Title: The Fundamental Things
Author: Clarity
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Jack/Ianto and Jack/Gwen primarily
Warning: Gwen bashing, There is some torture but it's "offscreen". It's a hurt/comfort essentially.
Note: This is a bit different to my usual I think, so might not be to everyone's liking. Extra warning for Gwen-lovers... she gets a bit of a rough ride in this one. Sorry!
Summary: A traumatic experience brings Jack and Ianto closer together, to Gwen's dismay.

***

You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny...


On some level Jack knew it wasn't fair. What he was doing to Ianto was selfish. It wasn't as if he could fight back and he knew he was trying. He could feel it in the way Ianto was weakly straining back against his lips, trying to get away.

All he could think about was keeping him alive. Nothing else mattered. His whole world had centred down to this one task and whatever Ianto said, or did, or screamed, or yelled at him he was not going to stop. No way.

Ianto stopped trying to escape and just started sobbing. Jack felt the tears roll down and moisten their parched, dry lips.

'Please stop this,' Ianto was gasping between kisses, 'please, please, please no more.'

'No,' he replied, with no scope for argument. Jack was certain that he was the only thing keeping the poor bastard alive right now. There was no way he was going to stop.

He didn't stop kissing him for what seemed like hours. Finally, Ianto grew strong enough to really push him away and rolled over, out of his arms, onto the floor, having to fight his lungs to breathe through the pain. 'Why can't you leave me alone?' he gasped, and cried. 'I'm not like you. Any of you. I can't... I don't... I never wanted to... be like... be a hero... be on a team... go out and pretend I can stand it. I'm not made for this. P-please stop this. I can't bear it anymore.'

Jack lay behind him and tried to hold him as best he could without hurting him. It was difficult with so many burn marks and bruises all over his pale skin. 'I'm sorry but I'm not going to let you die. We're getting out of this. You just have to hang on.'

'When? It's been days. If they could m-make it work, they'd have done it by now.' Really it had been a fluke that Jack had activated the piece of alien technology the team had tracked down and brought back to the base. None of them knew how it worked. Ianto had only been sucked in and taken along for the ride as well as Jack because he happened to be standing next to him, serving a drink. That the others hadn't managed to get it working yet, after days, seemed very ominous. Ianto was certain it was over for him. He was going to die here.

It didn't even seem to be earth. They had dropped into a holding cell at the side of some sort of arena under a dark, greenish sky with no moon or stars. It looked a bit like a gladiator training ground from Roman times, except the other prisoners there were all mindless cow-like animals and the guards looked like men, except with really big pulsating heads and deep red skin. The place was eerily silent considering the fact that there seemed to be thousands gathered in the round, looking down.

The guards had seemed puzzled over the pair of them but got over it quickly. They pulled them out, stripped them of clothes and strung them up onto big cross-shaped things standing in the middle of the arena. Men in masks circled around them and started using all kinds of torture devices, mostly sticks that would shock and electrocute. They had taken Jack down quickly, looking quite disappointed, and he had been dragged away into a holding cell too far away to see but not quite far enough not to hear them carry on hurting Ianto. Only later did he guess that they were telepathic, and were getting their entertainment from inflicting pain, perhaps feeding on that somehow. Since his mind could not be penetrated in that way, they had discarded him in favour of Ianto. It was such a cruel joke, since of the two of them he was the better equipped and by far the more likely to recover from such treatment.

It had been more than four days now. Every time they'd dragged Ianto back to their cell and let him alone for a while, Jack had shared his lifeforce, desperately doing his best to keep him strong and alive. With no food and water it was becoming harder. Both of them were cold, miserable, covered in dust, mud, piss, puke, dung and shit from the cell's previous occupants, from themselves and from each other, just barely clinging onto the last hope that somehow the team would come through and bring them back.

Jack wondered if he was going insane. Sometimes, when he was holding Ianto in arms, the face of James, the childhood friend who had been slowly killed in front of him when they were captured by the enemy, would drift in front of him and he'd have to blink it away. This was so like reliving that terror it was driving him to the edge. Once more he was being left alone while a dear friend was paying the price for his stupidity. He had persuaded James to join up. He'd watched James die horrifically when he had been barely touched. And now, if he hadn't have messed around with that device, whatever the hell it was, Ianto wouldn't have been taken with him and this nightmare wouldn't be happening.

He knew only one thing for sure; Ianto was not going to die. He wouldn't let him. Not like he let James. He'd force him to stay living whether he liked it or not. 'Shhh, don't talk like that,' he muttered. 'They'll figure out how to make it work. There's nothing Toshiko can't do with technology. And Gwen? You know she'll tear the world apart to find us.'

Ianto nodded and sniffled, finally running out of tears. 'She will. She loves you.'

He paused, feeling a little weird about it for some reason, before nodding and agreeing. 'Yes.'

'I... I meant to say this before, but never found the right moment. Felt a bit odd an' all. N-not that this is a good moment. I think I should say it now, while I can. C-congratulations.' Ianto's voice was soft and a little feverish.

'Congratulations for what?'

'You're getting married, aren't you?'

A cold chill took his spine and made Jack shiver. There was a nasty draught in the cell which got him every now and then. He held onto Ianto a little tighter, needing his warmth. 'Married? No, not at all. What gave you that impression?'

'Oh. I s-saw Gwen looking at one of those bridal catalogues. I thought, since you live with her now...'

Jack frowned for a moment, wondering. Then he remembered. 'Oh, no that... that wasn't for us. Her next door neighbour is getting hitched. Gwen's the maid of honour.' He'd met the woman at the dinner party Gwen had insisted they throw, to celebrate his moving in with her. She seemed nice. All of her coupled up, normal with a capital "N" friends were. Very polite, though one or two did have to dance around Gwen's breakup with Rhys, since they had obviously known him well. That had been a bit awkward. 'Hold on, you know we're, you know...?'

