This is where I'm going to post all my plot bunnies! As I only have one in at the moment, I'm not sure what they'll be like as a majority, so this first one's fairly long because of the plot I was given, and the way I felt it should be written in. If you get given a plot bunny for whatever reason (I may just hand them out when I feel like it) it'll appear up here, so keep a look out!

Owner: Lyra the Badwolf

Earned for: Naming Competition

Bunny's Name: Hermann

Timeline: AU set sometime after 2x01

Pairings: Jack/Ianto (duh, it's not like I write any other ones!)

Rating: T/K+

Author's Note: I actually really liked writing this, it's something i never would've thought to come up with (even though me and Lyra were on the same wavelength for most of it). It gave me a chance to really write Ianto the way I think he is, even if the way it's presented isn't the most conventional. Hopefully you guys will all like it!

I'd like to say now that if any of the welsh below is complete and utter bollocks, then please tell me! I thought it would be appropriate to have some in, so I used an English to Welsh translator I found via google, so I'm well aware that it could be complete trash. So if it's wrong and you can correct it for me, pleeease PM me and tell me so we can discuss it!

Disclaimer: I literally own nothing below! The plot belongs to Lyra the Badwolf, and the characters belong to Russel T. Davies

Take This to Your Grave

The first thing Jack noticed was the way Ianto's regular coffee rounds slipped. The usually bang on timing of the young man became just a little sloppy, loosening by a few minutes each way. Jack doubted any of the others would notice it, but having spent so much time with Ianto recently, he could tell there was something bothering him.

Fortunately, the coffee never suffered, and his standard of work didn't fail at all, just the time scales. He was having an 'off' week. To Jack's knowledge, he'd only ever had an 'off' week twice before in his history at Torchwood 3. It wasn't as if Ianto didn't deserve to have an 'off' day, or even an 'off' week for that matter, it was that all three had occurred at roughly the same time each year. Ianto had only worked there for two and a half years, but when he wasn't up to scratch, it was noticeable.

At first, Jack assumed it was because he felt bad for Gwen, sympathetic and perhaps a little bit guilty about being the one to betray Jack's trust and tell her about the island. He'd given Ianto a bit of a hard time after his last return from the place, unavoidably annoyed at him. He hadn't meant to show he was angry at him, but Ianto was one of those people who could pick up emotions that weren't expressed. Ianto had dutifully left him alone after that, despite the fact that inside Jack needed him, as always, to ease the guilt and sorrow he felt after his trips. That one had been particularly bad, just because of Gwen's meddling.

The next day, Jack pulled him to one side and apologised, kissing him affectionately to say he was sorry. It had brought a smile to young man's face and the bad feelings were wiped away. The day had gone on as normal and Jack had thought everything was good between them.

The next day, Ianto turned up a little late to his office asking if he wanted his first cup of coffee. That was the day when Ianto started to become distracted.

Now, Jack, being the nosey and slack-moralled individual that he was, thought Ianto's day off meant his day off. Usually, Jack stayed at work until mid afternoon when he'd take a stroll round to the young man's flat on his own accord. Ianto would then let him in and they'd get up to things that were far more comfortable on Ianto's plush double bed than on Jack's single in his sleep space. Looking forward to the promise of an evening with Ianto, he approached the man a few days before.

"So, what time shall I come over on Sunday?" He'd moved behind the young man and slipped his arms round his waist, resting his chin on Ianto's shoulder as he spoke.

"What's happening on Sunday?" Ianto settled back into his arms comfortably.

"It's the 13th? Your day off?" Jack felt the young man tense a little, his back straightening and his neck getting a little tauter from the effort of trying not to show what had just happened.

"Oh, right. I expect I'll be sleeping all day, this week's really taken it out of me." Ianto made no move to leave Jack's arms, but the tone of his voice gave Jack the clear indication that he shouldn't come over at the weekend. Jack simply let him go and shrugged his shoulders. "Jack, I don't mean it like that! I just really think I'll be fast asleep all day, and I know that's not much fun for you."

