CHILD IN TIME repost

by deetatarant

Ianto is 'youthunised' by a rift spike. The team have to deal with his second childhood and bring in a freelancer to take up the slack. Season One. Not fluffy.

1. Chapter 1

AN: Ok so now I am reposting this story with some changes suggested by the lovely 'hklbry'. The original posting has been removed from my stories list. Please, read, enjoy and feel free to let loose your reviewing spirit.

This is a long chapter because basically it was only originally going to be a short story and somehow, as these things do it got away from me.

LONG LIVE TORCHWOOD.

This is set pretty much around the time of the Faeries incident in season one and does feature an OC whose role will become clear much later on…

Thank you, because you guys out there keep the show alive and me sane….

CHILD IN TIME

BY JANN TARRANT

Jules couldn't help but laugh at the dead pan comment thrown his way by his younger colleague as the two of them hefted a heavy body bag into the back of the black transit van. They both stood back from the task breathless and cold from a long night of Torchwood clean-up operations. Jules was still grinning as he huffed out clouds of breath into the cold night.

"So Jones, up for a pint?"

Ianto Jones took a moment to look at his watch and then offered up a roll of his eyes.

"I think the pubs closed a couple of hours ago. Anyway I should get this thing back to the Hub." The younger man was back into his work mode, sliding behind formality now that the grisly jobs had been done.

Jules nodded with disappointment. He'd been unable to talk the solemn young Welshman into having a drink with him on many occasion. He liked Ianto a lot, the young man had a razor sharp mind and a wicked sense of humour, but mostly Jules appreciated his quiet grace and good manners. He knew Jack had hired him straight from the aftermath of the disaster at Canary Wharf and Jules had tentatively once asked Ianto about what had happened there. Ianto had simply replied everyone died and left it at that. Jules had then spoken to Suzie Costello because at the time he had not been called up to assist with the clean-up like he normally would be. Jack had instead asked him to cover the field ops position in Cardiff whilst Tosh, Suzie, and Owen had gone to London to deal with the mess there. Suzie hadn't told him much either. Jules had liked Suzie but then she'd shot herself after going a bit weird. Of course being Torchwood's freelancer meant he wasn't always privy to the goings on with in Jack's little empire and normally Jules wouldn't give a monkey's uncle, but Ianto intrigued him and the handsome Welshman was someone he hoped to form a strong friendship with. They certainly worked well together. There was a dignified sadness about Ianto that had Jules' inner protective streak working overtime.

Well, that was Torchwood all over.

Jules pulled out a packet of Marlboro Lights from his coat pocket and offered up a cigarette to Ianto who took it with a nod of thanks.

"Jack will moan, he hates fags." Ianto commented as Jules lit them up.

"I thought Jack went for anything with a pulse." Jules quipped.

Ianto faced him with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah I know, lame joke."

They stood there at the back of the van, smoking in silence and Ianto with his face directed up toward the full moon. Jules thought he had never looked more beautiful than he did now with the pale silver light illuminating his skin.

TTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWT

Ianto was more than happy to be left alone to get on with his work in peace. In truth he needed the space and time to think with having plenty to do, because idle hands made for too much contemplation of the things he really didn't want to rake over in his mind. He was battling with his conflicting emotions and was on a constant state of alert, the habit of watching everything all the time was dying hard.

Lisa was dead.

Ianto knew he should be over that by now, but his shaking hands told him that this was something he would carry with him to his grave. The guilt wormed its way under his pale skin like a cancer that festered in his soul. He wanted to talk but there was no one to talk to. The others had lost their hostility toward him, but were still wary and Ianto could not blame them for that and Jules was oblivious to what happened to him and Lisa and he wanted it to remain that way. He gripped the file in his hands and shoved it into a draw with more enthusiasm than he had intended, the drawer slid back with the force of the movement and Ianto barely got his hand out of the way before it slammed to a shut with a loud bang. Ianto glanced around the dank room and sighed, breathing in deeply to calm an upsurge of unwanted emotion.

He likened the room in which he stood to his head. The walls were crawling with damp and dripping moulds that clung to the blackened brickwork like rotten flesh hanging from old decaying bones. There was a rank smell to match and Ianto realised why no one else came down here unless they really had to. Yet with in this decaying pit resided a repository of the most incredible knowledge on the entire planet. Ianto had nurtured it and organised it all to perfection and there were three more rooms just like this one still to sort out, all as of yet unexplored in his wanderings around the caverns underneath the Hub operations area. It was a shame that no one outside of the Torchwood institute was ever likely to see it, not in his life time anyway, especially with the way secrets were so closely guarded within these walls.

Ianto wondered how long a life time was. He had dodged enough proverbial bullets in his short existence and surely now he was on borrowed time, whatever that meant. Time for shares, time on loan, time re-mortgaged. He contemplated these things as he went to his shabby desk and pulled a wet wipe from the packet there, so he could clean his grubby hands. Everything was soiled down here, the paperwork most of all.

Dirty secrets and lies.

His life was full of far too many of those. The definition of a lie was Ianto Jones. Everything about him, right down to his finely tailored attire was fabrication. Ianto pardoned himself the pun. The used wipe was discarded into the little waste paper bin that had somehow survived from the late 1970s and Ianto shook his hands to dry them. He knew he should make an appearance up in the main area of the Hub and dutifully offer up mugs of coffee to his colleagues. It was his job after all. It wasn't much of one and Ianto considered the possibility that Retcon may well have been a better solution all round.

Ianto hadn't wanted to forget.

He hadn't wanted an easy way out either. Lisa had only been gone a few weeks, or months depending on who he asked… Jack would never see her as having once been a living, breathing and feeling woman. They had never heard her laughter, the funny little snort she had whenever she experienced a fit of the giggles. Ianto smiled sadly at the memories and he was grateful he had them to smile at. For him, death would have been preferable to Retcon and he didn't want to die, never had and hopefully never would. Sometimes his despair was bad, so bad it almost broke him but he had never wanted to die.

Ianto realised he was contemplating too much again and so pulling back his stiff shoulders and straightening himself up he marched along to join the others in the operations area of the Hub and serve them coffee.

There was an almighty argument going on with Gwen and Owen facing off against Jack, their shrill voices unsettling the still scitterish pterodactyl as she circled the water tower close to the steel rafters above their heads. Ianto dipped his head and darted past Tosh's workstation to his kitchen area, where he found the technician with her nose buried in a mug. Ianto slipped by her and began sorting out some beans for the coffee grinder. Gwen was practically screaming at Jack and Owen was yelling, his acerbic London accent cutting through the damp air and echoing off the tiled walls around them.

"Tosh, what happened?" Ianto asked keeping his voice low as he worked. Toshiko placed her mug in the sink and turned so she could lean against the work surface to face her younger colleague.

"That little girl, Jasmine Pearce, Jack handed her over to the Fearies. It was pretty awful, her father died and her mother was screaming at him, Jack that is. God, it was terrible Ianto." The normally shy Japanese woman explained in hurried, hushed tones.

Ianto had been kept out of this particular case, Jack had pretty much confined him to the Hub, since the business with the odd weather patterns had started. Jack had even taken care of the clean-up job at the old ladies' house in Penarth the previous day. Gwen was still shouting and what struck Ianto as somewhat worrying was the fact that he hadn't heard Jack utter a word in response. The coffee was brewing now and Ianto reached into the cupboard for some mugs.

"Jack would not have let her go if it wasn't….." He started but was cut short.

"I know that! Just try telling Gwen, or the girl's mother…. You don't know what it was like, you weren't there. We had to Retcon her and convince her that she'd lost her family in a terrible accident. Then we had to round up all the neighbours and Retcon them as well."

Ianto listened as Tosh further explained, he felt angry that she thought that he would not understand, but he remained silent allowing her to rant in whispers as Gwen and Owen continued to berate Jack in great volume. Ianto had to concede that it took a lot for Tosh to let loose her feelings to anyone other than Jack, so it must have been bad. He handed her a mug of sweet creamed coffee and then placed three more mugs on the tray hoping to defuse the situation in the Hub with a well-placed beverage. By the time he got out there, Jack was stomping off to his office and Gwen and Owen were pulling on their coats.

"Don't bother Tea Boy, we're off." Owen snapped and Gwen swung her gaze at him as Owen spoke.

"Sorry Ianto not now, but thanks anyway." She zipped up her leather jacket. Ianto sighed and watched as they left through the cog door. He placed his tray down on the coffee table by the couch and picked up Jack's mug. There was an uncomfortable silence in the Hub as Tosh resumed her place at her computer. Ianto offered her a faint smile before striding up to his boss' office. He tapped on the wooden frame of the door and waited a beat before opening it and stepping in.

"I thought you could do with this sir." He said quietly as he slipped into the dimly lit room and searched for a clear spot on the cluttered desk. The mug was placed just to the left of Jack's right hand. Jack didn't even look up.

"Thank you Ianto. You can go home now." Jack's tone was dismissive.

Ianto nodded, worried by the subdued tone and as he moved to the door he was forced to pause and turned back to look at Jack. Ianto had seen Jack look defeated before, but not like this, now he just looked worn out and distant. It was disquieting to behold.

"Sir I…"

"Get out!" Jack roared launching himself from his seat and thumping his desk with both fists, making everything on it jump. The coffee sloshed over the sides of the mug, Ianto noticed. He remained impassive in the face of Jack's wrath. Jack was a force to be reckoned with when he was angry, but Ianto didn't flinch.

"Yes sir. I just wanted to say, that I know what you did, Tosh told me."

Jack continued to glare at him in a blue blaze of anger.

"You going to pass judgment on me as well?"

Ianto shook his head. "You do terrible things Jack and you have to do them to protect this planet and because we are not strong enough to make those kind of decisions ourselves. I know that first hand. It wasn't the easy thing to do, but I believe it was the right thing, you would have not have let her go otherwise. In fact you would have done everything in your power to keep her safe." He kept his voice level not wanting to betray how difficult it was for him to say this.

"I killed Lisa." Jack countered, reading the expression on Ianto's face well enough.

"The Cybermen killed Lisa, I killed her, and you killed her. I understand that now, I hate what you did, but I accept that you had to do it." He stepped further into the room and tried to smile a little in reassurance. Jack seemed to shrink before him as he slumped back down into his seat behind the desk.

"Sometimes, I really hate this job."

Ianto could only agree.

"Me too, but someone has to do it." He took the empty visitors chair. "I know you won't want to talk about it, you're like me in that respect. Tosh said I wouldn't understand…."

"But we both know that you do." Jack picked up the mug of coffee and took an appreciative swallow before continuing. "I don't think Gwen will forgive me."

Ianto inwardly sighed. "Is it that important to you that she does? Surely her trust is more important?"

Jack shrugged. "Aren't they one in the same?"

The answer was obvious to Ianto. "I trust you sir, but I will never forgive you."

Jack winced at that, but Ianto carried on.

"Gwen will get over it; she just doesn't have the experience to appreciate what happened. Torchwood is still very new to her and I think she still believes you can save everybody."

"But I can't, no one can."

Ianto took note of the slightly petulant edge to Jack's tone of voice. "She'll come round sir." Ianto knew that Jack would be forgiven by morning, Gwen's crush on her boss would see to that. "You'll still be her caped hero tomorrow."

Jack blinked at him. "What?"

Ianto got to his feet. "You know what I am talking about, now if you don't mind sir I have work to do."

Jack narrowed his eyes at the boy in front of him; someone so adept at reading people it was quite unsettling.

"You think she hero worships me?" Jack wasn't sure he wanted an answer.

Ianto offered up an exasperated roll of his eyes. "Yes sir and you know it, you play up to it. Tomorrow she will forgive you because deep down she knows you had to do what was required, no matter how….. distasteful."

Jack couldn't argue the point. "Sit down Ianto." He gestured with his hand to the chair Ianto had just vacated. Ianto nervously tugged on his suit jacket before resuming the seat. They looked at one another for a long, silent moment and Ianto was the first to drop his gaze.

"Sir?"

"Do you like cats?"

Ianto blinked at him and opened his mouth, then closed it again, completely taken aback by the random question.

"Come on Ianto, it's a simple enough question." Jack's voice softened to the level of a purr.

"Yes, I like cats. I have a ginger tom called Jupiter."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "You have one already?"

"Yes, sir. Why do you want to know?"

"Would you like another one? He's very nice. The lady that died…. Estelle Cole, it's her cat. I just want him to go to a good home."

Ianto didn't fail to catch the saddened edge in Jack's voice. He shifted in his seat and settled his hands into his lap.

"I can take him home and see how he gets on with Ju and if they don't fight he can stay, if not I know somewhere else he can go."

Jack looked entirely too grateful and Ianto had to ask.

"Estelle Cole was close to you wasn't she?"

"Yeah, she and my dad…."

Ianto shook his head. "Jack.."

Jack frowned confused by Ianto's use of his name.

Ianto sucked in a deep, nervous breath. "I know how old you are, I mean really. You haven't covered your tracks nearly as well as you may think. I have seen pretty much all of your service records and I know you don't stay dead." He said quietly, knowing how closely guarded Jack liked to keep that secret.

Jack sank back into his chair and picked up a pen from his desk.

"How did you know?" There was little point in denial. Ianto knew everything, pretty much.

"Emily Holroyd's reports on your condition for a start; I read about you whilst at One. Miss Hartman had me put together a comprehensive folder on you. I watched the CCTV of Suzie shooting you in the head and Lisa killing you, twice. I am also the person that deals with your laundry, shall I go on? I suppose that confirmed what I already knew."

"I see. You've not said anything before." Jack half wondered if he was about to be blackmailed.

"You want it to remain a secret; I respect that especially after reading about what was done to you by those two women. Of course, I could do with a pay rise…..Joke sir. Are you immortal? Are you even human?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, to the first question and you should know to the second."

