"Come on Jack, where are you?" Ianto had been running through the Hub for the last fifteen minutes now and had turned everything upside down, but he still could not find the Captain.

The others had gone home hours ago and Jack had tricked Ianto into playing. "And he is cheating again..." Ianto mumbled to himself and rubbed his naked arms. He was sure Jack was moving around instead of staying in his hideout as the rules say.

"Ok, I'm giving up. Show yourself and get your prize," Ianto sighed and waited, but nothing was happening. "Jaaaaack!"

Deciding he had done enough running around, Ianto went up to the couch behind Tosh's station and fell into the cushions. He let his gaze wander through the Hub, but Jack wasn't doing one of his usual appearing acts with a satisfied smile plastered on his face and a hungry look in his eyes. Ianto began to worry. "Jack, game over! Will you just come out? I'm freezing my butt off over here." He held his breath, but all he could hear was the silent humming of the mainframe.

When nothing happened Ianto stood up with a sigh and started for another round through the Hub. Starting at the autopsy room he worked through Jack's office and peaked into the armory when two arms suddenly slid around his waist.

"Gotcha!"

Ianto yelped and would have jumped forward but the arms around his waist pulled him back to a warm, naked chest.

"Are you insane? One day I'll have a heart attack," Ianto complained but not really acting serious.

"I think that calls for resusitation," Jack whirled Ianto around and threw the younger man over his shoulder, making his way through his office and to the couch behind Tosh's station.

"Jack! Put me down," Ianto struggled and giggled throughout his unmanly transport and gave Jack a smack on the arse.

"Oi! You're extremely active for someone with a heart attack!" Jack bent forward and let Ianto fall onto the couch only to follow suit, climbing on his snickering lover. "Now, what do we have here? Looks like someone is in serious need of mouth-to-mouth."

Jack smiled when Ianto nodded fiercly and captured his lover in a passionate kiss. Ianto cupped Jack's head with one hand and threaded his fingers through his hair, the other slid hungry over Jack's back. Jack not being lazy slid his hands between them und found Ianto's cock, earning a delicious moan when he gave it a hard stroke.

The kiss got hungrier, Ianto's hands roamed over Jack's body, his legs wrapped around Jack to bring him even closer. Sweat glistened on their bodies, the occasional muffled moan or gasp the only sound echoing through the Hub.

Ianto's world was spinning, having Jack so close was almost enough to bring him over the edge. He could feel every inch of skin touching his own, smell Jack's rich odour, taste him, devour him.

Suddenly another sound entered his perception. A loud beeping sound cut through the Hub. Jack was groaning on top of him.

"Not now!" He grumbled in Ianto's mouth but the alarm was persistent and got louder by the second. "Damn!"

Pulling away from Ianto, Jack shot daggers at Toshiko's station on which the rift alarm was blaring its warning out. "I really hate it, when it does that when we're in the middle of something," Jack sighed and extracted himself from Ianto's grip. "Sorry."

"Yeah, me too," Ianto answered still panting and cursing the rift for denying him his release. He had been so close. He threw his hand over his eyes in an attempt to calm his body and senses down. "What is it?"

Jack had gone over to the station and looked at the display. "There has been rather strong rift activity in the town hall. I'm afraid we'll have to check it out."

Ianto, who was peeping from under his arm, was checking out other things at that moment. To be more precise he was checking out Jack's arse as his lover was bent over Toshiko's workstation. He shook himself. No time for that. "I'll get my clothes."

Suppressing another curse Ianto rolled from the couch and made his way to Jack's office to collect his clothes which were scattered around the room. "The rift couldn't have waited for another two minutes, noooo..." Muttering under his breath he picked up his clothes piece by piece and pulled them back on.

With each piece of clothing he calmed down a bit and in the end felt rather guilty for putting his own pleasure before the safety of the city. God only knew what came through the rift this time.

By the time he was done, Jack was already standing at the door, car keys in one hand and a bag in the other.

