Ianto walked into Jack's office and leaned in the doorway as Jack looked up. He watched him put a tin in a draw and smile.

'Ianto.'

'Jack?'

'Just memories, you ready to go.'

'We can stay here, it's well after midnight.'

'No.' Jack stood to leave. 'I'd rather make new memories and there are too many here. Lets go and you can tell me all about what your cooking me for Christmas dinner.'

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'Oh, change the subject, Sir.'

Jack moved over to Ianto, grinning before he kissed him. 'I'd rather change the subject this way.' He knew there was a desperation in his kisses, he had too many memories and sometimes he worried if there was room for new ones. Ones he wanted to spend a lifetime creating with Ianto. 'Come on, lets get out of here before I make love to you on my desk.'

'I wouldn't be complaining.'

Jack whispered in Ianto's ear. 'I want you in your bed when I bury my cock in your arse and make you come.'

'Oh.'

Jack grinned as he reached into Ianto's pocket and pulled his keys out. 'Come on.' He tugged Ianto by the hand and lead him towards the car. 'Take me home Ianto Jones.'

Ianto parked his car and turned the engine off before turning towards Jack. Shaking his head as he realised the man was asleep, he brushed his fingertips across the sleeping man's cheek to wake him.

'You could have woken me with a kiss you know.'

'Wouldn't that make you the sleeping princess and me the plucky prince?'

'Good point.' Jack yawned as he moved to one side as he waited for Ianto to lock the car so they could go upstairs and fall into bed.

'This burying your cock in my arse thing.' Ianto matched Jack with a yawn of his own. 'How about we turn the alarm off and reconvene when we wake up.' He watched as Jack just nodded before kissing him softly on the lips.

'Sounds like a plan my love.'

Ianto pulled Jack into his arms after he locked the door. 'It was a lovely wedding, apart from the nostrovite and the retcon.'

'You getting ideas?'

'About retcon?'

'About getting married.'

'If that's a proposal you haven't even met my mother.'

Jack laughed. 'I wasn't proposing, but your right, I haven't met your mother. Unless that's why we all got retconed recently.'

'I thought it was because you upset someone by snoring your way though most of Tosca.'

'Funny.'

'It's the Welsh National Opera Company, we're a patriotic people Jack, and we take singing very seriously.'

'Even opera?'

'If you don't like it why did we go?'

'I thought you'd enjoy it.'

'I did.' He kissed Jack. 'I think I remember showing you my appreciation at the time.'

'What happened to going to sleep?'

Ianto started unbuttoning Jack's shirt. 'I changed my mind.'

Jack grinned as he loosened Ianto's tie. 'Have you now.'

'Ah ha.' He tossed his jacket and tie over the back of the sofa before working Jack's shirt free and sliding it to the floor. 'And your tee shirt.' He watched as Jack pulled it free, exposing his chest to Ianto's hungry eyes.

'Your still wearing your shirt, hardly fair my love.' It was his turn to watch as Ianto shed his shirt.

They fell into each others arms as they kissed while fumbling at their pants until they were naked, shoes kicked off and socks discarded. Jack led Ianto into the bedroom where he pulled the covers back before tumbling him to the bed. Ianto pulled the covers back up as they found each other in the darkness. Need dictating urgency as they touched each other with the anticipation of a cock being buried in Ianto's waiting arse.

Jack lost himself in Ianto with a desperate need to connect as deeply as he could. He didn't want any of the old familiar pain of before to seep back into their relationship, he was with exactly who he wanted. It might have taken him a bit longer than Ianto needed, but he'd realised this was the only home he wanted. He didn't want Ianto to just become another photo in a tin locked in a draw. They cried out as they came and he heard Ianto's breathing grow slow and steady as sleep stole him away. He brushed a kiss over his lover's forehead and curled up in his arms, waiting for sleep to claim him. Praying for the absence of dreams as he wondered if there was a way for Ianto not to die.

Ianto woke to the smell of bacon wafting towards him, the numbers on his alarm telling him it was half past ten. He recalled being woken at eight by Jack as they'd made love and gone back to sleep. Now it was mid morning and he was torn between a need to rush into his kitchen to check on Jack, and staying where he was. He frowned as he heard Jack speaking, followed by footsteps and the door opened, with a cellphone being handed over, his cell phone.

'Your mother.'

'My phone.'

'It kept ringing.'

Ianto took the phone as Jack moved back to rescue the bacon.

'Mam.'

'Who answered the phone dear?'

Ianto hesitated, did he tell her the truth? 'My boss.'

'Why would he be answering your phone at ten thirty on a Sunday? Are you at work?'

'No mam, I'm at home, one of our team got married yesterday, it was late so he stayed here.'

'Oh.'

Ianto sighed, he recognised that 'oh'.

'He said your working though Christmas and New Years.'

'I know, I-.'

'That's not very good, it's our first Christmas and your stepfather's gone to a lot of effort Ianto. A lot of effort, he's planned the perfect Christmas dinner and Rhi's going to be with Johnny's family and now your working.'

'But I had-.'