'Living together?' Ianto nodded again. He was still wincing and fighting his pain but, as usual, he had taken a tangent in discussion to keep his mind off it. It was his way of coping, Jack supposed. He had come out with some bizarre stuff over the course of the last few days (his recipe for marmite and orange whip amongst them). 'C-can't hide anything from a good dogsbody.'

'I guess.' Jack wasn't quite sure how he felt that Ianto knew all about that. He hadn't told the team anything about it, since he wasn't really sure what to say to them. He hadn't done the domestic thing for decades. Not since he'd married Estelle. It was taking a fair bit of getting used to.

'The base is different at night now you're not there. Don't know why.'

'No snoring?' he joked, knowing full well he didn't.

'Maybe that's it.' He sighed a long, deep sigh. 'Why won't you let me die?'

Though he had no idea how he'd looped back onto that train of thought, Jack went along with it. 'Because we're going to be rescued. Soon. Trust me.'

'It doesn't matter because... because...' He frowned, seeming confused. 'You're not keeping me alive because of what happened between us b-before are you? Because you're with Gwen now so it's not... it's not...' Ianto sounded a little delirious but Jack understood what he was saying.

'No, that was just to make you feel better. Remember?' It had been after their disastrous team outing to the Brecon Beacons, where they'd been attacked by cannibals and Ianto had almost ended up as somebody's lunch. So close in fact, he'd had bitemarks on his body, from where the villagers had all had a laugh each marking out the bits they wanted to eat while he was all handcuffed up and alone there with them. He'd been so fragile after that, like a little bird fallen out of its nest, Jack had been unable to resist taking care of him. He'd hauled him to the showers that evening, washed him from head to toe, taken him to his bed below his office and gently sucked him off to get him to relax enough to go to sleep. Then he'd held him close right through until morning. Kind of the way he was holding him now.

'Yes.' There was a pause and Jack could see the cogs turning in his mind. Not quite as smoothly as usual, but turning still. 'You can't do that this time,' he said with a chuckle followed by a grimace. 'N-not that I want you to. Just saying. And I er... I think it's nice you've got someone. Settled down a bit. It's no good to be alone an' I always thought it a shame that you locked yourself away the way you did.'

Jack didn't really know how to respond. Though most of the time he was gung-ho and happy to have a chat and a giggle about his sex life, talking about Gwen made him uncomfortable and he wasn't sure why. He supposed it must be because it was love.

'When I was goin' to 'ave a kid, 'e was gonna be called Rhodri.' Ianto had lapsed into his thickest Welsh accent, as he tended to do when he was losing it a bit. 'You goin' to 'ave a kid? Gwen was tellin' me once she wanted one. Was gonna 'ave one soon maybe with Rhys, you know, before she met you and joined Torchwood.'

'I think we're a fair way off that prospect.' Honestly, the thought filled him with sheer terror. Definitely not on the menu.

'Sorry, I'm... I don't know what I'm saying,' Ianto apologised. 'I keep thinking o' Lisa. Like... if she were still around she'd be missing me. T'would be nice to be missed.'

'Shhh,' he kissed him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture, 'we'd all miss you. I would.'

'Really?'

'Of course.'

That seemed to settle his mind a bit. 'Good. 'Cause I... I d-don't think I'll be back n-next time.'

'Would you stop talking like that? You're going to be fine.' Jack had to restrain himself from turning him over and slapping him across the face. He didn't want to hear that because it was not true. Not happening on his watch.

'The other creatures they're tormentin' are dying fast. I think they're findin' it strange I keep survivin'. It gets worse every time. The 'lectricity makes holes in m-my insides, I can feel it. If I 'ad any piss in me I'd be pissing blood.' He snickered perversely at that.

'Maybe we should be grateful for small mercies then, eh?'

'Like, I could be stuck 'ere wi' Owen?'

'There's one.' Jack grinned. That was more like it. It was better if they joked around; made it easier to convince himself that Ianto was going to fine and that he wasn't going to have to endure the pain of listening to him go through it all again and then them not bringing him back to him.

'Or they could be cannibals. Met more than my fair share o' them and t'would be just my luck to meet s'more.'

'Let it never be said that working for Torchwood is boring.'

'Not even when you're j-just there to make the c-coffee.'

'You do more than that and you know it.' For some reason Jack felt it was important to press that fact. Ianto had to know he was more than that; that they needed him. 'Okay, sure that was pretty much all the job description entailed initially but I didn't expect to get a former top-level suit from Torchwood One applying for menial tasks. I was expecting a low ranking scruff from Scotland.'

Ianto chuckled and hurt himself yet again, stiffening Jack's arms for a moment to let the pain pass. 'I di'n ever expect to end up applying for that type o' job.'

'I took one look at your CV and I couldn't pass you up.'

'Is "CV" short for "ass"?'

'Can't get anything past you,' he admitted with a laugh. 'Yes, it stands for curvy... uh...'

'Vice?'

'Cruel vice. Every time you lean over. Or walk. Or just generally stand around, existing.'

'Tha's not only 'arassment, Sir, it's cheatin' too. Probably 'bout time you put such talk aside.' He let his eyes slide closed. 'Mind if I sleep? I really just wanna b-black out for a while.'

'Sure. I'll be here.'

'I know.' The hand curled Jack's tightened a little and he relaxed down.

Jack pushed away the dancing, tormenting thoughts of James which flashed before his eyes once more. This wasn't the same as then. He wasn't little more than a kid and he wasn't helpless this time. He could deal with it. He was stronger now.

It was another few hours before he heard heavy footsteps and the clattering of gates being opened. Jack immediately tightened his grip on Ianto, who woke with a start and a muffled cry which turned to choked gasps for breath when he heard them coming too.

