Title: In Coffee Corner

Author: Caz251

Summary: Jack owns a coffee shop with the minimum of staff, but a friend's brother is going to lend him a hand.

Characters: Jack, Ianto, Toshiko and Alice, mentions of Owen, Gwen, Rhys, Lucia and Rhiannon and her family.

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, no matter how hard I wish it were so.

AN: Written for schmoop_bingo Prompt: coffee shop

AN2: This may just become a chaptered fic, I'm not too sure about it, so for now it is just a oneshot.

The coffee shop was a dump, Jack knew that, but he had nothing else. All he had left as a result of his divorce was the coffee shop and the flat above it, and of course his daughter Alice. Lucia had wanted the house, and he had wanted Alice, they had agreed that if Jack gave up all rights to the house then Lucia would not seek custody of Alice. Jack was running the shop himself with the help of only one waitress, Gwen. Before his divorce he had a few more waitresses and a barista, but now he simply couldn't afford them. He would have had to lay Gwen off as well, but the woman had agreed to take a pay cut, something that her boyfriend wasn't too happy about.

Today however it was just him, Gwen had called in sick, so he was left to run the place by himself. It just had to be a day when they were actually busy. Jack knew that he had a queue, but he also had to clear the empty tables. He sighed to himself as a few people from the queue walked past him and out the door. It wasn't until a few customers sat down with coffee at one of the tables he had just cleared, that he actually looked up at the queue that was now greatly diminished.

Behind his counter was a young man placing money into the till before handing the customer his coffee. Jack, having cleared the last table, made his way to the counter, intent on finding out what the hell the man was up to. He put the cups in the sink, glad that the queue was gone so that he could speak with the man in a bit of privacy.

"Who the hell are you? And what the hell do you think you are up to?" Jack asked the man.

"Jones. Ianto Jones." The man replied, "Rhiannon sent me, she said you needed some help."

Jack was surprised that Rhiannon was worried about him needing help. She had been one of his waitresses that he had to lay off. Rhiannon had left voluntarily when she realised that he couldn't afford all their wages, but he still didn't expect her to be too kind towards him at the moment.

"I don't expect to be paid." Ianto stated. "I just have no option saying no to Rhia, my sister had too much blackmail on me."

Jack calmed a bit when he realised that it wasn't just someone who had decided to play about with his business. "Well what do you want then, no-one will work for nothing, blackmail material or no." Jack asked, wondering what the man would want.

"A table to write at while we're not busy and a supply of coffee while I am writing." Ianto replied, wondering what the other man would think of what he was asking, they weren't outrageous demands by any means. He hoped the man said yes, having somewhere he could write without Micah and David underfoot would be a blessing. Having to move in with his sister for a while was a nightmare and not just because the walls were thin.

Jack nodded at the other man before pointing in the direction of an empty table to show his acceptance of their deal. He then started on the washing up, hoping to get it done before another customer appeared. He wasn't that lucky though, he had just placed the dishes in the sink when the door opened. Jack looked up at the door, taking note of who it was, before letting Ianto who had just stood that he would deal with them with a subtle shake of his head.

"How are my two favourite girls today then?" Jack called out to his friend Toshiko and his daughter.

"Daddy" Alice called as she ran to him. "Auntie Tosh says that I have to eat all my lunch before she will take me to the park."

Jack smiled, "You'll have to eat it all then, we know Auntie Tosh never says anything she doesn't mean. Why don't you go draw while I get it ready for you?"

Alice smiled at him before rushing off to the small children's table in the corner. As soon as she left Toshiko turned to him, a wicked smile on her face, "Who's the dish?" she leered.

It took Jack a few moments and a quick glance around the shop to see what she was talking about. With the exception of Ianto everyone else in the shop was a regular. "Rhiannon's brother, he's giving me a hand." Jack replied.

"I'll bet." Tosh said, giggling as she did so, "I wouldn't mind him giving me a hand either."

"Toshiko." Jack cried out, wondering whether or not to be shocked by her words, they did say that it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for. "Get those thoughts out of your head now before I tell Owen. I doubt he'd be too please that his fiancé had been ogling some other man."

Toshiko just smiled at him before she walked off, sitting down at Ianto's table and introduced herself. Jack just shook his head and got on with preparing both Alice and Toshiko's lunch, taking them to him and asking Ianto if he wanted anything to eat. It was then that he noticed the other man's eyes, a startling shade of blue. He hadn't really taken much notice of the other man's looks, but now with Toshiko's words in mind he couldn't think of anything else. Ianto declined the offer of food and Jack went back to his dishes and busied himself behind the counter.

Toshiko had been right, Ianto was an attractive man, but it wasn't as if he could do anything about it. The man was more than likely as straight as an arrow, and even if he wasn't a man with a kid probably wasn't what he was looking for. No, Jack would just have to be content with looking at him periodically, they did have to work together after all, he didn't want to muck things up between them because of a bad date or whatever. It was simpler just to be friends with the man, he could do friends with the man, there was nothing wrong with being friends.

As they closed the shop that night he turned to Ianto asking him if he wished to join him for a drink, Toshiko and Owen were keeping Alice for the night anyway. The smile he got in response made Jack realise that any chance that he had of just being friends with Ianto had just gone out the window. There was no way that he would manage it, he knew that he wanted the other man, he just hoped that the other man wanted him as well.