Ianto blushed with shame. "I won't tell anyone."

"I know. If you were going to, you'd have done it by now. And yes, Estelle and I were close. We loved each other and I was a coward and I left her because of what I am. I think she knew in the end though, Estelle was no fool."

Suddenly too uncomfortable for words, Ianto lurched to his feet again feeling incredibly awkward, this was really getting too personal. "I'll look after her cat. Where is it?"

Surprised by the apparent end to their conversation, Jack also stood up. "I'll just get him."

TTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWT

The following morning Ianto entered the Hub via the tourist office at 6am having only had about 2 hours sleep. The nightmares had been especially graphic and left him with a queasy disorientation that refused to go away. At least the cats seemed to be getting along, well ignoring one another anyway. Ianto didn't mind much, Jupiter had already shredded most of his furniture, so another cat in the house wasn't going to make much difference to the state of his couch. After stepping through the Hub Ianto bee-lined for the coffee machine, shedding his overcoat and draping it over the back of Tosh's vacant chair as he went. He was desperate for caffeine having not bothered to brew at home before coming into work. Ianto set the machine going and then headed down to the vaults to feed their resident weevil. Ianto wondered why it was called Janet and how anyone could tell what gender 'she' was. Janet snatched the proffered meaty bone from the drop tray as if it were likely to be her last meal and snarled at him through the safety glass.

"You're welcome." Ianto mumbled to himself as he then headed up to the pteradactyl's nest with a bucket of fish. Feeding Myfanwy was much more fun as he tossed fillets of cod into the air and she swooped in to catch them. He added his usual final treat of chocolate for which she settled herself on the gantry in front of him and cawed. Ianto almost got close enough to touch her, but his nerve broke every time before he could pluck up the courage and rub her beak. He smiled at the magnificent beast and said a cheery good morning before she launched herself up with chocolate between her razor sharp teeth. Ianto sincerely hoped that they didn't one day end up with a voloceraptor as well.

Eventually, with coffee in hand he sat at his terminal in the tourist office and began checking his emails.

Jack strolled in at 8:30 looking slightly dishevelled and stinking of cheap perfume, he barely acknowledged the Welshman as he strode through the awaiting open secret door. Shortly after Gwen and Owen entered together, laughing about something. Ianto was ignored. Not surprised by this Ianto resumed his work and then Tosh came in. She stopped in front of his counter top and smiled.

"Good morning Ianto."

Ianto looked up from his work. "Hello Tosh." He pressed the button to let her into the Hub. "I'll be down in a minute, I just want to finish these messages."

She nodded and went.

True to his word he was back at the coffee machine 15 minutes later, sorting out drinks for the team. He had just poured out the coffees when the alarms sounded. Typical. Within moments he was alone in the Hub directing them through the streets of Cardiff from Tosh's terminal. Owen was swearing a lot over the coms and Gwen and Jack were laughing at him. Ianto sat there listening to the lively banter and feeling more disconnected than ever. How on Earth were the others ever to trust him if he was kept on the outside, not even able to properly look in. With a sinking feeling in his gut, he knew he would need to talk to Jack about it and with every bitter betrayal that lay between them, also knew it was the last thing that he wanted to do. He sighed unhappily and sat there fiddling with the pink fluffy thing that sat next to Tosh's keyboard.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Some hours later and Jack looked up from his report as Ianto entered his office with coffee mug in hand and he had to smile.

"Oh, how do you do it? I was just about to…"

"Yell for your coffee sir?" Ianto was clearly trying for good natured and Jack wondered why he was looking so nervous. He took the mug and their fingers briefly touched, and oh how he had missed that frission of electricity that always passed between them. They both smiled a little awkwardly and Jack gestured to the empty visitor's chair.

"Sit."

Ianto did as he was asked.

Jack took a moment to enjoy his drink before placing the mug down on his desk.

"I had a look down in the archive last night."

Ianto gaped and then frowned. Jack found his consternation at that news highly amusing….

"I said look not touch. I promise I did not touch a thing."

Ianto nodded. "I am relieved to hear it sir."

"You see I can behave, anyway you've done sterling work, I know there is a long way to go, but none of the rest of us could have done it, especially working down there."

Jack could see that Ianto wondered where this was going, so he decided to get to the point and put Ianto out of his misery.

"I know that the work needs to be done, but I am concerned that you're spending too much time alone down there and I seem to remember promising to get you properly integrated into the team." He took another sip of his coffee and watched Ianto's face carefully. The younger man was surprisingly easy to read for once and he looked mildly relieved.

"I am going to put you through some fire arms training and take you on some retrievals, just to get you into the swing of the field work. How do you feel about that?"

Ianto appeared to consider what was said. "I'd appreciate it very much sir. The others still don't trust me apart from Jules that is and that's only because he doesn't know about Lisa unless you told him… and I…."

Jack sat upright. "What?"

"They don't trust me, I can't blame them, they have no reason to. I need to prove myself."

"I see. I am sorry you feel that way, but it is understandable and quite possibly right. If it helps, I trust you. I just want you as part of this team and I know I let you down on that front when you first came here, regardless of your motives. Now I know from your TW file, the real one I might add, that you are quite the marksman in the firing range, but you have no hand-to-hand training, so we'll work on that. You okay with that?"

"Yes sir." Ianto was looking slightly uncomfortable with that announcement. "Who will be training me?"

Jack offered up a wolfish grin. "I will be and then Toshiko, she has some moves, very hot ninja moves."

Ianto couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Thank you. I mean that, for giving me a chance. Yvonne would have executed me for the things I did, but the fact that you trust me is of great comfort. I won't let you down sir."

"I know you won't. Bring some casual clothes in tomorrow. We can do an hour in the firing range this afternoon. I also want you to have a medical with Owen today, you've managed to dodge that quite effectively since you began here and you're still looking too thin and pale for my liking." Jack's grin was still there.

"Yes sir." Ianto responded somewhat affronted by the comment and he looked down at himself and sucked in a shuddering breath. "Do I really look that bad?"

Jack rose from his chair and came round to perch his arse on the edge of his desk as close to Ianto as he dare, which was almost in the younger man's lap. He reached out a hand and grasped Ianto's shoulder and felt him stiffen up under his gentle hold.

"Ianto, I've had Owen in my office three times now. I know he's an acerbic arse but he is also a fine doctor who has a stubborn patient that needs dealing with. I want you out in the field, but we have to get you in good health to make that happen. We're worried about you because we are your friends."

Ianto nodded, not looking up, afraid that Jack would see too much of his emotions in his eyes. "I'll go see him then."

"Excellent." Jack decided to break the awkward moment. "But would you please stop by the coffee machine on the way?" He leant back and grabbed his mug, downed the rest of its contents and pressed it into Ianto's hands. Ianto looked up and their gazes were held for some time and Ianto finally smiled a relieved, heartfelt smile.

"Thanks sir."

"You're welcome."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Ianto perched on the very edge of the metal autopsy table and sighed, thinking about the fact that he really needed to organise a proper medical bed for the Hub with a recovery room. He found it somewhat disquieting that he was sitting right where Owen carried out his dissections. He hunched in on himself a little, not wanting to have to go through being poked and examined and most likely stabbed with a needle. Ianto was not a coward by nature, but he hated needles and he wasn't over fussed on Owen either. The medic stood before him, arms folded across his chest, a stern frown creasing his pale brow.

"The data on your existing medical file is woefully inadequate. Did you alter it before coming here?"

Ianto shook his head and looked up at Owen in confusion. "I had a medical at TW One every three months, it was a standard thing. They never said anything was wrong."

Owen snorted. "Right then we'll do the whole thing, full range of scans and tests. Anything you can think of that might be relevant?"

"Like?"

Owen moved away and grabbed a computer tablet. "Well, do you have any ailments I should know of?"

Ianto shrugged. "I don't think so."

"You're pale."

"Owen I have always been pale, it's a Welsh thing."

The tablet was put down. "Right then get your gear off and put on a set of scrubs. May as well start with the scans, then I'll get the needles out." Owen shoved a set of green surgical overalls into Ianto's hands. "I'll be back down in five, get changed."

Ianto stared down at the garments in his grip and sighed, resigning himself to a bad day. It took him a couple of minutes to get changed, ensuring that his suit was neatly folded on the work bench to avoid creases. He didn't realise that Owen was watching him from the top of the stairs until the medic snorted.

"Honestly Tea Boy, it's just a suit. What is it with you and suits anyway?"

Ianto sighed once again. "I like them, they are tidy and you forget my tenure at Torchwood One was spent at a desk or in the Archive which was considerably warmer and cleaner than the one here, I might add."

"You're still weird. Right, hop up on the table so I can run a full deep tissue scan." Owen instructed somewhat brusquely as he moved down the tiled steps and headed to one of the glass cabinets that sat on top of the bench.

Ianto did as he was told and shivered when his back came into contact with the cold metal surface. It was uncomfortable, but Ianto said nothing as he gazed up into the surgical overhead lights that were currently switched off.

Owen came back with his Bekeran scanner. He yanked down an overhead mic and turned it on.

"Additional medical notation and exam of Torchwood operative Mr Ianto Jones number c/ 22uoa. Date of birth….. er Ianto?"

"August 19th 1983."

"Yeah that. Beginning with full deep tissue scan."

Owen got to work and Ianto closed his eyes and thought of Wales.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"So, how is he?"

It was almost midnight and Jack had sent Tosh, Ianto and Gwen home for the night some hours ago. Owen was sprawled along the sofa underneath the tiled logo behind Tosh's workstation and Jack was sat at Tosh's terminal perusing the latest set of Rift statistics. The night shift was generally reserved for such things.

Owen was reading a spy novel stolen from Ianto's work area in the tourist office.

"You asking about Tea Boy?"

Jack almost rolled his eyes. "Why naturally, who else would be I asking about?"

"There's not much to tell, other than the obvious. He's slightly anaemic, his B12 and vit D levels are borderline verging on the too low and he has a PTSD issue dating back from before Canary Wharf. He needs to work less hours and spend more time behaving less like a mole and more like a person who lives above the ground. In short he needs a better diet, sunlight and a social life. All things considered he's actually in good nick apart from the fact that he is Welsh." Owen explained as he tried to read at the same time.

Jack turned his gaze away from Tosh's screens. "What's wrong with the Welsh?"

Owen shrugged. "They're weird, they speak funny, look like death warmed up and they sing too much." Owen said all too seriously.

"And anyone from north of Watford Gap Services is a Visigoth?"

"Now you're gettin' it."

Jack could only smile. "Seriously, would you have any medical concerns about Ianto going out into the field?"

Giving up on the book Owen rolled on to his stomach so he could look at his boss. "It would probably do him good, but get him fit first, some training, jogging or something, outside in the daylight and try to get him to talk about Canary Wharf, he needs some counselling and obviously unless you get someone from UNIT involved there is not a lot we can do for him on that front unless I prescribe pills."

"Are pills really…"

"He doesn't sleep much, has nightmares understandably. I offered him some mild sedatives and he told me to shove the medication where the sun don't shine. So no, pills are not the way forward, he wouldn't take them if I gave them. The best thing for him is too feel like he is doing something. He loves working in the Archive but that is hardly a healthy environment."

"Maybe I need to look at that, get some dehumidifiers down there. I'll ask Ianto what he thinks will be best."

Owen went back to his book. "Yeah, good plan."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Ianto was more than a little surprised when he heard someone knocking on his front door. It was 1am. Had he not heard his phone or something? He rolled off his couch and went to find out who was there. Jack Harkness was the last person he expecting.

"Sir? It's a little early in the day for a social visit, what's going on?"

Jack was gestured into the hallway and in deference to Ianto's housework OCD he hung up his greatcoat on the coat hook by the door and toed off his boots. Ianto closed the door.

"I was just passing and saw the lights were on."

Ianto arched an eyebrow as he headed in the direction of his kitchen.

"At this hour?"

Jack trailed behind him, admiring the arse hugging low slung jeans and loose fitting T-shirt.

"Well you know how it is, had to check something out and the journey back to the Hub brought me out this way."

Ianto accepted the untruth, Jack was a lousy liar, but Ianto decided to play along anyway. "Please don't tell me you've left a corpse in the back of the SUV, just so you could scrounge a midnight coffee and a snack?"

Jack chuckled. "Never, actually it was a false alarm… at least I hope it was, I didn't find anything of consequence." He perched on the stool by the Ianto's breakfast bar and Ianto shook his head as he went about the serious business of making some coffee.

"You know I could have been asleep and just simply forgotten to turn the lights off."

"With your obsessive habits? Come now Ianto, hell would freeze over before that happened." Jack replied with a grin. Ianto chose not to be offended by that remark because he knew his own compulsions well enough.

"I should offer you tea at this time of night but somehow I think you came by for coffee, so Javan or Arabican?"

"Javan, thank you."

Ianto smiled at the choice as he poured a cupful of beans into the grinder. "So really, why are you here?"

The smile fell from Jack's face. "I was hoping we could talk about your medical without the rest of the team listening in, not that they would, but I thought you may like to discuss things somewhere less public than the Hub." It was only half a lie.

Ianto continued with his task refusing to giveaway just how uncomfortable he suddenly felt.

"And what did the good Dr Harper have to say?"

"He says you're in pretty good shape, but could do with working fewer hours, sleeping a bit more and eating a better diet. Truth is you look after the team better than you take care of yourself." Jack was watching Ianto very carefully. Ianto turned to face him, leaning back against the countertop as the coffee began to brew noisily behind him.

"That's what he said to me. He wants me to take sleeping tablets, but they make my head foggy, even the low dose things. I can't work like that especially when I am in the Archive."

Jack nodded. "That may be, but you can't drive yourself into exhaustion either. Is it the nightmares that keep you awake?"

