A/N: right, here's chapter two, I know it's shorter then the last one but I have them all planned out so this is just sticking to the plan. Hope you like this one and please reveiw!!

Now You're Back – Chapter Two

It had only been a few days since Jack had returned and he was till working through the piles of paperwork on his desk. It was late on Thursday night and he was alone in The Hub apart from Owen, who was finishing an autopsy on, what seemed to be, the equivalent of an alien monkey apart for the fact that it was purple and had the head of a horse. He had just finished reading and signed off the report about the teams' – pointless – trip to Tibet, when Owen stormed in and plonked himself down in the chair in front of Jack's desk.

'Can I help you?'

'Finished the autopsy.'

'Anything interesting?'

'Not really, standard stuff really, interesting DNA coding though; they…' Owen trailed off at the look of disinterest in Jack's face, 'yeah, nothing interesting.'

'And you are still here… why?'

'I need to talk to you about something.'

Jack sat there for a few seconds, waiting for Owen to continue. When they had sat in silence for the better part of a minute – Owen squirming uncomfortably in his seat – he gave up. 'Owen? What did you want to talk about?'

Owen lent forward, elbows on knees, hands clasped and looked at Jack. 'You and Ianto. What's going on there?'

Jack leant back in his desk chair, looking suspiciously at Owen, 'What do you care?'

Owen rolled his eyes and stood up to start pacing Jack's office, 'Believe it or not Jack, when you were swaning all 'round the Universe, we had to become a team. And team means we look after and trust each other. And by look after I mean making sure that the tea-boy doesn't end up with his heart broken like he did the last time you abandoned him.'

Jack stared at Owen, opened mouthed. The medic actually looked serious. Like he cared. Jack hadn't seen the Londoner care – properly care – since he had recruited him after Katie dies. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find the right words. 'He… he had his heart broken?'

Owen suddenly looked guilty – like he had said something he shouldn't have, 'No, well… not really… he never said that exactly but, well…' he turned around to face Jack, running his hand through his hair, 'You leaving hit us all pretty hard Jack, Ianto most of all,' he turned back to face the window overlooking The Hub, and started muttering, but Jack still managed to catch his words, 'Bloody tea-boy seemed determined to starve and exhaust himself,' Owen turned again, putting his hands flat in the desk, looking Jack directly in the eye, 'Everybody Ianto has loved – or even remotely let himself be himself around – has left him, by choice or not. You and I both know how much that hurts, so… Just – if you still insist on pursuing this… whatever it is you have, just try not to mess him up anymore then he already is, alright?'

And with that, rather dramatic finish, Owen left the office, leaving his boss at his desk, mouth hanging open.

Two days later and Jack was – for the second time in a week – standing in front of Ianto's front door.

He felt nervous. Captain Jack Harkness never felt nervous. He blamed Owen. Bloody pompous doctor's putting doubts into his head.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. 20 seconds –and what seemed like an eternity to the jumpy Jack – later, the door opened on Ianto. Jack grinned, nerves disappearing when he saw the Welshman, grinning apprehensively, dressed – unusually – in jeans and a button down shirt. Jack grinned even harder when he recognized the belt and necklace Ianto had worn when they had first met.

'Hey, you're on time!' Ianto said sounding surprised.

Jack scowled but the curling of his lips gave him away, 'I'm always on time!'

Ianto just rolled his eyes and grabbed the jacket and keys from the table just inside the door before shutting it behind him.

'So, where are we going?' Ianto asked as they made their way down the stairs to where Ianto's car was parked next to the curb. Jack had insisted on organizing the "date," which went against al of Ianto's instincts but he couldn't resist when Jack had looked at him with his puppy-dog eyes. They had, however, both agreed that taking the SUV on their date would be a bit much like "bringing the office home with them," and decided to take Ianto's car instead.

'Patience, Ianto, patience,' Jack replied to Ianto's question.

They reached the car in question and Ianto glared at Jack until the Captain slunk around to the passenger door – no way was he letting Captain High-Speed-Car-Chase drive his baby – an dark grey Aston Martin DB9 convertible he had bought as soon as he could afford it after starting at Torchwood 1, although he would never, never admit that it was due to the influence of James Bond. Jack smirked when he saw the car, if only Owen knew that the car he drooled over everyday on his way into work belonged to their quite teaboy…

Ianto waited for Jack to climb into the low-slung car and fasten his seatbelt before turning on the engine with a roar of the tubos.

