Deeta Tarant, this one is for you.

Learning Curve

Aside from Jack and Ianto, Gwen was the only other member of the team already in the Hub when Ianto made his first coffee round of the day. He gave her a steaming cup, put his own down on his workstation, then went upstairs to Jack's office, from which Jack had yet to emerge this morning.

He knocked gently on the door and then went in. Although their personal relationship was thriving, at work they still maintained a more formal façade; at least they did when they might be observed. As indeed they were this morning. Gwen saw Jack gesture for Ianto to sit down.

From the floor of the Hub, it didn't escape Gwen's notice that, once the door was shut, the two sat in frank conversation for fifteen minutes, Ianto's coffee growing cold on his desk. She could see Ianto shake his head emphatically "no", his lips set in a thin line as Jack touched his cheek. Jack leaned forwards, elbows on knees, hands outstretched, palms upwards in a gesture of infinite supplication. Ianto again shook his head and started to rise. Jack quickly placed his hands on the young Welshman's shoulders, forcing him back into his seat. Jack was clearly talking very earnestly again, because finally the young man hung his head in defeat and nodded what was obviously a reluctant assent. Jack took both Ianto's hands in his and they stood up together. Before Ianto could leave, Jack placed a hand on the back of Ianto's neck and drew him in for a rough kiss.

Finally, Ianto worked his hands up between their bodies and pushed Jack none too gently backwards, away, spun on his heel and left the office, trying to regain his composure.

"Ianto, pet?" called Gwen. "Is everything alright?"

Ianto sighed deeply "Yes, thanks," he said in a voice that clearly meant "no, not really."

"Are you sure?" Gwen continued. "Jack's not forcing you to do something you aren't comfortable with, is he?"

"Just leave it, Gwen, please. I can deal with it." His tone of voice and general demeanour confirmed her suspicion.

As Owen entered the Hub, he had a spring in his step. Gwen knew him well enough by now to know that meant he had pulled the night before. This was born out when she noticed he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

"I'm going to get changed," he called out, heading towards the shower and locker room. As he turned, he literally bumped into Jack, whose head was down, not looking where he was going.

Jack was muttering. "LAN. LAN. It's LAN. Oh, sorry Owen, didn't notice you there." He looked up when he realised he'd collided with the doctor.

"No harm done," said Owen. "Anything the matter, Jack?"

Jack looked at him. "It's LAN."

"Not my area," smiled Owen thankfully. "Ask Tosh when she arrives, I just about know enough to turn my computer on and load a video game, but if there's problems with the Local Area Network, Tosh is your gal." He smiled and headed off to grab some clean clothes.

As Owen returned, changed into fresh clothes, he and Jack coincided in the corridor again. Jack was clearly heading back up from the archives, into which Ianto had vanished swiftly twenty minutes earlier.

"Bit early for a shag, mate, isn't it?"

Jack looked blankly at him. "What?"

Owen realised that his comment, which was half joke and half serious, had fallen on deaf ears. "The only reason you usually go down to the archives is to see Ianto. I thought that…." He tailed off. Jack was muttering under his breath. Owen listened just to check that his comments hadn't set Jack off on a warpath.

"Fire," said Jack, distractedly. "He said 'fire'.... LAN fire."

"Fire?" repeated Owen, loudly, shocked. "There's a fire? What? Where – is it down in the archives? Have we got a problem with the copmuter network wiring? Is Ianto OK? Do I need my medical kit? Have you been hurt, Jack? Jack!" Owen grasped him by his shirt and shook him. "Answer me, is Ianto hurt?

Jack seemed to return to the present. "Wha? Where's the fire, Owen?"

"Jack, you said Ianto was in a fire!"

"Ianto's in a fire? Quick, we must put it out! Help him!" Jack tapped his bluetooth. "Ianto? Owen says there's a fire. Is everything OK? Are you alright?"

Ianto's voice sounded in both Jack's and Owen's ears. "It's OK, everything's fine down here. No worries. Certainly no fire. Get back to work, I'll come and make some coffee in half an hour, once I've finished up in here. Sounds like the pair of you could do with a cup."

Owen looked closely at Jack. "Are you OK, Jack? Is anything the matter? You seem very distracted and jumpy this morning." He put a gentle hand on Jack's arm to stop him from walking off. "If there's anything wrong, you know you can come and talk to me. Anytime."

Jack smiled his wide smile, the one that lit up an entire room. "I'm fine, Owen, thanks. But I appreciate the offer."

"OK, so long as you are sure."

"Let's get back to work, Dr Harper."

Exactly half an hour later, Jack headed out of his office in the direction of the kitchen, where he knew he'd find Ianto making the promised brew. Both Owen and Gwen watched him go.

"Have you noticed anything a bit strange with Jack today?" asked Owen.

"Yes," replied Gwen. "He seems very preoccupied, not to mention rather clingy to Ianto."

"That's what I was thinking," confirmed Owen. "I wonder what is going on? I'll have to keep an eye on him."

"Actually," said Gwen, "I think we need to keep an eye on Ianto too. I can't be sure, but I think Jack is pressurizing him into doing something he doesn't want to."

She recounted what she'd seen in Jack's office this morning.

"You don't think…?"

Gwen nodded. "I'm wondering if Jack is forcing Ianto into having sex with him against his will."

Owen sighed deeply. "Oh boy. Well, that would put the cat among the pigeons."

"Do you think you can talk to Ianto, man to man?" asked Gwen.

Owen snorted. "Man to man? What am I going to say? Is your boyfriend forcing himself on you?"

"You're the doctor," said Gwen, suprising Owen by her lack of sympathy for him. "The mental health and physical well being of the team are your responsibility."

