Ianto had come to the conclusion that life as he knew it, was complicated. Every day his emotions changed the stress of his job was slowly starting to take its tow on the twenty five year old, for someone so young, he had seen too much. And not all of that had to do with Torchwood, but thoughts of any childhood memories were buried far beyond the reach of his mind, and that's the way he liked it. He thought of tomorrow and never yesterday, his eyes were set in the future and he couldn't see that some one was digging into his memories, bringing each childhood fear out of hiding, and out for the world to see.

-x-

Jack watched as Ianto walked into the hub, his headphones were still in his ears and every one in the hub knew that Ianto needed to finish listening to the song he was listening too, no one ever questioned Ianto's rituals, they were all part of him and Jack loved every single one. Once the song he had been listening too – The dreams of children by the Jam, Ianto removed the headphones and smiled at the rest of the team.

"You're in late." Gwen smiled, and Ianto blushed slightly and looked up at Jack who was watching with a grin from his office.

"There was traffic," Ianto replied simply, "Coffee?" They all nodded and watched as Ianto walked up to the coffee machine.

"Traffic huh?" Jack smirked as he stood behind his lover, "Do I need to punish you for being late?" He winked.

"Oh I believe so sir," Ianto grinned, he loved when Jack noticed him at work, when he noticed what they really were.

"My office tonight when every one goes home." Jack grinned and patted Ianto's bum playfully making Ianto both laugh and blush, "Oh and Ianto, don't be late,"

"Wouldn't dream of it sir," Ianto replied, and placed the coffee mugs on the tray and walked back down stairs, handing each mug to the rightful owner.

Once the coffee was handed out, Ianto walked into the tourist office as part of their façade the tourist office had to be an actual tourist office five hours a day, and Ianto was the guy behind the desk most of the time, but most days it was open for two hours at most as alien invasions tended to be more important then tourists looking for the nearest pizza express.

Ianto didn't mind working in the tourist office, he liked it, it made him feel that the job he had was perfectly normal because when he was directing tourists to the nearest toilets, or giving his opinion on where to visit historically, he wasn't thinking about aliens, or weevils, or worrying about rift activity, he felt normal. He smiled at the family that just walked out, they were asking about visiting the castle and Ianto had told them the best time to go, they had thanked him and left and even if he hadn't technically saved any one from a weevil or aliens like the rest of the team did, watching a happy family leave the room always made him feel as though he had accomplished something.

At twelve, he walked back into the hub it was their lunch time which meant he would need to order he hated to think how unhealthy their diet was but when they were rushing around most of the day and in some case most of the night, the energy from junk food was needed as well as the much loved industrial strength coffee that Ianto served on the hour, every hour.

"Anything interesting happening on your part?" Jack sighed, he hated feeling bored, he would have thought that working for a secret underground organisation would mean he would have various activities to do, but unless he would release Janet and chase her around the streets of Cardiff, most days meant sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

"Tourists asking for direction, the usual," Ianto replied. "No rift activity or anything?"

"We've spent the last hour playing snap, that's how much is going on." Gwen smiled, Ianto returned a sympathetic smile and headed towards the kitchen to make coffee, Jack following.

"You know if you're that bored out in the tourist office, there's a lot we could do in the office." Jack smiled wrapping his arms around Ianto's waist.

"I never mentioned being bored sir, I believe it was you who was brooding over having nothing to do." Ianto replied with a small smile.

"Can you blame me?" Jack laughed. "Playing snap with Gwen isn't what I call a good time." Jack leant in for a quick kiss and grinned, "Though with you, strip snap was rather enjoyable," Ianto blushed slightly, remembering the night they had spent playing cards and he had lost so much he was left wearing a sock, whilst Jack was still fully clothed, coat and all.

"You cheat, you always cheat." Ianto smiled returning a soft kiss.

"But when you loose, its so fun." Jack grinned.

"I always thought it felt like winning sir," Ianto smiled and moved away from the embrace as he heard Toshiko calling them down.

"We have rift activity, and a lot of it." Toshiko shouted and Ianto never missed the smile that played across Jack's lips.

"What is it?" Owen asked once Jack and Ianto were downstairs.

"I don't know, getting a huge surge of power down mane street," Toshiko said, "I don't know what."

"That's my street." Ianto said and stared at the map.

"Coincidence?" Gwen asked.

"Nothing in this job is ever a coincidence." Jack replied and looked over at Ianto. "Come on, I'll drive" They all grabbed the equipment needed, including guns just in case and headed towards the SUV.

"Toshiko, can you pin point the exact location?" Ianto asked.

"Number 69." Ianto's eyes popped open.

"That's my house." He said and heard Jack laugh a little. "I didn't pick the door number."

"Sure you didn't." Jack laughed, but then dropped his smile and returned to his boss like appearance. "Anything in your house that could cause this energy surge?" Jack asked, his mind flashing back to the incident with Lisa, and he could tell that Ianto's was too.

"No," Ianto replied honestly. Jack stopped the car after parking it roughly outside number 69, as the space was free due to the fact that Ianto's car was at Torchwood.

Jack went to kick down the door, but was stopped when Ianto handed him a key. Jack flashed him a smile, "But kicking down the door is so dramatic." He laughed quietly.

