Set six months prior to the beginning of season 1. Spoilers for Fragments.

With a sigh, Jack strode past the cog wheel door and up the stairs. Halfway to his office, he stopped, puzzled. Something was different… subtly different. Looking around the Hub floor, he wondered just what it was that stood out…

"Captain?"

He jumped. "Oh — Ianto." The kid stood looking at him, and a genuine smile formed unbidden on his lips. "What're you still doing here?"

Ianto shrugged. "Lost track of time a bit. I was getting used to the main Archives, starting lists of what I'll need to do…"

Jack glanced around the Hub — the clean Hub, there was the difference. "You've certainly been busy already," he observed.

Ianto shrugged slightly. "It's not much trouble."

Jack let out an incredulous little laugh. "Yeah, right. How much 'trouble' are the Archives going to be, d'you reckon?"

"Mm." Ianto twisted his lips slightly. "Yes. The Archives. Well, sir, they are... in a bit of a state."

Jack laughed out loud. "They are, at that. Good luck."

"I enjoy a challenge." Ianto gave a small smile. "Oh, and the pteranodon seems to be settled in just fine, in case you were wondering. Small matter of house-training, of course."

Jack tilted his head. "Pteranodon?"

"Yes, sir. I did a little research this morning..."

Jack tsked in disappointment. "But pterodactyl sounded so much sexier when you said it."

Ianto raised one eyebrow. Jack grinned unashamedly. This was Torchwood Cardiff, after all.

"If you say so, sir. I'll just be out of your way, then." Ianto took a step toward Jack's office, then hesitated. He made as if to offer the folders in his hand to Jack, but paused again. A faint pink blush crept over his cheeks.

Jack smiled at him. If he'd had doubts about the wisdom of hiring this kid — which, of course, he had — the course of the day had made him forget or disregard them. Jack had mentally allotted seven days for Ianto to prove that he had a place here. He should have guessed that just one day would be more than enough time for the young man to prove that Torchwood Three was, in fact, in dire need of an administrator. Admittedly, Ianto had surprised the Captain with a quiet competence and diligence, an intensity in his young face and blue eyes. Despite Jack's previous irritation with his little stalker, the same qualities he'd found annoying would definitely benefit Torchwood. So he decided to cut the kid some slack.

"What've you got there?" he asked, striding toward Ianto with his hands in his pockets.

Ianto waved the folder vaguely. "Just a few things that I thought should come to your attention by tomorrow."

Jack held out a hand invitingly. "Got a minute to go over it?"

"Of course." Ianto held out the file to Jack. "These are finished mission reports from the past three weeks—" he turned to the next section. "And that one's top priority: it needs your attention and your signature before the artifact goes into the secure Archives, as it's still in a containment unit on Suzie's desk — um, and I could do that, if you deem it acceptable that I should have access."

"Of course," Jack murmured, glancing over the report in question. "If I want you to take care of the Archives, no sense in locking you out of half of them. Remind me in three weeks, okay?" He slanted a look back up at the young man. Ianto met his gaze, and Jack smiled slightly. Those blue eyes were awfully pretty. "Anything else?"

"Few other things for your to approve and sign," Ianto replied, "including my employment papers, actually, but they can wait a bit. These are for tomorrow," he added, tapping a set of papers full of numbers, clipped together and stuck with a yellow post-it. "You'll have an administrative call at three-thirty, and these are the expense reports and projections for the last three months and the next." Jack raised an eyebrow, and Ianto quirked a tiny smile. "There is a summary on the last page, sir," he assured Jack, somewhat dryly.

Jack stared at him for a moment. "That's tomorrow?" Ianto nodded. "How'd you know about it?"

"I know everything," the young man quipped. Then a soft pink flushed his cheekbones and he coughed slightly. "And it was on your calendar, sir."

Jack grinned, delighted with the blush. "You mean they actually warn me about those things?"

One dark eyebrow arched briefly. "Yes, sir."

"You know, you can call me Jack," the Captain admonished gently. "You must have noticed we're not overly formal around here."

"Thank you, sir," the young man replied. "I did notice."

Jack chuckled and flipped the folder shut. "Okay, then… Jones, Ianto Jones." He smiled slightly. "Welcome to Torchwood Three."

Author's note: If Gwen was "brilliant" for covering a window with sticky-tack and school pictures on her first day, I wanted to try a little exercise in other ways to be brilliant at Torchwood. (Without releasing a sex gas alien or spying on a girl's debates about Orlando Bloom vs Heath Ledger. Seriously? That helped?) I might be tempted to do Toshiko's at one point... hm. We'll see if the bunny bites. Anyway, hope this was at least mildly entertaining. Feel free to tell me what you thought. :)