"You wanna leave for longer?" Ianto asked, quirking an eyebrow at the bag.

"No, I stuffed a collection of weapons in here. I thought better have them with us so we can deal with whatever came through quickly, so we can get back to our discussion on the couch."

Ianto looked at Jack's grinning face and couldn't help grinning back. "I like the way you think. Come on then, let's play 'Catching the Alien'."

"And the winner gets it all?"

"We will see," giving Jack a smug grin he made his way to the cog door.

The SUV came to a sliding halt in front of the town hall and Jack jumped out of the car. Ianto followed more slowly, still speaking into his head set. "Yes Gwen, we just arrived at the town hall. We're going in now. I've contacted Owen and Tosh, they will be here soon. See you in a bit."

"You're coming?" Jack asked.

"No, the rift alarm prevented that."

"Cocky. I like that, Ianto Jones," Jack laughed and jumped up the stairs to the main entrance.

"I hope so," Ianto grinned and pulled the bag from the backseat before he followed Jack.

"It's locked," Jack was trying the door. "I've put that alien door opener in there somewhere," he added, pointing at the bag.

When Ianto put the bag down to search for the wanted device, Jack checked the readings on his wrist strap, but both men were distracted when a loud howl came from inside the building.

"That doesn't sound promising," Ianto said and handed Jack the door opener who attached it quickly to the wooden frame of the door. Forty five seconds later they heard the lock clicking open.

Jack handed the device back, "OK, here goes nothing. I'll go first, you watch our backs."

Ianto nodded, smiling inwardly. This was Jack's polite way to say "stay behind me and out of trouble". He slung the bag on his back and pulled out his weapon, following Jack into the dark town hall.

There was a dead silence in the big official building. The entrance hall, filled with people going about their businesses during the day, was now empty and dark. Their footsteps echoed through the corridors when they made their way through the building.

Jack didn't play it risky, he had no idea what would wait for them, but if the howl was anything to go by, it was something big. He had his gun at the ready and all his senses were on high alert. A glance at Ianto showed him the young man was fully aware of the possible danger as well.

Despite the dangerous situation, Jack was proud of Ianto. Their training in the shooting range had obviously paid off, the former receptionist was holding his weapon like a pro and moved in a cat like stance.

Jack knew they could have covered ground more quickly if they split up, but he didn't want to take the chance. They had almost made their way to the office doors on the ground floor when another blood curdling howl sounded through the empty building.

"It's somewhere on the upper floors," Jack stated and made a run for the stairs, closely followed by Ianto.

Jack barged through the door on the first floor, weapon pointed out, ready to shoot everything. But the corridor before them was lying in the same darkness as the rest of the building. Ianto stepped next to Jack and shone his torchlight through the abandoned hallway. The light ghosted over the walls and doors, showing nothing out of the ordinary.

Jack wasn't relying on his sense of sight alone, but was listening intently into the darkness, the hairs on his neck were standing up. Something wasn't right.

"Jack!" Ianto suddenly exclaimed and started running through the corridor.

"Ianto, wait!" Jack hissed. "Damn!"

Jack set off after the other man and saw the reason for Ianto's careless behaviour when he caught up to him. Ianto knelt next to a man, who was lying on the ground, unmoving. Judging from his outfit, he was a guard.

"He's alive," Ianto whispered, when his fingers had found the pulse on the man's neck. "I see no injuries, hopefully he just passed out. We should…" A loud banging sound from the floor above made him stop midsentence.

"Leave him Ianto, we will send Owen to have a look at him as soon as he arrives," Jack pulled Ianto to his feet and started to run back to the stairway.

Ianto hesitated a moment to put a glow stick next to the unconscious guard before he followed Jack.

The Captain was already half way up to the next floor when Ianto started to climb the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He found Jack leaning next to the door, waiting for him. Ianto lifted his gun, showing Jack he was ready and watched him push the door open slowly.