Ianto looked at him earnestly, a little worried at Jack's reaction. He just smiled then, kissing Ianto's lips gently and nodding. "It's okay, I know what you mean. You better get a good rest, I want you in top shape on Monday morning."

Ianto smiled and headed off to make the coffees. He's about five minutes out, including my intervention, so three minutes minimum? Jack stood and watched Ianto for a moment before heading off to his office where he let go of his curiosity and his mind wandered off to find an explanation for Ianto's behaviour.

Jack didn't realise until the Saturday that Ianto's day off coincided perfectly with his slightly unusual behaviour. He decided then it was fair game to play a little bit of 'Private Detective Harkness' with Ianto. The night before Ianto was due to be off work, Jack orchestrated his master plan.

He was going to take one of the civilian cars in the garage and park just up the road from Ianto's block of flats. From there, he'd watch to see whether Ianto left the house at all, and if he did, he'd follow him at a safe distance. He then added a side note to his plan in his jotter pad: 'Put a tracker device on Ianto's car and follow on GPS.' Ianto wasn't stupid, he'd notice if the same car was in the traffic behind him for the entire journey.

If Ianto stayed at home, he'd simply call him at about 6:00 pm and ask whether he wanted to go out for dinner. That would not only put him in Ianto's good books, especially as he still owed the man a date, but it would help ease the guilt he'd no doubt be feeling at the spying he'd just participated in.

The next morning, at about 7 o'clock, Jack pulled out of the garage in a plain silver hatchback and drove over to Ianto's block of flats. He reasoned that if Ianto was going to go anywhere, he'd do it early in the day or late in the evening. Knowing Ianto the way he did, he knew the Welshman was more than awake enough in the morning to go on a trip.

Jack looked at his clock mid afternoon and realised he had really misjudged his timings, thinking that maybe Ianto was just sleeping in. He was about to slink off when Ianto appeared at the door to the building in casual clothes with a back pack slung over one of his shoulders. He looked up and down the street and then headed over to his car, quickly getting in and revving the engine. Jack turned on the GPS, watched as the car pulled out to make sure the action was mimicked on the screen, and pulled out of his own parking space, two cars behind Ianto's.

He trailed the young man through Cardiff, constantly swapping positions in the traffic, and out onto the motorway. He soon found himself on the way to Cardigan, on the west coast of the country, wondering just what it was that was drawing Ianto there.

The further they went, the more intrigued the Captain became. He was so intent on getting there, he nearly lost sight of Ianto's car, but regained it just in time. By the end of the journey, he was bursting to call the young man's phone to see what he'd say if asked about the little trip. When they pulled off the motorway, he was quite glad to be getting another step further to his goal.

Now they were in the countryside, Jack had to be careful to keep at a distance that was both close enough to keep Ianto in sight and far enough to not be seen. He suspected that Ianto would be fairly distracted anyway, but it was better to be safe than sorry. They drove on a little further and eventually reached a little village, the type with cobbled streets and quaint little houses, some even with thatched roofs.

Jack parked his car in the pub car park and climbed out, looking at the GPS signal on the screen in his hand. He set off at a brisk walk to where Ianto's car had now come to a halt, several hundred meters from where he was at the moment. As Jack made his way down the road, he realised he was heading to the village church. As his mind started racing, he kept enough sense about him to drop to a slower pace and be more cautious with his movements.

He crept closer to the old building, passing Ianto's abandoned car and looking around. He felt a shiver run down his spine and looked around quickly. The rift didn't come out this far, so there shouldn't be anything alien around. No, what had given him the shiver was the fact that he was standing on the edge of a graveyard.

