Jack licked at the split lip as he once more marvelled at Ianto's strength. He had been holding back, still it had hurt.
The young man, the archivist had faltered and Jack had seen the promise of something else. The flash in those steely grey eyes of intelligence he hadn't seen before.
Ianto knew she was dead. He knew Ianto had a long game, whatever it was but still… Jack wondered.
Jack wondered just what else about Ianto was a myth, a lie, more mis-direction?
Ianto was a wraith, ever since that monster had been loose in the hub Ianto had blended in with the walls.
Coffee was placed on the desks, files were put away and food was routinely provided yet Ianto himself seemed unattainable.
Jack didn't know what to do to comfort the young man, still mourning a long dead love. Jack knew the feeling, having lost so many.
At the turn of the century, when the whole of Torchwood Three had been put down it had fallen to him. He washed their bodies, prepared them for their drawers and wept bitterly as he changed his own clothes. The bullet wound that had taken him gone in the reset.
He had been shot first, so he could not protect the others but it was far better to report that he had returned and found them all dead. Not a lie, not really.
Ianto was in the kitchen. His coffee mug was gone.
Jack slid in and noted the pale hands as they washed his mug with care.
"Ianto, get the camping gear in the SUV before 0600 please," Jack said softly and Ianto jumped, the mug dropping back into the water with a thud.
"Yes Sir."
So quiet, he barely heard it. Seems his voice had faded with the rest of him.
Jack vowed to change that.
.
.
.
0600 and the SUV was not only ready, the motor was running to ensure a warm interior.
They all lined up and Ianto was the last to step into line. His suit gone, replaced by street clothes that made him look so much younger.
"Ah, shit! Not the T-Boy!" Owen sighed as Jack ushered then in the SUV.
He wasn't surprised that Ianto knew how to put up the tents, not surprised that he found the SUV tracker first but he was definitely surprised when Tosh told him through her tears that he had saved her despite what was obviously a nasty head injury.
He was walking the bastard out, Gwen stumbling after him as her shock number her movements. It happened so fast that he was stuck dumb.
The head cannibal broke away and ran at Tosh as she walked towards the SUV. Three more saw and followed suit.
Gwen screamed as she felt fingers in her hair and Ianto looked up from his hands.
He exploded from the back of the SUV, swinging the umbrella he always kept in there like a sword. He swung it in his hand, presenting the crooked handle which he brought down with lightening speed on the wrist of the man who had hold of Gwen's hair.
He drew the umbrella back with a snarl, feeling it connect with the man who had tried to grab him from behind.
He pivoted on his heel dropping to a squatting position. Arcing the umbrella wide, he caught the shins of his attacker then popped back up to slam his head into the man's chin as he fell.
The third man went for Ianto's throat and Ianto moved his head to catch the hand, biting down on the fleshy part between thumb and forefinger. He man screamed with pain as Ianto drew back and spat the mouthful of flesh in his face.
He followed it up with a baseball bat style swing at the man's head.
The fourth man was frozen half way to Tosh as he watched this, it had all taken barely sixty seconds and Jack suddenly felt his fugue lift as he lurched forward.
Ianto was quicker, punching the man in the face with a left jab and following through with a right hook that threw the man into Jack's arms.
Jack let the man's momentum work for him as he pivoted, hooking the man in his hip and throwing him headfirst into the nearby Heddlu car.
Ianto shot his imaginary cuffs and straightened his shoulders as he looked the man in the eye that held his wrist, shock locking him to the ground.
"Hello" Ianto said softly, "You want to feel live? So be it!"
Ianto reached out and his signet ring gleamed in the sunlight as he pinched his fingers together, then slammed it down on the spot where the man's neck attached to his shoulder. The man gave a shrill scream as blue sparks flew from the ring to skin contact.
Ianto released him and watched him crumble to land in his own piss.
The second man now rose and Jack grabbed him by his collar, punching him in the gut as he threw him into the Heddlu car to then land in his partner.
Ianto stood tall, looking about the carpark like a predator and Jack was overcome with the need to comfort.
Then it faded, the man shimmered like a force-field lowering and he slumped.
Jack caught him as he fell, folding them both onto the ground. He cradled the man to his chest and kissed him softly.
Ianto's sigh was enough.
Enough for now.