The corridor was bathed in darkness, but they heard dull sounds like someone was moving furniture around, and groaning noises from the far end.

"That's the mayor's office," Ianto whispered.

Jack nodded and indicated Ianto to follow him. They made their way quickly through the corridor and stopped at the door to the mayor's office, each pressing their backs at either side of the door, guns raised.

Ianto gave a nod for being ready at Jack's questioning look and felt even more adrenaline rushing through his veins. His senses and reflexes were on high alert and he tightened the grip on his gun when Jack pushed the door open, entered the office and switched the lights on.

Ianto followed suit and almost bumped into Jack, who had stopped short. Throwing a glance over Jack's shoulder he could see why the Captain hadn't ventured further into the room.

"Oh fuck!"

They saw themselves confronted with a ten foot… Ianto wasn't sure what to call it. It was sort of wobbling around but had massive and compact arms and legs. It had turned when the lights went on and looked at them through big red eyes. Somehow that thing reminded Ianto of the Marshmallow Man from the Ghostbuster's movie, but the laugh that wanted to bubble up instantly died when the thing opened it's mouth and showed a few lines of razor sharp teeth while giving up another howl that made Ianto's blood run cold.

When the creature started to advance on them, Jack raised his weapon and started to fire. Ianto followed suit and soon the creature was howling in pain, but still coming closer. Ianto saw green blood pouring from the wounds and dripping on the floor and panicked when he realized his clip was empty. When he attempted to reload Jack threw himself forward at the creature yelling at Ianto to use the bigger gun. Thanking his reflexes for taking over as all he wanted to do was lunge at the creature to help Jack. Ianto pulled the bag down and rummaged through the content. Finally he found the weapon and lifted the heavy piece of equipment out of the bag to point it at the Marshmallow Man.

Astonished he noticed how Jack had managed to push the creature back a few yards, giving Ianto the time to find the weapon.

"Jack, down!" He yelled over the howls and grunts.

Jack didn't look at Ianto, he let himself go limp and fell down on the floor, managing to crawl away a few foot before the creature above him exploded and splattered its parts in a three yard radius, covering Jack with goo in the process.

Ianto was with his lover in a second. "Are you alright?"

Jack looked around wide eyed. "Wow, now that's a nice gun. I've always wondered what it would do, now I know."

"You had no idea if it would work?!" Ianto couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Jack had the decency to look guilty but the following broad grin on his face washed that away in an instant. "No, I had no idea what it would do, we never had a chance to test it, but I guessed it would make a big mess," He looked at Ianto who stood above him, arms akimbo.

"You are unbelievable, Jack Harkness!"

"I do my best, so… ouch!"

"What is it?" Ianto bent down next to Jack, worry written across his face.

"No, don't touch me… ah damn…" Jack winced. "I think the creature was a bit acidic on the inside," He looked at his arms, where the green goo was already eating through the fabric of his shirt.

"We need to get you out of these clothes. Now!" Ianto looked around and saw a small door which led hopefully to the private bathroom of the mayor. Getting up again, he ran to the door and opened it. "Come here Jack, quickly."

Stepping inside, Ianto switched the lights on and sighed with relief when he not only found a basin but a shower as well. Turning the shower on he looked back into the office and saw Jack scrambling to his feet. The pain was clearly readable on the Captain's face. Not waiting any longer, Ianto grabbed two towels from the shelf and headed back to help Jack.

"No, you can't touch me," Jack groaned. "The acid will burn you as well."

"It's okay, Jack, I'll be fine."

Using the towels Ianto got a hold on Jack and pulled him to the bathroom. Inside he made use of the already half disintegrated clothes and tore them off Jack's body.

"Don't you think we should wait for that until we're back at the Hub," Jack asked with a lopsided grin, wincing when the green goo hit his skin and started to burn its way through.

Ianto gave him a smile. "We'll get to that, the winner gets it all, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Now, let's get you under the shower."

Ianto helped Jack step under the warm spray and smiled when Jack gave a relieved sigh.

