Disclaimer: RTD and BBC (and all that it entails) owns them and all rights, if I owned them I would have fic writers doing the scripts, regardless of what RTD thinks (hmmm assassin!Ianto, Empath!Ianto, or vampire!Ianto or even all three as cannon, that'd be fun)

A/N This was also a fill for my 2012 BINGO, for the prompt First House

Moving Forward

Jack leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. Nine years after taking control of Torchwood 3, everything was finally starting to stabilize. He and his partner finally felt the Hub didn't need their constant supervision to ensure One didn't try to undo their hard work or that something unimaginable would happen to whoever had watch.

Yet they were still living in the space under his office, where they'd pretty much lived full-time for the last 29 years. And Jack had officially called it home for as long as he had been with Torchwood.

Home. It had been so long since that word had had much meaning.

First, it meant with his family on Boeshane. Then everything came crashing down and even though he still had his mother, it wasn't really home anymore.

After that he really didn't have a home for a long time, until Rose and the Doctor gave him a place on the TARDIS. The TARDIS made him feel so at home in a way he had never felt before.

But then the Doctor left him—ran away from him—and he lost his home, even if the TARDIS still cared.

Then he found Ianto, and now Ianto was his home. Even if it was a different place every few years, if Ianto was there, it was home.

But lately he'd been wondering what it would be like for him and Ianto to have a place that was just theirs, a place to call home together.

Problem was, he wasn't exactly sure if Ianto wanted a home like that with him; buying a house together was an altogether different sort of commitment than being lovers and partners.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Ianto looked at his lover reclining at his desk. It was hard to believe that they had been in charge for nearly a decade, and it finally felt like they would be able to run their Torchwood the way they wanted.

They might finally be able to have time away from the Hub.

Maybe they could escape the space they'd called a home for the last 29 years.

Looking at his lover, he wanted his partner to have a home with him.

Jack hadn't had a home in so long, not since he left Mother, and he wanted his partner to have that again.

He just wasn't exactly sure Jack wanted that.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"And let us know if you have any questions or concerns," Ianto finished explaining to Sara, the operative on watch that night. She was a good agent, and he had no doubt she would become great with a bit more experience.

"Righto, sir," she said with a salute.

Ianto shook his head as he walked away.

He walked to Jack's office so that they could retire for the night. As Jack came into view, he could see him looking at some sort of paper.

It wasn't paperwork, that much he was sure of; but whatever it was had his partner's complete attention.

Quietly, and with a little use of his perception filter, Ianto made his way to his partner's side so that he could see what had Jack's attention.

What he saw surprised him.

"Real estate?" he asked Jack.

"Ianto!" Jack exclaimed in surprise. "Well, you see, I…uhhh…"

Ianto just looked at his lover for a moment, trying to piece together what he was missing, thinking on what he had felt from his lover as Jack looked at the listings.

Longing, he realized with surprise—his partner had felt longing.

He smiled.

"Jack, I've been thinking. Things have calmed down here; we finally don't need to be here all the time. Maybe we can get a place of our own. A home of our own."

Jack looked startled at his revelation before softening and beaming at Ianto.

"I think that's a terrific idea."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

As Ianto carried his current box of personal items to the lift, he smiled in disbelief. After six months they finally had their own place.

They had found a nice flat within a short distance to the Wharf; and they planned to remodel it to make it nicer.

As he walked into their new place, he saw Jack looking out the window at their view of the Bay. In a few decades, this would be prime real estate.

He walked over to his partner, pulling him into a slow kiss.

"Welcome home."