Author's Notes: I got so carried away with this and I am so sorry. I know that Greg's flashback is longer than Ianto's, but since I think that even in the book he got a smaller part than this one here, I think he deserves it.

Second thing I'm sorry for here is the constant Doctor Who hints that are dropped here and there; I just couldn't help myself. There aren't really any spoilers; even those of you who've watched it are most likely not to notice it.

Anyway, I have a question. I know that this chapter ends pretty much nowhere and I've got the third (and most likely last) one already half-written and I wanted to ask if you'd like me to post it when it's ready. It's going to be fairly darker than this one and I'm not really sure about it, so I'm asking about your opinion.

The songs used in the beginning. The first one I saw somewhere, I wrote it down in my fanfic notebook because I liked it, then I started writing this fic and it seemed fitting, but when I google it, literally nothing even relatively close to it shows up. So credit to whoever owns it, there's a disclaimer in my profile, and so on and so on. The second one used here is The Way You Look Tonight by Billie Holiday.

On to the fic now. I hope you enjoy it and, just like always, feedback is most appreciated.

There's eternity in your eyes

The flesh and the bones, they are only disguises across

A world to be lost and beneath

Our opinions and beliefs

Jack's eyes opened as he slowly forced himself back into consciousness and gratefully let his latest dream fade away.

He'd been having nightmares for a week already, ever since they were in orbit around an unknown planet neither of them knew anything about (well, he hadn't. It was James's first travel in outer space and he barely knew the names of any of the planets they visited).

As if he had summoned the man with his thoughts, James appeared in the doorway, wearing a simple black t-shirt, light blue jeans and a worried expression.

"You alright here, Jack?" There were deep shadows under the younger man's blue eyes and Jack knew why – he's been having nightmares too. The immortal nodded - a barely noticeable movement which was all he could do right now – and sat up on the bed, despite his body's attempt to drag him back down, trying to focus his eyes on James.

"Yes. Sure. Never better."

His partner gave him a disbelieving look that meant he'd seen right through him once again, and Jack sighed.

He had spent the last two years with James, at first just a landlord, then a friend and later, as they grew closer, as something more. He had shared the whole immortality thing with him, mostly to avoid questions when he first died in front of him. James had reacted well enough and Jack guessed that there wasn't really all that much that could surprise someone from the thirty-first century.

When James had finished his work on the two starships (which were a part of a much bigger project, but also controlled solely by him as their creator), he had sold the first one and that gave him enough money to take a pretty long journey through the universe. That combined with Jack's knowledge and the fact that he'd invested in the right companies for centuries (being born in the faraway future had its benefits sometimes) made things even better.

"You don't need to lie to me," James murmured as he kneeled down on the floor and took Jack's hands in his. "I know. It's been happening to you too, right?" When the Captain's eyes pointedly avoided his, James sighed. "Let me take care of you, Jack."

I don't need to be taken care of. He didn't say it out loud, but the ghost of another conversation, so long ago, lingered around him.

Jack watched with mild curiosity as Ianto fussed around the pace, looking for antiseptic.

"You do know that you don't need to do that, don't you?" He asked carefully. Ianto nodded as he finally found the bottle and fell on his knees near the sofa in his usual unintentionally graceful manner.

"Give me your hand." His voice was soft and, when Jack complied, he rolled the man's sleeve up and started cleaning the (already) superficial wound.

"Ianto–" Jack really though that this was quite unnecessary. The thing would heal on its own eventually, and it would spare him the pain from someone poking around it – which was what Ianto was currently doing.

"You might get an infection. That– whatever it was, frankly, really got to you." When Jack opened his mouth to protest, Ianto locked his eyes with his Captain's and that successfully silenced him. "You didn't die, so you're not going back to factory settings. If that gets infected, it will stay that way."

"Not for all that long–"

"Let me take care of you, Jack." Ianto cut him off, still staring intently at him.

"I don't need to be taken care of." He had lowered his voice without realising it and felt rather stupid for falling for the man's tricks, especially the glaringly obvious ones like this.

Ianto shook his head. "I think you do. Sometimes you do."

And with that, he quietly got back to work without another word from any of them.

"Yes," he muttered in resignation. "For the last week, every night."

It was almost painfully familiar, this whole situation. The only difference was the location – instead of Ianto's neat flat he was in James's equally neat starship, and instead of seeing the gloomy sky above Cardiff outside, he could see stars and nebulas and galaxies and – just as James himself had put it in two years ago – everything there was.

"Me too." The man in question said. His voice sounded normal, just a little tired, and if Jack didn't know him so well, he would've let it slip his attention. As it was, he immediately turned to him and saw just what he had expected.

James's eyes had suddenly filled with some kind of anguish Jack had seen quite a few times on his face and he felt the sudden urge to kick himself. Repeatedly.

While he'd told James everything about his immortality, and some things about his past as well, he had never bothered to wander into the 'Ianto and Greg' territory. It would have been painful for both of them, or that was what he'd thought, but he had forgotten who exactly he was dealing with here.

James had picked up soon enough that whoever Ianto was, it meant something to Jack – which, ironically, led him to do what Ianto himself had done every time he wanted to find something and was irritated when Jack refused to tell him.