'So, you're going to have to tell me where we're going now,' Ianto said, slightly smugly, 'or are we just going to sit here all night?'

Jack scowled at Ianto's logic.

'Fine, fine. The Las Tasca restaurant, you know it?'

Ianto nodded and pulled away from the curb, surprised that Jack had chosen somewhere that wasn't pizza or Chinese.

They drove in silence apart from the radio, which Jack kept changing the channel of, trying to find one he liked. After listening to about 5 seconds of at least 20 songs, Ianto had had enough and, as Jack reached across to change the channel yet again, he let go of the steering wheel and smacked Jack's hand away. Jack screeched in a most undignified way and Ianto looked at him with raised eyebrows.

'What was that for?!'

'Stop fiddling!!'

'I wasn't!!'

'Yes you were,' Ianto leaned across Jack and popped open the glove compartment, 'look in there and find a CD.'

Hunting through the CDs crammed into the glove box kept Jack busy for several minutes, during which Ianto amused himself in thinking about how keeping Jack entertained was like entertaining a toddler. Five minutes later and they were driving along to ABBA's Greatest Hits off all things – a disk Ianto had forgotten he had and only had because Lisa had liked the Swedish group. The rest of the drive was accompanied by Jack's singing. Ianto just sat there, hoping he'd have a left eardrum left by the time they reached the restaurant.

They reached Las Tasca, just off Bute Terrace and went in – Ianto getting surprised again when he realised Jack hade made a reservation.

'How organised of you Captain.'

'Hey! I can be organised! Only with the important things though, not stupid things like paperwork or those stupid archives you're always moaning about…'

Jack's mumbled rant about paperwork and "damn administrators" was interrupted when the waitress came to show them to their table.

The meal passed surprisingly normally with them talking about many things, from Wales' chances in the Rugby World Cup (Jack had very little to say on that topic much to Ianto's exasperation) to the newest series of X-Factor. They talked about everything. Everything except work. And Jack's recent absence. Something Ianto was glad of. He wanted one "normal" night – one without Weevil chases or Aliens trying to take over the world – and Jack seemed happy enough to try and give him that. One thing that was bothering Ianto, however, was the lack of Jack's innuendo laden comments. He kept pushing these comments aside, though, deciding that Jack was still recovering from his recent imprisonment.

They finished their tapas surprisingly quickly, or so it seemed. Ianto was shocked when he looked at his watch and saw that it was almost 10pm. By the time they had finished their desserts – they shared the most sinful orange cheesecake Ianto had ever had – and coffee's and liqueurs, it was gone half 10. They made their way back to Ianto's car, laughing most of the way at Jack's ridiculous stories of his past adventures, and Ianto was sure that – had anyone seen them – they would have looked drunk. Instead they wound their way through the back streets to where Ianto had parked the car, unwilling for the evening to end.

The drive back to Ianto's apartment was quieter then the drive there, with ABBA playing softly in the background as the two men sat there in silence, enjoying each others company and the contact Jack always seemed to maintain with Ianto – whether it was a hand on his leg or holding his hand. It wasn't a sexual touch, more like Jack was trying to reassure himself that Ianto was still there. Still right next to him.

They reached Ianto's building and – once Ianto had turned the engine off – they sat there in silence for a while.

'So…' Ianto said, 'thank you for tonight Jack, I… it was fun.' Ianto looked at Jack and he could see the honesty in Ianto's eyes. He grinned.

'Come on, I'll walk you up,' Jack said, opening the car door.

Ianto followed suit, shutting the door and locking it, 'You only say that 'cos you hope I'll invite you in for coffee. And I mean that in the literal sense,' he said on seeing Jack's grin.

They walked up the stairs to the third floor and stopped outside Ianto's door.

'So…' Jack said, unintentionally repeating Ianto's line from in the car, 'do I get invited in for coffee?'

