"Coming…" Jack shouted down the stairs in answer to the impatient taps on his front door. He sighed, and put down the book he'd been reading. Another salesman, no doubt. Who else could it be? Nobody else knew where he lived – apart from Gwen, of course, and she'd long since given up on him. The home visits had been restricted since he'd moved out of the Hub; at first, he'd thought it was because she couldn't find anymore excuses for their late night catch up sessions (which didn't often involve much catching up, as a rule). Now, he knew, it was because she didn't want to come. He was absurdly fine with that. Trying to pretend he cared was too much hassle, these days.

Tap tap tap

"Coming, already!" he yelled again as the taps once again interrupted his train of thought. Glaring down the stairs at the front door as if it was all the door's fault wasn't going to make the visitor go away, he reasoned. He sighed again, making his way down one stair at a time, hoping that by the time he'd reached the bottom the impatient salesman would have given up and –

THUD THUD THUD

Jack frowned for two reasons: one, there was no such thing as luck. Two?

Well, how many salesmen knock like that?

He hurried now, picking up his gun from the hall table and taking aim at the silhouette through the glass panels in the red wooden door. It had originally been blue, but blue was no longer his favourite colour. Blue for the Doctor. Red for –

THUD.

With one last knock, the person outside…

Disappeared wasn't really the right word. Fell, maybe. Jack ran, and yanked open the door, taking aim once again.

Freeze, he'd meant to yell. He hadn't meant to carry out the demand himself.

Ianto?

AN: Dun dun ddduuuuunnn!! Really need a beta, people…