in her hands. "Nothing, i... hey has this always been warm?" She questioned abruptly.

"What?" Jack looked momentarily at the sky blue crystal that Tosh had in her hands. "I don't know, what do you want Tosh?" He said in an exasperated way, his exhaustion evident.

Tosh smiled softly, like a small child who had just be scolded. "No, it's just Owen and i. We were going to go get coffee." She explained, putting the small rock back down on Jack's desk. "And we were wondering if you wanted one, or anything really."

"No, i'm fine. Just go." He told her, rubbing his forehead like he was fighting off a headache. "Wait, Tosh!" He called, stopping her before she got a chance to leave. "What time is it?"

"Ummm, almost one a.m." She said, looking down at her watch.

Jack chuckled softly, smiling wearily at her. "Go home Tosh, both of you. Get Owen to drop you off, and get some sleep.

Tosh nodded. "Night Jack." She said before leaving the room.

Jack watched through the window in his office the two people pack up their things and went to leave for the night. They both stopped at the large cog door long enough to look up at him and wave a slight goodbye. He just smiled and returned the gesture, with a heavy sight he sat back down at his desk and ran his hands over his face.

"Jack." A voice called out to him.

Jack grunted angrily. "Shut up!" He yelled.



The next morning as Gwen, Owen and Tosh entered the hub, they were met rather loudly. Extremely loudly in fact.

"What the hell!?" Gwen all but shouted over the thunderous music that was echoing throughout the hub.

Both women clamped their hands over their ears, the volume of it actually causing their heads to hurt. Owen jogged into the main area, and quickly tapped a few keys at one of the work stations which in turn cut the music off.

"Owen!" Jack snapped from where he laid on the small couch.

"Jack, no one needs to hear Glenn Miller that loud." Owen snapped back, shaking his head.

"Why did you have the music up so loud anyway?" Gwen asked as she and Tosh moved the rest of the way into the hub, their hands no longer on their ears.

"I was sleeping." He told them, getting three rather confused looks in return.

"With the bleeding music that loud?!" Owen questioned, his disbelief obvious.

"Yes!" Jack said sharply.

"But why? I mean, wouldn't quiet have been easier to sleep in?" Gwen asked.

"It's too noisy." The captain replied cryptically, rubbing his hands over his face. He looked up to see three pairs of eyes watching him expectantly. Jack sighed, rolling his eyes. "You're going to think i'm crazy."



"So how long have you been hearing voices?" Owen questioned, trying to sound as believing as he could. Jack didn't blame him, any of them for not believing him even though they were obviously trying too. It had taken them all of five seconds of dumbfounded silence after Jack's confession before Owen snapped at him to get to the medical bay, and the two girls jumped onto their computers to see if there was any possible alien interference. Only it had been three hours and still nothing.
Owen had run every possible test on Jack and they all came back the same, he was a perfectly healthy immortal. Both Tosh and Gwen found nothing anywhere and had eventually given up, thinking that it had to be medical. Which was most likely why the two were sitting on the stairs leading down into the bay, watching Owen test Jack.

"Voice." Jack corrected. "And i don't know, four months." He said flippantly from where he sat on the edge of the exam table, rolling down his shirt sleeves after what must have been the hundredth vial of blood taken.

Owen paused from where he was across the room, turning to looking at Jack. "Four months? You've been hearing it for four months?"

"Yeah, why?"

Owen just sighed at Jack in frustration. "Why didn't i ask you sooner." He said to himself.

"Owen?" Jack questioned.

"Stress Jack!" Owen barked. "Post traumatic stress. You've been hearing the voice since Ian...." He paused. "The body came back. It's guilt Jack. Nothing more, nothing less."

"What? No." Jack insisted.

"Yes." The other man nodded.

"No, Owen this isn't some stress related thing. Okay, it's not." He looked that the two women who were just watching him with sad eyes.

"Jack, you're in mourning. It's okay." Gwen offered.

"No it's not okay!" Jack snapped. "Don't tell me i'm in mourning alright. I have had lovers die before, i know what mourning is. This, this had never happened before. This is something else. This..." He froze.