'Your boss seemed polite enough for a Yank, I'm sure if you explain to him he'll let you off over Christmas.'

'But I had-.'

'After all, it's a tourist office, how busy can you be on Christmas day, it's not like I ask for much.'

'Last year off.'

'What?'

'I had last Christmas off, it's my turn to work this year.' He took advantage of her silence to continue. 'I'm a junior member of the team and it's my turn to work this year.'

'Well can't you swap?'

'Mam, who is going to want to swap Christmas with me?'

'Well I don't know, and I don't know why you took that job in the first place. It's hardly taxing that education you worked so hard for. All those languages you speak, you could be working for the embassy or something.'

'I like my job Mam.'

'So, you have a brain son, you should be using it. Not shuffling tourists or whatever it is you do.'

'I'm fine mam.'

'Well, I could drop some left overs to your flat, after Christmas dinner, if you can't join us.'

'That's okay mam, I'll be fine.'

'It'd be no bother, I haven't seen your flat since you moved.'

'No mam, it's fine, I'll be pretty busy anyway, since we are one team member down.'

'Why should that matter?'

'Gwen's on her honeymoon, the job doesn't just stop because she's away.' He looked up and wondered how long Jack had been standing there.

'But you don't do anything important.'

'Mam, it's lovely to talk to you.'

'What?'

'I have to go now mam, love you.'

'What? Oh, yes, love you too son.'

'Your mother sounds nice.'

Ianto pulled his dressing gown on and followed Jack into the kitchen where bacon and eggs waited for him. 'She thought you sounded polite enough, for an American.'

'She asked me if you had Christmas off.'

'I'm supposed to talk to you about that.'

Jack laughed. 'She's hardly going to give me a better offer than yours. Anyway, eat before it gets cold. Although.' His voice sounded wistful. 'I couldn't work the coffee out.'

Ianto rolled his eyes as he made coffee. 'Looks good Jack.' He was more impressed to find an absence of dishes waiting for him, he still hadn't worked out how Jack managed to use practically every pot regardless of what he was cooking. But logic seemed to bend around Jack in the kitchen, the usual laws of physics just didn't apply.

Tosh pried her eyes open as the ringing sound extended beyond her head. Reaching for the phone he registered the time, ten thirty was too early. She just hopped it was raining, a sunny day would be too much on top of her hangover. The empty bottle of wine reminding her of her previous vow of moderation, ignored.

'Hello?' She held the phone away from her ear as a stream of Japanese greeted her. 'Mum, was at a wedding... Yes, a friend from work... Yes, I know my cousin Uki has two children... Yes I know she's younger than me.' Tosh sighed as her mother talked at her. This was their usual conversation as her mother reminded her she was not keeping up her end of the bargain. As a dutiful daughter she was expected to do well in school, get a good job and a good husband then provide her mother with good grandchildren.

Instead she had a job that kept her working all hours, her mother had no real idea how dangerous it was. She clearly hadn't gotten married and therefore there were no children. Not at all like her cousin Uki, a paragon of dutifulness. A school teacher, very respectable, her husband, a dentist so free dental work for his mother in law. Very respectful. And two children, a boy and a girl, all very neat and tidy. With not a single lesbian alien or frozen world war one soldier to be seen. No arrest for industrial espionage and definitely no vanishing to Wales to work for a secret organisation.

Tosh didn't feel in the mood to be compared to her cousin again, and she really didn't need reminding her life was empty. Owen was dead, Tommy was dead, even Mary was dead. She knew she was alone, she knew she was a failure as a good Japanese daughter. She didn't need the constant reminder from her mother. She snapped. 'Mum, stop it. I don't care any more, so what if I'm not married, it doesn't diminish who I am as person. I don't want to hear it. I love you and I'm hanging up now.' She switched her phone off, hands shaking. She'd never spoken to her mother like that before but her head hurt and her heart was broken. And she didn't want to be awake any more.

Owen caught the ball before he threw it at the square on the wall, he'd made a tape goal at about three AM. He was getting better at hitting the target, although he had nothing else to do for the last four hours. He'd tried cleaning out some things, the ones he'd never wanted anyone else to find when he died. He just never expected to be doing that himself, even finding a bucket list tucked in the back of a book. Oh the irony. It was on his fridge now, a mocking reminder of his un-lived life. It was a total joke, filled with things he'd never do, not now. Which, he understood was the purpose of such a list, but he didn't expect to be dead while reviewing it. Stuck in the hellish space between dying and being dead. He let the ball fall to the floor, he'd have to remember to pick that up before he tripped on it again. He'd been lucky last time that he hadn't broken any thing. Although he did need to redo the stitches in his hand.

Being dead sucked. He should be in bed with a hangover, and possibly Tosh. He didn't want to think about what could have been. He was angry, frustrated and some days he wished he'd never met Captain Jack. Wishing didn't change anything, Katie was still dead, although technically so was he. He decided to visit Katie's grave, he could talk to her there. Find some sort of solace in death he was missing in life. And how long would this living death last he wondered. He kicked the ball under the couch and reached for his jacket, he sighed. It wasn't like he could feel the cold, but it would avoid questions so he put it on anyway.

