"So, about that date…."
Ianto took a deep breath and let it out slowly before setting down the file he was working with and turning. "It's alright," he said quickly. "I didn't take it that seriously. Figured it was just your office fetish playing up."
Jack gave Ianto a strange look, like they were having two separate conversations.
"You don't have to explain," Ianto said. "You just said it… 'cause it had been a while, hadn't it?"
"Yes, it had been," Jack said.
There was a flicker of something in Jack's eyes that Ianto couldn't quite define, something that seemed to haunt him and had since he'd shown up again. After the appearance of John Hart, Ianto figured it had to do with him, but he wasn't so sure.
"I did mean it though. Dinner and a movie. If you want to, that is."
Ianto hesitated for a moment, trying to calm the excited feeling in his chest, before he nodded.
"Great," Jack smiled. "Friday night?"
"Alright." Ianto wondered if it meant Jack was really serious about their… relationship, if he was talking about a real date.
Jack nodded and turned to head back up to the main office. Then he turned back. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped, then tried again. "I missed you," Jack said sincerely.
Ianto wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I was worried," he said, letting his guard down just a bit. "Know I shouldn't have been. Reckon there's not much you can't manage. Anyway, found your doctor and all…."
"Yeah," Jack said, non-committal. "I'm sorry I was away. I didn't know it was going to be so long."
What Jack really wanted to say was 'I've thought of you twenty times a day for the last year and had to fight to keep from ever saying your name when they killed me, because I could never let them take you.' He was unsure enough where his absence, and subsequent appearance of John Hart, left him and Ianto, and he didn't know how much 'soul-bearing' Ianto wanted to hear.
"Like I said, you don't have to explain."
"Thanks. So… Friday."
Ianto nodded. "Yeah, Friday."
"Alright. Well… I have some… uh, lots, actually…."
"Paperwork. I know. I put it there," Ianto smirked.
"Yeah. Ok. Talk later."
Watching Jack go, Ianto wished he could have just said 'I missed you, too.' He had missed Jack, terribly, and it had been difficult to deal with those months he was gone. That kiss Jack had laid on him just before he left was all Ianto had to get him through. Every time Jack kissed him, Ianto knew there was something there. And it was enough to go on.