Ianto looked at Jack surreptitiously. Laid on his side and tracing lazy patterns across Ianto's chest, he was thinking so hard, that it was almost deafening. He couldn't help asking : "What are you thinking ?" .

Jack lay down on his back, and looked at the ceiling, before letting out a sigh.

"I was thinking I was wrong."

Ianto raised himself on an elbow and glared at him.

"Jack, stop it. How many times do I have to say it to you : there is nothing wrong with you. You are not wrong." He replied more harshly than he had intended to.

Jack smiled and shook his head, slightly amused by Ianto's vehemence.

"Not what I meant."

He paused and took a deep breath before adding, still avoiding Ianto's gaze :

"Before I left with the Doctor, I thought all I needed was him. I was convinced that if I could find him, he would fix me and bring my former life to me, so I could be the man I used to be again and it would be as if nothing had ever happened."

Ianto stayed still, not daring to make a move whilst Jack was confiding. He never talked about his disappearence. Sometimes, he made vague allusions to it, but he never properly talked about what had happened to him, and Ianto had never dared to ask.

Jack shifted closer and finally turned his face towards him.

"Now, I know I was wrong. I will never be that man anymore. Things have changed. I have changed. I waited for the Doctor for at least two hundred years, but I never missed him half as much as I missed all of it : Cardiff, the Hub, my team... I even missed that bloody rift and its stream of alien rubbish. It took me a whole year to fully realize it, but I know it for sure, now : all I need, really need, is right here. Oh yes, I still love the Doctor and I will always be there for him. But I don't need him, not anymore." He paused. "I didn't lie when I said I came back for you."

Plucking up courage, Ianto made up his mind to ask shyly :

"You need me?"

"No."

The answer was blunt and Ianto's heart sank in his chest. He took the blow and was about to put an end to this painful conversation, but before he had a chance to, Jack added :

"I don't need you. I want you."

It took Ianto's brain a few seconds to fully register the possible meaning of what he had just heard. He stared at Jack's blue eyes, looking for the lust that usually came with those three words, but what he read in them stunned him : there wasn't the tiniest hint of desire in them, well, not that kind of desire. Instead, all he found was utter seriousness with a glimpse of determination.

I want you.

Not quite the three words he had expected for so long, but Ianto wasn't sure it was such a bad thing.

I want you.

Three words. Just three words, but so much was said in those words. So much more than he had ever hoped.

I want you.

Jack's words talked about betrayal and forgiveness. They talked about choices and sacrifices. Jack hadn't came back because he had to, but because he wanted to. Maybe for the first time since he had became immortal, Jack hadn't just undergone events. He had made a choice and his choice hadn't been the Doctor or Gwen or anyone else. It had been Ianto, just Ianto.

"Do you want me too ?" Jack asked with an unsteady voice.

Coming back to reality, Ianto drew him into his arms and held him tightly.

"Yes, Jack. I want you. I want you."

End