Title: Those Moments of Waiting
By: nixa_jane
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: R
Summary: Ianto hates what Jack's done to them.

"It's here," he tells them. "The answer's in here." Ianto is sitting on the floor, eyes wide as he scans the papers strewn around him. He hasn't shaved in days.

Gwen is frowning and Owen just rolls his eyes. Tosh is quiet and doesn't move at all.

"It's been him all along," Ianto explains. "I don't think Jack was taken."

"Of course he was taken," Gwen said. "He wouldn't just leave us."

Ianto leans back on his heels. "He would if he was never really ours," he says.

Gwen kneels down beside him and bites her lip, looks at the pictures lined up in a half circle around Ianto, finger marks on the surfaces of every one. Jack, smiling a little wider than she's ever seen, standing by an older man and a young girl, beside a police call box.

"I don't understand," she says.

Ianto sighs. "The Doctor," he says, and Gwen's eyes widen.

"I've heard that before," she says.

"Few that haven't, these days," Ianto says. "He's not as unknown as he'd like."

"What are you on about?" Owen demanded. "Who's the Doctor?"

"Torchwood's number one enemy," Ianto says.

"Then why haven't I ever heard of him?" Owen demanded, "considering my current place of employment?"

Ianto got to his feet and let out a breath. "Because he's not Jack's enemy."

"What do we do?" Tosh asks finally. "If he left, then..."

"We go on," Ianto says, pulling at his tie until it begins to come loose. "We do what Jack would want us to."

"And what is that, exactly?" Owen demands.

Ianto shrugs. "Save the world?" he says. "One crisis at a time."

-----

Ianto has a little place on the bottom floor of the Hub--a corner office that he's rather fond of. There's a picture of Lisa in a frame on the desk against the far side of the room and there's pictures of Jack tacked up on every wall.

Pictures from as far back as the 1920's, and one that hasn't even been taken yet.

"What is all this?" Gwen asks, shaken, when he shows her. She runs her fingers across the pictures, in almost all of them he's smiling, but not like he had with the Doctor. "Ianto, we've looked everywhere and haven't been able to find any trace of him and this--"

"It took you what, an hour to realize there was something a little strange about Jack?" Ianto asks, curiously. "Did you really think we didn't know who we had?"

Gwen shakes her head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Jack was the perfect choice to lead the third Torchwood branch--he knows more about alien life than anyone else currently on the Earth, because he's lived through time spanning centuries and he's been to more planets than we have cities in England." Ianto sits on the edge of his desk. "He was the perfect choice, but he couldn't be trusted. That's where I came in."

"Because you're so trustworthy yourself," Gwen snaps, defensive, though she isn't sure why.

Ianto looks down at his feet. "I won't say I didn't have my own motivations," he admits. "My first priority was Lisa, I admit that. My second was Jack. The coffee's never really been all that important, in the long run."

"Tell that to Owen," Gwen says, then she looks away again. "So you were what, sent to spy on him?"

"Not spy," Ianto says. "Just observe. Make sure he doesn't do anything out of hand, or allow the Doctor to escape. You can see how well I've done with that."

Gwen gives a wry smile. "Oh, you're doing brilliantly alright, you've lost them both."

Ianto glances at the pictures on the wall. "He'll be back."

"You sound so certain," Gwen says.

"The Doctor's not going to live forever," Ianto says. "Jack just might. Either way, he could be gone for years and be right back here by next week."

"That doesn't make any sense," Gwen tells him.

"Since you've started working here, what has?" Ianto counters easily.

-----
Ianto comes into work the next day wearing jeans, sneakers, and a hooded sweatshirt. Owen takes one look at him and says, "Who the hell are you and what have you done with Jeeves?"

Ianto strolls by him without a response, and starts a pot of coffee. He doesn't really have to keep doing it now the façade's over, he knows, but the rest of them can't make a pot of coffee to save their lives.

Tosh is biting her lip, sitting at her desk. "Gwen showed us," she says.

"What did Gwen show you?" Ianto asks, as he turns the coffee pot on. It's Jack's favorite blend.

"Your bloody shrine," Owen says. "I didn't know your stalker tendencies ran quite that deep."

"Oh, shut it, Owen," Gwen says. "I had to show them. We all have a right to know what we're dealing with."

"I never expected you'd keep it to yourself," Ianto tells her calmly.

Gwen looks offended, but she can hardly defend herself against the truth, so she just crosses her arms and looks the other way. Ianto notices they've all been doing that a lot lately.

