CHAPTER 2 – Green Eyes

Ianto walked into Jack's office with files and forms stacked nearly to his chin. Sliding the pile onto Jack's desk he began separating them into three stacks.

"Don't tell me this is all work for me," Jack groaned.

"No. I have already done all of the work, most of them just need signatures or your review." Motioning to one of the stacks he continued, "These are the U-31's for all of the items we've collected from the rift in the past sixty days. These are U-101's for the supplies and materials we are requesting and these are Theo's notes on what he has figured out about the items we took out of that pod we pulled from the bay."

"When did our primary function become pushing paper? I've only gotten to save the world twice this month," Jack said with slight pout to which Ianto just rolled his eyes.

"So do you want me to bring curry to yours tonight?"

"Oh. Um, actually I have plans Jack."

"Oh. Yeah, of course. Ha-have a good time." Jack forced a smile but could barely spit the words out.

Ianto could swear he saw something in Jack's face that he didn't see often. He wasn't sure if it was hurt or jealousy or maybe both, but it took him a little by surprise. He turned and went down to the kitchen to make some coffee without saying anything else.

Okay, Ianto had plans that weren't with Jack. No big deal, Ianto can do whatever he wants. Right. Besides, he was probably just going to do something that Jack didn't like to do and didn't want Jack to be bored. So why didn't he say where he was going? They were together so it couldn't be a date. As Jack mulled that over he just worked himself up even further. Okay, so they had never really talked about what being together meant, but he was sure Ianto was a one person man. So why was this revelation bothering him so much? He did his best to push his thoughts away as he grabbed one of the stacks of paperwork sitting in front of him.

The rest of the afternoon passed without any rift alarms or other crisis. Around six o'clock Gwen shouted up to Jack that she was ready to get out of there. He walked out of his office and looked down over the hub. "All of you go on."

Gwen and Theo packed up shouting their goodbyes. The young Welshman was still messing about in the kitchen. "You too Ianto."

"Almost done. Just want to tidy up a bit first."

Jack went back to the stacks of paper on his desk. About thirty minutes later Ianto walked in carrying a fresh cup of coffee.

"Anything else you need before I go?"

Jack looked up and his mouth dropped open. He sat gaping before he was able to pull himself back together and answer.

"No. I'm good. Thanks." But he was far from good. Ianto had changed his clothes and was wearing a pair of black trousers and a black, form fitting v-neck jumper that hugged his torso in all the right places. It wasn't that he hadn't seen him in that jumper before, but the last time he had worn it when they went out Jack had told him how incredibly sexy he looked and they had barely made it back to the younger man's flat before they were ravishing each other.

Ianto wasn't really sure what to make of Jack's behaviour. He supposed he should just tell him that he was going for a pint with Theo and maybe a few rounds of pool. He supposed he should, but for some reason he decided he didn't want to.

"Okay. See you in the morning then." Ianto turned on his heel to leave when the older man spoke again.

"Ianto. You look…good," he managed to get out; putting on a smile trying to cover what was below.

"Goodnight Jack."

Jack scrubbed a hand over his face. He doubted there would be anything good about this night.

By the time Ianto made his way to the pub, Theo was already surrounded by adoring women. He almost looked relieved to see Ianto come in.

"Hey mate!" He pushed up from the table and made his way towards Ianto guiding him to the bar. "Let's get a pint."

The corner of Ianto's mouth curled up in a grin. "Ladies too much for you?"

"Oi! Just not really in the mood. Found Tina 'entertaining' a bloke when I went by the flat yesterday to pick up my laptop."

Ianto slapped his hand on the man's shoulder. "Sorry." The Welshman didn't think he had ever met anyone with worse luck in the relationship department. He didn't see how a guy as smart and nice as Theo could always manage to fall for the worst of the lot.

They sat down and had a few drinks. Whilst sitting talking, Ianto's cell began to buzz. Pulling it out, he had a text from Jack.

I, where is the file for the Xinobian laser?

It's under "X" in the archives. He sent the message and pocketed his phone.

He and Theo were definitely getting attention from the ladies, several of which had sent drinks over to them. Ianto had forgotten what it was like to be on the pull and although it did the ego good to have the attention, he didn't miss being out there. Eventually they got up and went to shoot pool.

"So, what do you think I'm doing wrong," questioned Theo as he lined up his next shot.

"I don't really think I'm anyone to be giving relationship advice."

"Come on Ianto. Help a bloke out. I can't imagine that your advice would be any worse than what I'm already doing."

Ianto stood considering what to say. How do you tell the nicest, most positive guy you've ever known that they need to say "no" and be a little more cynical when it came to women? The guy just seemed to fall in love too fast. Had it been anyone else, Ianto would have easily flung one of his sarcastic responses without thinking twice. Instead, he said, "Well, let's look at the relationships you've had since you came to Cardiff. You've been here ten months. How many women have you had move in with you since you came here?"

"Including Tina, eight." He stood pondering that while Ianto took his shot on the table. "When I say it out loud, it sounds a little desperate."

"No, no. I wouldn't say desperate, but maybe you should try and slow things down a little. You know, spend a little more time getting to know them. I know the job can make you want to grab onto anything that seems more normal, but you need to be careful. Take some time to enjoy what's going on before making any commitments."

Theo sunk his next shot and stood up with a big grin on his face. "That's game! You want to go another round?"

"Nah. How about another pint?"

Theo made his way up to the bar and brought back a couple more pints. When he returned, the Welshman was talking on his cell.

"Well that would be because two were destroyed last week when you decided a flame-thrower was the best way to deal with that group of Tragorians."

Theo sat down with a question on his face and Ianto mouthed "Jack."

"Anything else?"

"Goodnight Jack."

Taking the offered beer from his friend, he said, "Sorry about that."

"No worries. Okay, so back to the relationship thing. Slow things down right? I should be able to do that. Maybe you could just check in with me once in a while to make sure I'm keeping it slow. We could make the pool a weekly thing so I can kind of check in and bounce things off you."

"Sure. That sounds good as long as work doesn't screw it up. Even if we can't make it for the pool you can hit me up any time you need to talk."

The two said their goodbyes and Ianto headed for his flat. As he walked he thought about his own relationship. It seemed more evident than before that the green eyed monster had taken control of Jack. Why else would he be calling and asking ridiculous questions that he should have know the answers to? The young man wasn't sure if he liked this development or not. On the one hand, it was nice to know that Jack felt somewhat possessive towards whatever it was that they had, but on the other, he definitely did not want to be controlled. Oh, who was he kidding? He completely and totally loved the man and would follow him to the ends of the earth regardless of what Jack did for him in return. It wasn't that he wasn't his own man, he was. But where Captain Jack Harkness was concerned he was lost.