A/N: been writing too much angst lightly. Somewhat induced by Dead Lines. If you haven't listen to it yet, I'm not really sure what you're waiting for. Seriously. Ianto has the best speech ever. Serious respect for David-Lloyd's voice acting

There was nothing but him, this creature before him, and a vast whiteness. Jack knew, with the practice of an age-old being, that he was dreaming. After centuries, one was nearly always lucid. After a while, he'd stopped trying to control them, though. Nightmares were always hard, and dreams were always lovely; why bother?

But this one was strange. The figure before him was unsubstantial; blurred, a cloud of 'people.'

Here, Suzie's nose and there the Doctor's glasses. Here, the first incarnation of the Doctor he had met's goofy smile, there Martha's mocha skin. Here, Rose's twinkling blue eyes and there John Hart's deceptively innocent pout.

Here his mother's white hands and there Gray's reddish-brown curls.

The features shifted, fading in and out, swirling together into a mass of familiarity.

Jack stepped closer and closed his eyes. Nothing, now. No smell, no sound, nothing to familiarize himself. He reached out, ghosting his fingertips against a jaw. He found the faintest scratch of afternoon stubble, and nothing changed beneath his touch. Gaining confidence, he pressed his palm flat again a rounded cheek, fingers brushing against lightly-gelled hair. A smile curved his lips as he mapped out familiar features, his thumb brushing against soft lips. He replaced his finger with his own mouth, delighted by the achingly familiar twist of lips, a small, sweet, amused smile on the other man's face.

"I found you," he breathed, happiness and warmth suffused in his tone.

"You cheater," the man answered with round vowels and devastating love, smoothing wide hands under his coat, tickling his sides.

Jack laughed and threw his arms around Ianto, and didn't let go.

He woke, not too much later, to fingers threading through his hair, a curious but patient smile on his lover's face, a glimmer in blue eyes barely visible in the dim light. "You look as though you've had a particularly good dream tonight."

Jack grinned back and drew the other man against him, pressing sweet kisses to a bare shoulder. "I really have, Ianto. A perfect dream."