"What I want to know is what we're going to do about it," Gwen says. "How do we find this Doctor and bring Jack back?"

"You haven't been listening to anything I've said, have you?" Ianto asks. "Jack doesn't want to be found. Not yet. He'll show up when he's ready."

"And we're supposed to what, play sudoko till he decides to grace us with his presence?" Owen asks.

"If you'd like," Ianto says, moving towards the staircase. "Or we could, you know, do our jobs."

----

Ianto likes the Weevils. There's something in their eyes that's almost human, and there's something kind of freeing about being with a creature that has no use for pretence. Gwen is all blank smiles and false cheer and Owen just slouches in his chair with his keyboard in his lap swearing if he speaks at all, and Tosh has just kind of faded away, sitting quiet at her desk like some kind of ghost.

Ianto hates what Jack's done to them. He should have learned his lesson from the Doctor. Shouldn't have turned around and done the same to thing to them.

Ianto stares one of the Weevils down through the glass, tilts his head, and the Weevil follows him, does the same thing. "I bet you want to go home," he says.

The Weevil tilts his head to the other side. Ianto imagines that's a yes.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Ianto tells him. "I don't think that's going to happen."

He turns around with his back against the glass and closes his eyes. Jack could be in the past right now, could even be standing right where he is in maybe five years time, or gone already. Ianto's still not quite sure where he really comes from; best guess is the future, but Rose Tyler was just a nineteen-year-old shop girl from London, so nothing was certain.

He doesn't even know if Jack has a home.

-----

"Look, you're not Jack," Owen snaps.

"Was it the lack of a greatcoat that gave it away, or the accent?" Ianto asks.

Owen crosses his arms. "I just don't get why you think you're in charge all the sudden, just because you're getting your clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch instead of the Mens Warehouse," he snaps.

"Because I am," Ianto says. "In charge, I mean, not shopping at Abercrombie and Fitch. Or the Mens Warehouse, for that matter."

"You're not," Owen says, and glares at him. "You just make the coffee."

"Actually, I'm acting commander until Jack returns, appointed by the Prime Minister herself," Ianto says. "Don't tell me you thought they might give the position to you?"

Owen narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to speak, but Gwen cuts in quickly, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "That's fine," she says. "Ianto seems to know a lot more than the rest of us about this anyway, now doesn't he? I think we should listen to him."

Ianto pours himself a cup of coffee and for once doesn't offer one for anyone else. "We've got reports of a flying saucer in the country," he says. "Owen--why don't you check it out?"

"Cause I bloody well hate the country," Owen snaps. "You know that."

Ianto smiles tightly. "Yes I do. Check in within the hour. I want to know if there's anything to it."

Owen stalks from the room mumbling about something Ianto is entirely sure isn't physically possible and he turns back to Gwen and Tosh. "How long do you think, until he figures out I didn't tell him where in the country to go?"

"Owen still thinks the country is it's own little society of crazy people," Gwen says. "I don't think he realizes there's distinct towns."

Ianto winces. "Well, honestly, the cannibals didn't do much for my opinion of the country either."

Gwen shudders. "When I first started working this job, I never thought the most horrible things I'd see would fall under my former jurisdiction."

"Jack didn't seem very surprised," Tosh offers softly.

"He was pissed off though," Gwen says. "Never seen him so mad."

"I have," Ianto says. "Try having the gun pointed at you."

"That was different," Gwen says hesitantly.

"Of course it was," Ianto agrees.

-----

"Just where the fuck in the country am I supposed to be going?" Owen shouts into the phone.

Ianto grins wryly. "You left so suddenly, I thought you knew," he says.

"You fucking knew I didn't," Owen snaps. "God I hate the country. And grass. What the hell does grass even do? Seriously, what's the fucking point of it?"

"You sound a little stressed," Ianto says calmly. "Why don't you take a deep breath?"

"I'm going to kill you," Owen snaps.

"I wouldn't be the first," Ianto says.

"That was a low blow, you bastard," Owen says, softly, after a moment's hesitation.

"Just reminding you why you're not in charge," Ianto says. "The sightings were in Lafayette, but it's probably nothing."

"It had better be something," Owen says, and hangs up.

Ianto is a little worried that they aren't quite functioning right anymore. Used to be they were kind of seamless. Well, Tosh, Gwen, Owen and Jack, that was. Ianto has always made a point of keeping himself just a little to the left.

Still, they don't need Jack. Ianto's sure they don't. Chances were Jack didn't really belong here to begin with, and for all of his certainty when talking with others, he isn't sure at all that he'll be coming back.

