Martha had quickly finished bandaging Iantos leg letting him leave. She stayed down in the autopsy bay for the rest of the evening and far into the night. Jack and Ianto gave up on their idea to try and overload Martha's medical sensors, at least for the moment, and had a quiet night monitoring the Rift and watching movies in Jacks office with the door closed. At least that was what they said they were doing. Martha was smart enough not to find out for sure, but she didn't remember seeing a television anywhere in Jacks office.

The next morning the small group met in the conference room. Martha stood by the monitor in the front of the room. A wave of information flowing across it's screen. The matte brown box from yesterday sat on the table in front of her. Jack was at his usual place at the head of the table with Ianto on his left.

"Jack, remember when I first started? I came across this little box that we didn't know how to use?"

"It's called a L'Fat." Ianto broke in.

"Cool name. French. I like it."

"As I was saying, ten years ago I could only make it do one thing. Give us the age of an object. Anything, either animal, vegetable, or mineral. Far more accurate than anything we currently use for telling how old an artifact actually is. I couldn't get it to work on you though Jack, but I'm still working on it." She looked frustrated. "Anyway, I tested it on everybody and the readings seemed be what I thought they would be. That was almost ten years ago. Yesterday when Ianto came in with the weevil bite I was playing with it again and ran a scan on him. The readings that came back seemed skewed so I ran the same scan on Gwen and then on myself. Our readings came back as I thought they should. I ran the scan on Ianto again but got the same funny numbers. That's when I pulled out my big sensors. And hooked everyone up. Ianto how long have you and Jack been together?"

He didn't seem fazed by her sudden change in subject.

"Nine years, five months and fourteen days. We dabbled for a few years before we became official but I don't count that."

"Why not? That was some good dabbling."

"I'll explain later Jack"

Martha broke in, "So, Ianto, you're thirty six years old?"

"That's right. In a couple more years I'll be the same age as Jack's file says he is. No more teasing him about robbing the cradle." He gave Jack a loving smile which was returned.

"Well, see, that's the problem. It's not going to be a couple more years."

Their heads jerked in her direction. Jack stood up, a hand reaching out to grip Iantos shoulder, but Ianto was the first to speak.

"Does this have to do with the life expectancy reading you were threatening me with? But you were mumbling! You don't mumble when it's serious. What is it, am I dead in a year?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! No, no. You're going to be fine!"

Jack sat back down, but he remained close to Ianto holding onto his hand.

"I just hope you like Jack a lot."

Jack leaned forward into the conversation. "Why is that? And what's with all the scans you did?"

"You and Ianto seem to have a special connection."

Jack smiled. "I could have told you that."

Martha pulled out a chair and sat down speaking to Ianto. "There was no connection between him and Gwen and nothing between him and me, but as soon as his lips touched yours my sensors went a little crazy. Of course it took some time to analyze the data, and I've only just started, but it appears as if you two are connected somehow."

"Can you explain?"

Martha paused, gathering her thoughts. "Okay, you've heard all those sweet stories about elderly couples that love each other so much that if one dies the other soon follows?" Jack and Ianto nodded their heads simultaneously. "Those couples have a strong connection. I believe that you and Jack have the same type of connection but in a slightly different way."

"I'd like to run a little experiment." She turned to Jack. "May I kill you?"

"Not bloody likely!" Ianto started to stand up. Jack pulled him back to sitting in his chair.

"No, I don't think so. Ianto doesn't like it when I die, and I find it most uncomfortable. You'll have to find something else to try."

"Yeah, you're probably right." She looked strangely disappointed at not being able to kill Jack. A thoughtful look came over her face. "You haven't died in a long time, have you? How long has it been?"

"Well since it distresses Ianto so much I try to avoid situations that might bring about my untimely demise." He was trying to lighten the conversation and Ianto gave him a slight smile. "I'd say it's been three or four years."

"And how long before that?"

"I don't really know. Maybe a couple of years. Why?"

"When I first met you it seemed like you were dying all the time. Two or three times a year. Sometimes more. You didn't care if you died."

Jack shrugged. "I probably didn't care if I was killed. In fact I remember thinking that it might be nice to finally be able to die. But that was before I had Ianto. This man means so much to me now that I'll do anything to make sure he's not hurt by anyone. Even me."

"Except for letting me get mauled by random weevils." Iantos voice was thick with emotion but he needed to lighten the conversation before he was forced to grab his lover and have his wicked way with him on the conference room table. Jacks eyes glinted at Ianto. He seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

Martha continued, "Jack, you are so full of life that after a while it starts building up inside of you. You start to act a little wild, a little crazy and you end up putting yourself in danger. This usually resulted in you getting killed which used up that surplus of life force. Since you found Ianto you stopped putting yourself in danger and getting killed so that extra life force kept building up inside of you looking for an outlet. It found one through your love of Ianto."

Martha finished talking, looking pleased with herself.

Jack looked at her doubtfully. "So?"

"So don't you see? You are giving your extra life force to Ianto. Your love for Ianto is letting the extra life force siphon out of you, keeping you from exploding, and adding to Ianto's normal life force." She smiled at the two men. "When I first used the L'Fat on Ianto approximately ten years ago he was twenty five which the scan agreed with. When I scanned him again yesterday the readings should have come back saying Ianto was thirty five but they came back showing he was only twenty six. I thought that the calibration must have been off so I tested it on Gwen and myself and the scan came back with our correct ages."

"So let me get this straight. I'm not dying as often as I used to so to keep me from exploding I have been giving my life to Ianto. And this has stopped him from aging."

"Oh, he's still aging, but at a much slower rate than normal. About one year for every ten that passes. Not anywhere near as slow as you age, Jack, but it's definitely slowed."

Ianto looked at Jack and was surprised to see tears in his eyes. He stood up and pulled Jack into an embrace. Jack gripped him tightly and buried his face in his neck.

"I didn't want to love you because I knew you would die within the blink of an eye, but I couldn't help myself." he murmured into Ianto's shoulder. "I grew to love you so much that it was a constant ache trying to hide it from you, from myself." He pulled back and ran a gentle hand across Iantos face. "When I finally told you that I loved you it was like being set free. The fear was still there but I vowed to live each moment with you to the fullest. Now I find that I will be able to love you for longer than I had ever imagined and I'm happier than I have ever been in my entire life. I love you so much."

Ianto felt the tears well up in his eyes and spill over at Jacks declaration of love. He pulled his head down to his own trying to convey all the love he felt for Jack in that one kiss.

Neither man was aware of Martha quietly leaving the room. They were in a world of their own. One that they would be able to share for a very long time.