Ianto shrugged not wanting to discuss the matter. "I sleep a bit, have a dream, wake up and spend the rest of the night awake."

"Will talking about it help?"

"It never has before. I've always had the problem Jack, even before Canary Wharf. My parents were driven mad by my waking up almost every night when I was a kid. Sometimes I can go for months and not have a single nightmare, but since that day at Canary Wharf, well it's been every night. I suppose when I was looking after Lisa, the stress of it all made it worse."

He turned back to pour the coffees and he added steamed milk to his own. The scent was slightly bitter and refreshing and Jack's mouth was watering when Ianto passed him his mug. He took a moment inhale before speaking.

"Cut yourself a little slack Ianto. You're still grieving and recovering from a terrible trauma. Owen's right though, you should try the meds."

Ianto shook his head. "Been there, done that. It doesn't work, unless you have something non terrestrial up the sleeve of that coat of yours. I'm learning meditation so that I can at least rest, maybe that will help." He didn't mention how many books he'd read lately.

Jack took a sip of his coffee and closed his eyes in appreciation. "Wow, as good as ever Jones Ianto Jones."

"Glad you like it, sir."

They remained in a comfortable silence for a while as each one drank their coffee. Ianto found he didn't mind this strange late night visit, it broke up what was proving to be a long and restless night.

"You realise." Jack said. "That drinking all this coffee is probably not a good thing."

Ianto arched one eyebrow. "You'd all murder me if I stopped making it."

"No, we'd murder each other first, I wouldn't let them murder you because then if I was your knight in shining armour, you might take pity on your poor Captain and make him coffee."

"I think you're starting to fantasise a little too much sir."

"And very nice fantasies they are too." Jack put down his mug and stood up. "I should go and you should actually try making use of your bed, I know you have one." Jack remembered the last time he had put Ianto into it, three nights after Lisa had died. The younger man had been found, blind drunk and puking his guts up outside a pub in the city centre and Jack had brought him home, cleaned him up and put him to bed. Ianto had no recollection of that night. He had come on a long way in such a short space of time. "You shouldn't be dozing on your couch it's not good for you."

Ianto resented being mothered and almost spat out a sarcastic retort, but the look on Jack's face, one of genuine concern stopped him.

"You don't need me at the Hub?" Ianto opted for hopeful instead.

Jack was tempted for purely selfish reasons. "No, now go to bed and I will see you in 8 hours."

Ianto followed him into the hallway and helped Jack into his coat after Jack had put his boots back on. Moses the cat sauntered out of the lounge and rubbed around Ianto's ankles. Jack bent down and stroked his back.

"He looks well settled."

Ianto nodded. "Yeah he's doing fine, has found he likes curling up behind the TV."

"Thanks for taking him in."

"He's a nice cat and I am glad I could help."

Jack opened the front door and gazed out into the night of Ianto's relatively quiet Grangetown Street.

"Good night Ianto."

"Night, sir."

Ianto locked the door with a sigh before ambling back to his kitchen. He rinsed the used mugs and left them in the sink before wandering around the house and turning out the lights. Ten minutes later he was lying on his back in his bed and staring at the darkened ceiling. Sleep evaded him, but he did wait until the first tendrils of morning light crept across his room before getting up and going for a long hot shower. Owen and Jack were right, he'd have to try the medication again, if the darkening circles under his eyes were anything to go by.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

It was raining hard and Jack grumbled as he got out of the SUV. Gwen was at his side a moment later impracticably dressed in a small jacket and figure hugging jeans. It looked good but Gwen was going to be a drowned rat before the morning was over. He pulled out his PDA and wiped the rain water from the screen.

"Tosh, talk me through it, this weather is going to be a pain in the arse." He said pocketing the device as the wind wiped up his wet coat tails. Gwen was hunched up trying to shelter herself a little behind the bulk of his body. He listened to Tosh and then pointed down along a road that lead to a newly built upmarket housing estate.

"This way. Tosh says the reading is stationary. I'll get the containment cases from the back."

Gwen was looking thoroughly miserable and Jack couldn't help but to make a jibe.

"You should have taken the coat Ianto offered you."

Gwen glared through a fringe that was plastered against her forehead and dripping into her large eyes. "Yes, alright Harkness, but it wasn't raining when we left the Hub."

"How long have you lived in South Wales Miss Cooper?"

Her response was a scowl. Jack handed her the smaller of the two flight cases. "Come on, lets get this done before you catch pneumonia or something."

Ianto cooked up a batch of very welcome hot chocolate when Jack and Gwen got back from the retrieval of a handful of space rocks from some one's back garden. Jack had had his trouser leg ripped by an over enthusiastic Jack Russel terrier and Gwen's new designer leather jacket was pretty much ruined. They were both grumpy as hell and it was only after a hot lunch and coffee did frayed nerves calm enough for them to stop grousing at one another. Early afternoon and Ianto finally got up the courage to ask Owen for a prescription of mild sleeping tablets. Ianto had been mentally chewing over this all morning and had struggled to hide just how tired he was feeling. Owen after almost fainting with the shock, was only too happy to oblige. Ianto then returned to the Archive with the master set of keys from Jack's office. Today he was starting work on level G a thus far for him an unexplored section of the base that Ianto wasn't even sure had electricity. Armed with a torch, a level 2 hazmat mask hanging round his neck and his forensic toolkit (just in case), he ambled down the rotting slimy stone stairs being especially careful not to slip over on his arse. As he descended into the depths of the Hub it became clear just how neglected and cold this part of their underground lair was.

The flash light came in useful almost straight away when Ianto discovered an art deco light switch that didn't work. There was a light fitting precariously gripping on to the damp brick wall, but the antiquated bulb was well and truly dead. Ianto sighed, he would have to run some power down here and he hoped that maybe Tosh would be able to help him. The first door he found was metal and amazingly rust free. The key he selected opened the bulky lock without any difficulty at all releasing the door with a series of clanks and a hiss. Ianto tugged the mask on over his mouth and nose and leaving his tool box on the floor against blackened Victorian brickwork, he cautiously shoved at the door. It swung inwards without so much as a creak and Ianto waved the torch beam about as he remained at the entrance. It was impossible to see clearly what was on the lines of shelves that spread out before him, but on first glimpse it looked as though things were relatively well ordered. Ianto wondered if Jack had ever been down here and a flicker of excitement flared in his chest as he stepped over threshold to get a better look. He froze, suddenly remembering protocols as he tapped the com in his ear.

"Sir, this is Ianto."

"Hey there, you find the lower level?" Jack was sounding rather cheerful considering the morning he'd had.

"Yes, sir. I was just wondering if our internal sensors reach down this far and if there is a signal on me. I've just opened door number G23." Ianto dipped down and took out two glow sticks from his tool box, giving them a vigorous shake to activate them. They were placed either side of the entrance just inside the door. An eerie greenish glow blossomed around him.

"Yep, Ianto, we've got you on the main sensors but the local ones don't appear to exist down there, there should be power though. I don't think any CCTV was ever installed down there."

Ianto couldn't find anything resembling a light switch inside the doorway or a power switch. "I can't find anything in the room but the corridor has a non working bulkhead light. I wouldn't trust any of the cabling down here anyway, I suspect it's over 80 years old. Sir, would you mind bringing down one of the bigger portable light packs?" Ianto knew he was pushing his luck, those things were heavy and it was a long way down. He could sense Jack's inner groan at the request.

"Will do, give me 30 minutes and then I shall need your help to get the stuff down the stairs. We so need to install an elevator down there."

Ianto nodded his silent agreement. "I'll come back up now. I need some other equipment anyway."

Reluctantly he turned away from the door, but left it standing open. He pulled his PDA from his pocket and ran a quick scan just to check for any obvious nasties. Nothing untoward showed up. He couldn't help but feel a swell of anticipation at the prospect of exploring a new room.

In the end Jack opted to run heavy duty cabling down from level C to G whilst Ianto spent two hours hauling lights, stands and the power distributor down to the room in question. By the time everything was set up he was sweaty and grimy and absolutely shattered, but at least things were ready for the following days exploration and cataloguing of the room G23, for which no documented records existed.

At 8pm he was sitting in the board room opposite Jack eating a Chinese takeaway. The others had gone home at 6 and Ianto was thinking maybe it was about time he went home too, though in truth he wanted to get stuck into the work ahead of him in that room. The meal was eaten in companionable silence and it was Jack who insisted on clearing up the plates and mugs.

"You go home, get some rest and take those things Owen gave you."

Ianto nodded. "Don't forget you have a conference call with Harold Saxon first thing in the morning sir."

Jack winced. "Thanks for the reminder. Good night Ianto."

"You too sir."

Jack watched the younger man leave and sighed, not knowing what to do to help him. He hoped that getting Ianto out into the field would improve things and there was always the possibility of getting the others to help with the monumental task of sorting out the Archive. Jack was pretty sure that Ianto wouldn't let the team anywhere those storage rooms, but perhaps Tosh could help improve the electronic database or something. It wasn't that Ianto couldn't do it himself, Jack felt Ianto needed more interest and support from the rest of the gang. Perhaps he could help him tomorrow, to get the ball rolling.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Ianto stared at the small blister pack of pills in his hand. Owen had said to take two but Ianto felt uncomfortable enough just taking one, the packet felt like a lead weight in his hand and with a sigh he placed it, unopened on the cabinet beside his bed. He sat down in his boxers and T-shirt not sure what to do. He wanted to sleep and knew without a doubt that he would be woken up by another nightmare, but at least waking up enabled him to escape from his hellish dreams. If he took those pills, there'd be no waking up until morning and he'd be trapped with all his personal horrors, unable to find a way back to the waking world. But he was so tired, and if he were honest with himself, thoroughly miserable too. Maybe he could sneak back into work. Jack would surely be out of the Hub by now, tracking down some available bed to share for the night with something young and pretty. Ianto buried his face in his hands and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"Shit."

He realised with a sinking heart that his face was wet with tears of frustration and a painful sob swelled up in his chest which he refused to vocalise. It came out anyway and then another followed and before long Ianto was crying silently to himself, his shoulders shaking with the effort of trying to be as quiet as possible even though no one else was there to hear him.

He was startled by the sound of someone banging enthusiastically on his front door. Ianto sat there listening for a moment and then froze when he heard a key in the lock.

It was Jack.

"Ianto, you home?" It was yelled, probably to give him fair warning and Ianto could only roll his eyes at the unthinkingness of Jack's loud, uninvited entrance into his home.

Ianto sucked in a steadying breath and lurched to his feet. He grabbed a pair of baggy jeans and tugged them on before stomping barefoot out of his bedroom. Jack was standing at his front door.

"There you are." Jack was grinning and Ianto had to work hard at not glaring because he was pissed that Jack had let himself into his home without regard for personal space. Typical Jack.

"Sir, how do you know you didn't wake me up?"

Jack's smile dropped. "You look like shit."

Ianto hesitated, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his loose jeans.

"Is there something you wanted sir?"

Jack not caring about the niceties hung up his coat and toed off his boots. "My name is Jack, you know. We're not at work and I am here to check that you are okay, which clearly you aren't by the way." He replied trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. "Ianto really, you look wasted, what's happened?"

Ianto sagged his shoulders and turned toward the kitchen. "Coffee?"

A moment later he felt a firm grip on his left shoulder as he was gently brought to a halt and turned round to face the concern in Jack's cerulean eyes.

"No coffee, it's gone midnight. To be honest I was expecting you to be sound asleep, well hoping anyway. I didn't just wake you, did I?"

Ianto couldn't meet his gaze even though they were pretty much the same height so he cast his eyes down to look their feet and he hadn't realised they were standing so close. He heard Jack sigh and then felt himself being pulled into a warm, all encompassing embrace and Ianto was just too tired to resist. He settled his head on Jack's shoulder and faced the wall, tears swelling. Jack's warm hands rubbed soothing circles over his back and that kind, intimate gesture broke him.

To Jack's utter shock Ianto cried quietly and he could only tell from the trembling against his own body and the occasional sniffle from the man in his arms.

"You didn't take Owen's tablets, did you?" It was more a gentle statement.

He felt Ianto shake his head.

"No sir." It was whispered shakily.

Jack gently petted Ianto's head, running soothing fingers through soft hair and kneading at his scalp.

"Sssshhh, it's okay. I've got you. Let it go."

Jack wasn't certain how long they had been standing there, but after a while his lower back began to ache. Ianto had gone quiet and still, but Jack knew the younger man was still awake and staring at the wall on his left.

"Come on Ianto, I am gonna run you a nice hot bath, you're gonna have some hot chocolate and then you are taking Owen's pills and going to bed. You're exhausted."

Ianto just couldn't sum up the energy to fight it anymore so he just nodded his head.

Thirty minutes later and Ianto was perched on the end of his bed dressed in fresh underclothes and towelling at his damp hair. Both his cats were curled up a respectable distance from one another, but still finding space on the bed as well and content to ignore their owner in favour of sleeping. Ianto tossed the used towel into the laundry basket tucked beside his chest of drawers and then sat hunched listening to the sounds of Jack Harkness moving quietly about his kitchen. It was comforting in a strange sort of way, to know that he was there in his house and Ianto immediately shook his head to stop that thought from taking hold. Soft steps approached and the bedroom door was eased open by a foot.

"You decent in there?"

Ianto turned his head as Jack entered the room with a steaming mug gripped in each hand.

"Would it stop you coming in if I wasn't sir?" He responded softly. Jack sat down beside him, making the bed dip and Ianto took the mug that was proffered. Jack's now free hand went straight to his trouser pocket and pulled out two capsules and offered them up.

Owen's tablets.

Ianto stared down at them unaware as a few minutes slipped by him.

"Ianto?"