"Help me" A voice rang out, echoing in Jack's mind.

"Shut up!" He snapped.

"Jack, none of us said anything." Tosh told him, looking worried.

"No it's not you. It's him, i can't help him. I can't!" Jack said in an almost frantic manner, rubbing his temples.

"Okay Jack, i'm going to sedate you." Owen said quickly, trying to keep the agitated captain calm.

"No!" Jack held his hand up to stop Owen.

"Jack, look at you. You're exhausted, you're hearing voices. Let me give you something to help you rest!" Owen pressured.

"No sedation. I'm fine. I'm just...."

"Jack." The voice called out again.

"God dammit!" He yelled, getting up and sprinting out of the medical bay, the team hot on his heals.

"Jack, just calm down!" Gwen pleaded.

"It's got to be something here. Something in the hub, something alien." Jack looked around frantically.

"We've checked everything, there's nothing here." Tosh assured him. Never had the staff of Torchwood seen their captain at such wits end, it was unnerving.

"No, we've missed something. I know it." He said, moving to his office pulling his desk drawers open violently causing the entire piece of furniture to rock.

"What are you looking for?" Gwen asked as the three entered the room.

"I don't know, a transmitter. Something, anything!" He said, pulling another drawer open. Things were falling off his desk and rolling across the floor from his harsh movements.

"Alight. Okay, Jack that's enough. Stop!" Owen said sharply, stepping forward and pulling Jack away from the desk.

Tosh looked down at her feet when she felt something bump into her, she saw the blue crystal from Jack's desk resting against the toe of her boot. As she bent down to pick it up, she froze in shock.

"Tosh." A voice called out to her.

She gasped, holding the crystal in her hands. "Ianto?" The others turned to look at her.

"Tosh?" Gwen questioned, sounding a little concerned.

"I could have sworn i just heard..." She trailed off, looking at Jack.

"You heard him didn't you?" Jack said quickly, moving away from Owen and closer to the small woman.

"I, i, i don't know." She stuttered with uncertainty. "I heard something, i just..."

"Wait a minute. That rock, where'd you get that?" Jack asked, looking at the crystal in her hand.

"Off your desk, it fell on the floor."

"Yeah, but before that. Where did it come from?"

"Jack, it's always been on your desk." Gwen told him.

"No it hasn't!"

"Yeah it has Jack." Owen assured him. "It's just one of those little things that you have on your desk, like that god awful coral lamp."

"I don't remember getting that." He pointed to the crystal in Tosh's hand.

"Jack, that thing has been here for years. It was here when Suzie was here, it was here when Ianto was here. It has always been here." Owen said, sounding rather sure of himself.

"No, but i don't..." Jack started.

"Jack, it's just a fucking rock!" Owen snapped, annoyed.

"It's warm." Tosh's soft voice cut through the tension filled room.

"Give it here." The older man said, taking the crystal from Tosh.

"Enough with the bloody stone." Gwen said with a huff, reaching to take it out of Jack's hand.

"Help me." Everyone stopped, the voice ringing loud and clear in all of their heads.

"My god." Gwen breathed.

"Bloody hell!" Owen cursed.

"We all heard that right?" Tosh asked nervously.

"Yeah. We all heard that." Jack said softly, looking down at the small crystal. He suddenly lifted his hand above him head and threw the stone to the ground. A chorus of 'noes' and 'stops' followed, but it was too late. The blue crystal hit the floor with a crack, and smashed sharply. There was a bright flash of light that caused everyone to shield their eyes, turning their heads away. When it dissipated, Tosh was the first to notice Jack on the floor.

"Jack!" Tosh said, looking at the older man in shock.

"Oh my god! Owen!" Gwen called, dropping to her knees next to Jack. Owen quickly followed suit, checking over the captain.

"Jesus." Owen muttered.

"What?" Gwen asked, staring at the doctor with wide eyes.

"He's dead."



Comments are love. Love it? Hate it? Want to beat me over the head with the J/I hockey stick of doom? Let me know ^_^

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8