Quick as a flash Jack was on his feet, hiding behind the door. Yes, he'd tried this before, and so far it hadn't made much difference, but there was nothing else to do. He waited for the guards to enter and leapt on them.

Predictably, the shock-sticks they carried at all times were driven into his back, shooting pain throughout his body. He fought hard though and managed to floor one of them, smacking his head on the wall and knocking him out. Unfortunately this merely earned him a few extra kicks and a shock driven into the back of his neck.

Darkness exploded around him in stars as they carried Ianto away.

*

Jack woke up fighting. Something was restraining him and he had to get away. Get away and stop them taking Ianto.

'Jack? Jack stop it! Jack!'

The voice snapped him out it and he froze. It was Gwen. He was in her arms, clawing at her. 'Gwen?'

She smiled, eyes lighting up. 'Yes, I'm here. I've got you.'

'How?'

'Tosh figured it out. That thing wasn't just a teleporter it was a whole world in itself. You were put inside it somehow, really small. I am so sorry it took so long.'

'Ianto?' His heart near leapt out of his chest just in saying his name.

'It's okay, Owen and Tosh took him right to the hospital. He'll be fine.'

'I need to... need to go see him... need to...' He tried to get to his feet but Gwen wouldn't let him.

'Jack, you need to rest. You've been hurt.'

'No I...' He caught sight of the alien device standing on the corner of Toshiko's desk. Immediately he went for the gun belt which had been left on the coffee table just beside them and grabbed the weapon from it. If that thing contained the hell they had been trapped inside, then he wanted nothing more than to crush it with all the violence due. Jack shot the silvery disk to pieces before Gwen even had a chance to ask him what he was doing. Then he smashed up the remaining fragments with the butt of the gun in a frenzy. In his mind he was popping every last hideous pulsating head of those creatures. Paying them back for what they had done.

Slender, caring arms enveloped him and Gwen's soothing voice calmed him. 'You need a shower,' she said, in a nasal way which really emphasised the fact. 'And you need to rest.'

'Ianto...'

'Is in safe hands. Toshiko will call if there's anything we need to know. Just relax. You need to take care of yourself now.'

She was giving him her determined face. The one which told him there was not an inch of budge in this matter. Jack gave her a nod and allowed her to help him onto his feet. With his focus so firmly set on Ianto he hadn't realised just how weak he'd become as well. He felt like a newborn gazelle. Gwen braved the stink to help him over to the lift and took him down to the showers.

Jack didn't get to go see Ianto until the next day. He had first been sent to surgery to deal with his internal injuries and then put in intensive care. He looked a real mess all bandaged up and knocked out. Jack ached for him.

Every night he woke up hearing his screams, and saw James being tortured, and he would duel with his covers trying to reach them. Since Gwen was coming in to work with bags under her eyes, he moved out of their bedroom and into the guest room for a while, even if she said it was alright and she'd rather be there to calm him. Generally she made things worse if he was honest, though he couldn't exactly admit that to her face.

After a four or so days, Ianto was well enough to be moved off the critical list and sent to an ordinary room. Being on the government payroll it was automatic private care and Ianto got his own room with a television and as many beige coloured blankets as any man could desire.

The first time Jack visited him there, he came with the others and it was all kept very polite. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to say to Ianto; only that it couldn't be said in front of company. It felt like some kind of pressure build up inside standing around with them. He felt enormously frustrated.

So the next evening he warned everybody else off and went to see him alone. The fear he'd been living with, without even being able to express it to himself, dissipated a little when he was able to hold his hand. He realised that the way Ianto had been torn away from him so quickly, removing his chance to hold him and care for him that final time, as he had every time before, had left him with a strange feeling of dread. It was as if his brain wouldn't quite accept that Ianto really was going to be okay when he hadn't had the chance to intervene and make sure of it himself.

At first their conversation was cordial. That didn't last long, unsurprisingly. Jack soon ended up climbing in beside him and holding onto him.

Somehow Ianto seemed to understand exactly what he needed and allowed him the contact, even if he wasn't exactly all that comfortable with so many wounds in need of care. In all honesty he had been craving the feeling of being wrapped up in Jack's arms again. He didn't protest when Jack kissed him either. He said nothing when tears began to roll down Jack's cheeks; just gently thumbed them away.

It wasn't particularly conscious at first. Jack only really realised he was transferring energy between them again when Ianto broke off and thanked him. When he did realise what he was doing, he didn't want to stop. The reasoning was obvious. Left as he was, Ianto had roughly two months in hospital with rigorous physiotherapy and possible skin patching to look forwards to. Jack knew he could do something about that.

At the end of visiting hour they were separated. But Jack promised to come back the next day, and every day after that until he was better. He left feeling somewhat of a buzz. Somehow, pushing the energy out, thinning it, made him feel more human; more alive himself. He hadn't realised how much Ianto had helped him back in that dark, dirty cell just by needing him to do it.

After a week of Jack visiting every evening and having a lot of fun kissing Ianto to oblivion, the Doctors began to talk of miracle recoveries. After only three, with not one skin patch even required, Ianto was cleared to go home if he wanted to, with the proviso that somebody be there to take care of him.

Jack invited him over to stay at to his and Gwen's house the moment he heard, though he didn't think to ask Gwen until Ianto was being wheeled through the door.

*

The first they knew of her return home was the very audible gasp she made when she entered the living room and caught sight of them.

Ianto yelped and nearly jumped out of his skin in shock. He scrabbled frantically for a towel to cover himself up, although on some level he knew it was already too late; there was no way Gwen had missed the fact that he was hard.

Hard, naked, and pressed up against her very nearly naked boyfriend.

He thought he would die of shame right then and there.

Jack just craned his neck around and looked nonplussed. 'You're home,' he commented. Apparently he didn't see any problem with lying on the floor of his girlfriend's living room, half on top of a naked man, kissing his face off amongst a nest of towels and ointments. Ianto stared up at him with utter bewilderment. 'I thought you were going straight on to the bar after the party.'