Ianto glanced up from the pills to Jack's eyes which were shadowed because of the faint cast of the lamp light beside the head of the bed.

"I….."

Jack sighed. "You're exhausted, you need sleep."

Ianto couldn't disagree. "I know sir. It's just." Ianto hesitated.

"Just what?" Jack's tone was soothing, but firm, demanding an answer.

"You'll think I am pathetic."

Jack was horrified to see the shame colouring Ianto's cheeks as the younger man turned his head to look in the direction of the closed curtains.

"No I won't. Look Ianto a few weeks ago you quite rightly accused me of never asking. I'm trying here, meet me half way."

Ianto shrugged and shifted uncomfortably where he sat. "It's the nightmares. I go to sleep, have a bad dream and then wake up. The waking up means I can escape. If I take those pills I won't be able to wake up and then I shall be trapped….I…I won't be able to get away." He mumbled, feeling like he was five years old and trying to explain to his teacher why he had fallen asleep at his school desk once again.

Jack put his mug down on the carpet and grasped Ianto's arm. "Owen told me about your dreams, and the other pills you've tried. These are different. Call them Torchwood enhanced. They will help you not dream so much. Ianto you have to try because if you carry on like this Owen will have to declare you unfit to work."

Ianto fixed his gaze on the large hand wrapped around his forearm. He could feel Jack's thumb gently rubbing circles on his skin, the rare physical contact a relief. Tears dripped from his eyes and landed on the back of Jack's hand.

"Ianto, please let me, let us help you." Jack urged.

Ianto sniffed and finally reached out and took the tablets from Jack's other hand, before he had second thoughts he jammed them into his mouth and slugged them down with the cooling chocolate drink. Jack smiled and raised his hand to Ianto's head, carding his fingers through his damp hair and easing him into resting against him. Jack kissed the top of his head.

"Bed time."

Ianto nodded.

"Do you want me stay?"

Ianto nodded again, too overwhelmed by his emotions to speak.

Jack was relieved to see that Ianto was asleep within minutes of his head touching down on the pillow. The deeply ingrained frown on the young man's brow disappeared, leaving him with a peaceful, slack face with slightly open mouth. Jack couldn't help but smile when he heard gentle snuffly snores. Jack settled himself on the other side of Ianto's expansive bed, mindful not to disturb the two sleeping cats and turned off the bedside lamp. He lay there in the dim light afforded from the street lamp outside, contemplating what to do with his youngest team member. It wasn't long before he followed Ianto into sleep, not that he'd ever admit that to anyone. When he woke up some hours later it was to discover that he had two cats sleeping on his legs.

Jack lay there enjoying the comfort of a decent bed and the rather pleasant sensation of the warmth provided by the moggys. He glanced to his left to see Ianto curled tightly into a foetal position on his side a deep frown drawn across his pale face. Jack shifted slightly to get a better look and dislodged the cats, one of them shooting off the bed with a hiss and the other resettling itself at the end of the bed. Jack didn't much care, his focus was on Ianto as a muted whimper escaped him and hands came up to shield his face. Jack watched as Ianto squirmed under the quilt, but held himself tightly wound up as if to protect himself. Ianto was whispering in urgent tones and Jack strained to listen only to discover that the words were being spoken in Welsh. Jack sighed, really not sure what to do, he debated with himself about whether or not to wake the young man beside him. Ianto needed the sleep, but if this was how he slept there was no way that Ianto could be resting. Jack wondered how long Ianto had been like this before he awoke and he cautiously reached out a hand, just stopping short of physical contact not wanting to frighten him further.

"Ianto?" He whispered, partially afraid of waking Ianto up and hoping that his voice alone would be enough to end the nightmare that had Ianto trapped within its grasp. To Jack's horror Ianto responded with a pitiful whimper and seemed to curl tighter into himself under the bedding.

"Ianto…Ianto!" Jack kept his voice low and firm but it was clearly not sufficient to rouse him. Jack gently grasped his shoulder and gave a shove. "Ianto, come on, wake up now." He was worried enough now to risk breaking Ianto's much needed sleep.

Ianto lurched, flinging himself over, his fist colliding solidly with Jack's jaw with a sickening crunch.

"Ow! Jeez. Ianto, wake up!"

Jack had to shove himself back as Ianto lunged upright and kicked at the covers to free his legs. The dislodged cat hissed his displeasure as he leapt in a darkened ginger blur and fled from the room. Jack watched as Ianto sat up, blinking the tears from his eyes and Jack could see the tracks of water glistening on his cheeks in the feeble light. Ianto was sucking in shuddering breaths, his chest heaving, his fists bunched into the cotton sheets.

"Oh, shit….. Jack?"

"Yeah, close your eyes for a moment, I'm gonna turn on the lamp." Jack did so and it took both of them a couple of minutes to adjust as shadows vanished into the corners of the room and out of sight. Jack got off the bed, standing up with a stretch to ease stiffness from his back. Ianto had buried his face into his hands and when he looked up again the tears were gone, wiped away and never to be spoken of. Jack knew, he done it himself often enough. Ianto looked like shit.

"What time is it?" Exhaustion thickened his Welsh accent.

"Early, 5 am or there abouts." Jack replied. "How do you feel?"

Ianto shrugged. "How do I look?" He caught Jack's sour expression. "Next question?"

Jack was at a loss for a moment. "Coffee?"

Ianto rolled his eyes with mock resignation. "Just don't tell Owen, because I am only making you one if I can have one." He made to move out of bed.

"I really shouldn't encourage you."

"You're not sir. Call it hostage negotiation, or a barter system. Owen can't argue with that."

Jack could only laugh as Ianto covered his obvious discomfort with his usual wit.

"It's almost my get up time anyway and if it helps I usually wake up much earlier than this and just lie there staring at the wallpaper or the ceiling." Ianto tugged on his dressing gown which was smothered in ginger cat hair. "Bloody cats been napping on this thing again." Was mumbled as the Welshman lumbered in the direction of his kitchen.

Jack could only smile. It was rare to see Ianto raw and exposed as he was in the confines of his own home, even though it was clear to him that Ianto was absolutely refusing to relax and be himself, as if being afraid of what someone else might see.

Jack perched himself at the narrow breakfast bar as Ianto busied himself with the coffee.

"Well did the extra bit of sleep help?"

Ianto shrugged as he worked. "Too early to tell."

Jack nodded to himself, disconcerted by the clipped tone. "You said that the nightmares you suffer from started before Canary Wharf, what happened when you were a kid, and give me the truth this time."

Ianto didn't pause but Jack noted the tightening of his posture and failed to hold back a sigh.

"Ianto, I am trying to understand. I know things between us are not great right now, but talk to me, please." He put on his best pout as Ianto turned to face him with a resigned expression on his face.

"I just don't like talking about it. When I was a child I had to talk about it so often I thought I'd explode." He turned away to pour the coffee.

"Who made you talk?" Jack was determined not to let this go as much to satisfy his own curiosity as well as help Ianto.

Ianto offered up another shrug. "The police, social workers, counsellors, Mam, Tad, my teachers, everyone really. It's like they all wanted a piece of my fear to have for themselves and I felt like there was nothing left of me by the time they were all done. It changed everything, it ruined everything." Ianto turned back proffering a china mug of ambrosia. Jack accepted it with a smile of thanks.

"Sounds like it was something bad."

Ianto sat opposite him and began to unwrap a kit kat bar and Jack watched as he snapped apart the chocolate fingers and dunked one into his mug of steaming coffee, not the ideal breakfast.

"It wasn't the event itself, but the fall out. When I was six I was taken from outside the school gates by this strange woman. She took me to her house and locked me a strange room for two weeks. I cried and cried and kept asking her to take me home to my parents and eventually she did just that. When I was older I found out that her son, who looked a bit like me, had died the year before. She was so broken with grief that she took me away to replace her lost baby. She didn't hurt me in any way, the situation just made me scared. It was everything else afterwards, the questions, the constantly being watched and not being allowed out of the house. My sister hated me because I suddenly had all the attention and my mam and tad argued all the time. The woman who took me was locked away in Providence Park. I visited her a few times when I was older, but she died of cancer when I was 19. I don't have nightmares about being abducted, I have them about not being able to answer questions, or to remember things and being afraid of fear itself. And now of course Canary Wharf just made them worse."

Jack watched as Ianto's tale unfolded. Ianto absently tearing at the pieces of chocolate wrapper unaware of what his hands were doing as he spoke. When he stopped he took a large gulp of his coffee. Jack just wanted to reach out and pat his hand in comfort.

"Fear is a sensible thing to be afraid of because ultimately our fears are our greatest weakness. Why did you visit the woman who stole you?" Jack asked, wondering why none of this information was on Ianto's personnel file.

Ianto blinked for a moment as if he'd only just snapped out of a distant memory.

"She lost her baby Jack. She stole me because she lost her baby. I felt sorry for her. Everybody spoke so badly of her, labelled her a common criminal but all she wanted was her dead son alive and happy, she never meant me any harm. I know what she did was wrong and she knew it and she apologised to me so many times and I forgave her. It was just a shame that no one else would, not even her own family." Ianto's eyes were shining with unshed tears.

Jack could only smile at him. "You don't see it, do you? What you did for her?"

Ianto shook his head, confused.

This time Jack reached across the bench and grasped Ianto's slightly smaller hand, squeezing firmly.

"You gave her back the son she lost, you visited her and you forgave her, do you have any idea how wonderful a gift that is?"

Ianto shrugged, torn between pulling his hand away and squeezing Jack's hand back. He desperately needed an anchor. Salted water tracked over his pale prominent cheeks. He was at a loss for words. Jack just sat there gazing at him with intense fondness and a newly discovered sense of respect for the man sat before him. It certainly explained why Ianto had found it so hard to let go of Lisa.

"You really are quite amazing, Jones Ianto Jones.

TWTWTWTWTWTTWTWTWTW

Owen glared out through the windscreen at the rain and the long string of static traffic out in front of him. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in time to the base rhythm buzzing from his oversized speakers and resigned himself to being late for work again. He had two autopsies to get through today as well, Jack would not be pleased if they weren't finished on time. He fleetingly wondered how Ianto was doing and hoped that the stupid Welsh git had actually taken the pills he had prescribed, but knowing the Tea Boy he probably hadn't unless Jack had gone round to his house and jammed them down his throat. Owen found himself reflecting on what a fucked up bunch of people he was working with when the traffic finally started to move and decided it didn't really matter so long as they kept saving the world.

He arrived at the Hub to discover that the rest of the team was already there crowded around the couch and in Tosh's and Gwen's case, sitting on it and all of them were smiling and chatting whilst sipping on wonderful smelling coffee and munching on sweet pastries. Owen narrowed his eyes as he joined them and summoned up the best glare he could muster for Ianto.

"You are not supposed to be drinking coffee!"

Ianto had the gall to roll his eyes. "Good morning Owen."

Jack was shaking his head and trying his best to look stern as Owen. "You're late."

Owen brushed him off as he slung his satchel into a chair and tugged off his Belstaff leather jacket. "Traffic jam…. Ianto into my domain now!"

Ianto sighed and put down his mug and followed the acerbic medic down to his white tiled lair, somewhat disconcerted by the knowledge that Jack, Gwen and Tosh were all smirking behind his back.

A couple of hours later and Ianto was happily hiding away in the depths of room G23. He had donned a paper boiler suit and level two mask and gloves and Jack, some hours earlier had made some inane and not very funny joke about him looking a shrivelled used condom on legs. Jack's flirting technique clearly needed some work, even the girls had looked somewhat revolted by the comment. Owen had groused his disapproval by throwing something at his disgusting boss. Ianto was just glad to have escaped further embarrassment by retreating to the room he had been itching to explore since he first opened it up the previous day. Some fantastical corner of his brain thinking how much like Indiana Jones he currently felt….He had the right surname so that was a good start. However curious though, Ianto was still cautious. He knew only too well how things could so easily go pear shaped if he wasn't careful and with the exception of Tosh there was no way he would trust anyone else on the team to do what he was currently doing. All he was doing was looking carefully over the contents of all the shelves, which in fairness appeared ordered and properly laid out. Ianto wondered who the archivist responsible had been and he recalled the name David Wilson, from that era and silently thanked the man who had been dead since the middle of World War II. Ianto made notes on his clipboard, mostly about the types of new storage boxes he would need and how he was going to incorporate the old labelling system into the new. The objects he had been able to immediately identify and others that had vague descriptions and two that would need to be relocated to other, more secure areas of the archive were also noted down in his neat swirly handwriting. It was going to be a long task, getting everything properly identified and re-examined in some cases and Ianto was immensely looking forward to the challenge. Jack had helped him set up a work bench and then Tosh had come down with scanners and a laptop for him and both of them looked as excited as he was about the room. Ianto was quick to usher Jack out, reminding him about conference calls and overdue paperwork. Tosh was allowed a little peek before the alert went off and she scuttled away to sit at the terminals in the main Hub whilst Jack, Owen and Gwen went off to catch weevils.

Ianto lost track of time and only came to his senses when Jack was bellowing down his com to remind him to join the team for lunch, which meant get the coffee on. To his utter astonishment, lunch was ready and coffee had been procured from an outside source and Ianto sat at Jack's left side and had fish and chips shoved in front of him.

"We went shopping." Jack was grinning around a mouthful of chips and Ianto was reminded of the donut incident of a few weeks ago.

"Please close your gob when you are eating Harkness!" Owen complained.

Ianto just slid his plate out of spitting range in one discrete, smooth movement and continued to eat in silence. Tosh offered him a secretive, knowing smile and Ianto arched an eyebrow at her which made her grin even more.

"What?" Jack pulled the 'innocent' face and Owen threw a chip at him.