Research.

It turned out that even in the thirty-first century, Ianto Jones was something like a legend for every other kid that wanted to go out there to protect the world against hostile aliens and the story of the 456 which Jack heard from James was slightly different from reality ('slightly' meaning that it was barely recognisable), but he kept his mouth shut.

What had actually made things go wrong between him and James, though, was the photo the man had managed to find. He had stormed into Jack's room, a print of said photo in one hand and a furious expression on his face, asking for further explanation.

Reluctantly, Jack had told him most of it (even the actual story about 456, despite it containing a considerable lot less explosions and massive guns) and, when asked, had admitted that their significant resemblance was what had intrigued him at first sight.

What he hadn't mentioned, and had no plans of mentioning, was that he was still pretty much feeding his insanity by thinking that they were, in fact, the same person. And that it didn't come to James, in his own words, 'competing with a ghost', as much as it came to him being the ghost itself.

And, while they had cleared that up neatly a year ago, James still just knew somehow when Jack was zoning out sometimes and when he was being reminded – by a word or a place or even a shirt – how similar they were.

He loved James; loved him dearly despite saying the actual words very rarely. He wasn't a replacement as he seemed to think sometimes – it was just that Jack couldn't shake off the feeling that, no matter how much he tried to tell them apart and have them stay that way in his mind, he simply loved the same soul over and over again.

He couldn't bear seeing that look in James's eyes, so he just reached for him and brought him closer in his embrace, trying to tell his lover all of that with his hands and body and mouth, as he kissed his forehead, like he always did.

And for now, it seemed enough. They had chased each other's nightmares away.

Oh, but you're lovely, with your smile so warm

And your lips so soft

There is nothing for me

But to love you

Just the way you look tonight

"Oh, so it was my fault?"

"Of course it was your fault; you were the one who designed the damn thing!"

"But you were the one flying it, Captain."

"Oh, don't you Captain me. We ran out of fuel! Who runs out of fuel in outer space?"

"Well, someone irresponsible, I'd say, since you were the one supposed to fuel it!"

"No, I wasn't! You said you'd do it when we landed on Adipose-3!"

"Interesting. I distinctly recall saying, 'You've got to refuel the ship'."

"Don't you think I'd remember that?"

"Surprisingly enough, I don't! I wonder why. Maybe because you always manage to forget the most important–"

James's voice died as suddenly the smoking crater they had formed by landing was filled with flashing lights and someone was pulling them on their feet. Jack tried to shield his eyes – mostly unsuccessfully, as someone shoved a microphone in his face.

Cameras. There were cameras everywhere. He felt the slightest bit embarrassed that everyone – which, in this case probably meant half the world – had heard their bickering in what was supposed to be a somewhat heroic moment. About five feet away from him, James was blinking rapidly against the lights as someone shot questions at him.

The woman in front of Jack – a journalist, apparently – turned back to face the cameraman behind her with a bright smile on her face. "And here we are now with the first who returned from the 'Alaska' starships project. How are you feeling?" The last was aimed at Jack, who tried to focus.

"I... fine. We're okay. No major injuries."

He almost regretted saying it. Maybe if there were major injuries, they would leave them alone. After the quiet, surreal feeling of deep space, this was too much. The troubled look James gave him told Jack that his partner thought precisely the same thing.

"What happened? Why did you crash? How long were you up there?" The journalist restlessly showered him with questions and another look to his right proved that James was currently experiencing the same thing.

"We ran out of fuel. 'Ve been there for a year," he was saying, so Jack refrained for response, but the woman showed no mercy.

"Did you find anything that hasn't been reached before? Any story you could tell us, perhaps?"

Ah, this was a familiar territory. At least. Jack, who had already gathered his wits, smiled dashingly at her.

"But of course. You see, there was this planet with four suns and one of them was cold. Their gravitating field was so strong that the seasons changed every twenty-six hours. Its habitants looked a bit like sharks with legs and they had those furs – said they took them from some animals living in the caves up in the mountains – and they put them on every time winter came along, because their bodies couldn't get used to the temperatures fast enough. The trees didn't have leaves and there were no plants at all. The sharks had never eaten anything but smaller fish – eighty percent of this planet was water, I'm telling you – so when we gave them chocolate, just to let them try it, there was this one guy who said that he'd proclaim us for emperors is we bring 'em more. I would've gladly done it, but James thought it was a bad idea. And then there was this place..."

For the rest of the evening they were dragged from one TV channel to another and Jack was in his element. James, who wasn't the greatest fan of talking and completely lacked fondness when it came to any sorts of cameras, just quietly listened and tried to suppress his desire to laugh or blush whenever the stories got too exaggerated or too detailed.

"The only ones who came back," James murmured, his head in Jack's lap as the other man absently played with his hair. "What d'you think happened to the others?"

They were sitting on a bench in the garden of their house. The sky was unusually clear – and definitely more so when it was Greg and Ianto looking up at the stars at night. Humanity had reversed some of their mistakes, after all.

"Who knows. Maybe they've stayed longer on some planets."

"Or maybe they didn't forget to fuel their ship." James's tone became very pointed and Jack groaned.