When he turned around again, back so that Ianto could see his face, he realised that Jack wasn't quite as calm as he had sounded. From the expression he was wearing, it seemed he knew full well what it looked like and that this was going to be a tricky one to explain.

After all, Ianto knew for a fact that that wasn't no table leg poking him the thigh. And the thin pants Jack was wearing — the only thing he was wearing, incidentally — didn't exactly leave much scope for hiding that. The moment he moved away and turned around Ianto knew Jack would end up giving her an eyeful of bulge. Then again it wasn't as if he could stay put there, sprawled over him, for much longer without arousing suspicion.

As it happened that was apparently what Jack was intending to try. Casually, he grabbed one of the bottles of ointment, spread some on his hand and continued dabbing it delicately on the circular burns marking Ianto's torso, as he had been doing an hour previously, before they'd just ended up kissing.

'Uh... uh... it finished earlier than I expected.' She flailed, watching Jack with a mixture of confusion and incredulity on her face.

'Oh right. Did Andy like the DVD you got him? What was it, The Green Mile?'

Gwen let her bag slide from her shoulder and slowly removed her coat, but her wide eyes never left them once. 'Jack, can I... can I talk to you for a second? In the dining room.'

'Sure honey, I'll be with you in a few minutes. Just need to finish here.'

Okay, he'd bought them time. Ianto didn't have a problem himself anymore; his dick had run for cover the moment he saw Gwen. But he knew Jack was taking a little longer to get rid of his erection and he really was having to fight himself to do it.

Ianto didn't even know why it had started happening. He didn't consider what they did sexual, not really. It was medicinal. Just something to help him get better. Getting hard against each other had crept up on them both, but since it wasn't as if they hadn't been hard in front of each other before, they had both just let it happen. Quite often it would subside on its own after a while. Or they'd respectfully retreat into solitude and relieve themselves. There was never any question of allowing it to become sexual because Jack was with Gwen. Ianto knew this, Jack knew this, and neither had any wish to betray that. Out of respect they had kept the kissing to a minimum and only when she wasn't home. In fact, even touching was pretty much off bounds when Gwen was in the house. Ianto didn't want her thinking that Jack's Mother Henning was something it wasn't.

He had to admit though, this really didn't look good. Ianto really couldn't blame her for leaping to the conclusions she was clearly leaping to. In her position he would have done the same.

Gwen gave Jack one last quick glance before she retreated backwards out of the room, frowning deeply.

'What are you going to say?' Ianto whispered, once the door had clicked closed.

'Nothing to say. We weren't doing anything wrong.'

Ianto's eyebrow gave a cynical response to that but he didn't say anything. He considered bringing up the disconcerting fact that Gwen had seen his dick giving Jack a full standing salute and dismissed the thought. The Captain wasn't stupid. He knew she had seen that. He had to know how it had looked.

The breath was knocked out of him as Jack's eager lips were pressed against his again and a tongue cheekily swiped his bottom lip. Jack gave him a bright smile which seemed totally at odds with the situation. 'You're cute when you're worried,' he commented, running a hand through his hair like he hadn't a care in the world.

'This isn't really the time to play harassment games.' Ianto pushed him away by the shoulder and delicately shuffled aside a little. He dragged himself up into a seated position, trying not to wince too much at the little spikes of pain that accompanied the effort.

'You spoil all my fun,' Jack pouted. He lazily got up onto his feet, stretched and scratched his ass with some relish.

'I hope not.'

Jack turned, expecting to see a sly smile but Ianto looked deadly serious.

'I hope I haven't... you know, ruined things for you and her. This was... I don't know what it was.' Ianto carefully pulled on some underwear, not meeting Jack's eyes.

'It's fine. We weren't doing anything wrong,' he insisted, and frowned at Ianto's expression, 'were we?'

'No!' he replied, too quickly. 'No not at all.'

'Right. And that's what I'll tell her.' Jack shrugged and padded out of the living room, leaving Ianto to sit with his head in his hands, groaning.

Gwen was pacing the room, one hand on her hip, the other rubbing her forehead. Her eyes looked very teary and that alone was enough to make Jack feel like a heel, even if he was certain she would understand once it was all explained.

She stopped when she saw him and gave him a hard stare. 'What was that?'

'What? It was nothing. I was just treating him.'

A harsh, barking laugh escaped her. 'Wasn't what it looked like to me. Jack, you were practically lying on top of him! Naked! Or as good as.'

'I was just putting him at ease. I can't put the cream on his wounds if he's got clothes on, so I said I'd take mine off too.'

'You were kissing him.'

He rolled his eyes. 'Look, you remember your first day on the job with us at Torchwood, when you managed to release that alien gas thing with the sex addiction?'

She nodded and shrugged as if to ask what the hell that had to do with anything.

'I gave that girl a good snog and the alien left her body without killing her. Well that's because, part of whatever it is that makes it impossible to kill me, gives me the ability to transfer some of it in a kiss. When Ianto and I were captured, that's how I kept him alive. It's how he's been getting better so quickly. That's all it is. It's just medicine.'

Gwen stared at him for a long moment, assessing him, trying to understand. 'So... you've been doing that all along? While he's been here?'

He shrugged, not about to admit that they'd avoided it when she was home, just in case that looked a little incriminating; as if they had something to hide, when clearly they didn't.

'He was... he was hard for you!' she said, stabbing at the air with a finger, every word forced out harshly.

Jack looked at her as if she'd suddenly sprouted a second head. 'Hell-o. I'm hot!' he informed her, as if that was so obvious it was an insult to say it out loud. He tried to pull her into his arms and give her a reassuring hug but she wasn't having any of it just yet.

'I want him out,' she growled.

'What? He's not ready...'