"God it's like pre-school all over again." Gwen commented. Ianto had never been to pre-school, but he got the idea. A chip throwing contest ensued between Jack and Owen and it stopped abruptly when Ianto calmly advised them that he would under no circumstances clean up the mess they were making. Jack actually pouted and Gwen and Tosh were beaming at their Welsh colleague with something that looked like pride.

The afternoon found Ianto back in G23 with Tosh and the two of them worked together processing the first batch artefacts that Ianto brought down off the shelves. Items were cleaned, scanned, photographed and relabelled with care and enthusiasm. Ianto also found Tosh's company calming and was extremely happy that she had come down into the dank depths of the Hub to work with him. They giggled at Owen's and Jack's earlier antics and discussed what they were doing as they meticulously, if slowly progressed along the first shelf, which seemed to contain items that were small, inert and mostly familiar. It made for quite possibly the best day Ianto had had since starting work at Torchwood Cardiff and before he knew it 8pm had arrived and Jack was shooing them out of the room and telling them to go home.

Once again Ianto was reluctant to stop working, but an additional shove from Toshiko got him steered out of G23 and he glanced over his shoulder to see Jack switching off the power packs for the lights. He slid the mask from his face and yanked off the disposable protective gloves and suit and Jack then kindly held out a bin liner for him and Tosh.

"I'll dump this in the incinerator." Jack told them. "You guys go home. Owen has the duty bag for the night."

Tosh and Ianto watched as Jack practically skipped along the dank corridor away from them.

"Do you suppose he's got some hot date tonight?"

Ianto shrugged. "Knowing Jack as we do, most likely. Come on lets get out of here."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Two very hungry cats greeted Ianto rather enthusiastically as he stepped into his little house. He almost trod on Jupiter's ringed tail and cursed as Moses wove about his feet, flicking his fluffy tail and meowing plaintively. It was then that Ianto remembered he'd forgotten to feed the beasts before leaving for the Hub that morning.

"Oh dear, I guess I am in the dog house huh?"

He carefully side stepped the two moggies and slipped off his shoes. A moment later he was mortified to discover that the kitchen cupboards were sadly lacking in anything that resembled cat food. Jupiter and Moses were thoroughly unimpressed when Ianto left the house to go to ASDA within minutes of getting home. Ianto felt terribly guilty as he drove to supermarket tapping the steering wheel in time to Jazz FM and yawning wide enough to swallow an express train.

Meanwhile Jack had used his boss priveliges in the form of Ianto's spare key to let himself into Ianto's house.

Two hours later and Ianto returned with bags of groceries and discovered Jack dozing on his couch with both cats squished onto his lap. Ianto quietly took out his mobile phone and took a picture and texted it to Tosh with a message,

Jack's finished his threesome on my couch, cat sex must be exhausting….IJ x

Tosh texted back a moment later.

Lol, I am printing a copy to leave on his desk in the morning…. Bribery… how much of a pay rise do you think we should have?

Ianto was grinning.

Oh, at least 20percent plus bonus' Night Tosh.

Night night Yan….get some sleep. X

Yes mam. X

Ianto pocketed his phone and made a noisy show of bustling into the kitchen, the cats were at his feet in an instant. Ianto rummaged in the carrier bag and found a tin of 'whiskers'. The cats pounced on their dinner bowl and Ianto then turned to sort out his own empty stomach by placing a 'pierce and ping' mousaaka in the microwave oven. He was busy making a pot of tea when Jack ambled into the kitchen, running his hands through his hair and yawning at the same time. Ianto wanted to be annoyed about the invasion of his home, but found himself, once again strangely comforted by Jack's presence. Lisa still hung between them like a carcass on a gibbet that stank and festered, but Ianto recognised that Jack was doing his utmost to make up for his mistakes and whatever his motives Ianto was prepared to accept the gesture. He only hoped that forgiveness on both sides would eventually follow.

"In deference to Owen's nagging I've made tea. Have you eaten?"

Jack sank onto the bar stool and leaned on the counter, offering up a relaxed smile, rarely seen.

"Tea would be wonderful, thank you and yes I have eaten." Jack replied.

Ianto nodded and proceeded to pour two mugs of tea. He then pulled a bag of mixed salad out from the pile of shopping and tipped its contents onto a dinner plate. Jack watched him.

"I see you are taking my advice and eating some greens."

Ianto added a couple of tomatoes and raw mushrooms. "Only on sufferance. Owen gave me a diet sheet this morning, like he can talk." He grumbled. The microwave dinged and Ianto finished getting his dinner ready in silence, realising it was so late it could almost be consider a midnight snack, a large one at that. He settled himself opposite Jack and started to eat. After two forkfuls he had to stop.

"Sir, you are staring at me."

Jack's face lit up and his eyes shone with amusement. "Just making sure you eat all of your dinner."

Ianto shook his head and carried on eating. "Do I get desert after?"

"Do you have desert?" Jack leaned forwards in anticipation.

"Ben and Jerry's chunky monkey." Ianto replied.

"That sounds rather naughty Ianto Jones."

Ianto arched an eyebrow. "But very nice sir, you can watch me eat that too if you like?"

Jack sat back and pouted. "Don't I get some?"

Ianto shrugged. "Depends."

"On what?"

"Did you finish your paperwork, sir?"

Jack could swear that Ianto was using his Welsh accent to full advantage. "I did."

Ianto chewed and swallowed down more of his dinner, a thoughtful expression on his pale face.

"Did you insult Harold Saxon on the phone this morning?"

Jack looked scandalised. "Ianto, would I?"

Ianto nodded. "Well sir?" He purred.

"Only a little bit, but he was rude first, he called me a freak, sadly I had to cut the chat short for an alert."

The playful mood was suddenly broken and Ianto looked straight into Jack's eyes. "Can I speak freely sir?"

Jack sat up straight and wrapped his hands around his mug of tea, realising that Ianto had suddenly switched back into work mode. "Go on."

"Harold Saxon, he knows far more than he should and he asks too many questions."

"Explain." Jack could only agree. Saxon was bothersome at best and Jack had an instinctual gut feeling about the politician that felt like gastric reflux.

Ianto shrugged. "I'm not sure what it is about him that I don't trust, aside from the fact that he is a politician…..He asks things, specific things. He wants to know about you, he's asked about particular missions and artefacts, things we haven't included in the official reports and I wondered if you'd been sending him briefs of your own, off the records or something." Until now Ianto hadn't felt confident enough of his position in Torchwood to question it. It was clear from Jack's expression that he realised this.

"What do you think we should do about it?"

Ianto sort of hunched in on himself a bit, not liking being put on the spot. "Well I suppose we should keep an eye on him?"

Jack took a sip of his tea, it was as good as Ianto's coffee. "You've been doing that already haven't you?" Quietly pleased with the man in front of him for taking the initiative.

Ianto swallowed his mouthful. "Yes, kind of. Nothing too much, but I haven't really learned anything useful, he's not an easy person to investigate remotely."

Jack nodded, pleased to have his own reservations about the minister for defence confirmed by someone whose judgement could be trusted. He'd met with his own failures to look deeper into Saxon's doings.

"We'll discuss it with Tosh tomorrow, she may be able to hack into the government servers or something, but you are right. Saxon is not to be trusted and keep a note of the actual questions he is asking."

Ianto pushed away his empty plate. "I've recorded all of our phone conversations if you'd like to hear them."

"Good work. Email the files to me in the morning… Now about that ice cream."

Ianto rolled his eyes but was glad that business was over. "It's in the freezer, help yourself. I should get a shower and take Owen's bloody pills otherwise I shall be awake all night again." Ianto got to his feet and dumped his dirty plate and mug into the dishwasher. Jack was at his side a moment later passing him his mug.

"I should do a rain check on that and let you get to bed. Will you be okay tonight?"

Ianto turned to discover that Jack was well within his personal space. "I..er.. yes, thank you."

Jack gently squeezed his shoulder. "Make sure you do take those tablets and don't worry if you over sleep. You need the rest."

Ianto couldn't argue with that. "Yep….. Look sir…..Jack. You can stay if you want to. I mean… well…." He trailed off and dipped his chin as his cheeks flamed.

Jack gently pressed a kiss to his temple. "I would like to Ianto, thank you." He snaked an arm around Ianto's waist. "But you are still gonna take the pills and sleep, right?"

Ianto managed a nod. "Yes, sir. I'll just let the cats out."

An hour later and Jack was pleased to see Ianto snoring into his pillows. He stripped off and stretched out under the duvet beside him and stared at the ceiling until he too drifted off to sleep.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"These items could do with being sent to the British Museum." Ianto observed as he passed another blue statue over to Toshiko for a quick scan.

"You know what they are?" It was Jack who asked. He'd come down to the basement having lost interest in what Owen was doing in the autopsy bay and Gwen having told him to stop annoying her.

Ianto got his head out of the cardboard storage box and adjusted his mask slightly, frowning at Jack for completely ignoring all the health and safety protocols once again.

"It's an Egyptian shabti figure, well that's what it looks like. I've found a whole box of stuff that looks like it has been stolen from an archaeological dig."

Jack didn't seem surprised. "That may be the case, Torchwood had an office in Cairo right up until the start of the second world war. Maybe they were stealing artefacts and selling them on, you know a bit of private enterprise. I seem to remember Jonathan Baker being retconned in the fifties for selling things to 'collectors' of 'unusual' items."

"You mean someone like Henry Parker?" Tosh asked as she handed the statue back to Ianto.

"Exactly."

Ianto looked at the statue in his hand, admiring its simplistic beauty. "You know these were made to be little helpers for you in the afterlife."

"Like the terracotta army?"

"I spose, except these guys, did your farming and your laundry and helped you with your daily chores." Ianto enjoyed reciting what he considered to be interesting if useless facts.

"Did they have ones that gave you blow jobs too?"

Tosh and Ianto exchanged long suffering looks. "Quite possibly Jack, if I find one with its mouth wide open I'll let you know."

Jack grinned toothily.

"Well…" Tosh was back at the lap top. "It's definitely from Earth and has had no exposure to the Rift or anything else, for that matter, so yes it may as well go to a museum." She said bringing the conversation back to less erotic matters.

Ianto set it aside carefully, adding it to a box of wadding already containing a number of similar items. Jack followed the movement of Ianto's body and making no attempt to hide the fact that he was staring at the man's arse as he worked.

"Harrassment sir."

Jack jumped and hid his surprise with a leer. "How did you know?"

"I know everything sir and your silence gave you away."

Toshiko looked up from her screen, her eyes wide. "Jack, we're trying to work down here, go away and bother someone else."

Ianto and Jack both turned to face her with surprise on their faces. Toshiko was usually so quiet.

"I can't, Owen sent me down here." Jack pouted and Ianto couldn't help but smile.

"Who is the boss around here sir?"

Jack's reply was lost in the sudden clamouring of the alarms.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"PC Cooper, don't ever put images like that into my head ever again. You are disgusting! Even worse than Harkness." Owen was yelling good naturedly as the team stepped in through the cog door. They were tired, wet and irritable having spent almost three hours herding a couple of rogue young weevils back into the sewers. Jack had wondered if the creatures had been deliberately giving them the run around as he shucked off his damp great coat and hung it up. Tosh was the last in and the round door rattled to a close behind her just as Owen began yelling for coffee. Jack came back out of his office and took a quick glance about the Hub suddenly aware of the lack of a caffeine based aroma floating about and the distinct absence of a certain young archivist. He'd spoken to Ianto not more than 30 minutes previously and there had been a promise of coffee. Tosh had dumped her scanners on her work area and Jack could see Gwen too was looking around for Ianto.

"Maybe he forgot?"

Owen swore. "Not bloody likely. He's probably still festering away in that room with all that junk."

"It is his job Owen!" Gwen snapped back.

Jack sighed and tapped his com. "Ianto? We're home." He waited for a moment and then tried again. "Ianto, could you answer please?" With another sigh Jack strode down to Tosh's terminals. "Can you check to see if he is still here?"

Unsurprised Jack discovered that Toshiko was already doing just that. "Yep, he's in G23. Maybe his com is down."

Jack had a bad feeling in his gut and grasping his Webley he turned and headed in the direction of the basement, Gwen with her Glock in hand was quickly on his heels and Owen not far behind carrying his medkit bag. As they left the main area of the Hub Toshiko began searching through the sensor logs for the last three hours, cursing about the lack of CCTV down where Ianto had been working.

Somehow the way down to the lower levels seemed to stretch on forever, especially when Jack could hear the sounds of pitiful crying echoing along the depths of damp brick and stone. However the one thing he had never expected to find was this. He froze in the doorway and gaped and almost lurched forwards when Gwen and Owen practically ran into his back.

"Shit Jack! What is it, what on Earth is that terrible racket?" Owen demanded unable to see past his boss. Jack stepped aside.

"Oh my god." Gwen murmured as Owen stepped round her.

Owen couldn't be sure if this was some weird joke as he gawped alongside Gwen.

"Is that?"

There was a horrible terrified shriek from within the room and Jack carefully pushed passed the other two and stepped into the room lowering himself down to a crouch. Wide, soulful eyes blinked back at him through tear soaked lashes. Eyes that Jack was all too familiar with.

"Ianto?"

The little boy who was swamped by the white papery fabric of the massively oversized boiler suit that had shortly before held an adult within its seams sniffled and wiped his snotty wet face into the paper sleeve.

Jack tried again. "Ianto is that you?" He edged a little closer and the child shrunk back against the brick wall. "Ianto?"

The child nodded.

Behind him Jack heard Owen swearing as he moved about.

"It's him Jack, according this that is Ianto." He surged forwards with his scanner but Jack's arm shot out to hold him back as the child cowered away even further. Owen stopped and crouched down beside Jack.

"I need to get him into the autopsy bay Jack, he could be hurt as well as…." Owen gestured. "Well being….that." He hissed it out to keep his voice down, aware that Jack hadn't taken his gaze away from the child.