Owen nodded. "You are right. And I didn't do a particularly good job of spotting the last time Ianto had problems, did I? Cyber conversion unit in the basement, teaboy totally introverted and depressed, post traumatic stress disorder after Canary Wharf and I missed it all. Nice one, Dr Harper." He congratulated himself ironically. "Let's see how the rest of the day goes, and then I'll decide how to handle it. Take him down the pub, get him pissed as a newt, and hope that he sings like a canary." Owen checked himself long enough to consider the animal imagery that had sprung from his mouth.

"And don't forget, there's Jack too." said Gwen.

Owen groaned. "Lord, I hope it's just a lovers' tiff," he said, heading down to the autopsy bay to start dissecting an alien corpse. He was much more at home with alien corpses than he was with human relationships.

Ianto and Jack reappeared from the kitchen at the same time. Jack was a couple of paces behind Ianto, head dipped towards the floor, frowning in concentration. Occasionally he muttered something, but the others weren't close enough to hear what he was saying.

Owen pushed the pint towards Ianto. "Here, drink up. You deserve it. Looks like you've had a hard day."

Ianto picked up the pint and drained half of it in one go. He put the glass back on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "You could say that," he agreed, enigmatically.

"What's the matter?" asked Owen, innocently, prompting.

Ianto shook his head. "It's Jack's bloody fricatives. He's really having trouble with them. It's driving me nuts." He picked up the glass and finished off his drink and stood to get the next round in.

Owen sat silently. Bemused. Of all the things that had gone through his mind that afternoon as he'd played out the various ways this chat could go, he hadn't imagined Ianto complaining about Jack's fricatives. In fact, he was still wondering what the hell a fricative was when Ianto returned from the bar.

He settled for asking "So, is everything OK between you and Jack? He's not making you, er, do things against your will is he?"

Ianto looked at him with a level gaze. "He makes me do stuff against all sorts of things. We've done it against the filing cabinets, his desk, the hothouse wall, hell we've even done it on the perception filter lift."

Owen raised his eyebrows in admiration. "While it was moving?"

"Even as it emerged on the Plass," confessed Ianto. "Though that was a mistake, took us longer than we'd expected because of the trouble balancing on the moving platform."

Owen spluttered into his beer. This conversation was so not going as he'd planned. He decided to stop while he was only a little behind. "Well, if there's ever anything you need to come and discuss with me, my door is always open."

"Owen," replied Ianto solemnly, "Your room doesn't have a door, it has an open plan stair case. Thanks for the drink, we must do this again sometime, but now I've got to get back to the Hub. Jack wanted me to be back there for him by 10.00." And with that, Ianto got up and left the bar.

The next day saw Jack disappear into the archives after Ianto five times. After the third time, Gwen hissed at Owen "That man is insatiable!"

"And quick," said Owen looking at his watch. "He's never down there more than ten minutes. Usually when those two disappear, they are gone for at least an hour."

"Owen….?"

"Yes, Gwen?"

"You're going to have to …."

"…talk to Jack. Yeah, I know."

"Jack, can I see you for a moment?" asked Owen, as Jack returned from archive trip five.

"Sure, got a problem Owen?"

"Possibly. Well, one of us has perhaps. Can we go downstairs?"

Jack shrugged. "If you'd be more comfortable down there than in my office, yeah, of course."

The two walked down the steps. Jack sat on the edge of the autopsy table, swinging his legs in a carefree, childlike fashion, and waited for Owen to say something.

"Jack."

"Owen."

"I don't really know where to start with this, but are you feeling OK?"

Jack tilted his head, and looked at Owen through slightly narrowed eyes. "What makes you ask that, Owen?" he enquired.

"Oh, you've seemed a bit preoccupied these last few days. And we've all noticed the extra time you're spending with Ianto. Maybe I have to be blunt about this – Gwen thinks you are forcing him to have sex against his will. And I think you might have a bit of a problem down there," Owen looked at Jack's groin meaningfully. "You keep popping down to 'see' Ianto. And we all know what that means. But you only seem to be gone around ten minutes. These things happen, it's nothing to be ashamed of, and with proper medical care, I'm sure you'll be able to recover and last more than five minutes when you and Ianto are, er, shagging."

Jack started to laugh. He was laughing so hard that he slid off the autopsy table, and stood on the floor clutching his arms around him for support. The noise was so loud that it attracted the others.

"Whatever is going on? What's so funny?" asked Ianto, from the railing at the top.

Between breaths, for which he had to fight hard, Jack managed to explain gently, "Owen and Gwen have been worried about us. Apparently, you've been preoccupied and miserable, and Owen thinks I have some kind of problem, er, keeping things up."

Ianto smiled, for the first time in days. "No, no, it's nothing like that." He came down the steps to stand by Jack, who had just about regained his composure. He looped his arm lovingly around Jack's waist. "Jack asked me to teach him something. But he's a difficult pupil." He gave Jack a hard look that said clearly he was never going to get involved in anything like this again.

"So what have you been teaching him?" asked Owen. "I thought that Jack knew everything." The last comment was rewarded by a thump and a "ssshush" from Gwen.

"I thought we'd try taking it easy, but even syllable by syllable it's been a helluva challenge to get him there." He shook his head in disbelief as he replayed the last couple of days in his mind. It hadn't been easy, and it had sorely tried his patience on a number of occasions.

"I never said I'd be good at learning, I just said I wanted to be able to do it." said Jack, holding up his hands defensively.

"WHAT?" The suspense was killing the others.

"Go on," prompted Ianto. "Tell 'em. Tell them what you've been learning. Syllable by painful bloody syllable."

"OK. Wish me luck," said Jack, diving in. "Llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-queern-drob-ooll-llandus-ilio-gogo-goch.

End

"Fricatives," muttered Ianto, despairingly.

Author's Note: It's the longest place name in Wales: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.