'Oh he's fine and you know it. He's been more than capable of looking after himself for a week now.' Gwen promptly changed tack on seeing the frown which met this, taking a far more gentle tone of voice. 'I would have thought you'd be eager to get rid of him. We've hardly had any time together. We haven't even slept together in weeks, while he's been here. You can't have not noticed that.'

Actually he had, but that was just because he hadn't felt like it. Not with Ianto across the hallway. He wasn't usually so prudish though.

'I want him out,' she repeated, softly.

Their attentions were drawn to the doorway as Ianto cleared his throat. He gave them both an apologetic look. Gwen looked aside, arms folded, while Jack was distracted admiring how good he looked in brown corduroy trousers buttoned just off the hips and a slim-fitting caramel t-shirt. Not that it was the first time he'd seen him wearing that. He just particularly liked that combination.

'The walls... not soundproofed,' he said, quietly. 'I just wanted to say, I think Gwen's right. I am much better now. I can take care of myself. And I think... I've outstayed my welcome.'.

'Ianto...'

'Jack.' He gave him a stern look as if to warn him not to argue. 'I have to go sometime and, well, it is past that time now. I'd uh... I'd like to go home too. Time to myself and all before I go back to work.' Ianto swallowed a lump in his throat and approached Gwen. 'It wasn't... it wasn't what it looked like, but I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come between you two. That wasn't my intention at all.'

Slowly she raised her eyes to him and gave him a wane smile.

He returned it. 'Have a nice meal this evening. I'll be gone before you get back.' Ianto gave them both an awkward nod and left the room.

Jack started after him but Gwen grabbed him by the wrist and turned him back to her. 'I ordered us a taxi on the way home. It'll be here in just over an hour.'

'Hmmm?'

'To take us to the restaurant, remember? You were going to meet me there but since Andy's party finished early, and the car's still getting repairs, I thought I'd book us a taxi early and get there in good time...'

'Right, right,' he said, still somewhat distant. 'That's fine. I guess I'd better put some clothes on.'

'It is generally expected in restaurants.' She grabbed him again as he moved and pulled him into her arms, kissing him. Jack tried his best to be enthusiastic about it. He wasn't really in the mood. Ianto was leaving and since he really didn't want him to go he felt more than a little numb. More so than he'd ever anticipated would be the case. Jack pulled away before she was ready to let him go and went to go and get dressed up, making clear his displeasure in his posture.

Gwen blinked and pursed her lips while she considered what to do about what she had seen. In the end she decided to just let it go and try to put it out of her mind in favour of their evening together. After all, once Ianto was gone things would go back to normal. She could scarcely say she would be all that sad to see the back of him. Not that she disliked Ianto per se. He was funny and unassuming and had her in stitches every now and then when they'd all sat around watching television in the evenings. There was nothing all that wrong with him in that regard. He was just one of those people who kept so much hidden it sometimes felt awkward to be around him. Okay, Jack was also a fervent mystery man but he had a way with him that could mean he'd dance around a question every which way and still leave a girl with the impression she knew his soul. Ianto could be all life and soul one minute and a blank the next and it made her uncomfortable. That, and Jack did have a way of ignoring her when he was around, which she had noticed more and more, even if he didn't seem all that aware of it. She didn't like their flirty banter. She just didn't like him being at the centre of their lives, period. That had been the main reason for her organising this meal, to get some time alone with Jack and to discuss sending Ianto packing.

Seemed that part was redundant now. Still, that was no reason not to make the most of the evening, Gwen reasoned. She wasn't about to let yet another example of Jack having no sense of boundaries get to her. If she had learned anything about being with him, it was that that was a road that led to nowhere. That was just Jack. He was so much more complicated than Rhys ever was, but she quickly pushed that stray thought aside, occupying her mind instead with hurrying up the stairs to go find something to wear.

She hadn't planned on getting dressed up any more than she already was, but now she had something to celebrate. Finally, after three weeks, they were getting their lives back.

*

Ianto looked out of the window, grimly. Of course, it had to be raining. That was just sodding typical. Not that he minded much really; it matched his mood if he was honest, however much he was trying to push the feeling aside. To let the full extent of his depression wash over him would be to admit just how much Jack had got to him. There was no point in that.

He peered at the passing cars through the murky darkness, trying to identify one as a taxi. It wasn't supposed to arrive for at least another five or ten minutes but Ianto figured that, while the universe did love to shit on him sometimes, it might not begrudge him a taxi arriving early. A pinprick of luck wasn't too much to ask, was it? Really?

Headlights did a slight turn in and momentarily dazzled him. It looked like his ride had arrived. And early. Ianto smiled privately to himself over that.

Carefully he pulled his wheelie bag to the door, doing his best not to succumb to the urge to whimper as the movement pulled at some patches of skin that weren't ready to be pulled quite yet. Ianto stepped out delicately and made a slow dash for the taxi down the path, which came out more as a fast walking pace, feeling the cold rain eagerly drenching him.

He stopped as on seeing the back door open and someone getting. It had to be someone else's taxi, not his after all. Ianto cursed the universe's crappy sense of humour under his breath and turned around to drag himself and his luggage back inside.

A hand grasped onto his shoulder and spun him around before he even had a chance to gasp in surprise.

It was Jack. One hand snaked around his back and the other under his knees and Ianto was swept up into his arms. Jack laughed, heartily as Ianto held onto him and spun him around. They were both soon soaked to the bone in the downpour. Butterflies danced a samba in Ianto's stomach as Jack kissed him and kissed him and spun him around in the rain and held him as though he never wanted to let go of him again.

'What...? How...? You...?' Ianto stuttered, making Jack chuckle.

'I realised I couldn't let you go.'

Ianto was thankful for the rain because it hid the tears of relief he hadn't even known had been so close to the surface. 'But... but Gwen...?'

'I said I didn't feel right us being out having a meal while you were struggling to pack and go home all alone. In the end she relented and let me go.'