If Jack's immortal like he thinks, it probably doesn't take much to forget them, a century maybe, maybe two. How many others had there been, over the years? Jack's been walking through Earth's history since the late 1800's at least, and there must have been other teams, other commands, other people he doesn't even mention anymore.

He bets they're like that. Forgettable. It's not fair that Jack isn't, really.

A pill would fix that for him, but Ianto never takes the easy way out. Maybe this isn't Jack's time, maybe it isn't even his planet, but it's Ianto's, and he's made mistakes before but he's not going to fail at this.

He's going to keep it safe, so they can have the future they're supposed to.

----

"Yes, what is it, Owen, I can't understand you--"

Ianto listens in, curiously. Mostly he just sent Owen away so he wouldn't have to deal with him, but now it sounds like they might actually have a case.

"Owen, please, one word at a time if you can," Gwen says.

Ianto grabs the phone from her. "What is it?" he asks.

He hears Owen take a deep breath. "You're not going to believe me," he says.

"Just tell me what you've found," Ianto snaps.

"A spaceship," Owen says. "It's got something written on the side, but I can't get it open."

"Don't, until we get there," Ianto tells him, then, vaguely, he remembers to ask, "what does it say?"

"What?" Owen asks.

"You said something was written on it," Ianto says, impatiently.

"Oh, right," Owen says. "See, that's the thing. It says Bad Wolf. That mean anything to you?"

The phone drops from Ianto's hand, and he's running before it hits the ground.

-----

Bad Wolf, Ianto thinks. Bad Wolf.

None of them knew what it meant, but it was somewhere in at least every third picture they had managed to find of Jack, or the Doctor, or Rose Tyler, like it was a calling card, though Ianto would bet they weren't the ones leaving the words scattered behind them.

Ianto's first day on the job he found the words spray-painted in red across the floor of the Hub. Jack had seemed strangely unnerved about them, and Ianto had dissolved them first thing.

The smoke is visible a mile back, and Ianto grips the wheel a little tighter, not sure what he's expecting to find. Could be Rose Tyler in there for all he knew. Her name was on the list of the dead at Canary Warf, forty-three down from Lisa's, but they'd never found her body.

Owen is standing anxiously by the SUV when they arrive. "About time you got here," he snaps. "I think it's gonna blow up, or something. I'm a Doctor, you know that right? Medicine, biology, not bloody exploding spaceships. That's Tosh's job."

Tosh nods and moves right past them all. "That it is," she says.

Ianto follows her. "Can you get it open?" he asks.

She squints at it. It's about the size of a small, one room house, but it looks massive from their point of view and there doesn't appear to be a door. Bad Wolf is written in green along the side, and Ianto sucks in a breath. The curving old style letters look a lot like Jack's.

"I can get it open," Tosh says, giving a firm nod, though Ianto doesn't know how she's going to manage it.

"It doesn't look like we have much time," Gwen says, but even as she says it, the smoke cuts off abruptly, leaving what's left to disappear into the blue sky. "Or maybe we do," she adds.

The front of the ship lowers slowly, and then there's Jack, leaning against the doorway, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans with a duffle bag beside his feet. And he's smiling, that wide carefree smile that none of them have ever seen up close. "Miss me?" he asks.

Ianto can't decide if he wants to kiss him or punch him, but when Jack comes down the steps two at a time and Ianto sees the stopwatch he's got in the palm of his hand, he goes on instinct.

He grabs him by the front of his shirt and pulls him close for a kiss--he's not in shock like he'd been last time, or half-dead like he'd been the first time, and Jack's startled laugh against his lips makes it the best kiss he's ever had.

"Guess so," Jack says, still laughing, and Ianto's back to wanting to punch him.

Owen beats him to it.

-----

"I said I was sorry," Owen says, from the backseat. "You didn't have to hit me back, at least not so hard."

Owen's got a hand to his right eye, which is bruising nicely, and Jack's lip is split open as he slouches in the front seat, pushing at it with his tongue. Ianto's driving, following Tosh and Gwen in the other car, and trying to stay out of it.

"You hit me," Jack tells him. "It was automatic to hit you back."

Ianto turns down another narrow, curving road, glad he decided to go with the kiss instead.

"You deserved it!" Owen snaps. "I didn't deserve it."

Jack laughs again, and god, Ianto's missed that. He hates himself for missing it, but can't help it anyway. "I'm sure you did something while I was gone to deserve it," Jack says. "The Earth's still here, though. That's a good sign."

"Which reminds me," Owen says, sulkily, "Where the hell did you get a spaceship?"

