Title: This Time With Feeling
By: sqyd
Rating: NC 17
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Gwen, Owen, Tosh, John Hart
Word Count: 1798
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just borrow them.
Spoiler: 2.01
Summary: Jack comes back from his time with the Doctor and Ianto feels conflicted. Sort of companion piece to Some Kinda Blue.

Ianto Jones was not sure what he wanted to do with Captain Jack Harkness. Oh sure, he had a very, very, VERY long list, but he was also conflicted. There he was again: Jack, in his full glorious smugness, looking more alluring than he remembered, and more exasperating as well. And that was before his ex showed up too. Ianto's hard won equilibrium was quivering like a small animal. He couldn't look Jack in the eye. Jack asking him out, especially the almost pleading way he did it, threw Ianto completely off balance. It was so not Jack, but before he could puzzle that one out, the shit hit the fan, and he had more urgent things to take care of - like finding the rest of the team before they died. The only other thought he could squeeze in was that he wanted 'Captain' bloody John Hart gone. Or dead. Or preferably both. Yeah ok, the suggestion of an orgy short-circuited a few of his brain cells for a second, but he blamed that on Jack - his pheromones were everywhere, and they always brought the worst (and the best) out of Ianto.

'Captain' bloody Hart couldn't even leave  - sadly still alive - without causing a bloody temporal displacement, and Ianto in a rare move took charge. He ran through in his head all their movements for the last several hours, and their current needs, before the others got their heads together. They couldn't afford to run into their earlier selves, and had a maximum ten minutes before they got here hours ago. Gwen couldn't go home before Rhys called, or they would never find her, and Owen was still shot, and they couldn't go back to the hub's medical bay.

"Ok..." - He gave two sets of keys to Gwen. - "You take the SUV, and drive Jack and Tosh to my flat. Take the most direct route and you'll be fine. I take the other car and Owen to the hospital."

"Like bloody hell you will." - Owen protested.
 
"Shut up, and get in the car! Everyone, get moving!" - There was a dangerous edge to his voice, and they all got going. Ianto rarely ever got this way, but when he did, it was much wiser not to argue.

He called Gwen from the hospital.

"How is everything there, Ianto?" - Her voice sounded concerned, possibly for more than just Owen.

"It's all good. They'll keep him overnight, but he is fine. He is sedated now."

"Oh, was he in a lot of pain?"

"Not so much, but very bitchy. I suggested to the nurse that there was one way of keeping him happy. He is probably dreaming of purple bunnies right now. He can thank me when I collect him tomorrow. Listen, should I pick up some food on my way back? You must all be starving."

"No, we just ordered some Chinese takeaway from cross the street. Ordered for you too - that duck you like."

"Thank you, Gwen."

He left the sports car at the hospital - he would call in an anonymous tip to the police tomorrow - and took a cab home. He wondered if it was a good idea to have Tosh and Gwen in his apartment with Jack. They could be having an orgy by the time he got there. He almost laughed out loud at that idea - it was silly, and he should be so lucky. No, not likely to happen, but Jack and Gwen were probably in heavy flirting right now. Well he didn't care, bloody Jack Harkness would just have to figure out what the hell he wanted, because Ianto was too much on the edge to deal with mixed signals tonight.

No, there was no orgy. Tosh opened the door smiling, and fully dressed. Pity. Jack and Gwen were sitting on the couch, talking and eating out of takeaway boxes. They both looked up and beamed at him briefly as he entered. He hang up his jacket, loosened his tie, and started to search among the boxes. Tosh, now settled in one of the chairs, pushed one towards him. He took the other chair and turned his attention to the food. It looked like the girls got over their disgruntlement towards Jack, and everything was back like the last several months never happened. Ianto was quietly watching them. Jack did his usual charming routine, telling stories that may or may not been true, but Ianto was not fooled - Jack was on autopilot - he could tell, even if the other two couldn't. Something was not right with Jack, something dark and troubling behind his eyes. Even as Jack shot brief covetous glances towards him, Ianto's irritation and edginess melted away to be replaced by worry. He cleared his throat.

"Uhm, Gwen, has Rhys called yet?" - He tried to sound as neutral as possible.

Gwen, checked her phone.

"Oh yes. I better go home. C'mon Tosh, We can share a cab." - On their way out, both of them shot that kind of soulful look at Ianto that made him want to just shove them out the door, but he managed to smile back good natured.