'I…' before Ianto could formulate a complete answer, however, he was cut off by Jack's lips on his. These weren't the soft, tender kisses that they shared over the past week, this was desperate, passionate, wild. Ianto felt his back hit his front door and a doorknob press into the small of his back. Jack was still kissing him desperately, hardly letting him catch his breath.

But suddenly, Jack's lips were gone, only for them to reappear seconds later, sucking on Ianto's neck, right above his pulse. Ianto tried hard to suppress his moans, knowing his neighbour's – in particular Miss Cartwright, the nosiest old lady Ianto had ever met – would find it a source of great amusement to find him being snogged, rather thoroughly, up against his front door. By a man no less. He was brought back to the present by Jack nipping his neck before kissing his way back up to Ianto's ear and sucking on the lobe.

'Please Ianto,' he panted, 'please… I need… I need to feel. I need to know you're still alive. Still here. Here with me.'

'Jack,' Ianto said, still slightly breathless, trying to push the Captain off him, ' I thought you wanted to take it slow?'

'Screw slow,' Jack replied, resisting Ianto's pushes, 'I need you.'

'No, Jack.'

The firmness in Ianto's voice seemed to shock Jack back into reality and he shifted his weight back slightly, off Ianto, allowing the Welshman to step forward, much to his relief, as the doorknob had been starting to bruise.

Ianto looked Jack in the eyes, 'I can't Jack, I can't, not after… not after you left us… I just… I need to trust you again before we can…' Ianto trailed off, looking slightly ashamed and diverted his eyes, his cheeks flushed pink.

Jack suddenly felt ashamed, remembering the warnings he had received from Owen and stepped back fully from Ianto, putting more space between them. 'Ianto, look I'm sorry… I know, I shouldn't have left, and I really am sorry for that, but… I had to… I had to see The Doctor, see if he could fix me.'

Ianto met his eyes again, 'I know, I'm not blaming you for leaving, don't worry. I just… wish you'd said something before you went. Then we would have known… known if you were OK.'

Jack sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair, making some of it stand on end, 'Wow, we sure know how to ruin a perfect evening don't we?' he gave a wry smile.

Ianto chuckled, 'yeah, but we're Torchwood aren't we? We don't do perfect.'

Jack smiled, glad to have his sarky Welshman back, 'Yeah, one of the perks of the job I guess.'

They stood there in silence for a few more minutes, before Ianto suddenly frowned, 'Jack, why… why did you say you need to feel me to make sure I'm alive? Last time I heard, you were the only one out of us who had died.'

As soon as he said it he wished he hadn't. The shutters on Jack's face went down and his face went blank, 'It's nothing Ianto,' he waved his hands, 'nothing, just forget I said anything.'

Ianto frowned even harder, 'it is not nothing Jack. If it was nothing, you wouldn't have said anything to begin with.'

Jack ran a hand through his hair again, making even more of it stand on end, 'Look, I want to tell you, and I will, I promise. But, now isn't the time, and I… I need some time to come to grips with it myself OK? But I will tell you, I promise, just… I need some time…' he reached across and rubbed Ianto's arm reassuringly.

Ianto looked closely at Jack's face, scrutinising it him, 'Jack? Is it about… about that year? The year that Saxon had you?'

Jack just nodded in reply and this seemed to satisfy Ianto who smiled softly, 'Alright.'

Jack grinned again, looking more like his normal self then the lost man that had been standing in front of Ianto moments ago.

A yawn caught Ianto by surprise and he lifted a hand to cover his mouth, dislodging Jack's hand.

'I better be going,' Jack said reluctantly, 'it's late, and you'll do your usually thing and turn up for work at 7am, when most normal people are only just getting up.'

Ianto rolled his eyes, and started digging in his pockets for his keys, he found them and opened the door, stepping inside the door and threw the keys onto the small table and hung his jacket up before stepping back out the door to grab Jack's greatcoat lapels and pulling himself in for a soft kiss.

'Goodnight Jack,' he whispered, pulling back, before stepping back into his flat and shutting the door softly, leaving a grinning Captain in the hallway outside.

A/N: so there we have it, the next chapter will be 'Sleeper' and maybe 'To the Last Man' depedning on how long they take meto write.

please reveiw!! it's my birthday soon and they would make perfect birthday presents :D

NCx