'Oh God,' Ianto groaned. 'You just left her there?'

'No, I called Toshiko and Owen and they said they'd go join her for the meal. Besides, she's not my boss. I never wanted a keeper. I can do what I want... choose who I want. And anyway, if she hadn't have agreed I would have climbed out of the bathroom window. Artless sure, but I couldn't stay. Had to tell you something.'

'You did?'

'Yep.' He spun him around in his arms once or twice more, seeing and feeling nothing but him.

'What did you want to tell me?' Ianto breathed, amazed he was still able to talk.

Jack grinned and kissed him with an admirable gentility. 'You're the one that want,' he whispered into his ear.

'Ooo ooo ooo honey?' Ianto smiled back at him.

He didn't get the 21st century reference for a second or two. When he did it made him laugh. 'Oh... oh yeah! The one that I need, oh yes indeed.'

'I got chills,' Ianto informed him but couldn't resist breaking off from the rest to share said chills in another kiss. 'It's raining, by the way,' he said, the water so heavy it was getting in his eyes now.

'Raining men?'

'Raining rain. We should go inside or you'll still be quoting cheesy song lyrics after I've died of pneumonia. Not that I don't appreciate the romance of this. I've never been literally swept off my feet before.'

'I always knew you only wanted me for my upper body strength.'

The dirtiest grin Jack ever saw spread across Ianto's face. 'Not just your upper,' he said, like he was sharing a secret.

Jack instantly lost the air from his lungs. That was all the incentive he needed to get Ianto inside, out of the rain, and into bed as soon as possible. All other thoughts fled his mind. He had never managed to put himself in such a state of denial for so long ever before over wanting somebody, and breaking through it was knocking a hole through a dam. He didn't just want Ianto; he was out of his mind, batshit crazy for him. He would have done absolutely anything; tapdanced his way to work, fucked a phrexicorian, shaved head; anything, if it would have made Ianto happy at that moment. Jack couldn't believe he was feeling this way. It had been so long since he'd felt anything approaching it, it was euphoric.

He set Ianto down carefully just inside the hallway, where the plastic matting could catch the drips coming off him. Ianto pointed out and Jack ran back to retrieve his wheelie case and bring it inside.

'We need to get out of these wet clothes,' Ianto said, shivering.

Jack brushed past him with the luggage in hand and began up the stairs. 'Yep. And I have the only dry clothes you have. Guess you'll have to catch me.' He grinned and ran up, taking a definite turn into the master bedroom.

Ianto had no choice but to follow him up. Towels had been retrieved and dumped on the edge of the bed. Jack removed his shirt and threw it right through into the ensuite. The splat it made was audible even from where Ianto was in the doorway.

'Well?' Jack said, slyly. 'Getting out of those clothes or not?' He stripped his trousers and underwear off in one and threw them out as well.

It didn't come quite so easily to Ianto. He had about a dozen gauzes and patches that had been selotaped to his chest and thighs now peeling off from the wet. Quick as a flash Jack was helping him, fingers moving so delicately he might have been doing something poetic, like brushing a teardrop away from the cheek of a small child or savouring the texture of a rose petal perhaps. The thought made Ianto silently chuckle to himself.

When he was finally naked and all of the dressings removed, Jack picked up a towel and stood behind him, pressing himself fully against his back as he carefully dabbed at the unmarked parts of his skin. He finished off his sudden turn into gentle carer with a not-so-delicate rubbing of Ianto's hair, giving him an Edward Scissorhands hairstyle which delighted Jack, until Ianto grabbed the towel and did the same to him.

'I knew this was right,' Jack whispered, a little soppy smile on his face.

But something was still bothering Ianto. Though it was hard, he turned away and put a little bit of distance between them. 'Hold on, I think... I think we need to talk about this,' he said. He could sense Jack's disappointment radiating out in waves without even having to see his face. 'Not that I don't think this is a good idea, or don't want this. God... that's not it.' He turned back, determined to get some answers first before they ended up going too far. 'It's just...'

'What? What is it?'

'Why?'

'Why?' Jack frowned.

'It's an important question. Why do you want to do this with me all of a sudden?'

'Believe me, it's anything but sudden. I've always been attracted to you, you know that.'

Ianto had to stop himself from grinning inanely at that and maintain a serious posture. 'But why are we acting on this? I just have this... niggling feeling that this isn't what we think it is.'

'I'm not following.' His dick, which had been getting harder until the conversation had turned, was definitely not following either.

'The thing you do when you kiss, to make me better. When we don't do it I practically crave it. You seem to get a buzz from sharing it with me. What if this is... this is just something to do with that?' It pained him, but he knew he had to say it, even if it was going to come out at a pathetic whisper. 'You're in love with Gwen. You must be; to, you know, move in with her and all. You wanted to spend your life with her, right?' Jack slowly moved towards him and cupped his chin in his hand. 'What if this is nothing and you're ruining everything you really care for because of this... this energy thing?'

Jack looked at him for so long it seemed like forever had fled past, his eyes sparkling and holding more age and wisdom in them than Ianto had ever suspected. 'I love you.'

'But...'

'Don't. I love you. Do you understand what that means? It means there's nothing else and nobody else I want in the universe except for you. Not Gwen. Not anybody. I have for a long time. I didn't want to admit it before because, like it or not, it's not a clean easy thing to get into. You and me? On paper, it would be a disaster. We have so many obstacles I can't count them. But I still love you. I do. I really do.'

Ianto frowned, looking aside. 'I just... how do I know for sure it's real?' he gasped, despite himself.

Feeling a little shaken, and a little defeated, Jack retreated. He sat down on the bed, looking lost, holding his head in his hands. He really wasn't sure how he could prove it; wasn't sure what to do anymore.