It looked like one of the oldest cemeteries he'd seen for a long time, covered in broken and weathered headstones and statues, most of which were so badly damaged that the words on them were hardly legible. He scanned the grounds and saw a figure standing a way off from him in the newer section of the graveyard, his back turned. Taking his chance, Jack darted forwards until he was about five meters from Ianto and crouched behind a bulky marble table with some inscriptions around the edges, it's ornate botanical carvings a little clogged with mud and debris.

He carefully leaned around the side to watch the young man, and he felt a jolt of alarm when he found Ianto crouching on the floor and gently running his fingers over the headstone in front of him, cleaning the letters out so that he could read them. Jack could just make out what they said:

Dylan Grigor Jones
1957 – 2003

Beloved husband
And
Devoted father

"Bucheddais a caredig ,
namyn Ewyllysia beunydd berthyn i 'm bau"

So this was the grave of Ianto's father. He talked occasionally of him, fondly, but had never said that he'd passed away, just that he lived in the country somewhere. Ianto didn't like to get specific about it, so Jack respected him and kept his distance from the matter. Jack knew the last sentence was in Welsh, and he was silently cursing himself for not being able to red it. Had it been any other day, he would've simply called Ianto and asked him, but it wasn't a good plan for the stalker to ask the stalkee about something they were looking at.

"'I have lived and loved, but I will always belong to my country'… That's you all over, isn't it?" Ianto had read out the inscription in English, clearing up the dilemma Jack had found himself in, but now he was even more intent to listen. Ianto had settled himself a few feet back from the headstone, cross-legged on the floor. His hands were twisting in his lap and Jack felt an almost overwhelming need to take him in his arms and comfort him. He managed to restrain himself as Ianto started to talk again.

"I never realised it was this time of year again until a couple of weeks ago. It's been kind of hectic at work the last few months. Remember Jack? I told you about him last year, about how he gave me a job? Well he disappeared for a while and then just turned up again out of the blue. It was a bit of a shock to be honest, I thought I was completely over him but no. There he was standing behind me with his gun pointing at the blowfish he'd just shot.

"It's weird. He's the one that shot Lisa, the one that killed her. I know the others joined in, but it was him who fired the first bullet. I never thought I'd feel like this about the person who killed her… I didn't think anything would happen between us, not after what I did and said. I guess I just got lucky." Jack watched as Ianto started to smile to himself, looking intently at the welsh inscription on the stone, seemingly slipping into his memories.

"You see, he's completely different to everyone else I've ever been with… He's completely spontaneous and mad, but he's so caring and he seems to know what I'm thinking before I do sometimes. You would've liked him, Dad, I know you would." Jack couldn't help but smile to himself. He carefully settled himself down into a position that wouldn't cause his muscles to cramp up, sensing that Ianto would be a while here. He quickly returned to watching and listening, finding it nice to hear him speak so freely.

"Well yeah, we've been kind of together since he got back from where ever it was he vanished off to, but it's never been anything serious to him. The closest we got was dancing at Gwen's wedding. She finally got married to Rhys, after a load of trouble with an alien wanting to rip her open… But you probably don't want to hear any details." He trailed off a little and thought to himself for a while before sighing and carrying on.

"I went back to the Electro too, remember that place? We used to go on Saturday mornings to watch the old cartoons… Well they opened it back up, and I was going to ask Jack to go with me, but I couldn't find him… So I went with Gwen and Owen, though neither of them seemed particularly interested. I guess it was good that Jack wasn't there, I don't doubt that he'd have reverted to some sort of teenager, trying to get some at the back of the cinema!" Ianto chuckled to himself and Jack marvelled at the strength it must be taking him to get this off his chest.

"That was a crap day… So many people died because I wasn't fast enough… Jack only managed to save a little boy. His entire family was dead, but he was alive, and that's all that mattered. We managed to save someone, so it was worth it. I just don't see how sometimes. We do all this, give our lives to something that we can't understand, saving people across the city, the country even, people who'll never know who you are, or what you're even doing because they can't know. No-one can know.