He plopped down next to Jack on the sofa, ran his fingers through the other's hair and pulled him in for a kiss. Jack's response was desperate and urgent. He didn't know what was wrong with Jack, but he knew that Jack was physical, found solace in the senses and the sensual, and with that Ianto could help, and he would, even if it didn't mean anything. He pulled Jack towards the bedroom, unceremoniously shedding clothing on the way.

It was a bit frantic and graceless, but fulfilling, as always with Jack. Ianto had no reason to complain; it had been a long time for him, and he had to be careful not to come just from Jack's body pressing to his. After, as they lay on the bed, Jack curled around him, leg over his, one hand pressed on his chest, feeling for heart beat. The very possessiveness of it made Ianto blissful.

"It's like you haven't had sex in a while." - He teased him.

"I haven't."

"How is that possible?"

Jack wasn't answering, just brushing small circles into Ianto's chest hair with his fingers.

"How long were you gone - in your time?" - Ianto pressed on.

"A year. I spent most of it in prison, and dying a lot."

Ianto pushed himself up and stared at Jack wide eyed. He didn't know what to say. He knew better than offer anything that could be interpreted as pity, but this news perturbed him. Jack cupped Ianto's face and pulled him close for a kiss, then pressed him back on the bed and begin nipping along his neck. This was standard Jack Harkness distraction technique, and while pleasurable, Ianto was not going to be sidetracked that easy.

"And of course, you can't tell where you were, what you did, right?"

"Sorry, I really can't."

"This doctor of yours... could he give you whatever you were looking for?"

Jack leaned back on his elbow.

"It's complicated."

"Jack! You never tell us, tell me anything. Not anything that matters" - He added when Jack opened his mouth. - "And I don't ask, but just this time I need to understand. You waltz back here and expect everything to be the same, but it isn't, and if you don't help me understand I will just keep resenting you for all the wrong reasons."

Jack sighed, was silent for a few moments, and then told Ianto what he was willing, in broad strokes about the Doctor and Rose, and  how he died and was brought back to life for good, and how the Doctor couldn't do anything about it.

"...and he said, I was a fixed point in time and space."

Ianto digested this for a little.

"Do you want to die, Jack?"

"No, of course not. Not now, anyway, but the prospect of living forever is not all what it's cracked up to be."

"It sounds horrifying to me." - He would have liked to say something to make it right, but there really was nothing.

 "At least I'm glad it's you. A normal person would go mad." - He gave a small smile. - "Plus, if you run away again, I'll know you are still alive out there somewhere."

"I won't leave again." - Jack looked at him seriously.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I intend to keep this one."

"Ok, I'll take that." - He remembered something smiled coyly. - "Don't think though that my easy virtue will get you out of your promise of a dinner and a movie."

"Oh, I intend to keep that too. Are you free Friday night?"

"I'm free every night."

"We'll have to do something about that. You know the last year I had a lot of time imagining you in many different scenarios." - Jack was purring against Ianto's neck now.

"Oh, I had a few fantasies of my own." - Ianto nosed against Jack's neck to catch that scent that was like drugs to him.

"My hot little Ianto, we'll have to compare notes." - Jack murmured between kisses down Ianto's chest.

This was familiar ground, this was good. What Jack was doing to him with his tongue, with his hands, to his body, to his mind... He felt his higher brain functions shutting down, taken over by his raw urges and wants. It was like slipping under warm waves of water, and he felt good.


********************

"Cheer up, it brings out the bloodshot in your eyes." - Said Ianto cheerfully.

Some people are hard to please. Not only he came to pick up Owen at the hospital, but brought one of his own shirts to replace Owen's ruined one from the night before. So what if it was pink? One had to be really insecure in their sexuality to be bothered by wearing a pink shirt. Really! Oh ok, so maybe he still liked messing with Owen just a little. Owen sat sullen and quiet in the SUV for a while, but quiet was not something he could maintain long.

"Is Jack in?"

"Yup."

"Did he say were he had been?"

"Nope."

Owen furrowed his brow.

"You think you'll have a crack at him yourself, right?" - Ianto asked him.

"What is it to you?"

"Nothing." - Ianto shrugged. - "But he won't tell you anything. He didn't tell me, and my methods of persuasion are far superior to yours." - He winked at Owen with a naughty little smile.

Owen rolled his eyes, and spent rest of the trip quietly staring out the window.