Bloody Torchwood

"What's Torchwood?" Sirius asked and pocketed his wand as the park started to spin.

"We are," Harkness said. "We're here to help you."

"So you've said. But what do you do?" He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will away the nausea that was threatening to overtake him.

"That's not important right now." Harkness met his eyes and Jones--had there always been two of them there?--pulled something Sirius didn't recognise from his pocket.

It glowed a pale blue in the clouded moonlight, the rain shimmering in what little light the device produced as he pointed it at Sirius, moving it up and down. "What's that?"

"Scanner. Completely harmless," Jones said and frowned. "Jack, I think we'd better get him to Helen or back to the Hub as soon as possible. These energy readings are more than off."

Sirius vaguely wondered who Helen was and what energy readings were before his knees gave out and everything went dark.

***

"Of course he was with me!" Remus shouted and stopped his pacing in front of the fire.

"All right," James said, his head flickering in the emerald flames. "You think it was the Death Eaters?"

"Who else would it be?" Remus took a breath to steady himself. "What do we do, Prongs?"

"You said you didn't see anything?"

"We went for ice cream and cut through the park." Remus sighed. "We were going on about dinner at my mam's tonight--we were going to be late if we didn't Apparate back soon. I turned around and he wasn't there anymore."

He bent down in front of the grate and frowned at James.

"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary? Anyone following you? Anything that might have been suspicious?" James adjusted his glasses.

"James, as far as we know our own grandmothers could be Death Eaters." Remus sighed as James raised an eyebrow. "No. No one was following us. One of us would have noticed. The wind picked up for a moment before he disappeared, but a freak storm isn't necessarily out of the ordinary this time of year. And I think I would have--along with everyone else in Cardiff--seen a great big Dark Mark hovering over the park if there'd been one."

"Hmm," James said. "There's only one active cell in south Wales that we know of....They could have had something to do with it. They could have gone against Voldemort's orders and attacked without following protocol."

"So Mad-Eye said."

"You called Moody?"

"No, I was going to tell the police a rogue bunch of wizards possibly abducted my boyfriend," Remus quipped. "Who else should I have called? My patronus came back when I tried to contact Dumbledore."

James sighed. "He didn't mention anything when Williamson and I bumped into him in the lift this afternoon. Though he did seem too busy muttering to himself about 'those imbeciles in the Department of fucking Mysteries' at the time. Did he tell you anything about it?"

"Just that he'd look into it," Remus said and bit his thumbnail. "And that he thought Sirius was just having us on. James?"

"Yeah?"

"This doesn't feel like an attack. It would have been bigger--someone would have taken credit for it. We'd know by now if he was dead, wouldn't we?"

James looked over his shoulder and Remus heard a door slam in the background. "I don't know, Remus. Look, I think it's time we told Dumbledore. I'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks in half an hour."

Remus nodded. "What about Lily and Peter?"

"There's no point in worrying them right now," James said. "Peter's been off and Lily's two months gone. Let's just see if Dumbledore knows something we don't and then we'll tell them."

"Fine," Remus sighed. "I'll see you in a bit, yeah?"

James nodded resolutely. "We'll find him, Moony. Even if it kills us."

Remus half-smiled as the flames flared, bathing the small room in an emerald glow.

Even if it kills us.

Things never went well when someone tempted fate like that.

***

"He is rather handsome, don't you think?" Jack said as he pulled Sirius's wand from his jeans pocket.

"If you go for the whole Gary Oldman meets Jim Morrison thing." Ianto took the wand and held it up in the moonlight slipping through the clouds. "What do you reckon this thing is?"

"No idea." Jack pulled Sirius's wallet from his back pocket. "Ten quid...condom... some old pieces of paper...and a motorcycle driving license. Sirius Black--London--just gone twenty in his timeline."

"Is he all right?" Ianto frowned. "He looks fine, but those readings were off the scale."

"Time travel without a capsule can be a bitch." Jack looked up at Ianto and grinned. "Do you think Helen would believe us if we said he was radioactive?"

Ianto raised an eyebrow, shuddering despite himself as the breeze picked up. "I believe she might think you were having her on at first." He paused. "You don't think he is, do you?"

Jack studied Sirius for a moment before handing the wallet to Ianto, who bagged it with his wand.

"No more so than Banana Boat, I hope. We'll get him settled at Flat Holm and let them look over him just in case. We can take a look at those energy readings first thing tomorrow."

Ianto sighed and looked at his watch. "It's going to be another long night, isn't it?"

"We can come in late tomorrow," Jack said and picked Sirius up with a groan. "Heavier than he looks."

"Need any help?"

"I've got him." Jack gave him a grin and started walking back to the SUV.

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Are you sure we should leave Gwen alone in the Hub yet?"

"She's a big girl," Jack called back. "She can take care of herself. Besides who says she'll be there in the morning either?"

Ianto chuckled, jogging to catch up with Jack. "I take it this wasn't what you had planned for tonight?"

"Nope," Jack said as the SUV came back into sight. "I was rather hoping for a nice quiet dinner at home."

"'Dinner' wouldn't be a euphemism, would it?"

"Am I that transparent?"

"When it comes to sex, yes," Ianto said, hurrying forward to open the door. "I'll get the space blanket."

"You love it," Jack teased and eased Sirius into the back seat. He smiled at Ianto as he handed him the blanket from the boot. "Thanks."

"Don't flatter yourself, sir." Ianto returned his smile as Jack laughed quietly and shivered against the rain.

Jack tucked the blanket snugly around Sirius and sighed as he took a step back when he finished. "What are we going to tell him when he wakes up?"

Ianto took Jack's hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "We could always tell him he's been injured and hallucinating about the future. Maybe play some Bowie for effect."

Jack poked Ianto in the side playfully before slamming the door shut, careful of Black's feet. "You're being unusually cheeky tonight."

"I've been up since this time yesterday morning chasing aliens through half of Cardiff. I don't think that nap I had in the Archives this afternoon constitutes a good night's sleep," Ianto deadpanned and let go of Jack's hand. "I have a right to be a little more 'cheeky' than usual."

Jack smiled, leaning in for a kiss. "We'll get him settled and then we can go home and sleep. Sound like a plan?"

"Just sleep?" Ianto asked, stifling a yawn.

"Disappointed?"

"Maybe."

Jack raised an eyebrow and absently traced Ianto's jaw with his thumb. "C'mon. Let's get out the rain."

"I'll let Helen know we're coming," Ianto said, already pulling out his mobile as Jack slid behind the wheel.