The bed depressed beside him as Ianto sat down, soft skin pressing against his thigh. He gently turned Jack's cheek towards him. 'Kiss me as you would if it was love. As though you want to tell me you love me,' he said and allowed his eyes to slide closed.

Jack regarded him for a moment - long lashes, pouting lips, high cheekbones, adorable nose - yes it was love and there was no point in denying it. He sighed and kissed him, not really sure what he'd do or what it would be like; just letting it happen.

When they broke apart, a dazzling smile made Ianto's entire face light up. 'That's exactly how you kissed me when we were in the cell together. And when we were in the hospital. And here. You've always kissed me like you love me.'

'Yes, I suppose I have,' he admitted, a little awed. 'Believe me now?'

'I love you too.' Ianto rested his forehead on his shoulder for a moment. 'I want you to take me to bed but... I don't think I'm in any condition to manage it.'

'I thought ahead about that,' Jack said, making him look up at him in curiosity. 'I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Where there's a will there's a way... when it comes to sex.'

'That sounds like a boy scout motto gone wrong.' He allowed Jack to lift him up yet again and slide him onto the centre of the bed, about a metre from the headboard.

'Comfortable?'

'Yes.'

Jack climbed onto the bed, one hand idly stroking his cock, turning in the opposite direction. He crawled over him so that his face was aligned with Ianto's dick and vice versa.

'I take it you've heard of sixty-nnnnn...' His voice was caught and dismantled in his throat as Ianto sucked his cock into his mouth. 'That's a yes.' Jack thought it only right and proper he extend the same courtesy and drew Ianto's past his lips, carefully guiding it to full length with his tongue.

He was certain he had the edge on skill until Ianto started humming. Then all bets were off as Jack lost control of his spine and started having trouble concentrating on his own task. Big hands massaged his balls and teased the sensitive spot on his perineum leaving him gasping and accidentally slipping into deep-throating him once or twice, testing his reflexes a little.

Suddenly Ianto released him. 'Stop! Stop it, Jack!' he yelled, urgently.

'What? What is it?' he gasped, alarmed.

'I... I want it... want you to fuck me. I need you to. God, Jack need you!'

'But...'

'In the right hand pocket of my travel bag over there, there are some pills. Pain killers. I've been trying not to take them because they make my brain fuzz over. But they take the pain away completely really fast. Get them. Now!'

The way he was panting and huffing implied to Jack that Ianto was on the edge. He did as he was asked, rolling off the bed to find the pills. He handed them over and marvelled as Ianto downed four capsules without even needing any water.

'Are you supposed to take that many?'

'If I want to get fucked, yes.'

'Oh yeah?'

'Yep. It's written on the side of the bottle and everything.'

Jack couldn't help it, he had to laugh at the urgent, pissy Ianto now grabbing him like a man possessed, practically demanding he fuck him. He rather liked this side to him.

Ianto handed over a pillow. 'Put it under my hips. You'd better have some lube around here, Harkness,' he growled.

The Captain smiled and brandished his wrist control panel. A button on it on the underside released the secret compartment and a small tube of emergency lubrication popped out.

'So that's why you never take that thing off,' Ianto giggled.

'Always be prepared, Ianto.'

'What is it with you and boy scout mottos?'

Rather than answer that, Jack decided to get started and pushed a lube covered finger inside Ianto, causing him to hiss and arch up a little.

'Okay?'

'Jack, in about two minutes time, you could fly a Boeing 747 up there and it wouldn't hurt.'

'We'll save that for later, shall we?'

Ianto grinned like he was doped. 'Beginning to hit now. The pain feels like feathers on my skin,' he sighed and pushed back on Jack's finger. 'That feels good, Jack. So good. Want more.'

He worked him up slowly and carefully determined to do this right. Even if Ianto wasn't really feeling any pain anymore, it didn't mean his body wouldn't bear the brunt of anything too rough and cause him discomfort later. Jack was determined to be gentle, no matter how much Ianto was begging him for more or how much the sight of him, legs splayed out, ass spread wide in the air, cock pooling precome in his bellybutton, made him want to grab him and truly fuck him right through the bed. Jack always suspected that, after so many lifetimes and so many sexual encounters, that sort of erotic display couldn't ever have such an effect on him anymore. Ianto really was proving him wrong. And Jack loved him all the more for it.

Finally he felt ready. Ianto was already grinding his hips up and down against the pillow, demanding Jack get involved before he finished the show on his own. Jack was only too happy to oblige. He eased in, inch by inch, and found religion when his balls pressed to skin and Ianto trembled in his arms.

They stilled together for long time, sweat cooling on their skin, hands entwining, sharing breath, stuck in a moment of peace they couldn't break through. Jack kissed him and let all of the energy inside him rush into his partner, his lover, his mate, healing him. Healing both of them.

When they came it wasn't anything like Jack had expected. It was something that didn't seem to originate from his dick at all but from all around him; from every nerve and every cell. And he could feel every single thrumming pulse of pleasure in Ianto's body too, as though the energy had wrapped around them and fused them for that one moment, bonding them together to reach some state of being he couldn't even begin to describe and would never know again.

Their eyes met in wordless communication. Jack thought he'd never felt so much all at once before. He thought he might be crying but he really wasn't sure. The world seemed topsy turvey and kind of cloudy and distant. Nothing made sense except the sated body and dreamy face before him.

Silently, Jack slid out of Ianto's body and slowly lapped up every bit of come from his belly, taking his time to be thorough. He noticed, abstractly as he swirled his tongue around his pale skin, that Ianto's burns looked almost entirely healed up now.

Once this task was done, Jack stood up from the bed and lifted Ianto up. He placed him on what was usually his side of the bed, feeling it was appropriate somehow, and covered him over with the duvet, making him comfortable. A kiss to the forehead and Ianto slipped asleep. Jack climbed in next to him and lost consciousness almost immediately.