"Oh, don't start that again. Your ship is fine. The mechanic told me that he'll need less that a month to fix it completely. Just enough time to organise things a bit here, buy provisions again and find a few more alien dictionaries. I could do with knowing another language or two."

"That thing on your wrist translated everything anyway." James laughed softly and Jack shrugged. The last time he had been in the TARDIS – so long ago that it was just a faint memory in the pile of thousands of others – he had managed to modify his Vortex Manipulator a bit so it would have the same translating abilities as the Doctor's ship, just before the Time Lord had disabled his teleport again.

"That it does, but I just like the way the languages sound," he admitted.

"Less than a month. I can't wait." James's eyes sought his and he smiled. "Y'know, now that I've been up there, Earth seems so small. When there're so many other planets I've been to, how can I stay here, just looking at them, when I know I could see them up close; see every creature and every star that lights its planet?"

Yet another strong wave of déjà-vu overwhelmed Jack and he was rather surprised – after all, the last time it had happened, he had been half asleep and slightly shaken by the continuous presence of nightmares every time he closed his eyes. He sighed ruefully. That meant he couldn't excuse his sudden, involuntary almost-visions with tiredness any longer.

The park was unusually quiet for Saturday evening in July. There were still some people walking around, though, which forced Jack and Greg into keeping at least some respectable space between one another.

Greg was wordlessly staring up at the sky; his eyes wide and full of wonder.

"You know, we work every day to protect the world from everything up there." His voice was barely audible as his gaze drifted back to Jack. "Sometimes we try to protect the everything from the world as well. And yet, we can't even bring them back home. We can't even visit what they call home."

Jack shrugged, unable to resist the urge to show off. He'd been trying to impress the young man for a long time now, and while it seemed to be working, he kept up the hard work.

"I've visited some," he said, managing to make it sound like it wasn't that much of a surprise, but Greg's eyes lip up with excitement nevertheless.

"Really? Have you ever been on Mars?"

"Yes. Why?"

Greg's cheeks coloured lightly. "War of the Worlds was my favourite book as a kid."

Jack couldn't help but chuckle quietly.

"Martians are nothing like that," he assured him. Greg didn't look disappointed; quite on the contrary, actually, it only seemed to encourage him further.

"No? And what are they like, then?"

"A whole lot smaller – when they're out of their armours, of course. They're a bit like the Daleks, but not so hostile – when you look at them, they seem and act like a big deal, but once you see what's on the inside–"

"Daleks?"

Sigh. "Never mind."

"It's one of those things you can't tell me anything about, right?" Greg asked with a sigh of its own and Jack almost wished he could tell him. Instead, he shook his head.

"Yes. Sorry. Your first contact is meant to be in–" Well, in three years or something, actually, and Jack was pretty sure that Churchill had been involved somehow, but the world hadn't seen them then. He pretended to check his watch. "Sixty-eight years, or that's when everyone notices them. Torchwood's first contact is in sixty-five years, and it's Torchwood London. Even I try to stay away when it comes to that, because I've got a feeling it's going to affect me in some way, so I'm not really supposed to know about it."

"You think you're going to be there?" Back then, Jack was known by his colleagues as the undying immortal freak who occasionally ventured in and out of Torchwood and since that was the legacy Emily and Alice had left behind, it was impossible to hide. Jack liked giving at least a tiny pieces of truth to his lovers and Greg's was the fact that he had once been a Time Agent. He shrugged again.

"Not exactly. But it'll have something to do with me; I felt it many years ago. I was curious and I wanted to check it out and then I got that sick feeling that just screamed that I'm messing with my own timelines, so I stopped."

"I wouldn't have been able to." Greg admitted. "I would have wanted to meet myself."

"And rip the universe apart? I don't think so."

His partner's eyes widened. "You can rip the universe apart just by meeting yourself?"

"Most people can't but, well, you know me. Can you imagine two of me in the same place?"

Greg laughed softly and moved just an inch closer to Jack, looking up again. "Which one's Mars?"

"This one." Jack pointed at a familiar-looking dot with all the confidence he could muster.

"Are you sure?"

He wasn't. "Of course I am. I've been there quite a few times."

"I repeat, are you sure?" Greg's mouth twitched slightly as he tried to keep the smile off his face.

"Are you doubting me, Greg Bishop?" Despite his wounded tone, Jack couldn't hide the amusement in his voice.

"You could say so, Captain." The man said lightly. Since it was getting really late already, there was no one left in the park but them and Greg took Jack's hand in his, pulling him closer and in for a kiss. It was unusually forward of him to do such a thing and Jack found himself enjoying it greatly and, just for a moment, he forgot even the stars they've been looking at mere seconds ago.

It wasn't exactly a question, but Jack answered anyway.

"You can't," he said at last, pretending to have thought about it until now. "And you don't need to. As soon as the ship's ready, we're leaving. Off to the next planet to discover."

It was yet the same gleam, the same innocent awe he saw in James's eyes that reminded him of that night all those years ago and for a second, as James sat up and brought him closer for a kiss too, jack could swear that the blue irises an inch away from his held more than any planet he could ever find.