Hi there, new to the TW fanfiction foray and am really keen to give it a good go and live up to the already wonderful and inspiring fics out there! This is set affter the beggining of season 2. Feedback needed to evolve and improve always. Alternatively you can also view this on my live journal.

Summary: Ianto gets a much needed refuel from the Hub.
Disclaimer: I own nothing....for ownership details refer to higher power.
Takes place : during first half season 2

He waited in the tourist office until he heard the last of them leave. It wasn't that he was avoiding them, not really, it was just something in his makeup. Something in him made him yearn to be alone every now and then otherwise he would implode. Jack understood his need for distance and respected it…well most of the time. The others though…..that was a different story.

At first Gwen would try and talk to him, get him to talk about his feelings. It was one of the things he loved about her, her capacity for love, to care so passionately and deeply about things and her drive to change the world. But on days when he just wanted some space it grated his nerves, some days she had no filter and it left him raw. She had a need to fix everyone and Ianto had long conceded he wasn't fixable and he had made his peace with that, besides there were also some things he never wanted to share with anyone lest they be tainted with the same memories of fire and death.

Owen just seemed to increase his demand for coffee. No sooner would Ianto have found some peace and quiet when a demand for coffee would come through the coms. He got to thinking Owen did it deliberately just as a wind up. It took Jack's intervention one day when Ianto threatened to lace his coffee with the most powerful laxative he could find. He wasn't sure what Jack had said to him but since then he had mainly let him be when he would disappear in quieter moments.

Tosh, well she was normally so wrapped up in whatever piece of alien tech had managed to present itself through the rift that he doubted sometimes she hardly noticed. On occasion her requests for archive material not always came at the best time. Lately she had been trying to make a connection with him. The pendant Mary had given her the chance to read his thoughts albeit for a brief moment and it scared him of what she may have heard. He felt unsure of what to do with that, he was normally the one who could read other people so well it gave him the upper hand. To think someone had been poking around in his brain hearing what he felt was something he did not want to think about. He was so used to shutting himself off from people it was almost as if he had forgotten how to make normal conversation. He was trying though and somehow he felt it was important to try and regain that part of himself. It seemed a good place to start with Tosh. He liked her, she was safe.

Finally relieved when he heard the last of them leave he let out a sigh and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of the empty hub. He thought that Jack was around somewhere but knew that he would not disturb him, at least not yet.

Jack had been the one who suggested he go to the tourist office while he offered to get rid of the others early. Jack had sensed the tension rising in him and Ianto was grateful for the reprieve, although he wasn't sure really what that meant, if anything at all.

He especially liked it when he was in the Hub, he had gotten used to the place after spending so much time here out of necessity when he first arrived and it felt more like home than…well home. He got up and moved out of the office and sat down on the couch. Closing his eyes he focused on the sounds of the Hub. It felt alive, almost breathing. He let a calm feeling wash over him as he concentrated on the water as it cascaded down the tower. There had always been something about the hub and the Plass in general that made him feel….right. Even under the circumstances of how he first came in here he always felt like he was in the right place, for the first time in his life. It was slightly disconcerting at first, maybe it was being back home, maybe it was the rift he didn't know but for the first time in years he could breathe.

He listened to the swishing sound as Myfanwy was flying around the Hub. He didn't have to open his eyes to see her majestic wings as she glided up and down and around. It was like breathing as she soared ever upwards back to her nest. He heard the undercurrents of ebbs and flows as if the Hub itself was alive. He heard every creak, every sigh, every hum of all the machinery as it whirred away. Owen's fridges, Tosh's workstation all of it woven into the fabric of this place. It had been a week since he last did this and every minute he felt the pent up tension leave his body.

He lost count of the how long he had been there when he felt a dip in the sofa and he did not have to open his eyes to know Jack's self control had finally got the better of him.

"Better?" Jack asked, placing a hand on his shin.

With his eyes still closed Ianto answered "Hmmmmm, this place…it's like a refuel"

When Jack made no further conversation Ianto opened his eyes to see Jack regarding him with a curious expression on his face.

"What?"

Jack tipped his head to the side regarding him

"It's just, I've never seen someone…a human from this time be affected by the rift like you are. Sometimes it's like you need it. It's strange that's all. For someone from this century to even sense the rift"

"What are you trying to say Jack? That I'm not human?"

Jack started….."No….I……I mean it's not the norm….I…"

"So I am not normal is that what you are saying…."

Jack's face was mortified "No…..I…….I'm…..sorry I didn't…"

Jack looked like a goldfish out of water trying to breathe, finally Ianto couldn't take anymore and started laughing, a belly roll laugh that had Jack gazing at Ianto with an incredulous look that changed into a shake of his head… "You tease" and his own laugh matched Ianto's.

Once he had recovered enough Ianto manages to say

"Sometimes you are so easy to mess with"

"Oh your hilarious" Jack responds dryly.

Ianto, sobered up and met Jack's eyes. "I don't know what it is about this place but…..for the first time in a long time it makes me feel right, sometimes it's like I can feel the Hub breathing….What does that mean Jack?"

Jack stared back at him…….

"It could mean any number of things Yan or it could mean nothing. Maybe the trauma of Canary Wharf made you sensitive I don't know, if you want I could look into it?"

Ianto regarding him for a second…

"Maybe it is what it is and I don't need to know"

Jack nodded. Sometimes the youngest of them was the wisest.

"Maybe it is just part of the enigma of Ianto Jones. An enigma wrapped in a mystery"

"You know I like to keep people guessing"

"I've noticed, doesn't mean you should keep everyone at arms length."

Jack was now rubbing small circles over his shin unconsciously.

Ianto sat up as Jack withdrew his hand quickly. Ianto grabbed the hand and squeezed it, looking Jack in the eye.

"I'm trying…..after London it's hard to….make that connection but I am trying"

"I know"

They sat staring at each other for a little longer than they should have. Jack couldn't help himself any longer and leaned in placing a soft kiss on Ianto's lips. Jack was pleased when he felt Ianto reciprocate. He knew he had to be careful here. He had already deserted him and the team once and he didn't want to be the cause of any more grief for this man, rather the opposite. He pulled back and looked into the young Welshman's face.

"So what will it be tonight? Pizza or Chinese?"

"Hmmmm…….Pizza. I'll order shall I?"

"Good idea, then you can teach me those Welsh swear words I heard you use at Owen the other day" Jack said with a wry grin.

"Don't know what you mean sir?" Ianto answered innocently.

"Oh Ianto you so do, I am on to you Jones and you are one mystery I plan to unwrap" Jack was grinning at him, that smile that seemed to go right through him and melt his insides.

Ianto felt the burning of his cheeks as Jack chuckled and walked back to his office. Cursing at his pale skin Ianto moved to the kitchen to retrieve the menu and order their food. It scared and excited him at the same time at the prospect of Jack and his need to know him. Ianto now had to decide how much he was willing to share but he had a feeling with Jack it was going to be all or nothing.

That's all folks for now...hoping this may develop into something bigger and better!