Sixteen days after Gray's rampage found the three remaining members of Torchwood 3 running on fumes. The only moments of calm they had found since the deaths of Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper was on the day Ianto had found Tosh's farewell message. That day they stood, already emotionally exhausted by the pain of loss, Captain Jack Harkness with his arms around Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper vowing to face the future together.

Then alarms began going off around the HUB. Reports were pouring in about odd remains found at the central server building, St Helen's Hospital and many other locations in addition to the destruction left behind by the multiple, massive explosions. Damage control, weevil wrangling and assorted rift activity kept them working non-stop. An attempt was made to retcon some of the witnesses, but it soon became evident that too many people were involved for that to be a reasonable action.

They had been able to assign some of the more comprehensible disasters to the Cardiff Police Department, but with the loss of their command structure they were more than a bit befuddled themselves. Fortunately, training took over and they took orders from Torchwood with little fuss or offense.

Still, for more than two weeks they handled far to much work with far too few personnel. Some nights they managed a few hours sleep slumped over desks or on a couch, but in general coffee and adrenaline kept them going.

After yet another Weevil hunt, Jack trudged up from the holding cells, where he had deposited said Weevil, and looked blearily around the HUB. Gwen was sitting on the low sofa, holding an icepack to her bruised shoulder as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Her cell phone lay on the table in front of her, buzzing, but she seemed not to notice it. It was probably Rhys, worried about her, wondering if she was coming home or, failing that, if they'd like him to stop by with some take away.

Ianto was carefully making his way over to her, bearing a tray with three mugs of extra strong coffee in his shaking hands. Instead of his usual impeccably tailored suit, he wore battered jeans, a t shirt and a hoodie, style long since sacrificed to comfort and practicality. Dark, bruised looking crescents sat under his eyes, prominent against his pale skin and he sported a nasty scrape on his chin as well as others concealed by his clothes, if the hesitant way he sat was any indication.

Approaching his two young Welsh friends, Jack lowered himself down beside Ianto and accepted his coffee. With a sigh, he inhaled the aroma and took a sip. "I think the worst has passed for the moment," he said, turning his head to regard them and wincing as his neck cracked. "Go get some rest. At least 12 hours of sleep."

Brown and Blue eyes blinked sleepily at him, met, then bounced back to him. "You think we're just going to leave you to deal with things alone!" Gwen yelped indignantly, frowning over the rim of her mug.

"Not likely," Ianto agreed dryly, slumping back against the sofa and allowing his head to hit the wall with a dull thunk.

"I'm serious," Jack insisted. "The last thing we need is for one of you to get yourselves killed because you're too tired to think straight. We've got a bit of peace. Take advantage of it."

"We'll rest after we get some back up," Gwen mumbled mimicking Ianto's posture with a pout.

"Martha's last text said two of the people you requested should be here in the next day or so and the others shortly there after," Ianto supplied, raising his head a bit when Jack stretched his arm along the back of the sofa, then pillowing it against the warm bicep. "Dr.'s Wallace and Knight first I believe."

"Mmmhmm," Jack replied, tipping his head to rest against Ianto's while Gwen's head leaned into his palm. "We're getting four new staff."

"Four?" Gwen questioned without moving.

"Tech, medical, admin and…educated muscle, basically" Jack said, causing Ianto to snort softly in amusement.

"Educated muscle?"

"You'll see."