"Jack? Jack… what is it?"

Jack hadn't realized he'd woken until he heard Ianto's warm voice behind him in the dark.

"Nothing. Nothing, Ianto. Sleep."

Ianto sighed and settled his arm around Jack's chest again. "Used to you waking up in a cold sweat or with a shout," he said quietly, leaving out the obvious statement that he wasn't so used to Jack waking up in tears.

"Shouldn't have to put up with that either," Jack mumbled.

"I don't put up with it, Jack. I'm here to help."

Jack shut his eyes and held onto Ianto's hand beside his heart, even as he checked his impulse to pull away and shut everyone out. "Yeah," he breathed. "You do. You do." Jack turned over and burrowed into Ianto's arms.

"It was just a dream, Jack," Ianto murmured, holding him.

Jack shook his head, though. "No… it was a memory. It wasn't anything bad, either, for a change. It was nice. It was just… so long ago. I was so different."

"Want to talk about it?" Ianto offered.

"Don't know if there's anything to talk about…. Dreamed I was back home. Well, on Boeshane, anyway."

For a moment, Ianto wondered if Jack had finally recaptured one of those lost memories that had been plaguing him for nearly 150 years. He had a feeling it wasn't anything quite that important, though.

"I was 17, maybe 18. So young," Jack said, shaking his head against Ianto's shoulder. "It was me and… well, me and my best friend. Sometime before we joined up together. We were so carefree, sitting together beside the Boe River." Jack shook his head again. "We were young and we were gorgeous. We were mostly naked almost all the time away from the beaches. You probably don't want to know that, though."

"I don't mind, Jack. It's a nice mental image, anyway." In truth, Ianto virtually soaked up everything Jack ever said about himself. It was almost impossible not to, given Jack's many exploits.

Jack couldn't help snickering. "Wish you could've seen it in person!"

"I've seen something quite like it. And I quite liked it."

Jack looked up with a small smile. "That's why I don't need to be anywhere else."