Gwen found herself backing out of the room deciding she'd best tell Tosh what was going on.

Jack put on his best smile and outstretched his hand toward the boy. "Ianto? Do you know me?"

There was another hesitant nod and then. "…ack…Jack." Was said between a mouthful of sleeve under which somewhere Jack supposed were Ianto's little fingers.

"Yes, that's right. I'm Jack. You remember Owen?" Jack shuffled forwards another few inches.

"Yes. Doctor ."

"Good. Okay. Now can we look at you? Are you hurt?"

Jack watched somewhat sadly as Ianto's tiny bottom lip began to wobble and fresh tears poured over pale rounded cheeks.

"Ssshh, its alright."

Ianto didn't look even slightly convinced and Jack wished he knew what to do. Owen whispered into his ear.

"Well clearly his memory is intact, so it's just his body that has been de-aged. He looks cold Jack."

Jack nodded and then was surprised to feel Owen backing away slightly. "I'll go get the autopsy bay prepped, you bring him. Probably best not to crowd him."

He heard Owen leave the room and then two sets of footsteps as Gwen and Owen left him to it. Jack's heart sank, it had been over 30 years since he'd had to deal with a kid, what looked like a four to five year old boy with adult memories. No wonder Ianto was scared, Ianto's fucked up life was bad enough for an adult to cope with.

Jack held out both his hands and smiled brightly at the child, he had to remind himself this was Ianto and not just any child.

"Ianto I'm going to carry you up to see Owen, is that alright if I pick you up?"

The little boy shook his head and tried his best to vanish into the wall behind him. Jack was stumped. He couldn't decide whether to try once again to coax the boy towards him or to just…. He lunged forwards and grabbed him. Rising to his feet Jack staggered slightly as Ianto wriggled against him and screamed in terror. Jack held on rather tightly shocked by how tiny Ianto actually was. Ianto howled and roared, trying to kick out his feet that were tangled in the useless legs of the protective suit. His struggle was futile as Jack firmly held him in place against the solid wall of his chest. The noise was distressing and it took all of Jack's will power not to slap the child's legs to silence him as he marched up out of the basement corridors and across the Hub. Ianto screeched every step of the way, drawing shocked looks from Gwen, Toshiko and finally Owen. He was eventually plonked roughly onto the blanket that covered the autopsy table and Owen hastily assisted Jack in wrapping Ianto's legs in the cotton covers not only to restrain him, but to warm him up as well. Ianto continued to howl miserably and Jack snapped.

"Be quiet Ianto, we are trying to help!" He bellowed and Ianto shut up. He gaped up at Jack who loomed over him and Ianto shrunk down into the blanket and sniffled as tears streaked down his tiny face.

Gwen and Toshiko had gathered on the upper level to look down into the autopsy bay, neither one quite able to believe what they were seeing. Jack was standing with arms folded defensively over his chest glaring down at the child in front of him.

"Owen, double check that this is in fact Ianto and then make sure he is ok."

"Yes boss."

"You," Jack said somewhat sternly, pointing a finger right into the boy's face. "You be quiet, no more screaming."

Jack fully expected one of the girls to protest at his harshness but neither one spoke up and he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not when he saw the misery in the large blue eyes that were blinking up at him. Jack swallowed down a brief flash of guilt, this could be some alien incursion for all he knew or someone's idea of a really bad joke.

"Tosh, put us into a six hour lock down, just to be safe and then I want you and Gwen down in G23 with every scanner you can think of. See if you can find out what did this. I don't need to remind you both to be careful."

Tosh immediately turned and went to her station, but Gwen hung back.

"Jack? What if this is really Ianto?"

"Which it is." Owen confirmed.

Jack shrugged, at a loss he as glanced briefly at Gwen before turning to Owen.

"We find what did this to him and reverse it, now go and help Tosh."

Gwen sighed at the unsatisfactory answer but did as she was told. Jack's focus went to Owen.

"Well?"

Owen offered up a sharp huff of breath. "Jack I need to examine him properly, this is not Quincy or Waking The Dead, I'll need more than a 45 minute episode to do my assessment."

Jack grunted and looked back to Ianto, who was still watching him warily.

"Ianto, you do as Owen tells you. Don't worry we'll fix this."

Ianto did not look reassured.

Owen prepared a set of vials and a syringe. "I'll need some blood."

Ianto turned and saw the needle. He suddenly lunged with a frightened squeal and Jack wasn't fast enough to catch him as he tumbled off the autopsy table with a sickening crack. The howling started all over again and Jack was immediately at his side about to scald him until he noticed the unnatural position of Ianto's arm. It was clearly broken.

"Oh shit. Owen…Give him a sedative or something." Jack yelled as he lifted Ianto gingerly back onto the table.

Owen was already at his side. "Don't be an idiot Jack, he's just lost 20 years, there's no telling what a sedative could do."

Jack was holding the rapidly swelling limb aloft and Owen decided against his better judgement to agree with Jack's suggestion. The morphine knocked Ianto out within seconds and Jack gratefully lay him out on the table, carefully tucking the blanket round his small body.

"Shit."

"Yeah."

Both men stood back for a moment, disturbed to see how fragile and small Ianto looked and how horribly wrong it was to see him asleep on the autopsy table.

"Jack, why don't you help the others. I'll sort this out." Owen suggested, with a slight tremor in his voice.

Jack stepped away, his face pale with shock and nodded numbly. "Yeah, you keep me posted."

Owen nodded. "Let me know if you find anything."

Jack left in a hurry to get out of there.

Owen turned his attention back to his patient, trying to disengage with the fact that he was dealing with the Tea Boy. He took some blood and used the same canula to set up an IV. He worked steadily running every test he could think of, carefully moving the small boy's limbs to extract them from the confusion of adult clothes. He wasn't certain how so much time passed as he talked to his unconscious patient, trying to dredge up everything he had learned from his training block with paediatrics years before. Ianto snuffled, his tiny button nose twitching in his sleep as Owen scanned his wrist, set it and wrapped it into a soft cast. When he had completed all his tests he wrapped Ianto in the T-shirt his adult self had been wearing under the paper suit and then carefully cocooned his tiny limp body into the folds of the blanket, leaving his thin arms resting on top. Satisfied that Ianto was still soundly asleep Owen turned to his computers and analysing equipment and continued to work, still talking to himself.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

The team decided to do their briefing in the autopsy bay because Owen was reluctant to leave Ianto unattended, unconscious as he was. The four of them gathered around the metal table and Tosh found herself staring down at the tiny limbs that rested on the blankets.

"He broke his arm?" Her voice did little to hide her distress.

Owen nodded gravely. "It's not a serious break thank fully, but yeah."

"Is he alright otherwise?" Jack asked unable to resist gently brushing at Ianto's hair with his fingertips in a rare tender gesture.

"He's otherwise in good health, considering he's just lost 20 years. His vitals are stable for a child of his approximate age, but until he's calm and conscious I won't be able to give you a full picture."

Jack moved his hand away. "Right so what do we know?"

Toshiko handed him her portable scanner. "There was an energy spike and I am certain it came through from the Rift. The energy should have been filtered out by the Rift manipulator, but I think he was too far away from it to be protected. Its energy I'd normally associate with time dilation, but it lasted for less than a second. The camera on the laptop Ianto had down there was hooked into our security feeds so it was recording when the flare happened, unfortunately Ianto was not in the frame, but the flare was." Tosh sighed and patted the bump that was Ianto's leg.

"It was Meson radiation Jack, Rift energy, highly concentrated, like pointing a laser. The rift opened, zapped him and closed. The alarms didn't go off because it was such a short burst it was barely detectable. We've never recorded anything quite like this before because normally this kind of energy spike is filtered out. It could be a fault with the rift manipulator."

There was a collective silence for a moment. "I looked through what I could in the digital archive, there's nothing there either, Tosh ran all her scan results through the database and we couldn't find a match that even came close." Gwen added her gaze falling to where Jack's hand was still gently rubbing the top of Ianto's head.

"What do we do with a four year old boy Jack?" She asked the question no one wanted to voice and Jack chose to ignore it.

"Owen?"

The medic sifted through his little stash of paperwork. "The readings are all a little odd, obviously his physiology is that of a child and his vitals read as such. The blood work is still being processed but what I've got so far is all a bit strange, I'm going need to look closer at these results, but his blood is flooded with growth hormones. He definitely knows who we are, so I suspect in some squewed way his memory is intact. The wrist has suffered a minor fracture but the cast should sort it out without the need for surgery. Obviously he's confused and probably scared out of his wits. The IV I've set up is basic nutrients and glucose. There's no evidence of infection or infestation unless you count the slightly elevated levels of electrical activity around the pituitary gland, which coincidently, or not, controls aging in the human body." Owen glanced up from his notes and looked at his contemplative colleagues. "He's also gonna wake up soon."

"Is there any indication that he presents a threat of a medical nature to any of us?" Jack really didn't know what else to ask.

Owen shook his head. "This isn't a disease Jack, its just a massive traumatic event for Ianto's body, I am amazed he survived this and don't want to guess at how painful it was for him."

"Is he still in pain now?" Gwen asked.

"We'll know when he wakes up, I gave him a sedative and some pain relief."

Jack nodded and took a step back. "Right then. Ok for now Tosh I want G23 sealed, just in case something in there did cause this in some way, we'll look into it later. Gwen I'd like you to go into the city and buy Ianto some clothes and stuff. We've no idea how long this will last…."

"Sure Jack, but I am going to ask again, what do we do with a four year old boy?" She gestured at Ianto. "I mean this is hardly a safe place for him to be."

Jack took a slow steadying breath. "Right now Gwen, we do nothing other than care for him and try to find out how to reverse this."

"And if we can't?"

Jack exchanged a meaningful glance with Owen.

"Then I will deal with him." Jack replied.

Gwen looked from one man to the other. "I don't want to know, do I?"

Owen looked away and Jack stared her down. "Whatever happens Gwen, Ianto will be put somewhere safe where he can be cared for properly." Jack replied firmly and thinking that the last place he wanted to send Ianto to was Flatholm Island.

"Now please, can you do as I ask?"

Gwen hesitated. "Are you going to retcon him?"

"This is neither the time nor the place for that discussion, I gave you an instruction, get on with it." Jack turned to Owen. "I'll set up my quarters, he can stay in there for the time being, it's safe and contained."

"Right boss, that sounds like a plan."

At that point Ianto chose to come round and he awoke with fat tears on his lashes and his face pink from his earlier crying. He lay still, blinking up at Jack with large soulful eyes and it was a moment before anyone noticed that he was awake at all.

"Jack…. Hurts." His tiny voice was almost a squeak. Suddenly Ianto had everyone's attention, a mixture of compassion and curiosity as they looked down at him. Jack was still soothing at his hair without even realising he was doing it.

"What hurts Ianto?" He asked making sure Ianto had clear sight of his face.

"Bones hurt. I've gone all small. The funny light made me small." Ianto sniffled and reached up his good hand and grasped the front of Jack's shirt. He tugged on it and Jack got the message clear enough. He bent his head down so that Ianto could whisper in his ear.

"I need to pee."

Jack, for the first time since this had begun lifted his head with a bright smile on his face.

"Owen can you disconnect the monitors and IV, Ianto needs the bathroom."

Owen nodded and shooed Gwen and Tosh out of the autopsy bay. Gwen took that as her cue to go to the shops, she thought she'd better get some food in for the team too.

A few moments later and Ianto was bundled in a blanket and being carefully lifted into Jack's arms.

"I'll take him down to my room, bring what you need and we'll set it all up."

Owen nodded, not entirely happy with the idea, but he didn't fancy leaving Ianto in the autopsy bay either, so it would have to do. He heard Ianto chattering to Jack as his boss carried him off.

"Can you feed my cats, they must be hungry by now, how long have I been small?"

Jack shifted Ianto's weight against his left hip. "Don't worry about the cats, I'll ask Mrs Wills next door and you've only been small for a few hours. You said your bones hurt, do you mean the ones in your cast?"

Ianto shook his head. "They all hurt." The head ended up nestled into Jack's neck and Ianto tightened his grip onto Jack's shirt. "Sorry sir. Is eweryone else alright?"

Jack gently patted a leg. "We're all fine, just worried about you and don't say sorry you haven't done anything wrong." He was surprised at how lucid and coherent Ianto appeared to be and the adult words sounded wrong coming from a pre schooler's mouth. He got to his office and lowered Ianto to the floor.

"If I help can you manage the ladder?"

Ianto nodded as the blanket fell away from his tiny body, swamped by the white Tshirt. Jack hesitated a moment, once again realising just how vulnerable Ianto looked. He felt his heart clench in his chest as he remembered his little Melissa, the daughter that both stole and broke his heart. Jack's eyes locked with Ianto's as the boy looked up at him. Jack swallowed.

"Don't worry Ianto, I'll look after you. I'll make sure you're safe."

Ianto offered up a grin. "It's ok sir. It's Torwood, it makes a mess of ewerything."

Jack smiled back. "Yeah, it certainly does." He found himself marvelling at Ianto who seemed to be taking this in his stride now and Jack realised that Ianto was probably hiding the worst of how he was feeling. "Can you remember what happened?"

Ianto allowed himself to be lifted carefully down into Jack's quarters, always mindful of his arm in its cast, which to Ianto felt too tight. He said nothing of that and concentrated on thinking about what had happened. He offered up a thoughtful up curve of his tiny mouth and shrugged as best as he could in Jacks grasp.

"I think I bumped my head when I fell backwards. It hurt lots when I changed."

Jack gently eased Ianto down onto his bunk, the cramped bed seeming to swallow up the boy. "Did you hear anything? Or see something, maybe?"

Ianto settled himself against the poor excuse for a pillow and watched intently as Jack pulled the cover up over his legs.