"Yes but Torchwood doesn't pay for the damage you like to enforce on doors Jack." Ianto replied and watched as Jack opened the door. He had often imagined Jack in his house, though this was not how he had imagined it.

"You've got a very nice house." Toshiko smiled as she walked around, there was nothing out of the ordinary going on, so the team had taken it to look around at the furnishings, the photo's and in Owen's case even the fridge.

"Thanks." Ianto replied with a smile, and headed up stairs, Jack following. "If you're looking for my bedroom that would be downstairs."

"I know I already found it." Jack grinned and Ianto rolled his eyes. Ianto opened the door to a room and Jack looked over his shoulder. "Whose room is this?" Jack asked noticing the cot in the corner and various toys. "You've not got a child have you?"

"Would it surprise you if I said yes?" Ianto grinned.

"Yeah," Jack laughed.

"Then no, I don't have a child. Its my nieces room, she stays here some times with my sister." Ianto replied.

"Oh," Jack smiled, he hadn't known Ianto had a sister, he felt slightly guilty, thinking on it now he didn't know much about the younger man he claimed to be his lover.

"Jack the energy surge is back." Toshiko called, "Its coming from the basement."

"Any skeletons in your basement Ianto?" Jack asked with a raised eye brow.

"No." Ianto said and rushed down to the basement where Owen, Gwen and Toshiko were standing.

"Its locked." Gwen pointed out, and Ianto walked into the kitchen and grabbed a key of from one of the many draws and threw it towards Gwen.

"Who locks their basement?" Owen laughed.

"I do." Ianto pointed out.

Gwen unlocked the basement door and they headed down the old creaky wood stairs, Jack at the front. A faint sound was heard from the far corner of the room, it sounded some what like sobbing. "Maybe some one fell through the rift?" Gwen suggested.

"Could be." Jack said, and reached for the light switch.

The basement was cluttered with boxes and shelves, everything looked to be organised, boxes were labelled with various names, it looked like a normal basement, one that hadn't been used in for a while. "The noise its coming from over there." Gwen said pointing to what looked to be a teenage boy. He was crouched on the floor, head in his knees, arms cradling his body as he slowly rocked himself backwards and forwards.

"Hello, can you hear me?" Jack called as he approached the young boy.

At first, the young boy didn't look up he kept on crying, his body shaking a little bit more. When he looked up there was something familiar about him, he was wearing black jeans, and a plain grey hoody that looked miles to big for him.

"Jack.." Ianto whispered.

"What is it?" Jack asked turning to Ianto, who's face was that pale Jack thought he might pass out.

"That's me." Ianto said in a soft whisper before running back up the stairs.

Gwen, Owen and Toshiko all stared at Jack whose eyes were wide with worry, he turned back to the teenage boy, he had Ianto's eyes, Ianto's cheek bones, he was Ianto.

"Ianto?" Jack asked wearily moving closer.

"Who are you?" The boy cried, his accent was deeper then Ianto's. "What are you doing here? You have to leave."

"Why do we have to leave?" Jack asked gently, noticing the fear that was hiding in the blue eyes.

"He'll be mad if you're here." The teenage version of Ianto seemed to calm down a little, "You should go." Before Jack could say anything the boy seemed to flicker before vanishing.

"That was weird." Owen commented.

"What's going on Jack?" Gwen asked as they headed back up to the stairs.

"I don't know." Jack said, he was genuinely confused. Ianto was sat on the sofa staring at the floor. "Yan?" Ianto looked up at Jack and then back down again.

"What's going on?" Ianto asked. "Why was..."

"I don't know." Jack replied honestly, and sat next to Ianto. "Toshiko, any more signs of energy surges?"

"Not that I can see." Toshiko replied, "I'll get a better reading at the hub." She smiled, knowing Ianto need time on his own with Jack.

"Okay, you three go, we'll meet you back there." Jack said smiling at Toshiko as they left.

"Jack.."

"Mm?" Jack replied softly, smiling as Ianto's body shifted closer.

"If I was there, shouldn't there be some sort of paradox?" Jack couldn't help but smile, even when something emotional was affecting him, Ianto was still the smartest man around.

"Do you remember seeing me when you were younger?" Jack asked curiously.

"No." Ianto replied.

"It wasn't you, well it was. But it was an apparition, it was an echo of a memory." Jack said, "No paradoxes."

"Oh," Ianto said quietly. "Why was it there?"

"I don't know," Jack sighed. "Are you okay?" He felt a light nod of the head in his shoulder and knew Ianto was holding back tears. "Want to talk about it?"

"No." Ianto whispered, "Please."

"Okay, we don't have too." Jack said as he pulled his other hand around and wrapped Ianto into a warm embrace.

"If it was an apparition, wouldn't that mean some one sent it?" Ianto asked with a shaky voice and Jack knew he was finding it hard not to cry.

"Yeah." Jack replied, "Just who?" He felt a very weak shrug and a sniff. Jack was curious to why Ianto was crying, both when he was a teenager and now. But he knew Ianto would tell him when he was ready then he would tell, but now Jack would have to wait.