"That's why being with Jack is so good, we can talk about anything. Not that we do talk about work, but it's nice to know the option's there if we want to. Something happened the other day, with Gwen and these missing people. She found out about this island where Jack's set up a sort of hospital to care for the ones who get thrown back out of the rift. She wouldn't drop it so I gave her the location… He was so pissed at me after that, I just knew it. He didn't say anything, he was just pissed." His voice dropped away again. The smile that had been on his face fell and his brow furrowed as he looked down at his hands.

"I didn't mean to make him angry… I just knew that Gwen wouldn't stop 'til she found out… Owen and Tosh would've found out about it too then… I just figured that one person out of three wasn't as bad as three out of three. I didn't mean to make him angry, Dad. I know you always brought me up to keep my promises, like mam would've wanted, but I couldn't keep that one… I just couldn't."

Ianto was quiet for a long time then, looking up at the trees and listening as the breeze whistled through the barren twigs. His eyes were distant, somewhere far in his fast, probably with his dad. Jack shifted his position to stop his legs from cramping up and gently started to move his muscles whilst he waited for Ianto to start speaking again. The cold was beginning to set in now, and he shuffled a little impatiently. It must've been coming close to an hour of silence when Jack saw him start to speak again.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Dad. You were always the one who set me straight when things went wrong, but it's been five years and no-one's ever been as good as you for sorting me out. When you were gone, Lisa was there to help as best she could… When she went, there was no-one, no-one to keep me safe. Jack's not like that. What we have isn't like what me and Lisa had, it's not deep enough for that. There's been so many times when I've just wanted him to be like that, to be a proper partner, but he'd never do it, and I don't blame him.

"He can't bloody die, so why should he settle for someone who can? I just don't understand why I can go to work every day knowing that eventually we'll all leave and he'll be left alone? How can I let myself get attached to him when I know it's going to end in tears?" He was crying now, silent tears starting to fall gently across his cheeks as he stared at the welsh words again, seeming to find comfort in them. He was quiet for another long stretch of time, the longest stretch of time that Jack had ever felt.

"I think I love him, Dad. Honest to God, I've tried not to, I really have… but I can't help it. It's so much different to what I felt for Lisa, so much stronger. Every time I see him, it just feels right, you know?" Jack's leg twitched involuntarily as the impulse to go and kiss the young man raced through him. He didn't know that Ianto felt this way, that he thought Jack's affections were so shallow. He couldn't exactly blame him though, he'd rarely showed more than a flirtatious lust for the young man. He let his shield slip a few times; the kiss after his resurrection, the kiss in his office after Tommy's fate was revealed and the dance at the wedding. He wished he'd let it slip more often now. Had he known how much he tormented Ianto, he would've stopped pretending a long time ago.

"I could ramble on and on about work and Jack, but I know you're probably sick to death of it by now, pardon the pun. I really miss you, Dad…" Jack watched as Ianto climbed to his feet and brushed his fingers over the carved words again, lingering a little on the 'Jones' before reluctantly pulling his hand away from the cold stone and pushing them deep in the pockets of his jeans. "Dan chyfarfyddwn ail…"

Jack silently made his way around the stone table to a side where Ianto wouldn't be able to see him, and settled down to watch as the young man turned and headed back to the church, slowly passing through the rows of headstones, respectful for the dead buried beneath them.

It was a few minutes until Jack heard the car's engine start up and the crunch of tyres on gravel as Ianto drove off. He sat still for a moment longer before getting up and making his way over to the now deserted grave, reading the welsh sentence to himself and taking in the dark grey marble in front of him. He felt a little strange to be standing in front of such a personal thing to Ianto, but he felt the need to take a closer look, to pay his respects.

"Hello, sir." He was startled at the automated formality he came out with, suddenly feeling like a teenager introduced to his boyfriend's strict parents for the first time. "My name's Jack, and I'm good friends with your son, Ianto. I know he's told you a lot about me, but I just want to clear it up for you a bit. I really do care about your son, sir, and I'm always going to be there for him, to help him when he needs it. I'm going to look after him, sir, don't worry… and… I think I love him too."