It was early, there was no traffic as he parked his car. The grass was still wet but he didn't feel it as he moved though rows of stone monuments to the dead. He stood by Katie's headstone, he wanted to feel the coolness of the granite beneath his fingers. To smell the freshness of the morning air still stained with dew. He wanted a lot of things he couldn't have like that stupid bucket list. Pointless was the word for today. It would be tomorrow's word too if he didn't die properly soon. Now he could only remember what a woman felt like, all soft skin begging to be touched. Skin he could no longer feel or taste. If he'd known it was going to be the last time, he would have lifted his game.

At least there were no more Harpers to follow him, his death was the end of their family line. That should make his mother happy, the surprise she had outlived him still dancing on the edge of his perception. She'd told him enough times she wished she'd had the abortion. Apparently telling your mother you wished she had wasn't the done thing. Some how he'd managed to finish school and study medicine. For all the good it had done him, he was still dead, his body just hadn't caught up to that fact yet.

He traced the letters carved in stone tracing Katie's name over and over. He could see his finger touching the stone but there was no physical sensation for his brain to register. The metaphor for his life, such as it was. If he had tears to cry he might have. But what was he mourning, the life he had lived or the one he'd wanted. Torchwood or Katie, with residency, children, Christmas trees and wedding photos on the wall. Or Tosh. He fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around the headstone and he wished he could cry.

Owen lost track of time as he knelt there, holding the headstone and trying not to think. Who would mourn him? There was no one to visit his grave, no one to remember him. Not any of the lives he'd saved or the lovers he'd lost. He lay down on Katie's grave and waited. It was half past ten according to his phone, as if that was important.

Jack put the last plate away as Ianto wrapped his arms about his waist from behind. Resting his chin on Jack's shoulder, there were advantages to being the same height.

'What do you want to do now?'

Jack yawned. 'Blanket, popcorn and a movie on the sofa?'

He grinned. 'I'll make the popcorn.'

'Hang on.' Jack turned in his arms. 'I have to do this first.' Lips found Ianto's as he kissed his lover until they were holding on to each other so they wouldn't fall. Jack moved his kisses along Ianto's jaw, towards his ear. 'Can you hear me Ianto?' He felt him nod beneath his lips, feeling the vibration as Ianto moaned. He pulled back and grinned. 'Any requests for what movie we watch my love?'

Ianto shook his head, his body missing Jack's already. 'Nothing with subtitles.'

Jack laughed. 'The only movies you have with subtitles are all in languages you speak anyway.'

'Oh yeah.'

He found Jack with the remote at the ready, on the sofa with a blanket when he handed him the popcorn before climbing under the blanket. Jack pushed play as he snuggled into Ianto, torn between popcorn and kissing.

Ianto just smiled as the movie started, looking at Jack with his feelings written in his eyes. 'Princess Bride?'

'What, it's your favourite movie.' He smiled back as he set the popcorn down, having made his mind up after all. His need to kiss Ianto reciprocated.

Tosh rolled over and looked at the clock, it was almost noon. Her head felt like it was still filled with cotton wool but the banging had subsided. She tried to remember if she really had hung up on her mother, or just dreamt it. Turning her phone back on she saw half a dozen missed calls, not a dream then. She sighed, she could apologise later, right now it felt like something had died in her mouth. Looking in the mirror she saw smudged make-up and hair sticking up wildly. What she really needed was a cup of tea and a hot bath. Anything after that was a bonus, but a blanket on the couch and a chick flick should help make her feel better. Collecting the wine bottle and glass she moved into her kitchen to make that cup of tea.

Owen rose to his feet, people might start arriving and he didn't feel like going back into a holding cell. He wasn't sure it was illegal to lie on a grave, maybe just immoral. Besides, he was technically dead and Katie wasn't really there. She was gone, it was just an empty body buried there now. And she wasn't in a cotton candy world filled with butterflies and glitter either, she was just gone. A candle that was blown out, a tee shirt no one was wearing. A song that had already been sung... He stopped at that one, it was pointless to continue and he'd never liked poetic sentiment so why start now.

He was damp from lying on wet grass, time to go home and change. To pretend to be normal even though he could hardly catch a cold now. Habit, that's what so many of his responses boiled down to. Habit. He made his way back to the car and drove home in silence. He was going to have to watch movies to fill in the time. Perhaps Lord of the Rings, he'd always meant to read the book, but there seemed little enough point now. Life would go on without him. It didn't matter who was left to pick up the pieces, he was done. Filling in time until death finally claimed him and dragged him from this world. He reflected on that point, perhaps he should stop driving, he didn't really want to proper die when he was behind the wheel of his car.

Jack held Ianto as they lay wrapped up in each other on the sofa, the final credits rolling on the movie. This was his favourite place to be, with Ianto, although he wasn't sure if the man was even awake. Here, there were no distractions, no outside world competing for his time. All the time in the world to simply be with his lover. That was all that mattered. He kissed Ianto's forehead and whispered the words against his skin that he struggled to say so many times before. 'I love you Ianto Jones.'