"Still need to pee sir." He said with a roll of his eyes. Jack could only gape and then laugh at the gesture.

"Of course, sorry. You need help?"

Ianto's cheeks flushed crimson and he nodded his head. "Yes, thank you. Sorry sir."

"It's ok, just try to think about what happened whilst we sort you out."

Ianto climbed off the bunk and Jack followed him into the small and somewhat basic bathroom. Ianto clearly didn't like being helped, but he tolerated it and afterwards stood happily under a warm shower with his casted arm poking through the shower curtain to keep it dry. Jack was helping him towel himself dry when Owen appeared at the top of the ladder.

"Oi Harkness, take this stuff will you?"

Jack grunted an agreement and Ianto not wanting to be seen naked dived back onto the bunk and clambered under the covers, pulling them tightly against him. Jack got him a clean T-shirt and Ianto was drowned by the size of it. The broken arm was hurting even more by now and Ianto could no longer suppress a grizzle as he watched Owen and Jack set up monitors and an IV line.

"Ow'n, this hurts more and my fingers have gone fat." Ianto grumbled holding up his arm.

Owen stopped what he was doing and looked. "Oh, dear." He sighed realising he'd have to take the cast off, he'd probably been a bit too eager to put it on in the first place.

"Alright mate." The inner bandaging would to be cut. "Jack, blue handled scissors from my bag."

Jack just did as he was asked and let Owen get on with it. "How come his hand has swollen up?"

"He's got some swelling under the cast most likely, it may have compromised the circulation."

Ianto was worriedly watching the rather large pair of scissors and he whimpered a little when Owen grasped his upper arm. Jack was immediately at his side to hold him still so that Owen could work efficiently.

"Come on Ianto, you can handle feeding that dinosaur and the weevils." Jack said softly.

Ianto didn't answer back, he was too busy chewing on his bottom lip as tears began to course over his cheeks. Owen glanced up from his work for a brief moment.

"Is it really that bad Ianto?"

Ianto nodded. "Legs hurt too."

Owen swiftly removed the cast and tossed it aside horrified by the imprint left behind on Ianto's skin. "It shouldn't have done that." He muttered. He grabbed his Bekeran scanner and ran the device up and down the injured limb.

"Shit."

"Owen?" Jack asked still gently rubbing Ianto's back. Ianto sniffled and curled himself into Jack's side, cradling his arm into his chest.

Owen was too intent on the readings to notice.

"His bones have gone through four months worth of growth in the last 6 hours, since I did my first scan."

Ianto curled more snuggly against Jack's side. "Hurts sir." Jack could feel snot and tears seeping through the fabric of his shirt.

"Are you telling me he's aging at an accelerated rate?"

Owen nodded. "I shall have to monitor him constantly, but yes, I think so."

"So the cast?"

"Just became too small." Owen replied somewhat at a loss.

"Sure that's good though, right? I mean it's like he's resetting himself."

"I've no way of knowing Jack. What if this keeps going beyond his 23 years? His body has just been rapidly de aged, it's a miracle he survived that, but reversing it, if it's too rapid, there is no way he would survive."

Ianto grizzled and Jack felt him squirm. "Get whatever it is you think you might need set up in the autopsy bay, including a decent bed…."

"Jack, I've no idea what the hell I am going to need, we've no frame of reference for anything like this…" He was interrupted by Ianto crying out.

"Owww. Ow'n it's hurting more." Ianto was gazing up at him with large plaintive eyes.

Owen swore. "Bollocks, alright. Look Jack he's going to need some more pain relief soon and he can't have any for another two hours. Look after him. Gwen will be back with some food and clothing soon. Try and get him to rest Tosh and I will get everything organised as quickly as we can."

Jack carefully pulled Ianto onto his lap and wrapped the ratty blanket over him, careful not to snag the IV line or Ianto's broken arm.

"Should I take him to Flatholm?"

Owen vehemently shook his head. "No way Jack. We need to study what is happening to him and Helen doesn't have the resources to deal with this. If Ianto does keep aging at an accelerated rate he is going to need a lot of looking after for the duration, assuming he survives that is."

Jack sighed. "Okay, call in Deklan and let him know we may be calling on him for some freelance back up."

Owen could only silently agree with the decision, Deklan was useful and reliable even if he was expensive.

"Right, are you gonna stay with Tea Boy?"

Jack nodded. "Just give him some pain relief as soon as you can, I think he is going to need it."

Owen double checked the IV and then scuttled away and up the ladder, leaving Jack sitting on the edge of his bunk with Ianto bundled in a blanket on his lap. Ianto was crying quietly, fingers jammed between his lips. Jack was surprised to see Owen a short while later. The medic hopped down the ladder waving something in his hand.

"It's an air cast for his arm. We can keep his arm immobilised without doing any harm, just let some air out if his fingers go blue. Should have thought of it before really but I forgot we had these." Owen carefully wrapped the inflatable strap around Ianto's arm.

"It's a bit big, but it will help."

Once done Owen was gone again, grateful for the lack of fuss from Ianto. Jack's back began to ache as he sat with Ianto.

"Can I move you onto the bed?"

Ianto didn't want to be moved from the comforting embrace but Jack was someone he deferred to all the time regardless of his own needs and so he nodded and allowed himself to be settled back against the pillow. Jack went away for a moment and then came back with a warm damp flannel.

"I'm just gonna wipe your face, you're bit snotty Ianto Jones."

Ianto wrinkled his nose and screwed his eyes shut as Jack washed his face.

"There, that better?"

Ianto nodded. "Thank you sir."

Ianto lay there watching as Jack took the flannel back into his private bathroom. This wasn't Ianto's first time down here and he distracted himself from his misery by contemplating how different everything looked with him now being so small. Jack returned and perched himself back on the edge of the bunk, he petted Ianto's hair and Ianto promptly swiped his hand away and moved his hair back.

"I'm not a dog." He grumbled.

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Sorry."

Ianto tensed. "Sorry sir."

"You don't want to be patted?"

Ianto shook his head but he reached out a tiny hand and Jack carefully moved the plastic IV line so he could grasp it.

"You want me to hold your hand like this?"

Ianto nodded, feeling utterly ashamed and miserable, he felt like a baby and hated being treated like one, but what else was Jack supposed to do?

"Thank you."

"That's alright. You still sore?" Jack made himself comfortable and found himself easing Ianto's smaller frame against his own as he settled on the bunk.

"Yep."

"Well in another little while Owen can give you some morphine or something."

Jack felt Ianto shift beside him. "I'm scared Jack."

Jack's blood froze for a moment as his heart felt like it had stopped a beat. "I know, we'll do everything we can to help you, you know that right?"

"Yep…. Will I be stuck like this? Like a baby?" Ianto worried who was going to take care of him if the outside world perceived him as a child. Jack squeezed his hand.

"We're not sure, but Owen says you are growing. It's probably why you hurt so much. It's weird I am talking to a little boy who sounds all grown up." He chuckled slightly, the word paradox floating through his mind. Ianto was a paradox in every sense, even when he was his normal adult self. Jack had found himself fascinated by the younger man as well as physically attracted. He looked down and Ianto's large eyes met his and Jack swallowed, realising that Ianto was as much a beautiful child as he was a man in his early twenties. He sincerely hoped he'd get the adult version back as soon as possible. He smiled gently.

"Don't worry Ianto, we'll sort this, I promise."

Ianto blinked up at him. "That's a dangeeous thing to say sir. Whose going to look after me if I am stuck?"

Jack sighed, he hadn't really thought about it and the only answer viable to him was Flatholm so he settled for a shrug.

"We'll think of something."

Ianto nodded comforted by the fact that he knew Jack would try his best, at least he hoped he would, but he was aware that the business of Torchwood itself could easily distract him. He snuggled down and tugged the blanket around him expecting to be left alone. Jack didn't move.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

The screech that echoed up from Jack's bunker brought Owen to a dead stop. Tosh looked up from her computer terminal shortly followed by Jack's bellowing Owen's name. Owen yanked his bekeran scanner from the bench and ran. He leapt down into Jack's quarters in record time to discover Jack trying to hold Ianto down as he shrieked and writhed on the bunk. The blankets had been kicked aside and Owen cursed because he had forgotten to bring the morphine. He yelled back up the ladder to Tosh, who thankfully had followed him into Jack's office.

"Grab the crash kit from draw two." He turned back to Jack who was desperately attempting to calm Ianto down as his squealing and howling reverberated around the cramped space. A moment later and the requested bag was handed down into Owen's hand and he reached inside and grabbed the pre-prepared syringe. Checking it he lunged forwards, grabbed a flailing leg and sunk the needle into the calf muscle. A moment later the movement stopped and the noise was reduced to a pitiful sobbing. Owen turned his attention to the stabilising monitors as Jack gathered the weeping boy into his arms. Owen sighed and looked at them as Jack gently rocked Ianto who was noticeably larger than he had been two hours ago. It occurred to him that Gwen's shopping trip for clothes would be a wasted effort.

Jack looked up from Ianto's face. "Thank you Owen."

The medic nodded, noting that Ianto's oversized T-shirt was soaking with sweat and that he'd wet the bed, he knew that Ianto would never live that down. The readings on the monitors were concerning, low blood pressure and a slightly elevated heart rate. The heart rate he could understand. Another blood test was in order. It took Owen a moment to realise he was gently rubbing Ianto's foot and he withdrew his hand on receiving a knowing half smile from Jack.

"I've got a proper gurney being delivered to my house so Gwen and Tosh are going to my place in the van when she gets back, otherwise everything up stairs is ready for us to move him back into the autopsy bay." He stood up. "I'll just get some fresh sheets and a set of scrubs for him."

Ianto was still whimpering, his face buried against Jack's abdomen, hands fisting in the fabric of his shirt. Jack didn't seem to mind and Owen was glad because Ianto would need the comfort.

"I spoke to Jules, he's on board, usual rates."

Jack nodded. "Do we need to catheterise Ianto?" He gestured at the damp bedding with a dip of his chin.

Owen shook his head. "Too risky, with what's going on I don't want to do anything invasive if we can avoid it."

Jack understood. "Can we disconnect him from the monitors and IV he needs to be cleaned up?"

Another shake of the head. "He'll have to be bed bathed. His vitals are a bit rocky. Lets take this one step at a time. First off I need more blood work. He has clearly increased in size, I need to check his blood is being made at the same rate. I want him on oxygen too. Then we can get him washed and changed and then fed." Owen stood up and went to the ladder. "You okay to stay with him?"

Jack nodded and Owen doubted that even the end of the world would drag him away. Owen went leaving Jack to look down at a shock of hair and reddened eyes, swollen from crying and cheeks smeared with tears and snot. Jack used his own shirt sleeve to mop up Ianto's face. He was shocked to register that whilst Ianto was definitely a bit bigger, he was also thinner, drawn looking. He could feel pointy bones through the layers of fabric that separated them. Jack gently hugged him tighter also aware that Ianto was like a furnace against his own naturally warm skin. Ianto snuffled into his shirt, his body finally relaxing enough to be held in a loose hug rather than a restraint.

Owen came back bearing clean linens and he was followed by Gwen who had a bag of shopping in her hand. The woman froze on seeing the mess of the bed and Ianto's pathetic state, it took her moment to collect herself before she edged forwards and placed the bag on top of Jack's antique wooden dresser.

"There's some healthy children's snacks and drinks in there and…" She pulled a large, very soft and floppy looking cuddly, grey rabbit with oversized feet and proffered it. "I thought this might help?"

Jack actually glared at her, but to his utter astonishment Ianto eased himself out of his hold and reached a wobbly hand. It was given over to his grasp and Gwen smiled a bit apprehensively at him. Ianto pulled it against his chest, giving Gwen a solemn but most definitely grateful look.

"Thank you Gwen." He leaned back against Jack, the rabbit clutched firmly against him.

Owen and Jack were gob-smacked into silence and Gwen's smile brightened considerably as she backed off.

"You're welcome."

Owen shooed her off and handed the scrubs to Jack. "Change of plan, I'll disconnect the lines, you take him in there clean him up and change him into these. I'll deal with this, but stay with him and make sure he doesn't do too much himself." He also passed a plastic pot to Jack. "I'll need a pee sample too."

Jack sighed. He wanted to help Ianto, make him better or at least feel safe, but he still had an institute to run. Owen saw his hesitation.

"Jack, its quiet upstairs. If anything comes up Jules and Gwen can handle it with Tosh and me as back up. I need you with him. Ianto trusts you, this is hard enough for him without adding to his humiliation by having the rest of us deal with his needs. If things get busy, we'll just have to rethink it."

"Right then."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Ianto was quiet and complaint as Jack got him washed and toileted and dressed. He did as he was told as Jack chatted to him about nothing of consequence and Ianto allowed himself to be picked up and carried back into Jack's room where the bed had been changed and the rabbit was waiting by the pillows. Jack placed Ianto down on the edge of the bunk and Ianto immediately took the soft toy back into his arms. Owen was there reconnecting the lines and leads and Ianto watched as he took a blood sample. He then looked up at Jack and Jack sucked in a sharp breath at the clarity of Ianto's pale eyes. He looked like a Victorian waif, only clean.

"Its okay sir, you should get back to work. I'll be alright."

Jack swallowed and exchanged a look with Owen, who shrugged.

"You're needed out there sir."

Jack steadied his own resolve and grabbed the carrier bag Gwen had left earlier.

"Owen, can he eat?"

The medic nodded busy with his stethoscope now.

Jack sat beside Ianto. "Tosh and Gwen will fetch me if I am needed to help. For now let's find you something to eat and drink."

Ianto nodded. "Alright." He sounded more like a little boy than ever as he sat there and allowed Owen to scan him and do everything else he needed without complaint.