"Jack, Ianto, where are you?"

Tapping his earpiece, Ianto stepped back from the shower. "We're on the second floor, Owen. But there is a man on the first floor who needs your attention."

"Are you ok?" Tosh's voice came over the com as well.

"Yes, we're ok. We've dealt with the creature that came through the rift. Should be safe now."

Ianto looked at Jack who was rinsing the last of the goo off his body. He saw with relief that there were only a few burnt spots on Jack's body and they would heal fast. Then his glance fell to the ruined heap of clothes on the floor. "I guess we need to find you some new clothes…" Ianto mumbled.

"What?"

"What?"

"What? What's going on up there Ianto? I'm coming up," Gwen had obviously joined the party.

Ianto grinned at the confused outbursts of his team mates and threw a clean towel at Jack when he heard the shower being turned off. "Nothing guys, don't worry."

Ianto made his way back into the office to find something they could wrap Jack into. Looking around his gaze fell on the wall behind the mayor's desk and a wicked smile played over his face. He grabbed the wanted piece and headed back into the bathroom to present it to Jack.

"You're kidding right?" Jack looked from Ianto to the offending piece of cloth and back to Ianto again. "Or is this a kink I don't yet know about?" He added with a smirk.

"Just use it to cover yourself."

Having a hard time to ban the grin from his face, Ianto almost fled the bathroom to compose himself again. Now that the danger was gone, he felt the relief coming in giggles from his belly. Damn adrenaline… good in a fight but makes you high afterwards.

"Ewww, what happened in here?" Gwen stopped dead at the door and looked disgusted at the goo covered floor.

"The alien went with a bang."

Gwen shot Ianto a weird look. "I guess this will be a big clean up operation then," She took a few steps into the room and knelt next to a rather large bit of the former alien. "This is really disgusting."

"I wouldn't touch that," Jack offered when he appeared from the bathroom.

Looking at her boss, Gwen's eyes went wide and she had to stifle a laugh that wanted to escape. "Sorry, did I interrupt anything?" She managed to ask and stood up again.

"No, and we're fine by the way," Jack actually sounded offended.

"Yes, Ianto mentioned that."

Gwen had to bite her tongue and a look at Ianto showed her, he had the same problems. Clearing her throat to hide another giggle, she waved a hand vaguely at the mess on the floor. "So, what was it?"

"The Marshmallow Man," Ianto supplied and appeared to have a coughing fit while Jack was shooting daggers at his lover.

Owen and Toshiko chose that moment to join the group. "The guard will be fine, only a minor concussion. We've called an ambulance and... bloody hell!" Owen was rambling down his report when they entered the office and stopped short when he saw the mess on the floor. Then he looked up at Ianto and Jack and his eyes almost popped out of his head.

Toshiko came in after him and took the appearance of her Captain in with a small "Oh." After giving Jack a closer examination, she asked, "Jack, are you wearing a flag?"

"Well, that gives the term "Union Jack" a whole other meaning," stated Owen, causing everyone except Jack to burst out laughing.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves, because you will clean up this mess," Jack gave his qickly sobering team a superior smile. "And be careful, that creature was made of acid. You wouldn't want the pieces to touch your skin or clothes."

Jack made his way to the door, carefully avoiding any green spots on the carpet with his bare feet. "Ianto, you're with me."

"Oi, why doesn't he have to do cleaning?" Owen stood, hands on his hips, in the middle of the room, almost pouting.

"Because I need to discuss something with him," Jack offered and was out of the door followed by Ianto who looked apologetically at his team mates.

"Alright, alright, I don't wanna know," Owen screwed his face and earned a giggle from Tosh and Gwen.

The team looked after their Captain, wrapped in a flag and heard him say: "I win."

"Actually, it was me who shot the alien," Ianto objected, their voices fading slowly as they went further into the corridor.

Gwen, Tosh and Owen grinned at each other and set themselves to work on the goo splattered office.