"Invisible spaceship," Jack corrects smugly. He'd held up a beeper like the remote that locked the doors to the SUV and the ship had just disappeared. Ianto had a feeling Jack was rather impressed with himself.

"Yeah, but where'd you get it?" Owen asks.

Jack smiles. "Borrowed it from a friend," he says.

"Good friend," Owen snorts.

"Well, I didn't say I asked," Jack tells them.

-----

Gwen doesn't want to seem to let Jack out of her sight for most of the night, and Tosh keeps showing him everything she's uncovered since he's been gone, even Owen, black eye and all, follows him around a bit, asking for a ride in his spaceship.

Ianto watches them all and sticks his hands in his pockets, feeling naked suddenly without a suit.

Eventually, the others go home, but Jack doesn't have anywhere else and if Ianto's being honest, he doesn't either. Jack watches him for awhile before he finally comes over, swinging the stopwatch in his hand. "I'm sorry, I borrowed this," he says.

"Keep it," Ianto tells him. "I'd have given it to you eventually anyway."

Jack slips it back in his pocket and glances away, before looking back at him, smirk back in place and full force. "That was some kiss," he says. "More than worth coming back for."

"How long?" Ianto asks him, steeling himself for the answer.

"It's only been two weeks and you can't remember when I left?" he asks. Jack places a hand to his heart and gives an obvious pout. "Ianto, I'm hurt."

"I meant for you, Jack," Ianto says. "How long's it been for you?"

"Ah," Jack says, and nods, moving past Ianto into his office. All of them had left it untouched. "I should've guessed you knew more than you let on. Owen showed me your office."

"Did he?" Ianto says.

"Is it just me, or is it eerie how photogenic I am?" Jack asks. "Not one bad picture in the lot."

"Jack," Ianto snaps. "How long?"

"A couple months," Jack says eventually.

"That's all?" Ianto says, surprised.

"Maybe I didn't find what I was looking for," Jack tells him.

"Except you did," Ianto says. "You found the Doctor. Left with him."

"How'd you figure that?" Jack asks, dropping down into his desk chair and crossing his feet up on the surface.

"Gwen heard the Tardis before you disappeared. Didn't know what she heard, but she heard it." Ianto crosses his arms.

Jack narrows his eyes for a moment, and then waves his hand in Ianto's direction. "I like the new look. Very grad student. You look good."

"Just how easily distracted do you think I am?" Ianto asks.

Jack flashed him his best smile. "Oh, I can try harder, if you'd like."

"I need to know why you came back," Ianto says.

"I guess I just hadn't really been ready to leave," Jack says. "I have unfinished business here."

"You love him," Ianto says. "I've always known that, from my first day here."

"You think that means I can't ever love anyone else?" Jack asks. "Maybe I've fallen a little in love with you, too, Ianto, did you think of that?"

"But you love him more," Ianto says. "And you always will."

Jack shakes his head. "I don't love him more, I just need him more."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Ianto demands.

"Not even close," Jack says wryly. "There were days we could barely stand to look at each other, days we couldn't look away--it's exhausting, Ianto, and all I could think was I should never have left you."

"Do you mean that?" Ianto asks, fingers digging into the palms of his hands in an effort to keep them still.

"I wanted to die for a long time, Ianto--thought I finally would when I faced down Abaddon, and do you know what I wanted to do, first thing, when I woke up again?"

"What?" Ianto asks quietly.

"This," Jack tells him, before getting to his feet and grabbing him again, kissing him gently and desperately, holding on like he wasn't entirely sure Ianto was really there.

"Not the Doctor?" Ianto asks, after a moment.

Jack's still holding onto him, resting his forehead against Ianto's, and he laughs. "I kiss the Doctor before I go off to die, Ianto. I kiss you when I come back to life. I think maybe it's you I need more after all."

"I've spent years now studying you," Ianto says. "And I still don't know who you are."

"You know all you need to," Jack says. "I haven't got a clue what you're really capable of, Ianto, but I don't care. That doesn't matter."

"What now, then?" Ianto asks. "Where do we go from here?"

Jack seems to think about it, and then he gives Ianto a wicked grin. "Want to go for a ride on my invisible spaceship?" he asks.

Ianto gives a startled laugh, and grabs onto Jack's shirt, holding himself steady. "Does that line ever work?" he asks.

"Hasn't failed me yet," Jack smirks, before leaning close, "and the best part is we can be gone as long as we want, and I'll still have you home in time for dinner."

That would have confused the hell out of anyone sane, but it made perfect sense to them.