*

Jack fought the heavy sleep which had claimed him to wake up and find out what was going on — what all the screaming was about. He clumsily reached out for the lamp on the bedside table and fumbled with the switch to get some grip on it. Eventually he managed to turn it on.

The light revealed a tangle of bodies on the floor beside the bed opposite to his side. He watched with blunt surprise as a naked Gwen fought to be free of an equally naked Ianto. Once disentangled, she hurriedly crawled away, grabbing clothes strewn on the floor as she went.

'Oh God I... I...' She blushed so red she looked like she'd been slapped on both cheeks, gave Jack a harrowing look and backed away into the door. 'Jack? Wh... what's going on here?'

'What does it look like?' Ianto grouched, irritably climbing back into bed and grabbing at the covers. He didn't particularly seem all that phased by her presence, or their naked tussle.

'Jack?' she looked at him, eyes big and tearful.

He felt a big pang of guilt in his chest. 'I... look, go downstairs, put some clothes on and I'll be down in a minute. I'll explain. Everything.'

She sniffled a little and gave him a nod, like she didn't know what else to do. Gwen retreated out of the room and Jack collapsed back on the bed with a deep sigh.

'Ianto,' he whispered, and looked aside. There was no response. 'Ianto?' He poked him in the ribs.

'Ow! What? What?'

'Gwen's here.'

He just grumbled something inaudible and tried to bury himself into the duvet even more.

'Ianto, I said Gwen's here!'

Ianto threw the covers off in a huff and lay back, staring at the ceiling. 'Yes, I know. I did notice that when she tried to mount me just now.'

Jack couldn't help but smile at the thought, finding a kink button somewhere getting pressed by the thought of them doing it next to him. Or the idea of Gwen accidentally screwing Ianto for real, thinking it was him.

'Is there something you want to tell me about having someone swipe their tongue across your teeth? Do you actually like that?'

'What? Oh.' He chuckled. 'Gwen thing.'

'Made my incisors itch.'

Jack rolled his eyes and forced himself to get up. 'Come on, we need to explain this to her.'

'We? Who's we? She's your girlfriend.'

'Well, technically you're the one who last had her tongue in your mouth. Puts you somewhat in the picture too, don't you think?' When Ianto didn't move Jack felt a genuine wave of panic go through him. 'Come on, you can't make me do this alone!'

Ianto started laughing as he sat up. 'Maybe you're right. This might be kind of amusing to watch.' Something about his eyes told Jack that he was still doped up on the overly-strong pain killers he'd been prescribed. That didn't exactly fill him with confidence. 'Just go down there and tell her that it's been great to have her as your girlfriend but you're busy with your boyfriend now and she should take a number and come back another time.'

'Do you think that would work?'

He turned his head into the pillow and laughed. Jack took that as a "no".

'I could ask her to join us? You know, three instead of two. Could be interesting?'

Ianto stopped laughing abruptly and looked serious for a moment. 'But...' He frowned, not meeting his eyes.

'What?'

'Do you really want that? After all we've gone through just to get to this point?'

That was a difficult question for Jack. He knew intellectually there should be no barriers to that for him. It wouldn't be the first time he'd had a ménage a trois arrangement. Then again, the thought of Ianto and Gwen together didn't seem to fit at all. They weren't really compatible people. Imagining them both, lying in a bed waiting for him, he could only see himself grabbing for Ianto and forgetting about her entirely. That was the truth. 'I don't suppose she'd go for that anyway. She doesn't like to share really.'

'That's not what Rhys and Owen would say,' Ianto commented, bitchily.

Jack raised his eyebrows at him and Ianto grinned back, brightly. Definitely doped up to high heaven still. He would never say something like that usually. Not out loud anyway.

'Second thoughts, maybe you should stay here. You look a little...'

'I'm seeing triple right now, so... yeah, I know what you mean.' Ianto rolled over and buried himself in the covers. Last thing he heard was Jack stomping out of the room before drifting off back to sleep.

He woke up what felt like seconds later as Jack climbed into bed behind him and wrapped his arms around him. 'Mmm?' he groaned.

'Looks like we'd better make the best of this bed tonight, Ianto. I'm moving out in the morning.'

Ianto frowned. That had been a fast chat. Although he had taken a catnap so he couldn't be sure really. 'What happened?'

'We talked it over. I um... I told her the truth.'

'Oh. Shit.'

'Yeah exactly. We got a little feisty and I... well I ended up telling her that the only reason I moved in with her was because she asked me in the same breath she told me that she'd left Rhys for me and I didn't know what else to do.'

'What else?'

'I said I hated dinner parties.'

'Ah.'

'And I told her that I love you. In big ways.'

Ianto couldn't help the downright sappy expression which spread across his face upon hearing that. It was one thing to have Jack tell him and show him alone, but quite another for him to be so willing to tell others. It made him feeling all tingly inside. 'How did she take it?'

'Not sure she believed me.'

He struggled to turn over in Jack's arms and completely entangled himself around him. 'Then I suppose she'll just have to get used to the idea,' he said. 'Where is she now?'

'She left. I could be wrong but I have a feeling she's going to go find Rhys. I don't know, maybe it's not too late for them. I hope not.' If he didn't have Ianto pressed firmly in his arms in that moment, holding on so tightly, Jack thought he might have felt far more over that than he did. As it was he could only imagine that it was for the best. 'We would never have worked. Not the way she wanted.'

Long fingers tangled in and out of the hair at the nape of his neck and soothed him. 'Are you okay?'

'I've got you, haven't I?'

'Yeah. Always,' Ianto sighed, and snuggled into him to prove it. 'Always.'

A kiss on his forehead sent Ianto back to sleep. Jack held back for a little while, listening to his breathing, measuring his heartbeat, wondering how he almost let him get away. Then he pulled the covers right up over them and nestled in, contentedly. 'Always Ianto,' he promised, and closed his eyes.

***