Jack stood and looked at the headstone for a few more minutes, contemplating his final realisation, before bowing his head a little and making his way back to the church and through the village to his car. On any other day, he would've gone into the pub for a beer, but right now, he wanted to get back to Cardiff as soon as possible and be with Ianto.

Jack spent the drive home thinking solidly about what he'd heard in the graveyard. How could he have been so cavalier and uncaring about Ianto's feelings? How hadn't he seen how much Ianto cared for him before? How had he missed all the little things he did for him?

The same thoughts went over and over in his head until he realised that the sky was starting to get a little darker, and the streetlamps started to flicker into life. He realised that he was almost back now, and quickly checked the GPS signal on Ianto's car. He was making his way through the city centre to his building, finally stopping.

Without a chance to rethink the decision, Jack dialled Ianto's mobile phone and hooked it through his ear piece so he was on hands free. Finally, the call was answered

"Hello?" Ianto's voice was a little choked on the other end.

"Ianto, it's Jack." He took a deep breath and let it out quietly.

"Oh, hey Jack. Sorry, I couldn't find my phone for a minute there. What can I help you with?" Ianto's voice had slipped back into his work tone, obviously thinking that Jack wanted to talk to him about work.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go on that date tonight?" He heard a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the phone that had been muffled quite well.

"Uhh… Sure." He was obviously trying to keep himself under control, and Jack allowed himself a small smile.

"Great, I'll come round and get you in a bit." Without giving him a chance to reply, Jack cut the call and concentrated on driving again, heading straight to Ianto's flat.

Jack knocked on Ianto's front door and when the young man opened it, he smiled at him. Ianto gave him a strange look, obviously noticing the way he was standing. The way his usually bubbling confidence had been deflated subtly. He had hoped it wouldn't show, but obviously he'd been hoping in vain.

"I'm almost ready, come in and have a seat." Ianto smiled back and gestured inside, closing the door as Jack stepped through. He was about to walk off to his bedroom when Jack reached out and grabbed his wrist, pulling him around to look him in the eyes.

"I don't care if you can't die, Ianto…" He'd thrown caution to the wind, and when he saw Ianto's face twist into a vague panic, he realised that he'd have to face the consequences of the day's actions.

"Please don't tell me-" His voice shook with a suppressed emotion and he hesitantly kept his eyes locked with Jack's. That emotion isn't anger… it's not pain or sorrow… It's fear… Jack's mind was moving through thoughts as he took in the look of pure vulnerability that had captured Ianto's features.

"I followed you… I wanted to know why you'd been distracted at work, why you didn't want me to come over today." He looked steadily at Ianto and watched as the young man composed himself a little more and straightened up, eyes still locked with his. "I just wanted you to know that I don't care if you can't die, I don't care if all we have is this evening because at least we'd be together."

Jack gently let go of Ianto's wrist and took a good look at the man. He was wearing a casual white shirt with the top button undone, showing the dark grey t-shirt underneath and the beaded necklace he wore on his days off, and a pair of now slightly muddy jeans. He took one final look at those beautiful blue eyes before turning and heading over to the door.

At least, that's what he tried to do. He felt all breath leave him as Ianto's hand caught his arm and stopped him from moving forwards. He turned slowly and face the Welshman again, slightly fearful, and felt Ianto's hand move down his arm and onto his, their fingers linking together. The young man took a step forwards and his free hand came up the trace the buttons on Jack's shirt gently, the vulnerability flooding back to him.

Jack took his free arm and wrapped it around Ianto's waist, pulling him closer. He looked at the young man for a moment before he felt lips brush his, pulling him slowly into a kiss which deepened and became more passionate than any they'd shared before.

It was then that Jack realised that he'd done the right thing. He would never realise how close he'd been to losing the man in his arms, but he would never again take Ianto Jones for granted.