Title: House of Cards
By: bittersweet
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Warnings: violence/abuse
Summary: I realised after doing this that I write Gwen really badly. I'm sorry. It's because, to be honest, I don't like her much at all. But I don't like going Gwen-bashing because frankly it always comes across as immature. So my Gwen is an unhappy compromise. Please bear with it… I promise juicy Janto angst further on in this story.
Disclaimer: I like ice-cream, but I don't own the rights to it. Now replace 'ice-cream' in that sentence with 'Torchwood'.

***

Yesterday Gwen Cooper had seen things that terrified her. She had had her convictions shaken and a new respect for - and fear of - the rift was the result. But she was determined not to think about that. Today, she was going to have a normal day, chat with her colleagues…and just not think about that poor mother crying…

"Morning, Tosh."

"Good morning Gwen. Jelly baby?"

"Ohhh. Yes please!"

"Green or orange?"

"Oh, definitely not green. Not after that thing last week."

"Good point. It's so sad, isn't it? This job even spoils our appreciation of jelly babies."

"Damn those aliens, anything but that!"

Tosh giggled and Gwen took a deep breath. See, it wasn't so hard. Just be normal. You'll forget soon.

"What's with Owen? He's being very quiet."

Tosh rolled her eyes and shot a glare toward Owen's computer.

"Browsing through the CCTV again, probably. He's terrible. Last week he found some stuff with Jack and Ianto… well, you know, it was, um… yeah. So I deleted it. But he keeps looking. Anything to torture poor Yan with."

Uh oh. Tosh's comment brought back an embarrassing but not entirely unpleasant memory to Gwen's mind. Walking in on them had been awkward, but she had to admit it had afforded a quite nice view… for Ianto's sake she hoped Owen's short attention span would save him the humiliation. Gwen realised Tosh was still talking to her.

"Gwen, um…I don't mean to pry, but have you decided to let the case drop? The missing boy?"

Gwen hesitated, then did something she didn't often do. She lied.

"Yes. I guess some things just can't be done."

Tosh nodded sympathetically. Suddenly a triumphant laugh came from Owen's general direction. He had his eyes fixed on his computer screen, and Gwen didn't need to look to see what was playing.

"Owen, don't…"

"Oh lighten up, Tosh – and next time you talk to the teaboy you should ask him what the rules to naked hide and seek actually are."

"Ask him yourself, Owen. He's right behind you."

When Jack left Gwen he came back, as he always did, to the Hub. He came in search of answers and explanations, at the same time he knowing that in his anger he wouldn't listen to them.

Ianto was in his office. Kneeling in the corner, he was in the process of rearranging boxes of incomplete paperwork. As Jack walked in he didn't even look up. The man had betrayed Jack for the second time, discovered then revealed one of Jack's most closely held secrets, and he didn't even look up.

Jack swallowed a growl and threw himself into his chair. Two could play at that game. Pulling out a pack of cards he began to balance them carefully, deliberately analysing each one before adding it to the swaying house-like tower.

"Didn't expect you to still be here."

"I'm almost finished, Sir."

Queen of Clubs. Two of Hearts. It had to be Ianto. No one else had the access to put the pieces together, and even Ianto shouldn't have been able to work it out.

"I just left Gwen."

Five of Spades. Two of Spades. Nine of Diamonds. How could he sit there, so silent, so at ease? Did he think Jack wouldn't work it out?

"She found her missing boy. In fact, she found them all. Every one of them."

Ace of Clubs. Seven of Hearts. King of Diamonds. And still Ianto didn't respond.

"Aren't you curious? It was quite the mystery, all those missing people…"

Ianto threw down the files in his hands and got to his feet, a strange little cynical half smile on his face.

"Stop it. We both know I told her where to find them."

He had expected denials, perhaps apologies. He had been ready for those. But not slightly bitter composure. Jack pulled out the final card and stared at it. A Joker. When he spoke he put the all the intensity - and all the menace that countless decades can teach - into four carefully chosen words.

"What did you say?"

"I told her where to go. I gave her a bloody map. Don't look at me like that, Jack. Given the choice, I would do it again."

Jack slammed Ianto against the wall so hard that the desk shook, and the cards tumbled to the floor.

"Ask him yourself, Owen. He's right behind you."

Gwen turned around and then did a double take – Tosh was right. Damn, that boy was quiet. She hadn't heard him come in. Something about his clothes looked very odd… nevermind. This was no time for a fashion critique.

Owen opened his mouth, then shut it again when he caught the terrifyingly calm expression on Ianto's face. And the raised eyebrow. Gwen decided to secure herself fast, jumping in before Owen could speak.

"Don't look at me. He got it on the CCTV."

"Yeah I – what? What has she got to do wi- …ah. What has Gwen seen, teaboy? You know, if you're gonna do the boss in his office you can't expect much privacy."