Owen gathered up his gear and samples and left them alone again and Jack took the space on the bed to empty out the bag. Gwen had been careful in her choices, egg sandwiches and cheese and ham for protein, a small bag of mixed grapes and another of pre-cut apple pieces. There was a yogurt drink, milkshake, water and fruit juice. Ianto watched with interest and picked out the egg sandwich which Jack took and peeled away the plastic wrapper. One had carefully hanging to the rabbit which had to be put aside for the food that Jack pulled into more manageable pieces for such small hands. Ianto nibbled at it, whilst hungry in the extreme, he didn't want to make himself sick.

Jack watched him. "Is that alright?"

Ianto nodded and then offered up a small smile with his full mouth firmly closed.

Jack cracked open the bottle of chocolate milkshake and placed it on the bedside cabinet which was next to Ianto. "Can you manage for a minute?"

Another smile. "Yes thank you sir."

"I'm going upstairs to grab a coffee and have a chat with Owen."

He got up and edged toward the ladder, reluctant to leave Ianto unattended, Ianto caught his look and clearly understood.

"I'll be alright sir."

Taking his leave Jack couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed of himself when he realised that Ianto was looking after him and the team even when he was too indisposed to do so. He was at Owen's elbow a few moments later with coffee in his hand from Gwen and the former WPC and Tosh soon joined him on the gallery level of Owen's domain. Owen continued to work.

"So, Tosh where are you at?"

Tosh looked as calm as always but the darkened circles under eyes indicated that she had spent little time away from her computers.

"I'm sorry Jack, I've drawn a blank on how to explain what has happened to Ianto. I have no idea how to explain why his body got youthenised and his memories did not. There is no sense to it. There are minute traces of Meson radiation still present in Ianto's body, but they seem to be fluctuating at much higher frequencies than what we normally associate with the rift itself. I don't think it's a threat to anyone else. There are no longer any readings at all in G23, so whatever caused this has come and gone. I suspect it is something we are normally shielded from by the energy buffers in the rift manipulator, perhaps Ianto was out of range of that and we need to look at improving the shielding."

Jack listened and sipped on his coffee, aware that both Gwen and Tosh were watching closely.

"You're working on the shielding?"

Toshiko pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've started with a full component level diagnostic, in case I find a malfunction and I am about half way through, once that's done I shall continue from there."

Jack's smile was heart warming and Tosh couldn't help but smile shyly back. "Good work Tosh, keep at it and tell me when you need help." He turned to look at Gwen.

"You and I will take turns to sit with Ianto when he is awake, the food and the toy were spot on by the way, how did you know?"

Gwen was chuffed with the praise. "I have nieces and Owen told me about me about food. There's more in the fridge too. How is he?"

"Owen?"

Owen sat back in his chair and looked up at his two team mates and boss, he ran a hand through his hair and tried to stifle a yawn and failed.

"He's alive, amazingly. My latest scan indicates he aged approximately a year of physical growth since my first scan a few hours ago. His blood work is a mess, his bone density is low and his heart was under a good deal of strain during the age spurt. Gwen and Tosh will collect the gurney from my place because I want him up here, under constant monitoring. I'll have to get blood stocks in and shove as many vitamins and IV pain relief meds as we can get away with to keep him alive through the next growth change, assuming that there will be one."

"You think he will keep aging?" Gwen leaned on the rail, gripping it tightly. "I mean if it carries on, will it stop when he reaches his own proper age?"

Owen shrugged. "Right now I don't know anything. I am guessing as I go and I just have to be prepared for every possible bloody thing I can think of."

"Ok Owen. It looks like Ianto is gonna be settled for a while, why don't you take a break and go home and grab some sleep." Jack didn't want to make it an order and to his utter astonishment Owen agreed with him.

"Yeah, not a bad plan. Tosh can stay here. I'll help Gwen get the bed loaded onto the van and you can help her unload and set it up down here after you've had a decent break as well, you need rest as well Jack."

Jack arched an eyebrow. "Fine get going both of you." He didn't see the point in telling Owen not to boss his colleagues about especially when it was helping the situation. If anything he was pleased Owen was taking the initiative.

The Hub suddenly seemed very empty with the absence of Owen and Gwen. From his office all Jack could hear was gentle tapping of computer keys as Toshiko worked and the occasional cawing from the nest in the steel rafters where their resident pteranodon slept. Having completed the batch of forms Ianto had left in his in tray some days ago he clambered halfway down the ladder to check on Ianto, who was curled around the cuddly rabbit, sound asleep. It would have been an adorable sight if not for the circumstance but Jack still took out his mobile phone and snapped a picture for the record, or so he told himself. A quick check of the monitors indicated that things had at least calmed down for now and Jack could only be relieved for the young man. As he went back up to his office he thought hard, searching his long memory for anything similar to this and not even his years with the Time Agency had proved a source of useful information. Jack found himself cursing his own lack of knowledge and wondered where the damned Doctor was when one needed him. Regardless of the betrayals and hurt that sat between him and Ianto, Jack did not want him to suffer, if anything he would prefer his relationship with him to strengthen. Ianto had more than proved his hidden courage and intelligence alongside the depth of his feelings. Jack hadn't seen the like in decades, possibly not since the war where he had witnessed many men and women who bore far more strength of character than he ever could or would. Jack sighed knowing full well he'd been stuck on this bloody planet for far too long. He knew whilst his strange undying condition remained he would be destined to be alone forever. Jack stopped dead in his tracks for a moment and swallowed down an overwhelming sense of bewilderment at the prospect. He had to bury his fear otherwise he'd go mad. Ianto had been the first person he had met who seemed to understand what standing on the edge of madness actually meant. The difference was, Ianto had faced it down and done his utmost to carry on no matter how bad it felt. Jack could only admire and envy that quality. He huffed out a sigh and straightened his shoulders as he strolled seemingly nonchalantly out of his office.

"I'll go and take care of our residents. Ianto's asleep for now but keep an ear out for me please." He smiled a big white smile at Tosh and strode away into the depths of the Hub.

Tosh nodded. "Of course Jack." She continued with her work, analysing the data coming back from the diagnostics on the Rift Manipulator. It was going to be a long night, with that thought she glanced at the time and decided food and a cup of tea were in order, since she hadn't eaten any lunch.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

It was 3am and Tosh stood in the boardroom and was feeling more than a little relieved that she had found the possible cause of the problem. Jack entered the room, looking at her with a frown as he downed the mug of instant coffee, that made his gut clench with discomfort. He was tired so he knew Tosh must be exhausted, she certainly looked a slight shabby around the edges.

Jack plonked himself into a chair and smiled up at his tech encouragingly.

"What have you got Tosh?"

Tosh was clearly functioning on high doses of caffeine as she practically bounced on the balls of her feet as the high heeled shoes had been abandoned hours ago.

"It looks like two of the high frequency energy buffers failed. I think the hardware overloaded because of a power spike, which means two things, firstly we need to do a complete overhaul of both generators and secondly some components need replacing in the manipulator itself. Having ran comparisons with the energy spike that zapped Ianto and the rift frequencies that correspond to the buffers I think I can be fairly certain that's what caused Ianto's problem." She exclaimed rather excitedly. Jack almost smirked, definitely stimulants, which really wasn't healthy. He was proud of her and his warm smile conveyed that.

"You are quite brilliant."

Tosh shrugged. "It's what you pay me for. Now I've compiled a list of things we need to affect the repairs and…."

Jack held up a hand. "And it's 3 am and you need to sleep. Give me the list and I shall start the work on the manipulator."

Tosh sucked in a breath about to speak in protest.

Jack shook his head. "I need you awake and in good health. Go home, sleep, eat a decent meal and come back in after lunch."

"Jack, I should be here to help you."

"I know you want to be and really you have done more than enough for one day. My order stands Tosh. Owen and Gwen have both had a break and now it is your turn and mine too, please go home and thank you, what you have done is brilliant."

Reluctantly Tosh got to her feet. "Make sure you rest too Jack, Ianto's going to need you."

Jack caught her worried look. "I know."

Jack got up too and followed her out of the boardroom. He wandered down to the autopsy bay to discover that Owen had completed setting up a proper bed there. The medic looked up at Jack who took a spot on the gallery level.

"We can move him up here anytime, but I'd suggest doing it now so you can bunk down for a couple of hours and sleep."

Jack nodded. "Lets do it then."

Jack wasn't surprised to find Gwen watching over their sleeping, miniaturised fifth team member. She stepped out of the way as Jack edged forwards and Owen began to disconnect his monitors and the IV. Gwen took the IV bag and line and carried it up the ladder without comment. Jack stood for a moment and watched Ianto undisturbed by the movement around him as Owen began feeding the equipment up the ladder, which Gwen received in the office.

"Will you need a hand?" Owen whispered as he looked at Jack in the dim light.

Jack shook his head. "I'll manage. Will bring him up in a moment, just make sure he doesn't need the bathroom first."

Owen nodded taking that as his cue to leave.

Jack thought it was a shame to disturb Ianto when he looked so peaceful but it had to be done. He crouched and gently nudged the child that wasn't. Large owlish eyes blinked at him as a wide yawn escaped Ianto's mouth. It was clear to Jack Ianto hadn't actually been sleeping for some time, just resting.

"Hey, how do you feel?"

Ianto managed a smile. "Still small."

Once again Jack felt something undefined tighten around his heart as he returned the smile with one of his own, less flashy ones. "We're moving you back upstairs into a proper bed, do you need the bathroom before I take you up there?"

Ianto nodded, a tiny fist clenching in the grey fake fur of the rabbit as a flush of red dusted his white cheeks.

"It's embassing." The word not quite forming on his lips, but Jack got the message clearly enough.

"Ianto, I've seen it all before and this is hardly your fault."

Ianto just gazed at him. "I'm sorry."

Jack frowned at him and carefully laid a hand over Ianto's shoulder, which felt too bony to him.

"For what?"

Ianto shrugged not sure how to articulate what he was feeling. He kicked the covers away and sat up and Jack withdrew his hand.

"Do you need my help?"

Jack was horrified to see the misery on Ianto's face as he nodded. Unable to stop himself Jack engulfed Ianto in a careful hug and cradled him against his body. Ianto moulded himself against the solid warmth of Jack's chest as he was lifted from the bed.

"Thank you, sir." Ianto whispered into the fabric of Jack's shirt. He was rewarded with a gentle squeeze.

"You can call me Jack, you know. Everyone else calls me Jack."

Ianto smiled. "I'm not eweryone else, I'm Ianto."

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at the weak humour and he was grateful that Ianto at least had the energy to attempt it.

"Do you want to have a shower?"

"Yes please. Can we take the thing off my arm?"

Jack shook his head. "Owen wants to keep that wrist secure, when you've stopped growing he'll no doubt set it in a proper cast."

Ianto grizzled.

"Is it hurting?"

"Yep, but ewerything is." Ianto clung on to Jack a little tighter as Jack moved into the little bathroom.

Having closed the door with a well placed boot Jack carefully lowered Ianto to the floor and Ianto hissed as his bare feet came to rest on the ceramic tiled flooring.

"Sss..cold."

Jack smiled. "I'll find you some socks and a fresh set of scrubs in a minute."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Owen glanced up from his gaming magazine when Jack appeared at the top of the stairs that led into the autopsy bay with a green clad bundle of Ianto in his arms. The child sized archivist was nestled tightly in his boss' embrace and Owen took note of the fluffy rabbit clutched in Jack's left hand as he made his way cautiously down the steps. Ianto was reluctantly placed down on the bed and Owen smiled at the sight of oversized socks on tiny feet as he pulled a sheet and soft new blankets over Ianto's legs and up to his chest. Ianto reached out a grasping hand for the rabbit and clutched it to his side when Jack passed it over. Jack stepped back to allow Owen to do his work. Twenty minutes later and Ianto was reclined on the bed drinking warm milk and chewing his way through a banana, having already consumed a pile of cheese sandwiches. Owen had infused a low continuous dose of painkiller into the drip now reattached and Ianto was looking alert and considerably happier. Owen went back to his terminal to update the file on Ianto's case and Jack excused himself, he had work to do.

Ianto sat on the bed and gazed about him.

"Ow'n?"

The medic spun round on his chair and gave Ianto a look of 'don't bother me tea boy'.

"What?"

Ianto glanced up the stairs to check that they alone. "When I get bigger again, am I going to die?"

Owen gaped at him, the question sounding all kinds of wrong in that child's voice.

"How do you mean?"

"I heard you earlier, you sounded wowwied, like my body might not cope with the stwess." Ianto's hand unconsciously stroked at the toy on the bed beside him.

Owen could only shrug and be honest, if anyone could read a useless platitude it would be Ianto.

"I will do everything I can to keep you alive Tea Boy, that's my job. You're a twat, but you're our twat, but I won't lie to you I think it is going to be very hard on your body. So I need you to rest and do everything I tell you, understood?"

Ianto nodded. "Okay. If I do die Ow'n, can you make sure my sister gets all my money. There is a copy of my will in my personnel folder. I have a saving account set up for her and her family."

Owen took a long, slow breath startled that Ianto would trust him with such a task. "Yeah, course mate."

"Thank you, you also need to look after Jack."

Like Jack needed to be babysat. "Yeah, now get some rest." Owen stood up and readjusted the bed so that it was almost flat and he held out the blanket as Ianto lay down and curled into a ball, the rabbit back against his chest. Owen covered him and couldn't resist ruffling his hair and he grinned when Ianto made a little growly noise in protest. Owen wondered if Ianto realised just how much he was clinging to the soft toy that Gwen had brought in for him, not that Owen begrudged him the comfort. It was just going to provide him with plenty of tease material once Ianto was back on his feet. It wasn't long before Ianto was deeply asleep and Owen could only be thankful as he ran another scan without interruption.

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