"Clearly I can't expect any privacy at all. Tosh, I found the di-acidic RNA reconstruction cube, it's down in section F if you want to take a look at it. Gwen, Andy is on the phone. Owen, Jack wants the tissue biopsy from that thing with tentacles by the afternoon…and to answer your question I'll just say that it involves, among other things, your desk and that chair you're sitting in."

Tosh paused only to join Gwen in laughing at the sudden wash of green across the doctor's face before heading down to the archives to find whichever obscure piece of alien tech that would be the new focus of her insatiable curiosity. Owen fled almost as fast, looking at his chair as if it was going to bite.

Ianto, looking satisfied, started towards the kitchen. Gwen smiled and shook her head. You always have to watch out for the quiet ones.

"Ianto! Wait a moment…"

"What made you think you could ever have the right to tell her? You weren't even supposed to know. But I see now, I can't trust you. I should have realised that the first time. Dammit, no one was supposed to know!"

Ianto was gasping for breath, but he didn't fight back. Jack could actually feel him shaking slightly, and tightened his hold, crushing the young welshman harder against the unyielding bricks. Neither of them broke eye contact. Neither of them backed down.

"Of course I knew, Jack! You put the paperwork on my desk every week! You didn't think I would be just a little suspicious that we were paying for power to a building that seemingly doesn't exist? For fucks sake, who do you think ran the place when you were gone? Did you never wonder? But I never made you talk about it. I respected your privacy."

"Of course you did. Running to Gwen the minute the opportunity presents itself…that really is the height of respect, isn't it? If you had the slightest scrap of loyalty, why would you do that?"

"Because you needed absolution!"

It was frightening how completely those four words immobilised him. Jack just froze. Ianto hesitated only a moment before continuing, quickly and without pausing for breath, as if he were afraid that once he stopped talking he wouldn't be able to start again.

"I saw what it was doing to you, holding that secret inside. I saw you… when Gwen brought up the missing people, I saw you shaking afterwards. You needed someone – not just anyone, not me - to tell you that what you were doing was justified, convince you that you were doing the right thing. I couldn't give that to you, because I'm not her. That's what she's here for. She's here to be your conscience."

It hurt because it was true. That was why she was here. That was the role she filled that no one else could, because they had all – Owen, Tosh, and Ianto, especially Ianto in such a short life - seen to much Her sheer soft hearted naiveté, the relative normality of her life and her relationships, what she had with Rhys… she had become a symbol of the humanity they fought to protect, a gauge to balance his decisions against. When it came down to it, what he wanted from Gwen was for her to be his conscience.

"My… conscience? Maybe. Then what does that make you?"

"Your punching bag, apparently."

Ianto delivered the comment without reproach, sounding dryly amused if anything, but his breathing was unsteady. Jack looked for a moment at his own hands, his fingers digging painfully into Ianto's arm, and drew back as if burned.

For a long moment nothing happened, then very slowly Ianto stepped away from the wall and straightened his jacket. Jack didn't move. He wasn't sure he still could. Ianto had his eyes downcast and began, incongruously when you considered the events of the past few minutes, to carefully pick up all the fallen playing cards. When he was finished he placed them on Jack's desk.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, or trust me again. But I don't regret what I did."

Jack looked at the young man who had betrayed him today for the second time. The young man who had hurt him more than any other person had managed in centuries. The young man who was not the one using a fake name, not the one who had disappeared for months without a word, not the only one to keep secrets. The young man who would go home tonight with bruises because he, Jack, could not control his own temper.

Ianto waited, and when he received no response he turned and began to walk away. Just as he crossed the threshold of the door words burst out from Jack, unstoppable, unsure and desperate.

"Don't go."

Ianto hesitated. Jack held his breath and hoped.

"Ianto! Wait a moment…"

Ianto stopped, politely curious. Gwen looked around to confirm they were alone, then reached out and put her hand on his arm.

"Thankyou. For giving me the map. I – I needed to know, and you understood that. I know it wouldn't have been easy to, um, go behind Jack's back like that. So thanks."

"You don't need to thank me. You would have found it eventually on your own. I was just trying to – I don't know, minimise pain on all sides I guess."

"Was he furious?"

"He was…annoyed."

Gwen sighed. Ianto clearly wasn't planning on giving her any more information. Not that she blamed him. Privacy was a rare and precious commodity in the Torchwood family. Still, at worst Jack would sulk for a while.

"Well, if he stays grumpy feel free to come bitch to me about it."

"Offer noted and taken into consideration. Hey…you better not keep Andy waiting."

Ianto walked away, and Gwen finally worked out what it was about his clothes that had been bothering her. Slow realisation dawned, and briefly inside her feeling of gladness for his sake was at war with her own jealousy.

He was wearing the same clothes he had worn yesterday.

***